{"id":20468,"date":"2019-05-26T10:54:34","date_gmt":"2019-05-26T15:54:34","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/blog.minaret.org\/?p=20468"},"modified":"2019-05-26T12:50:31","modified_gmt":"2019-05-26T17:50:31","slug":"news-and-analysis-5-26-19","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/blog.minaret.org\/?p=20468","title":{"rendered":"News and Analysis (5\/26\/19)"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>&#8220;Treaties, as defined by Article II of the Constitution, require a two-thirds majority of the Senate for ratification, so they <a href=\"https:\/\/www.justsecurity.org\/61841\/death-article-ii-treaties\/\">have become almost unheard of<\/a>&#8221; in Washington:<\/p>\n<ul>\n<li><a href=\"https:\/\/slate.com\/news-and-politics\/2019\/05\/trump-foreign-policy-broken-trust-america.html\">Why Would Any Country Trust America Again?<\/a> (Slate)<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p>&#8220;Our argument is basically that we cannot \u00e2\u20ac\u201d and no one reasonably can \u00e2\u20ac\u201d be expected to&nbsp;<i>unilaterally<\/i> honor a&nbsp;<i>multilateral&nbsp;<\/i>agreement&#8221; &#8212; Majid Takht Ravanchi, Iranian ambassador to the U.N.:<\/p>\n<ul>\n<li><a href=\"https:\/\/www.washingtonpost.com\/opinions\/global-opinions\/the-us-policy-of-maximum-pressure-against-iran-has-failed\/2019\/05\/24\/1db2f7b8-7e61-11e9-8ede-f4abf521ef17_story.html?utm_term=.4074d6b5b2fc\">The U.S. Policy of Maximum Pressure Against Iran Has Failed<\/a> (Washington Post)<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p>&#8220;Zarif said Iran wanted to build balanced relations with its Gulf Arab neighbors and had proposed signing a non-aggression pact with them&#8221;:<\/p>\n<ul>\n<li><a href=\"http:\/\/Iran will defend itself against any aggression, says foreign minister\" data-wplink-url-error=\"true\">Iran Will Defend Itself Against Any Aggression, Says Foreign Minister<\/a> (Reuters)<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p>&#8220;The Israeli military admitted on Thursday that Jewish settlers set West Bank fields on fire last Friday, changing its version after it originally blamed the arson on Palestinians&#8221;:<\/p>\n<ul>\n<li><a href=\"https:\/\/www.haaretz.com\/middle-east-news\/palestinians\/.premium-israeli-army-blamed-palestinians-for-arson-by-settlers-then-a-video-emerged-1.7278047\">Israeli Army Blamed Palestinians for Arson by Settlers. Then a Video Emerged<\/a> (Haaretz)<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p>An &#8220;independent Palestine that could sell its goods in Arab countries and use Israeli ports&#8230; with no restrictions, would produce many more billions than the PA would receive through this deal&#8221; &#8230;<\/p>\n<ul>\n<li><a href=\"https:\/\/www.haaretz.com\/middle-east-news\/palestinians\/.premium-a-payments-plan-for-palestinians-in-exchange-for-no-end-to-occupation-1.7281300\">Trump&#8217;s Peace Plan Offers Palestinians a Severance Package for the Occupation<\/a> (Haaretz)<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p>&#8230; but &#8220;Kushner &#8230; appears to be adopting &#8230; [the same] shady business practices [he developed in the private sector] in an attempt to force Palestinians into submission to perpetual Israeli dominance&#8221; &#8230;<\/p>\n<ul>\n<li><a href=\"https:\/\/lobelog.com\/kushners-plan-to-sugarcoat-the-occupation-of-palestine\/\">Kushner\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s Plan to Sugarcoat the Occupation of Palestine<\/a> (Lobelog)<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p>&#8230; but the absurdity of the Kushner plan has an &#8220;unforeseen silver lining &#8230; that the U.S. has lost any remaining influence it had on Palestinian society&#8221; &#8230;<\/p>\n<ul>\n<li><a href=\"https:\/\/lobelog.com\/palestinians-need-a-state-not-a-business-plan\/\">Palestinians Need a State, Not a \u00e2\u20ac\u02dcBusiness Plan\u00e2\u20ac\u2122<\/a> (Lobe Log)<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p>&#8230; and some think &#8220;Trump is now not only burying the two-state solution, which was not viable anyway, but he\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s gladly dancing on its grave, thus forcing people to end their denial&#8221;:<\/p>\n<ul>\n<li><a href=\"https:\/\/www.politico.com\/story\/2019\/05\/21\/trump-israel-palestinians-1336621\">Why Some Palestinians Are Backing Trump\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s Peace Push<\/a> (Politico)<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n\n\n<\/p>\n<p>&#8220;Khatami &#8230; is pointing out the benefits of local government and dispensation of justice in society. What he says will unite people rather than fragment the society&#8221;:<\/p>\n<p>\n\n\n\n<\/p>\n<ul class=\"wp-block-list\">\n<li><a href=\"https:\/\/en.radiofarda.com\/a\/former-president-s-suggestion-of-federalism-for-iran-stirs-controversy\/29962450.html\">Former President&#8217;s Suggestion of Federalism for Iran Stirs Controversy<\/a> (Radio Farda)<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p>\n\n\n<p>Instex &#8230; was designed to allow European companies to make payments to Iran independently of the US-dominated global financial transactions system. But EU companies&#8221; fear <a href=\"https:\/\/www.thedailybeast.com\/satellite-images-raise-questions-about-iran-threat-experts-say\">penalties<\/a> on U.S. investments:<\/p>\n<ul>\n<li><a href=\"https:\/\/www.aljazeera.com\/news\/2019\/05\/iran-tension-highlights-eu-subordinate-role-190523160632265.html\">Iran-US Tension Highlights EU&#8217;s Subordinate Role<\/a> (Al-Jazeera)<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n\n\n<p>The Trump administration&#8217;s overstatement the significance Iranian moves and its obliviousness that any moves are reactions to American threats are disturbing:<\/p>\n\n\n\n<ul class=\"wp-block-list\"><li><a href=\"https:\/\/www.thedailybeast.com\/satellite-images-raise-questions-about-iran-threat-experts-say\">Satellite Images Raise Questions About Iran Threat, Experts Say<\/a> (Daily Beast)<\/li><\/ul>\n\n\n\n<p>&#8220;American allies are desperately trying to push Trump off the warpath&#8221; &#8230;<\/p>\n\n\n\n<ul class=\"wp-block-list\"><li><a href=\"https:\/\/www.bostonglobe.com\/opinion\/2019\/05\/24\/why-are-fixated-iran\/VCHQpVlohmfsGfO2CRrFHK\/story.html\">Why Are We So Fixated on Iran?<\/a> (Boston Globe) <\/li><\/ul>\n\n\n\n<p>&#8230; and &#8220;Japanese media said a  plan was being drawn up for Abe to visit Iran in June to meet President  Hassan Rouhani in an attempt to mediate, and this was something Japan\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s  leader would discuss with Trump&#8221;:<\/p>\n\n\n\n<ul class=\"wp-block-list\"><li><a href=\"https:\/\/www.washingtonpost.com\/world\/trump-arrives-for-ceremonial-visit-to-japan-but-iran-and-north-korea-also-loom\/2019\/05\/25\/750c126c-7eb9-11e9-a66c-d36e482aa873_story.html?utm_term=.8f35cb46afdd\">Trump Arrives for Ceremonial Visit to Japan, but Iran and North Korea Also Loom<\/a> (Washington Post)<\/li><\/ul>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>&#8220;Treaties, as defined by Article II of the Constitution, require a two-thirds majority of the Senate for ratification, so they have become almost unheard of&#8221; in Washington: Why Would Any Country Trust America Again? (Slate) &#8220;Our argument is basically that we cannot \u00e2\u20ac\u201d and no one reasonably can \u00e2\u20ac\u201d be expected to&nbsp;unilaterally honor a&nbsp;multilateral&nbsp;agreement&#8221; &#8212; [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":4,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[2],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-20468","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-news-and-analysis"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/blog.minaret.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/20468","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/blog.minaret.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/blog.minaret.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blog.minaret.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/4"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blog.minaret.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=20468"}],"version-history":[{"count":12,"href":"https:\/\/blog.minaret.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/20468\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":20481,"href":"https:\/\/blog.minaret.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/20468\/revisions\/20481"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/blog.minaret.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=20468"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blog.minaret.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=20468"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blog.minaret.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=20468"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}