Dennis Prager, the ultra-conservative that makes all liberal Jews cringe, almost got one right. Aping the old appeasement allegory, he argues that the only difference between 1938 and 2015 is the names. http://www.realclearpolitics.com/articles/2015/07/21/1938_and_2015_only_the_names_are_different_127468.html
The names are indeed different, Wilt, rather than Neville, Chamberlain. Obama stands tall, succeeding where two prior administrations have failed. Obama gave nothing and averted war, a slam dunk. Iran is getting its own money back, and having sanctions lifted that served their sole purpose. Neville traded land for empty promises. Obama gets inspections and destruction of centrifuges and fissionable material.
Prager's trite analogy squirms on two prongs. First, Iran like 1938 Germany is a bad actor. Under a Prager foreign policy we would only negotiate agreements with Great Britain and Canada. Endless reams of agreements would only benefit paper mills. Getting hostile powers to step upto the bar is harder, and more meaningful, than buying a friend a drink.
The second prong is the myth of the better deal, covered here at: http://phoodphotospolitics.blogspot.com/2015/07/republican-house-of-cards.html. Prager, although blessed with the usual compliment of 10 fingers, can only count to two. Neither the sanctions, nor the treaty, were bilateral. Prager's path of tighter sanctions leads to a blind alley, not a better agreement. Miraculously Obama kept China, Russian, and for that matter, France on the straight and narrow, but a fork in the road was fast approaching. The deal may not mean to quote Neville, "Peace in our time," but the alternative is a sure path to war.
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