Tuesday, April 28, 2015

Krauthammer: Obama Wish That Iran Becomes Regional Power Coming True

In December, President Obama said that he wished to see Iran ultimately become a "very successful regional power." His wish — a nightmare for the Western-oriented Arab states — is becoming a reality. Consider:
• Gulf of Aden: Iran sends a flotilla of warships and weapons-carrying freighters to reinforce the rebels in Yemen — a noncontiguous, non-Persian, nonthreatening (to Iran) Arabian state — asserting its new status as regional bully and arbiter.
The Obama administration sends an aircraft carrier group, apparently to prevent this gross breach of the United Nations weapons embargo on Yemen. Instead, the administration announces that it has no intention of doing anything. Meanwhile, it exerts pressure on Saudi Arabia to halt its air war over Yemen and agree to negotiate a political settlement involving Iran.
• Russia: After a five-year suspension, Russia announces the sale of advanced surface-to-air missiles to Iran, which will render its nuclear facilities nearly invulnerable to attack. Obama's reaction? Criticism, threats, sanctions? No. A pat on the back for Vladimir Putin: "I'm, frankly, surprised that (the embargo) held this long."
• Iran: Last week, Obama pre-emptively caved on the long-standing U.S. condition that there be no immediate sanctions relief in any Iranian nuclear deal. He casually dismissed this red line, declaring that what is really important is whether sanctions can be reimposed if Iran cheats.
And it doesn't stop there. The Wall Street Journal reports that Obama is offering Tehran a $30 billion to $50 billion signing bonus (drawn from frozen Iranian assets) — around 10% of Iranian GDP.
• Syria: After insisting for years that President Bashar al-Assad of Syria "step aside," the U.S. has adopted a hands-off policy toward a regime described by our own secretary of state as an Iranian puppet.
Read the rest of the op-ed HERE.

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