Category Archives: War on Iran

Iran, Israel, Muslims, NATO, Persian-American Gulf, Racism, U.S. Politics, US Foreign Policy, War on Iran

Kipling on My Gulf: Native Rights, White Man Rights, Muslim Rights, NATO Rights…………

   

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 “Take up the White Man’s burden
Send forth the best ye breed—
Go send your sons to exile
To serve your captives’ need
To wait in heavy harness
On fluttered folk and wild—
Your new-caught, sullen peoples,
Half devil and half child
Take up the White Man’s burden
In patience to abide
To veil the threat of terror……..” Rudyard Kipling (White Man’s Burden)

When Israelis threaten Iran with a preemptive attack, unprovoked, the West takes it for granted: oh well, boys will be boys, as long as they are white boys. Western media like CNN immediately spin it as self-defense.

When Iran “threatens” to defend herself, the West acts shocked, calling for more sanctions, choking off the economy, leaving “all options” on the table until after the 2012 elections (after the American November elections not after the Iranian March elections; definitely not after the Saudi elections for that would be just after hell freezes over which would be no time for a war).

Western (and Saudi media) continue to call the Iranian presence in our region a “threat”. Iranian warships in their own neighborhood in the Gulf are called a danger, while “foreign” Western warships from ten thousand kilometers away, practically clogging the Gulf, are not a “danger”. Now, where else can the Iranian navy go? After all it is the “Persian” Gulf according to the UN resolutions (okay, Persian-American Gulf now). It is jointly “owned” solely by Iranians and Arabs and by nobody else. Yet Israeli and Western leaders and assorted political climbers continue to threaten to bomb Iran for just ‘being there’, or for looking sideways at Netantyahu.
Such threats are considered a right, an entitlement of the “white” man, something God-given. Even Ban-Ki Moon (Mooney) agrees with that, although not in so many words. Moony does want to be re-elected for another term and he knows the history of Butrus Ghali (Egypt) and Kofi Annan (Ghana).
Even the Wahhabi Salafis agree on that last point, the one of going to war against Iran for looking sideways at Benjamin Netabyahu. They also agree with Rick Santorum and the other GOP clowns about the necessity of another war in the Gulf. As long as they don’t have to fight it (with three or four wives, one has no time for war). They pray for it to some Salafi God of their own, as their royal princes pray for rain, even as they curse the Gods of their “heathen” benefactors whom they want to wage war “on their behalf”.

Who would have thunk life would get so complicated in our region in just a few years.
Cheers
mhg


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Iran, Israel, US Foreign Policy, War on Iran

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

     

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“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


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

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

 

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“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


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

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

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“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


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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………

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                                           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




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

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

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“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


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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……..

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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


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Iran, Israel, US Foreign Policy, War on Iran

The Split Personality of Leon Panetta: Driving the Iranian Mullahs Crazy………

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“Defense Secretary Leon E. Panetta is one of several administration officials to express concern publicly that Israel is positioning itself for a surprise attack. Last month, the administration dispatched the Joint Chiefs chairman, Gen. Martin E. Dempsey, to the Israeli capital for high-level discussions about the possibility of a unilateral Israeli strike. “Israel has indicated they’re considering this, and we have indicated our concerns,” Panetta told reporters Thursday after a NATO meeting in Brussels. Panetta declined to comment on published reports that he thinks the Israelis could carry out a strike this spring, possibly as early as April…………”

 

“US Defense Secretary Leon Panetta believes there is a “strong likelihood” that Israel will strike Iran’s nuclear installations this spring, the Washington Post said Thursday in an editorial. When asked about the opinion piece by reporters travelling with him to a NATO meeting in Brussels, Panetta brushed it aside…………”


I wonder if the Iranian leaders are as befuddled, as lost in this fog of war and no war, of good cop and bad cop. Their heads must be spinning from all the conflicting statements form American and Israeli officials, named and anonymous. It has become like a war of wits and nerves, similar to the one that preceded the invasion of Nazi Europe at Normandy in 1944.
If Israel starts a war, the United States will get involved: what else can Obama do in an election years with the American Likud Party (GOP) hounding him? Some Arab countries will also have to get involved on the Israeli side: otherwise how can Israeli bombers reach Iranian territory? The most like candidate would be Saudi Arabia, whose semi-official media have been preparing their people for this with years of sectarian propaganda. Pro-Saudi media on the Gulf have also been opining that Iran is more dangerous than Israel as an enemy, for now. Neither Iraq nor Turkey will allow over-flights, if they can help it.
Of course they can be just applying the advice given by Tom Friedman a couple of years ago: make the Iranians think that they will be attacked if they don’t obey, then they will obey. It hasn’t worked yet, and unlikely to do so nay time soon. Or maybe it is just part of a process of desensitization of public opinion, such as it is, for another war.
Cheers
mhg


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Iran, OPEC, Sanctions, Saudi Arabia, US Foreign Policy, War on Iran

Algeria Refuses to Help Blockade of Iran, Saudis Pissed……….

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“Algeria said Thursday it will not boost crude oil exports in the event Iran suddenly cuts supplies to Europe after the EU imposed new sanctions on Tehran over its nuclear drive. “We have a programme in place that won’t be modified,” Energy Minister Youcef Yousfi told Algerian news service APS. EU foreign ministers agreed Monday on an immediate ban on oil imports and a phase-out of existing contracts up to July 1, as the West ramped up the pressure over Tehran’s nuclear activities and urged it to return to talks. However, Iran’s parliament is expected to consider next week a bill to ban oil exports to Europe much sooner, a move that could potentially raise prices………”

An article in the Saudi daily al-Hayat (owned by prince Khaled Bin Sultan) called Algeria a shumooliyya “totalitarian” state yesterday. That was the first time they call any Arab regime other than Libya and Syria by that epithet. They don’t do that unless they have a royal or princely green light, as part of state policy. I am not sure if this is related to the refusal of Algeria to join the Western blockade against Iran (unlike the Saudis). Yet it probably is: for a Saudi newspaper owned by a prince (they are all owned by princes or their retainers) to call anyone (bar none, well, maybe except North Korea) a “totalitarian” and undemocratic regime is a stretch. After all, this is the Absolute Tribal Polygamous Democratic People’s Kingdom of (Saudi) Arabia.
Cheers
mhg


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CIA, Iran, Islamophobia, MEK, Mujahideen Khalq, Muslims, War on Iran

James Woolsey, a Muslim Adolf Hitler, and Bombing Bill Clinton……….

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“The United States should consider military strikes against not just Iran’s nuclear sites but the entire Iranian Revolutionary Guard infrastructure, argued former CIA director James Woolsey in a radio interview today. Comparing the Guards to Adolph Hitler’s blackshirts, Woolsey named several “fair game” Guard-related targets, including Iran’s space program, ballistic missile program, training facilities and the Guard’s substantial commercial interesta………. The ex-CIA director said the U.S. should consider these military options if Iran blocks the strategic Strait of Hormuz waterway or takes other significant aggressive action…………..”

I know someone is not worth taking seriously when they start comparing others to “Adolf Hitler” and his murderous groups. It is perceived as an easy and cheap way to make a point, except that it doesn’t. Idiotic and dishonest politicians use it a lot. They always compare some Arab or Muslim to Hitler, never a European (not even a fucking German or Austrian), never even an Asian or African. One has to be a Muslim Middle East leader to be compared to Hitler. Now, how stupid is that?


Mr. Woolsey has been advocating a new Middle East war ever since he started showing up on Fox News a few years ago, even at the peak of the war in Iraq. He never volunteers to join, though: they never do, these fattened and comfortable warmongers.
James Woolsey was director of the CIA under Bill Clinton, but briefly. Apparently Clinton was not impressed with Woolsey and stopped seeing him (or maybe he was too boring, probably both). Media reports said (alleged) that he tried desperately to make appointments with the president and that Clinton just refused to see him. There is a famous case in 1994 of a lone pilot who circled the White House and crash landed his airplane on its South Lawn. Some media reports initially claimed it was CIA chief James Woolsey, desperately trying to see Bill Clinton who still refused to grant him an audience.

Cheers
mhg


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