Category Archives: US Foreign Policy

Iran, Israel, US Foreign Policy

Kerry and Hagel on Rouhani (and Netanyahu)………

      

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“Rapprochement with Iran won’t come at the expense of Israel’s security or its relationship with the United States, top Obama administration officials said Thursday, but they added that it would be “diplomatic malpractice” not to explore whether Iran’s nuclear program can be defused peacefully. The forceful defense of engagement made by Defense Secretary Chuck Hagel and Secretary of State John F. Kerry during a visit here with their Japanese counterparts was the first high-level U.S. answer to a blistering rebuke delivered Tuesday by Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu. The Israeli leader warned that the West is being fooled by the new, friendlier face of Iranian leadership that is being offered by President Hassan Rouhani……………..”

My slightly eccentric but insightful source tells me that, privately, Kerry has added that: “It is enough that we get so much bullshit from the likes of Netanyahu and we have to take it all with a smile. Now we will not take the same type of BS from Rouhani”.
For his part, Hagel is reported to have mused: “Besides, how many lobbyists does Rouhani have in Washington, New York, and Hollywood?”

Cheers
mhg

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Ali Khamenei, Iran, nuclear Iran, U.S. Congress, US Foreign Policy

Mission Accomplished? the Ayatollah and the American Election Cycles……

      

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“We support the movement in government’s diplomacy, including the New
York visit, since we hold trust in the … government and we are
optimistic about it, but some of what happened in the New York visit
were not proper because we believe the US administration is
untrustworthy, conceited, illogical and unfaithful to its pledges,” Ayatollah Khamenei said………”

Khamenei seems here to be eager for a nuclear deal, but he seems to be warning his people of the pitfalls of high expectations. Or perhaps he is also warning the American side of the pitfalls of declaring: “Mission Accomplished“.
No doubt Khamenei has been following the Iran “debate” in the United States. No doubt he knows that it is controlled by long-term forces as well as by short-term election cycles. No doubt he, a speaker and reader of at least three languages, is aware of the current U.S. election cycle of 2014 and how it overlaps the next election cycle of 2016. No doubt he knows there is a very narrow window for diplomacy in the middle of this continuous election posturing and white noise. No doubt he is aware of the jingoist strain in the U.S. Congress that has been revived in recent years. No doubt he has serious doubts and misgivings about the chances of a deal that is acceptable to “all” sides, and I mean “all” sides including those not present at the table.
On the other hand, most American leaders and politicians feel the same way, even worse, about their Iranian counterparts. A small world, no?


Cheers
mhg

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Iran, nuclear Iran, U.S. Congress, US Foreign Policy

US Congress and Iran: Is it Only the Nuclear Issue? Sanctions and Flags……..

      

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“However, the vast network of overlapping US sanctions, which have built up over three decades, cannot be easily unpicked by the Obama administration without the support of both houses of Congress. “If – and it is a big ‘if’ – the president needs to use an easing of sanctions to provide incentive to the Iranians, or to acknowledge a gesture on their part, our feeling is: it will be very difficult for the administration to deliver that,” one senior European diplomat said. Hawks in the House of Representatives in particular are in no mood to compromise. Two months ago, with bipartisan support, the House passed a bill to tighten the economic noose on Iran. The Guardian has obtained a copy of a second draft bill that goes further: approving the use of military force to deter Iran from developing nuclear weapons. The bill states that the US would be “wholly capable, willing and ready to use military force to prevent Iran from obtaining or developing a nuclear weapons capability” ……………”

It is also clear that both sides, in Tehran and Washington, have more than their fair share of crazies disguised as old-fashioned hawks. Right now the American crazies in Congress are making much more hostile noise and serious harm than their Iranian counterparts, mainly on behalf of their Likud allies in Israel. But there will be some fireworks in Tehran as well.
I have some strong doubts if many of the crazies in the US Congress would be content with a nuclear deal with Iran. I suspect, nay I know, that many of them want something beyond that complex nuclear deal, something that is probably not do-able.

On the other hand, the Iranian conservatives have their own extremist wackos who stupidly chant after every Friday prayers “Marg Bar Amrika = Death to America” and some of them occasionally desecrate Old Glory (no, they don’t call it that). They have been doing it for so many years, one would think it is second nature to the more extremists among the mullahs and their followers. Something I know most of their people disagree with.

Cheers
mhg

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Arab Revolutions, Syria, US Foreign Policy

General Dempsey and the War Experts: Swedes to Liberate Syria.…………

      

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“Several international defense experts said that a recent letter from America’s top military leader about the war in Syria revealed a “great power” weary of conflict, cautious on spending and hesitant about overseas engagements. “Very risk averse” is how Magnus Ranstorp, a security expert at the Swedish National Defence College, described the recent letter to Congress from Gen. Martin Dempsey, the chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, in which he laid out the U.S. options on Syria. “This letter reflects the dilemma the United States is facing,” Ranstorp said. “After a decade of military action, the American military knows well that it can be no more than part of a real solution.”………..”

It seems easy for others, for example some Swede, to call Dempsey “very risk averse”. I don’t see his country gung-ho on fighting in Syria. Ditto for other European hawks: they are happy to see American boys and girls go to war while they cheer over their glass of claret or aquavit or stein of beer. They like wars once-removed: the British and French governments were the most eager to have the European Union lift its arms embargo for Syrian rebels, yet now they refuse to supply arms because they have discovered that the rebels who really count are Salafi Jihadis.
FYI: low cost is not a normal justification for going to war, otherwise everybody would be invading Monaco and the Comoros. So why not let Saudi Arabia, the UAE, and Sweden fight in Syria?

Cheers
mhg

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Iran, Israel, U.S. Congress, US Foreign Policy

Lieberman Pushes Israeli War Agenda from Outside the US Senate…………

      

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“While the tumultuous events in Egypt and Syria have focused the public’s attention on civil strife in those countries, Iran remains the biggest threat to the United States in the Mideast, says former Connecticut Sen. Joe Lieberman. “The most dangerous challenge to U.S. national security brewing in the region continues to be the Iranian regime’s pursuit of a nuclear-weapons capability,” Lieberman, who served in the Senate as both a Democrat and an independent, writes in The Wall Street Journal. The most important recent development in Iran is last month’s election of Hasan Rouhani as president and reaction to that result has generally been divided in two ways, says Lieberman, now senior counsel at the law firm……………….”

Good old Joe Lieberman. There was a time in 2000 when I thought Al Gore’s best and boldest move was to choose Joe as his running mate. The man who later in 2008 worked so hard to get Sarah Palin elected vice president of the United States. Lucky the American people were smarter than he was. Joe who single-handed screwed up Mr. Obama’s original Healthcare plan. He spent the last few years of his Senate tenure pushing for new Middle East wars, pushing for new and improved American wars on more Arab and Muslim lands. He made sure before he left the senate that the American sanctions, the blockade, against Iran are so water tight they can never be removed without congressional approval, meaning they can never be removed without Israeli approval.
Like Tony Blair, Joe occasionally crawls out of whatever rock he is under, to push for his favorite next war.

Cheers
mhg

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Arab Revolutions, Egypt, Iran, US Foreign Policy

Tale of Two Military Coups: Where is Morsi? Where is Mossadeq?……….

      

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August 1953. A military coup was staged in Iran against elected prime minister Dr. Mohammed Mossadeq. The coup was engineered and plotted by the CIA and British MI6. It also started with protests and riots on the street, all paid for by the two major Western powers of that time. The Issues? Mossadeq had rightly nationalized Anglo-Iranian Oil Company (later became NIOC and British Petroleum BP). The British Empire wanted him punished for nationalizing Iranian oil, and the American cousins were convinced by the Brits that Mossadeq was some secret communist. That was the basis for Operation Ajax (the American name for it). How stupid can you get? The Shah had flown to Rome before the coup, as part of the plot. Later the Shah’s daughter Princess Shahnaz (his daughter from Egyptian Princess Fawzia) was reportedly married to the son of General Zahedi who led the coup. Mossadeq was arrested, jailed, then spent the rest of his life under house arrest.
July 2013. Now in Egypt. It is not the CIA or MI6 anymore that buys or tries to buy the military. The petroleum potentates of the Persian Gulf are richer than the CIA and MI6 combined, in terms of free resources that do not require budgetary approval. The ruling families of Saudi Arabia and the United Arab Emirates have deep pockets. They tried early to buy the Egyptian revolution of 2011 by offering billions of dollars in aid. When the elections went ahead and the Muslim Brotherhood (M won, the aid money never showed up.
Now the military coup staged by the remnants of the Mubarak regime (his feloul) gives the shaikhs and princes another chance at Egypt. The feloul that staged or helped the coup in Egypt are: (1) the military of Mubarak led by General Sisi, (2) the court system of Mubarak’s appointees, (3) Al Azhar led and staffed by Mubarak appointees, and (4) the formidable government bureaucracy staffed for 30 years by Mubarak. The MB had no chance. Two other groups aided and abetted: (a) the liberal secularists of Tamarod and (b) the Coptic Church leadership. But these two groups will most likely be left out of real influence in favor of the Salafists who opportunistically betrayed their MB allies and joined the coup-makers. Morsi, like Mossadeq is in prison and may his enemies no doubt wish for him to spend the rest of his life under house arrest.
Egypt did not have a shah to return to power. It has the military which has been in power for decades. The military has asserted its role as the supreme leader of Egypt. Whoever is elected will be second or third banana. End of the story? Unlikely, given the political base of the Islamists in Egypt. I can only see turmoil and trouble in the months ahead.

Cheers
mhg

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Arab Revolutions, Britain, Tony Blair, US Foreign Policy

Deep Throat: Tony Blair to Parachute Behind Enemy Lines in Syria and Iran, Not in Fallujah or Baghdad………….

      

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Against popular demand, at least my popular demand, Tony Blair refuses to just vanish. Once in a while he crawls out of whatever rock he happens to be under and makes some stupid policy recommendation.
Now he has called for the Western powers to support the Egyptian military grab of power in Cairo, elections be damned. He has also called, again and again, for Western intervention in the Syrian civil war, starting with a no-fly zone. The goal being to liberate one side of Syria, just as they liberated Iraq and Libya. Before that he has repeatedly called for a new Anglo-American war in the Middle East, against Iran. The goal being to liberate Iranians from their regime and from themselves. No mention of liberating Saudi Arabia or Bahrain or the domains of any of his Central Asian paymasters.
My mysterious source, wherever the hell Tony is hiding, tells me that Tony was offered the option of being dropped by parachute behind Syrian regime lines, behind enemy lines, to soften them up. She reports that he has declined, claiming that the oil potentates who keep him may not be agreeable to that. Besides, he claims he speaks neither Arabic nor Persian, which is odd given how much he opines on our countries and on what we really want, or should want.
She, my source whom I shall never call Deep Throat, also tells me that some wags have suggested that as an alternative, Tony be dropped inside Fallujah or Sadr City in Iraq, well behind liberated enemy lines. They said he ought to feel fine and comfy among the people that he has helped liberate. She claims Tony has not responded yet to this latest reasonable proposal.

Cheers
mhg

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Arab Revolutions, Iran, Syria, US Foreign Policy

Ten Years of Syria? Ten Years of Lebanon? Ten Years of Iran? a War in Europe?………….

      

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“The United States faces “a 10-year issue” in Syria as it weighs how deeply it wants to get involved the country’s civil war, the top U.S. military officer warned in an interview that aired Sunday. Army Gen. Martin Dempsey told CNN’s State of the Union that the conflict is entwined in a regional issue that is now spilling over into both Lebanon and Iraq, and those underlying causes “will persist for 10 years.” “It is related — not exclusively — but related to a competition at best and a conflict at worse between the Sunni and Shia sects of Islam………………”

Ten years of Syria, ten years of Lebanon. Does that mean Syria and Lebanon will replace Iraq and Afghanistan as the battlefields of the coming generation? The next mandatory acceptable war in Muslim lands? What about the war on Iran? Will it come after Lebanon and Syria or will it be waged during the same ten years?
Can you please please find some other region to devastate for a change? How about Europe? Europeans are responsible for all this mess, from way back during their empire days. Until the end of WW II. Start anew war in Europe for a change.

Cheers
mhg

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Arab Revolutions, Hezbollah, Lebanon, Syria, US Foreign Policy

Syrian FSA On a Hot Streak: Accuses Hezbollah of Using Chemical & Nuclear Weapons…………

      

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“The major organization of Syrian rebels, the Free Syrian Army, announced Wednesday that forces affiliated with Bashar Assad’s regime and Hezbollah fighters employed chemical weapons in battles at the outskirts of Damascus, according to Alarabiya network. Assad’s forces are continuing to shell a number of towns and areas within Syria using a range of munitions, especially chemical warfare which, this time around, hit the town of Zamalka, outside of Damascus………………”

The Free Syrian Salafi Army (FSA) must have gotten its hands on a cache of chemical weapons, and they have been putting it to good use. John McCain may believe them again, may have suggested to the FSA to try this method again to get the Obama administration to invade Lebanon as well as Syria. After all, the same WMD “evidence” cooked up between the FSA, France, and Britain got a nervous Obama to put one foot through the Syrian door. It might work in Lebanon as well, since the Saudi-funded Salafi proxies don’t seem to be getting much traction in Beirut so far.
 
Now the FSA, while on a hot streak, can be bold enough to go for the gold: they can claim that they have evidence of Iranian use of nuclear weapons in Syria. If the Western due diligence of the Sarin claim is any indication, it just might work. McCain and much of the mainstream media will back them up, especially if M. Hollande and Mr. Cameron vouch for the veracity of it, as they would. Tony Blair might also poke his head out out to help. The public in the West will hear a lot of talk, media noise, about “nuclear” and “Hezbollah” and will put the two together so that 1+1=5, with a little help from the media. Then we’d all have a beautiful expanded war.
Yeeehaawwww……. (that was Mr. McCain yelling, not me)
Cheers
mhg

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Culture, Muslims, Syria, US Congress, US Foreign Policy

Abbatoirs of Abu Dhabi in Ramadan, US Senate Waging More Muslim Wars by Christmas………

      

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“Preparations for Ramadan and Eid are in full swing at slaughterhouses, which experience a huge increase in business during the month. “This Ramadan more than 60,000 cattle are expected to be slaughtered during the month,” said Mohammed Al Marzouqi, slaughterhouse section head at Abu Dhabi Municipality. “Normally we slaughter about 40,000 a month at the five abattoirs in Abu Dhabi.” Staff are not allowed to take leave for the month and extra hands will be hired, with the number of butchers increasing by 20 per cent and cleaners by 30 per cent. There will be 75 butchers working in Abu Dhabi and Baniyas, and 40 in Shahama and Al Wathba. The automated slaughterhouse will have 45 butchers………………”

So, they hire extra staff in Abu Dhabi for the ‘fasting’ month of Ramadan to prepare more food. In case you were unaware: much more food is consumed during the fasting month of Ramadan than at any other time. Before you heathen kuffar gloat: what is the least spiritual season in Christendom? Yep: Christmas, and it is all downhill from there.
Increased seasonal employment: you’d think it was Macy’s at Christmas. Or Burgundy during the fall harvest season. Or Quetta during the high terrorist bombing season, wtf that be. Or Saudi Arabia during the season when they need more sword sharpeners, or Iran during the peak hanging season.
Or, a better example, the US Senate during warmongering season, as they orate themselves into a frenzy before embarking on another of their unholy wars against another hapless Muslim country. It is expected now: they talk themselves into a frenzy during summer and early fall, with the numbed media playing along, and strike between late fall or spring. (Afghanistan, Iraq, Libya, Pakistan, Yemen, and Mali are history. Syria is already baking in the oven nicely, tyvm. Iran, the Mother of All Wars, may be saved for next year, after the devil that was Ahmadinejad is transformed through the magic of the mass numbing media into Rouhani).

Cheers
mhg

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