a PSA on the JCPOA talks in Vienna

This isn’t ready for prime time for a couple of reasons. One, I’ve gotten confused in time again, and two, I’m unable to watch any videos longer than about ten minutes. This post will start back on Dec. 14, 2021
Interview with Iran’s chief negotiator Dr. Ali Bagheri’, Tuesday, 14 December 2021, pressTV.ir

(25 min. video)

Iran’s resolve against sanctions paying off with rise in oil sales: Raeisi, Saturday, 18 December 2021. presstv/ir

“A Friday report by Bloomberg said that Iran’s crude exports to independent refiners in China had reached an average of 600,000 barrels per day (bpd) in November.
Raeisi’s government has touted growing oil sales as a major success for an administration that came to office only in August.

The report, which cited figures by business data supplier Kpler, showed that Chinese purchases of Iranian crude had increased by 40% against October despite persistent trade difficulties facing companies because of the coronavirus pandemic.

Experts believe that lack of leniency shown by Iran against the US will finally force Washington to accept Iran’s demands for reviving a 2015 nuclear deal that has unraveled since a former US government decided to pull out of the agreement in 2018.

From the opposition: The National Council of Resistance of Iran (NCRI) – The Viable Alternative
https://www.ncr-iran.org/en/news/iran-resistance/

Now if I had to guess, the opposition might be funded by Saudi Arabia, Israel, The US and CIA.

FWIW, from Wikipedia:

“...”an Iranian political organization based in France and Albania. The organization is a political coalition calling to replace the Iranian regime. The coalition is made up of different Iranian dissident groups, with its main member being the People's Mujahedin of Iran (MEK).Both organizations are considered to be led by Massoud Rajavi and his wife Maryam Rajavi.

The NCRI is also recognized as the MEK's diplomatic wing opposing the religious Iranian government. In 2002, the NCRI exposed that “Tehran had built nuclear-related facilities.” It was listed as a foreign terrorist organization in 1997, but was removed from this list in 2012 by the U.S. government.[9][12] The NCRI is considered the largest political opposition to the current Iranian regime.” [...]

Global Reception:

The NCRI received support from US Congress and US officials including Tom Ridge, Howard Dean, Michael Mukasey, Louis Freeh, Hugh Shelton, Rudy Giuliani, John Bolton, Bill Richardson, James L. Jones, Edward G. Rendell, Brian Binley, and Lt. General Thomas Mclenerney.

The NCRI, along with the MEK is regarded by the governments of the Islamic Republic of Iran and the Republic of Iraq as a terrorist organization, and was classified as a Foreign Terrorist Organisation by the United States, alleging that the NCRI "is not a separate organization, but is instead, and has been, an integral part of the MEK at all relevant times" and that the NCRI is "the political branch" of the MEK. However, it is no longer considered terrorist. On September 28, 2012, the US State Department formally removed MEK from its list of terrorist organizations in a decision made by then-Secretary of State Hillary Clinton, ahead of an October 1 deadline set by a US appeals court.

Additional titles: Senior State Department Official On the JCPOA Talks in Vienna , Dec. 17 I believe the talks began on Dec.7.

JCPOA withdrawal left 'unconstrained' nuclear Iran - US official

“Every day that goes by is just further proof and demonstration of how self-defeating the decision to withdraw from the JCPOA was [It] left an Iranian nuclear program that is unconstrained.", jerusalem post, Dec. 18

"The seventh round of talks have made little discernible progress since they resumed more than two weeks ago for the first time since Iran’s hardline president, Ebrahim Raisi, was elected in June.

A senior US administration official told reporters on Friday that the seventh round of indirect negotiations with Iran “was better than it might have been” but “worse than it should have been,” which leaves the US “in an uncertain position as to whether we can get to where we need to go in the short time that we have to get there.”

“Every day that goes by is just further proof and demonstration of how self-defeating the decision to withdraw from the JCPOA was,” the official said, because it “left an Iranian nuclear program that is unconstrained. It left us with less visibility and monitoring of their program. And that’s why the first objective of the Biden administration is to see whether we can get back to mutual compliance.”

“All of this takes place under the circumstance where time is running out because of the pace of Iran’s nuclear program. And the secretary of state said many times that we cannot accept a situation where Iran is dragging its feet at the negotiating table and accelerating the pace with its nuclear program.
“There’s going to have to be an acceleration. Iran will have to come back with a clear set of issues and a realistic position on how to resolve it. So we made some progress, not enough certainty in a pace that it will not be sufficient to get to where we need to go.”

Israel opposed the Iran deal when it was signed, and has opposed Biden’s attempt to revive it. Among its concerns are the deal’s failure to tackle Iran’s non-nuclear military aggression and its global terror activity.

Ambassador to the UN Gilad Erdan took a group of fellow ambassadors to the UN to the northern border over the weekend to underscore the danger Iranian proxy groups, such as Hezbollah, pose to Israel.

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I've been paying close attention to Iran's success in selling their oil in absolute defiance of the US sanctions.

Iran does not need to care what we think as long as its trade is protected by China, Russia, Syria, Afhanistan, Iraq, Maybe Turkey, India, IDK, and if the latest info is correct, Yemen and its ports will not be in fear of the US for much longer. Our war there has failed, just as all our other wars have.

China rules the waves.

Britania sunk long ago and we are well on our way to joining her.

As far as Israel, STFU already. Surely they've looked at the same maps as I have and understand---ESPECIALLY with the new Chinese port operating out of Haifa, Israel, that the die is cast.

The Belt and Road Initiative and the waterways will expedite China's growth and confine us to aiming missiles at Russia. Another monumental stupidity.

But weapons makers have to have something to produce that we neither need nor will use. That's where the profits are.

Look at Aden and Haddiyah on the West Coast. Big ports.

Then consider that SA and Egypt and 2 African countries that the US has been fighting in for years---
The US's military objective is to secure control here just as the Suez Canal and our closeness with Egypt puts us in control there.

The US has not informed the public about why the fight in Yemen has been so bloody.

In fact, the little I've read in the US Press describes Yemen as a dry country with little water, True and No resources.

Not true.

Yemen has Location.

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NYCVG

wendy davis's picture

@NYCVG

i esp. loved:

China rules the waves.

i hadn't known this:

Surely they've looked at the same maps as I have and understand---ESPECIALLY with the new Chinese port operating out of Haifa, Israel, that the die is cast.

on this same Word document i'd pasted in: US Unveils Legal Trigger for War With Russia, sputnik news, Dec. 16, 2021

"American Senators have unveiled what amounts to be a legal trigger for war with Russia. Disturbingly, there seems little or no leeway to avert conflict because of the Russophobia warping any rational judgment in Washington.
A bill tabled this week in the Senate looks likely to pass into law because of the bilateral consensus of belligerence towards Russia. It is generally accepted as if fact that Russia is threatening to invade Ukraine despite Moscow’s repeated denials and lack of evidence to support such sensationalized speculation.

Among other provocations, the lawmakers want to more than double the supply of lethal weaponry that the US is about to send Ukraine and to kill off the Nord Stream 2 gas pipeline from Russia to Europe.

On top of that – as if all that were not incendiary enough – the US Senators want to designate Russia a “terrorist state” if its “forces further invade Ukraine”. Such a designation of a nuclear superpower is unprecedented. It is an insane move that would make diplomacy and negotiation all but impossible. It’s tantamount to declaring war."

the bill link:

"WASHINGTON – U.S. Senator Jim Risch (R-Idaho), ranking member of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee, today introduced the Guaranteeing Ukraine’s Autonomy by Reinforcing its Defense Act (GUARD Act), legislation to provide critical support to Ukraine as it faces the threat of an invasion from Russia. Risch was joined by Senators Jim Inhofe (R-Okla.), ranking member of the Senate Armed Services Committee, Marco Rubio (R-Fla.), vice chairman of the Senate Intelligence Committee, Pat Toomey (R-Pa.), John Barrasso (R-Wyo.), John Cornyn (R-Texas), Tom Cotton (R-Ark.), Rob Portman (R-Ohio), and Bill Hagerty (R-Tenn.).

“As Ukraine faces yet another build-up of Russian troops on its border and the threat of a mid-January invasion, the United States should be doing everything it can right now to deter Russia and provide Ukraine the supplies and support it needs to defend itself,” said Risch. “Since the administration has failed to act, I have introduced legislation that would provide immediate material support to Ukraine. We cannot sit back and wait to react to Russian aggression. Congress must continue its strong support for the Ukrainian people and their right to sovereignty and self-defense.”

Invade Ukraine? perhaps "offer support for the self-declared free republics in the SE donbass areas."

i have no idea why the embed quotes for tweets didn't take.

oh, my, thanks for adding the illuminating map! Yemen: location, location, location. and those bombing yemen are the saudis and IDF, no?

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@wendy davis We are supplying the ammo and who knows what else for this fight.

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NYCVG

sanctions against them. Another failure by the Dept. of State to move ahead with diplomacy.
Stuck in the unilateral money, mud and bombs mindset. If our so called leaders don't wake up
PDQ, it's going to hurt the 'opposition", aka NCRI. Nuclear Crapshooters Ranting Indefinitely ..

Thanks Wendy!

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wendy davis's picture

@QMS

as that had been an earlier demand ahead of 'talks'. as former FM javad zarif had warned: 'deal with this administration now, as the hard-liners will be coming to power soon'.

yeppers, iran has further enriched uranium, but not high enough to build the bomb they claim is against their faith. but projection's a funny thing, isn't it? the US is the only nation to ever have dropped atomic bombs, and those two after emperor hirohito had surrendered (Revisionist history).

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Don't watch. Put them on, turn up the volume, and sweep your floors, wash dishes, do laundry, and just listen to the video info.
You don't have to watch the screen, if you can listen to the speaker.
Don't let your health condition keep you from information. Eyes are not needed to get info from video.
Thanks for the post.

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"We'll know our disinformation program is complete when everything the American public believes is false." ---- William Casey, CIA Director, 1981

zed2's picture

impacts the smaller shippers, especially. There is an opportunity for navies of building trust by cooperating in the fight against piracy and the protection of shipping.

I think we should be doing our bests to wind down tensions by building trust in cooperating against the pirates in the entire world's - including the Middle Easts shipping routes.

I am not Iranian, I am American, and I want us to be peaceful and fair.

I think that Arab countries are quite different, and not where I would want to live..I dont have to live there, I would prefer to have good relations with countries like Iran simply because a lot of Americans are Iranian-American and they have families back there they care about. The same goes for China. Lots of Americans are Chinese-American and have family members back there.

The family of mankind. Thats a good reason to care about what happens to others, isnt it? Warfare is a disease, a sickness. And its fed by peoples behaviors to one another. Our willingness to be fair to one another is the most important thing.

They are people too. Trade is supposed to be a positive thing, well if so both parties have to feel as if they got a good deal.

The parties should sit down and eat together. Should be able to interact in that most human of ways with one another. We share meals and break bread together. We are part of the same family, that of humanity. Yes, nuclear weapons are horrible, but there is a long history which we have to be aware of, particularly the fact that the British, with US help, overthrew the last democracy in Iran. More than 50 years ago. And then the CIA and MI5 installed the bloodthirsty, madman Reza Pahlavi. As well as helped him build a nuclear power capability, when they had no need for nuclearpower, having so much oil.

So we must have realized that the Shah's intent was not peaceful, he wanted nuclear weapons to obliterate his enemies within Iran.

The SHAH and hisSAVAK secret police were notorious. They tortured to death entire families. This "shah" we supported was by all accounts a bloodthirsty killer.

This was one way the British maintained power over the individual parts of "their empire" by installing brutal strongmen, and dividing areas between different groups. "Divide and Conquer" That was their strategy, its well known now. We have to understand that we have some culpability in these messes.

Nobody except the insane oligarchs want to get into wars of any kind. They always set civilization of any kind back and kill a lot of innocent people, especially children. We cannot turn back the clock to when we were the only country with nuclear weapons, nor before they were invented. Although I am sure many would like to, World War II was not a time that we were being very civilized to one another by any means. We cannot point to that time as being one to emulate, is what I mean. It was a barbaric time.

With Covid killing people - also a senseless horrible thing, we all need to try to help one another live in peace.

At least that is my two cents. Lets try to do so.

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