Iran Deal

They’re out there: the demagogues, the fearmongers, the warmongers.

Domestically and beyond our shores, from Lindsay Graham to Benjamin Netanyahu (they are among of the loudest, but not the only ones), certain doomsayers are hellbent on telling us why a deal with Iran is a terrible thing. Yet what alternative do they provide? Except perhaps to start ANOTHER war?

They may be dismayed, but no matter their despite, today, Tuesday, July 14, 2015, Iran and the “P5+1” (USA, UK, France, Germany, Russia and China) signed an historic and comprehensive agreement, The Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action (“JCPOA”), that would end international sanctions on Iran in exchange for restrictions on Iran’s controversial nuclear program.

We can’t avoid the critics of the JCPOA deal, nor should we. Yet we also can’t listen only to prophecies of doom, to their saber-rattling, their fantasies of easy war.

What can we do? Educate ourselves. Read as much as we can from varied and diverse sources, like these analysis and perspectives sourced from Mother Jones, The Guardian, The Economist, The Atlantic, The Hill, The New York Times, & Think Progress:

• Learn how the deal is supposed to work
• Break it down and keep it simple: 7 key provisions to the historic #IranDeal
• LIVE updates & insightful summaries via The Guardian
• Why the Iran Deal makes Obama critics so angry
• Here’s the New York Times on the deal
• The Economist predicts hardliners in Tehran and Washington will try to derail the Iran Deal, but that momentum is against them.
• The Hill tells you everything you need to know about what’s in the Iran Deal
• Iranians are mostly optimistic, with some significant caveats, about the Deal
• Many Arab leaders are concerned about this deal
• What were the alternatives to this deal?

I am hopeful. We had two paths available, the path of diplomacy and the path of war. Given the war and suffering exploding across the region, I am grateful we zealously pursued the more civilized process to resolve our differences. (Of course, the other option is always there for us too.)

On that note, I leave you with some humor via a Ted Cruz Twitter parody account, @HavanaTed: