Realpoliticks

Conditions: Warm and sunny.

Diplomacy

The Logan act is an American law passed in 1799 that forbids unauthorized citizens from negotiating with foreign governments. And the Logan act is precisely what a group of republicans have broken in their unprecedented attempts to sabotage the ongoing and tricky nuclear negotiations between the U.S government and the government of Iran.

A group of 47 Republican senators has written an open letter to Iran’s leaders warning them that any nuclear deal they sign with President Barack Obama’s administration won’t last after Obama leaves office. […]

"It has come to our attention while observing your nuclear negotiations with our government that you may not fully understand our constitutional system…. Anything not approved by Congress is a mere executive agreement,” the senators wrote. “The next president could revoke such an executive agreement with the stroke of a pen and future Congresses could modify the terms of the agreement at any time."

Josh Rogin’s report makes clear that the signatories “hope that by pointing out the long-term fragility of a deal with no congressional approval … the Iranian regime might be convinced to think twice” about striking a deal with Americans and our negotiating partners.

The letter was organized by Sen. Tom Cotton (R-Ark.), a right-wing freshman who has spent months bragging about his hopes of destroying any diplomatic agreement intended to stop Iran’s nuclear ambitions.

- msnbc.com/

It’s difficult to understand at times just how much the Republicans cannot stand President Obama, and presumably everything he stands for. However at the moment what he stands for is the United States of America. This letter is almost an act of treason, not to mention a remarkable insult to the leaders of Iran. You’ve got to wonder sometimes how anything productive can ever come from politics.

Update: Iranian Foreign Minister Mohammad Javad Zarif delivers an overview of international law as he critiqued the letter.

"in our view, this letter has no legal value and is mostly a propaganda ploy."



Film Review: 3 Days To Kill

Big question marks hung over this one. The director, McG, has made a number of poor films recently and has delivered up this Franco-American oddball film about a retired, dying CIA operative played by Kevin Costner, who’s sort of been in the Hollywood wilderness for a while. However for me the saving grace is that it’s produced by that French genius Luc Besson. When he’s on, he’s on and here he is decidedly on. We start with a big action sequence where Kevin gets dizzy and passes out before he can shoot the head henchman of the bad guy. He then is told he’s got some kind of movie-cancer and has 3 months to live. So he goes off to Paris to find his wife and kid that he effectively abandoned many years ago.

In putting himself back into their lives he’s making peace with himself and trying to figure out how to say goodbye. This is especially difficult as he re-engages with his teenage daughter, and he has his work cut out to make up to her all that he’s missed. While all this stuff is going on, a special CIA agent has decided to reactivate Kevin in the hunt for the bad guy, using the possibility of an experimental cure as bait. So, in that madcap French way, over the course of a weekend Kevin has to reconnect to his wife and daughter, interrogate various henchmen and associates to find out where the bad guy is, and also deal with a subplot involving a homeless family who have moved into his house while he’s been away.

You’d think this would be a mess, but somehow Kevin is able to bring a gruff respectability to these odd scenarios. He’s able to switch from beating up a source, to getting shot at, to getting dictated to by his boss, to dealing with the charming house squatters, and all though he’s coming across as an absent Dad trying to make things right with his family. Lord knows what mad European magic got mixed into this thing, maybe Besson has Gypsy ancestors or something, but somehow the thing actually works. Mostly. There’s some odd moments here and there, and the ending is a bit vague, but hey. It works. We even got a decent car chase. Three and a half extra large needles out of five.



Film Review: Kingsman

Bond has come in for a lot of kicking over the years, and as such it’s been through a number of revolutions itself to stay fresh and interesting. Regardless it’s legacy stretches out behind it, ready for parody. And the latest one here is Kingsman, a world where British secret agents dress impeccably and carry out missions to save the world working out of a secret headquarters in Saville Row. We’re brought into this world through a new recruit from the rough streets of London. Colin Firth acts as his mentor and ours.

Tongue firmly planted in cheek at all times, we’re given an outlandish villain, played by Samuel L Jackson with a lisp, with a plan to kill off most of the human race in an outlandish and brutal manner. It does feel like a film of two halves, and while I enjoyed the first half, the second half seemed to revel in excess of all kinds. The church scene in particular felt a little uncomfortable to me. It’s a gloriously violently scene, that just went on and on, and yet on. Overall there's a weird disconnect in this film between the gentlemanly tone and the vicious world of the assassins. Still, it was entertaining.

Ultimately Colin Firth comes out as a revelation here, cold and clinically stylish, and suave to a fault. He mentors both the young Eggsy, and ourselves into this world before leaving us to it, like a dad pushing his son off on a rather stylish bike. The film builds to an agreeably big and stylish finale, complete with some shocking twists and even a few laughs, before signing out before it could outstay its welcome. The director is the same guy who made Kick-Ass, and you can kind of see the same attitude seeping through, but done with elegance, and, well, style. Four brogues out of five.



- Peace out