Fareed Zakaria, "The shape of a deal with Iran": Brown-Nosing the President

One of Obama's favorite columnists, Fareed Zakaria, begins his Washington Post opinion piece, "The shape of a deal with Iran" (http://www.washingtonpost.com/opinions/2012/04/11/gIQAAmaQBT_story.html?hpid=z2), by lavishing praise on the president:

"The Obama administration’s Iran strategy has worked so far. Unprecedented pressure has forced Tehran to the negotiating table."

Zaakaria would have us believe that Obama's Iran strategy, which began with a stillborn charm campaign to win over the mullahs soon after the president's inauguration, yielded results? Was Obama's refusal to support Iran's Green Revolution, which led to the murder, torture and imprisonment of regime opponents by the Iranian Revolutionary Guard, a part of this strategy? Did Obama's opposition to Senate sanctions, which were backed 100-0 (see: http://jgcaesarea.blogspot.com/2011/12/iran-obamas-secret-agenda.html), also purportedly help bring Iran to bay?

Well, let's begin by observing that the talks this weekend among Iran and the “P5+1” — the United States, Britain, Russia, China, France and Germany - represent just another attempt at stalling by Khamenei. As reported by DEBKAfile (see: http://www.debka.com/article/21911/), Iran intends to condition any compromise over Iran's nuclear weapons ambitions upon similar terms being slapped upon Israel, notwithstanding the fact that Israel has never threatened to wipe another country off the map.

Zakaria, like Obama in his secret message to Khamenei (see: http://jgcaesarea.blogspot.com/2012/04/obama-sends-message-to-irans-supreme.html), seizes upon the Supreme Leader's February declaration that "The Iranian nation has never pursued and will never pursue nuclear weapons . . . because the Islamic Republic, logically, religiously and theoretically, considers the possession of nuclear weapons a grave sin and believes the proliferation of such weapons is senseless, destructive and dangerous." And Zakaria, of course, believes Khamenei.

I wonder whether Zakaria also believes Khamenei's February declaration that "The tumor of Israel, which is in fact cancerous, must be removed from the region, and this will definitely happen" (see: http://jgcaesarea.blogspot.com/2012/03/nicholas-kristof-false-debate-about.html).

The reality is that Iran will be delighted to abandon its nuclear weapons program if Israel is also deprived of its atomic arsenal. Without a deterrent, Israel can expect a hailstorm of some 200,000 conventional missiles from Iran, Syria, Hezbollah and Hamas aimed at Tel Aviv, Haifa and Jerusalem.

And when the negotiations with Iran fail, Zakaria has already fingered a scapegoat:

"The Obama administration’s strategy is to tell Iran: All we are asking is that you demonstrate this in concrete actions. That’s a smart way to frame its demands. But if Iran does make concessions, the United States would have to accept them and relax some sanctions. And this is where the second important group, Republicans in Washington, could be an obstacle. If they demagogue any deal, or refuse to reciprocate on sanctions, there will be no deal.

The administration has handled its allies, Russia, China, the United Nations and even Tehran with skill. To succeed, however, it has to tackle its most formidable foe, with whom it has not had much negotiating success: Republicans."

Wow! Zakaria would have us believe that those nefarious Republicans are worse than the Russians, the Chinese and the Iranians. Yet the Senate sanctions against Iran, which Obama sought to torpedo, had the approval of every American senator, both Republican and Democrat. Yeah, I know, in an election year, someone else always has to assume the blame, and given Obama's failed foreign policy, there will be considerable blame to be shifted around.