John Kerry 'walked away three times' from nuclear talks with Iran

[bananas]

http://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2015/jul/21/john-kerry-iran-nuclear-talks

John Kerry ‘walked away three times’ from nuclear talks with Iran

In an interview, the secretary denounced ‘dumbest’ accusation he and Obama relented on key demands because they were too eager to reach a historic deal

Paul Lewis in Washington
Tuesday 21 July 2015 12.07 EDT

The US secretary of state, John Kerry, has used an unusually emotional interview to reveal he walked away from nuclear talks with Iran on three separate occasions, insisting that the claim that he was too eager to seal a deal was “one of the dumbest criticisms I’ve ever heard in my life”.

“Let me tell you what a complete and total fallacy that criticism is,” Kerry told National Public Radio in an interview broadcast on Tuesday. “It’s totally made up by people who somehow want to find a way to criticise the agreement. Because the fact is that I walked away three times.”

<snip>

He said that he told his counterpart, the Iranian foreign minister, Mohammad Javad Zarif, that he was “more than ready to walk away” on the Sunday before the deal was clinched, a point when negotiators were struggling to overcome the final hurdles. “So we had no compunctions about it whatsoever,” he added.

Kerry said had “walked away” during talks in London, when Iran “started fudging numbers they’d already agreed to and they moved backward” and again, later, “when we were in another set of talks in Lausanne [Switzerland]”.

“President Obama, in almost every conversation, would say, ‘remember John, you can walk away’,” he said. In a sarcastic aside, the secretary added: “I suppose we were so eager, that’s why it took four years to negotiate.”

<snip>

[Fred Sanders]

1. Kerry and Obama and every single soldier who waged peace on the peace battlefield are peace heroes.

[MBS]

2. + 10,000 n/t

[freshwest]

5. And 'Blessed be the peacemakers,' (must be in heaven) since they sure catch hell elsewhere.

Being a peacemaker is a lot like standing between two fools in a duel and telling them there's another way.

You'll be asking 'the sides' to stake out new ground, do things a new way, and few can be convinced to release their salted wounds and old grievances, even at the cost of the lives of others they will never know.

It requires breaking away from long cherished dogma and ideology and going for the true goals, which Obama has done repeatedly, and been hated for it from 'the sides.'

[MBS]

6. nicely said. n/t

[MBS]

3. Here's the link to the actual interview:

http://www.npr.org/sections/thetwo-way/2015/07/20/424735984/in-interview-with-npr-kerry-defends-iran-nuclear-deal-and-cuba-diplomacy

[HFRN]

4. John Kerry succeeded in his desires as a young man

to achieve the nation's policy objectives, particularly in a sticky, volatile place, without war

The Dulles brothers, under Eisenhower gave us this mess in 1953

I have great respect, and thanks for him

THIS is Obama's legacy

[sorechasm]

7. Meanwhile Jeb craves his brother's 'leadership'

Unlike other GOP candidates, Bush has not said explicitly that he would reinstate sanctions if elected. “There’s a lot of work that will have to be done, but I don’t believe in January of 2017 you’re going to have an Iran that is peaceful and is complying with this agreement and so over time we’re going to have to show our leadership again,” he added.

Is that what you call Bush's legacy? Leading us where? Armageddon?

[CTyankee]

8. If Joe Scarborough says Obama was "desperate" for this deal one more time...

I'll scream.

Lying sack of crap, JOe, that's you...