Come for the politics, stay for the snark.

Narcissists are always shocked to discover other people have agency.

The republican caucus is covering themselves with something, and it is not glory.

Humiliatingly small and eclipsed by the derision of millions.

If you cannot answer whether trump lost the 2020 election, you are unfit for office.

You cannot shame the shameless.

Usually wrong but never in doubt

if you can’t see it, then you are useless in the fight to stop it.

Dear Washington Post, you are the darkness now.

We cannot abandon the truth and remain a free nation.

They are not red states to be hated; they are voter suppression states to be fixed.

Why is it so hard for them to condemn hate?

Republicans choose power over democracy, every day.

People are complicated. Love is not.

“The defense has a certain level of trust in defendant that the government does not.”

We still have time to mess this up!

Balloon Juice, where there is always someone who will say you’re doing it wrong.

It may be funny to you motherfucker, but it’s not funny to me.

My years-long effort to drive family and friends away has really paid off this year.

If you are still in the gop, you are either an extremist yourself, or in bed with those who are.

One of our two political parties is a cult whose leader admires Vladimir Putin.

Republicans: The threats are dire, but my tickets are non-refundable!

I’m more christian than these people and i’m an atheist.

Republican speaker of the house Mike Johnson is the bland and smiling face of evil.

Good lord, these people are nuts.

You are here: Home / Foreign Affairs / Danger is His Middle Name

Danger is His Middle Name

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I love the No Fucks to Give White House–

White House spokesman Josh Earnest belittled Republican Sen. Tom Cotton of Arkansas as an “international man of mystery” Thursday following the lawmaker’s claim to have uncovered a secret side deal of the Iranian nuclear accord while on a mission to Europe – information Mr. Earnest contended was readily available on the Internet.

“I hope that Senator Cotton had a pleasant trip to Vienna, but his travel was not necessary to learn the information he claims to have obtained,” said Mr. Earnest, dubbing the freshman senator “Tom Cotton, international man of mystery” – a reference to the 1997 Austin Powers movie about a goofy, hipster secret agent.

Thanks, Arkansas.

Reader Interactions

141Comments

  1. 1.

    c u n d gulag

    He’s more like an ‘international man of hysteria.”

    But, maybe Graham’s already got the rights to that!

  2. 2.

    Schlemazel

    I might have to change my mind about this administration if they keep this up. I have felt from the beginning that they were not confrontational enough. I understand PBHO wanted to try to change the tone and find compromise but it was obvious that was never going to happen. Those guys should have been pointing and laughing since 2010. The Republican clown car deserves nothing more than derision so it is nice to see them finally getting it. MAybe the kool kids will play along, it does seem to be their oeuvre.

  4. 4.

    Villago Delenda Est

    I would love to gather some of Cotton’s NCOs from his Iraq tour together for some beers and find out the true skinny on this guy.

  6. 6.

    jl

    @rikyrah:

    ” Will never forget the Iranian negotiator clowning Cotton on twitter. ”

    And IIRC the Iranians clowned Cotton after Cotton put some bellicose provocation up on twitter himself.
    And that incident gives a good picture of how the Cotton Club’s proposals will go down in real life when attempted: total fail and disaster and backfire. Just like their mentors Cheney and Dub’s did.

  7. 7.

    jl

    An old theme emerges at a ‘Southern Heritage’ protest: white racist says real problem is the Communists and the Jews.messing it up for stolid right minded whites and blacks who both want separate but equal ways of life. Remember that when the GOP dog whistles to this group.

    No wonder European fascists like the Confederate (battle) flag (of Lee’s Army of Northern Virginia) as a surrogate dog whistle for their favored but outlawed brands.

    Good Times At Stone Mountain
    http://talkingpointsmemo.com/edblog/good-times-at-stone-mountain

  8. 8.

    NorthLeft12

    So, who paid for this clown’s trip to Vienna? I was there about a month ago, and let me tell you it ain’t cheap!

    This guy is quickly making a name for himself as the most foolish US Senator currently in office….although he has a lot of competition; Inhofe, Cruz, Graham, Ernst, Vitter, Ayotte, Johnson, Lee, …

  9. 9.

    NorthLeft12

    @jl: Sad part of his foolishness is that a large number of Americans really don’t understand how big an asshat Cotton is, and how he was made to look foolish by the Iranians.

    They don’t hear about it or if they did, don’t get it.

  10. 10.

    trollhattan

    So very funny. Maybe the best part is somebody is going to have to explain it to him.

  11. 11.

    Schlemazel

    @efgoldman:
    They believe that they are so much smarter than everyone else they simply MUST be put in charge. They are so smart that it must be some sort of evil conspiracy that they are not in charge. These are the lowest of the low. The know they are lying through their teeth but believe they are so clever that they will fool enough voters that they will get elected. It has worked for them so far. The truth is they believe in only one thing, themselves & they will do or say whatever it takes to become President. Noodle help us if one of these bastards ever does win.

  12. 12.

    Mike in NC

    Cotton might have gone to Vienna in search of the factory where they produce those tiny sausages he likes so much.

  13. 13.

    jl

    @efgoldman: I can barely listen or watch any news with these people on. They just peddle lies and fantasies. I woke up to radio alarm today to the sound of Ol’ Huck spouting Cotton inspired BS about the Iran deal.

    My own opinion is that the reactionaries and neocons really do not care about Iranian nukes, since we can always threaten to nuclear strike the country into oblivion if they use a nuclear weapon. That raises WWIII nuclear combat issues if Russia gets annoyed or threatened enough, but our jingoistic fools won’t keep any caution for raving like lunatics.

    It is just a pretext for them to get some more wars started. That is all they care about.

    If the WH continues its more aggressive PR stance, I hope it does not just keep pointing out their opponents on the Iranian deal propose no realistic alternatives, but starts to describe what those are, and broaches issue of what the opponents are really thinking.

    I think the opponents have been lying for years about many aspects of the Iranian nuclear program in ways that have not been discussed at all.

    Iran is never going to give up its nuclear energy or research program. It long predates their revolution, and the population strongly supports their right to pursue one. It is one of the very few points of political continuity between the old client-state of Western powers Iran of the Shah, and the current regime.

  14. 14.

    Benw

    @Schlemazel: I think Obama was in a unique situation early in his presidency, that a white president wouldn’t have faced. The media and Rs were dying to make him an an “angry black man” at which point he could have been dismissed. Like Jackie Robinson, Obama had to rise above, and they couldn’t pigeonhole him. And it had the other effect of highlighting the other side’s racism toward him.

    Also, once the Rs torpedoed the stupid Grand Bargain and almost hysterically shut down the gov’t, the Obama administration got a lot more combative, which was around 2010, I think. Anyway if you want confrontational Democrats you couldn’t do better than my main man:

    SANDERS 2016

  17. 17.

    jl

    Sorry to go OT again, but interesting news has been percolating about failure to finalize TPP negotiations.

    Surprisingly (sarcasm alert), one of the main sticking points is an old chestnut of the hypocritical free trade talk of rich industrial economies: Australia, Canada, Japan, NZ and US squabbling about agricultural and dairy/livestock protections for domestic industries.

    And other countries rebelling against US trying to force its patent policy on pharmaceuticals and biologics.
    The impasse lasts long enough into election cycle, may be chance to delay a decision and stop its worst features.

    I’ve read a few stories about this, but will link to a post in Lawyers Guns and Money blog:
    http://www.lawyersgunsmoneyblog.com/2015/08/new-problems-for-the-trans-pacific-partnership

  18. 18.

    RaflW

    @jl:

    And that incident gives a good picture of how the Cotton Club’s proposals will go down in real life when attempted: total fail and disaster and backfire. Just like their mentors Cheney and Dub’s did.

    It is just a bit shocking how the current GOP fails to grasp that our reputation among, oh, say Britain, Germany, Australia and a few other of our close allies is again teetering on the brink of ridicule.

    The Iran deal is not some worst-job phone-in from moooslem Obambi. It’s what is possible in a complex, multivariate negotiation. Blow it up and we don’t get something better – we possibly get a proxy war for Bibi. But the coalition of the willing will make what Cheney and Rummy cobbled together for Gulf War II look like Strikeforce Delta.

    We’re gonna be out there all alone on this one. And I don’t think even the American public will support it for more than about 30 minutes, jingoistic MSM sousaphoning and all.

  20. 20.

    Brachiator

    @jl:

    My own opinion is that the reactionaries and neocons really do not care about Iranian nukes, since we can always threaten to nuclear strike the country into oblivion if they use a nuclear weapon. That raises WWIII nuclear combat issues if Russia gets annoyed or threatened enough, but our jingoistic fools won’t keep any caution for raving like lunatics.

    I don’t think that Iran is developing nukes to threaten the US. I also don’t see Russia intervening in this, but then again, no one really knows what Putin is thinking.

    It is just a pretext for them to get some more wars started. That is all they care about.

    I don’t think this is totally true, but then again, I don’t think that the GOP has a rational foreign policy.

    Iran is never going to give up its nuclear energy or research program. It long predates their revolution, and the population strongly supports their right to pursue one. It is one of the very few points of political continuity between the old client-state of Western powers Iran of the Shah, and the current regime.

    Iran is playing an interesting game of chicken. They may want a bomb and believe that they have a right to a bomb, but Israel will work hard to prevent this, even if they have to launch a pre-emptive strike without US approval. Some in Iran think it work the risk to do whatever they can do to get a bomb, as this will give them tremendous leverage vis a vis the Saudis and the Israelis.

  23. 23.

    Roger Moore

    @Brachiator:

    I don’t think that Iran is developing nukes to threaten the US.

    They don’t want to threaten to nuke us, if that’s what you mean, but they do want a credible deterrent to US attacks. After what’s happened to Afghanistan and Iraq, I find it hard to blame them.

  25. 25.

    jl

    @Schlemazel: I have a hunch that some of the change is due to changing public approval of the Obama administration, which has grown more favorable with continued economic expansion and more people seeing benefits to health care reform. So, he sees most people in favor of his, and Democratic policies, and now is chance to be more aggressive.

    I think Obama is too good a politician to have just accepted the ‘Angry Black Man’ theory without testing it. Just my hunch of course, but I think there is some political calculation behind the turn toward ‘don’t give an eff anymore’. I also think Obama is very concerned about preserving and extending his legacy, and that requires at least a Democratic president starting in 2017, I don’t see why he would be any less disciplined and focused on that task than anything else he does politically.

  26. 26.

    raven

    But perhaps the best demonstration of Cotton’s character is his attempt to portray himself as U.S. Army Special Ops soldier when in fact he was an infantry platoon leader. During his campaign for the U.S. House, he gave a television interview on the tenth anniversary of 9/11 saying, “I was a U.S. Army Ranger.” In two campaign ads, previously available on YouTube and now apparently deleted, he reportedly made the same claim. This can charitably be described as a stretch of qualifications and at worst, an outright lie. Pegged by one veteran as a “hollow soldier,” Cotton strives to pass himself as a member of the special ops forces when he was instead a combat platoon leader with the 101st Airborne. Tom Cotton was a graduate of the 61 day Army Ranger School, which entitled him to wear the Ranger Tab. Understand that virtually every infantry officer wears this decoration, awarded to “any person who successfully complete(s) a Ranger Course conducted by the Ranger Training Command at Fort Benning, Georgia.” This officer’s training school is characterized as a “ticket punch” school, vital to advancing an infantry officer’s career. A U.S. Army Ranger is considered someone who serves in a Ranger Battalion or in the 75th Ranger Regiment and in addition to the Ranger Tab would be entitled to wear the Special Forces Tab on his uniform. By inferring that he was a special ops Ranger, Cotton compromised his oath of office and service.

    Cotton was honorably discharged from the U.S. Army with the rank of Captain. Among his medals and commendations include the Bronze Star. One would think that a Harvard Law alum would be capable of more profound quotes than “”You may be tired of war, but war is not tired of you.” He also seemingly perpetuates the myth that Saddam Hussein was a radical Islamic jihadist involved with the 9/11 attack when he states “”Iraq and Afghanistan, as much as we might see those as distinct, are just two battle fronts in (the) war (on terrorism).” He advocates a policy of “regime change” in Iran, a thinly veiled euphemism for the forceful removal and replacement of the nation’s leadership. Bear in mind that Iran is a republic with an executive branch and a democratically elected unicameral legislature, albeit subject to the constitutional powers of the “Supreme Leader.”

    Bet there is no “V” device on that Bronzie

  27. 27.

    Mike J

    @Brachiator:

    Iran is playing an interesting game of chicken. They may want a bomb and believe that they have a right to a bomb, but Israel will work hard to prevent this, even if they have to launch a pre-emptive strike without US approval. Some in Iran think it work the risk to do whatever they can do to get a bomb, as this will give them tremendous leverage vis a vis the Saudis and the Israelis.

    Iran knows the best insurance against being attacked is a credible nuclear deterrent. The Republicans are like Juror #3 in 12 Angry Men. “What’s the matter with you people? This kid is guilty! He’s got to burn! We’re letting him slip through our fingers here.”

  28. 28.

    jl

    @Brachiator: From what I have read, the Iranian population strongly supports a nuclear program of some sort, enough of one to give them the capability of building a nuclear bomb if they decide to. So, the problem is not going away. Unless there were a regime change that brought back something like the Shah, but much more flunkified for US interests, and that is simply not going to happen.

  29. 29.

    Kay

    @jl:

    It’s amazing how bad the coverage is. If we thought the health care coverage was bad, wait until this thing drops.

    Japanese Minister Akira Amari said the issue was not settled, but offered few details. “I believe there has been major progress made,” he said through a translator, adding that the parties are “about to reach a landing zone.” For his part, Froman said the U.S. was seeking an outcome in autos that would drive production in the region.

    In what region? North America? Mexico, specifically? Japan? There will have to be some kind of shared effort to read it on the internet or something. That’s the only way we’ll ever know what’s in it. Also, if I could offer a suggestion to the Clinton campaign, on this?

    If a deal is struck soon, Obama might still push the agreement through Congress before Iowa and New Hampshire hold their early presidential primaries. If a deal happened much later than that, though, Clinton might be forced by opponents such as Sen. Bernie Sanders into a position of opposing the agreement or promising to renegotiate if elected president.

    She should not, under any circumstances, “promise to renegotiate if elected”. She should go out, face all the people who oppose it, admit she supported and now supports the deal and stop lying about trade. If she is planning on dodging this by “promising to renegotiate” she should reconsider that idea. It makes it worse.

  33. 33.

    Brachiator

    @Roger Moore:

    They don’t want to threaten to nuke us, if that’s what you mean, but they do want a credible deterrent to US attacks.

    I don’t even see this as a credible deterrent to a US attack. North Korea, as a counter example, would more threaten South Korea and Japan with their nukes than they would be a threat to the US.

    And an Iranian nuke would not even be a credible deterrent in a conflict with Israel. If anything, it would guarantee at worst mutually assured destruction.

    @jl

    From what I have read, the Iranian population strongly supports a nuclear program of some sort, enough of one to give them the capability of building a nuclear bomb if they decide to. So, the problem is not going away.

    The problem may not be going away, but neither is the threat of an Israeli response. Here, the Iranians are as foolish as Saddam Hussein. Hussein didn’t have WMDs and had a right to assert its sovereignty, but may have escaped invasion had they yielded to the US very early on.

    The Iranian people may want nukes (and whatever happened to non-proliferation), but they put themselves at risk to pursue nukes.

    Unless there were a regime change that brought back something like the Shah, but much more flunkified for US interests, and that is simply not going to happen.

    The GOP are fools if they think that waging war on Iran will do anything for the US. They are absolute fools if they think that they can install a pro-US puppet in Iran or probably anywhere else in the region.

  34. 34.

    Robert Sneddon

    @jl: If the Iranians wanted nuclear weapons they would have them, multiple units ready to use, by now. And they don’t.

    What I think they want is what several other countries have, a so-called “breakout” capability, the ability to build and deploy nuclear weapons in a short period of time, say six months or so. That requires a lot of infrastructure to be in place before the “go” command is issued, a lot of institutional knowledge, technicians, plant, power and materials.

    The Japanese are another nation with the industrial capability to produce nuclear weapons at short notice. They even have a home-grown ICBM design ready to rock, the Epsilon solid-fuel small satellite launcher which would be suspiciously easy to convert into a nuclear-tipped missile.

  35. 35.

    raven

    John Reed on

    Bronze Star medal
    During World War II, my dad was a battery clerk in an artillery battery of the 79th Infantry Division in Europe. Battery clerk, more often called company clerk, is the job made famous by Radar O’Reilly in the movie and TV series M*A*S*H. My dad was not like Radar O’Reilly, but he held the same central position in the battery so he was privy to all the paperwork coming through. He got the job because he was the only man in the battery who could type, a skill he learned in a high school course.

    He said that one one day during World War II when he was in Europe, word came down from higher headquarters to award the Bronze Star medal to all the officers in the battery. Another WW II vet who read this and who was in the same part of France as my dad during the war said,

    [The bronze Star without a V device for valour] was called the officer’s Good Conduct Medal.

    The Bronze Star is supposed to be awarded for courage under fire or meritorious achievement, that is, doing your job well.

    That’s a big “or.” It’s like awarding the Congressional Medal of Honor for intrepidity above and beyond the call of duty or getting no cavities at your annual dental check-up.

    I suspect the Bronze Star is awarded either for courage under fire or just failing to piss off your boss so that the hundreds of thousands of suck-ups can tell people they won the Bronze Star, but fail to mention that they got the suck-up version rather than the courage-under-fire version. When it’s for courage under fire, the Bronze Star is accompanied by the “V device” indicating valor. My freshman and sophomore year cadet roommate, Dan Kaufman, who later became Dean of the Academic Board at West Point, won the Bronze Star with V device in Vietnam. Do you suppose we could get the non-V-device guys to wear an “S device?”

    Wikipedia says,

    Most of the bronze stars awarded are for non valor and do not have the V device.

    That’s the understatement of the freaking century.

  36. 36.

    Tokyokie

    @Ralphie;: And that paragon of American individualism and free enterprise only died after being endlessly hounded by security forces of a foreign power.

  39. 39.

    jl

    @Kay: There is an obsession with the free trade aspects of the deal, which are a minor aspect of the deal, in terms of overall economic welfare effects. Most analyses say that the consumer welfare beneifits of lower conventional trade barriers are almost too small to separate from statistical noise. Proponents cherry pick some provisions, like I read there is an effective 30 percent tariff differential for US automobile exports, but I have not been able to find out the size of the markets that would be affected, and exactly what ‘US automobile’ means’. But of course the negotiations are secret until 2 or three months before a vote, and that is not long enough to analyze the details of such a complicated deal.

    From what I have read, my hunch is that the Obama’s administration thinking is
    Free trade effects on welfare are minor, so hat is a wash in the big picture. Obama knows a lot about the law and he thinks he can legalize his way to a fix to the problems with international arbitration for disputes. Powerful industries are telling him the US needs to force the rest of the world to adopt the extreme US policies on intellectual policies for strategic economic and political influence reasons. And this last is a fiendishly complicated and specialized area of economics, so, who knows, unless you are willing to read a lot of boring technical stuff.

    So, my hunch is, Obama thinks: wash, I can have some lawyers fix that, and I will defer to the Masters of the Universe in biomed and tech, and support it.

    As an economist, I think incentives will soon corrupt any legalize style tinkering with current arbitration systems for dispute resolution and that will fail. I think economics trumps law there. And the IP stuff is so complicated that 60 or 90 days is not long enough to study the language, and my belief is that US IP regime is so historically extreme in favoring monopoly rights of patent and copyright holders that it should be viewed wit suspicion anyway. It is not like it has definitely produced a land of rainbows gumdrops and magic flying unicorns ready to give us all free rides here.

    And consider just one issue that was in the news for a while: linkage between patents and licensing and generic approvals, is very complicated and no consensus I know of on best policies, so dangerous to try to bake our approach into international system without a thorough public debate (that will not happen with fast track).

  40. 40.

    Brachiator

    @Robert Sneddon:

    What I think they want is what several other countries have, a so-called “breakout” capability, the ability to build and deploy nuclear weapons in a short period of time, say six months or so. That requires a lot of infrastructure to be in place before the “go” command is issued, a lot of institutional knowledge, technicians, plant, power and materials.

    Very interesting point. I don’t think I’ve seen this suggested before.

    Would this complicate the ability of a team to do inspections? Or would it muddy the concept of verifiable compliance with any accord?

  41. 41.

    raven

    @Ralphie;: Because it was a show up for any officer doesn’t mean it wasn’t a legitimate decoration for you. I buried one of my buddies in Arlington who had just what you have.

  43. 43.

    jl

    @jl:

    I can’t edit my own damned comment, so…

    “legaize’ is supposed to be ‘legalese’

    And I mean to type:

    “Powerful industries are telling him the US needs to force the rest of the world to adopt the extreme US policies on intellectual property for strategic economic and political influence reasons.”

  44. 44.

    Ralphie;

    @raven: I tossed my decorations out of a car window on Interstate 95.The Shirley Highway. Right next to the Pentagon. Long time ago. I’m old.

  46. 46.

    Roger Moore

    @jl:

    From what I have read, the Iranian population strongly supports a nuclear program of some sort, enough of one to give them the capability of building a nuclear bomb if they decide to.

    Sure, but you have to ask how much of that is because the people at the top have been telling them that it’s really important for a long time. If their leaders come back and say that it’s more important to have a deal with the US than to have a bomb, that may shift popular opinion. If they keep it up for as long as they’ve argued in favor of a bomb, it will probably shift popular opinion back in the opposite direction.

  47. 47.

    Otmar

    FYI, we don’t call the sausages wieners here in Vienna. We call them “frankfurter”.

  48. 48.

    Omnes Omnibus

    @raven: Service in a Ranger unit does not entitle someone to an SF tab. Completing the SF Q course does. Cotton can call himself Ranger tabbed, but that’s it. Much like I can say that I was parachute qualified, but not that I was paratrooper. What a lying piece of shit.

    ETA: There is no V on his BSM. Not that there is anything wrong with that.

  50. 50.

    raven

    @Ralphie;: Me too, I never got nuthin but the standard bullshit but I the Armed Forces Expeditionary Medal I got for Korea is pretty cool! The funniest one is the Vietnamese Cross of Gallantry with Palm Frond! How the fuck do the issue a decoration for gallantry to and entire unit?

  51. 51.

    Chris

    @Brachiator:

    I don’t think this is totally true, but then again, I don’t think that the GOP has a rational foreign policy.

    I think the GOP genuinely believes that there is no problem in the international arena that cannot be resolved through sanctions, wars, or Manly Shows Of Force. You see it in the way they dismiss the very concept of diplomacy, or other silly things like “foreign aid.” And they’ve got an entire worldview built up around it concerning the deep moral implications of Not Backing Down In The Face Of Evil, but that’s what it comes down to.

    They may want a bomb and believe that they have a right to a bomb

    As JL said, “nuclear energy or research program.” That, the Iranian people support. I don’t think it’s as clear cut whether they support a nuclear arms program (or the leadership, for that matter).

  52. 52.

    Omnes Omnibus

    @raven: Everyone in the 1st Armored Division, E-7 and up, got one after the first Persian Gulf War. They are approved at the Major General level so the division commander signed off on them for all officers and senior NCOs.

  53. 53.

    raven

    @Omnes Omnibus: There’s nuthin wrong with it as long as you don’t go waving it around like it’s some big fucking deal when people like Ralph really earned it.

  56. 56.

    Robert Sneddon

    @Brachiator: Once they make a decision to go for weapons production the inspectors will be kicked out. The breakout capability is in part a bargaining chip — if the US starts pulling on it’s war boots wrt to Iran they know they’ve got a few months before anything really substantial can happen due to the simple logistics of moving a few hundred thousand troops, armour, supplies etc. to a jumping-off point. Bombing from 30,000 feet might slow weapons production up before a ground assault happens but the important places will be hardened and surrounded by modern(ish) anti-aircraft defences so nuclear capability might not be delayed by much. At the same time if Iran is bombed then you can expect the Straits of Hormuz to snap shut at the least; if the US Navy attempts to force it open again we might yet get to see if the Iranian Moskits are the CVN-killers the Soviets always intended them to be.

    Once the bombing starts the Iranians have all the justification they need in their own minds to build their first nukes which will bring the US invasion plans screeching to a halt and provide a bloody red shirt to wave in front of all the other nations of the world about the perfidious US. It will also encourage other nations to do the same. Fun ensues.

  60. 60.

    Ralphie;

    @Robert Sneddon: Pakistan, India, and Israel already have nuclear weapons North Korea , too.l don’t care, None of these nations will ever use them. We will remain the only country that has used them,

  62. 62.

    Roger Moore

    @Brachiator:

    Hussein didn’t have WMDs and had a right to assert its sovereignty, but may have escaped invasion had they yielded to the US very early on.

    I sincerely doubt there was anything Saddam could have done to prevent the invasion. Bush and Company wanted a war with him, and they weren’t going to let him get out of it by agreeing to their ultimatums.

  64. 64.

    Chris

    @Brachiator:

    Here, the Iranians are as foolish as Saddam Hussein. Hussein didn’t have WMDs and had a right to assert its sovereignty, but may have escaped invasion had they yielded to the US very early on.

    As far as this goes, it seems pretty definite that the Bush administration was going to invade Iraq no matter what. Rumsfeld started asking about it within hours of the 9/11 attacks. When they went to the UN, the Bushies got their inspections regime, and then decided to invade anyway within a few months. I don’t see what more Saddam could have done.

  66. 66.

    Ralphie;

    Windows 10 on my workstation ,laptop, tablet, and fone. Working well for me. I may be an anomaly

  67. 67.

    Chris

    @Ralphie;:

    Pakistan is the only nation for which I’ll say “all bets are off,” given how crazy unstable the place is. (Even if Iran did get nukes, I’d still rank Pakistan higher on the list of things to be worried about).

  68. 68.

    Peale

    @Kropadope: your cold heartedness demonstrates your cool reasoning skills. Although it might also belie a studied yet insane moral depravity. It’s so hard to tell the difference, which is why I judge the seriousness of our punditry on their hairstyles.

  70. 70.

    Kropadope

    @Peale:

    which is why I judge the seriousness of our punditry on their hairstyles.

    Am I to assume you’ll be voting for Trump, then?

  75. 75.

    Kropadope

    @A guy: They might be fine with disclosing their own locations. I doubt they’re OK with you disclosing you live in the same state they do.

  76. 76.

    jl

    @Roger Moore: Polls show Iranian people strongly support their right to have a strong and independent nuclear power and research program. That is different than having a nuclear weapons program. I don’t know what the support is for that in Iran.

    So, problem is how to have a strong and independent nuclear power and research program without having capability to convert some of it into a nuclear weapons program on short notice.

    My point was about an energy and research program.

  78. 78.

    a hip hop artist from Idaho (fka Bella Q)

    I still need to check out my old man’s WWII records to see if he got anything besides the purple heart. Thanks again to raven for the link.

    @Omnes Omnibus: OT, but I hope you’re not unhappy that I got a semicolon instead of a comma in your honor.

  79. 79.

    Roger Moore

    @Brachiator:

    Would this complicate the ability of a team to do inspections? Or would it muddy the concept of verifiable compliance with any accord?

    The major goal of the agreement is to deny Iran not just immediate weapons capability but also breakout capability. That’s the reason for the provisions on how much enriched Uranium they’re allowed to have, the degree of enrichment, and the number and kind of centrifuges they’re allowed to have. Basically, keeping around a stockpile of highly enriched but not weapons grade Uranium and efficient centrifuges gives you breakout capability. Lower levels of enrichment and less efficient centrifuges deny that capability.

  80. 80.

    SiubhanDuinne

    @Otmar:

    FYI, we don’t call the sausages wieners here in Vienna. We call them “frankfurter”.

    What do they call them in Frankfurt?

  82. 82.

    Chris

    @Ralphie;:

    I can definitely see us getting back to the point where our lunatics in Congress are seriously advocating the use of nuclear weapons, like Barry Goldwater and Curtis LeMay did in the sixties. There’s only so much more to the right they can go in foreign policy before they hit that spot.

    (Matter of fact, have any of them said anything like that already? I wouldn’t be shocked).

  86. 86.

    Kropadope

    @Chris:

    (Matter of fact, have any of them said anything like that already? I wouldn’t be shocked).

    I occasionally hear “something, something field of glass.” Also, I’m pretty sure W wanted small, tactical nukes.

  89. 89.

    Chris

    @Kropadope:

    Goodness, you’re right. I forgot all about that.

    A new generation of “tactical” nukes that would be ideal as “bunker busters,” IIRC, was one of the things he was big on early in his administration – that and restarting SDI,* both of which Russia and China viewed as an aberration after decades of arms control and arms reduction talks. 9/11 sort of reshuffled his priorities, but at the time he came into office, he was fully prepare to start a new arms race.

    * Don’t call it Star Wars. I like Star Wars.

  90. 90.

    NotMax

    Good on them:

    As candidates jostle to make the cut for the first GOP presidential debate this week, the McClatchy-Marist Poll has temporarily suspended polling on primary voter choices out of concern that public polls are being misused to decide who will be in and who will be excluded.
     
    The Marist Institute for Public Opinion, which conducts the national survey, said the debate criteria assume too much precision in polls in drawing a line between candidates just a fraction apart, presume that the national polls being averaged are comparable, and turn the media sponsoring most of the polls from analysts to participants. Source

  91. 91.

    a hip hop artist from Idaho (fka Bella Q)

    @Omnes Omnibus: Mr. Q. truly enjoys telling people I have some other guy’s initials on my arm after explain the concept behind the semi colon. When he told one of the barbers (the one with the tattoos) about the punctuation, “that’s cool,” but of some other guy’s initials, “not cool.” Mr. Q, “it’s okay he’s dead,” followed by “is she pining?” and thus the lead into the the semicolon significance.

  94. 94.

    Adam L Silverman

    @Villago Delenda Est: he did his second tour on a Provincial Reconstruction Team, that should tell you everything you need to know. The State Department’s own IG reported in 2007 that the PRTs were ineffective and would not be able to actually have a positive effect for at least a decade.

  95. 95.

    Adam L Silverman

    John,

    This is why we don’t let command grade officers develop strategy or make policy.

  98. 98.

    a hip hop artist from Idaho (fka Bella Q)

    @Omnes Omnibus: David Foster Wallace, who I believe would have supported the semicolon’s use as a device to discourage stigma about mental illness. It’s used as a tat for an image to promote suicide prevention, to signify “a hard pause, but not an ending.”

    @raven That’s quite funny, and no doubt deadly accurate as well.

  102. 102.

    raven

    @a hip hop artist from Idaho (fka Bella Q): Jesus, I just looked at DFW bio. He was from Urbana and went to grade school where I first coached basketball in 77. He also was in the English Department at Illinois State at the same time a buddy of mine was in the PHD program in that department! Damn.

  103. 103.

    a hip hop artist from Idaho (fka Bella Q)

    @Omnes Omnibus: I imagine the combination of the two could be frightening.

    @raven: Jim Ponsdolt is widely considered an immense talent, which has not stopped the family and DFW Literary Trust from objecting vigorously to the film.

    ETA: @ raven: That’s quite cool! I wondered if any of your Urbana connections knew the family or DFW himself. Did you ever read his essay about his time on The Straight Talk Express, from 2000?

  105. 105.

    raven

    @a hip hop artist from Idaho (fka Bella Q): I just emailed him, there is no way he could not have known him. I know nothing about him except what I have read in the reviews of the film and that wiki article. I’d never heard of David Carr either. I’m deprived.

    I just looked and he graduated from Urbana High in 80 and was a high level tennis player, I rand the sports programs at the Park District from 78-84 so he was in my wheelhouse. I’m investigating.

  106. 106.

    J R in WV

    @Ralphie;:

    You and Secretary John Kerry, who tossed his over the fence at the White House back during the Vietnam Vets Against the War action. Good move!

    I don’t think I got anything for being a bosun’s mate on a sub tender in Key West. Should have got “Best Paint Chipper” and “Best Painter Over Chipped Paint” awards, but not.

    But I was the guy they got when there was a truckload of torpedoes to crane from the trucks into the Torpedo Shop below decks. I was slow, careful, and never dropped anything. Esp nothing that could blow up~!!

  108. 108.

    raven

    @J R in WV: They actually weren’t his (according to him). A bunch if us went to that action from Champaign and didn’t know that was part of the deal. I always felt that my “decorations” were such bullshit that it would have diminished the impact had I thrown them over that fence. Being there was enough for me.

  110. 110.

    Kay

    @jl:

    As an economist, I think incentives will soon corrupt any legalize style tinkering with current arbitration systems for dispute resolution and that will fail. I think economics trumps law there.

    Last week they were hinting that they were reworking the dispute resolution mechanism so maybe the critics of that won a round. There wasn’t just opposition to that in the US, there was also opposition in Australia and Canada.

    I understand that most of it is centered on IP and patent, which I don’t pretend to understand. The part that worries me the most is not actually the trade portions but instead the push toward designating publicly-owned entities and services as protectionist and a restriction on trade. That will encourage privatization and I don’t think we need any more of that in the US.

  112. 112.

    Suzanne

    It is unusual that I like anything written by William Saletan, but I deeply enjoyed and appreciated his take on the GOP w/r/t the Iran deal.

  114. 114.

    Bruce Webb

    @raven:

    Bet there is no “V” device on that Bronzie

    For those that don’t know the Bronze Star is kind of an odd duck. It can be awarded for Valor in combat, which would make it the fourth level medal for that, but still something worth noting and admiring. On the other hand it is often given out for something closer to “Outstanding Conduct”, mostly but not always for actually successfully leading troops into combat.

    A soldier with a Silver Star is a hero. Not a superhero necessarily, there are two levels of medals up above for those folk, but still somebody above and beyond. A soldier with a Bronze Star may or not have been a hero, if so but not quite up to Silver you get a V for Valor. If just an excellent soldier, or these days maybe just a company commander that didn’t lose his shit under fire, a “Bronzie” with “no “V” device”.

  116. 116.

    Brachiator

    @Chris:

    I think the GOP genuinely believes that there is no problem in the international arena that cannot be resolved through sanctions, wars, or Manly Shows Of Force.

    This covers too wide a range of options to be meaningful. Lots of people, left and center (not so much right) supported sanctions against South Africa.

    And America has a long history of distrusting the use of diplomacy, seeing it as weak and effete, and that foreign diplomats from all countries are much like oily snake oil salesmen. This is a weird historically American thing (seen as early as the XYZ affair in 1797), distrust of diplomacy, intellectuals, anyone who is not a straight shooter. But it has curdled in a particularly nasty way with Republicans.

    And they’ve got an entire worldview built up around it concerning the deep moral implications of Not Backing Down In The Face Of Evil, but that’s what it comes down to.

    And Americans have seen foreign countries attempt to accommodate their foes today only to go to war tomorrow. The problem is that the GOP focuses on times when diplomacy failed as opposed to the times when it guaranteed a longer period of stability, if not outright peace.

    As JL said, “nuclear energy or research program.” That, the Iranian people support. I don’t think it’s as clear cut whether they support a nuclear arms program (or the leadership, for that matter).

    I think that JL is willing to acknowledge that the nuclear programs could be used for weapons development as much as for anything else. It may well not be that clear cut, but the ambiguity does not work in Iran’s favor.

  117. 117.

    raven

    @Omnes Omnibus:

    ” Further confusing the issue was the fact that Kerry did lob the medals of two no-show veterans toward the Marshall statue at their request. “The point of the exercise was to symbolically give something up,” Kerry recalled in his defense. “I chose my ribbons, which is what many of the veterans did.” The medals he tossed had been given to him by two angry veterans who wouldn’t make it to Washington; he was merely serving as their surrogate. Before Kerry discarded his ribbons, he declared: “I’m not doing this for any violent reason, but for peace and justice, and to try to make this country wake up once and for all.”

  118. 118.

    Kropadope

    @Brachiator:

    And America has a long history of distrusting the use of diplomacy, seeing it as weak and effete, and that foreign diplomats from all countries are much like oily snake oil salesmen.

    Like that sneaky Ben Franklin running off to France to ask for “help.”

  120. 120.

    Brachiator

    @Roger Moore:

    @Chris

    I sincerely doubt there was anything Saddam could have done to prevent the invasion. Bush and Company wanted a war with him, and they weren’t going to let him get out of it by agreeing to their ultimatums.

    This is probably true. Saddam Hussein had been pushed into a game that he could not win.

    However, had he allowed inspectors in from the very beginning, he might have blunted the build up of any coalition of nations to stand against him. There might not have been the UN dog and pony show and the phony citations of WMDs and other programs. He might have actually been able to get support from other countries and a UN veto against US intervention.

    Of course, we don’t know what new lies the Bush Administration would have come up with in order to justify what they wanted to do. But Saddam Hussein played into their hands and made it too easy.

  122. 122.

    Brachiator

    @Kropadope:
    RE: And America has a long history of distrusting the use of diplomacy, seeing it as weak and effete, and that foreign diplomats from all countries are much like oily snake oil salesmen.

    Like that sneaky Ben Franklin running off to France to ask for “help.”

    Kinda why the XYZ affair struck so deep a chord with Americans. They thought that France was our friend, only to find that for some, the US was merely a convenient piece to play in a European conflict with Great Britain.

    And Ben Franklin love diplomatting; John Adams, not so much.

  123. 123.

    Kropadope

    @Brachiator: Just learned about that for the first time just now. Yeah, that’s crazy, although it sounds like it ended by…wait for it…further diplomacy. Looks like it also set in motion the American tradition of saber-rattling to disparage political enemies and build up the military.

  124. 124.

    jl

    @Brachiator:

    ” And Ben Franklin love diplomatting; John Adams, not so much. ”

    Probably a paraphrase, but Franklin wrote that Adams was always an honest man, and often a wise one, but in some things and at some times, simply and completely mad.

    The quality of our US conservatives has been all downhill since then.

  125. 125.

    SRW1

    @SiubhanDuinne:

    What do they call them in Frankfurt?

    Don’t know about Frankfurt, but only slightly further to the South (in Swabia) they call them ‘Wienerle’, which is the diminutive of ‘Wiener’, ie Viennese.

  126. 126.

    Bill Arnold

    @Robert Sneddon:

    What I think they want is what several other countries have, a so-called “breakout” capability, the ability to build and deploy nuclear weapons in a short period of time, say six months or so.

    Much of the Iran deal is about extending the breakout time. (I’m seeing the term “Threshold state” used as well.)
    Another aspect of the calculations is that the Iranians know that their acquisition of actual nuclear weapons would launch an extremely dangerous and expensive arms race in the area. (Ballistic missile flight times are very short.)
    Also, Iran is much more populous than Iraq, so an invasion and occupation would would be far more expensive than the Iraq invasion and occupation, and the Iranians know this.

  127. 127.

    Kropadope

    @Bill Arnold:

    Much of the Iran deal is about extending the breakout time

    Currently estimated at 3 months, I believe. They want to extend it to a year.

  128. 128.

    Brachiator

    @Kropadope:

    Looks like it also set in motion the American tradition of saber-rattling to disparage political enemies and build up the military.

    You might be very right here.

    @jl

    Probably a paraphrase, but Franklin wrote that Adams was always an honest man, and often a wise one, but in some things and at some times, simply and completely mad.

    Hah! Close enough. Franklin was probably more fair in his assessment of Adams than Adams was of Franklin.

    If I were in Congress, and this gentleman and the marble Mercury in the garden of Versailles were in nomination for an embassy, I would not hesitate to give my vote for the statue, upon the principle that it would do no harm.”

    Funny how Franklin is earthy, while Adams is more stiff and formal. But then again, Franklin has always been one of my favorite founders.

    The quality of our US conservatives has been all downhill since then.

    Very true.

  129. 129.

    Tree With Water

    @Schlemazel: With soaring, gleeful hearts, the republican party successfully plotted and launched a “pre-emptive” war a mere dozen years ago. That’s who they are. Strangely enough, most Americans tend to overlook that fact. They pretend good people were misled by faulty intelligence. We’re counseled to “look forward, not back”, when the real message is “don’t look at all, and STFU about what you do know”.

  134. 134.

    Adam L Silverman

    @raven:@Roger Moore: The only the link I can find right now is to the Washington Times from 2006, so… , but in 2008 there were several news reports, based on some leaked documents, about Iran’s understanding of how to deal with an American invasion. Basically, it boiled down to: closing the Straits of Hormuz; pulling as much of the civilian populace as possible out of the population centers – cities, towns, villages – embedding Soldiers with them under the command of Quds Force personnel; engaging in both unconventional and irregular warfare to attrit the invaders. There was a lot of speculation that what was leaked was intended to be deceptive or as a smokescreen, but it makes a lot of sense. The Iranians cannot match the US in a conventional Land Force on Land Force campaign and their best strategist and theater commander is the Major General Suleimani – the Quds Force Commander. They have a lot of geography, the ability to project just enough power to at least (temporarily) close off/disrupt several ground and sea lines of communication and commerce for petroleum, and they’ve watched American conventional forces have tactical success, but strategic failure in both the Afghan and Iraq campaigns. Given this context, this type of war planning would make perfect sense given the asymmetry in Iranian military capabilities in regard to American ones.

  135. 135.

    boatboy_srq

    @efgoldman: In the UK there’s a special term for people like that: “public school boys”. Means they went to the good schools but didn’t learn a darned thing, and despite being surrounded by people who should have at least taught them manners still behave like arseholes.

  137. 137.

    grumpy realist

    @jl: Speaking as an IP person, fat chance of that happening. Europe is never going to go for certain types of patents, and even here in the US, we’ve been tiptoeing away from thinking computer software as being patentable. (Technically it’s still allowable, but we’re getting a lot of our prosecution cases thrown out on 101 grounds.)

    Go read the CLS Bank decision by SCOTUS and you’ll see why.

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