Trita Parsi Profile picture
Feb 11 4 tweets 2 min read
Biden should bring home ALL US troops in Iraq, @AdamNoahWho and I argue in the @nytopinion today. They don't serve a purpose - they don't deter Iran nor are they needed to fight ISIS.

They are sitting ducks in a geopolitical tinderbox. Is this worth it?>>
nytimes.com/2022/02/10/opi…
M. Biden should announce a phased troop withdrawal asap.

If he doesn’t, attacks on U.S. troops will inevitably increase and increase the risk of the United States getting dragged into a larger conflict in the Middle East. And for what? >>
The US does not have the answer for Iraq’s woes. It cant allay the frustration of Iraqis over an unresponsive government and political violence; it is ill-equipped to mediate between Iraq’s competing factions or untangle the web of crisscrossing interests that stymies progress.>>
Biden must do this before another American soldier dies in vain.//

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More from @tparsi

Feb 13
🧵According to the WSJ, West Africa is America's "backyard."

I kid you not.

WSJ writes this just days after the Biden admin ridicules the very notion of spheres of influence when Russia raised it in the Ukraine context.

Let's unpack this. >>

wsj.com/articles/u-s-a…
2. It is quite stunning to see how the WSJ in its reporting - let alone its opinion section - pushes for American global military domination by creating a narrative that other countries are expansionist.

Consider the numbers.>>
3. US has more than 750 (!) military bases worldwide. China has 2.

Yet, according to the WSJ, it is China that pursues an aggressive "expansionist" policy by seeking a base (unclear whether it is military) in West Africa - which WSJ goes on the declare America's "home turf.">>
Read 11 tweets
Dec 26, 2021
🧵Wow! A very telling interview with head of Israel's Iran directorate from April. It gives important clues as to why, 6 mo's later, the nuclear talks are stuck...

He says Biden listens to the Bibi gov, evidenced by the US "NOT RUSHING TO A NEW DEAL"

jns.org/iran-and-israe…
>>
2. This is important as Biden wasted several weeks before starting #IranDeal talks. Those weeks were partly spent on consulting w/ Israel, which apparently advised Biden not to "rush to a deal." Biden obliged by wasting time.

Today, Biden says "time is running out" for talks >>
3. Once again, the US chose to listen to the advice of a state and its leader (Netanyahu) who clearly had shown their preference for diplomacy to fail. (This doesn't take any blame away from the Raisi gov's conduct, but Biden had a major opportunity with Rouhani that he blew) >>
Read 9 tweets
Dec 12, 2021
🧵
Important piece on US-Israeli tensions re Iran talks. It fails to point out a key conclusion tho: Biden’s immense efforts to appease Israel in hope of tempering its opposition to the JCPOA has not only failed but was likely a mistake from the outset >>

nytimes.com/2021/12/10/us/…
2. Diverging Israeli and American views on the JCPOA is nothing new - on the contrary. But senior officials in the Biden team thought Obama could have handled the Israelis better through closer coordination and by taking some of their hawkish advice. >>
3. The fundamental question was: Are Israel and America’s views on a negotiated settlement with Iran irreconcilable, or is there a way to clinch a lasting deal with Iran that also makes Israel happy? >>
Read 26 tweets
Dec 10, 2021
🧵Important piece by @shira_rubin highlighting crucial developments in Israel where top officials are publicly admitting that leaving the JCPOA was a strategic mistake. This vindicates many of us who warned that it would end up badly for Israel itself >>
washingtonpost.com/world/middle_e…
Still, the piece undersells Israel's own role in Trump's disastrous JCPOA exit. Israel didn't just merely "applaud" Trump's decision. It endlessly pushed for it, with Netanyahu even taking credit for convincing Trump to do it.

>>
Former Mossad Head Tamir Pardo has described it as "unforgivable" and "a strategic mistake."

If it was a strategic mistake for Israel, it was also a strategic mistake for the US.

So Israel pushed the US to commit an act that significantly undermined US national security.
Read 5 tweets
Dec 2, 2021
Belatedly, Tom Friedman has recognized the strategic insanity of Israel pushing Trump to quit the #IranDeal. Better late than never!

Yet, his piece is very important as it highlights two issues that the US media largely has neglected. >>

nytimes.com/2021/11/30/opi…
2. First, Friedman points out that Biden made a huge mistake not simply returning to the JCPOA back in January, instead of negotiating its return (which so far has been a fruitless process). >>
3. Secondly, very little coverage has been given in US media that a large number of Israeli officials have now publicly admitted that pressing the US to exit the JCPOA was a mistake. What Israel did profoundly damaged American AND Israeli security. >>
Read 7 tweets
Nov 7, 2021
Stunning admission by Nikki Haley:

"You [Biden] have sent Saudi into the arms of Iran. The idea that they’re actually having conversations was unthinkable a couple of years ago.”

🧵Let's unpack this >>
jewishinsider.com/2021/11/graham…
Thanks to the US withdrawing militarily from the MidEast, regional states such as Iran and Saudi have begun exploring their own diplomacy. The neocons had warned that if the US pulled back, chaos would ensue. Instead we're seeing regional diplomacy.

But here's the thing...>>
Haley's comments suggest the neocons knew this all along. They knew diplomacy would break out, not chaos, and that the US was not needed in the region.

Yet that's what they were against all along: Stability in the Middle East and regional powers finding ways to get along >>
Read 5 tweets

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