Nice sentiment but do you think leading by example will help against North Korea or Iran?

What are those measures you're referencing?

Polls and cooperation.

Polls and cooperation.

The Obama administration has paid Iran more than $10 billion in gold, cash, and other assets since 2013, according to Iranian officials, who disclosed that the White House has been intentionally deflating the total amount paid to the Islamic Republic.

Senior Iranian officials late last week confirmed reports that the total amount of money paid to Iran over the past four years is in excess of $10 billion, a figure that runs counter to official estimates provided by the White House.

The latest disclosure by Iran, which comports with previous claims about the Obama administration obfuscating details about its cash transfers to Iran—including a $1.7 billion cash payment included in a ransom to free Americans—sheds further light on the White House’s back room dealings to bolster Iran’s economy and preserve the Iran nuclear agreement.

Iranian Foreign Ministry spokesman Bahram Ghasemi confirmed last week a recent report in the Wall Street Journal detailing some $10 billion in cash and assets provided to Iran since 2013, when the administration was engaging in sensitive diplomacy with Tehran aimed at securing the nuclear deal.

Ghasemi disclosed that the $10 billion figure just scratches the surface of the total amount given to Iran by the United States over the past several years.

Much beloved in Iran...

I can't speak on behalf of Seacrest's avatar, nor do I think his or any other would be a pertinent part of this conversation.

But we must define American Exceptionalism before we could even move forward with such a debate. Here it is, from Google:

In its classic forms, American exceptionalism refers to the special character of the United States as a uniquely free nation based on democratic ideals and personal liberty.

And American ideals are most certainly not "exceptional" anymore unless you consider 99% of all wealth going to 1% of earners. That's about the only area we lead the world... oh, and in military spending. That said, American ideals are far more favorable than a good portion of the world. We still (sort of) have a Democracy. We will (sort of) believe in freedom. We still believe in the idea of education, even though we are terrible at it. But perhaps more importantly, we really do have a government that has a separation of powers that, though eroded, has strong institutions and the strong rule of law. To compare it to Vladimir Putin's beliefs is just hyperbole. One can recognize the downfalls of America without wanting Putin, a known evil and brutal individual with very little regard for human life, to "take the lead"... even though half of Conservative America loves him because they have Daddy Issues.

The Obama administration has paid Iran more than $10 billion in gold, cash, and other assets since 2013, according to Iranian officials, who disclosed that the White House has been intentionally deflating the total amount paid to the Islamic Republic.

Senior Iranian officials late last week confirmed reports that the total amount of money paid to Iran over the past four years is in excess of $10 billion, a figure that runs counter to official estimates provided by the White House.

The latest disclosure by Iran, which comports with previous claims about the Obama administration obfuscating details about its cash transfers to Iran—including a $1.7 billion cash payment included in a ransom to free Americans—sheds further light on the White House’s back room dealings to bolster Iran’s economy and preserve the Iran nuclear agreement.

Iranian Foreign Ministry spokesman Bahram Ghasemi confirmed last week a recent report in the Wall Street Journal detailing some $10 billion in cash and assets provided to Iran since 2013, when the administration was engaging in sensitive diplomacy with Tehran aimed at securing the nuclear deal.

Ghasemi disclosed that the $10 billion figure just scratches the surface of the total amount given to Iran by the United States over the past several years.

Much beloved in Iran...

No, but has anything we have done with North Korea worked? They have ignored every agreement we signed with them to stop them from developing nukes.

I suspect we'll find out that Iran kept working on nukes to, but it's too soon for us to know on that. The Koreans duped Clinton, so we'll see how Obama fares with Iran.


My stance is that your army is for defense. I liked what we did after the Taliban ran planes into our buildings. We drove them quickly from power. I wish we would have left after that. You show force when provoked. I am not in favor of defending the South China Sea or Taiwan. I don't want to intervene for Japan or South Korea. I don't don't want to defend Eastern Europe either. Yes, it's naive.

The Obama administration has paid Iran more than $10 billion in gold, cash, and other assets since 2013, according to Iranian officials, who disclosed that the White House has been intentionally deflating the total amount paid to the Islamic Republic.

Senior Iranian officials late last week confirmed reports that the total amount of money paid to Iran over the past four years is in excess of $10 billion, a figure that runs counter to official estimates provided by the White House.

The latest disclosure by Iran, which comports with previous claims about the Obama administration obfuscating details about its cash transfers to Iran—including a $1.7 billion cash payment included in a ransom to free Americans—sheds further light on the White House’s back room dealings to bolster Iran’s economy and preserve the Iran nuclear agreement.

Iranian Foreign Ministry spokesman Bahram Ghasemi confirmed last week a recent report in the Wall Street Journal detailing some $10 billion in cash and assets provided to Iran since 2013, when the administration was engaging in sensitive diplomacy with Tehran aimed at securing the nuclear deal.

Ghasemi disclosed that the $10 billion figure just scratches the surface of the total amount given to Iran by the United States over the past several years.

Much beloved in Iran...

You just said " lead by example " in your last post, so why would N Korea not developed nukes? If you lead by example than we should disarm our nuclear arsenal.. And as far as using your military for defense only ...you are all over the place, we are the king of using our military for everything but defense. And we invaded Iraq after 911, the wrong fucking country ..smh

I guess he has now quietly informed all of the Dept. of Energy/NSA? people that insure the security and maintenance of our nuclear arsenal that they will all be summarily dismissed on day one of his administration. No chain of responsibility/security, no smooth transition as has always been the case.

Except in JORR-World, this can't be good...

Except that it's fake news.

UPDATED: http://gizmodo.com/trump-just-dismissed ... 1790908093

Other countries liking or respecting us isn't really a top concern for me.

Trump isn't my guy. I would just like coverage to be straight down the fairway. I'm not pulling for the next president's failure.

You don't think things could be much smoother for us if we weren't creating chaos in the middle east and pissing away trillions that could be used on infrastructure here? I know that our soldiers wouldn't be PTSD in airports.

Absolutely. That's something in our best interest.

I don't care if France thinks we're boorish or if Israel is mad about some perceived slight.

I've never heard anyone concerned about offending France or Israel.

I've never heard anyone concerned about offending France or Israel.