Category Archives: Iran

Iran, Israel, US Foreign Policy, War on Iran

The Game of Preemption: Israelis Tough as Nail, Iranians Soft as Pussycats, Americans Lost……….

     

    Follow ArabiaDeserta on Twitter    BFF   

“Growing tensions over Iran’s disputed nuclear program have provoked speculation that Israel may be contemplating a military strike against nuclear facilities, which Iran says are for peaceful purposes, but which the West suspects are inching toward the capability to produce nuclear weapons. Without mentioning Israel directly, Mohammad Hejazi, the deputy armed forces head, said Tuesday, “Our strategy now is that if we feel our enemies want to endanger Iran’s national interests, and want to decide to do that, we will act without waiting for their actions.” Divisions in Iran’s leadership make it difficult to interpret the government’s intentions, but the statement showed a new level of aggressiveness……………”


The Iranians are just trying to make a point, show the absurdity of this Western and Israeli sense of being exclusively ‘entitled’ to bomb a country as a preemption. Everybody else seems to be getting into the “preemption” game these days, so why not the Iranians? Nobody has a “right” that others don’t have to threaten “preemption”.
Compared to what Israelis and American Republicans candidates mouth everyday, this Iranian statement is soft, squishy soft, pussycat stuff. McCain and Lieberman (Joe not Avigdor) would call it appeasement; Mitt Romney would declare a preemptive war before he has even lost the election; Rick Santorum would invoke a mean-spirited God of his own imagination, Newt Gingrich would remind everyone of his Plan B to go to the moon with Callista.
Cheers
mhg


[email protected]

Iran, Media, U.S. Politics, US Foreign Policy, War on Iran

Mother Teresa of Calcutta as America’s Greatest Enemy……..

 

    Follow ArabiaDeserta on Twitter    BFF   

      

“Americans most frequently identify Iran as being the United States’ greatest enemy, a Gallup poll released on Monday indicated. According to the data, Iran topped the list of the biggest enemy to the U.S. with 32 percent of respondents, up from the 25 percent who selected Iran in a 2011 survey. China is a relatively close second with 24 percent, and North Korea a distant third at 10 percent. Gallup’s World Affairs poll was conducted February 2-5, using a random sample of 1,029 adults, aged 18 and older, living in all 50 U.S. states and the District of Columbia…………..”

It is possible some people in the United States would have the same strong hostile feelings against Mother Teresa of Calcutta if she had been the target of such sustained vilification by the media and by politicians for several years. (I am not excluding Rick Santorum or Newt Gingrich from these feelings, not yet).
In the past few weeks, mainstream media and kookes alike have made it seem like the West has some kind of entitlement, some right, to wage an unprovoked war on Iran. No wonder the “average” American puts Iran at the top of the list of “mortal” enemies: he has been fed weeks of propaganda and warmongering.
As I said, they would put Mother Teresa at the top of the enemy list had she been the target of such media assault (I exclude most Catholics but not all from that, maybe). I suspect that something like 50% would support waging a war of choice on Mother Teresa after such a sustained media blitz.
Cheers
mhg


[email protected]

Arab Revolutions, Cairo, Egypt, GCC, Human Right, Iran, Latin America, US Foreign Policy

IRI, NDI, and Selective Democracy in Targeted Places: Tegucigalpa to Cairo and Manama……….

   Rattlesnake Ridge   Follow ArabiaDeserta on Twitter   

 
         BFF   

“The IRI is an international arm of the US Republican party, so anyone with the stomach to watch the Republican presidential debates might doubt whether this would be a “democracy-promotion” organization. But a look at some of their recent adventures is enough to set the record straight: in 2004, the IRI played a major role in overthrowing the democratically elected government of Haiti. In 2002, the head of the IRI publicly celebrated the short-lived military coup that overthrew the democratically elected government of Venezuela. The IRI was also working with organizations and individuals that were involved in the coup. In 2005, the IRI was involved in an effort to promote changes in Brazil’s electoral laws that would weaken the governing Workers party of then President Lula da Silva. Most recently, in 2009, there was a military coup against the democratically elected government of Honduras. The Obama administration did everything it could to help the coup succeed, and supported “elections” in November of 2009 to legitimize the coup government. The rest of the world – including even the Organization of American States (OAS), under pressure from South American democracies – refused to send observers. This was because of the political repression during the campaign period: police violence, raiding of independent media, and the forced exile of political opponents – including the country’s democratically elected president. But the IRI and the National Democratic Institute (NDI) – its Democratic party-linked counterpart – went there to legitimate the “election”……….The IRI and NDI are core grantees of the National Endowment for Democracy…………...”

I bet there are no offices for either IRI or NDI in places like Amman (Jordan), Manama (Bahrain), Riyadh (Saudi Arabia), Abu Dhabi (UAE), or Tehran (Iran), and all for the same reasons.
You’d think the Saudi and Emirati and Bahraini potentates, with whom some Western (American and British) leaders profess a communality of values (?), would welcome these democracy-advocating groups. Otherwise, what are those hundred billion dollar weapons deals for, except to make sure democracy survives in these places? Yet all this tells me that now there is much more freedom in Egypt than in those places (any democracy is more than none). More than there was in Tegucigalpa (Honduras) when they went to Honduras allegdly to rubber-stamp the coup d’etat.
All this does not justify these Americans being held by Egyptian authorities and tried. There has been no ‘crime’. I believe they ought to be freed: there should be no restrictions on advocacy in either Cairo or Tehran or Riyadh.
Cheers
mhg


[email protected]

Ali Khamenei, Iran

Middle East: Annoying President and Absolute King Questioned………

   Rattlesnake Ridge   Follow ArabiaDeserta on Twitter   

 
         BFF   

“President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad has been summoned to the parliament to answer questions by lawmakers about a number of the administration’s irregularities. The move came after MP Reza Hosseini, the spokesman for the MPs who signed the motion, announced on February 1 that the MPs had not been convinced by the answers provided by the president’s representatives at a meeting which was held on the same day to discuss the reasons behind irregularities by the administration. Deputy Majlis speaker Mohammad Reza Bahonar read out the text of the motion at the open session of the Majlis on Tuesday and said that the president will hopefully appear before the parliament to answer the questions in the first half of the Iranian calendar month of Esfand (February 20 – March 19). The motion calls for the president to answer questions about the administration’s failure…………..” Mehr News Agency

After reading this, the royal appointed rubber stamp Shoura Council felt invigorated, decided that it needs to question the king on some policy issues. They summoned the king over for questioning, whereby he summoned them back immediately and gave them the choice of being beheaded in public or castrated in public. They chose castration, as before a normal condition they are used to.
Of course, the summoning of Ahmadinejad may be just another way at political castration by his political foes. He had been threatened with parliamentary impeachment in the recent past. Relations between him and the True Leader are not what they used to be. Hard to believe, but there are those who are even more conservative, more right wing, more Tea Party if you will, than Ahmadinejad.
Cheers
mhg


[email protected]

Iran, Israel, Middle East Nuclear, Sanctions, U.S. Politics, US Foreign Policy, War on Iran

Slow Diplomatic Genocide: American Election Choreography and Iranian Agonies ……….

   Rattlesnake Ridge   Follow ArabiaDeserta on Twitter   

 
         BFF   

“The crisis has taken a toll on medical care, affecting the middle class as well as the poor. Because of the ever-tighter pressure on any kind of trade with Iran, the black market price of Herceptin, a breast cancer drug, has nearly doubled in the past year, said Lian, a young nurse who works in the cancer ward of one of Tehran’s major hospitals (the government regulates the mainstream supply of such drugs, but supplies are very limited). The sanctions have also affected medical technology, because radiology machines fall under the “dual use” provisions of laws aimed at keeping nuclear technology out of Iran. At Shohada Hospital, one of the country’s premier institutions, about 1,200 cancer patients a year go without radiological treatment, because the radiology equipment is no longer working and replacement parts cannot be brought into Iran, said Pejman Razavi, a doctor at the hospital. Many Iranians are also skeptical about the Western preoccupation with Iran’s nuclear program. “The economic pressure will not push Iran to a nuclear settlement,” said Kayhan Barzegar, the director of the Institute for Middle East Strategic Studies, who has taught in the United States. “The nuclear file is a nationalistic issue; it’s too late for Iran to backtrack. Domestic politics will react negatively to any negotiation — candidates in the elections will say: you sold the nuclear program!”………….”

It is truly killing by diplomatic means. What these Iranians don’t seem to understand is that the sanctions are not really aimed at their nuclear program. In the media-controlled sound-bite and video-clip politics of America these days, it is the perception that matters more than anything else. The main goal of the sanctions, ever tightening, is primarily to influence the perception of the American voters, to out-hawk the Republicans, usually mostly war evaders. Otherwise all this weekly, almost daily, recalibration of the Western blockade (never sanctioned by the United Nations) wouldn’t make any sense. Sanctions are usually put in place and monitored. These Iran sanctions, sharply and skeptically supervised by the Likud regime and its allies and agents in the United States, are meant to be kept in the headlines. It is tempting to say that every time Mr. Netanyahu clears his throat, a panicked Obama administration tightens the Iran sanctions some more.
Almost everything is choreographed for maximum public effect: from Susan Rice’s hissy fit and selective “disgusting” remark at the UN to Hillary Clinton’s selective “I am deeply troubled” comments. In This Election Year of Our Lord of 2012.
Cheers
mhg


[email protected]

Humor, Iran, Israel, Middle East Nuclear, U.S. Politics, US Foreign Policy, War on Iran

Breaking News: Netanyahu Claims War Imminent, Neuman Skeptic, FedEx and DHL………

   Rattlesnake Ridge   Follow ArabiaDeserta on Twitter   

 
            
                                           BFF                                         Gen. Alfred E. Neuman (Ret)

في يوم في شهر في سنة
في يوم في شهر في سنة .. تهدى الجراح وتنام
وعمر جرحي أنا.. أطول من الأيام
وداع يا دنيا الهنا .. وداع يا حب يا أحلام
دا عمرو جرحي أنا ..أطول من الأيام

عبد الحليم حافظ (or Netanyahu flirting with war)

Israeli prime minister Benjamin Netanyahu declared that his famous long-anticipated “existential” war with Iran was imminent. He said it could come within days, or weeks, or months. When cornered by reporters he added that it could potentially start within a year or two or three. When cornered again, he admitted that it all depends on how resolute the “international community” (aka the United States, aka Obama) will be.

On the other hand, retired General Alfred E. Neuman opined that a war against Iran can be a piece of cake, if only the dour ayatollahs don’t fold too soon, cry uncle, and FedEx all their enriched Uranium to Mooney (Ban Ki-Moon). The general stressed that “We ought to tighten the sanctions, to forestall this FedEx option, also DHL, foreigners use DHL a lot, to make sure not one iota of enriched material goes through. Old Saddam tried to explain that he had no enriched material, no wmd, even allowed Blix and ElBaradei in, those old fellow traveling Commies, but we got him anyway, on a technicality”.
Cheers
mhg




[email protected]

Britain, censorship, Culture, Internet, Iran

What do the Simpsons, the Middle East Media, Mausavi, and Yoda have in Common?………..

   Rattlesnake Ridge   Follow ArabiaDeserta on Twitter   

 
         BFF   

“An Iranian government-affiliated agency has banned dolls of the Simpsons cartoon characters, who join Barbie and others on a toy blacklist, an independent newspaper reported on Monday. The report said that the Simpsons were banned to avoid the promotion of Western culture. But Superman and Spiderman were allowed, because they helped the “oppressed.” “We do not want to promote this cartoon by importing the toys,” Shargh daily quoted Mohammad Hossein Farjoo, secretary of policymaking at the Institute for the Intellectual Development of Children and Young Adults, as saying……… He did not elaborate on what was wrong with the Simpsons specifically ………”

I like the Simpsons. I firmly believe they are more entertaining and more interesting than Press TV (Iran) or al-Manar TV (Lebanon) or CNN (USA) or BBC (Britain). Hell, they are always even more interesting than Pat Robertson’s 700 Club, although not always funnier. All of the above are more interesting than, say, William Hague (aka Yoda) or David Cameron (aka Pierce Morgan). The Iranian decision to ban The Simpsons is a repressive measure. It is more repressive, in my view than, say, the house arrests of opposition leaders like Mausavi or Karroubi, mainly because Homer and Bart and Marge (and even Apu) are fun-ner than those Iranian worthies.
On the other hand, I was also pissed that the Western governments are blocking television stations they don’t agree with. Mainly Press TV (Iran) and al-Manar TV (Lebanon). Not because I am a regular fan of these stations, I am not. I am not a fan of any television network. Come to think of it I am not a fan of anyone: I was not a fan of the late Saddam Hussein when most people around me thought the sun shone out of his ass, and now I am not a fan of the Wahhabi princes even when the same many people hink that the sun actually shines out of their royal asses.
 
I doubt that the ban means anything on the ground. Most Iranian who wish to see The Simpsons do so via satellite television and the Internet. Westerners who wish to see Press TV or al-Manar can do so as well.
Cheers
mhg


[email protected]

Hezbollah, Iran, Israel, Saudi Arabia, Terrorism, US Foreign Policy, War on Iran

Another Iranian Embassy Plot, Ministry of Thwarted Overseas Terror Plots………..

   Rattlesnake Ridge   Follow ArabiaDeserta on Twitter   

 
         BFF   

“Authorities in Azerbaijan, a former Soviet republic bordering Iran, have arrested two men suspected of plotting to attack prominent foreigners including Israel’s ambassador and a local rabbi, officials and media reported on Wednesday. The National Security Ministry said the men were connected to an Iranian citizen who had links with Iran’s intelligence. Azerbaijan, a secular Muslim country, is home to more than 9,000 Jews and has friendly ties with Israel and the United States. A major energy producer, it exports oil to Israel and imports weapons and military hardware. “Citizens of Azerbaijan – Rasim Aliyev and Ali Huseynov – were preparing an attack on public figures, who are foreign citizens,” the National Security Ministry said in a statement. The U.S. embassy issued a warning to its citizens saying “the possibility remains for actions against U.S. or other high-profile foreign interests in Azerbaijan”. The announcement came after several state websites in Azerbaijan were rendered inaccessible for hours this month by hackers who left threats and anti-Israel messages. That incident coincided with similar cyber-attacks in Israel……..”

WTF? In Azerbaijan? Another Iranian plot against some other embassy? I wonder how the dictatorship in Azerbaijan feels about all this. If this continues the mullahs would have to add the picture of a generic embassy in the middle of the Iranian flag. Truly when it rains it pours. They must have a whole ministry in Tehran in charge of plots against foreign targets that are never realized: it must be called the “Ministry of Thwarted Overseas Terror Plots”. The Iranians, though, probably think this ministry might only exist in the imagination of Western and Saudi media, possibly planted there by bored employees Western (and Saudi) security services.
(I haven’t seen any statement of outrage from  Senator Secretary Clinton yet. Maybe I missed it. Maybe even she is getting suspicious of all these alleged plots.)
Cheers
mhg


[email protected]

Iran

Red Sea WTF: Iranian Navy in Jeddah, Doing the Omrah……..

   Rattlesnake Ridge   Follow ArabiaDeserta on Twitter   

 
         BFF   

“The Iranian Navy dispatched its 18th flotilla of warships to the Gulf of Aden on January 21 to protect the country’s cargo ships and oil tankers against Somali pirates. Addressing a ceremony here in Tehran today, Sayyari said the Iranian Navy’s fleet of warships, comprised of Khark warship and Shahid Naqdi destroyer, docked at Jeddah this morning, and added that the mission is part of the Navy’s moves in line with the orders of the Supreme Leader for having a stronger presence in the high seas. The commander said that the navy ships’ 70-80-day mission is aimed at demonstrating Iran’s power in the high seas. While enemies try to portray Iran’s growing power as a threat to the regional states, the Admiral indicated that such missions prove that Iran’s military power is used to defend the region and can, thus, defuse the plot hatched by the enemies to spread Iranophobia …………” Fars News Agency

So while the U.S. Fifth Fleet is anchored at Manama, the Iranian 18th Fleet is anchored at Jeddah, Saudi Arabia. And since when do the Saudis allow the Iranian navy to anchor at the port of Jeddah? Or is their hostility is confined to the Gulf and Lebanon and Syria?
Cheers
mhg


[email protected]

Iran, Israel, Middle East Nuclear, U.S. Politics, US Foreign Policy, War on Iran

Cacophony of War: Iranian Generals, Israeli Generals, American Generals, and Alfred E. Neuman……..

   Rattlesnake Ridge   Follow ArabiaDeserta on Twitter   

 
           
                                                  
BFF                                  Alfred E Neuman


“In a ceremony on Saturday, the production line of a new domestically manufactured naval missile system, named the Zafar (Victory), was officially launched and the first batch of the missile system was delivered to the Islamic Revolution Guards Corps Naval Force…”

“The ground troops of the Islamic Revolution Guards Corps (IRGC) started the war games, entitled Supporters of Velayat, in south Iran on Saturday. IRGC Ground Forces Commander Mohammad Pakpour said on Saturday that the maneuvers are part of a series of professional drills by the forces under his command. The war games will put on display part of the capabilities of the ground forces in the face of threats against Iran, …..”
 
“Israeli general Joe Schmo stated that Iran has all she needs to build a nuclear weapon.”
 
“Israeli former chief dogcatcher insisted that Iran is still three years away from…..”

“Former editor in Chief of Mad War magazine quoted the Vice President of the Academy that all options are on the table as far as who will win the Oscar for best director…..”

“General Alfred E. Neuman, former chief o the Cuckoo’s Nest Brigade, stated that a war can be devastating ……”

Three things are becoming tedious and boring, and they go on day after day, week after week:

  • One is the stream of Iranian announcements of new weapons developed, new weapons tested, and new military exercises in the Gulf. We can add to them reports of Iranian space projects and drones. Much of it is aimed at deterring a Western war of aggression.
  • The other one is the incessant statements and counter statements by Israeli generals and politicians and the same by American politicians and generals about Iranian nuclear progress and when and how and if they will attack Iran. These are all over the place, often contradictory, always confusing: none of them clarifies anything for the average person. None of them clarifies anything for the non-average person.
  • These statements are either meant to confuse the average person or those who issue them don’t know what the fuck is going on.

Cheers
mhg


[email protected]