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| Syria-Lebanon-Iran | ||
| Iran prepares 'to get even' | ||
| 2006-07-31 | ||
 The head of Iran's Revolutionary Guards called on his troops on Sunday to "prepare themselves to get even" with Israel and the United States, the semi-official Fars news agency reported. "Iran's powerful Revolutionary Guards and Basij should prepare themselves to get even with Zionists and Americans," General Yahya Rahim Safavi was quoted as saying. "The
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| Posted by:Fred |
| #14 all I'm asking for is 24 hr notice so I can pull my pension funds from Janus Overseas fund and put it into a low-risk S&P 500 mutual fund - is that too much to ask? |
| Posted by: Frank G 2006-07-31 22:58 |
| #13 I've been musing in a neo-con mode. Remember how elastic our economy was following the 9/11 event? We've lost trillions of dollars. Lots of guys lost their businesses, their homes, their families. Not just the guys in the towers, little guys in towns, large and small, across the country. The big companies get the headlines, but the losses in a micro sense were brutal and amazing. And here, five years later, our national accounts are in the best shape they've been in for years. (If you don't know "current v. real dollar" analysis, please don't comment.) Trillions of lost dollars. Let us do some numbers: Per capita GDP for Iran...2392.15. Syria...1253.89 Lebanon...5689.49 Egypt... 969.58 Israel..18726.78 USA..39452.74 So why are these numbers important? The resultant post-9/11 losses were shared among 296-million people. We all suffered loss. Being middle- or upper-class economically means you may have felt it less...but not necessarily. Lots o' guys who made more money than you do had to start over. All the terrorists did was take down two towers, put a hole in the Pentagon and put a hole in Pennsylvania. The horror of possibly having lost tens of thousands of innocents galvanized the nation. The horror of losing three-thousand still motivates a lot of us. (Not to forget the thousands of military we've asked to work for us in this current war.) Here's the point. The uncertainty introduced into the political/economic system by the 9/11 event still reverberates through those systems. It's a thing called "risk". So far, through the post-9/11 period, several nations have responded to risk. 38 nations, including the USA, responded to the need to invade Iraq. There are 192 member nations in the U.N. One-fifth of the world's nations allied to invade Iraq. Britain, Poland, Japan, South Korea, effing Mongolia! These are people who understand risk. What you don't do is as important as what you do do. ( I said do-do.) (Lighten up...it's a blog) So view risk as the crucible of choice. What have we done to introduce risk into the current situation with Syria and Iran? We're a risk aversive people. That's common sense. But we're also an entrepreneurial nation. We're risk takers. We're Yankee Traders. We're Maverick. We temper the pussy risk aversive ness with common sense that with great risks come great rewards. If you've ever served on a Chamber of Commerce committee...you know about risk aversive ness. If you've ever run a company, you know about taking risks. But what risks do nations like Syria and Iran take? There are no outcomes for their behaviour. There are for Israel. Hell, they're civilized. Nobody loves being hated. Even the Jews, who have had more practice than any other race on the earth. What about Iran? Syria? Go back to the table on per capita GDP. National risk is shared risk. We lost trillions following 9/11. Where is the 9/11 for Iran and Syria? What risk are they facing? The fact that our economy rebounded as well as it does redounds to our credit. Most of what we do encourages risk taking and profit making. Is that true in Iran and Syria? What proportion of GDP is held by the upper 1-10 percent of their population? What proportion of risk will be felt by their autocrats? Unless, and until, we re-introduce risk into the current regimes of Syria and Iran we're simply a paper tiger. How much damage to the infrastructure of Syria and Iran would need to be perpetrated to reduce their economies by 10-20 percent? Given a twenty percent reduction in GDP in Iran...how much international mischief making could they afford? Have you looked at the cheap suits Bashar Assad wears? Is there a need for an invasion of Iran? Syria? I leave it to you. http://www.nationmaster.com/red/graph/eco_gdp-economy-gdp-nominal&int=-1 http://quickfacts.census.gov/qfd/states/00000.html http://www.economist.com/research/Economics/alphabetic.cfm?LETTER=R http://www.csmonitor.com/2006/0104/p03s03-usfp.html |
| Posted by: OregonGuy 2006-07-31 22:30 |
| #12 We don't need to use nukes. Quite right, SW9999. Glad to see another voice of reason hereabouts. No need to justify terrorist nuclear retaliation upon American soil. JDAMs and MOABS will do quite fine. They are merely long overdue. Like, since 1979. |
| Posted by: Zenster 2006-07-31 19:56 |
| #11 This is his moment of glory. Like a drunk in a bar trying to start a fight. Eventually we will get tired of this shit or he will actually strike and we will clean him out. Hope he's enjoying himself. I agree that we could destroy them in a few good nights of bombings but the world needs to understand with total clairity that we are done with this Islamic Jihad crap. Use conventional weapons on Teheran to eliminate their economic capabilities and nuke their military, oil, and weapons sites. Then we can be done with this crap before my son is of age and has to go fight the war we did not finish. |
| Posted by: 49 Pan 2006-07-31 14:43 |
| #10 Well, ya know, that's not too bad a ripoff on a SS uniform. |
| Posted by: SOP35/Rat 2006-07-31 11:58 |
| #9 On first glance I thought those were lightning bolts on his collar tabs, but looking closer I guess not. If they had class, they'd more closely model themselves on the Nazis - their heroes - who had the game down pat. It's probably some moronic Arab graphic nonsense like a torch or something equally unfrightening and silly. Lightning bolts, twits. You wanna be cool? Scary cool? Lightning bolts. Poseurs. Wimps. |
| Posted by: Supple Whomper9999 2006-07-31 11:08 |
| #8 I would like to call them dead. |
| Posted by: DarthVader 2006-07-31 10:35 |
| #7 Good point, Dave. Hoist on his own Petard, as they say. I like to call them "Islamic Crusaders." A touch of irony, don't you think? |
| Posted by: Bobby 2006-07-31 06:55 |
| #6 "Sacred hatred." Pretty good summary of the Religion of Peace™, I'd say. |
| Posted by: Dave D. 2006-07-31 06:18 |
| #5 You know....it's time to change the image associated with Islam. No longer shall we say "The Lions of Islam." No, there is a far more apt symbol for them. The Donkeys of Islam. Because like the Democrats, all they do is bray bray bray. |
| Posted by: Silentbrick 2006-07-31 03:50 |
| #4 We don't need to use nukes. At least not yet. We can take down Iran conventionally - and permanently as a threat when it splinters into its natural states. The payoff for doing so compounds everyday. We should, indeed, accommodate their desire for a decisive conflict. Now, please. |
| Posted by: Supple Whomper9999 2006-07-31 02:15 |
| #3 Iran prepares 'to get even' ohh boy.. I can finally git my A$$ outa this well! |
| Posted by: the Twelfth Imami 2006-07-31 02:00 |
| #2 Whoops! I didn't say "Simon says!" |
| Posted by: gorb 2006-07-31 01:34 |
| #1 We already have the pre-emptive war talk, let's do the walk. Current projections are that Iran's genocidal Ayatollahs will have an extra $60,000,000,000 in oil cash to play with. Screw waiting for the November elections; Iranians can play the pre-emption card with all that extra money. Nuke Qom, the nuclear installations and bases on the Straits of Hormuz, and Iranians will topple the Ayatollah rule. Tokyo fire-bombing: 200,000 dead. Hiroshima/Nagasaki: 180,000 dead. We did that, and our ancestors are rolling in their graves over the current Neo-Moron, we-don't-do-that vomit. Iran can be taken, with only 250,000 dead on their side, and zero on ours. Ahmadinejad provided the pretext; let's provide the war. |
| Posted by: Snease Shaiting3550 2006-07-31 00:33 |