Israel is showing its true colors by talking about a strike on Iran now. Iranians are finally growing the backbone to stand up to this hollow regime, the instant Israel or the US suggests that they will attack Iran, the sooner will Iranians regroup behind the existing regime.
Israel and the US talk a lot about democracies, but Israel is as much of a democracy as Iran is, and hearing Joe Biden reinforce Israel’s potential follies suggest that they need a bogeyman in Iran.
There is so much propaganda on all sides it’s offensive, from The Times of London:
Recent developments have underscored concerns among moderate Sunni Arab states about the stability of the repressive Shi’ite regime in Tehran and have increased fears that it may emerge as a belligerent nuclear power.
Moderate Sunni Arab states? Which one? Saudi Arabia? That’s who they are talking about… Saudi Arabia isn’t moderate by any stretch of the imagination… but I digress.
From The Nation:
Myth 1. It’s a dangerous world. We face an array of serious national security threats that require an experienced Commander in Chief.
Myth 2. The surge has worked. To withdraw from Iraq now would snatch defeat from the jaws of victory and embolden Islamic extremists.
Myth 3. We cannot allow Afghanistan to become a safe haven for terrorists. We therefore must redouble our military efforts there or face another terrorist attack.
Myth 4. Iran is responsible for much of the violence against US forces in Iraq; by using its proxies in Lebanon and Gaza, it threatens to dominate the Middle East.
Myth 5. To talk to the leaders of “rogue” states like Iran and Cuba without conditions legitimizes their position and weakens American leverage.
Myth 6. Vladimir Putin’s Russia is an authoritarian state pursuing an anti-American agenda aimed at reconstituting the Soviet Union in the form of a new Russian empire.
Myth 7. Because the American military is stretched thin by the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan, we must increase the size of our conventional armed forces.
Myth 8. A League of Democracies would create a global coalition for peace and freedom and would enable the United States and its democratic allies to intervene to solve humanitarian and other crises when the UN Security Council is paralyzed.
Myth 9. Globalization has strengthened the economy, and we cannot avoid it by hiding behind protectionist walls.
Myth 10. The world needs American leadership.
Interesting myths, no? To find out more about why they are myths, click and read The Nation:
A Saudi blogger has made a short video featuring alleged Christian extremists preaching violence and a Bible passage calling for war, in response to an anti-Quran film that sparked protests across the Muslim world. Read more on NYTimes.
Here’s the video, itself:
What’s interesting is that the Democrats and Republicans are running over very different stances about GWB’s legacy. Democrats say it was a disaster (it was); Republicans pretend to see it as America’s golden era, or do they believe it?
Who cares. Outsiders see it as a disaster:
Historians will argue over whether George W. Bush is the worst president the United States has ever endured. But that is not the point. Five years after Bush’s ill-starred invasion of Iraq, three years after Hurricane Katrina and seven months into the unravelling of the U.S. financial system, the point is that the 43rd president of the United States – regardless of his ranking in the pantheon – is a unique and unmitigated disaster.
Call me a cynic, but this is very ironic, on so many levels.
Lou Dobbs argues that American leaders have squandered our wealth. He’s right.
We elected these people because we let religious fanaticism blur our view. Odd, because we want to nuke people pre-emptively because their religious fanaticism blurs their judgment supposedly. That’s ironic, if you ask me.
Secondly, we were greedy to think that Iraqi oil was ours, so we sent off our troops and used our resources to win over their treasure. In turn, oil became more expensive, we borrow from foreigners and we’re indebted.
That’s the price of being evil, if you ask me.
George W. Bush and the Republicans sure like to position themselves as the tax-cutters, but in fact, America’s past 8 years have been the most taxing period ever on Americans.
Since taking office, Bush has doubled the federal debt to more than $5 trillion. And, according to US Treasury figures, on net, foreign investors have purchased close to 100% of that debt. That’s $3 trillion borrowed from the Saudis, the Chinese, the Japanese and others.
Now, Bush, our Debt Junkie-in-Chief, needs another fix. The US Treasury, Citibank, Merrill-Lynch and other financial desperados need another hand-out from Abdullah’s stash. Abdullah, in turn, gets this financial juice by pumping it out of our pockets at nearly $100 a barrel for his crude.
Bush needs the Saudis to charge us big bucks for oil. The Saudis can’t lend the US
Treasury and Citibank hundreds of billions of US dollars unless they first get these US dollars from the US. The high price of oil is, in effect, a tax levied by Bush but collected by the oil industry and the Gulf kingdoms to fund our multi-trillion dollar governmental and private debt-load.
Read more.
Related:
They blew up / shot at the would-be Prime Minister of Pakistan, Benazir Bhutto. But Pakistan is America’s ally.
Saudis meanwhile jail bloggers randomly and jail rape victims. Saudi Arabia, too, is America’s ally.
It’s nice to see America is learning lessons from its misguided role and actions as the world’s arms and weapons pimp:
A plan to sell Saudi Arabia highly accurate Boeing Co bomb-guidance kits is roiling Israel’s backers in the Congress, setting up a potential clash with President George W. Bush.
The administration could formally notify lawmakers as soon as January 15 of the possible sale to Riyadh of Joint Direct Attack Munitions, or JDAM, technology.
As many as 253 members of the 435-seat House of Representatives have signed bipartisan warnings to Bush about such a sale to Saudi Arabia, still in a formal state of war with Israel.
Read more.
American foreign policy stupidity is reaching new heights:
“This is all about Iran,” said the official, who spoke to CNN on condition of anonymity because discussions with the Saudis are still going on and the arms sale deal has not been completed.
Israel is expected to raise objections to the arms package, and has expressed concerns about previous Saudi arms deals.
The official said the Bush administration is mindful that Israel must maintain its “qualitative edge” in the region.
Besides Saudi Arabia, other countries in discussion with the United States about arms sales include the United Arab Emirates, Kuwait, Qatar, Bahrain and Oman.
One of the more controversial proposals will probably be selling the Saudis, for the first time, satellite-guided bombs known as JDAMs. The sale may include a 500-pound and a 2,000-pound version of the aerial bomb.
The Israelis are said to be very concerned about the Saudis having that precision-strike capability, so the United States will discuss basing the weapons as far away from Israel as possible, the official said.
Other elements under discussion are new naval vessels, an advanced version of air-to-air missiles already used by the United States, and advanced Patriot missiles.
From CNN. All I can say:
Idiots. All of them. The only this does is get China or Russia to sell more weapons to the Iranians and in turn make the Israelis moan and bitch some more. Long term, this just continues to make America pour taxpayers money into military arms makers and further support Israel financially, which in turn makes more Muslims angry and further divides the world. It’s a vicious cycle and everyday, regular citizens pay for it.
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