John Kerry
July 1, 2016 — Scott Johnson
In the annals of mewling idiocy emanating from Foggy Bottom, Secretary of State John Kerry must be given pride of place. Speaking to his friends at the Aspen Ideas Festival earlier this week, he contributed in a major way to man-made global warming. It was in his remarks at the festival that Kerry declared ISIS’s Istanbul massacre a sign of our success: Now, yes, you can bomb an airport. You
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February 25, 2016 — Scott Johnson
Omri Ceren summarizes recent developments involving Iran’s use of the cash kindly released to the regime by the Obama administration under the JCPOA. As always, Omri provides alphabetized footnotes to his summary. Omri writes: The context is the recent Iranian announcement that they intend to purchase Sukhoi-30 warplanes from Russia. According to UNSCR 2231 that sale has to go through the Security Council, which means the U.S. can veto it.
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February 25, 2016 — Scott Johnson
At a Senate subcommittee hearing yesterday Senator Mark Kirk questions Secretary Kerry yesterday regarding Ibrahim al Oosi, a terrorist released released by the Obama administration from the detention facility at Guantanamo who has since returned to work for al Qaeda. Kirk asked Kerry for his thoughts on Ibrahim al Qosi while a staffer held up a picture of al Qosi to jog Kerry’s memory (video below). Kirk expressed the fond
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January 21, 2016 — Paul Mirengoff
John Kerry admitted the obvious today. Speaking at Davos, he said that some of the $55 billion (his figure) in sanctions relief money for Iran will be used to promote terrorism: I think that some of it will end up in the hands of the IRGC [Iran’s Revolutionary Guard Corps.] or other entities, some of which are labeled terrorists. You know, to some degree, I’m not going to sit here
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January 15, 2016 — Steven Hayward
About this business of the navy patrol boats captured by Iran. As Scott and Investors Business Daily point out, there’s something off about the official story that a “navigation error” caused the boats to stray into Iranian waters. I don’t believe this story for a moment. (And the initial explanation that the boats “drifted” there after engine trouble has already been withdrawn. Why was that put out or not disavowed
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January 13, 2016 — John Hinderaker
Paul has offered thoughts on the release of the U.S. sailors, all of which I agree with. I want to add a few further observations. The day began with Joe Biden touting the president’s State of the Union speech on CBS. Near the end of his interview, he was asked about the seizure of American sailors by the Iranians (the sailors by then had been released) and specifically, whether there
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December 21, 2015 — Paul Mirengoff
The Wall Street Journal reports that the Obama administration has advised the rulers of Iran not to worry about new U.S. legislation, signed into law by President Obama, that clamps visa restrictions on people who have traveled to Iran. The assurances came after Iranian officials publicly complained that the new law could dampen investment interest in their country. Here’s the background, as explained by The Tower. After the San Bernardino
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November 17, 2015 — Paul Mirengoff
John Kerry said this today: There’s something different about what happened from Charlie Hebdo [and what happened in last week’s Paris attacks], and I think everybody would feel that. [In the Hebdo case] [t]here was a sort of particularized focus and perhaps even a legitimacy in terms of – not a legitimacy, but a rationale that you could attach yourself to somehow and say, okay, they’re really angry because of
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November 17, 2015 — John Hinderaker
This morning, addressing the staff and families of the U.S. Embassy in Paris, John Kerry made the following unscripted comments: But nevertheless, we are deeply appreciative for your commitment to helping us to help people to share the values and the interests that we are all working to protect. In the last days, obviously, that has been particularly put to the test. There’s something different about what happened from Charlie
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October 18, 2015 — Paul Mirengoff
The spate of stabbings by Palestinians of Israeli Jews has caused John Kerry to spring into action, defined as it always is for Kerry as attempting to wring concessions from Israel. Kerry plans to meet with PA president Mahmoud Abbas and Jordan’s King Abdullah II in the Middle East next weekend. In advance of these meetings, Kerry will meet with Israeli prime minister Benjamim Netanyahu on Thursday, assuming events allow
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October 15, 2015 — John Hinderaker
Palestinians have launched at least 28 attacks on Israeli Jews over the past week, leaving seven dead and more than 70 wounded. These attacks, mostly using knives while a few involved guns or motor vehicles, have been encouraged by Islamic preachers on the West Bank and by Mahmoud Abbas. This violence, while of great concern to Israelis, pales in comparison with the human catastrophes in Syria and elsewhere in the
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September 6, 2015 — Scott Johnson
The AP headline reads “US warns Russia against more aid to Assad amid new violence.” Turning to the story to check out the “warning,” we find this: [T]he State Department said Kerry made clear to Lavrov that such actions “could further escalate the conflict, lead to greater loss of innocent life, increase refugee flows and risk confrontation” with the anti-Islamic State coalition operating led by the U.S. that is carrying
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August 3, 2015 — Steven Hayward
National Review‘s Jay Nordlinger wins the Internet for today with this great question: Idle question: If the Norwegian Nobel Committee gives John Kerry the peace prize for the Iran deal, and Iran goes nuclear, will he throw away his Nobel medal? Jay goes on to note that Henry Kissinger did indeed try to return his Nobel Peace Prize from 1973 after North Vietnam shredded the peace accord, but that the
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July 28, 2015 — Paul Mirengoff
John Kerry testified today before the House Foreign Relations Committee about the Iran deal. I watched only a small portion of it. The debate, though very important, is becoming stale. For me, the most interesting moment occurred when Rep. Brad Sherman, a Democrat from California, asked Kerry whether, if Congress disapproves of the agreement and overrides President Obama’s veto of its disapproval, the administration would follow the law regarding what
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July 24, 2015 — Scott Johnson
I wish there were any danger that Congress would reject the deal with Iran by the two-thirds majorities necessary to override President Obama’s veto under the Corker bill. Has the United States ever entered into such a fateful deal without popular support? I think the answer is no, and the lack of popular support may be the single most distinguishing feature of the Iran deal from the Munich Agreement. In
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July 24, 2015 — Paul Mirengoff
Lee Smith, writing for the Weekly Standard, accuses Secretary of State John Kery of “making stuff up” with respect to the nuclear deal with Iran. Smith (or the headline writer) is being polite. Kerry is flat out lying. Let’s look at some examples. First, having given up on “anytime, anywhere inspections,” Kerry now claims that this was never the administration’s position and that, in fact, the concept is unknown to
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July 21, 2015 — Paul Mirengoff
Towards the end of the nuclear negotiations with Iran, the mullahs’ negotiators talked about the possibility of cooperating strategically with the U.S. on regional matters, in the event the sides reached a deal. Even “Supreme Leader” Ali Khamenei joined in, declaring that “if the other side avoids its ambiguity in the talks, it’ll be an experience showing it’s possible to negotiate with them on other issues.” This was an enticing
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