Category Archives: Iran

GCC, Iran, Israel

Peacenik Tom Friedman vs. Warmongering Arab Princes………

      

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“But there is something else that goes without saying, but still needs to be said loudly: We, America, are not just hired lawyers negotiating a deal for Israel and the Sunni Gulf Arabs, which they alone get the final say on. We, America, have our own interests in not only seeing Iran’s nuclear weapons capability curtailed, but in ending the 34-year-old Iran-U.S. cold war, which has harmed our interests and those of our Israeli and Arab friends. Hence, we must not be reluctant about articulating and asserting our interests in the face of Israeli and Arab efforts to block a deal that we think would be good for us and them………. . Some of our allies don’t share those “other” interests and believe the only acceptable outcome is bombing Iran’s nuclear facilities and keeping Iran an isolated, weak, pariah state…………”

Friedman is going peacenik about Iran. He says: “Some of our allies don’t share those “other” interests and believe the only acceptable outcome is bombing……”
No wonder some Iranians have come to believe that some of their neighbors are almost serial back-stabbers. They did it in the 1980s, when they threw their money and media and weapons behind Saddam Hussein’s invasion of southwestern Iran. When that one failed, Saddam did his own backstabbing: he turned his guns south against the Gulf. The Americans deployed and saved the day in 1990/91.
The potentates tried again to push for war a few years ago (remember the Wikileaks revelations?). They have been trying since then. A version of history is being repeated here, perhaps with Ben Netanyahu replacing Saddam as the instrument. They have come a long way from the Saddam Fan Club to the Ben Netanyahu Fan Club.

Cheers
mhg

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Blockade of Iran, GCC, Iran, US Congress, US Foreign Policy

Pushing the Next American War on the next Muslim Country………

      

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“The heightened rhetoric came as U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry was to meet behind closed doors Wednesday with members of the Senate Banking Committee, which is weighing new sanctions against Iran’s energy and financial sectors, similar to a measure approved by the House in August. Kerry will appeal to skeptical lawmakers of both parties to wait at least a week before considering the new wave of punitive sanctions, State Department spokeswoman Jen Psaki said. He will ask them to put the sanctions a “temporary pause”………………”

It is not really about the Iranian nuclear program, stupid. I stopped believing that a few years ago, listening to Netanyahu and American senators and legislators and some Gulf media of the princes.
It is about the omnipotent Israeli lobby in Washington pushing for yet another war of choice against another Muslim country that has some regional strategic reach. It is about the Persian Gulf money lobby (absolute tribal Saudi princes and UAE shaikhs, even lowly Bahrain shaikhs) pushing for yet another American destructive war of choice on yet another Muslim country. A proxy war they are not willing to fight nor to participate in.
It is about a war that will not be sanctioned by the United Nations, and hence will be a certified Western war of aggression. Maybe it is about some inexplicable insatiable American desire to get bogged down in yet another faraway war that is erroneously painted as a cakewalk. Maybe it is a way to keep the military-industrial complex thriving.
It will be a war about all of the above.
What it is not about is a desire to reach a peaceful solution on the part of a U.S. Congress, both houses and both parties, that is in the Israeli pocket. Which is how most Muslims and Arabs see it, once one gets away from the views publicized by controlled Gulf and Saudi media like Alarabiya, Asharq Alawsat, Al-Hayat, and others.

Cheers
mhg

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France, GCC, Iran, Weapons deals

French Fries, Nuclear Fries, Gulf Contract Fries…….

      

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“French or Freedom fries: What’s behind France’s move on Iranian nuclear deal? Far from the political stance that inspired ‘Freedom fries’ 10 years ago, France has aligned itself more with US conservatives in rejecting a ‘sucker’s deal’ on the Iran nuclear issue……………”

The French are always looking for ‘number one’, looking for their own financial interests. The country that devastated parts of the Pacific islands, e.g. Moruroa (Algeria is not in the Pacific) with their nuclear tests until recently have not gone religious. They are  most likely eying their royal Arab allies, the Saudi princes and UAE shaikhs, the ones who bestow fat weapons contracts and other contracts. The French have almost certainly decided to adopt their opposition to a nuclear deal with Iran, to keep that country blockaded and isolated. Look for France to get some new Gulf contracts soon.
They are also probably pissed (in French of course) about the Iranian role in events in Lebanon and Syria, as pissed as their royal Arab partners are.

Cheers
mhg

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Iran, Israel, US Foreign Policy

Iran and Israel: the Pretty Face and the Ugly Face……..

      

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“”We believe that Khamenei allowed Rohani to be elected in order to become Iran’s ‘pretty face‘”. Also sprach Israeli Defense Minister Moshe Ya’alon.
That may be so. On the other hand, that evokes the expected inevitable comparison. Which is that: what is even more certain is that most people in the Middle East believe that Benyamin Netanyahu is Israel’s ‘ugly face’. Has been for several years (there might be a few secret exceptions to this opinion among some princes and potentates in recent months).
Amend that: most people around the world including many in official Washington believe that Netanyahu is Israel’s ugly face. With the exception of his fans and groupies in both parties in both houses of the U.S. Congress.

Cheers
mhg

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Blockade of Iran, GCC, Iran, US Foreign Policy

On the Gulf: Princely Bluster and the Alternative to Diplomacy……

      

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“U.S. allies in the Persian Gulf, particularly Saudi Arabia, the United Arab Emirates and Bahrain, are also all warily watching the unfolding agreement in Geneva. The U.S. has forged close alliances with these countries over the past three decades in an effort to create a bulwark against Iran in the Middle East. Washington has showered billions of dollars of sophisticated weapons on the Gulf nations and stationed key U.S. naval and air assets there. Bahrain, Qatar, and the U.A.E. have also developed successful financial and trade centers in the Gulf, fueled, in part, by Iran’s isolation from international economy. A detente between Washington and Iran could significantly shake up Washington’s security calculations in the Mideast and challenge these countries’ long-term interests, according to regional diplomats. This, in part, explains these Gulf Arab states’ strong pushback against the Obama administration’s diplomacy………………….”

Strong pushback against the Obama administration’s “diplomacy”. Which means some of these Gulf princes in Saudi Arabia, UAE, and the lesser potentates in Bahrain were hoping for the alternative to diplomacy. And what is the alternative to diplomacy but war? These absolute tribal oligarchs are getting bold: they must feel entitled to American wars in support of their sectarian agenda. They, and their Wahhabi and Salafi allies, were counting on yet another American war, this time against the mullahs. A war they are incapable of waging themselves, even with the most expensive most-advanced weapons that money and commissions and bribes can buy. Their secret last white hope used to be hitched to the warlike bluster and bluff of Netanyahu, but by now they probably realize that without an American commitment to war it is just that: bluff and bluster.

Cheers
mhg

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Blockade of Iran, Iran, Middle East Nuclear, US Foreign Policy

Tale of Two Programs: White House Waffles as Knesset Sets to Derail any Iran Deal……

      

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“As soon as the Obama administration reaches an anticipated deal with Iran over its nuclear program, it will face a new challenge that threatens to strangle the accord in its crib: the inevitable attempts on Capitol Hill to impose new economic sanctions on Tehran. Expectations are high in Washington that John Kerry, the secretary of state, will announce a limited, short-term deal with Iran, following his unexpected arrival in Geneva on Friday to participate in negotiations. Yet the White House was quick to say that it is resolved to “protecting the broader architecture of the sanctions program,” as deputy press secretary Josh Earnest put it on Friday………….”

So the White House is “resolved to protecting the broader architecture of the sanctions program,” That was probably said to placate both houses of the Knesset in Washington. So what will any deal be about then?
I have an idea, a solution of two parts: (1) the White House will seek to protect the broader architecture of the sanctions program, and (2) the Iranians will seek to protect the broader architecture of their nuclear program.
Cheers
mhg

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Bahrain, GCC, Iran

Nuclear Adultery in the Persian Gulf ?………

      

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“”A deal with Iran would be like discovering your partner of many years is cheating on you with someone he or she claims they hate,” said a senior Arab official from a U.S. ally in the region..………..”
Now, why do I think the idiotic foreign minister of Bahrain, Al-Khalifa, is the most likely potentate to have made that stupid comment? Of course, we have no shortage of other idiotic potentates in the region……..

Cheers
mhg

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Death Penalty, Iran

Life and Death Penalty in Iran: Clash of an Ayatollah with Himself………

      

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“An Iranian grand ayatollah who issued a fatwa ordering the re-execution of convicts who come back to life has said his religious ruling should not be applied in the case of the man who revived in the morgue earlier this month. Alireza, a 37-year-old father of two, was hanged two weeks ago for possessing a kilo of crystal meth and was certified as dead by medics after lingering for 12 minutes from a rope tied around his neck. He was sent for burial but a day later morgue workers realised he was still alive after spotting steam in the plastic cover he was wrapped in. Following his arrest three years ago, a revolutionary court had found Alireza guilty of drug smuggling and sentenced him to death….……….. Golpaygani reacted after a number of people contacted his office asking him to intervene or clarify his position over Alireza’s case. The state-run Jam-e-Jam newspaper, the first media organisation to break the news about Alireza’s ordeal, said many of its readers had asked for his life to be spared….……….”

The mullahs, being dour mullahs, are attached to the death penalty. As attached as anybody in the Middle East is, almost as attached as Texans are, it seems.
Remember the old days when the American overlords eliminated the death penalty in Iraq right after the 2003 invasion? Oddly, very few seriously support eliminating capital punishment in the USA itself, at least not openly, certainly not any major politician. Anyway, the moratorium on the death penalty did not last long in Iraq: the Salafi terrorists made sure of that.
Still, they’d have fun with a case like this in Texas, another place where executions are liked and evading them is seriously frowned upon.
(FYI: I am against all forms of capital punishment, be they by hanging, beheading, shooting, clubbing, watching TV, or needling. Clearly they do nothing to stop crime. Otherwise the USA, Texas, China, Iran, and Iraq would be crime-free heavens. They are not. They don’t do much to reduce sorcery and witchcraft either, otherwise Saudi Arabia would be footloose and witch-free).

Cheers
mhg

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Iran, Israel, Mossad, Turkey, US Congress

Turkey vs. the Mossad in Iran, Davalued Joint Session in DC………

      

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“Officials in Ankara described the Washington Post article claiming Turkey deliberately blew the cover of an Israeli spy ring working inside Iran in early 2012 as part of an attempt to discredit Turkey by foreign powers uncomfortable with its growing influence in the Middle East. A senior official from Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan’s ruling AK Party said such accusations were part of a deliberate attempt to discredit Turkey and undermine its role in the region following election of Iran’s relatively moderate president Hassan Rohani. “Turkey is a regional power and there are power centers which are uncomfortable with this … …. Stories like these are part of a campaign,” the official said, asking not to be identified because of the sensitivity of the subject. “It’s clear the aim of some is to spoil the moderate political atmosphere after Rohani’s election … and to neutralize Turkey, which contributes to solving problems in the region and which has a relationship with Iran.”…………….”

So the Iranians were correct when the announced the busting of an Israeli espionage and terrorism cell almost a couple of years ago. Which also means some of the Israeli agents (be they Israeli or Iranian exiles) probably went through Turkey to enter Iran, perhaps also through part of Northern Iraq. I am not sure why the Turks are upset that this is out now, they did the right thing from their point of view. Unless the Mossad has some inalienable right to spy and kill civilians in other countries with impunity. Maybe the Turks worry about the reaction in the U.S. Congress in the future. Let me put it this way: Erdogan now has as much a chance to be invited to address a joint session of Congress as Mr. Rouhani has. Which is about as much of a chance as Hassan Nasrallah has, probably somewhat lower than Fidel Castro’s chance.
Imagine being denied the honor once accorded Winston Churchill (and King Abdullah of Jordan and Benyamin Netanyahu of Israel and Ayad Allawi, among others). Wait a minute, did I say Churchill AND Netanyahu and King Abdullah and Ayad Allawi, all in one sentence? Is the world coming unhinged? Is the unique honor of addressing the U.S. Congress been so devalued? Could it be all of the above? You betcha………….

Cheers
mhg

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Blockade of Iran, Europe, Iran, Israel, nuclear Iran

Leap of Faith: Netanyahu Warns Europeans to Keep Heeding his Warnings of Twenty Years…………

      

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“PM warns Europe against Iran: ‘Don’t let them have enrichment’
Netanyahu holds interviews with European media outlets to warn against reducing sanctions to Islamic republic, urges world not to ‘let a radical regime have awesome power’. As Europeans are suggesting that economic sanctions against Iran may be reduced, Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu held several interviews with European media to stress the dangers of the Tehran regime. In interviews with representatives from the Frankfurter Allgemeine, the French daily Le Monde, the British Financial Times; as well as the the German ARD television station, the French France-24 and the British Sky News, Netanyahu addressed the issue of nuclear Iran………………”

Netanyahu is also quoted to have said to the Europeans: “Don’t say I didn’t warn you ……………”
He sure did warn them. He has been warning them for more than twenty years now that the Iranians are only six months away from a nuclear bomb. From way back in the 1990s, when he was fear-mongering to win his first election, he claimed that the mullahs were about to go ‘nuclear’. I am surprised Europeans still listen to him (American politicians are different, they have their own ‘compelling’ excuses for listening to him).

Over two decades, Mr. Netanyahu and his ministers have promised the world a lot of unrealized nuclear slam dunks about Iran. I am beginning to suspect they are not serious about their predictions, that they don’t do the necessary “due diligence”. Unless the Iranians pull back in time just to frustrate them.
I suspect Netanyahu has been programed to repeat this nuclear Iran mantra; he feels that it is his “raison d’etre”. And what would he do once it is gone? I can imagine him continuing, long after the nuclear issue is settled, picketing the UN headquarters, or the offices of the net Israeli prime minister, urging them not to ease their vigilance. I can imagine the NYPD arresting him for disturbing……… no I don’t think they’d do that. It is a thought.

Cheers
mhg

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