Bolton: U.S. sanctions 'possible' on European firms over Iran

[Zorro]

This discussion thread was locked as off-topic by muriel_volestrangler (a host of the Latest Breaking News forum).

Source: Reuters

White House National Security adviser John Bolton on Sunday said U.S. sanctions on European companies that do business with Iran were “possible, but Secretary of State Mike Pompeo said he remained hopeful Washington and its allies could strike a new nuclear deal with Tehran.

Bolton’s comments, in an interview with CNN’s “State of the Union, struck a more hawkish note than Pompeo’s, who was interviewed on “Fox News Sunday.”

“It’s possible. It depends on the conduct of other governments,” Bolton told CNN when asked whether the United States might impose sanctions on European companies that continue to business with Iran.

Pompeo said he was “hopeful in the days and weeks ahead we can come up with a deal that really works, that really protects the world from Iranian bad behavior, not just their nuclear program, but their missiles and their malign behavior as well.”

Read more: https://www.reuters.com/article/us-iran-nuclear-bolton/bolton-u-s-sanctions-possible-on-european-firms-over-iran-idUSKCN1IE0M9

[lark]

1. Think Bolton is being more honest than Pompeo.

Vlad would so be doing the happy dance if we fuck over European democracies, he wants to weaken them to make it easier for his own aggression to go unchecked. So sickening that Vlads aims are the same as his puppet drumpf. Pompeo is just lying, IMO. I sincerely doubt that Europe will go along with their idiotic plans and there will be no new treaty. They have not been subverted by Russia the way our government has.

[pennylane100]

2. I am not so sure that we would come out ahead if we try to fuck the European economy.

On the bright side (if there is one), the repercussions of a trade war with them would hopefully destroy trump's base.

[lark]

3. Oh, I'm with you on that.

Fucking over our friends will also fuck us over - again Vlad wins and everyone else loses. I just don't know that his followers are smart enough to figure this out when Faux Snooze will cheer for it in a might way

[olegramps]

9. Trump's base of under-educated yahoos are chumps who have been taken for a ride.

They continue to believe that he is going to magically restore yesteryears labor intensive jobs. The root cause of the loss of rote industrial jobs is automation. This accounts for the loss of 85% of manufacturing jobs. Only 13% were lost to outsourcing. The remaining 8% were lost to unwanted or replaced products. The job market has undergone a radical change and it is not going back. Fifty years ago, for example General Motors was the biggest employer and the average worker earned $30.00 in 2016 dollars. Today the largest employer is Walmart in which the average worker is paid $8.00 per hour. The less educated are not marketable and the highest paid jobs go to the better educated.

If Trump was truthful, he would tell these people they have one and only avenue to escape their plight, get educated and retrain. Of course, he is not about to propose this because his con job that got him elected would be discredited. The industrial age that provided millions of labor intensive jobs is a thing of the past. The situation is analogous to the effects of the Industrial Revolution that came into swing following the Civil War. During this period approximately 65 % of people earned their livelihood through framing. As the Industrial Revolution intensified by 1900 only 38% did so and steadily declined to only 2% today. The same phenomena of the super rich that era produced is being repeated today. The massive changes that took place during the Industrial Revolution are now beginning with the Information Age and will present a massive adjustment that is difficult to predict.

[underpants]

5. I was just thinking isolationism but your post makes the next step

Thought could very well be.

[Hortensis]

11. Yup. Trump whisperers talking isolation ideology but

serving in real, practical terms enemies foreign and domestic, especially Russia. Even if they haven't managed to remove our original crippling sanctions on Russia or withdraw from NATO, they've refused to implement the new ones, refused to mount protections against Russia's warfare, and shut down our ability to maintain our position in many nations that depend on us, leaving Russia and China to fill the vacuum. This has been the pattern from the beginning.

[MBS]

4. He is a dangerous, maniacal, mentally unbalanced zealot.

And, along with the president and the rest of this crowd, a clear and present danger to our national security.
Even when I've disagreed - even strongly - with previous presidents on foreign policy, I've never before had this feeling that the White House does not have the basic interests of the country at heart. They pose more of a danger to our country than any external danger I can think of, short of asteroid impact.

Not only do they make me disturbed and anxious on a daily basis: I admit that I'm also terrified.

[DonCoquixote]

6. what the cold war failed to do

Trump and his master, Putin have done with only 1/2 the budget of a war.

[padfun]

7. So now we are allies with Russia and North Korea?

And our new foes are Europe and Asia?

I think the real enemy took over our government and it seems that there is nothing we can do about it.

[Iliyah]

8. Sad.

[bronxiteforever]

10. Bolton is a Poisonous bunch-backed toad!

[muriel_volestrangler]

12. Locking - duplicate thread

of https://www.democraticunderground.com/10142058690 , covering the same Bolton State of the Union interview. Please continue discussion there. Thanks.