Obama did nothing but present a weak underbelly to Iran.  He gave them $1.7B in part to release hostages (let's call that what it is: extorted ransom money), and he unlocked upwards of $150B in frozen assets for Iran to access.  He was scared of taking any actions against them for 5 years, because he was in the midst of negotiating the nuclear arms deal with them.  Any tensions over other issues would slow or halt the signing of the deal.

So, if Obama "inherited" problems from the Bush administration, it's a fact that Trump inherited the problems with Iran from Obama.  To hang 40 years of bad policy and terrorist aggression on Trump after 3 years in office is asinine.

I'm not saying you are laying this at Trump's doorstep.  Just adding that to the discussion.

As for declaring war -- I think we are bound by the UN charter to let the UN step in to stop Iranian aggression.  Declaring war, in and of itself, is illegal for member states.  If a member state is attacked, the UN allies join to stop it.   If a member state is the aggressor, they are punished in other ways as well, such as expulsion from the organization.

I don't think the US will ever declare war officially unless we decide the UN is no longer a viable endeavor.

I like to play Chess. I'm not as good as I would like, but I know you need to control
the center of the board. I would at the next Iranian provocation take out the 3 refineries
and one nuke power plant they have and then watch the results.
I'd expect they would declare war.  We could then respond with a
Lawful declaration of war, the first in nearly 80 years.
We can then fix our problem.  Moslems, here and there.

"If you refuse to fight someone who wants to kill you, it's not called "peace".  it's called "surrender.""

That's a too simplistic summary of things.  If everyone did what you believe, everyone will eventually kill each other in the end.



"No matter what the US does, Iran will not "normalize diplomatic relations."  They are an ideologically based society run by a religious leader.  They chant "Death to America" and Death to Israel".  They publicly call for the complete destruction of the state of Israel.  They invade their neighbors with force to take what they have (review the Kuwait invasion by Iraq).  No matter how much "trade" we have with them, they will never accept the US as worthy of respect.

Israel is the "Little Satan".  America is the "Great Satan".

Change their minds?  Good luck."


I think you are mistaken on the wars that Iran has participated with other internationally recognized sovereign countries.  It was Iraq that invaded Kuwait in 1990 by the way, not Iran.  Once more, it was Iraq with the support of the US that invaded Iran during the 1980s.

As for the ideological differences that you state would not allow Iran to ever accept peaceful coexistence with the US, why does not those same ideological differences hamper Iran's peaceful trade and coexistence with OTHER INFIDEL nations like SUNNI Turkey, Russia, China, India, Germany, Taiwan, South Korea, etc.?

Could it be, the mischief and covert actions by the US and Israel against Iran, as the reasons why Iran and her people say the things they do?

[I said:  ] They invade their neighbors with force to take what they have (review the Kuwait invasion by Iraq).

"If you refuse to fight someone who wants to kill you, it's not called "peace".  it's called "surrender.""

That's a too simplistic summary of things.  If everyone did what you believe, everyone will eventually kill each other in the end.



"No matter what the US does, Iran will not "normalize diplomatic relations."  They are an ideologically based society run by a religious leader.  They chant "Death to America" and Death to Israel".  They publicly call for the complete destruction of the state of Israel.  They invade their neighbors with force to take what they have (review the Kuwait invasion by Iraq).  No matter how much "trade" we have with them, they will never accept the US as worthy of respect.

Israel is the "Little Satan".  America is the "Great Satan".

Change their minds?  Good luck."


I think you are mistaken on the wars that Iran has participated with other internationally recognized sovereign countries.  It was Iraq that invaded Kuwait in 1990 by the way, not Iran.  Once more, it was Iraq with the support of the US that invaded Iran during the 1980s.

As for the ideological differences that you state would not allow Iran to ever accept peaceful coexistence with the US, why does not those same ideological differences hamper Iran's peaceful trade and coexistence with OTHER INFIDEL nations like SUNNI Turkey, Russia, China, India, Germany, Taiwan, South Korea, etc.?

Could it be, the mischief and covert actions by the US and Israel against Iran, as the reasons why Iran and her people say the things they do?
[/i][/u]

"There are such things as "deal breakers" between countries.  We refused to have normal relations with China until Nixon changed that due to their human rights violations."

Please do not rewrite history.

Nixon began to normalize relations with China to further weaken ties between the Soviet Union and China as well as get help to end America's Vietnam War.

Your mention of human rights is laughable, since America always had a hatred to almost everything and anything Chinese.  From America's Chinese Exclusion Act in 1882 to attacking China's preeminent technological giant, Huawei, today; don't tell me how America cares how Chinese are being treated in China during Nixon's time to the present.

If anything, the US uses human rights as another geopolitical weapon against China and her people.

... his regime has been called autocratic and totalitarian, and condemned for bringing about mass repression
and destroying religious and cultural artifacts and sites. It was additionally responsible for vast numbers of deaths
with estimates ranging from 30 to 80 million victims through starvation, persecution, prison labour and mass
executions.

Mao Zedong
Chairman of the Communist Party of China
March 20, 1943 – September 9, 1976

Maybe you don't believe human rights extend to "not being murdered or starved to death?"

I did not deny the tragedy of the cultural revolution that took many lives to which Mao takes the full blame.

I just challenged your assertion of how Nixon wanted to help the Chinese people.  America does not give any shit to any atrocities that are occurring on the planet unless there is something in that country that America wishes to use for its own purposes.

You interpreted my comment incorrectly.

Maybe this helps:

We refused to have normal relations with China due to their human rights violations ... until Nixon changed that (that = relations).

Thanks for clearing that up, but you seem to be forgetting one thing.

America did not have any relations with China because they recognized the capitalist government of Chiang Kai Shek in Taiwan as the legitimate government of China.  It was only the period after Nixon's trip to China that the US began to see the business opportunity that presented itself due to the capitalist business climate that Deng Xiaopeng began fostering in China at that time, which eventually led the US to recognize Beijing and not Taipei as the capital of China in 1979.

What Americans painfully must realize is that the animosities that has led to the current situation today began with US imperialists back in 1953, when the US decided to install a puppet regime in Iran.  The US choice of the Shah of Iran was a brutal dictator and terrifying human rights violator that did America's bidding for decades.  It was only in 1979, when the people of Iran, tired of US imperialism decided to KICK OUT their puppet leader.

Since that time, the US never forgave Iran and continues to this day to work for a return of Iran into the vassal state that it was back in 1953.  The Iranians are well aware of their history as well as America's intentions to REINSTALL a new puppet leader for their nation.  Hence, all of their actions against the US since that time, no matter what form it took, essentially was DEFENSIVE in nature, as they are desperately trying to prevent the overthrow of their nation once again by the US.

Understanding this history is necessary, if the people of the US do not wish to have a war with Iran that WILL LEAD to WWIII.

BOTTOM LINE: THE US DREW FIRST BLOOD AGAINST IRAN and the US imperialists in this generation are HOPING no one remembers that CRITICAL HISTORIC FACT and will accept their plans to march America into another DISASTROUS WAR in the Middle East no matter the Iranian/US/Everyone Else's human lives it will cost.