Thursday, December 26, 2013

An Easy Four Bucks

The Iran negotiations are a win-win for Iran. Even if they founder, Iran pockets $7 billion and gets half a year or so of time just for sitting at the same table as John Kerry.

There's a Calvin and Hobbes strip where Calvin tries to cut a deal with his dad over school grades:

Calvin: I've got an idea, Dad. Maybe I'd get better grades if you offered me $1 for every "D", $5 for every "C". $10 for every "B", and $50 for every "A"!

Dad: I'm not going to bribe you Calvin, you should apply yourself for your own good.

Calvin: Rats. I thought I could make an easy four bucks.

Sometimes I think that all Iran wants in these negotiations are the easy $7 billion and 6+ months time.

Sadly, it could be far worse. The West isn't wise enough to avoid the temptation to think we can bribe Iran into foregoing nuclear weapons capability.

Iran is fully capable of pretending to get "As" and we're fully capable of pretending to believe Iran as long as we get a treaty signing live on television (as Secretary Kerry says, "All right, Mr. Ban Ki-moon, I'm ready for my close-up.")