I think not responding too loudly when no one died is wise and calm. We can show strength by not beating out chest. By acting like a big dog who ignores the little yappy dog, we actually send a stronger message. Of course, who knows, maybe tomorrow we will read that the US stuck back.
Dont want to try all mushy, but I've been watching all the avowed isolationists bang the war drum for the last few days and trying to keep talley and I've specifically noticed you staying on the sidelines. As maddening as I can occasionally find you I respect that you didn't flip turn into a war hawk.
So with this series of actions and responses, the previous administration's policy of capitulation and appeasement towards Iran has been fully and officially revoked, and Iran has confirmed their understanding and grudging acceptance of the change. It is about time. Well done, President Trump!
Are we going to beg Iraq to send our troops back or we letting Iran completely overrun their ground game?
I remember when sanctions were removed by Obama there were fake photos on facebook that my right winger family members were circulating with US military cargo planes literally dropping crates of cash (obvious Photoshoped cash piles in place of rations), and those right wingers were insanely pissed thinking Obama was literally dumping cash from the treasury into Iran like a flock of storks delivering babies. People really are truly ignorant about how sanctions work, and Trump is one of those ignorant old people who literally believes those facebook conspiracies from 2015. Whoever posted this quote from Trump is probably an old ignorant conspiracy theorist too. Since I obviously have that person on ignore that's a pretty safe assumption.
All it took was shooting down a 130 million dollar spy drone, massive attack on Saudi oil fields, surrounding an aircraft carrier battle group with 18 missile boats, restarting nuke program, oil tanker attack, embassy attack, etc... It's about time!
Especially since it was Iran’s money to begin with. I like how the right try to make it sound like Obama gave money from everyday Americans to Iranians when it was Iran’s money.
This was the claim the obama admin tried to make after they got caught while trying to hide it. It's a really dumb claim.
Hmmmm This fact check says something different... https://www.washingtonpost.com/poli...rumps-claim-that-democrats-gave-iran-billion/ President Trump’s claim that Democrats gave Iran $150 billion — President Trump in a tweet, Dec. 12, 2018 This is an egregious version of a claim that President Trump has made repeatedly — about 30 times, according to our database of Trump’s false and misleading claims. We had originally looked into the details of the $150 billion for a fact check during President Barack Obama’s administration, fact-checked the claim during the 2016 presidential debates and noted it in roundups of various Trump news conferences and interviews. Somehow it’s never been put to the Pinocchio Test. But if the president is going to keep getting this wrong, it’s time to give this falsehood a Pinocchio rating. The Facts There are two numbers that Trump loves to reference when discussing the international nuclear agreement negotiated with Iran when Obama was president: $150 billion and $1.7 billion. The latter was a cash transaction, said to be the settlement of a long-standing Iranian claim against the United States, with interest, that was curiously timed to arrive when Iran released four detained Americans. Trump might have grounds to complain about the circumstances of the $1.7 billion cash transaction. But he’s all wet about the $150 billion claim, especially when he suggests it was taxpayer money. That’s certainly what he did in this tweet, asking why Democrats will not agree to appropriate $5 billion for a wall on the southern border with Mexico when they “gave Iran 150 Billion Dollars.” But unlike the cash deal, this was not U.S. money. It was Iran’s money, frozen in international financial institutions around the world because of sanctions intended to curb Iran’s nuclear ambitions. For instance, many of the funds were held in banks in Asia, including China and India, as well as Turkey. Many of the countries received waivers to buy Iranian oil and gas during the sanctions but placed the payments in escrow-style accounts that remained off-limits to Iran. The Islamic Republic also transferred assets to Asian banks from Europe in anticipation of financial sanctions. On top of that, Trump’s repeated use of the $150 billion figure is off-base. That was an upper-range estimate, but the Treasury Department said much of it was not liquid. Once Iran fulfills other obligations, it would have about $55 billion left, Treasury said. “Estimates of total Central Bank of Iran (CBI) foreign exchange assets worldwide are in the range of $100 [billion] to $125 billion,” Adam J. Szubin, acting Treasury undersecretary for terrorism and financial intelligence, told Congress in 2015. “Our assessment is that Iran’s usable liquid assets after sanctions relief will be much lower, at a little more than $50 billion. The other $50-70 billion of total CBI foreign exchange assets are either obligated in illiquid projects (such as over 50 projects with China) that cannot be monetized quickly, if at all, or are composed of outstanding loans to Iranian entities that cannot repay them. These assets would not become accessible following sanctions relief.” For its part, the Central Bank of Iran said the number was actually $32 billion, not $55 billion. Nader Habibi, a professor of economics at Brandeis University’s Crown Center for Middle East Studies, did his own calculation of Iran’s frozen assets in 2015. He noted that $10 billion was in Iraqi banks and could not be recovered quickly and that nearly $25 billion was deposited in Chinese banks as collateral for several Chinese investments in Iran. He estimated that only about $29 billion would be available to Iran for immediate use. In context of Iran’s oil revenue, he wrote, “$29 billion of released funds doesn’t amount to that much and represents only half of Iran’s current oil export revenue.” (Habibi said in an email: “I have not come across any new information since I wrote that piece in 2015 to change my assessment.”) We should note that Trump said Obama “got nothing” in exchange for lifting sanctions as part of the nuclear agreement. Perhaps that’s a matter of opinion, but experts said that Iran was generally in compliance with the agreement when Trump decided to terminate it. The Pinocchio Test Trump’s use of the $150 billion continues to be problematic. That was a high-end estimate, and the actual number available to Iran appears to have been between $25 billion and $50 billion. But even more troubling, Trump suggests this was taxpayer money. In the tweet, he explicitly compared it to a congressional appropriation. That’s just flat wrong — and worthy of Four Pinocchios. T_Man
http://bbs.clutchfans.net/index.php...-klobuchar-for-president-thread.296443/page-7 Lol I've donated money to Klobuchar's campaign and have even made calls for her. I'm far from a Trump supporter but unlike you, I don't see politics as a zero-sum game. Anyone who wants to think Trump doesn't look like a genius here is short-sided. He took a massive gamble by killing Solomani and it paid off big time. I might be giving Trump too much credit here but I'm sure they had some sort of hush agreement before Iran even struck back. He made a calculated decision and it went in his favor. Iran was going always going to restart its nuclear program because that was the only way to bring the USA back to the table. Reports coming from Iran are that they told Pakistani PM Imran Khan minutes after the attack that they meant no harm and that they were done with any other attacks. Imran Khan has invited Trump and Iran to the table and to mediate between the two parties. Imran Khan is struggling with polling back home and this will help boost his numbers in Pakistan and he has really good ties with Ali Khamenei. I wouldn't be surprised if a wink-wink agreement is already in place and both parties are waiting for tensions to cool down before they announce it. I knew this was the case minutes after the attack occurred and no casualties were reported. Hence why I stated my theory in this thread before the news conference.
Yeah this deal should be as good as the deal Trump said he had with NK. That deal was great. Oh wait.
The issue with NK is that there is no country that's mediating that both countries have strong ties with. Trump gets along with Pakistan's Imran Khan and Khan has great diplomatic ties with the entire Middle East. You forget that Khan was the one who brought Al Qaeda and USA to the table in the first place. Yes ultimately the deal fell apart but Khan is one of the best negotiators out there. Im not here to support Trump or his foreign policy moves but I'm just glad that we averted war and that some sort of agreement HAS to be in place behind closed doors.
