Sunday, August 16, 2015

the media discussion around the deal is essentially useless, because it's approaching it from a false perspective.

it doesn't matter what source of information you're drawing on. left. right. tabloids. academic literature. american media, or foreign media. they all frame the deal in the terms of america having iran where it wants it and being able to turn the vice until it gets what it wants. that is, essentially all media interprets the situation in the vacuum of american-iranian relations. when the rest of the world is mentioned, it's in order to help mediate, or give the us extra muscle in negotiations.

this interpretation exists in the realm of fantasy. and, one cannot understand the circumstances unless it is entirely discarded as absolute fiction - which is near impossible, because it is the only narrative available anywhere at all.

the issue on the table was never based on the assumption that iran is in the american sphere of interest, which is what is necessary to get to the existing narrative. rather it was always seeking to resolve the question of whether iran will remain in the american sphere of interest, as it was until the revolution - or if it will exit that sphere of interest and enter a joint russian-chinese sphere of interest. and, what the deal on the table does is "allow" that exit to occur. the republicans are rejecting the deal for that reason, not due to anything about enrichment. but, they are out of touch with the reality of the situation, which has changed to the point that if they follow through with their rhetoric on iran it is likely that they will start a world war. the importance of the agreement is being ignored because the narrative is based on an incorrect premise.

allow is in quotations because the truth is that the americans can no longer prevent this. and, this is a consequence of other policies. rising american militarism in eastern europe, european sanctions against russia, the continuing war in syria and the general recent western hostility against moscow have emboldened russia to behave a little bit more aggressively. the sanctions were intended to force russia to change it's behaviour. this was stupid, it was predictably going to fail and the people pushing for these sanctions were acting out of clear ignorance of the russian mentality. this is a failure at the state department of comical proportions; it is an error that should have never even been contemplated.

a few weeks before the deal got signed, russia announced plans to move advanced anti-aircraft systems into iran. this was something the russians had previously been threatening to do, but refrained from doing as a fig leaf to the west. they kept the threat up for leverage, but didn't do it to prevent hostilities. now that those hostilities have reached dangerous levels, they are following through with their threats.

these missile systems make the containment of iran difficult to the point of nearly impossible. they are an effective deterrent against an american invasion. further, they make the nuclear option unnecessary. we can no longer bomb iran to stop them from making the nuclear weapon they wanted to make to stop us from bombing them. in that sense, this is indeed a "permanent" solution - it's a permanent acceptance of the loss of iran.

once you understand the situation, you understand why the republicans are kneejerking - they refuse to accept the loss of iran. but, that does not make them any less foolish. as iran is now protected from attack by russian missiles, the entire basis of the sanctions regime has fallen apart. a refusal to sign the deal will not do anything to prevent the loss of iran, but will do everything to piss off the rest of the world. there's little indication that they care, but this is folly at a frightening level - and as mentioned could have disastrous consequences.

what we will see in the next few years is increasing iranian integration into russian and chinese organizations, like the sco. there's even talk about them being the first non-soviet state into the csto. trade will increase across asia, as eastern countries increasingly ignore the sanctions.

and the fact is that america cannot prevent this. it can only sign a weak agreement to save a little bit of face, and look mildly foolish rather than irrelevantly weak.

had they not slapped those sanctions down on russia, things may have been different. but, they set this in motion themselves.



america is not the emperor of the world. it can't just go around telling everybody else what to do.

Ryan Herich
It can tell iran

deathtokoalas
+Ryan Herich no. the takeaway from the situation is that it cannot, that the rest of the world will not stand around and watch any longer and that it is time to move on.