Ah, Vienna... City of music. Crown jewel of the Holy Roman Empire. Birthplace of psychoanalysis. Home of the Lipizzaner stallions. And this week, host of the Iran nuclear negotiations.
Along with the foreign ministers, their delegations and a horde of accompanying journalists, another type has decamped to the Austrian capital for the talks: special interest groups with a stake in the outcome.
Amid the Viennese chocolate, churches and chamber music, advocates and opponents of the emerging deal are out in force, as are some of the families of US citizens detained or missing in Iran, all hoping to take advantage of the convergence of world powers and reporters to press their points.
Photo: AFP
“We want the Iranian and US governments to know that we are here,” said Sarah Hekmati, whose brother, former US Marine Amir Hekmati, was set to spend his 1,400th day in an Iranian prison yesterday. “This is an opportune time and we want to leverage the opportunity.”
Also in Vienna is Ali Rezaian, the brother of Iranian-American Washington Post reporter Jason Rezaian, who is facing espionage charges in Iran.
Closer to the heart of the closed-door nuclear negotiations, pro-Israel groups opposing an agreement and arms control, and other organizations in favor of one, are competing for the time and attention of negotiators, journalists and experts in hotel lobbies, bars and restaurants across the city.
The accord, if reached, would curb Iran’s nuclear program for a decade in exchange for tens of billions of dollars in sanctions relief.
“It is very important to provide context to what is happening,” said Trita Parsi, president of the pro-agreement National Iranian American Council, who arrived in Vienna on Saturday. “The organized elements that do not want this to happen here are very well-funded and have 35 years of experience. A deal is not going to happen or succeed if only one side is represented. There needs to be a counterbalance.”
His reference to an opposition is clear. On the other side are opinion-shapers such as Josh Block, the chief executive of the Israel Project, and his senior aide Omri Ceren, well-known in Washington for almost daily ruminations on the nuclear talks that are sent to about 2,000 journalists, policy experts and congressional aides.
“We are here to provide facts and analysis, and one fact is that the more detail Americans learn about the developing pact, the more people oppose it,” Block said.
He called the package “the wrong deal for America, our values and the future of the free world.”
Nearby in the lobby of a Marriott hotel, across from the negotiations at the Palais Coburg hotel, sits Kelsey Davenport, the director for nonproliferation at the Arms Control Association.
Her group “supports a verifiable, comprehensive nuclear deal” based on a framework that world powers and Iran hashed out in Switzerland almost three months ago.
Cementing the pact “would be a net-plus for nonproliferation,” said Davenport, who arrived in Vienna four days ago. “We are here to follow and report on developments in the talks, consult with parties on both sides of the negotiating table and provide analysis for the media.”
For the Hekmati family, the cause is personal, not political.
Sarah is in Vienna with her husband, Ramy Kurdi, and some star power of her own in television personality Montel Williams, a former US Marine who has taken up her brother Amir’s cause while their father, Ali, is dying of brain cancer in Michigan.
“There is a pressing urgency that we feel and we want the world to share,” she said in an interview. “We are not trying to mix the message, but we do want to take advantage of everyone being here.”
“I just want to make sure that Amir is getting the appropriate amount of public attention,” Williams said.
OPTIMISTIC: A Philippine Air Force spokeswoman said the military believed the crew were safe and were hopeful that they and the jet would be recovered A Philippine Air Force FA-50 jet and its two-person crew are missing after flying in support of ground forces fighting communist rebels in the southern Mindanao region, a military official said yesterday. Philippine Air Force spokeswoman Colonel Consuelo Castillo said the jet was flying “over land” on the way to its target area when it went missing during a “tactical night operation in support of our ground troops.” While she declined to provide mission specifics, Philippine Army spokesman Colonel Louie Dema-ala confirmed that the missing FA-50 was part of a squadron sent “to provide air support” to troops fighting communist rebels in
PROBE: Last week, Romanian prosecutors launched a criminal investigation against presidential candidate Calin Georgescu accusing him of supporting fascist groups Tens of thousands of protesters gathered in Romania’s capital on Saturday in the latest anti-government demonstration by far-right groups after a top court canceled a presidential election in the EU country last year. Protesters converged in front of the government building in Bucharest, waving Romania’s tricolor flags and chanting slogans such as “down with the government” and “thieves.” Many expressed support for Calin Georgescu, who emerged as the frontrunner in December’s canceled election, and demanded they be resumed from the second round. George Simion, the leader of the far-right Alliance for the Unity of Romanians (AUR), which organized the protest,
ECONOMIC DISTORTION? The US commerce secretary’s remarks echoed Elon Musk’s arguments that spending by the government does not create value for the economy US Secretary of Commerce Howard Lutnick on Sunday said that government spending could be separated from GDP reports, in response to questions about whether the spending cuts pushed by Elon Musk’s Department of Government Efficiency could possibly cause an economic downturn. “You know that governments historically have messed with GDP,” Lutnick said on Fox News Channel’s Sunday Morning Futures. “They count government spending as part of GDP. So I’m going to separate those two and make it transparent.” Doing so could potentially complicate or distort a fundamental measure of the US economy’s health. Government spending is traditionally included in the GDP because
Hundreds of people in rainbow colors gathered on Saturday in South Africa’s tourist magnet Cape Town to honor the world’s first openly gay imam, who was killed last month. Muhsin Hendricks, who ran a mosque for marginalized Muslims, was shot dead last month near the southern city of Gqeberha. “I was heartbroken. I think it’s sad especially how far we’ve come, considering how progressive South Africa has been,” attendee Keisha Jensen said. Led by motorcycle riders, the mostly young crowd walked through the streets of the coastal city, some waving placards emblazoned with Hendricks’s image and reading: “#JUSTICEFORMUHSIN.” No arrest
RSS