Democracy Gone Astray

Democracy, being a human construct, needs to be thought of as directionality rather than an object. As such, to understand it requires not so much a description of existing structures and/or other related phenomena but a declaration of intentionality.
This blog aims at creating labeled lists of published infringements of such intentionality, of points in time where democracy strays from its intended directionality. In addition to outright infringements, this blog also collects important contemporary information and/or discussions that impact our socio-political landscape.

All the posts here were published in the electronic media – main-stream as well as fringe, and maintain links to the original texts.

[NOTE: Due to changes I haven't caught on time in the blogging software, all of the 'Original Article' links were nullified between September 11, 2012 and December 11, 2012. My apologies.]

Tuesday, December 24, 2013

Here Are The 15 Democratic Senators Bucking The White House And Threatening War With Iran

WASHINGTON -- As the United States finally puts a decade of war behind it, a group of senators, including 15 Democrats, is defying the White House and threatening to push the country into a fresh war with Iran.

Sen. Bob Menendez (D-N.J.) is leading the charge to pass legislation in January that would impose tougher sanctions on Iran, despite dire warnings from the White House, Iranian leaders, 10 Democratic committee chairs and a host of liberal groups that such an effort could sink a delicate nuclear agreement already in place. Under that Nov. 24 deal, Tehran would curb its nuclear program in exchange for some relief from economic sanctions for a period of six months.

The Senate bill, which has 19 Republican cosponsors, takes a hard line, levying new sanctions on Iran unless the country's leaders agree to abandon all uranium enrichment -- what some have called an "absurd" stance. In the past, both John Kerry, then a U.S. senator, and Mohamed ElBaradei, former head of the International Atomic Energy Agency, have said that Iran has the right to enrich uranium for peaceful purposes.

Iranian Foreign Minister Javad Zarif said earlier this month that if the Senate moved forward with its bill, the current nuclear deal would be dead. A senior Obama administration official went further, telling The Huffington Post that Senate action makes it "far more likely that we'll be left only with a military option" regarding Iran.

Here are the 15 Democratic senators willing to risk a war with Iran rather than let White House and Iranian leaders continue negotiations.

1. Sen. Robert Menendez (N.J.), the bill's sponsor
robert menendez
2. Sen. Mark Begich (Alaska)
mark begich
3. Sen. Richard Blumenthal (Conn.)
richard blumenthal
4. Sen. Cory Booker (N.J.)
cory booker
5. Sen. Ben Cardin (Md.)
ben cardin
6. Sen. Bob Casey (Pa.)
robert casey
7. Sen. Chris Coons (Del.)
chris coons
8. Sen. Joe Donnelly (Ind.)
joe donnelly
9. Sen. Kirsten Gillibrand (N.Y.)
kirsten gillibrand
10. Sen. Kay Hagan (N.C.)
kay hagan
11. Sen. Mary Landrieu (La.)
mary landrieu
12. Sen. Joe Manchin (W.Va.)
joe manchin
13. Sen. Mark Pryor (Ark.)
mark pryor
14. Sen. Charles Schumer (N.Y.)
chuck schumer
15. Sen. Mark Warner (Va.)

mark warner

Original Article
Source: huffingtonpost.com/
Author:  Jennifer Bendery 

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