Appeasing Iran Ignores the Lessons of History

Victor Davis Hanson

China and Russia will never again see any advantage in joining the West in embargoing and sanctioning a would-be nuclear state – not when such a hard-won common front can become utterly nullified at any moment by a fickle United States. Both powers will grow closer to Iran.
In 2015, we naively hail peace with honor, but by 2020, sadder and wiser, we will lament war and shame. VDH

So  much for "snap back".

 

. . . "First, appeasement always brings short-term jubilation at the expense of long-term security. British Prime Minister Neville Chamberlain was a beloved peacemaker after the Munich Agreement of 1938 with Adolf Hitler but derided as a conceited fool andnaif by May 1940.A few years from now – after Iran has used its negotiated breathing space to rearm, ratchet up its terrorist operations, and eventually gain a bomb to blackmail its neighbors – the current deal will be deeply regretted. Expect a Nobel Peace Prize for Secretary of State John Kerry now, followed by Chamberlain-like infamy later.

"Second, the appeasement of autocrats always pulls the rug out from under domestic reformers and idealists. After the Western capitulation at Munich, no dissenter in Germany dared to question the ascendant dictatorship of Adolf Hitler. Expect a Nobel Peace Prize for Secretary of State John Kerry now, followed by Chamberlain-like infamy later.

"Until last week, Iranian dissidents and reformers had blamed the theocracy for earning Iran pariah status abroad and economic ruin at home. Not now. The haughty ayatollahs are bragging that they faced down the West and will restore the economy – as they wink to applauding crowds that Iran will soon be nuclear and dictate its terms to the Middle East.

"Third, appeasers always wrongly insist that the only alternative to their foolish concessions is war. Just the opposite is true." . . . Read the full article.

 

 Bruce S. Thornton offers us this outlook on the same subject: 

More Sanctions Wouldn’t Have Stopped Iran   But one measure would have.
. . . "Of course, there would be consequences to such military actions, and no doubt the “world community” Obama prefers answering to instead of Congress would complain––a contingency that doesn’t seem to inhibit Russia and China from brutally pursuing their national interests. But inaction has its consequences as well. In the coming years we will find out just what the consequences of a nuclear-armed Iran will be."

Grassroots Activism May Very Well Kill the Iran Deal   . . . "In response to a reporter's question as to why take on this commitment, I explained that after watching Obama spend more than six years following through on his promise to transform America, I felt compelled to do my part to stop this catastrophic deal. Obama has not just transformed America; he has transformed the world into a much more dangerous place for humans across the globe. I could not sit back and quietly allow Iran to fulfill its promise to annihilate Israel first and then continue onto America. I am watching in horror knowing that our children and grandchildren will be living in Obama’s cataclysmically transformed and unsafe world and I need to take action.". . .Read more