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July 21, 2015 Special Dispatch No. 6111

Egyptian Columnist Compares Iranian Nuclear Agreement To Munich Agreement

July 21, 2015
Egypt, Iran | Special Dispatch No. 6111

'Imad Al-Din Adib, a columnist for the Egyptian daily Al-Watan, has harshly criticized what he called the "pathetic" agreement arrived at by the U.S.-led P5+1 and Iran, arguing that it allows Iran to produce a nuclear bomb after it expires and disregards Iran's regional policy that harms its neighbors. According to Adib, the Obama administration is mistaken in its assessment that lifting sanctions on Iran will lead to democratization and political reforms in the country, because the resultant influx of cash to Iran will be channeled to increasing tensions in the region. He also compared the Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action with the 1938 Munich Agreement signed by British prime minister Neville Chamberlain and Adolf Hitler, adding that many historians viewed the Munich agreement as the cause of Hitler's megalomania.


'Imad Al-Din Adib (Source: Twitter.com/adeeb_emad)

Following are excerpts from Adib's column:

"Many professors of modern history believe that British prime minister Chamberlain was the main reason for Hitler's megalomania. These [professors] maintain that... it was Chamberlain, who always preferred a policy of containment and appeasement, and who refrained from stern policy and confrontation at all costs, that, by signing the pathetic [Munich] Agreement with Hitler, gave the latter [a sense] of power and a stubborn desire for control.

"History is [now] repeating itself; this pathetic agreement between Chamberlain and Hitler is back again, in the form of a nuclear agreement between Iran and the superpowers. The greatest powers have signed an agreement that reduces and slows Iran's nuclear uranium enrichment [but] does not halt it, in return for $120 billion [to] Tehran.

"The astonishing thing, which no one has pointed out, is that even if Iran complies to the letter with the 85 sections of the agreement, the agreement itself, once its 10-year duration is up, allows [Iran] to produce a nuclear bomb in the 11th year. Iran, after 26 months of grueling negotiations, has sold 'air' to the superpowers.

"The main mistake in the Obama administration's reasoning is its assessment that lifting the economic and trade embargo on Iran will lead to a revival of the entire Iranian economy, and thus to political reforms and a transition to democracy.

"What the American administration did not realize is that [Iran's] clerical dictatorship will funnel this money to investment in political plans outside Iran, in conflict zones such as Lebanon, Syria, Yemen, Iraq, Bab Al-Mandeb [Straits], Africa, and Pakistan.

"The American administration [also] did not realize that the regime of clerics in Tehran, which is above the rule of experts, economists, and civil [leaders], has spent insane sums on all these extremist and terrorist programs in the region, as the Iranian economy plummeted in the shadow of an unprecedented international boycott. We must ask: If this is what they did in the shadow of this boycott, what will they do with this influx of funds?!

"Another strange thing is that the nuclear agreement includes not one single clause or reference to Iran's conduct as a country in the region, or to its policy towards its neighbors.

"It is as if they told Iran: Take 120 billion [dollars] and do as you please."[1]

 
Endnote:

[1] Al-Watan (Egypt), July 16, 2015.

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