BARACK OBAMA is trying to console himself with the possibility that Donald Trump may not after all lay waste to every aspect of his legacy. Perhaps the president-elect’s suggestion that he might preserve some features of his predecessor’s health-care legislation offers a sliver of hope that what Mr Obama regards as his greatest foreign-policy achievement will not necessarily be thrown into the dustbin after January 20th. In reality, the likelihood that the deal with Iran to roll back and constrain its nuclear programme survives the first year of Mr Trump’s presidency now seems extremely small. But if Mr Trump does decide to abrogate it, or sabotage it in some other way, the diplomatic and strategic consequences will be dire.
Guessing what Mr Trump will do is fraught with difficulty because his statements have been so inconsistent. Unlike some of his rivals for the Republican nomination, he did not (quite) promise to tear up the Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action (JCPOA), as the nuclear deal is formally known, on the first day of his presidency. But he has variously described it as “the worst deal ever negotiated” that he would regard as his...Continue reading
Source: Middle East and Africa http://ift.tt/2f8a8p8
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