US has no choice but to pass nuclear agreement: Kevin Barrett

Press TV has conducted an interview with Kevin Barrett, an author and Middle East expert in Madison, about the US ambassador to the United Nations Samantha Power warning that the United States will be isolated internationally and will no longer have any influence on the world stage if Congress rejects the Iran nuclear deal.

What follows is a rough transcription of the interview.

Press TV: Samantha Power is again reiterating US isolation should lawmakers fail to pass the Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action. Your thoughts on the accuracy of her assessment and to what level do you feel the US would get isolated should this happen?

Barrett: Of course she is right about this. There are already people from all over the world getting ready for the resumption of much larger scale trade with Iran that is going to be happening whether or not the US approves this deal because essentially the world has made its decision and the US has the choice of leading the movement that is already there anyway or trying to resist it which simply won’t work.

The US would be in a position if it were to vote this down in which it would be unable to maintain any kind of global sanctions on Iran and that would leave it with very few options. If the Israeli hard right Likud neoconservative faction were to try to start a war with Iran, the entire world would oppose it, including the American and Israeli allies in Europe and around the world.

So there really is not that much of a choice, and at this point the Republicans in the United States who are making loud noises against the Iran nuclear deal are really just doing so to try to get money out of people like Sheldon Adelson …but it is another situation where the dogs may bark but the caravan moves on.

Press TV: We have seen a number of top US politicians persevering to get the Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action actually reached by Iran and the P5+1 pass through Congress, but how intense has the opposition’s campaign been and do you think it will get through?

Barrett: It is all based on money. The American political system is rotten to the core. It is all based on whether euphemistically called campaign contributions which is a polite word for bribes and most of the people in Washington do not even have time to read the bills that they vote on. They are so busy trying to raise money that is to solicit bribes to help them in their next re-election campaign.

So in that situation all they can do is follow the money and right now there is a lot of money coming from these mega billionaire donors like Sheldon Adelson. His money is designed to essentially follow the hard right Likud policy set by Netanyahu and there is not a whole lot of [thought] behind it. But I think that the adults in the room have recognized that war is not solving any problems in the Middle East. They can destabilize countries but they cannot rebuild what they have destroyed and the US economy is shaky right now as is the global economy. It is not a good time to keep destabilizing things. It is time to slow down this rush to destabilize the Middle East, and the best way to do that is to deal with Iran and the world recognizes that.

The battle is going to be very intense. There will be a lot of yelling and screaming but at the end of the day I am convinced that President Obama will get this nuclear deal through Congress because ultimately there really is not any other choice.

Press TV’s website can also be accessed at the following alternate addresses:

www.presstv.co.uk