JCPOA

Just like that, it was over. General Mark Milley, chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff called it ‘a kerfuffle’. A letter was sent to their Iraqi peers that the U.S was repositioning troops out of Iraq in accordance with legislation from Iraq ending the U.S military presence in the war-torn country, and suddenly then it was retracted by higher-ups. Running interference, Mark Esper backed Milley and said it was ‘an honest mistake’. It all went down within a day of the irrational assassination of Iran’s Soleimani.

President Trump spoke briefly on Wednesday morning, Washington D.C. time, appearing with an assortment of military leaders, the Vice President and Secretary of State Mike Pompeo. The expression on the President’s face was serious, but his speech was far from the gloom and doom predicted (and desired) by much of the mainstream media outlets (including Fox News), and of course, the military-industrial complex.

Life often imitates Art, and Art often imitates Life. If this is held to be true, then one can deduce that the recent “fury” of Iran’s blustery rhetoric is an indication of futility for that nation’s leadership. While it is possible that this is wrong, here are some reasons that in many ways the world community views this latest situation with Iran and the United States as just another day at the office.
News outlets in the US, both liberal and conservative are beating the war drums with extraordinary irresponsibility.

Submitted by InfoBrics, authored by Paul Antonopoulos, Research Fellow at the Center for Syncretic Studies…
Despite the European Union attempts to save the Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action, which saw Iran reduce its low-enriched uranium by 98% and eliminate its stockpile of medium-enriched uranium in return for economic relief, JCPOA is hanging by a thread because of Washington’s withdrawal from the deal in October 2017.

Submitted by InfoBrics, authored by Sarah Abed, independent journalist and analyst…

Rafael Mariano Grossi, an Argentine who was heavily backed by the US, becomes the new director general of the International Atomic Energy Agency on Dec. 2. He faces many internal and external pressures, including Iran’s uranium enrichment activities. DEAN CALMA/IAEA

Foreign Minister Zarif sketches Iran-US relations for diplomats, former presidents and analysts
Pepe ESCOBAR

What happens if the two premises on which Israel and America’s grand Iran strategy is founded are proven false? ‘What if’ maximum pressure fails either to implode the Iranian state politically, nor brings Iran to its knees, begging for a new ‘hairshirt’ nuclear deal? Well …? Well, it seems that Netanyahu and Mossad were so cocksure of their initial premise, that they neglected to think beyond first move on the chess board. It was to be checkmate in one. And this neglect is the cause of the strategic bind in which Israel now finds itself.

Submitted by InfoBrics, authored by Sarah Abed, independent journalist and analyst…

Foreign minister Javad Zarif of Iran, an unknown Russian representative, Foreign Secretary Philip Hammond of the UK, and Secretary of State John Kerry of the USA at the announcement of the JCPOA in 2015 (Photo: U.S. Department of State. Source: Wikicommons)