Russia Will Use Its Ally, a Nuclear-Armed Iran, to Better Threaten the West

In this mailing: - Con Coughlin: Russia Will Use Its Ally, a Nuclear-Armed Iran, to Better Threaten the West - Daniel Greenfield: They're Redistributing Wealth, Not Fighting Inflation [] [Russia Will Use Its Ally, a Nuclear-Armed Iran, to Better Threaten the West]( by Con Coughlin • October 3, 2022 at 5:00 am [Facebook]( [Twitter]( [WhatsApp]( [Telegram]( [Send]( [Print]( - As one of the signatories of the original Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action (JCPOA), the flawed nuclear deal negotiated by the Obama administration, Russia, as well as China, will ultimately have a say in any new agreement that emerges from the Vienna talks. - Rather than seeking to curb Iran's nuclear ambitions, Beijing and Moscow are more interested in forming an alliance with Iran to counter what they denounce as America's unilateralism, and thwarting "draconian" US sanctions. - Given Moscow's open hostility towards the West, it is abundantly clear that the Kremlin wants to exploit the weakness of the Biden administration to ensure the negotiations provide an even more unsatisfactory deal than the one signed off by Barack Obama in 2015, one that completely fails to address the very real threat Iran's nuclear weapons will pose to the wider world. - From Moscow's perspective, having a nuclear-armed Iran, one that is Russia's ally, will greatly enhance its ability to challenge the West. - In return, Iran has formed a new "axis of evil" with Moscow, providing it with weaponry, such as sophisticated drones, to support its war effort in Ukraine, while at the time providing assistance to Tehran to evade the effects of Western sanctions. - While these two despotic regimes seem determined to forge an ever closer alliance, however, their objectives are completely at odds with the demands of their respective citizens, whose primary concern is securing their freedom, not supporting the military aspirations of the ruling elites. - There is growing concern in Washington that US President Joe Biden is preparing to sign a new deal with Tehran once the midterm elections have been concluded, and that his officials are prepared to sign a far weaker version of the deal than that originally agreed to in 2015. - That would be a grave miscalculation on the part of the Biden administration. - This should be the moment when the US and its allies are intensifying the pressure on both Iran and Moscow, not capitulating to their interests with a weak nuclear deal which will only encourage them to indulge in further acts of aggression against the West and its allies. From Moscow's perspective, having a nuclear-armed Iran, one that is Russia's ally, will greatly enhance its ability to challenge the West. Pictured: Russian President Vladimir Putin and Iran's President Ebrahim Raisi hold a meeting in Tehran on July 19, 2022. (Photo by Sergei Savostyanov/Sputnik/AFP via Getty Images) The nationwide anti-government protests sweeping Russia and Iran demonstrate that, despite the efforts of these two rogue regimes to increase the level of military cooperation between Moscow and Tehran, the overwhelming demand of the majority of ordinary Russians and Iranians is freedom from dictatorial rule. One of the more alarming global developments in recent months has been the deepening cooperation between Moscow and Tehran as they seek to challenge the West on a number of fronts. Russia has played a key role in supporting Iran's efforts to thwart the negotiating process aimed at reviving the controversial nuclear deal with Tehran since the start of the negotiations in Vienna last year. While Iran is providing Russia with military equipment to support its war in Ukraine, Russia is supporting Iran's refusal to comply with Western demands to come clean about the true extent of its nuclear arsenal. [Continue Reading Article]( [] [They're Redistributing Wealth, Not Fighting Inflation]( by Daniel Greenfield • October 3, 2022 at 4:00 am [Facebook]( [Twitter]( [WhatsApp]( [Telegram]( [Send]( [Print]( - The Inflation Reduction Act is a lie. It doesn't reduce inflation: it actually gooses it. The IRA is another inflationary leftist spending boondoggle that throws billions at green energy and $80 billion at the IRS to audit the middle class in the hopes of balancing out some of the crony cash. - A week after signing the IRA, Biden announced a trillion dollar loan bailout for his party's base of perpetual grad students. Like the Inflation Reduction Act, this was a massive wealth transfer. Audit the middle class and send the checks to Tesla drivers and sociology grad students. Raise inflation rates with inflationary spending and transfer some of the wealth over to welfare voters. - That's what the White House was really celebrating. - The Biden administration isn't fighting inflation, it's deliberately increasing it even as its cronies in the Federal Reserve hammer home new interest rate hikes to force the economy into a recession. This two-step dance destroys savings, wrecks investments and allows for a massive wealth transfer to Democrat donors, special interests and voters. The more that the Democrat majority spends, the worse inflation gets and the more justification there is for higher rates. - If a recession arrives, there'll be even more justification for government wealth transfers. - "I'm kind of in a position that FDR was," Biden modestly claimed. FDR's position was to use the Soviet Union and Mussolini's Italy as templates for dramatically transforming America through massive spending, socialist controls and crackdowns on conservative political opponents. - So far Biden has managed 2 out of 3. - The Biden administration is not here to "save the economy".... The formula has always been really simple: create the crisis, worsen it, and then exploit it. - Honest socialists like Bernie Sanders would at least admit that they're trying to replace the economy with socialism while pursuing massive wealth redistribution. - Biden is pretending that he's a firefighter when, like FDR, he's actually an arsonist in a big helmet and black boots. Inflation is one of the fires being fed to justify tighter government controls and interventions that reduce economic independence and redistribute wealth. - Devaluing money is the traditional tool of totalitarian leftist regimes. Runaway inflation provides them with a pretext for interventions such as wage and price controls, both of which were rolled out during COVID lockdowns on an unprecedented scale and still continue.... - These trial runs involve government intervention creating artificial scarcity or higher prices by intervening in the production process, shutting down plants or oil and gas leases, and then stomping in to reshape the marketplace. - Anyone living under actual socialism can tell you that it can get much worse. And will. - When that happens, Biden will throw an even bigger party. And we'll be the ones paying for it. The Inflation Reduction Act is a lie. It doesn't reduce inflation: it actually gooses it. The IRA is another inflationary leftist spending boondoggle that throws billions at green energy and $80 billion at the IRS to audit the middle class in the hopes of balancing out some of the crony cash. (Image source: iStock) Biden threw a party to celebrate the Inflation Reduction Act on the White House South Lawn even as the latest figures showed that core inflation has continued to rise. Grocery prices had the steepest increase since 1979. Rent prices shot up again and medical costs are escalating. Even the most loyal media lapdogs could hardly stand this festival of lies. CNN cut away from Biden's masque of red ink to show what was happening to the stock market. Reuters acidly headlined its coverage, "Biden celebrates 'Inflation Reduction Act' as food, rent prices climb". So what's there to celebrate? The Inflation Reduction Act is a lie. It doesn't reduce inflation: it actually gooses it. The IRA is another inflationary leftist spending boondoggle that throws billions at green energy and $80 billion at the IRS to audit the middle class in the hopes of balancing out some of the crony cash. 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