Could a Major Iran Nuclear Deal Happen?

I love that the snap consensus on nearly any foreign policy news of the day turns out to be lacking the nuanced information that the real players have.  When Obama announced that he was pulling Bush's plan for an Eastern European missile shield, the snap reaction was that it was done to placate Russia and gain leverage for sanctions on Iran and that it was a huge concession with no guarantee of results.  The reality turned out to be that not only was Obama barely changing the status quo on the missile shield - he still plans to have missile interceptors in Poland - but that rather than tougher new sanctions, the plan was a deal with important concessions on both sides and, despite the "setback" that Russia wouldn't agree to new sanctions - Russia plays a huge role in the deal.  It is creative diplomacy in other words, rather than a strict adherence to a failed plan.

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Why they call him Attackerman

In shades of the derisive "Juice-Box Mafia" tag slapped on Jewish writers critical of Israel in the wake of the invasion of Gaza, Michael Gerson criticizes Ezra Klein for taking the dangers of antisemitism lightly:

One part of Klein’s post is particularly illuminating. He finds it amusing to belittle the threat of a hypothetical someone he calls “jewhater429, the 97th entrant in a comment thread” -- just a few months after an Internet-based Jew hater entered the Holocaust Museum with a gun and killed an African-American guard. Some people have the oddest sense of humor.

Spencer Ackerman then rips into Gerson for having the temerity to accuse a Jewish writer of being insufficiently concerned with antisemitism:

I don't know what lack of self-awareness convinces right-wing evangelicals that they're the true guardians of the Jews, but that condescending and parochial nonsense is its own form of antisemitism. We Tribesmen do not need some wire-rimmed enabler of one of the most destructive and inept presidents in American history to protect us from the perfidies of the world. It's us and not him who will pay the price for antisemitism, so if Gerson wants to actually act like a righteous gentile, he can start by not accusing Jews of apathy to their own people's wellbeing for the sin of not sharing his politics.

Um burn.  I agree with Ackerman and Klein in this issue specifically, and more generally I just wish that those bigotry trump cards were played more carefully.  I get that antisemitism and racism are intolerable, but when the left finds hidden racism behind every idiotic Obama criticism or when the right construes any criticism of Israel as antisemitism then the real specter of bigotry is weakened.  Limbaugh and Drudge engaged in real, ugly race baiting, but because of Jimmy Carter, when that legitimate example of racism is pointed out, it just seems like the left is "playing the race card" again.

Hova Makes His Move

When one of my favorite bloggers, Marc Lynch, talks one of my great loves, hip-hop, my ears naturally perk up. However, while he is characteristically insightful, I think he misses a few key nuances in his analysis of the hegemonic Jay-Z.

Hova is clearly the most powerful man in hip-hop today, but his power is wasting, like Pentagon assets unsuited for future battles. Even though he is the most famous, wealthy, and, as the former head of Def-Jam, powerful rapper, he has never been regarded as the best or most authentic rapper. Without soft power there is no longevity in the game, which is why Jay had to quickly come out of retirement. He was unable to create a legacy that would last when he was gone. Thus, his power play on Nas was an attempt to shore up his weakest front, his street cred. Unfortunately, Nas murdered him on “Ether,” and Jay’s eventual co-option of Nas into Def-Jam was using strength in one area to make up for weakness in another.

So Jay is a hegemon, but with weak soft power, who must rely on a super abundance of hard power. This analysis ignores that Jay’s success is itself a form of soft power, especially in an industry that constantly name checks girls, cars and chains. Every rapper wants to be in Jay’s position, even if many of them think they are better rappers. Similarly, even when America’s global influence reached a low point with Bush’s disregard for the international community causing a backlash, the proof of its material dominance was attractive enough that its economic model was still spreading.

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