All participants have expressed guarded optimism about the outcome of talks. Both the Iranian and American diplomats believe that a deal can be reached that will satisfy both parties and (finally) put the nuclear issue to rest. The last big hurtle is Israel and Bibi is desperate. So anything can happen.
Mike Whitney on how Trump’s tariffs amount to a slow motion train wreck that will severely damage the U.S. economy
Key posts in the Trump administration are now held by hardliners, neocons or warhawks. One such is Elbridge Colby, who is laser-focused on containing China and preventing it from becoming the dominant power in Asia.
It could be argues that Trump is thinking along the same lines as Hitler, trying to make the US more self-sufficient in the event of a military confrontation with China. That might explain why he is patching up relations with Putin (so he can shift his attention to China)
If the U.S. struck Iran it has the capability to retaliate, hard. All U.S. military sites in the Middle East would be vulnerable and tens of thousands of U.S. lives would be at risk. Does Trump grasp this? Or have his ‘advisors’ kept information about Iran’s real capability from the president? Is that why he keeps threatening Tehran?
The treaty that the United States and Iran signed in July 2015, was the most exhaustive and stringent nuclear agreement in history. No other nuclear treaty comes close. So why did Trump REALLY pull out?
After a decade of relentlessly demonising Donald Trump both as president, and while he ran for the White House, the New York Times has done a complete about face. Mike Whitney reflects on what may have prompted this sudden turn around
Why is Trump threatening Iran? When Iran’s leaders have warned that threats are not conducive to their cooperation? Doesn’t he realize that his bullying tactics could sabotage U.S.-Iranian talks? Or is that what he wants? So that he can claim that Iran was not amenable peaceful negotiations?
A political leader who usurps Congress’s legitimate constitutional authority and accrues all state power to himself is usually called a dictator, or tyrant
Mike Whitney explains why Trump’s tariffs are not intended to bring jobs back to America. The real objective is to isolate, encircle and eventually crush China
Even though they don’t violate any international laws, the Trump administration is also demanding that Iran give up its strategic missile program as part of any nuclear deal.
Trump seems to think the war will be a “cakewalk”. He doesn’t realize that he is on-course to pop the biggest myth of all, the myth of US military superiority