Page 6 December 5, 2013 One Man’s Opinion Another Man’s Opinion By Gerry Chong Somewhere in The Cloud, they held the annual Dead Dictators’ Reunion (DDR). The gang was all there...Hitler, Mao, Tojo, Khrushchev, Kim, Mussolini…all the boys. Cognac and Cuban cigars were the lubricating “What if FDR had said the U.S. was sick of war and gave us a date for withdrawal of his troops from Europe.” medium, reviving and revising stories of past victories and lamenting past defeats. “If only...” seemed to be the wistful theme of the night. “If only we hadn’t faced the America of prior years, but had faced Obama’s America instead, the world would be a different place. Ahhh, that disappointment just breaks our hearts.” “What if FDR had said the U.S. was sick of war and gave us a date for withdrawal of his troops from Europe,” dreamily envisioned Hitler and Mussolini in tandem. “We would have sat on our hands like the Taliban are doing, waiting for the American armistice. What a gift Obama would have been to us.” “Huh,” said Tojo, “Japan sucker-punched America at Pearl Harbor and got our heads handed to us on an atomic platter, but when Libya sucker-punched America at Benghazi, Obama made up lies and left his people to die.” “Speaking of Syria,” said Kim, “when Korea engaged in its civil war, America reacted and saved the South from North Korea and China. But in Syria, the Americans hid behind the Russian skirt and skulked away. What would the map of Asia look like today without American strength?” Mao spoke and said, “Our country had been starving the way Iran is now, but no one rescued us the way Obama is rescuing the Ayatollah’s regime in Iran. He’s giving the dictator’s economy a six-month reprieve from the impact of severe economic sanctions. The Ayatollah got $8 billion in assets returned to them and an additional $7 billion in trade agreements, rescuing their economy and squelching demands for democratic reform. In exchange, Iranians did not have to stop enriching uranium, nor did it have to dismantle centrifuges. They only promised to work toward a longer-range agreement within six months. Fifteen billion dollars in real money was given in exchange for a six month’s efforts at negotiating a better agreement? ‘If only’ we had Obama to negotiate with.” Khrushchev said, “With us, America built up its military forces in a non-shooting Cold War, but in a hot-shooting series of wars in the Middle East, it built its defenses down. This year alone, Obama has fired nine commanding generals and admirals in every branch of the service.” “If we had been in power in the Age of Obama, we would have brought him to this reunion as a guest of honor. We would have given him a Nobel Prize. We would have built a Parthenon with faux Greek columns in his honor. We would have…oh…if only…” As the reunion wound down, all the celebrants stood and raised a glass, bowing to a giant mural of Obama--and in a cynical burst of admiration sang, “Oh, what a friend we have in Jesus.” • Agreement with Iran is First Step in Right Direction By Cristian Vasquez The issue of Iran’s nuclear program has been a lingering concern for Washington for years. Nuclear-related sanctions were the primary response when dealing with the Middle Eastern country’s reluctance to cease the development of its nuclear capabilities. However, the new deal reached is a huge step in what hopefully will be a turning point in the relationship between Iran and America. While there are concerns about the agreement, the United States, the UK, Russia, China, France and Germany all reached this consensus in the short term with hopes of establishing a more long-term deal. Despite Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s “it’s a historic mistake” comments, the deal is a benefit to all involved. There are three significant areas in the agreement that reinforce the argument that this is a good deal. For one, Iran has agreed to stop enriching uranium beyond five percent, while neutralizing its stockpile of uranium enriched from this point forward. This alone makes the deal something to celebrate. For years Iran has refused to even consider reducing its nuclear capabilities, let alone ceasing the program and neutralizing its current stockpile. Arguing that Iran’s leadership can easily ignore the agreement is a legitimate concern, but every other nation involved has the ability to do the same. Deals only work when all parties act in good faith and rather than bashing this agreement from the start, people should give all sides involved a chance to fulfill their promises. The second reason to be hopeful about this agreement is the fact that Iran has also agreed to provide greater access to inspectors. This will include daily access at the Natanz and Fordo nuclear sites. Again, this is a huge sign that Iran is willing to play by the terms of this new deal. It is easy to assume that the historically reclusive and secretive nation will back out on this part of the deal, but the truth is it has six months to agree to these terms while a more permanent and long-term agreement is reached. The fear from world powers that Iran was developing its nuclear program to secretly develop a nuclear bomb has always been denied by the nation’s leaders. Allowing inspections is an encouraging sign that there is nothing to hide. Lastly, the elimination of new nuclearrelated sanctions for six months if Iran sticks by the accord is a token of good will from the superpowers. The truth is that the United States and all the other superpowers involved with this agreement are giving up very little in exchange for a whole lot. Iran is agreeing to reduce production and neutralize stockpiles in exchange for no sanctions. If these leaders were able to convince Iran’s leadership to these terms in the short run, then there is a very good chance that the long-term agreement reached in six months can be just as favorable. 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