Abdullah’s warning
Apr 14, 2015 20:33:40 GMT -5
Post by schwartzie on Apr 14, 2015 20:33:40 GMT -5
Abdullah’s warning
By Post Editorial Board
April 13, 2015 | 8:09pm
Will President Obama now give Jordan’s King Abdullah the Benjamin Netanyahu treatment?
The Israeli prime minister isn’t the only Mideast leader publicly raising doubts on the administration’s nuclear negotiations with Iran.
Interviewed by Fox News’ Bret Baier, the Jordanian monarch echoed Bibi in suggesting that limiting the talks to Iran’s nuclear program — without discussing Tehran’s aggression across the region — is a mistake.
Noting that Iran now has a presence in Iraq, Lebanon, Syria, Yemen, Afghanistan and Pakistan, the king told Baier: “You’ve got to connect all these dots together. All these issues are areas of instability . . . We can’t discuss them in isolation.”
This isn’t the first time Abdullah has questioned Washington’s understanding of the Middle East. Two years ago, he lashed out at the State Department’s naivete on the Muslim Brotherhood, whose leaders he called “wolves in sheep’s clothing.”
His words were more diplomatic this time ’round, but the warning is just as plain.
And the president can’t dismiss Abdullah’s comments by suggesting he’s under the influence of Republicans and neo-cons.
Yet as recently as last week, State Department spokesman Marie Harf insisted, “This is an agreement that is only about the nuclear issue” and “doesn’t deal with any other issues, nor should it.”
As we’ve noted before, Abdullah is America’s best friend in the Arab world, the leader of a modernizing and relatively democratic regime that finds itself in constant political peril.
The White House ignored his last wake-up call — and was caught flat-footed by the coup that later dislodged the Muslim Brotherhood government in Egypt.
Now Abdullah warns that Iran’s nuclear ambitions are firmly linked to its warring across the Middle East.
If Team Obama ignores his call to deal with both threats as one, it will reap a far greater whirlwind.
link
By Post Editorial Board
April 13, 2015 | 8:09pm
Will President Obama now give Jordan’s King Abdullah the Benjamin Netanyahu treatment?
The Israeli prime minister isn’t the only Mideast leader publicly raising doubts on the administration’s nuclear negotiations with Iran.
Interviewed by Fox News’ Bret Baier, the Jordanian monarch echoed Bibi in suggesting that limiting the talks to Iran’s nuclear program — without discussing Tehran’s aggression across the region — is a mistake.
Noting that Iran now has a presence in Iraq, Lebanon, Syria, Yemen, Afghanistan and Pakistan, the king told Baier: “You’ve got to connect all these dots together. All these issues are areas of instability . . . We can’t discuss them in isolation.”
This isn’t the first time Abdullah has questioned Washington’s understanding of the Middle East. Two years ago, he lashed out at the State Department’s naivete on the Muslim Brotherhood, whose leaders he called “wolves in sheep’s clothing.”
His words were more diplomatic this time ’round, but the warning is just as plain.
And the president can’t dismiss Abdullah’s comments by suggesting he’s under the influence of Republicans and neo-cons.
Yet as recently as last week, State Department spokesman Marie Harf insisted, “This is an agreement that is only about the nuclear issue” and “doesn’t deal with any other issues, nor should it.”
As we’ve noted before, Abdullah is America’s best friend in the Arab world, the leader of a modernizing and relatively democratic regime that finds itself in constant political peril.
The White House ignored his last wake-up call — and was caught flat-footed by the coup that later dislodged the Muslim Brotherhood government in Egypt.
Now Abdullah warns that Iran’s nuclear ambitions are firmly linked to its warring across the Middle East.
If Team Obama ignores his call to deal with both threats as one, it will reap a far greater whirlwind.
link
