"He played Iran perfectly, to isolate Iran, unite all the other countries around him, with an open hand to Iran, and then he springs the trap."
Not only did the president look strong, he looked cunning.
Now, a question for the White House is whether it can capitalize on this moment and direct this sense of momentum toward its domestic agenda, namely health care reform.
The president's top advisers, after returning to Washington from the Group of 20 summit in Pittsburgh, acknowledged that Mr. Obama had cut a compelling figure during a week of maneuvering to hem in Iran's nuclear program.
"The president played a strong and effective leadership role this week on the world stage, and I think Americans appreciate that," said David Axelrod, one of the president's closest advisers
What a fucking joke. Obama is using the exact same lines he used when he took the oath.
26 June 2009
"We deplore post-electoral violence," says the G8 in a draft statement, urging Tehran to uphold human rights guarantees. There are concerns, however, that a sharp international response may reduce the possibility of resolving nuclear tensions with Iran peacefully. At the request of Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov and others, the language in the draft statement regarding Tehran's nuclear program was toned down. "We must focus on the main objectives that will allow us to move forward to resolve the problem of Iran's nuclear program," Lavrov says, discouraging the G8 from isolating Iran in the aftermath of its election.
7 July 2009
In a CNN interview, President Obama says that his administration is "absolutely not" giving Israel the green light to attack Iran. His comments come in response to Vice President Biden's statement regarding Israel's "sovereign right" to attack Iranian nuclear sites. [See NTI Iran Nuclear Chronology 5 July 2009.] Obama says: "I think Vice President Biden stated a categorical fact which is we can't dictate to other countries what their security interests are," adding that "the United States [will] try to resolve the issue of Iran's nuclear capabilities in a peaceful way through diplomatic channels."
Admiral Michael Mullen, chairman of the U.S. Joint Chiefs of Staff, says that the "window is closing" on opportunities to halt Iran's pursuit of a nuclear weapon. Mullen estimates that Tehran will build its first nuclear bomb in one to three years. The Islamic republic is "very focused" on developing a nuclear weapons capability, according to Mullen
