Scott Horton Interviews Flynt Leverett
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Flynt Leverett, former Senior Director for Middle East Affairs at the National Security Council, discusses the latest negotiations on Iran’s nuclear enrichment program at the just-concluded P5+1 Baghdad summit; why the US will never agree to lift sanctions on Iran, no matter the concessions; how the US negotiating position makes Obama look like an idiot; Richard Nixon’s observation that the same political price is paid for going half way as all the way – so you might as well go to China; why the Obama administration still won’t (consistently) acknowledge Iran’s rational leadership and sovereign (and NPT) right to enrich uranium; and how bad-faith negotiating by the US ruined the “reciprocity framework” established in the previous Istanbul talks.
MP3 here. (18:35)
Flynt Leverett runs The Race For Iran blog and teaches at Pennsylvania State University’s School of International Affairs. Additionally, he directs the Iran Project at the New America Foundation, where he is a Senior Research Fellow.
Dr. Leverett is a leading authority on the Middle East and Persian Gulf, U.S. foreign policy, and global energy affairs. From 1992 to 2003, he had a distinguished career in the U.S. government, serving as Senior Director for Middle East Affairs at the National Security Council, on the Secretary of State’s Policy Planning Staff, and as a CIA Senior Analyst. He left the George W. Bush Administration and government service in 2003 because of disagreements about Middle East policy and the conduct of the war on terror.
Dr. Leverett’s 2006 monograph, Dealing With Tehran: Assessing U.S. Diplomatic Options Toward Iran, presented the seminal argument for a U.S.-Iranian “grand bargain”, an idea that he has developed in multiple articles and Op Eds in The New York Times, The National Interest, POLITICO, Salon, Washington Monthly, and the New America Foundation’s “Big Ideas for a New America” series.
John Ellis
May 25th, 2012 at 2:51 pm
Make believe president — Make believe government
FICTION
Flynt Leverett
Obama is so stupid, he picked both pro-war and anti-war people to staff his Administration, now all they do is battle and like this Iran nuclear issue nothing ever gets accomplished. And now Obama is so cowardly, as he refuses to bite “the bullet” and both Israel and his staff just run him around the flag pole.
FACT
Surely it is impossible to tell if Obama is stupid or cowardly, for like a movie actor who plays the part of a stupid coward, paid actor Obama was hand-picked by the corporate rich because Chicago gangster politics for a make-believe president to run a make-believe government.
John Ellis
May 25th, 2012 at 2:59 pm
CORRECTION
Chicago gangster politics is training most perfect for a make-believe president destined to run a make-believe government.
SS Ulrich
May 25th, 2012 at 4:30 pm
Thank you Mr. Leverett. I hope your insight, honesty, and integrity prevails. America needs truthsayers.
Roger Lafontaine
May 26th, 2012 at 3:08 am
It seems so simple and obvious when you tell the truth but the MSM instead just gives us hysteria, suspicion and prejudice.
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May 26th, 2012 at 12:46 pm
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humanist_2
May 26th, 2012 at 2:42 pm
Thanks Scott.
At this age of semi-schizophrenic Israeli arguments for war with Iran, listening to Flynt Leverett’s astute analytical observations is truly gratifying.
It is understandable why Flynt, most probably because of his contractual obligations, can’t point the finger at the main source of all these insanities.
But the daring M.J.Rosenberg can. Read his eye-opening article in HufPo:
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/mj-rosenberg/iran-n…
In my view, Flynt’s observations along with Rosenberg’s allegations draw a conclusive picture of the perversions surrounding the Iranian nuclear Issue and the sick hype for war.
Walter Cole
May 27th, 2012 at 1:41 am
Yes, a very nice interview indeed.
The US is consistent, very consistent: Just as they signed some 400 treaties with the American Indians and broke all 400 of them, they too signed the international NPT agreement, only to break it as well. I wonder if there is anything the US government truly believes in?
IP Khalifah
May 27th, 2012 at 7:31 am
The rasool advise of Lahor_TunisUEnow..OPEX advise of WBUNAIPAC KufrFORever
Yes to wippincc i$rael from UE NOW..Yes to Iran defending UE NOW
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May 28th, 2012 at 6:59 am
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[...] On Antiwar Radio, Flynt Leverett reviewed the P5+1 nuclear talks with the Islamic Republic, noting that President Barack Obama and his foreign policy team seem no more prepared to deal with the major issues that must be addressed to enable a meaningful agreement — accepting internationally safeguarded enrichment in Iran and recognizing that a negotiated solution will necessarily entail significant sanctions relief — than it was during its previous attempt at nuclear diplomacy during 2009-2010. [...]
eCAHNomics
June 2nd, 2012 at 3:54 pm
O has a talent for finding the sweet spot guaranteed to piss off everyone to the maximum degree.
eCAHNomics
June 2nd, 2012 at 4:02 pm
Nothing infuriates your enemy (U.S.) more than when you (Iran) behaves politely, rationally and reasonably,.
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