{"id":51738,"date":"2015-07-14T23:12:26","date_gmt":"2015-07-14T23:12:26","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/hill-kleerup.org\/blog\/2015\/07\/14\/the-iran-deal-and-the-limits-of-power.html"},"modified":"2015-07-14T23:12:26","modified_gmt":"2015-07-14T23:12:26","slug":"the-iran-deal-and-the-limits-of-power","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/hill-kleerup.org\/blog\/2015\/07\/14\/the-iran-deal-and-the-limits-of-power.html","title":{"rendered":"The Iran Deal and the Limits of Power"},"content":{"rendered":"

'When critics focus incessantly on the gap between the present deal and a perfect one, what they’re really doing is blaming Obama for the fact that the United States is not omnipotent. '<\/i><\/p>\n

The assumption that the US can simply dictate to Iran, or else surgically obliterate it with bombers, or else expect the entire world to line up behind still stricter sanctions, is unrealistic — but it's a definition of the nigh-religiously exceptionalist GOP foreign policy that exceeds in hubris even anything during the Cold War. We beat the Soviet Union! We're the strongest in the world! We outspend the next 10 countries in military stuff! We are invincible and omnipotent!<\/i><\/p>\n

No, we're not. And if we pretend like we are, then we deserve everything that happens to us — though everyone else who gets bloodied by it won't.<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

\n
\n
\n<\/a>
\nWhy the Iran Deal Makes Obama’s Critics So Angry<\/a><\/span>
\nThe agreement shows American power is more limited than Republicans like to believe.\n<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

View on Google+<\/a><\/span><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

'When critics focus incessantly on the gap between the present deal and a perfect one, what they’re really doing is blaming Obama for the fact that the United States is not omnipotent. ' The assumption that the US can simply dictate to Iran, or else surgically obliterate it with bombers, or else expect the entire … Continue reading “The Iran Deal and the Limits of Power”<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_seopress_titles_title":"","_seopress_titles_desc":"","_seopress_robots_index":"","_seopress_robots_follow":"","_seopress_robots_imageindex":"","_seopress_robots_snippet":"","_seopress_robots_primary_cat":"","_seopress_robots_breadcrumbs":"","_seopress_robots_freeze_modified_date":"","_seopress_robots_custom_modified_date":"","_seopress_robots_canonical":"","_seopress_social_fb_title":"","_seopress_social_fb_desc":"","_seopress_social_fb_img":"","_seopress_social_fb_img_attachment_id":0,"_seopress_social_fb_img_width":0,"_seopress_social_fb_img_height":0,"_seopress_social_twitter_title":"","_seopress_social_twitter_desc":"","_seopress_social_twitter_img":"","_seopress_social_twitter_img_attachment_id":0,"_seopress_social_twitter_img_width":0,"_seopress_social_twitter_img_height":0,"_seopress_redirections_value":"","_seopress_redirections_enabled":"","_seopress_redirections_enabled_regex":"","_seopress_redirections_logged_status":"","_seopress_redirections_param":"","_seopress_redirections_type":0,"_seopress_analysis_target_kw":"","_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":true,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"highway","default_image_id":0,"font":"","enabled":false},"version":2}},"categories":[106],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-51738","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-plusposts"],"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack-related-posts":[{"id":14004,"url":"https:\/\/hill-kleerup.org\/blog\/2009\/03\/03\/the-day-they-kicked-god-out-of-school.html","url_meta":{"origin":51738,"position":0},"title":"“The Day They Kicked God Out of School”","author":"***Dave","date":"Tue 3-Mar-09 10:31pm","format":false,"excerpt":"I'm with PZ Meyers on this one. The God portrayed in this jolly little AFA video is either amazingly non-omnipotent (\"They kicked Me out schools, so I can't do anything to protect the kids there\"), or else He is amazingly petty (\"People don't care if President Clinton got a blow\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Religion"","block_context":{"text":"Religion","link":"https:\/\/hill-kleerup.org\/blog\/category\/religion"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":28511,"url":"https:\/\/hill-kleerup.org\/blog\/2012\/07\/10\/why-loki-won-in-the-avengers.html","url_meta":{"origin":51738,"position":1},"title":"Why Loki Won in "The Avengers"","author":"***Dave","date":"Tue 10-Jul-12 1:55pm","format":false,"excerpt":"I don't think this is completely correct (I doubt we're going to end up with two nigh-omnipotent artifacts running around the Cinematic Marvel Universe), but I think the core idea here is a plausibly correct\u00a0one. \u00a0(I think there's an even bigger motivator here, but I'll save that for the comments.)\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "~PlusPosts"","block_context":{"text":"~PlusPosts","link":"https:\/\/hill-kleerup.org\/blog\/category\/blogging\/plusposts"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":127914,"url":"https:\/\/hill-kleerup.org\/blog\/2015\/09\/09\/being-the-bush-cheney-administration-means-never-having-to-say-youre-sorry.html","url_meta":{"origin":51738,"position":2},"title":"Being the Bush-Cheney Administration means never having to say you're sorry","author":"***Dave","date":"Wed 9-Sep-15 8:16pm","format":false,"excerpt":"There's certainly one trait that President Bush and VP Cheney shared and continue to share: never admitting to a mistake. Even clear mistakes. Even clear mistakes their noses are being rubbed in. When that happens, you simply move to another topic, or else double down. Dick Cheney's Alternative to the\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "~PlusPosts"","block_context":{"text":"~PlusPosts","link":"https:\/\/hill-kleerup.org\/blog\/category\/blogging\/plusposts"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":129638,"url":"https:\/\/hill-kleerup.org\/blog\/2016\/02\/02\/yes-i-am-so-glad-that-ted-cruz-won-in-iowa-or-not.html","url_meta":{"origin":51738,"position":3},"title":"Yes, I am SO glad that Ted Cruz won in Iowa. Or not","author":"***Dave","date":"Tue 2-Feb-16 11:00pm","format":false,"excerpt":"Because clearly Donald Trump doesn't adequately serve the Zany Right wing of Christianity.I suspect I'm going to use this C. S. Lewis quote [http:\/\/wist.info\/lewis-cs\/2455\/] a lot this election season, especially while we're dealing with a Trump v Cruz race:'Of all tyrannies a tyranny sincerely exercised for the good of its\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "~PlusPosts"","block_context":{"text":"~PlusPosts","link":"https:\/\/hill-kleerup.org\/blog\/category\/blogging\/plusposts"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":131839,"url":"https:\/\/hill-kleerup.org\/blog\/2016\/10\/19\/words-damn-words-and-trump-rambles.html","url_meta":{"origin":51738,"position":4},"title":"Words, damn words, and Trump rambles","author":"***Dave","date":"Wed 19-Oct-16 9:58pm","format":false,"excerpt":"I don't expect every leader to be an award-winning orator, but at some point you have to consider how externally disorganized statements reflect internally disorganized thoughts.From tonight's Presidential debate:'Let me tell you, Mosul is so sad. We had Mosul. But when she left, when she took everybody out, we lost\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "~PlusPosts"","block_context":{"text":"~PlusPosts","link":"https:\/\/hill-kleerup.org\/blog\/category\/blogging\/plusposts"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/hill-kleerup.org\/blog\/wp\/wp-content\/uploads\/2016\/10\/AP_Debate_Trump_gesture_jrl_161019_12x5_16005B15D.jpgimgmax%3D660.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1","width":350,"height":200,"srcset":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/hill-kleerup.org\/blog\/wp\/wp-content\/uploads\/2016\/10\/AP_Debate_Trump_gesture_jrl_161019_12x5_16005B15D.jpgimgmax%3D660.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1 1x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/hill-kleerup.org\/blog\/wp\/wp-content\/uploads\/2016\/10\/AP_Debate_Trump_gesture_jrl_161019_12x5_16005B15D.jpgimgmax%3D660.jpg?resize=525%2C300&ssl=1 1.5x"},"classes":[]},{"id":133906,"url":"https:\/\/hill-kleerup.org\/blog\/2017\/07\/19\/trump-re-certifies-the-iran-nuclear-deal-is-going-okay.html","url_meta":{"origin":51738,"position":5},"title":"Trump re-certifies the Iran nuclear deal is going okay","author":"***Dave","date":"Wed 19-Jul-17 3:42pm","format":false,"excerpt":"Despite calling it the worst deal ever, dumb, dangerous, the prelude to nuclear holocaust, and his number one priority to repeal upon assuming office, the President has acquiesced to all his top national security advisers, agreeing that Iran is honoring the nuclear deal they signed with the US and other\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "~PlusPosts"","block_context":{"text":"~PlusPosts","link":"https:\/\/hill-kleerup.org\/blog\/category\/blogging\/plusposts"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]}],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/hill-kleerup.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/51738","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/hill-kleerup.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/hill-kleerup.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/hill-kleerup.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/hill-kleerup.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=51738"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/hill-kleerup.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/51738\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/hill-kleerup.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=51738"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/hill-kleerup.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=51738"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/hill-kleerup.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=51738"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}