By Charles Dunaway
He is correct in a sense that the sanctions on Iran, all of which are illegal under international law, consist of those unilaterally imposed by the US President, and others which were enacted by the Congress and have the force of law (in the US anyway). If Biden assumes office on January 20, he could eliminate the sanctions imposed by Trump with the stroke of his pen.
All the others would require the Executive Branch to issue determinations that Iran is not supporting terrorists or laundering money for them. That would require the US government to distinguish between terrorists and groups resisting the invasion and occupation of their nations by the US and its allies in the Middle East, principally Israel and Saudi Arabia. As you can imagine, the political pressure on the President and the Congress from the Zionist lobby and the flood of money from the Saudi monarchs would be more than even a fearless man of great integrity could resist. Biden is not such a man. Kamala Harris, should she assume the Presidency, would be even less likely to buck the system.
I do believe Biden would attempt to resuscitate the JCPOA, but I doubt he will be successful. There is no reason for the Iranian government to believe a Biden Administration is any more trustworthy a negotiating partner than the Obama Administration. In fact, it is unwise to believe that any treaty entered into with the United States will be honored by its future regimes. In addition, Biden will bring back the Obama foreign policy team - full of Zionist neocons committed to US supremacy, and pawns of the corrupt regime occupying Palestine. They will no doubt convince him to impose unreasonable additional conditions that would be unacceptable to Iran.
A Biden administration will also be faced with a formidable number of domestic concerns as well as the task of rebuilding every federal agency involved in regulating industry or protecting the public. Unemployment, if the statistics were honest, is over 25%. Back in July 44 million Americans faced eviction from their homes because they could not pay their rent or mortgage. That number is now significantly higher. About 20% of US families are facing hunger or food insecurity. A massive and expensive federal bailout of the economy is necessary, but there will be great resistance to such a plan in Congress.
For 40 years, Americans have been propagandized by the media and the education system to believe in neoliberal economics - the idea that the government should do as little as possible and let the ‘free’ market do everything. The myth of US exceptionalism and its right to interfere anywhere in the world are deeply embedded in the American psyche. It is highly unlikely that any politician, certainly not one whose re-election is dependent on wealthy contributors, will have the courage to challenge either of these failed orthodoxies.
Iran should expect nothing from a Biden administration and view anything they are offered with skepticism.
*Charles Dunaway is an American political commentator in Oregon. He is a retired computer systems consultant who has been producing and hosting a radio program called Wider View for the last 4 years. The program is distributed nationally by the Pacifica Network and is available as a podcast at widerviewradio.podbean.com. The program focuses on the United States' imperialist role in the world and the political stagnation in the nation that helps maintain that role.
Dunaway recorded this article for Press TV website.
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