#1
After the obligatory Bush-bashing about Iraq - which I believe was the seed of the 'Arab Spring', he gets down to the One:
Meanwhile, the Obama administration is about to hit the 60 day deadline imposed by the War Powers Act, and so it is marshaling a lot of clever lawyers to find some way to keep the war going. But here's a radical suggestion: why not just go to Congress and ask for authorization? Such a step would be consistent with the U.S. Constitution, and President Obama made this very point himself before he became President.
O never did get around to speaking to Congress about this billion-dollar debacle? Just chump-change, Mr. President?
So if the liberal interventionists who got us into this war want to make their decisions look good in retrospect, they had better have a plan to ensure that political transition in Libya goes a lot more smoothly than it did in Iraq.
I ain't holdin' my breath.
Posted by: Bobby ||
05/17/2011 6:08 Comments ||
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#2
He's a sparkly vampire?
Posted by: Eric Jablow ||
05/17/2011 8:52 Comments ||
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[Asharq al-Aswat] "Christians are carrying weapons, and we Mohammedans have bottles only. We will not be real men if we did not torch the churches of Imbaba."
The Salafi youth who uttered that threat can be viewed easily on the Youtube website, with his hostility towards the Copts being loudly applauded by a group who had gathered to protest against a woman being jugged inside a church, after she converted to Islam. They claimed they had come to rescue her.
Provocative statements such as this were issued at the time of the bloody confrontations that took place in Imbaba a few days ago, and have spread widely and in a worrisome manner.
The traditional Egyptian media outlets, by refraining from broadcasting such opinions, will not necessarily succeed in containing the kaboom of sectarian violence, as the virtual world in Egypt is full of fuel for sectarian violence, with extensive momentum.
Even if demonstrations are staged in front of radio and television buildings, this will not solve a crisis that has remained dormant for decades before the Egyptian revolution broke out, thus creating a new reality.
To make matters worse, angry Copts have issued statements in which they yearned for the old days of the previous regime, saying they do not believe in the January 25th Revolution anymore. This has coincided with Mohammedan demands to interrogate Abeer, Camilia, and others to determine whether they had converted to Islam, and whether they were forced to retract this decision.
When cases such as that of Camilia and others transform into a national sectarian cause, this suggests that the current Egyptian climate is one of pure congestion.
It is true that the first, urgent step to be taken is to adopt firm measures to contain and end the violence, yet what must also be addressed is the language being used, especially that of the Salafis, Islamic currents, and others within this atmosphere.
The media, both public and private, may impose censorship on the material filmed by their cameramen, but there are still social networking websites that are not subject to censorship, and enjoy almost limitless freedom, something that paves the way for incitement. Apart from the political and sectarian dilemma represented by the Salafi phenomenon in Egypt, what is of more concern is their ability to appear on Youtube, Facebook and Twitter. Here the modernity problem arises; the same outlets that inspired revolutions can also give rise to evil and create disasters. The dilemma does not lie in what modern technology produces, but in the culture conveyed, or carried through such technologies. Instead of blaming the computer for what happened in Egypt, we should ask al-Azhar, and perhaps the government and the army, about their plans to curb this phenomenon. We say: the question must be addressed to these official bodies, and not the Salafi currents themselves. They still seem unable to speak anything other than the language and logic they are currently pursuing.
Posted by: Fred ||
05/17/2011 00:00 ||
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#1
As things stand, the Fed will have to keep borrowing + keep raising the Debt Limits again + again + again, ...@etc. in shorter-n-shorter-n...@etc. lead times.
AGain, "Q-E" = is just the Amerikan way of saying Cold War/Soviet-era Commie Govt Accounting methods are being adopted by our OWG Mighty USSA = OWG Weak USRoA Global SSR.
Economists Timothy Conley and Bill Dupor have studied the effects of the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act (the purported stimulus bill) with great rigor. Earlier this week, they reported their findings in a paper titled "The American Recovery and Reinvestment Act: Public Sector Jobs Saved, Private Sector Jobs Forestalled." The paper is dense and rather lengthy, and requires considerable study. Here, however, is the bottom line:
Our benchmark results suggest that the ARRA created/saved approximately 450 thousand state and local government jobs and destroyed/forestalled roughly one million private sector jobs. State and local government jobs were saved because ARRA funds were largely used to offset state revenue shortfalls and Medicaid increases rather than boost private sector employment. The majority of destroyed/forestalled jobs were in growth industries including health, education, professional and business services.
So the American people borrowed and spent close to a trillion dollars to destroy a net of more than one-half million jobs. Does President Obama understand this? I very much doubt it. When he expressed puzzlement at the idea that the stimulus money may not have been well-spent, and said that "spending equals stimulus," he betrayed a shocking level of economic ignorance.
Stimulus for unionized government jobs, maybe temporarily. But every dollar tied up in this POS government is one not working for most people in the economy that actually pays for the government.
#2
When he expressed puzzlement at the idea that the stimulus money may not have been well-spent, and said that "spending equals stimulus," he betrayed a shocking level of economic ignorance.
#4
The entire purpose of the so-called stimulus was to prop up pay, pensions, and COLA increases for the public sector work force and rent-seeking "private" businesses as a thank you for 2008 - long enough to keep them loyal voters and campaign workers in order to hold the House and keep a veto-proof Senate along party lines in the 2010 elections.
Period.
It was a quid pro quo for public sector support at the polls in 2008, and a promise for the future if they stumped hard in 2010, all paid for by the private sector and two future generations of Americans in the private sector as well. Creating a government which engages in activities and policies which will allow the private sector economy to grow is completely unimportant to 2011 Democrats. It's all about paying those who get a public sector paycheck with job security in return for support of Democrat politicians to stay in office.
The loss of the House and party-line veto (yes, I'm aware that RINOs can't always be counted upon) was not anticipated, so the strategy was both not successfully functionally as well as being devastating to the economy.
As the gen-Y kids say, epic fail.
Posted by: no mo uro ||
05/17/2011 5:58 Comments ||
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#5
hey be thankful you didn't get pink batts installed in everyone's roof in a big junket that ended in the electrocution deaths of about 9 people, plus a solar rebate scheme the country can't afford... and the piece-de-resistance in this year's Budget? A free digital set-top box for each pensioner, paid for by Le Government, so they can watch digital TV from their old piece of junk. Cost per pensioner? about $350. Cost of a new TV that gets digital? $150.
Now that Wikileaks has leaked all the shocking surprise stuff (the Saudis are duplicitous snakes! Berlusconi has an eye for the ladies! the Pope is Catholic!) theyre really scraping the bottom of the barrel. The other day I myself turned up in their latest hold-the-foot-of-page-37 stunning revelation. In a cable to the State Department from the U.S. Embassy in Ottawa, some diplomat named Jacobson explains Canadas free speech battles. Sample paragraph:
2. (U) In 2003, Ontario attorney Richard Warman had filed separate human rights complaints against white supremacist Marc Lemire, journalist Mark Steyn, and Maclean,s magazine with CHRC, the Ontario Human Rights Commission, and the British Columbia Human Rights Tribunal for the dissemination of allegedly anti-Semitic and anti-gay hate speech in an article published by Maclean,s and on postings to Lemire,s websites. At the provincial level, the cases were ultimately dismissed in Ontario, for lack of jurisdiction, and, in British Columbia, for failure to meet the standard of hate speech (reftels).
Even if (unlike yours truly) youve no interest in the subject of the cable, its a fascinating glimpse of the level of expertise you get from Americas handsomely remunerated foreign service. Almost every single fact in that paragraph is wrong: Richard Warman has never filed complaints against me or Macleans. He has never filed complaints before the Ontario Human Rights Commission or the British Columbia Human Rights Tribunal. The Macleans article was accused not of anti-Semitic and anti-gay hate speech but of Islamophobia. The British Columbia case was not dismissed: It went to trial, and the troika of judges eventually found us not guilty. Etc.
Assuming that anyone in the State Department is remotely interested in the topic, almost everything they took away from this embassy cable would be wrong. Whats the point of paying some lavishly tenured over-pensioned striped-pants deadbeat to sit around the chancery all day cutting bits out of newspapers if youve got more chance of getting an accurate picture of whats going on from plucking a random unpaid blogger out of a 12-second Google search? Or are you entirely confident that when it comes to, say, the Iranian nuclear program or jihadist sympathies in the Pakistani military that the level of expertise will be any greater than in Canadian human rights analysis?
As a U.S. taxpayer, Im naturally revolted at having to pay for the above briefing. The tragedy of Americas impending collapse is that, by any rational measure, at least three-quarters of its spendaholic binge has been entirely wasted. That embassy cable is a small but telling example.
The government's push to computerize medical records to make their jobs easier, has exposed patients' most sensitive information to unauthorized hackers and snoops, in addition to police, insurance, researcher, and government and other, authorized snoops, government investigators warn.
As it turns out, the Health Insurance Portability and Accountability (HIPPA) Act's requirement for electronic records for all patients, making their medical records available to vast numbers of the curious and malevolent, but authorized individuals, is so perforated with security gaps, that just about anyone, domestic or foreign, can access them.
The market for illicit health-care information is booming. While the media is mostly concerned about the health information of celebrities, for its potential as lurid gossip, identity thieves, jealous and perverse ex-lovers and stalkers, deviants and spammers, other businessmen and foreign governments can now learn any amount of interesting and incriminating information previously limited to just doctors and their patients.
President Barack Obama has set a goal for every American to have wildly insecure electronic health record by 2014.
The government is instituting severe penalties to encourage hospitals and doctors offices to adopt electronic medical records. Providers who insist on clinging to paper records, as well as their guns and religion, are being forced out of the medical industry.
Because the government craftily decided that doctors and the medical industry had to shoulder the costs of the electronic changeover, about $30,000 or more per doctor, almost one-third of physicians have decided to retire or no longer take on new patients.
But the important thing is that someday it may make the job of federal health bureaucrats easier, as well as giving unlimited access to medical records to any number of government agencies, and to force the public to accept national health care, something supported by all Democrats, and secretly by many liberal Republicans.
#1
Radical Islam = MilTerrs now have opportunity to electorally legally takeover or dominate multiple Muslim Govts-States [proto-Caliphate], as well as have variable new sovereign sources for NUKE-WMD TECHS, NOT JUST IRAN OR PAK OR SYRIA, IRAQ, ETC.
The various Regional chaoses induced by Osama's passing will be exploited.
E.g. CNN + FOXNEWS AM > Chechnyan Leader DOKU UMAROV = the death of OBL will NOT stop the Violence = Jihad, IT WILL ONLY INSPIRE MORE MILTERRS TO CONTINUE JIHAD IN THE CAUCASUS WHEREUPON "ALL OF RUSSIA WILL BE HIS [Umarov's] BATTLEFIELD".
[Dawn] Has the Pakistain army come full circle? The criticism directed towards it since May 2, when American troops entered the country to raid the late Osama bin Laden's ... who is currently rooming with Hitler and Himmler... hideout, forces one to ask this question.
Be it the American anger and doubts or the reaction from within Pakistain, it is evident that the army will face the brunt of the May 2 fall out.
What else would have compelled the Chief of Army Staff, General Ashfaq Parvez Kayani ... four star general, current Chief of Army Staff of the Mighty Pak Army. Kayani is the former Director General of ISI... to rush to three garrisons to hold 'frank question and answer sessions' and indirectly point the finger at the media and the political government for the criticism that has been directed against the state institutions since the raid.
That a weak and powerless prime minister was roped in to give his vote of confidence to the military further expresses how dire the situation was. Yusuf Raza Gilani ... Pakistain's erstwhile current prime minister, whose occasional feats of mental gymnastics can be awe-inspiring ... is the man who usually cited the army's support to lend credence to his assertions that his government would complete its term.
No wonder then that when on Wednesday afternoon PMLN leader Nawaz Sharif ... served two non-consecutive terms as prime minister, heads the Pakistain Müslim League (Nawaz). Noted for his spectacular corruption, the 1998 Pak nuclear test, border war with India, and for being tossed by General Musharraf... criticised the military's agencies, it was strangely reminiscent of the period just a few years earlier when the then COAS, General Pervez Perv Musharraf, ... former dictator of Pakistain, who was less dictatorial and corrupt than any Pak civilian government to date ... earned the military considerable flak.
If there is an analogy that can be used it is the story of Oscar Wilde's novel, The Picture of Dorian Gray. An individual who makes a Faustian bargain that allows him to lead a hedonistic life while it is his portrait that ages and disfigures over time, providing a mirror to his acts.
In the case of Pakistain, the acts are of individuals but it is the image of the institution that is tarnished.
In recent years, this was first witnessed during Musharraf's tenure. His political decisions beginning from the referendum to the 2002 elections produced the first signs of ageing and disfigurement. By 2006, the process of disfigurement accelerated and by the next year, it was in freefall.
And initially when Kayani took over from Musharraf in November 2009, he focused on the image.
Step by step after that, the 'sins' of Musharraf were washed away; a repair job as complex as the restoration of the grand masters was undertaken by the new chief of staff.
Painstakingly it began when his first decision after taking over was to visit the troops deployed in FATA. Away from the frontlines, he got rid of signs of wear and tear by recalling army men from political jobs, warning soldiers to staying away from politicians and a formal announcement also to stay away from the elections of 2008. Repair work was helped along with the crises the politicians created such as the long march on Islamabad in 2009 when Kayani's behind the scene efforts were seen as a conscious decision to not plunge into politics.
But as Oscar Wilde noted in his novel, the only way to get rid of a temptation is to yield to it, another Dorian Gray succumbed -- in July 2010. The soldier's soldier, as Kayani was called, yielded to political considerations and accepted an extension of his term.
A second term is rarely ever kind to politicians, who usually are allowed one (think of Ronald Reagan who faced the Iran Contra scandal in his second one and Bill Clinton who dealt with the Lewinsky saga). For a soldier at the top the price is paid by the army.
Each decision of his then is seen to stem from an agenda, an agenda that is linked to the extension. Everything sticks -- to the image of the army.
There were the cable leaks in December of last year, revealing his political wheeling and dealing and the reports that agencies were behind the hysteria whipped up over the arrest of Raymond Davis, who was freed once the CIA-ISI reached some sort of an understanding.
A wart became visible when the army chief criticised a drone attack after having ignored them from years; press reports suggested that the motives were driven by politics and not concerns for law or human lives.
But it was May 2 that dealt the worst blow.
There are rumours and conjectures and conspiracy theories about what the army high command knew or didn't about bin Laden's presence and the US raid.
The issue is not that there is any truth to the rumours or not; the issue is that not a soul inside the country or outside is willing to trust what the army has said about the raid. The conspiracy theories point to the skepticism that exists which is no less than the disbelief that meets a politician's assertion that he is not corrupt.
Critics sneer that Opposition leader Nisar Ali Khan is only indulging in political point scoring when he lashes out at the military or the agencies in his speeches in the parliament; but the important thing is that Khan feels that hitting out at the army will earn him brownie points with the people. Whether or not he means what he says is irrelevant.
A junction that we have reached but three years after the military swept through Swat ...a valley and an administrative district in the Khyber Pakhtunkhwa Province of Pakistain, located 99 mi from Islamabad. It is inhabited mostly by Pashto speakers. The place has gone steadily downhill since the days when Babe Ruth was the Sultan of Swat... in a blaze of positive media coverage, not just in Pakistain but worldwide.
From 2007 to 2009 and now 2011. The present is far too similar to Musharrafian past.
Evidently, we are destined to witness successive acts keep repeating the same story -- on tarnishing, repairing and then another bout of disfigurement.
There is no denouncement and no end. Just a circle of disillusionment.
Posted by: Fred ||
05/17/2011 00:00 ||
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#1
Post-Abbottabad, COAS GEN. KAYANI is repor refusing to cut any PAK Mil ties to the Militants, while on another note he is up for consideration in Lahore for the potential new Govt-Military position of "Supreme Commander" of the PAK Armed Forces.
Methinks a MILBLOG POSTER said it best - UNLIKE IRAN, WHICH IS AT PRESENT MILITARILY WEAK BUT "STRONG" AS A UNITED NATION, PAKISTAN AS A NUC POWER IS MIL STRONGER THAN IRAN, BUT "WEAK" AS PER NATIONAL UNITY, hence non-Nuclear Iran has a much better chance of surviving a major or total break in diplomatic relations, perhaps even War, agz the USA than sectarian Nuclear Pakistan.
The good news here for Pakistan is that HINDU INDIA may not be immune from similar forces ...
* DEFENCE.PK/FORUMS > THINK TANK: CHINA SHOULD FOMENT BREAK-UP OF INDIA.
ARTIC = CPC, PLA-bigwigs in Beijing begin to tacitly accept premise by noted Chin strategist that India's various ethnic, demographic groups have no great single underlying basis for common national unity + integration other than HINDUISM, e.g. NEW DELHI'S QUIET DEFENSE + PROMOTION OF THE TRADITIONAL HINDU "CASTE" SYSTEM OF ELITISM WHICH REINFORCES THE STRATIFICATION = ANTI-INTEGRATION OF INDIAN SOCIETY, hence it is not necessary for China to mil defeat India in a major war as it can defeat India by catering + supporting NATURAL ETHNIC OR ETHNO-CULTURAL "NATIONALISM" AMONG INDIA'S MINORITY OR CULTURAL GROUPS.
IOW, INDIA'S GREATEST PROB IN ITS MILPOL COMPETITION, STRUGGLE AGZ CHINA IS INDIA ITSELF.
* PEOPLE'S DAILY FORUM > BIN LADEN'S DEATH LEAVES RUSSIA WID A STRATEGIC VOID, Pre-9-11 versus Post-9-11, now post-Osama, Russ anti-Terror + Geopol Policies espec vee Russia's delicate balancing act between China + India.
SIXTY-THREE years ago, a 13-year-old Palestinian boy was forced to leave his home actually, his family left voluntarily - he has admitted this in other places
in the Galilean city of Safed and flee with his family to Syria. He took up shelter in a canvas tent provided to all the arriving refugees. Though he and his family wished for decades to return to their home and homeland, they were denied that most basic of human rights so they don't care about the 1967 lines - the whole point is to eliminate Israel followed by ethnic cleansing or genocide - whatever.
That child's story, like that of so many other Palestinians, is mine.
This month, however, as we commemorate another year of our expulsion -- which we call the nakba, or catastrophe -- the Palestin
Posted by: Lord Garth ||
05/17/2011 11:30 ||
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[Asharq al-Aswat] It was only one lie, but there are disputes over the degree of its contempt. When the pro-Hezbullies "al-Manar" channel in Leb announced that parties have declared an Islamic emirate in Syrian villages, this is contempt par excellence, but it is also sectarian scaremongering.
When the Syrian regime uses the scarecrow of the Islamic emirate and the Salafis, it is trying hard to justify the suppression of unarmed civilians, but when the Hezbullies television channel repeats these lies, this is absurd in itself. The Iranian backed Hezbullies is an Islamic group, with an Islamic flag, and has kidnapped Leb under the threat of arms. It is this group which decides who governs Leb, and who doesn't. So how can the channel of an Islamic party warn against Islamic groups, especially as Hezbullies itself serves the agenda of the Islamic Theocratic Republic of Iran in Leb?
This matter can only mean one thing; that Hezbullies is trying to save the regime in Damascus ...The City of Jasmin is the oldest continuously-inhabited city in the world. It has not always been inhabited by the same set of fascisti... , to serve its sectarian aims of course, and in order to serve the interests of Iran. [In the past] Hassan Nasrallah said that the Arab revolution in Egypt deserved support, and even apologized to the people of Tunisia because Hezbullies delayed in blessing their revolution (of course Nasrallah did not speak until after the Iranian Supreme Leader had claimed the revolutions in the Arab and Islamic world were following in the footsteps of Iran). How can Nasrallah support Egypt's revolution, and apologize to the Tunisians, and do the impossible in defending the Shiites of Bahrain, whilst its channel tarnishes the image of the defenseless Syrians, instead of supporting their uprising?
It is certain that Hezbullies is blinded by sectarianism, and in that respect it is similar to al-Qaeda in our region. The hallmarks of Hezbullies's acts of sabotage in our region are clear from Egypt to the Gulf, of course in Bahrain, and above all in Leb and Iraq. Today it is trying to discredit the innocent people of Syria. Many in the Arab media say that they can not verify information which refers to the involvement of Hezbullies inside Syria, but it is suffice to take note of how the party is trying, through its television channel, to discredit the Syrian uprisings.
One insider in Syria told me that the "al-Manar" channel has significant influence upon some of the security services affiliated with the Syrian regime, and thus through this channel they launch attacks on segments of Syrian society, or Arab figures because they have credibility amongst such segments. Therefore Arab satellite channels must confront this problem, i.e. Hezbullies, because newspapers, for example, do not have the same reach in Syria as satellite television. Of course, some Arab satellite channels are more concerned with hosting "analysts" from the Syrian regime, than broadcasting facts or refuting lies.
Each day Hezbullies reveals its sectarian face, not only in Leb, Iraq and Bahrain, but today in Syria as well. Yet Hezbullies, and those behind it, have failed to understand one thing, namely that the circle of time always revolves, and only the truth will remain.
Posted by: Fred ||
05/17/2011 00:00 ||
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#1
"Save the regime in Damascus ... to serve the interests of Iran" > Read, SYRIA'S LRBMS AGZ EITEHR ISRAEL OR TURKEY, + ITS NUCPROGS + OIL + MILITARY, TRADE PORTS IN THE MEDITERRANEAN.
* MILBLOGGER = opined that IHO IRAN in LT could become the first Muslim Govt-State to ABANDON OR LEAVE THE TRADITIONAL, ULTRA-CONSERVATIVE ISLAMIC "UMMAH" DUE TO THE RISE WIDIN IRAN OF CONVERSIONS FROM ISLAM, OTHER UNTO INDIGENS, PLURALIST ZOROASTERIANISM ["Persianism"?]???
Both Mecca + the Vatican. etc. lose out to Kings Darius + Cyrus the Greats.
[Asharq al-Aswat] As talk continues about the Arab revolutions with all their exciting, frustrating and disturbing developments, discussions about Iran and its recent news come as an important addition. The controversial President of Iran has hit the headlines again, but this time not through an instigative political address against his neighbors, or a speech exploiting an international political circumstance, or a statement quelling Iranian protesters demanding rights and liberties. This time, Ahmadinejad made the headlines because of a "cold war" that has begun between him and the Islamic Theocratic Republic's Supreme Leader Ali Khamenei.
Ahmadinejad has by large lost all of his battles. He has increased his enemies the Arab world, increased the amount of sanctions imposed on his country, and aroused widespread new hostilities amongst his regional surroundings of Arab Gulf States. Furthermore, Ahmadinejad provoked a vehement popular wave of [internal] rage after the results of the 2009 presidential elections, where the winning party was accused of forging the results. In the wake of those elections, a storm of angry mass protests broke out in different parts of the country, unsettling the general atmosphere and causing a rift in the relationship between the Guardian Jurist and the people. After all, Ahmadinejad was strongly seen as a protégé of the Supreme Leader, and the latter was always supportive and speaking in defense of the former.
The Supreme Leader tried to appease the public by criticizing some of Ahmadinejad's policies, yet he continued to defend the President himself. Nevertheless, the gap between the two men began to noticeably widen, as criticism of Khamenei rose in popular protests, and he came under heavy public attack during the latest festivities between the opposition and security forces.
Ahmadinejad felt he could end up being a political scapegoat for the regime, so he tried to distance himself from the Iranian Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC) (the powerful yet widely detested apparatus strongly favored by Khamenei). It is noteworthy that the IRGC was the primary supporter and recommender for the election of Ahmadinejad as president, during his first term in office. Now Ahmadinejad is trying to extend his personal influence over the ruling regime in Iran, and make changes to the IRGC itself. Yet the IRGC is Khamenei's personal project; he can appoint or sack whomever he pleases from that apparatus.
Once Khamenei directly interfered, in his capacity as the highest-ranking authority in Iran, to reinstate a figure whom Ahmadinejad had dismissed from the IRGC. This prompted Ahmadinejad to withdraw from public political life for two weeks!
Ahmadinejad knows that "Khamenei" is not like "Khomeini", especially where political status is concerned. The latter is the symbol of the Islamic revolution in Iran, and enjoys an almost unparalleled stature. He also had an exceptional holy manal and religious standing, which made his authority broader and more legitimate.
In contrast with that, Khamenei's holy manal worthiness has remained open to question, due to the presence of many others who are deemed worthier and more knowledgeable than him. However, The over-used However... Khamenei did not choose any of them to succeed him, because of a disagreement over the controversial issue of the Guardian Jurist. This concept is regarded by some as religious heresy, with no foundation.
Amidst all the major events taking place around Iran, the Islamic Theocratic Republic attempted, either through Friday sermons delivered by Khamenei himself, or political speeches issued by Ahmadinejad, to "hijack" the Arab revolutions, claiming to have created or inspired what is occurring in the Arab streets. The Iranian regime was compelled to do so after sensing its absence from this popular mobility. [During the Arab demonstrations] no flags of Hezbullies were waved, and no pictures of Hassan Nasrallah were raised. It is common knowledge that such icons are the marketing tools of the Iranian Revolution's ideology, which Iran is fervently endeavoring to export to the Arab World, and thus the Iranian regime was forced to react to the Arab revolutions in the way it did.
As time went by, Ahmadinejad's ambitions grew as he believed he could change the powers of the Supreme Leader, strictly limiting his role to religious affairs only, while distancing him from anything to do with politics, security and the economy. Ahmadinejad thought he could exploit the state of anger and discontent dominating the Iranian street, and link this to the Supreme Leader in person. But in the process, Ahmadinejad forgot that he himself is a part of the Iranian regime just as Khamenei is.
Ahmadinejad's ambition has no boundaries, but his frustrations and failures have accumulated. The regime is now convinced that his role has ended. This conviction has reached the Supreme Leader, the IRGC, and the masses. But the challenge in executing a complete divorce still stands. Rafsanjani was described as "practical", Khatami was dubbed a "reformist", whereas Ahmadinejad will definitely be labeled the "hesitant President", because his record is void of any achievements. Suffice to say that during his tenure, trade exchange with his Gulf neighbors has plummeted more than 40, percent and his relations with most of the Gulf States have become endangered. Ahmadinejad's political career is in its final days, no doubt about that.
Posted by: Fred ||
05/17/2011 00:00 ||
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Ahmadinejad is trying to extend his personal influence over the ruling regime in Iran, and make changes to the IRGC itself.
Maybe he sees an opportunity for a Persian Spring, with him at the helm.
Posted by: Bobby ||
05/17/2011 6:19 Comments ||
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By Mary Habeck
In my last post I argued that the views of U.S. experts on al Qaeda and bin Laden are deeply divided. The majority opinion sees the group as amorphous, small, and embattled, led by a man who inspired attacks and aspired to control a global fight, but who was incapable of much beyond giving speeches and using rhetoric to convince others to carry out individual acts of terror in his name.
#1
She warned them "there will always be folks out there who make assumptions about others" and "who try to raise themselves up by cutting other people down.'
"That happens to everyone, including me, throughout their lives," she said. "But when that happens to you all, here's what I want you to do. I want you to just stop a minute.
Unless you're on national television or Oprah. Then you can reveal your true feelings about the Country that held you back for long. Take a deep breath, because it's going to need to be deep, and I want you to think about all those women who came before you ... [and] think about how they didn't sit around bemoaning their lack of resources and opportunities and affirmation.
A fine example you gave us during the campaign, Michelle.
It was more uplifting than I thought, due to the slant in the headline. But our friends in the media do that all the time, don't they.
Posted by: Bobby ||
05/17/2011 6:00 Comments ||
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A multi-volume chronology and reference guide set detailing three years of the Mexican Drug War between 2010 and 2012.
Rantburg.com and borderlandbeat.com correspondent and author Chris Covert presents his first non-fiction work detailing
the drug and gang related violence in Mexico.
Chris gives us Mexican press dispatches of drug and gang war violence
over three years, presented in a multi volume set intended to chronicle the death, violence and mayhem which has
dominated Mexico for six years.
Rantburg was assembled from recycled algorithms in the United States of America. No
trees were destroyed in the production of this weblog. We did hurt some, though. Sorry.
Nawaz Sharif
