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Mahalo to Medea Benjamin, for that RT interview and all of Code Pink’s efforts, along with these brave souls…!
Americans protest against AIPAC
Now, lest you thought the US Military was averse to starting a war with Iran…
Top US commander: Iran sanctions not working
Head of US Central Command says diplomatic efforts against Islamic Republic are useless, but it’s not too late to bring Iran ‘to its senses’…
Top US commander in the Middle East, General James Mattis, said the current sanctions and diplomatic efforts to stop Iran from gaining nuclear capabilities are not working. He said Tehran has a history of denial and deceit and is enriching uranium beyond any plausible peaceful purpose…
That’s absolute Bullsh*t…! But wait, there’s more BS Mattis…
U.S. efforts on Iran not working, Syria planning underway: Mattis
…A top U.S. general said on Tuesday that American efforts aimed at preventing Iran from obtaining a nuclear weapon were not working, even as he voiced support for crippling sanctions and diplomatic efforts aimed at isolating the Islamic state.
“I still support the direction we’re taking. I’m just paid to take a rather dim view of the Iranians, frankly,” General James Mattis, the head of the U.S. military’s Central Command, told a Senate hearing…
A Freudian slip, perhaps…? To be sure… “Iran remains the single-most significant regional threat to stability and prosperity.”
Anyways, if you’re not pissed off enough… In Qatar today, SoS Kerry confirmed the blatantly obvious… ‘US now openly supports Syria militants’
Now, getting back to the Pentagon, I was truly flabbergasted by this Lovefest…
Chuck Hagel meets Ehud Barak (and wants to make sure the Israel lobby knows it)
New U.S. Secretary of Defense Chuck Hagel hosted Defense Minister Ehud Barak at the Pentagon on Tuesday, making a special effort to express warmth and friendliness toward his Israeli counterpart during their first meeting together since the prior assumed office.
Hagel assured Barak during their meeting that he was committed to the security of Israel and of preserving the Israel Defense Forces’ qualitative advantage over the armies of the Arab world. He also said that he would work to ensure that U.S. funding toward Israel, particularly with regard to its defense systems, would continue “despite fiscal uncertainty.”
Where’s all that “I’m not Israel’s Tool Senator” rhetoric now…? *sigh*
Now, in closing on a humorous note, Phil and Annie, at Mondoweiss, wrote a great post on Stephen Colbert and the real Israeli tool, Michael Oren… Did Oren’s iron dome of affability stop Colbert’s brilliant strikes?
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Didn’t know that Zombie Kissinger had weighed in at Davos. A friend emailed me this today.
Still can’t see that anyone would attack Iran’s nuclear sites; not only would WW III be unleashed, but who knows how the hell much radiation might be unleashed by bunker-busters?
Just for an antidote, dear Desmond Tutu yesterday called for complete global nuclear disarmament.
Ooh, I should’ve mentioned that Zombie infestation in Davos, mahalo, wendy, for linking it…! I swear that we truly need to listen to Our Elders…! ;-)
The opinion of my late father (a Kefauver Democrat) was that giving Henry Kissinge the Nobel Peace Prize was like giving it to Adolph Hitler.
Just thought I’d throw that in.
*heh* I wonder what he would’ve thought about Oily Bomber’s premature Nobel Prize, EF…? ;-)
He would be scandalized, CTut, but at least in part because that side of my family leaned markedly toward racism.
Mahalo nui loa, for frontpaging it, FDL…! ;-)
Dang, I swear I can kill a thread, quicker than one can blink…! *sigh*
Tom Lehrer, a brilliant satirist and a math teacher of mine, cited the Kissinger Peace Prize as the reason he got out of the satire business… “Couldn’t beat that…” I think was how he put it.
Honestly, folks, we’ve never been honest in our dealings…!
Nuclear Diplomacy with Iran…
…Among other points, he critiqued the Obama administration’s “dual-track” approach as
“internally contradictory and ultimately counterproductive. You don’t need sanctions to get Iran to the table. Iran has been prepared to negotiate about its nuclear activities for a decade; it even suspended uranium enrichment for nearly two years as part of that process, and from its perspective got nothing in terms of U.S. recognition of its right to safeguarded enrichment or even its legitimate security interests. It’s still prepared to negotiate, and seriously, but it insists that any deal has to be predicated on acknowledgement of its nuclear rights, including safeguarded enrichment. That’s something that the United States has never been and is still not willing to give—and until that changes, you’re not going to get a positive result.
And sanctions won’t help you close that gap…I was just in Iran in December, a little over two months ago. No one who has been in Iran recently could possibly think that sanctions, even with the real hardships they’re causing, will prompt either the Islamic Republic’s implosion or its surrender to U.S. demands in the nuclear talks. That is just detached from reality.”
C’mon folks…!
… “Couldn’t beat that…” *heh* No doubt, Scarlet…! ;-)
Btw, Scarlet, how goes the meme contest…? ;-)
Anyone get the feeling we saw this dance once before and we know what comes next? Wonder if Kerry will speak before the UN?
odd isn’t it? One part of my family was equally biased but believe it or not, outside of that they were solid FDR democrats. My granddad would tear you a new one if you said anything bad about him. Another time, another place.
congrats tut — tweeted and recommended
Mahalo, Suz…! Made my day…! ;-)
I’ve been steadily blogging since ‘Shock and Awe’ first struck, and, it’s truly Déjà vu, a phrase that I happen to use in many a title these daze…! 8-(
Thank you CTuttle and FDL for posting this article. I was impressed with Hagel’s previous comments some years ago about the Jewish or Israel Lobby’s meddling in U.S. foreign policy, and that he was not a senator of/from Israel and represented U.S. interests first. Quite the contrarian on that account; almost a “maverick”. However, it appears that the non-existent Israel Lobby, fronted in the senate by Miss Lindsey Graham and John McCain worked their magic on behalf of the Israeli war-pigs/AIPAC (and armament manufacturers) nonetheless. Now Hagel appears to be on-board and in bed with the bend-over for Bibi suck-club. It is heartening though, that our Nobel Peace Prize president is tightening the screws on the Iranian people with even more stringent sanctions. Let’s see how long they can last without medication and food. Sorry ’bout that, moms & toddlers and old people; maybe the rest of you too. It’s for your own good, as hard as it might be on your everyday life presently. Iranians should have chosen a better leader for their country, like we did here. Would they rather get bombed with some of the bunker-buster bombs we’ve given Israel?
Eggs-actly, PillBilly…! Well said, despite omitting the necessary snark tag…! ;-)
So the root question here is just this: Is it necessary to stop Iran from acquiring nuclear weapons or is it not?
Well, first of all Iran has no intent to acquire the ‘bomb’, and, in fact, the Supreme Leader has issued several fatwas against it specifically…! It’s time to realize the basic fact that not only is Israel rapidly losing face internationally, but, our own blind allegience to Israel, is also sucking us into that international blackhole…! 8-(
OK I can accept that. It says to me it is ok for Iran to get the bomb, since there may be no way to know until they explode one.
Israel is the prime mover of hysteria about this. They are likely to draw us into a war, but I sure hope not. Endless war must end.
…since there may be no way to know until they explode one…
*heh* If the IAEA doesn’t catch the diversion of enough fissile material, to even make one…! They’d certainly notice any first ‘tests’…! ;-)
Hi CTutt,
Just checking in to say how much I appreciate your posts.
Just so that I can say something, I would question “our own blind allegiance…” I am not part of the “our” populace, and neither are you.
One of my dearest friends and best mentor, alas gone, but a fighter for human rights, was young when his family left Germany during the rise of Hitler. They left before they had to “escape”.
And, long ago he expressed the opinion that various tactics by Israeli govt, esp re: long ago attack on Lebanon, exactly mirrored what Nazis did to the Jews WWII.
That one is tough to accept. You want to trust an agency to find it? And if they do, war? It means hysteria goes on indefinitely just like now.
Societal ADD, anyone else notice how we’ve been told of the danger of Iran’s ‘bomb’ being 10 minutes away for the last 25 years?
Aloha, VG…! It’s been like forevah since I last saw your fonts, M’dear…! *g*
You have a way of getting me to comment.
So, what about the “our” thing? Just trying to snare you into conversation on that one. “g”
Iran has allowed the most intrusive IAEA inspection regime in it’s history, an active prescence that is only succeeded, in scope and size, by their hunt for WMDs, right after ‘Shock and Awe’…!
Now that I’ve watched the Colbert segment, I feel even worse how, in the end, they just yuck-it-up and act like whatever Israel fears should be our fear also. According to Israeli ambassador to U.S. Michael Oren “no country has a greater interest than Israel, in resolving the Iranian nuclear threat through diplomatic means. The Iranian leaders are every week threatening to wipe us off the map if they get these nuclear weapons. None of the options is containment with an Iranian nuclear weapon.”
That sounds pretty reasonable, for a well-dressed paranoid sociopath whom implies at every chance that the U.S. should wipe Iran off the map (on behalf of Israel). In all of his well-rehearsed presentation, the ambassador (Colbert dares not challenge) assumes that Iran’s sole intent with nuclear research is to decimate Israel. The discussion doesn’t even rise to a level that considers deterrents that kept the U.S. and Russia from nuking each other. At least Colbert did present a graph showing how U.S. aid has gone up about 40% in five years to over $3 Billion yearly. That’s 8 million dollars a day we should be using here for social/civil infrastructure, for example. Or were I selfish, geezer-care.
Good interview on AIPAC meeting, Israeli election.
(If you’re around this morning)
There’s a new book out, Fear itself, by Ira Katznelson, one of whose theses according to WaPo’s review was that FDR only got the New Deal through by assuring the southern racists in Congress that its benefits would not go to blacks.
And there’s this:
http://archive.adl.org/main_International_Affairs/ahmadinejad_words.htm?Multi_page_sections=sHeading_2
The sensible thing for the Iranians to do would be to achieve breakout capacity. I suspect that this is what they are now being driven to attempt. Mr. Tuttle I travel regularly to Qom for my studies. If you think we Irakis hate America and Americans it is nothing compared to what the Iranians feel about you. The only way you Americans are going to stop the Iranians doing what they have every right to do is to invade and occupy the country in its entirety. There is quite a large part of me that hopes you Americans are sufficiently idiotic to do so, I already know from direct personal experience that the people of the USA and their government are vicious and depraved enough to do so. But I find it difficult to believe they are idiotic enough.
Mohammed Ibn Laith