On Ahmadinejad, His Israel Lobby, John Bolton, Mr Hearst, Havana Harbor, and Remembering the Maine
“Ahmdinejad moves to normalizewith the West in deeds and not in words…He surprised the country byannouncing the appointment of Isfandiyar R Meshai as vice president,and he is the man who recently said that the ‘Israeli people arefriends of Iran’. He also replaced the chief of the Iranian nuclearenergy agency…..Some observers see in these new appointments pragmaticmessages to the West, especially the appointment of Meshai, arepresentative of the current that calls for normalization with Israelinstead of threatening to throw her into the sea…..” M E Online (7/11)
Not sure what this signifies, if anything, but things are influx in Iran. There are now two factions, two schools of thought, atleast. Possibly they will evolve into two major political alliances oreven parties. They are also more likely now to focus on domestic breadand butter issues at the expense of regional priorities and‘activities’. This is probably what most of the people would like tosee.
“Has the time come for an Israeli attack? With Iran'shard-line mullahs and the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corpsunmistakably back in control, Israel's decision of whether to usemilitary force against Tehran's nuclear weapons program is more urgentthan ever…….
"Otherwise, be prepared for an Iran with nuclearweapons, which some, including Obama advisers, believe could becontained and deterred. That is not a hypothesis we should seek to testin the real world. The cost of error could be fatal.” W Post (7/4), Asharq alawsat (7/18)
This piece by John Boltonhas been translated and reproduced in some influential Arab media twiceover the past month. The last time was today (July 18). Trying tosoothe the faithful, encouraging them to take heart for something maybe cooking. After all John Bolton has spoken from his wilderness. Except that Bolton’s exile started by his own party. (Now almost the whole party is its neoconservative wing). He must be very popular with some in the Middle East, because other pieces by him on the same issue have been translated and republished.
I think they probably know that Mr. Bolton was nominated byRepublican George W Bush to be US ambassador to the United Nations. He was rejected by a Republican-controlled Senate, did not even get approval in DickLugar’s Foreign Relations Committee, which tells something about him.He was subsequently appointed by Bush during a congressional recess for one year. After the year expired, Bush would not renominate him for a full term because he knew that the same Republican-controlled Senate will reject him again.
He has since been warmongering, trying to get someone, anyone, to wage a new war in the Middle East, this time inIran. So far there are no takers, although the right wing Likud coalition in Israel is his best last hope, and it is making the right noises and feints. Unless Fox News can put together something: RememberMr. Hearst, his ‘special Cuban friend’, and the “Maine” in Havana Harbor?
Cheers
mhg
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