Clearly, the UK, France, Germany, Russia and China, who are negotiating the agreement (it is not a treaty) with Iran are not happy -- as noted by the Voice of America. The actions of the GOP pretty much spit in the faces of our allies (and in a few cases, frenemies) in the negotiations.
That Iranian foreign minister Mohammed Javak Zarif understands our constitution better than the GOP members of the senate do is just an added humiliation. But then, Zarif is better educated than most of the right wingers in the Senate, having been educated in both the US and the UK.
From the wikipedia entry on Zarif:
At age 17, he left Iran for the United States. Zarif attended Drew College Preparatory School, a private college-preparatory high school located in San Francisco, California. He went on to study at San Francisco State University, from which he gained a BA in International Relations in 1981 and an MA in the same subject in 1982. Following this, Zarif continued his studies at the Graduate School of International Studies (now named the Josef Korbel School of International Studies) at the University of Denver, from which he obtained a second MA in International Relations in 1984 and this was followed by a PhD in International Law and Policy in 1988. His thesis was entitled: "Self-Defense in International Law and Policy".Who else is meddling in our foreign policy? Oh, lookeeee. The big money behind the right wing nut jobs. From Voice of America:
The fallout from the open letter sent by 47 Republican senators to Iran’s leaders reverberated worldwide Wednesday from Washington to Tehran.
In Iran, Tehran’s Islamic Republic News Agency (IRNA) criticized Republican Senator Tom Cotton’s "insulting" address to Foreign Minister Mohammad Javad Zarif.
"Now it is clear that Cotton does not know that the Iranian foreign minister has been a U.S. educated figure since young age and he knows English language and the U.S. power structure better than Cotton," IRNA reported.
On Monday, Zarif’s initial response was to describe the letter as a "publicity ploy" that "contradicts international law."
Foreign ministers involved in the P5+1 talks will meet Sunday in Switzerland as they try to reach a political framework for a nuclear deal with Iran by March 31.
Other members of the P5+1 group – China, Russia, France, Britain and Germany – were mostly silent in their reaction to news of the letter to Iran. There were no official statements regarding the letter.
In London, Foreign Secretary Philip Hammond told members of parliament Tuesday that the Republican letter could throw "a spanner in the works" at the negotiations and will have an "unpredictable effect" on the government in Tehran.
And the Tehran Times reported that Zarif said the U.S. senators were “ignorant of international law.”
On Wednesday, testifying before the Senate Foreign Relations Committee, Secretary of State John Kerry said lawmakers cannot modify any nuclear agreement struck between the United States and Iran despite threats by Republican senators that they can.
Kerry said he responded with "utter disbelief" at the letter threatening to undo any nuclear agreement reached between Tehran and Washington. The letter endangers global trust in America, he said, adding it "risks undermining the confidence that foreign governments in thousands of important agreements commit to.
“It is incorrect when [the letter] says that Congress can actually modify the terms of an agreement at any time. That is flat wrong,” Kerry said.
What besides normal ignorance could be driving such actions. Oh, yeah -- right wing money is behind it. From the same Voice of America article:
Israel Hayom, a newspaper owned by Sheldon Adelson, an American billionaire who has supported several Republican presidential candidates, used wire and staff reports under the headline: Republicans warn Iran nuclear deal with Obama may not last.CLEARLY, the GOP doesn't know or doesn't care about how agreements work or how the constitution divvies up the powers of government between the three branches. And the right is conveniently omitting how their secular saint, Ronnie Ray-gun negotiated similarly with Iran for the hostages.
A cynical person would think that this was a cheap move to try to gain political advantage in the 2016 election, at the expense of serious nuclear disarmament, and at the expense of American relationships with our allies (and frenemies).
To outline what an abject failure the whole GOP action was, NOW they're trying to pretend it was just all a JOKE. Yeah, because that makes this ok, and that undoes somehow the abject failure of the signers of the letter to understand the Constitution OR International Law?
Apparently it was time for another demonstration that the GOP is the stupid party, via Kabuki political theater.
NO! Wrong! Bad!
From the Daily Beast:
Republican aides were taken aback by the response to what what they thought was a lighthearted attempt to signal to Iran and the public that Congress should have a role in the ongoing nuclear discussions. Two GOP aides separately described their letter as a “cheeky” reminder of the congressional branch’s prerogatives.
Jon Stewart gets it mostly right. Pelosi's meeting was actually quite different from this stunt.
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