Dennis Ross might be regarded as an insider of Washington’s foreign policy elite, affectionately known as “The Blob,” having served as a strategy planner for former US President George H. W. Bush and as a Middle East negotiator and consultant for former Presidents Bill Clinton and Barack Obama.
Ross just wrote an article titled “To Deter Iran, Give Israel a Massive Bomb,” which offers fascinating insight into how this elite group thinks, behaves, and influences global politics. The Blob is alleged to be “a clique set on protecting its own interests… one that preserves its turf by suppressing dissenting voices and shutting out alternative views.” It is held accountable for the Middle East’s 30-year failure as well as the Cold War’s lost success.
Blobbers have a number of flaws, including dystopian viewpoints, double standards, a strong sense of moral superiority (also known as exceptionalism), a limited or distorted view of history, succumbing to groupthink that renders them immune to any challenge to their “conventional wisdom,” and an unrelenting pursuit of enemies to be destroyed.
It is feasible that “the need for sanctions relief may push the Iranians to rejoin the [nuclear deal]… if they conclude the U.S. would make no additional concessions,” according to Ross’ article, which provides a graphic illustration of such dystopian viewpoints.
Anybody who is unfamiliar with the situation could assume that Iran was the one who pulled out of the nuclear agreement and was now requesting to rejoin it in exchange for some US concessionsSigned in 2015, the nuclear deal was implemented by Iran, wholly certified by the International Atomic Energy Agency, and only partially implemented by the US. The Americans did not provide the expected sanctions relief, applying strong pressure against any country or bank intent on reestablishing trade with Iran. That was under Obama, and the Biden administration has thus far not offered any concessions.
One of the outgoing final acts of Iranian Foreign Minister Javad Zarif has been a long letter addressed to the UN Secretary General detailing six years of alleged western nuclear deal non-compliance.
In May 2018, the Trump administration formally breached the nuclear deal and adopted a “maximum pressure policy”. For a year afterwards, Iran waited in vain for the European signatories to the deal to save the sanctions relief it was entitled to; and in May 2019, Tehran began adopting its own countermeasures through reduced compliance with the deal. Unsurprisingly, Blobbers accused Iran of breaching the deal.
