Imagine how things will possibly be about 25 years from now:
Benyamin Netanyahu will still be either prime minister of Israel or running to become prime minister of Israel.
Netanyahu will still be announcing every two weeks that the Iranians are still only six months from developing a nuclear bomb. He has been claiming the same for the past twenty years. An extremely long six months indeed.
The U.S. Congress (both houses, both parties) will still be voting on and passing new resolutions and bills tightening the economic blockade on Iran, asserting Israel’s “right” to attack Iran at will, insisting that the United States support any such military attack. All will pass irresponsibly unanimously, of course.
Mr. Obama, or whoever is in power at the time, will keep insisting that “all options are on the table” and will remain so. No mention of red lines anymore.
Iranian politicians will continue to predict the demise of the “Zionist Entity”. The more moderate ones will continue to predict the demise of “Israel”. Crossing your fingers is frowned upon by the mullahs, might be considered some sort of “flipping gesture”.
Nuclear negotiations between Iran and the P5+1 will be continuing, with frequent Geritol breaks.
The Iranians will keep announcing more centrifuges operating as they keep negotiating with P5+1, all in good faith by both sides, by all sides.
The GCC Gulf potentates will still be funneling weapons and money and occasional Salafi volunteers to the Aging Free Syrian Salafi Army along the Turkish border, in its quest to depose Bashar Al-Assad. Bashar will still be ruling Damascus from his wheelchair, with the help of his army of nurses and his IVs.
Saad Hariri will still be trying to become prime minister of Lebanon, insisting he can run things from Paris and Riyadh.
Republicans will still be promising to cancel Obamacare (aka the Affordable Care Act) as soon as they control all three houses in Washington.
“The face of the rebellion has changed since the uprising against Syrian President Bashar Assad began nearly 1,000 days ago. Black flags with white calligraphy are increasingly common — a sign of the growing influence of Islamist extremists. Since Assad’s regime lost control of the northern borders in the summer of 2012, they have been streaming into the country. Now, foreigners are fighting alongside Syrians. They include Chechens, Libyans, Tunisians, Belgians and Germans — all jihadists fighting a war for Islam against what they believe is an infidel regime. Some already fought in Afghanistan and Iraq, and bring their valuable combat experience with them. Still others have spent time behind bars for their jihadist past, and from there they have found their way to the Syrian front……………………”
Yes, they come in from the North, mainly through Turkey but some through northern Iraq and some through Jordan. They are gaining valuable experience, using Saudi money and Western training and arms. And when it is all over in Syria and Iraq and Lebanon and Turkey, they will head to their homes in other Arab lands and in Europe. The oil potentates may yet regret again their dabbling in this new Afghanistan Jihad. Cheers
mhg
This French diplomat in Manama looks sober, I think. Maybe that is why he also looks unhappy, for a Frenchman in Manama.
“France supports the reforms taking place in Bahrain and backs the invitation by His Majesty King Hamad bin Isa Al Khalifa for a national dialogue as the best means to overcome obstacles and political differences, the French ambassador to Bahrain has said. “Paris also strongly condemns the acts of violence and stresses that terrorism is not a political tool,” Christian Testot said, adding that His Majesty’s call for the national dialogue, launched in February, is a significant step in the history of Bahrain. “We hope that the five coalition parties that have recently suspended their participation in the Dialogue will come back and resume their participation. It is necessary for Bahrainis to find a way to agree because there is no alternative to the dialogue to reach an agreement on a formula that allows the coexistence and satisfaction of all parties no matter how different their views are. Such a goal is achievable only through dialogue,” the ambassador told Bahrain News Agency (BNA)…………….”
To which I add, as I often do when I read a Bahrain BNA report, a hearty and loud: Hahahahahahaha………….
“Iranian financial aid to Hamas seems to have renewed after the meeting, making it a pivotal turning point in Hamas’ attitude towards the Arab Spring, and to the civil war and Syria specifically. Since war broke out in Syria over two years ago, Hamas leadership chose to stand by the rebels and against Bashar Assad’s regime; subtle at first, Hamas later publicly protested the massacre the Syrian president had committed against his country’s civilians. Meanwhile, Hamas leader left Damascus and spread out in different Arab countries, including Qatar and Egypt, and it was often reported the Palestinian group is taking an active part fighting with the rebels and against Assad. Hamas turning its back on Syria – and by proxy on Iran and Hezbollah – didn’t come without consequences. In Tehran and Dahiya, connections with the group were severed and financial and arms support were ceased. Since then, Hamas leadership realized, it seems, it put its money on the wrong horse…………..”
So much for the fixed Islamist ‘principles’ of Hamas. It has been known for a few weeks now that Hamas has reversed gear, again, back into the Iranian-Syrian-Lebanese-Iraqi(?) axis. But that is okay. The Fatah oligarchs of Ramallah and Abu Dhabi will also gladly join the Iran-Syria-Lebanon axis if their other financial sources dry up. The Palestinian leaders have the usual things in common with other Arab leaders: greed and corruption. Oh, and they avoid elections. Strange how Hamas operatives were reportedly putting out word only a few months ago that their men were helping the Syrian rebels in battle against the Damascus regime. I had my doubts about that claim, I still do. Now, is it possible they might join Hezbollah fighters in supporting Bashar Al-Assad in battle?
“Two million Muslims have flooded into Saudi Arabia’s Mina Valley from Mecca for the start of the Hajj pilgrimage this week. Dressed in simple white garments and freed from their worldly possessions, they are following in the footsteps of the prophet Muhammad. But in Islam’s holiest city, there is increasingly little sign of the prophet’s legacy – or the frugal life he espoused. “The authorities are trying to destroy anything in Mecca that is associated with the prophet’s life,” says Irfan al-Alawi, director of the UK-based Islamic Heritage Research Foundation, who recently returned from a trip to the city. “They have already bulldozed the house of his wife, his grandson and his companion – and now they are coming for his birthplace. And for what? Yet more seven-star hotels.”…………..”
Notice that the Islamic Heritage Research Foundation is based in Britain, not in Hijaz. In Saudi Arabia, they would have some prince leading it: it would be like having a fox in the hen house. I have written earlier posts on this topic, how a combination, an alliance of royal greed and Wahhabi dogma has destroyed, is still destroying the priceless historical monuments of early Islam. It is downright criminal what the Al Saudi princes and their merchant allies and retainers are doing. Properties closest to the Kaaba are the priciest, and that is where monuments of early Islam were located. Ergo, these monuments were doomed once the Saudi princes set their eyes on that prime land, within walking distance to the Holy Mosques. Here are some links to my earlier posts on this:
“A senior figure in the Muslim Brotherhood’s political party was arrested Monday on the eve of a major Muslim holiday, while the family of the organization’s jailed leader issued a defiant statement saying he wouldn’t renounce his claim to Egypt’s presidency. As Egyptians prepared to celebrate Eid al-Adha, or the Feast of Sacrifice, which begins Tuesday, neither the Brotherhood nor the military-backed interim government showed any sign of moving toward a political compromise. Most of the Brotherhood’s leadership has been in jail for months……………”
It looks like the ruling generals may be offering Mr. Morsi a deal. It looks like they may be offering him some kind of immunity, perhaps exile in Turkey or Qatar, in exchange for renouncing his right to the presidency (forget the Bahamas in this case). But of course it is not for him to renounce any ‘right” to leadership. It is up to voters, or so the legend says. Which means General Al Sisi, if he runs and wins (of course he’ll win), will have a shadow of illegitimacy hanging over him. But then most Arab leaders have a shadow of illegitimacy hanging over them, since most are not elected. So what else is new?
“In a day of provocations and incendiary language at Tea Party-type protests Saturday in Washington D.C., WorldNetDaily.com author and Birther attorney Larry Klayman stands out. “I call upon all of you to wage a second American nonviolent revolution, to use civil disobedience, and to demand that this president leave town,” said Klayman, a founder of the conservative Freedom Watch political advocacy group. Before a crowd at the “Million Vets March on the Memorials” Klayman demanded that President Barack Obama “… get up, to put the Quran down, to get up off his knees, and to figuratively come out with his hands up.”…………..”
He is a lawyer and he sounds somewhat like Josef Goebbels in his approach to people of other faiths. Which makes me wonder, whatever happened to that famed female Israeli-Russian-American lawyer-dentist-entertainer and birther? Maybe the Canadian-Texan Ted Cruz is looking for a running mate, his own Sarah Palin, to share the electoral fires with.
The Republican Party, an important segment of it, has taken the mantle of racism well beyond Nixon’s original Southern Strategy. They have made it international, dabbling in anti-Muslim wars abroad and crass open racism at home. Like the good old fashioned European fascists of the last century, this newest version of the GOP German-American Bund is true to form. They always end up focusing on a minority. It used to be the Jews in the last century. Now it is cooler to target Muslims directly and “others” not so directly. Cheers
mhg
My Nordic source reports that the Nobel Committee has denied that U.S. Representatives Michele Bachmann (R-Minn) and Louie Louie Goh-mert (R-Texas) were ever officially nominated for the Peace Prize. There had been rumors that the two Republicans (Ya ne znayo nechevo) were put on the final short list after their stormy visit to Cairo. In Cairo, they managed the nearly impossible feat of extolling the virtues of free electoral democracy while praising the military coup that overthrew Egypt’s elected president. And they did it by having Michele Bachmann read her script at a slow kindergarten level for the Egyptian people, the sort done for ESL classes across the United States. As for Louie Louie Goh-mert, oh, well, nobody could ever figure out what the f—k he was about anyway. Louie Louie Gohmert (R-Texas) always reminds me of that good old song………..
“Hey! diddle, diddle,
The cat and the fiddle,
The cow jumped over the moon;
The little dog laughed
To see such sport,
And the dish ran away with the spoon…………” Mother Goose
Saudi media report that Servant of the Two Holy Mosques King Abdullah Bin Abdulaziz affirmed, in a statement read for him by Prince Khalid Al-Faisal of Mecca during a conference about human rights and Islamic Shari’a and International laws, that Saudi Arabia is a state based on Islamic Shari’a and is completely committed to international laws and agreements regarding Human Rights. There are some exceptions, but they are only about a million or two and only in small print. The prince did not, however, add that the cow jumped over the moon and the dish ran away with the spoon. Not in so many words, not yet.
“Former basketball star Dennis Rodman has received the Nobel Peace Prize for his unlikely and controversial role in promoting international relations with North Korea and “friend for life” dictator Kim Jong-un. The eccentric sports icon accepted the award via satellite during the ceremony in Norway’s capital, Oslo. The prize committee praised Rodman for working to end the simmering conflict between isolated North Korea, the United States and the world community through “basketball diplomacy.” “I accept this award on behalf of the North Korean people and my good friend, Kim Jong-un………………….” It is not so preposterous. Others have received it, including Yasser Arafat and a few others. Cheers
mhg
