Jake Johnson at Common Dreams writes—If Trump Wants to 'Talk About Our Missiles,' Says Iranian Foreign Minister, US Must Stop Pouring Theirs Into Middle East:
Iranian Foreign Minister Javad Zarif said Monday that if President Donald Trump truly wants to engage in good-faith negotiations over Iran's ballistic missile program, his administration must stop selling tens of billions of dollars in weapons to Saudi Arabia, the United Arab Emirates, and other U.S. allies in the Middle East.
Zarif, who is in New York on United Nations business, told NBC's Lester Holt that the influx of American weapons is "making our region ready to explode."
"If you want to discuss ballistic missiles, then we need to discuss the amount of weapons that are sold to our region," said Zarif. "Last year, Iran spent $16 billion altogether on its military. We have a 82 million population... The United Arab Emirates, with a million population, spent $22 billion. Saudi Arabia—with less than half of our population—spent $67 billion, most of them are American [arms]."
"So if they want to talk about our missiles," Zarif added, "they need first to stop selling all these weapons, including missiles, to our region." [...]
"It is the United States that left the bargaining table, and they're always welcome to return," said Zarif, who described the Trump administration's sanctions as a form of warfare "whose main target is not military personnel, but civilians." [...]
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On this date at Daily Kos in 2004—Coalition of the Shrinking:
Bush started with 32 nations in his 'coalition"—the vast majority which failed to provide anything more than moral support. (Only the UK and Australia provided forces for the invasion.)
But of those 32, four have already left. Spain, Honduras, Nicaragua, and the Dominican Republic. Four more are in the process of leaving—Philippines, Thailand, Norway and New Zealand. Several other nations have pledged to increase their troop levels—South Korea, Azerbaijan and Georgia.
Through it all, the US is struggling to keep the whole effort from falling apart.
Australia's pledge to increase its commitment will bring its troop strength to 880 -- fewer than half the 2,000 troops it had during the war. And only about 250 are in Iraq, with the rest in air and naval support positions nearby, Australian envoys say. For Australia and some other countries, increases are mainly meant to enhance security for their own troops, embassies and personnel.
On today’s Kagro in the Morning show: Conway ignores her subpoena. Barr/Ross contempt vote pushed back for Trump racism condemnation. Assange ran election interference. European right-wing weapons smuggling. Netroots nuance. Armando on Trump coverage, Biden's latest interview.
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