God Allowed Obama To Do It (Ezekiel 17)

Who authorized Obama to kick over the nuclear balance?

By James Lewis

 

The whole world now understands President Obama’s caudillo style, his autocratic style of governance. We know about the abuse of the IRS, the Department of Justice and our immigration system. We see his contempt for the constitutional powers of Congress. Yet even the US Supreme Court has ducked any chance to restrain him.

American presidents have a lot more free rein in foreign affairs compared to the domestic side, and here Obama has done his worst. When NATO assaulted Libya in 2011 without provocation, Obama was asked whether Congress shouldn’t have a role under the War Powers Act. He just laughed.
As a result, we are now viewed with suspicion by our allies, and we’re laughed at by our enemies. Obama shows no compassion at all — especially to Muslims, who have died by the tens and hundreds of thousands in Syria, Libya, Egypt and now Yemen, following actions by this president. Al Qaida is stronger than ever, and ISIS receives direct support from Obama’s “friends” in Turkey and Qatar.

George W. Bush was witch-hunted for years by the media after the Iraq invasion, but no liberal newspaper can be heard complaining about Obama’s reckless interventions in the Middle East. There are no constraints on Obama.

Still his most dangerous move has been to kick over the nuclear balance in the Middle East.

I’ve never met a liberal who understood how the balance of nuclear power kept the Cold War cold for six decades. The same balance of terror kept the peace between India and Pakistan after the 1970s, when both countries exploded nukes. In the Middle East, Israel’s never-used nuclear weapons helped to sustain the forty-year Peace Treaty with Egypt, because both sides knew that Israel would never be the first to use nuclear weapons. Before Obama, the United States also kept things under control in close coordination with our allies.

From Truman to Bush we had allies who understood and supported us to protect themselves. Today they are frantically arming up, because we have destroyed their trust. Obama has made the world more dangerous.

We are no longer the good cop in the Middle East.  Iran’s proxies now control nearly all of Lebanon, much of Iraq and Syria, and most recently Yemen. The mullahs have systematically driven a strategic pincer around Israel, Saudi Arabia, Jordan and Egypt. Yemen has closed the trap.

Liberals never seem to understand two basic points about nukes. 

1.  Rational powers never use nukes aggressively, for fear of being destroyed by a nuclear opponent. After Stalin’s death, the USSR became increasingly rational. China, Britain and France have had nuclear weapons without ever using them. The United States used nuclear weapons only once, against a non-nuclear Japan, to put an end to the Second World War. Since then no rational nation has ever used a nuclear weapon.  
2. Irrational powers are completely different. The Kim dynasty in Pyongyang and the Armageddon priesthood in Tehran can’t be relied on to play it safe. They sound delighted to use nuclear weapons even at mortal risk to themselves. It’s impossible to know if they are lying or not. Nobody knows, including the rogues themselves.

Every single day the mullahs make their school children and Basiji thugs chant Death to Israel! Death to America! The whole purpose of that exercise in fanatical hatred is to scare the world. Like the Kims of North Korea, the mullahs get off on sounding crazy about nukes.

Which is why Obama’s surrender to the mullahs does not mean peace in our time. It could mean the opposite. As Churchill said to Chamberlain, “You were given the choice between war and dishonour. You chose dishonour, and you will have war.” In the following year, 1939, the Nazis invaded Poland and Churchill’s prediction came true.  

Obama is now openly letting the mullahs threaten genocide against Israel and the Sunni Arabs. Iran is Shi’ite, and the Sunni Arabs are apostates. They deserve death. Israel is also subject to Armageddon. (So are Europe and America, unless we surrender first.)

Neither the Saudis nor the Israelis take the threat lightly, and if necessary they will strike first.

Obama has therefore significantly increased the risk of nuclear war. So much for that old Nobel Peace Prize.

A Sunni-Israel alliance is emerging. The Saudis are allied with Egypt, and Israel is secretly cooperating with them against the Iranian threat.

When the cop on the beat gets drunk, the neighborhood doesn’t suddenly become safer. Instead, the crooks take over, like some Chicago neighborhoods.

Obama’s has promised that Iran can now act like “a regional power,” and the United States won’t intervene. But Iran doesn’t want to be a regional power. Islam is a world-conquering faith, and they want it all.

The Jesuits used to say “give me a boy before he is seven, and we will have him for life.” Obama went to an Indonesian madrassa between age six and ten. Obama knows about jihad.

The mullahs have already used Hezb’allah to infiltrate South America. They have deep tentacles into Argentina. On the other extreme, ISIS was just reported to be running a training camp in Mexico, just 8 miles from the Texas border.

As bad as Obama is domestically, in foreign policy he is downright dangerous. That’s what happens when the Left falls in love with a radical leftist with lifelong anger problems.

Obama Bites The Bait (Ezekiel 17)

Obama: ‘Supreme Leader Ayatollah Khamenei Has Issued Fatwa Against Development Of Nuclear Weapons’-Khamenei: ‘Death To America’

By Terence P. Jeffrey, CNS News

President Barack Obama said this week that the Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, the supreme leader of Iran, has isued a fatwa against the development of nuclear weapons.

“Iran’s Supreme Leader Ayatollah Khamenei has issued a fatwa against the development of nuclear weapons, and President Rouhani has said that Iran would never develop a nuclear weapon,” Obama said.

Other administration officials–including Secretary of State John Kerry and Deputy National Security Adviser Ben Rhodes–have previously referred to the ayatollah’s reported fatwa in the context of the ongoing nuclear negotations with Iran.

Last month, in a speech to his air force commanders, the ayatollah boasted of Iran’s achievement in enriching uranium to the 20-percent level. Twice during the speech, according a transcript made by the BBC, the air force commanders chanted: “Death to America.”

Director of National Intelligence James Clapper has testified in Congress that, as Iran’s supreme leader, the ayatollah will personally–“singly”–decide whether Iran builds a nuclear weapon.

Obama made his observation about the supreme leader’s fatwa in a video statement to the Iranian people about his and First Lady Michelle Obama’s observation of the Iranian new year’s holiday of “Nowruz.” The video was posted on the White House website with Farsi subtitles.

“To everyone celebrating Nowruz—across the United States and in countries around the world—Nowruz Mubarak,” Obama said at the beginning of his statement. “For thousands of years, this has been a time to gather with family and friends and welcome a new spring and a new year.  Last week, my wife Michelle helped mark Nowruz here at the White House.”

Obama called on the Iranians to help him overcome people in the United States and elsewhere who oppose the nuclear deal he is trying to negotiate with Iran.

“Our negotiations have made progress, but gaps remain,” he said. “And there are people, in both our countries and beyond, who oppose a diplomatic resolution. My message to you—the people of Iran—is that, together, we have to speak up for the future we seek.

“As I have said many times before, I believe that our countries should be able to resolve this issue peacefully, with diplomacy,” Obama said. “Iran’s Supreme Leader Ayatollah Khamenei has issued a fatwa against the development of nuclear weapons, and President Rouhani has said that Iran would never develop a nuclear weapon.

“Together with the international community, the United States has said that Iran should have access to peaceful nuclear energy, consistent with Iran’s international obligations,” Obama said. “So there is a way for Iran—if it is willing to take meaningful, verifiable steps—to assure the world that its nuclear program is, in fact, for peaceful purposes only.”

On Sept. 25, 2009, the Obama White House sponsored a background briefing by “senior administration officials” who said that Iran had been discovered covertly building uranium enrichment facilities twice. One was at Natanz, another near Qom.

A “senior administration official” explained at that time why it was logical to conclude that the second secret facility was designed to produce enriched uranium for a nuclear weapon not for peaceful purposes.

“Our information is that the facility is designed to hold about 3,000 centrifuge machines,” said the official. “Now, that’s not a large enough number to make any sense from a commercial standpoint. It cannot produce a significant quantity of low-enriched uranium. But if you want to use the facility in order to produce a small amount of weapons-grade uranium, enough for a bomb or two a year, it’s the right size. And our information is that the Iranians began this with the intent that it be secret, and therefore giving them the option of producing weapons-grade uranium without the international community knowing about it.”

Ayatollah Khamenei, who as Iran’s supreme leader is commander in chief of the Iranian military, gave a speech on Feb. 8 to the commanders of the Iranian Air Force. In this speech, the ayatollah boasted about Iran’s technical accomplishment in enriching uranium to the 20-percent level–which is beyond what is needed for peaceful power production.

“Those who are experts on this matter know that producing 20 percent from 5 percent is much more significant than producing uranium which is higher than 20 percent,” he said. “However, our youth and our committed scientists did so.”

The Congressional Research Service has explained why this is a problem. “LEU used in nuclear power reactors typically contains less than 5% uranium-235,” said CRS, “research reactor fuel can be made using 20% uranium-235; HEU used in nuclear weapons typically contains about 90% uranium-235.”

“Iran’s production of LEU enriched to the 20% level has caused concern because such production requires approximately 90% of the effort necessary to produce weapons-grade HEU, which, as noted, contains approximately 90% uranium-235,” said CRS.

During the speech in which he boasted about Iran’s enrichment of uranium to the 20-percent level, according to a BBC transcript, the ayatollah’s air force commanders chanted: “Allah Akbar. Khamenei is the leader. Death to the enemies of the leadership. Death to America. Death to England. Death to hypocrites. Death to Israel.”

Is Babylon the Great Ignorant Or Playing Politics?

Obama: Iran has not advanced nuclear ambitions since U.S. negotiations started

By Jon Greenberg on Sunday, December 21st, 2014 at 5:44 p.m.

President Barack Obama on CNN’s “State of the Union” Dec. 21, 2014.

When you close out the year by ditching America’s 50-year isolation of Cuba, you can expect a few broader questions about your style on the international stage.

President Barack Obama said in a year-end interview with CNN’s Candy Crowley that he has been “consistent in saying that where we can solve problems diplomatically, we should do so.”

Crowley pressed Obama to respond to the charge that he is too willing to cut deals that produce little in return for the United States.

“The gist of it is that you’re naive and they’re rolling you,” Crowley said, speaking of other world leaders.

Obama shot back that on a couple of major fronts, his track record is looking pretty good. Russia now has a crisis on its hands as its economy stalls and the value of the ruble tumbles. On Iran, the president said there have been real gains.

“Over the last year and a half, since we began negotiations with them, that’s probably the first year and a half in which Iran has not advanced its nuclear program in the last decade,” Obama said.
The fear that Iran is developing nuclear weapons, a charge that Iran denies, has bedeviled the international community for over 15 years. We decided to take a closer look at whether Iran’s program has advanced or not.

We found general agreement that in terms of curtailing the means to produce enriched uranium and plutonium, the essential fuels needed for an atomic bomb, negotiations between the United States, Iran and other United Nations countries contributed to real progress. However, some analysts define Iran’s nuclear program more broadly to include suspected efforts to design nuclear weapons and ballistic missiles. The negotiations don’t address those elements, however, and what Iran is doing or has done in that area is subject to much debate.

By way of refresher, in November 2013, the five permanent members of the United Nations Security Council, plus Germany, and Iran signed an agreement that temporarily stopped or rolled back Iran’s production of potentially weapons grade nuclear material. In November 2014, that agreement was extended by four months, with some additional restrictions on Iran. In exchange, Iran has been able to sell more of its oil and gain access to millions of dollars that had been frozen in overseas bank accounts.

The key elements in the agreements

Negotiators focused on nuclear fuel. This had three main aspects.

• Stopping the production and accumulation of uranium enriched to the 20 percent level of the isotope U-235 and converting a large fraction of what it had to a form harder to use in a weapon.
• Stop the installation of additional centrifuge machines at Iran’s two enrichment facilities. Centrifuges are essential to the enrichment process.
• Put the brakes on construction of Iran’s heavy water reactor in Arak. If it were operational, this reactor could produce enough plutonium in its spent fuel for one to two nuclear warheads.

Importantly, Iran agreed to inspections by the International Atomic Energy Agency. That agency has found that Iran complied with the terms of the original November 2013 agreement. In its November 2014 report, the agency said, “All of the enrichment related activities at Iran’s declared facilities are under Agency safeguards, and all of the nuclear material, installed cascades, and feed and withdrawal stations at those facilities are subject to Agency containment and surveillance.”

To be clear, Iran continues to enrich uranium, but only to the level of 5 percent of U-235, a form that falls well short of the needs of weapon makers.

Regarding heavy water facilities, the IAEA said that Iran had not stopped all work across all of its heavy water projects, but it had not installed any major components.

What the experts say

As far as nuclear material is concerned, the experts we reached said the agreements successfully, though perhaps only temporarily, curtailed production.

“When President Obama says that for the first time in the past decade Iran has not advanced its nuclear program he is correct,” said Daryl Kimball, executive director of the Arms Control Association, a research group that advocates for arms control policies. “Leading up to the interim deal, Iran had nearly amassed enough 20 percent enriched uranium gas, which when further enriched to weapons grade is enough for one bomb.”

That material is no longer available, Kimball said.

Matthew Bunn, a principal investigator with the Project on Managing the Atom at Harvard University’s Kennedy School, also said Obama basically has it right on Iran. “They don’t have any more equipment in place for producing bomb material than they had a year and a half ago,” Bunn said.

David Albright, president of the Institute for Science and International Security, a Washington-based group that aims to stop the spread of nuclear weapons, offered a more qualified view. Albright called progress on enrichment, centrifuges and the heavy water facilities in Arak, a “great accomplishment.”

But Albright noted that, “Iran continues to run almost 10,000 centrifuges, enriching and stockpiling 3.5 percent low enriched uranium.” And Iran’s research on advanced centrifuges, with limits, is ongoing.

Albright is also concerned that Iran has so far not allowed the international inspectors the access they need to learn more about any nuclear weapons research Iran had in the past.

Matthew Kroenig, a professor of international relations at Georgetown University, also focused on the weapons side of the equation. Kroenig noted that the agreements that limited and rolled back the production of nuclear-grade material were silent on this front.

“Iran’s missile production continues, and we are uncertain about the nuclear weapons design work, although many experts believe that continues as well,” Kroenig said.

But Kroenig also described curtailing the production of nuclear fuel as the “most important” piece of the nonproliferation effort with Iran.

Two notes on the time elements mentioned in Obama’s comments.

He said this is the first time in a decade that Iran’s nuclear program did not advance. Iran restarted its uranium enrichment program in 2005. That would mean it has been a bit over nine years.

Also, the president’s year and a half is a bit of a stretch. The first agreement with Iran was signed barely over a year ago, although the terms were announced earlier.

Our ruling

Obama said that we have seen “probably the first year and a half in which Iran has not advanced its nuclear program in the last decade.” The agreement signed in November 2013 has made it harder for Iran to produce weapons-grade nuclear material. International observers report that Iran complied with the terms of the temporary agreement. The amount of enriched uranium is less, and the country’s facilities to produce weapons-grade material has been curtailed.

But that does not mean the country has completely stopped all activities that could produce nuclear weapons material in the future. There is also concern about broader aspects of a nuclear weapons program, such as weapons design and missile development.

We rate Obama’s claim Mostly True.