This blog could have well been linked at the “In the News” section but I wanted to make a few comments about it from the get go. First,I wish to say that I have  watched Heather Hurlburt at Bloggingheads many times and admire her intelligent commentary. I don’t always agree with everything she says but on the other hand she sometimes makes me reconsider a position which I have set in my mind.  She has some important things to say here, and more expansively in a long article which is referenced, about humanitarian interventions, for example. Drezner is a smart and informed person too but to my mind he mostly gives context and opportunity for the better nuanced ideas of Hurlburt.

In this video blog they discuss, among other things but mostly, the Iran nuclear deal and the attempts to kill it that are ongoing. That deal, to my mind, is one of the two greatest achievements by the Obama administration and is possibly, I believe probably, even more important in the long run than the health care financing achievement which he was able to accomplish.  That is IF it goes through in spite of the terrific effort to kill it which has long term consequences of its own even if unsuccessful.  I say that it might be more important because if the health care deal had failed it would still be possible to come back later and get one, quite possibly a better one. If the deal with Iran fails to pass it could quite possibly, quite probably, lead to another war and the possibilities then are always open ended and could possibly end up being cataclysmic on a global scale. Of course ongoing wars and possible horrific future blowups in that part of the world are still a major problem but this deal makes the situation at least somewhat better. If Bernie, or anyone else, is to have a possibility of implementing needed social programs it will be necessary to create a situation where military spending is held down or at least held where it is at as our economy expands so as to be able to pay for them. 

http://bloggingheads.tv/videos/36253