The Problem with Iran is Obama and Robert Malley.

Yesterday, we did a rehash of ME history highlighting major events over the last 30+ years. We’re trying to get an objective view of what happened, what we did, where we screwed up, and what we could have done differently through various administrations. It was time for a reassessment. Not sure if anyone accurately explained the Obama Doctrine of “appeasement” of Iran. Did you get that message? Could any of us passed a test on Obama Doctrine in the Middle East? Well, Robert Malley knew what it was, he wrote it.

Wait until you see what we found today.

The JCPOA ensured a path to nuclear weapons for Iran. Bottom line, we knew some things would never work and Iran should never have a nuclear weapon, which is why Trump ripped up the JCPOA.

But what to do? Once Team Trump decided to identify Iran as an enemy, act like Iran is an enemy, and TREAT Iran as an enemy, and actually act like our military was a REAL military, we thought we were in the clear, right? Sure, we wanted to get rid of ISIS, get out of Syria and Afghanistan, and we’re working on it. Yes, the QUDS forces killed some of ISIS because ISIS was also in Iran’s way. Yet, Team Trump had everyone heading in the same direction, clearly defined good guys and bad guys. Sounds easy, right?

Iran = the bad guys.

At the end of yesterday’s post, we talked a little bit about “The Crisis Group”. They bugged me, like a snake lurking in the weeds. Made me want to throw a yellow caution flag. Robert Malley is the CEO, head of the Crisis Group. This is the internal enemy, the behind the scenes opposition. It’s the people who are too narcissistic to admit failure and would rather drive the world off a cliff than admit they were wrong. It’s leftover Obama Administration fellows who are clogging up the works.

Keep in mind, I’m a mere bumbling middle-aged lady in a flyover state who makes blueberry muffins. I’m no one special, but I stumbled across Robert Malley yesterday and lil’ ole me stopped on a dime.

Thus, when I woke up this morning and saw a reposted article from Tony Badran on Robert Malley in Tablet, I started looking over my shoulder. Pretty weird, eh? Imagine my surprise. How is it possible we can all be thinking about the same thing? The same person/group? At roughly the same time? And if I can see the problem “from my kitchen window”, why is everyone in the chattering inter-agency assessment community so damn blind? Or, more likely, intentionally avoiding the conversation?

Again, here is the link to the Crisis Group. It’s an NGO, receive funds from grants (read as US Taxpayer dollars), various countries, and private donations. It’s a who’s who of progressives and similar to the Atlantic Council. In the case of Crisis Group, their goal is to push favor towards Iran, whereas Atlantic Council’s goal is to do anything to oppose Russia. It’s a nest of vipers, former high ranking officials with media execs to push a narrative anywhere on the planet they wish. Take a look at the Board of Directors. https://www.crisisgroup.org/who-we-are/board

Robert Malley was born in ’63, served in the National Security Council under Obama from ’14- January of 2017. He’s a “global conflicts resolution” lawyer/specialist and immediately flew the coup when Trump was inaugurated, returning to the Crisis Group. He went to Yale/Oxford/Harvard. Gee whiz, he must be really smart. But note his resume, Malley worked at Crisis Group BEFORE he went into the NSC under Obama. AND the Crisis Group has been pro-Iran since the 90’s. Why was Malley picked for the NSC during the JCPOA negotiations? Interesting choice. Cue the suspicious cat or dog…..

From his Wikipedia bio, obviously carefully curated, “Malley is considered an expert on the Israeli–Palestinian conflict and has written extensively on this subject advocating rapprochement with Hamas and Muslim Brotherhood.”

And then we find the golden nugget: “In 2015, the Obama administration appointed Rob Malley as its “point man” on the Middle East, leading the Middle East desk of the National Security Council.^[4] In November 2015, Malley was named as President Obama’s new special ISIS advisor.^[5] “

Malley was the Obama point man for ISIS? What? Have any of you guys ever seen Malley’s picture before today? So, when James Foley was beheaded, it would have been a “policy failure” by Malley? When the Jordanian pilot was burned alive in a cage, would that have been another policy mistake by Malley? How about the Yazidi women/children sold as sex slaves? Don’t tell me that was approved policy. Or the million + immigrants into Europe?

Why haven’t we done a thorough probe of Malley? He’s at the center with blood on his hands…… and he LOVED the Muslim Brotherhood. In researching this piece, several experts have described the “Arab Spring” as the Muslim Brotherhood’s coming out party, as opposed to independent citizens who wanted to throw off old and repressive dictators. Interesting…..

Then we get to the history of Robert Malley. Check his Wiki Bio, he could have been Obama’s brother. His mother — “worked for the United Nations delegation of the Algerian National Liberation Front (FNL), and her husband, Simon Malley (1923–2006), an Egyptian-born Jewish journalist who grew up in Egypt and worked as a foreign correspondent for Al Gomhuria. A communist sympathizer, the elder Malley spent time in New York, writing about international affairs, particularly about nationalist, anti-imperial movements in Africa.

It gets better. I’m the same age as Malley. When my dad moved me to Chicago in ’69 to build skyscrapers and roll around in American Capitalism, Malley’s father moved him to France to open a leftist magazine called Africasia. Malley’s dad, Simon Malley, was so far left, he was thrown out of France in 1980 when “then French president Valéry Giscard d’Estaing briefly expelled Simon Malley from the country to New York, due to his hostility towards the Western world and Israel.^[6] “

What????? Malley’s dad was too far left for France…….. so New York state took him?

Naturally, young Robert Malley went to Yale, then Oxford for a PhD in political philosophy (just like Chelsea Clinton), and he wrote about “third worldism” and the Israeli Palestinian conflict. Yet, Malley was so smart, he decided to pick up a JD at Harvard……… where his classmate was one……… Barack Obama……. What are the chances?

Why didn’t we see that one coming?

See this picture below? Robert Malley is at the end, on the left. Followed by the short humpty-dumpty Napoleon guy, next to John Kerry…… who consistently meddles in the ME subverting President Trump’s policies. At the end is the white-haired Cruella deVille – Wendy Sherman, the latest star pundit at MSNBC. She’s the one who screwed up DPRK in the 90s, giving North Korea nuclear weapons during the Clinton Administration. These are the people who have been wrong for decades.

THIS is the JCPOA negotiating team.

But let’s get into the Badran article from Tablet which beautifully explains the problem. Here is the link to the full article. https://www.tabletmag.com/jewish-news-and-politics/293996/malley-in-wonderland

The Tony Badran article begins by discussing another article written by Malley for Foreign Affairs (( https://www.foreignaffairs.com/articles/middle-east/2019-10-02/unwanted-wars?spJobID=1740145950&spMailingID=60564848&spReportId=MTc0MDE0NTk1MAS2&spUserID=MTk4Mzk3MjU2NjEzS0&sp_mid=60564848&sp_rid=bmlycm9zZW5AZ21haWwuY29tS0&utm_campaign=unwanted_wars&utm_medium=newsletters&utm_source=pre_release%252520 ))) . Save yourself the time. I read Malley’s original article and I wanted to throw tomatoes at him. His arrogance is inescapable. This is the kind of guy who is so caught up in personal pride, he would be easily compromised by two Vegas hookers in about 30 minutes. Suddenly Epstein’s modus operandi is making a lot of sense to me. Robert Malley is a deeply ideological communist and he does not like the USA and he hates Israel. His logic is flawed and he is a dangerous man.

Yet, the Malley essay is a lackluster defense of Obama’s foreign policy. Malley seems depressed, desperate, wildly partisan, as Obama’s legacy of the JCPOA is in tatters. Malley insists the only way forward for us all, for us to save the WORLD, is more diplomacy and negotiation……. the kind of stuff only smart guys like Malley can do.

And the folks in the agencies take their cues from Malley, as he was Obama’s right hand in the Middle East. It was Malley’s push which netted the recent block on more weapons to Saudi for the Yemen war.

No, there is another option, brought forth by President Trump. Treat Iran like an enemy and hit them over the head. Thugs respect strength and sometimes you need a bigger StrongMan with a bigger gun. Establish a deterrent, a consequence for their actions…. like the death of Soleimani. Iran has been unchecked for a decade.

Clearly, Malley wants to run away from the Middle East, “avoid the tinderbox” and blame allies like Saudi and Israel. He describes Saudi’s war with Yemen as “reckless”, and shames Israel for actions in Lebanon and Syria. “How dare they object to Iranian presence”, seems to be the mantra. Funny, I had a salesman in Yemen when the Houthis started the war with Saudi. His brother was the manager of the port. The Saudis didn’t start anything. Iran funded the Houthis to bug Saudi at their southern border. And somehow Israel should stand down while Iran runs Hezbollah, Hamas, and Syria? Nah…… I can’t see the Jewish people ignoring all the rockets…. suicide bombers…. burning crops… you know…. terrorists.

It’s true though, the strategy from Obama/Malley was to strengthen Iran in order to balance the power of Israel and Saudi. Strike a balance for peace and harmony in the region (I’m looking for white doves to be released and the seas to be parted by Obama). In effect, the Obama Admin sided with Iran, against our allies……. for some “greater good”…. according to smart guys from Yale/Harvard/Oxford.

In other words, if our allies are strong, then America should seek to weaken them until “balance” is achieved, which will help bring about more “peace.” If Iran were stronger, and Israel and Saudi Arabia were weaker, then peace would therefore be more likely. American policy, in the present moment at least, should therefore be to strengthen Iran at the expense of Israel and the Saudis. 

Indeed, this odd syllogism, which anchors the essay, is hardly Malley’s own; it simply reiterates Obama’s core vision for the region. The goal of achieving “balance” in America’s posture in the Middle East is how Obama presented his strategy of realigning American interests with Iran. For Obama, it was not in America’s interest to lead a regional alliance system which stands in opposition to Iran, and which therefore threatens to move the U.S. closer to war. Rebalancing away from traditional allies means moving closer to Iran, and away from the security architecture in which America had formerly been invested.

https://www.tabletmag.com/jewish-news-and-politics/293996/malley-in-wonderland

Gobsmacked. We had suspicions Obama was a sell-out to Iran but here it is in black and white. My poor little flyover state brain can’t handle it, but here it is. Common knowledge amongst the bureaucracy.

How did it happen? Who thought it was a good idea to turn Iran loose and throw Israel and Saudi under the bus? Guess that explains why Obama left Netanyahu waiting, cooling his heels for over an hour, outside the Oval Office. Yet, it’s clear, that was Obama’s policy and Malley was merely aligned in thinking. Such a reversal was dramatic, however, what caused it? Because make no mistake, the policy was malicious and intentional.

Answer can be found in the rejection of Bush policy, nation building, endless war, and the utter disaster of Iraq and Afghanistan. Elections have consequences and the Obama team seized the opportunity. Reading further in the article, when the Obama admin came in, they reassessed and took an opposite approach = hands off Iran. Let Iran and Saudi share the region. Coddle Iran to the detriment of Saudi and especially Israel.

Both Malley and Badran freely admit the “interagency consensus” is now tilted against Israel and Saudi and loyal to Obama policy = cozy up to Iran. Well, that explains why they had such a fit when Khashoggi was killed. It also explains why they had a fit when Trump visited Saudi Arabia for his first foreign visit. And why the Deep State thinks Trump is dumb……… because he does not agree with “them”.

“I think there was a comfort with a United States that was comfortable with an existing order and the existing alignments, and was an implacable foe of Iran,” Obama said in 2014, referring to Gulf Arab states. “What I’ve been saying to our partners in the region is, ‘We’ve got to respond and adapt to change.’”

In other words, it was Obama’s “new normal” for the Middle East.

Malley was/is far more concerned about Sunni tribal divisions than the problem of Iran and points again to MBS killing of Khashoggi, isolating Qatar, war in Yemen, and the “kidnapping of Lebanon’s foreign minister” (he was stopped at the border to save his life – Saudi learned about the assassination plot)….. which also explains the extended stay at the Ritz Carlton for the Saudi Princes.

Malley and his disciples are sprinkled through the Dem candidates running for President and their influence is real. Malley prefers Bernie Sanders the fellow communist sympathizer, personally, but there are other members of the team interspersed in Butteigeg and Warren campaigns as well as others. Malley thinks if President Trump is a one term President, the old Obama policy will “snap back” (which is why Kerry is running around the middle east) and Iran will again be in good graces, with Israel and Saudi on the outs.

And not only that: What is perhaps more surprising, and more significant, about Malley’s essay is the extent to which it serves as a blueprint for understanding the larger foreign policy consensus in Washington—one that is embraced by both Democrats and Republicans, whether wittingly or not.

As an architect of the Obama administration’s highly deliberate and disciplined Middle East policy, and as a representative of the new Democratic Party foreign policy elite, Malley’s thoughts are worth studying carefully. 

Other articles in my research for this article mention Malley over and over again as a possible National Security Advisor for a Dem Administration if they win in November.

Get your head around the idea.

Official Dem policy is to embrace Iran.

In 2020, vote like your life depends on it.