John Kerry is not the Secretary of State. I’m not saying that just to remind us, but to remind him, because he doesn’t seem to be super clear on that.
You see, citizen Kerry is traveling abroad taking diplomatic action on behalf of the United States absent authority in order to save his precious Iran debacle legacy.
The Boston Globe has the scoop:
John Kerry’s bid to save one of his most significant accomplishments as secretary of state took him to New York on a Sunday afternoon two weeks ago, where, more than a year after he left office, he engaged in some unusual shadow diplomacy with a top-ranking Iranian official.
He sat down at the United Nations with Foreign Minister Javad Zarif to discuss ways of preserving the pact limiting Iran’s nuclear weapons program. It was the second time in about two months that the two had met to strategize over salvaging a deal they spent years negotiating during the Obama administration, according to a person briefed on the meetings.
With the Iran deal facing its gravest threat since it was signed in 2015, Kerry has been on an aggressive yet stealthy mission to preserve it, using his deep lists of contacts gleaned during his time as the top US diplomat to try to apply pressure on the Trump administration from the outside. President Trump, who has consistently criticized the pact and campaigned in 2016 on scuttling it, faces a May 12 deadline to decide whether to continue abiding by its terms.
My favorite line was ” to apply pressure on the Trump administration from the outside” … literally stating (with apparent admiration on the part of the Globe) in stark terms the ex parte nature of his attempt to subvert the American diplomatic machinery toward his own end.
Mark Hemingway on Twitter makes a related observation.
Remember when the Obama administration actually tried to claim Flynn was violating the Logan Act? And multiple news outlets dutifully reported on it? https://t.co/jnrWZE1uAU
— Mark Hemingway (@Heminator) May 5, 2018
Great point. In fact we’ve heard “Logan Act” a lot in the last year or two as the Resistance and their allies in the endless collusion “investigation” have attempted to prevent the Trump administration from conducting the business of government.
Here’s more:
Kerry also met last month with German President Frank-Walter Steinmeier, and he’s been on the phone with top European Union official Federica Mogherini, according to the source, who spoke on the condition of anonymity to reveal the private meetings. Kerry has also met with French President Emmanuel Macron in both Paris and New York, conversing over the details of sanctions and regional nuclear threats in both French and English.
The rare moves by a former secretary of state highlight the stakes for Kerry personally, as well as for other Obama-era diplomats who are dismayed by what they see as Trump’s disruptive approach to diplomacy, and who view the Iran nuclear deal as a factor for stability in the Middle East and for global nuclear nonproliferation. The pact, which came after a marathon negotiating session in Vienna that involved Iran and six world powers, lifted sanctions in return for Iran stopping its pursuit of nuclear weapons.
“It is unusual for a former secretary of state to engage in foreign policy like this, as an actual diplomat and quasi-negotiator,” said Michael O’Hanlon, a foreign policy expert at the Brookings Institution. “Of course, former secretaries of state often remain quite engaged with foreign leaders, as they should, but it’s rarely so issue-specific, especially when they have just left office.”
“Rare” moves. “Unusual.” Yes. Another group of words might be “unwelcome”, “unethical”, “presumptuous”, “dangerous” or even “crap weaselish.”
The left doesn’t seem to understand that they aren’t in charge anymore. And contrary to their fever dreams, they aren’t going to be after November either. There is no coming blue wave, Beto isn’t unseating Ted, and the Second Amendment isn’t going away.
Sorry Kerry. You don’t work here anymore. Kindly step aside, won’t you? We have a preposterous “Deal” to dismantle so we can undo the damage you’ve done to world security.
If only we could get the planes full of cash back.