Keller @ Large: Learn A Lot With A Little Reading

BOSTON (CBS) - I have to admit, I struggle to find enough time to pay close attention to foreign affairs. But with all the fuss about our negotiations with Iran over their nuclear program, I thought I'd better get up to speed on it.

So I did some reading, including the letter sent to the Iranian leadership by 47 Republicans in the Senate warning that a deal cut with the Obama administration that lacked Congressional support might have a short shelf-life.

This has the White House and Sec. of State John Kerry all upset, with some claiming the GOP senators are guilty of "treason."

But then I read in Sunday's New York Times that "in congressional testimony last week, Mr. Kerry acknowledged what 47 Republicans wrote in [the] letter …that any "executive agreement" like this one, made without a vote in Congress, would not be legally binding on future presidents."

The Times also reports that "serious, last-minute obstacles" to the deal include Tehran's demand that "all United Nations sanctions be suspended as soon as there's a deal," and their refusal to allow short-notice international inspections of Iranian nuclear sites. Those sanctions include a ban on "high technology goods that could help Iran covertly build a weapon."

Given that Iran's religious and military leaders don't even support these talks, those seem like serious obstacles indeed. And the Times claims a "bipartisan, veto-proof majority" opposing such concessions may soon be in place in the Senate.

Gee, you can learn a lot with a little bit of reading. That controversial letter may have been politically obnoxious, but what it said was true.

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