DC Tom Posted January 19, 2016 Posted January 19, 2016 I get what you're saying, but in light of a pending deal to negotiate the release of prisoners/hostages/etc, it seems way beyond prudent to me to act on any such intelligence and pull our folks out of harm's way, at least for a little while. Which folks, how many, and how far out of harm's way?
Azalin Posted January 20, 2016 Posted January 20, 2016 Which folks, how many, and how far out of harm's way? The ones that were most recently taken, and as many of them as possible. Maybe that's not practical, but since we were involved in negotiations to free Americans held in Iran, couldn't our government have issued a warning to contractors or other civilians in areas where Iranian proxies are known to operate? This doesn't look to me like it was bad luck on our administration's part - it looks a lot more like ineptitude.
B-Man Posted January 20, 2016 Posted January 20, 2016 Uh-huh..............Very shrewd dealing by Barack and John. Freed Iranians Never Boarded Flight Out of US ABC News, by Justin Fishel & Mike Levine Original Article It turns out that so-called “prisoner swap” with Iran didn’t involve much of a swap. When given the chance, none of the Iranians freed from U.S. custody chose to return to Iran, according to U.S. officials familiar with the negotiations. As the United States and Iran secretly negotiated the terms of a deal that culminated with a “prisoner swap” this weekend, both parties agreed they would fly their prisoners to Geneva, Switzerland, for the exchange – a neutral country that for years has worked as a diplomatic mediator between the two adversaries. After an hours-long and nerve-wracking delay, a Swiss plane took off Sunday from a military base in Tehran just before 7 a.m. ET carrying three long-held American prisoners: journalist Jason Rezaian, former U.S. Marine Amir Hekmati and Christian pastor Saeed Abedini. That same day, a plane took off from somewhere on the East Coast of the United States, carrying the seven Iranian-Americans freed from U.S. custody who wanted to return to Iran (or so everyone believed). But not one of them boarded the plane, according to the U.S. officials familiar with the process. The plane left anyway because it was designated to bring the freed Americans on to their second destination in Landstuhl, Germany.
Tiberius Posted January 26, 2016 Author Posted January 26, 2016 http://www.newyorker.com/news/news-desk/iran-is-back-in-business?intcid=mod-latest The Great Race—for what a Western ambassador in Tehran described as “the last gold mine on Earth”—has begun. With eighty million people, Iran is the largest economy to return to the global marketplace since the Soviet Union’s demise, a quarter century ago. It urgently needs to refurbish its crumbling infrastructure. Unlike Eastern Europe, however, Iran is flush with cash, after gaining access to a hundred billion dollars in oil revenues that had been locked in foreign banks during sanctions. “The legs of Iran’s economy are now free of the chains of sanctions, and it’s time to build and grow,” President Rouhani tweeted on January 17th, a day after international sanctions were lifted.
Pine Barrens Mafia Posted January 26, 2016 Posted January 26, 2016 http://www.newyorker.com/news/news-desk/iran-is-back-in-business?intcid=mod-latest And this is reason to rejoice, why?
Tiberius Posted January 26, 2016 Author Posted January 26, 2016 And this is reason to rejoice, why? The spreading of global capitalism is good. Trade is better than war
Pine Barrens Mafia Posted January 26, 2016 Posted January 26, 2016 The spreading of global capitalism is good. Trade is better than war Not when the people you're trading with are using the income to undercut you internationally. See: China.
Tiberius Posted January 26, 2016 Author Posted January 26, 2016 Not when the people you're trading with are using the income to undercut you internationally. See: China. Undercut us how? China is a major trading partner and we are both benefitting from that.
Pine Barrens Mafia Posted January 26, 2016 Posted January 26, 2016 Undercut us how? China is a major trading partner and we are both benefitting from that. Research China's IP theft, unfair currency manipulation and outright trade fraud.
Tiberius Posted January 26, 2016 Author Posted January 26, 2016 Research China's IP theft, unfair currency manipulation and outright trade fraud. You think we play totally fair? Come on...
Chef Jim Posted January 26, 2016 Posted January 26, 2016 The spreading of global capitalism is good. Trade is better than war And we now can import Iranian caviar which is nice.
Pine Barrens Mafia Posted January 26, 2016 Posted January 26, 2016 You think we play totally fair? Come on... Let's see some documentation. China's history is easy to document.
Tiberius Posted January 26, 2016 Author Posted January 26, 2016 Let's see some documentation. China's history is easy to document. So you want to end trade with China? Ok
DC Tom Posted January 26, 2016 Posted January 26, 2016 You think we play totally fair? Come on... You take a look at the documentary evidence...and yeah, we pretty much are, in everything from fruit to aircraft.
....lybob Posted January 26, 2016 Posted January 26, 2016 You take a look at the documentary evidence...and yeah, we pretty much are, in everything from fruit to aircraft. What about corn?
Tiberius Posted January 26, 2016 Author Posted January 26, 2016 What about corn?They are stealing our corn http://money.cnn.com/2014/07/03/news/china-corn-espionage/index.html World history has been replete with the theft of economic secrets since the Neolithic revolution. In a world growing interdependent it's almost a so what issue with many things, your multi national corporation stole secrets from our multi national but the consumer ends up with cheaper goods.
keepthefaith Posted January 27, 2016 Posted January 27, 2016 Uh-huh..............Very shrewd dealing by Barack and John. Freed Iranians Never Boarded Flight Out of USABC News, by Justin Fishel & Mike Levine Original Article It turns out that so-called “prisoner swap” with Iran didn’t involve much of a swap. When given the chance, none of the Iranians freed from U.S. custody chose to return to Iran, according to U.S. officials familiar with the negotiations. As the United States and Iran secretly negotiated the terms of a deal that culminated with a “prisoner swap” this weekend, both parties agreed they would fly their prisoners to Geneva, Switzerland, for the exchange – a neutral country that for years has worked as a diplomatic mediator between the two adversaries. After an hours-long and nerve-wracking delay, a Swiss plane took off Sunday from a military base in Tehran just before 7 a.m. ET carrying three long-held American prisoners: journalist Jason Rezaian, former U.S. Marine Amir Hekmati and Christian pastor Saeed Abedini. That same day, a plane took off from somewhere on the East Coast of the United States, carrying the seven Iranian-Americans freed from U.S. custody who wanted to return to Iran (or so everyone believed). But not one of them boarded the plane, according to the U.S. officials familiar with the process. The plane left anyway because it was designated to bring the freed Americans on to their second destination in Landstuhl, Germany. Can't blame them. With their skill set there are more opportunities in the U.S.
truth on hold Posted January 27, 2016 Posted January 27, 2016 (edited) Not when the people you're trading with are using the income to undercut you internationally. See: China. Arguably the diplomatic act that had the greatest lasting benefit to our economy was Nixon's opening up relations with China. Edited January 27, 2016 by truth on hold
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