A Whacked-out Notion
'But the sabotage of the Iran nuclear talks by Netanyahu and the Israel lobby has lasted longer and come closer to achieving its aim of destroying the talks, than other Israeli efforts in other arenas. The wacked-out notion advanced by sanctions proponents in Congress and among the pro-war hawks is that such threats have worked so well before, that more sanctions will produce even better results, making Iran even more pliant to western will. This notion is beholden to the strange idea that Iran only understands the language of threat and force; and that it can only be brought to heel by punishment (like a stubborn donkey in the bazaar).
'Of course, the very philosophy of diplomacy is precisely the opposite: that nations have common interests and the goal of negotiations is to find out what they are and arrive at common ground or consensus. The Geneva talks succeeded in drawing up a 6-month agreement calling for suspension of parts of Iran’s uranium enrichment program in return for easing sanctions. Negotiations worked. Just when something seems to be working, Mephistopheles arrives snickering: that worked so well, let’s try more of the same.'