No surprises here, just thought it's worth pointing it out.
http://www.israelnationalnews.com/News/News.aspx/198470#.Va_ZNPm0c_8Ron Paul, father of candidate Rand Paul, calls sanctions on Iran 'act of war,' says nuclear program of Islamic regime shouldn't be limited.
Former Texas Republican Congressman Ron Paul failed three times running in presidential elections; now it remains to be seen if his candidly anti-American and pro-Iranian statements Monday will affect the current campaign of his son, Senator Rand Paul (R-KY).
Ron Paul - who has called to cut American defense aid to Israel and criticized America as being "one-sided" in favor of Israel as opposed to the Hamas-run Gaza - strongly backed the Iran deal in a column on the website of his Ron Paul Institute for Peace and Prosperity on Monday.
"It is unfortunate that Iran was forced to give up some of its sovereignty to allow restrictions on a nuclear energy program that was never found to be in violation of the Non-Proliferation Treaty," wrote Paul. "But if the net result is the end of sanctions and at least a temporary reprieve from the constant neocon demands for attack, there is much to cheer in the agreement."
The statement comes despite the fact that International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) has stated in numerous reports that Iran apparently conducted nuclear weapons testing at its covert military sites, sites which Iran reiterated on Tuesday it won't let international inspectors visit, and which are ignored in the deal.
Likewise, the "restrictions" Paul complained about will be lifted in ten years by the deal, meaning Iran will be able to produce a nuclear arsenal in zero time - that is, if it doesn't breach the deal first and use its advanced centrifuges to produce the bomb while inspectors have to wait 24 days to enter Iranian sites, all according to the deal.
Paul began his article by saying the Iran deal is "one of the two most important achievements of an otherwise pretty dismal Obama presidency," with the other "achievement" being the normalization of relations with the repressive socialist regime in Cuba.
Turning his attention to the Congress vote on the deal, which has 60 days to either approve or reject it, Paul bitterly blasted the "neocons" in the US government and said world powers may render the American Congress irrelevant.
"Which of our allies, who are now facing the prospect of mutually-beneficial trade with Iran, will be enthusiastic about going back to the days of a trade embargo? Which will support an attack on an Iran that has proven to be an important trading partner and has also proven reasonable in allowing intrusive inspections of its nuclear energy program?"
Paul also called the sanctions against Iran, the leading state sponsor of terrorism, an "act of war." He said the Iran deal will build friendship and ties between the nations, even as a top Iranian general said Tuesday the deal makes Iranians hate America "100 times more."
Spouting a conspiracy theory, he added, "when the Cold War was winding down and the military-industrial complex needed a new enemy to justify enormous military spending, it was decided that Iran should be the latest 'threat' to the US. That’s when sanctions really picked up steam."
Will the real Rand Paul please stand up
Paul's son Rand has been playing a tricky balancing act in his current presidential campaign, trying to distance from the anti-Israel stance of his father that he has himself in the past supported.
Rand Paul has vocally opposed America's annual defense aid to Israel which totals roughly $3 billion a year, and in a January 2013 visit to Jerusalem he called for the US to start cutting aid to Israel.
Paul later that same month tried to distance somewhat from the statement, voicing his backing of the Jewish state by saying "an attack on Israel will be treated as an attack on the United States."
Apparently aware that his position against support for Israel is likely to rankle with Republican voters, Paul in January launched a bill to cut funding to the Palestinian Authority (PA) until it dropped its request to join the International Criminal Court (ICC), a bill he touted in a video this March.
The PA joined the ICC on April 1 regardless.
It remains to be seen if the campaign of the younger Paul, who has been termed an advocate of "mainstream libertarianism," will be dented by the pro-Iran message of his father.
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