Israel Policy in the Biden Administration

In this mailing: - Peter Schweizer: Israel Policy in the Biden Administration - Uzay Bulut: Turkey Ravages Cyprus - Amir Taheri: The Iran Mediation Bazaar [] [Israel Policy in the Biden Administration]( by Peter Schweizer • February 21, 2021 at 5:00 am [Facebook]( [Twitter]( [WhatsApp]( [Telegram]( [Send]( [Print]( - The Obama administration negotiated a nuclear deal (JCPOA) with the Iranian mullahs that was bad for the U.S. (which found it had only legitimized the regime that the U.S. Department of State called the "world's worst state sponsor of terrorism") and bad for Israel (the deal would allow Iran, after a few years, to become a full-blown nuclear power). - The Biden administration has already promised to return the U.S. to the JCPOA, provided that Iran will once again agree to honor its terms. The Iranians, based on a well-established track record, most likely will not honor those terms. That will certainly create friction not only with Israel... but also with many of Iran's Sunni neighbors, who are also alarmed by the prospect of a nuclear-armed, Shi'ite, aspiring hegemon in the region. - The last few years... have shown that Arab counties seem tired of a Palestinian intransigence that has only held everyone back. - Even if one dislikes Trump, the recent advances in a warm peace brought by the Abraham Accords represent a truly new hope for the region and, significantly, a new willingness by Arab nations finally to leave behind an ancient and outdated hostility. Will the Biden administration be so short-sighted as to drop the ball on this initiative simply because it is associated with an earlier administration that now happens to be disliked? Or will it instead bid for a legacy based on even more successes -- and perhaps even a Nobel Peace Prize -- by fostering even greater interdependence among regional neighbors in the Middle East? The Obama administration negotiated a nuclear deal (JCPOA) with the Iranian mullahs that was bad for the U.S., which found it had only legitimized the regime that the U.S. Department of State called the "world's worst state sponsor of terrorism". The Biden administration has already promised to return the U.S. to the JCPOA. Pictured: Then US Secretary of State John Kerry shakes hands with Iranian Foreign Minister Mohammad Javad Zarif in Vienna, Austria, on July 14, 2014, during negotiations that led to the JCPOA. (Image source: US State Department) U.S. policy towards Israel stays fairly consistent despite changing administrations. Even after President Barack Obama's "apology tour" to the Arab world early in the first term of his presidency -- and his last-minute attempt to carve out a de facto Palestinian state through UN Security Council Res. 2334 -- official U.S. policy towards Israel did not significantly change. That held true despite Obama's efforts and the palpable personal dislike between himself and Israeli leader Benjamin Netanyahu. [Continue Reading Article]( [] [Turkey Ravages Cyprus]( by Uzay Bulut • February 21, 2021 at 4:30 am [Facebook]( [Twitter]( [WhatsApp]( [Telegram]( [Send]( [Print]( - Six years after Turkey invaded Cyprus, another military coup d'état, in 1980 in Turkey, would destroy whatever crumbs of freedoms remained. According to US secret diplomatic documents, at least 650,000 people were detained. Many were tortured and hundreds died in custody. - "There is a rule in the [Turkish] Special Warfare: To increase the strength of the people, some of their values must be sabotaged as if [the sabotage were conducted] by the enemy. [For example], a mosque can be burned. We burned a mosque in Cyprus." — Turkish General Sabri Yirmibeşoğlu, Habertürk, September 23, 2010. - In addition to Greek Cypriots, Armenian, Maronite, and other non-Muslim Cypriots were also forcibly displaced. The result was that Turkey effectively crushed the Christian population. - Today Turkey still calls the atrocities it committed in Cyprus in 1974 "a peace operation." On November 15, 2020, Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan visited a part of Famagusta, Cyprus, after joining the ceremony celebrating the 37th anniversary of the unilateral declaration of the "Turkish Republic of Northern Cyprus", the illegally-occupied northern part of Cyprus that is not recognized under international law. Since 1974, it has been under Turkish occupation, which has looted and ethnically cleansed its indigenous population. Pictured: Erdogan (second from right) in Varosha, Famagusta on November 15, 2020. (Photo by Alexis Mitas/Getty Images) The international community may be unaware of it, but Europe includes a ghost town located in the Republic of Cyprus. Since 1974, it has been under Turkish occupation, which has looted and ethnically cleansed its indigenous population. Designated a military zone by the Turkish army 46 years ago, when Greek Cypriots were forced to flee invading Turkish forces, a part of the Cypriot district of Famagusta has remained deserted. Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan declared in October 2020: "[T]he two main streets and the coast in the 'Maraş region' [Famagusta in Turkish-occupied northern Cyprus], which were closed since the 1974 peace operation, have recently been opened to the use of the Cypriot people..... The closed Maraş region belongs to the Turkish Cypriots; it should be known this way... [Continue Reading Article]( [] [The Iran Mediation Bazaar]( by Amir Taheri • February 21, 2021 at 4:00 am [Facebook]( [Twitter]( [WhatsApp]( [Telegram]( [Send]( [Print]( - First, he must persuade Tehran to treat Iraq as an independent nation-state, not a glacis for the Islamic Republic in its campaign to "export revolution." - Revival of the 1977 trade accord could help end the current chaos and enable Tehran and Baghdad to secure income from tariffs and taxation. Setting mutually accepted rules on charities could also help both curb money laundering and tax evasion through fake religious charities linked to crime syndicates and security services. - The big enchilada in al-Hakim's imaginary mediation would be the reopening of Shatt al-Arab, the border waterway closed and clogged during the war. Re-opened, the Shatt could ensure the revival of Basra in Iraq and Khorramshahr in Iran which were the region's largest ports for centuries. Dredging and remodeling the waterway could cost some $20 billion, worth considering if both sides created a joint navigation management agency. - Ah, we dropped the word "normalization".... If the Islamic Republic can't normalize relations even with Iraq, how could it normalize with the American "Great Satan"? - If wise al-Hakim wants to mediate, let him start with his two homelands. With Donald Trump out of the White House, wannabe do-gooders have thrown their hats, or turbans, into the ring as mediators between Tehran and Washington. The latest to join the queue is Ammar al-Hakim, leader of the Iraqi National Wisdom Movement. If wise al-Hakim wants to mediate, why wouldn't he offer mediation between his two homelands, Iraq and Iran, to repair bilateral relations, and restore normality after four decades of war, intrigue and tension? Pictured: Al-Hakim speaks in Baghdad, Iraq on February 12, 2021. (Photo by Ahmad al-Rubaye/AFP via Getty Images) With Donald Trump out of the White House, wannabe do-gooders have thrown their hats, or turbans, into the ring as mediators between Tehran and Washington. First, French President Emmanuel Macron said he was ready to seize the opportunity of Joe Biden's victory to build a bridge with Iran. Then it was the turn of Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov to don the mantle of honest broker. Pakistan's Prime Minister Imran Khan has also made musings about mediation. Last week, Qatar's Foreign Minister Mohammed bin Abdulrahman Al-Thani traveled to Tehran to offer mediation. The latest to join the queue is Ammar al-Hakim, leader of the Iraqi National Wisdom Movement. Interestingly, all aspiring mediators are from countries that have problems of their own with the Islamic Republic -- problems they have failed to sort out after four decades of diplomatic zigzags. 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