The detail of page 2's text having been printed slightly mis-aligned and no one took the time to re-print it is *sending* me. It just screams of staff and professionals knowing they have to hold his hand down and *make* him sign it, now, no matter what, no time for re-dos.
There is no way this administration could get a better deal. They don't have the heart or competence for it.
Would declaring victory and abandoning the gulf have been worse?
The “final” deal happens on a negotiation timeframe that is somehow both limited to a “maximum” of 60 days but also extendible if both sides are having fun. There will be no final agreement.
Trumps deal is pretty much the same as Obama's except:
- US to pay $300bn to rebuild Iran
- $Billions-worth of Tomahawk missiles depleted
- Global economy banjanxed
- Hormuz chokehold proof of concept for Iran
- US + allies strained relations
- Could have just kept Obama's deal
- Its just a memo
Yeah - Initially I included all the tragic deaths at the top of my list, but then I decided to stick just to things that might register in Trump's skull.. eg money & power.
Interesting: Iranian military exercise suddenly becomes a “war.”
And the proposed deal is hardly symmetrical. The U.S. is expected to make numerous concessions, while Iran is asked to abandon a nuclear weapons program it officially insists never existed.
That’s diplomacy built on a contradiction.