Showing posts with label sanctions. Show all posts
Showing posts with label sanctions. Show all posts

Wednesday, July 15, 2015

President Obama Signs Historic Iran Deal - GOP Throws Tantrum

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President Obama signed a historic agreement with Iran and other world leaders.

From CNN
"Today after two years of negotiation the United States together with the international community has achieved something that decades of animosity has not: a comprehensive long-term deal with Iran that will prevent it from obtaining a nuclear weapon," Obama said from the White House, with Vice President Joe Biden at his side.
"This deal is not built on trust. It's built on verification," Obama said Tuesday.
Iranian President Hassan Rouhani also praised the deal, speaking after Obama finished, as televisions in Iran broadcast the U.S. President's statement live, translated into Farsi.
"Negotiators have reached a good agreement and I announce to our people that our prayers have come true," Rouhani said in a live address to the nation following Obama.
The essential idea behind the deal is that in exchange for limits on its nuclear activities, Iran would get relief from sanctions while being allowed to continue its atomic program for peaceful purposes.

Complete Iran Deal Press Conference with President Obama 1-15-2015




ABC's Jon Karl, well-known GOP tool, tried to make it political and ask about Donald Trump, and Obama waved him off:



CBS News reporter Major Garrett tried to start a Benghazi-like controversy by asking whether the President even cared about hostages in Iran and he got a smackdown from the President.

"The notion that I'm 'content' as I celebrate, with American citizens languishing in Iranian jails? 
Major, that's nonsense. 
And you should know better."
~ President Obama



Turns out, both Karl and Garret may have been asking about hostages because Trump brought the issue up on MSNBC's Morning Joe. He also said the President and John Kerry should have read his book, "The Art of the Deal."

Trump, Via RealClearPolitics
Well, they didn't read The Art of the Deal. Most people did, they didn't. It's a ridiculous deal. Even a thing like, you know, nuclear's so important and stopping nuclear proliferation, which just as likely will enhance, but so important.
But something like at the beginning when they were discussing it, we had three prisoners, we now have four prisoners.
Automatically you say, listen, not going to do you any good, release the prisoners would send a great signal to everybody.
You don't care about them, but we do, important for the United States. Just release the prisoners. Now, if that's deliver by the right messenger, they would have done it a long time ago. Amazingly, they -- I don't think that Kerry brought it up.



That GOP champion, Benjamin Netanyahu,is not a happy camper with the President either:





Senator Marco Rubio agrees with Bibi:





Mike Huckabee cries "Shame!" Apparently world peace bothers him more than his friends (like Josh Duggar) who molest little girls.



Lindsey Graham is just overwhelmed by the Iran Deal.



Jeb Bush sought to contrast his view with Hillary
using some "Presidential" looking graphics:





Ted Cruz fell back on the old "On Day One" promise.
(Which never worked for Mitt, but oh well...)



Chris Christie - It's a "dangerous game"



Thursday, December 18, 2014

Obama Liberates Cuba and Senator Rubio's Head Explodes Like a Water Balloon

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Previous Related Posts:
Stay Thirsty, My Friend: Senator Rubio and Water-Bottle-Gate
Tea Party Tantrum When Obama Shakes Hands with a Castro
CPAC 2013 Day One: Rat Heads in a Coke Bottle
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Yesterday, President Obama announced that the U.S. will be normalizing relations with Cuba after years of isolating that country with an embargo. Since politicians are never supposed to change anything or do anything worthwhile to change the world, this was met with immediate criticism from the GOP. And even though His Holiness, Pope Francis, helped in negotiations with Cuba from a humanitarian point of view, Senator Marco Rubio, R-Florida, immediately criticized the plan because his knee jerked towards the White House; then he had a long, cool drink of water while rightwing heads exploded all over the country. This is really the moment that Rubio has been waiting for - a rush to the bully pulpit on the way to his own presidential bid. But GOP and Rubio may be on the wrong side of history again, as they are on the immigration issue.



From the White House Fact Sheet on Cuba:
FACT SHEET: Charting a New Course on Cuba

Today, the United States is taking historic steps to chart a new course in our relations with Cuba and to further engage and empower the Cuban people. We are separated by 90 miles of water, but brought together through the relationships between the two million Cubans and Americans of Cuban descent that live in the United States, and the 11 million Cubans who share similar hopes for a more positive future for Cuba.

It is clear that decades of U.S. isolation of Cuba have failed to accomplish our enduring objective of promoting the emergence of a democratic, prosperous, and stable Cuba. At times, longstanding U.S. policy towards Cuba has isolated the United States from regional and international partners, constrained our ability to influence outcomes throughout the Western Hemisphere, and impaired the use of the full range of tools available to the United States to promote positive change in Cuba. Though this policy has been rooted in the best of intentions, it has had little effect – today, as in 1961, Cuba is governed by the Castros and the Communist party.

We cannot keep doing the same thing and expect a different result. It does not serve America’s interests, or the Cuban people, to try to push Cuba toward collapse. We know from hard-learned experience that it is better to encourage and support reform than to impose policies that will render a country a failed state. With our actions today, we are calling on Cuba to unleash the potential of 11 million Cubans by ending unnecessary restrictions on their political, social, and economic activities. In that spirit, we should not allow U.S. sanctions to add to the burden of Cuban citizens we seek to help.

Today, we are renewing our leadership in the Americas. We are choosing to cut loose the anchor of the past, because it is entirely necessary to reach a better future – for our national interests, for the American people, and for the Cuban people.





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Senator Rubio criticizes Evil Tyrant Obama, via Tampa Bay Times
"This president is the single worst negotiator we have had in the White House in my lifetime," Rubio said, contending Obama "has basically given the Cuban government everything it asked for and received no assurances of any advances of democracy and freedom."
Rubio deemed it a victory for the "oppressive Cuban government" and "another concession to a tyranny" by the Obama administration. The president, he said, let the Cuban people down. He used words like "absurd" and "disgraceful and "outrageous." He vowed to do whatever possible to block the moves.
"This Congress is not going to lift the embargo," said Rubio, who will chair the Senate Foreign Relations subcommittee on the Western Hemisphere when Congress reconvenes in January.



Rubio also blamed Pope Francis for his role in negotiations, which proves once again that no good deed goes unpunished:
Via Politicus USA
“My understanding is that the influence that His Holiness had was on the release of Mr. [Alan] Gross, which I’ve not criticized. As I said, I’m happy that he’s with the Cuban people [sic]. I would also ask His Holiness to take up the cause of freedom and democracy, which is critical for a free people — for a people to truly be free. I think the people of Cuba deserve the same chances to have democracy as the people of Argentina have had, where he comes from; as the people of Italy have, where he now lives. Obviously the Vatican’s its own state, but very nearby. My point is I hope that people with that sort of prestige on the world stage will take up the cause of freedom and democracy. The Cuban people are the only people in this hemisphere that have not been able to elect a leader in more than 55 or 60 years. That’s outrageous.”