Subject: Fw: Financial Times, September 19, 2017
From: "fariborz fatemi" <[email-masked]>
To: "Fariborz Fatemi" <[email-masked]>
Date: Sat, 23 Sep 2017 08:52:03 +0000 (UTC)

FinancialTimes

Commentary FariborzS. Fatemi                   September19, 2017 FormerProfessional Staff Member HouseForeign Affairs Committee SenateForeign Relations Committee                    There he goes again, Trump, Putin’s“useful idiot.” With the investigation of his campaign’s collusion with theRussians closing in on him and his associates, Trump goes to the UnitedNations.            Remember his recent trip to Europe? What an embarrassment.And, because of his behavior and lies, he was referred to as a “fool.” Onewould have thought Trump learned something after that fiasco.            But Trump, who knows nothing and does not know he knows nothingand does not care, goes to the UN and in front of the nations of the worldshows he has learned nothing. Again, what an embarrassment.             The United Nations was created so nations with so manyconflicting interests could come together to find common ground. The Chinesehave a saying, “there’s a great deal of noise on the stairs, but there isnothing there.” With that approach, Trump mounts the podium at the UN andthreatens nuclear war, horrifying the international community.  In his “mind,” that rhetoric is satisfyinghis base as if America is a carnival and he is the chief barker rather thanrepresenting the most essential country in the world.            Then there is Trump’s vicious, disgusting rantings andbombast against a civilization of some 5,000 years, Iran.  Trump, lacking basic knowledge, would have ahard time finding Iran on a map.  Hewould be surprised that it is a country of 90 million proud people, highlyliterate, sitting strategically at the crossroads of East and West.            In several centuries, Iran has not attacked any country,although it has been attacked by its neighbors and is surrounded by nationsarmed with nuclear weapons.            When President Obama came to office, he knew the harshenmity between the US and Iran that had lasted over 30 years (the very thingTrump is reverting back to) had to be remedied because it was vital forAmerican national security interests in the region.  By equal measures of policies showing strongresolve and openness to dialogue, President Obama negotiated the nuclear dealfreezing the Iranian nuclear program that had 20,000 spinning centrifuges.  Today there are elements in Iran that havenever trusted the US and want to go back to restarting those centrifuges.             Those in the United States who are professionals protectingthe national security of America and our interests in the Middle East will tellyou they do not want to go back and that “Trump is a fool trying to destroy theopening that President Obama had achieved.” In fact, national security people in Israel will tell you that they alsodo not want the deal unraveled.  Exceptperhaps for the soon-to-be-jailed Prime Minister Netanyahu.            By his actions, Trump and Haley, his pretend UN Ambassador,are pandering to the Saudis and the Israel-can-do-no-wrong crowd. That is thesame crowd that brought the US ten years of war, over 5,000 brave servicepeople killed and $4 trillion added to the deficit and wasted.             It is not in America’s national security interests in theregion to go back to the days when the US and Iran had no contact. If Trumpcared about “regional and international peace and security” he would bebuilding on the progress by President Obama, rather than trying to tear itdown. Nothing less than US national security interests in the region is atrisk.  How very sad.