WhatsappWas Barack Obama’s deal with Iran the worst political deal of the 21st century? One can certainly argue that it was. It certainly makes the Top 5 list. There is no question that President Obama viewed what he was doing as a transformation. His goal was to shift the balance of power in the Middle East in order to weaken Israel and bring a more balanced approach as to how the United States viewed the Israeli – Arab conflict.
Appeasement as a Strategy
In truth, President Obama was outwitted by the Iranian Mullahs. They understood well that all they needed to do was to buy time in order to complete their nuclear building plans. As long as they had another 5-10 years of quiet, they would be able to reach the critical point they strived for. That was the point of nuclear blackmail. Iran understands well that nobody wants a nuclear war, and nobody wants to be the one to destroy a nuclear reactor. But Iran was willing to threaten the world in ways that no other country was willing to because of their willingness to play the game of brinkmanship.
Irresponsibility is a very strong part of negotiation in the Middle East. That strengthens the hand against responsible leaders who cannot take the chance of being accused that they are leading their country into a dangerous battle with a powerful enemy. President Trump understands how to make deals. Even his most strident foes understand that this is perhaps his best strength. He looked at the Iranian deal and could not find anything positive that the United States got out of the deal. He only saw an upside for the Iranian side.
But that is the nature of the appeasers. They kick the can down the road and hope that somehow, things will just sort of work themselves out. That is foolhardy at best, but usually much worse than that. It was the Iranian plan that led to the description of Obama as the modern-day Neville Chamberlain who appeased Germany before World War II. That description has unfortunately proven to be accurate.
