Nazanin Afshin-Jam

Nazanin Afshin-Jam is what is known in the New Millennium as a triple threat. Drop dead gorgeous, artistically talented as a singer and is also a super brainiac with a mission.

Exiled in Canada from her native Persia - Nazanin is using her 2003 Miss Canada bona fides to take on the intolerant time traveling mullahs and their regime that have strangled her homeland almost to death.

I was born in a country where I am not allowed to sing or perform.I was born in a country where I am not allowed to wear what I want. I was born in a country where I would be killed for my religious beliefs.

I was born in a country where I would be tortured for advocating democracy.I was born in a country where, as a woman, my life is considered worth half of a mans.

I was born in Iran.

The year I was born, a revolution took place in my birth place. The country changed names from Iran to the "Islamic Republic of Iran". Women were immediately forced to veil themselves. Since that time there have been gross violations of human rights. While it is one of the richest countries in the world, millions are below the poverty line and children are forced to work instead of going to school.

Iran is the only country in the world that officially continues to execute children. This must end immediately. I have started a campaign to help end executions of minors. Now I need your help.

Under its repressive clerical regime, Iran regularly sentences women to death by stoning for crimes such as adultery, executes children and has a president who claims it has no gays. Arbitrary decisions occur regularly.

Last week for example, a female student who alleged that a senior male lecturer had sexually harassed her was arrested for 'publicising a crime' when she and fellow students protested against the incident.

The dismal state of Iran's human rights - which includes the regime's hostility towards ethnic minorities such as the Ahwazi Arabs of Khuzestan province and religious minorities such as the Bahai - makes it obvious that international attention is needed.

Britain's Foreign & Commonwealth Office agrees. Its Office Annual Human Rights Report of 2007 was particularly damning of Iran's record in this regard, stating that "Against a global decreasing trend in the use of the death penalty, the total number of executions in Iran is increasing year on year.

Iran remains second only to China (whose population is over 15 times the size of Iran's) in terms of total number of executions", concluding that "Iran is in clear breach of its international obligations under the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights (ICCPR) and the Convention on the Rights of the Child."

Mottaki

Fareed Zakaria just Iviewed Iran's Foreign Minister - the semi creepy (un) Honourable (?)Manouchehr Mottaki for his TV show "GPS" on some cable channel and it was a hoot!

Mottaki - as underground Persian Cat 'Rooz' reveals in a dossier is one of the mullahs most precious minions.

"Mottaki joined the Foreign Ministry at a time when members of the Islamic Students Association were rapidly replacing diplomats and even experts at the ministry. After completing his first assembly term, Mottaki joined the ministry and was appointed director of the ministry's seventh bureau in 1984.

A year later, in 1985, Mottaki was appointed as Iran's ambassador to Turkey. At that time, Turkey was a desired destination for many Iranians who belonged to opposition groups and were fleeing either to Europe or Iraq through Turkey.

During Mottaki's tenure, many of the Islamic Republic's dissidents were killed across Turkey, prompting Turkish officials to accuse Mottaki of instigating instability and issuing him a persona non grata status, which meant he had to leave the country within 24 hours."

Fareed tried verbally fencing with the Fo Min and it was like watching a waltz or maybe a wrestling match. Subtle dances and feints that ultimately resolved little.
Here's a sample mix

ZAKARIA: Mr. Foreign Minister, one of the questions people have is really about Iranian intentions. What are your intentions in the region?

And one thing that gives a great deal of suspicion to people are the statements of your president with regard to Israel. Your president has said, "The occupying regime" -- meaning Israel -- "must be wiped off the map."

He has said, "This new wave started in Palestine. Eliminate this disgraceful stain from the world."And most recently, just a month or two ago, he said, "Israel will disappear from the geographic scene."What does he mean?

MOTTAKI: Our approach with regard to the Israeli regime is clear. An event happened in Europe, a horrible war ensued. Tens of millions of people were killed, and some were survivors. And it was said that these victims of war should be taken care of, restored in some way.

What we believe, what happened in World War II was a crime. We also have to ask ourselves: Who committed that crime?

So, Mr. Ahmadinejad's question is: If these victims are to be taken care of in terms of restoring some of what they lost, why should another place, another people pay from their own pocket the price for this crime?

For 60 years, this regime, as far as the public opinion of the region is concerned, does not have legitimacy, and has not reached a point where it can be liked by the people.
Of course, we cannot force others to accept what we say. But we think that, in a democratic country we have the right to say what we think.

ZAKARIA: Are you, then, categorically saying, as the foreign minister of Iran, that you have no intention to attack Israel in any sense or in any way?

MOTTAKI: We will defend our own country in the case of any attack or invasion, or any threat.

And the history of the past several years of our land, Iran, demonstrates that our country has never initiated an invasion or an attack that was carried out by the Iranian people against another people in the region.

This is the nature of our people, of our history, of our system, as well, in the past 30 years as the Islamic Republic of Iran.

ZAKARIA: You all have said recently that, were Israel to attack Iran, that it is possible that you would also attack not just Israeli targets, but also American targets.

And I want to be clear, why would you attack American targets, if there were an Israeli attack on Iran?

After all, the United States appears, at least in some ways, to be trying to move diplomatically, not militarily.

MOTTAKI: The Israeli regime is principally in no position to engage in another adventure in the region -- militarily. We do not believe that Israel is in a position to engage in a military act in the region.

However, if this were to happen -- as much as I would still add, the possibility of it almost very, very nonexistent -- but at the same time, if it were happen, it's quite possible that independent countries like Iran would see their first responsibility is to defend themselves.

ZAKARIA: Mr. Minister, you said recently that, in recent months, America's psychological warfare against Iran has increased exponentially. What exactly do you mean? Is it covert operations against Iran? Is it threats? What exactly are you referring to there?

MOTTAKI: But in the past two years, on certain cases, at different time junctures -- I'd say about every six months -- it would become a hot topic, meaning the idea of the possibility of a military attack was raised at some points of time in the last two years. There would be people who actually came to us to inform us, saying that on specific dates there would be an attack on a specific location.

So, our analysis at that time -- including now -- is that these measures are, in fact, sort of an attempt to add a spice to the political trends that have been going on from the past, but have never been serious ones.

So, our analysis is, in fact, that neither the region nor the United States of America, nor anyone elsewhere in the world, has the capacity to witness another military attack in the region.

So, I believe it's time that the West changes its eyeglasses and look at Iran through a different lens. By changing the eyeglasses, I would say they'd be able to see issues more clearly and better. Iran is committed to its constructive approach and the resolution of regional and international affairs and problems.

ZAKARIA: You know, when I listen to you, Mr. Foreign Minister, your words are different from before in some ways. Your tone is different.

I have met with President Ahmadinejad, and he speaks in a very different way

Now, what I am wondering is, is this part of an effort to confuse us? Is this what in America would be called a "good cop, bad cop" routine, where he says some things that are very fiery, and you say things that are very sweet? Or is there a genuine shift in Iran's attitude?

MOTTAKI: We hear new voices in America. We see new approaches. And we think that the rational thinkers in America can, based on these new approaches, see the reality as it is. We are ready to help them in this endeavor.

After the show hoes like Christiane Amanpour (CNN Internat'l Correspondant Babe), Vali Nasr (Tufts University) and Mikey Ware (CNN Baghdad's Palestine Hotel Balcony correspondant cat) gave up some fly and some not so fly analysis which ranged from informed to uninformed to highly suspect.

Tags: GSGF, Middle East, Iran, Israel

Destiny

Iran’s problems extend to the Gulf States and include occupation and destabilization operations, among other practices, and the same applies to Lebanon, Yemen and other states. This confirms that Iran’s problem is not with Saudi Arabia or Egypt only, as Damascus is trying to convince us, rather; it is with all the countries in the Arab world.

Iran is not a superpower but it has a specific goal and it relies upon some groups that believe that their sectarian affiliation to Iran grants them power and stature – with the knowledge that vast majority of Shia, on all different levels, are aware of and always warn about the threat posed by the incumbent regime in Tehran.

Iran’s real problem lies in its desire to expand in the Arab world and to resume its exportation of its Islamic revolution. Many of us overlook the fact that Iran’s fundamental problem since [Ayatollah Ruholla] Khomeini’s revolution was exporting it, in addition to its interference in internal Arab affairs – and this is what [Iranian President Mahmoud] Ahmadinejad’s regime and its supporters are seeking to implement today.

The question here is "Why? And what has changed?" But the answer is clear: The Iranian regime found an advantageous opportunity in the fall of Saddam Hussein to fill in the void that was created in the region and to extend its influence in Iraq, and the same applies to Afghanistan

Washington presented Tehran with a priceless service when it removed its archenemies; Saddam in Iraq and the Taliban in Afghanistan. The conflict is not Iranian-American as some would like to imagine; Iran believes that this is its historical opportunity to extend its influence in Iraq and Afghanistan and expand in the region whilst exploiting the vacuum and the shock that perplexed the Arabs the day Baghdad fell.


Iran wanted to resume what it had started in terms of exporting the revolution following Khomeini’s rise to power, but which was disrupted for a number of reasons, including the eight-year war with Iraq. This was followed by the rationality that was displayed by Hashemi Rafsanjani and Mohammed Khatami during their presidential terms in Iran.

The godfather of rapprochement at the time was King Abdullah Bin Abdulaziz, who was crown prince then. During that time, Washington wanted Saudi’s testimony that Tehran was responsible of the al Khobar bombings [29 May 2004] but the Saudis knew that it would have meant war with Iran. Riyadh did not give Washington that validation.

During Khatami’s presidency, Egyptian-Iranian rapprochement was increasing, with some minor differences – but both were speaking openly. At the time, Khatami pledged to change the name of the street that was named after [Anwar] Sadat’s assassin [Khalid Islambouli], but the matter was delayed because of the mayor of Tehran. And do you remember who that mayor was? Ahmadinejad!

The problem with Iran is not one about dialogue, rather; it is the crisis of the Iranian desire for expansion in the Arab world. Tehran wants to seize control of the region’s states and its objectives are clear – how else can one explain the Iranian petition against Google Earth over the name of the Arabian Gulf

This is not the attitude of someone that seeks rapprochement; rather, it stems from nationalistic or religious intolerance – and what is concealed is always greater than what is revealed.

A change in Iranian attitude without war cannot come about except from within Tehran internally, or through a Saudi-Egyptian stance that can yield results on the ground – but results that are far removed from Damascus’s deception

submitted by TaRiQ

Silence

The Arab Leagues recent hook up in Cairo to worry and wring hands while Lebanon gets devoured by the Mullahs and their bloody protrubrences like Hiz'B'Allah failed to speak out about the one thing that was everyone's minds.

Essentially - what will you do when Iran exerts their hegemonic guerrilla goons on your little spot of turf?

Tariq Alhomayed points out

"Do the Arab states accept Syria's proposal that maintains that the occupation of an Arab state at the hands of a party that follows and receives the orders of Tehran is a purely domestic affair and that the Arab League need not do anything about it?

Another hard-hitting piece from my favorite blogger Courtney. Head over there and check it out.

Tags: GSGF, Middle East, Syria, terrorists, Lebanon, war, Lord Nazh

Ahmadinejad

Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad said on Thursday that the state of Israel is a "stinking corpse" that is destined to disappear, the French news agency AFP reported. "Those who think they can revive the stinking corpse of the usurping and fake Israeli regime by throwing a birthday party are seriously mistaken," the official IRNA news agency quoted Ahmadinejad as having said. "Today the reason for the Zionist regime's existence is questioned, and this regime is on its way to annihilation." Ahmadinejad further stated that Israel "has reached the end like a dead rat after being slapped by the Lebanese" - referring to the Second Lebanon War in the summer of 2006.

Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad Photo: AP

The rat speaks again. Of course this will be spun so many times that it will sound like he's just talking about what 'might' happen in some distant future and not what he plans. I'd be more interested in seeing the text before the AP got their hands on it to see what it really says. There are those that still believe Mahmoud isn't out to destroy Israel; some of those actually help him and some are just willfully ignorant.

Tags: Iran, Israel, Middle East, Mahmoud Ahmadinejad, destruction, Lord Nazh

Shah'rade

Image by photoyogi via FlickrCourt has a new post up:

Russia's Peter the Great Military Academy is an ancient War College founded way back in the 1820's. Named after the cat who dragged Russia kicking and screaming into the age of sail and empire - the Academy today is cutting edge and egalitarian.

Russia's GRU site has a cool pic featurette featuring babettes learning and prepping for careers in Strategic Missile Forces.

"The academy offers career training in over 29 fields for the Strategic Missile Forces, Space Forces, Army, Navy and Air Force, as well as the Russian Defense Ministry’s main and central directorates."

With missiles, missile defenses and sheilding sprouting up all over Eurasia recent talk of buddying up with Tehran is a concern. The mullah's handpicked little rocketeer
"Iran and Russia are two major powerful countries, and cooperation between our states in settling various problems will serve the interests of Russian and Iranian
nations as well as regional and international security. We each serve an
efficient role in establishing a new model of international relations."

Go over and check it out. As always, lots of links and great research.

Tags: GSGF, Russia, Iran, Middle East, relations, armed forces, Lord Nazh

One K'Ssam Away

"It begins with a single Qassam rocket, one of the thousands of homemade projectiles fired in recent years by the Islamic radicals of HAMAS from the Gaza Strip into southern Israel.

The rockets have made life nightmarish for many Israelis but have largely missed their targets. But this one gets "lucky": It smashes into an elementary school, wounding 40 children and killing 15."

From such a scary pic start off - random targeting of a school mind you - it gets worse. Little Satan finally says the heck with it and launches an old school panzer strip blitz. Lured into armor kill zones ala Kursk, house to house fighting like Fallujah and Jenin break out.

HAMAS screams "Massacre! Massacre!" and instantly the lame stream media does a 24/7 complete with Gaza Green Helmet guys, freshly displayed deceased innocents and the result is outrage and violent riots throughout the ME.

Body Parts Collector General of the Hiz'B'Allah begins to fire off like a billion K'tusha's at Little Satan's North 40. Knocking out batteries of foreign fed and led missile martyrs in Lebanon in record time (must have been all that study and rehearsal after the July August War of '06) - Little Satan's Air Force starts working overtime.

Basharopolis acts out with a real live military attack on the Golan Heights.

Little Satan absorbs the attack, counters and Syria retaliates with chemical warheads on Little Satan's cities. The IAF begins turning entire blocks of government ministries and complexes into huge smoking craters in the oldest continually inhabited city in the world.

About then Iran fires off hundreds of Shahab 3 rockets targeting Tel Aviv.

"Sound fantastical or too horrific to ponder? Not to Israeli intelligence analysts it doesn't. The Israeli military recently conducted a round of large-scale war games based precisely on this scenario.

In some rounds, Israel managed to humble Hamas and Hezbollah while shooting down most of the Iranian and Syrian rockets with its own Arrow and Patriot antimissile systems. But other forecasts went far less well: Israel survives but barely, with its cities devastated and countless civilians killed."

Now the cat who paints such a realistic(?) pic is Michael Oren. A very good historian, 2 of his books are def must haves - "Power, Faith, and Fantasy (America in the Middle East 1776 to the Present)" and the essential "6 Days of War - (the Making of the Modern Middle East)."

Dr Oren's prescrip is to point to the 6 Day War. The ME is a lot like it was way back then. And a lot different too.

"A conflict between Israel and Iran might not last six days but six hours, unleashing shock waves even more seismic than those of 1967."

Raining K'Ssam rockets (40 on Wednesday alone) with no end in sight is totally uncool in a dangerous way. Until recently, HAMAS has been faking it .

Little Satan so far has kept up a relentless stealth campaign as her spy guy military ops rip through the HAMAS terror fanboy groups, instead of unleashing an all out assault to retake Gaza and keep it this time.

All that could change very soon.

It's only one K'Ssam away.

Cross posted at GSGF's home.

"Globe Stomping"

Apparently rehabbed from last year's "Condi is a retard" rant, Dr Fred Kaplan is back sounding the alarm about how Great Satan has suicided herself in less than eight years by pursuing some weeded out buzz that never really was. Only now, he's got a new book to hawk with a dope title something like

"Why not sucking up to despots, the UN and enemies is uncool"

Loser lover Seymour Hersch raves it delivers the dirt on the "looney tunes" and "sci fi" fans who usurped America's weak, worthless ignoble waning power and totally ruined everything by taking their day gigs seriously, pretending Great Satan won the Cold War and that 911 could be a harbinger of future threats.

Refraining use of the "R" word out loud this time, Dr K tests the aqua with a toe or two in the LA Times.

"Downsizing our dominance" kicks off with a stealth surge success denial that heads straight down hill faster than popping 2 Xanex washed down with copius amounts of Jagermeister. Totally mentis non compos making.

Confusing American conviction for American arrogance is essential for understanding such subtle, nuanced worldviews like only Foreign Policy saavy stereophiles can.

"U.S. leaders stomped around the globe with wide-elbowed indifference to
the consequences of their actions."

Oh Snap! Globe stomping is what Great Satan does best. Actually called sticking to your guns. Besides - of all the things that could be listed about Globe stomping - indifference AIN'T on the list.

Should Great Satan really care about the regional aspirations of regimes like Iran that openly deny the Holocaust and openly plot the next? Or pitiful rats nests like Sudan that would happily skin a humanitarian lady alive because of some risable retarded (in the classic sense - no less) 8th century concept of sacrilege? Good luck with that.

Complaining that no one in either party really addresses Foreign Policy except for talking to allies, Dr Kaplan dodges the point. Americans kill enemies and only really talk when enemies scream "God! Please! Stop!"

In the New Millenium, scary unfree regimes and time traveling fanboys (rocket hot or not) should worry about what Great Satan thinks of them - not some fan club outreach to a place like Syria that is totally freaked about Facebook. SOTH Pelosi's trek to Basharopolis hasn't really seemed to help.

Like a mirror - Dr K seems to prefer the opposite - punish allies and court enemies

"Germany joins France in opposing resolutions on Iraq in the U.N.
Security Council -- and nothing happens to Germany"

Nothing except the elected PM gets sacked and Deutschers vote in a PM that wants to draw closer - not further from America. The same America that dissed the UN's collection of thug huggers, creepy blocs and leagues and took out the trash at the same time.

Click for the rest of the story

"The Turkish parliament votes against letting U.S. troops invade Iraq from
thenorth -- and nothing happens to Turkey"

Nothing except fighting a campaign to put paid to the idea of an independent Kurdistan. Kinda hard to deny Turkey's own Kurds that there's no such thing - when they see it across the border in northern Iraq - kind of a mini Kurdistan free and semi functional.

And Turkey's no closer to the EU than it was before the 20 Day war. And having to host Little Satan's Air Force sometimes to keep their rowdy, Lebanon meddling neighbor in Damascus somewhat in line WMD wise.

"Bush warns Egyptian President Hosni Mubarak not to trample on human rights; the trampling continues -- and not only does nothing happen to Egypt, but on his
recent trip to the Middle East, Bush commends Mubarak for his commitment to
democracy."

Actually, the last one is a play from Dr K's own "Suck up to Hosni Song" that he sang in a possible fit of jealousy last year. Nothing happens to Egypt? Only that Hosni is a lot like the guy who adopted a baby python (constrictus palestinianus) fed it, nurtured it and now it could devour his regime.

"The next president can begin to rebuild U.S. influence, but he or she cannot
do it alone. The task requires rebuilding alliances, and that is a harder task
than before."

YAWN. More nations are drawing closer to Great Satan - like Poland, India, Pakistan, Ukrainia, Japan, SoKo, Taiwan, Canada, Deutschland, France, Philippines, Australia, - the list goes on and on. More nations realize that downsizing American dominance isn't really helping anyone and like France - realizes that if America does split - the world is less likely to instantly become a happy place where stability, tolerance and enlightenment reigns.

Professor Michael Mandelbaum, Foreign Policy and Internat'l expert at Johns Hopkins University reveals in his killer crunk "The Case for Goliath" that

"Every threat to internat'l order for which the United States bore responsibility after the Cold War involved a government that fell short of Western and economic standards.

Every security problem that the American government felt called upon to address would be alleviated, if not solved altogether, if the regimes responsible for them could be remade to American specifications. For the global economy and internat'l security, the United States functioned, in the wake of the Cold War, as the world's government."

Dr K redefines that unhappy fact. Military misfits dug their poisoned claws into weak minded elected pols poisoned by disasterous, daemonic, democratic day dreams

"They believed, and acted, as if American power were not only undimmed but
supreme and unchallengeable -- as if a president's grimace would still make tyrants tremble and the dispatch of light armies could remake the world."

Oh Snap! America Unbound did remake the world -

Regime changing Ba'Athist Iraq (with the largest Arab army in history in 20 days - no less).

Libya's Colonel Khadaffy trembled and gave up the ghost with his surprisingly advanced secret WMD witchcraft.

Decapitating the Taliban and driving them into a giant kill zone like the former 'No Go' Federated tribal turf in Pakistan.

Staring down Iran in Iraq with multiple Mahdi army massacres, Tehran trembled enough to yank Mookie's asset out of the Surge's Mookie minion mashing Bahgdad sweep. And sack Larajani. And their Revo Guard Commander.

The NIE 2007 'nuke free since '03' is 'moderately confident' that Iran "trembled" enough to forsake nukes and are left with only Kamikaze motorboat flotillas to sortee periodically.

The Land of the Pure's General President for Life trembled and dropped the 'General', stopped fiddling about with caliphaters, began killing them off instead, promised to hold a real election and overtly covertly invited Great Satan right on in the house.

Getting Japan to pull naval ops (under a very thin veneer of UN 'legitimacy') to protect Nippon's skirt flirt with military projection along with constitutional pacifism frees up regime killing regime changing global platforms to prowl the seas.

Isolating the HAMAS and using the entire Arab League to do it at Annapolis. Global stomping?
Of all the things that could be listed about the last 8 years - "supreme and unchallengable" is right up there with "universal values of the human spirit."

"The next president might try to rally an anti-Iran coalition of Sunni leaders in
the Middle East. But those leaders will need some enticements from the United
States to take the necessary risks. What deal would the next president offer to,
say, the Persian Gulf states near Iran to encourage them to join the enterprise?"

How about their own survival? If Arabs leaders need to defuse Palestine to deprive Iran of a strategic propaganda ploy to militarize and revolutionize Arab kingdoms to overthrow their leaders or plant resistence movements that tend to resist sovereign legit democracies more than resisting Little Satan - then the fear of what the Islamic Republic could do with an 800 lb nuke in the hood is totally off the hook.

Dr Kaplan does realize that diplomacy is often non profit jaw flapping that doesn't solve everything everytime but then he totally blows it by trying to paint a weak Great Satan that is helpless without the aid and abetment of unfree regimes who are primarily interested in maintaining their own power at any costs, destabilizing the hood, projecting projectile proliferation and a penchant for bomb squads to torment their neighbors.

"In many situations, though, the vital interests of two countries are simply
irreconcilable -- and neither has the power to make the other give in."

Now that is flat out Realpolitk - not even good code - and after 60 years of failed Foreign Policy like Dr. K's fave - is so last year - totally out of date in the new millenium. No new ideas, no hope and no future for Great Satan except as a broke no game player trekkin through a bizarro global hood where it's getting dark.

"The next presidents will have to get down in the dirt, strike deals and
trade favors. It's no longer morning in America, but it's not quite twilight
either."

In a way - this piece by Dr. K could be interpeted as saying far more about publicizing an inner ethical wrestling match and coming to terms with Realpolitik's failure. A potential personal epiphany super slide from the old school Cold War amoral, corrupt, cult of stability towards a new school, amoral, corrupt cult of stability.

A history do over and rewriting Great Satan's response to 911 is a very weak excuse for some realthink pursuit to reignite magical mythical stability, detente' or neo isolationist coexistence.

Realpolitik's real history is of wars, genocide, terrorism - in a word - failure. Hopes of a resurrection should really be as incinerated as surely as the nearly 3K innocents who made it to work that late summer day.

Outsourcing Great Satan's ideals and diminishing her dominance will be a tough sell in the new millenium, just like weak, boring, enemy encouraging handwringing that anything that happens is entirely Great Satan's fault.

"The next president can begin to rebuild U.S. influence, but he or she cannot
do it alone. The task requires rebuilding alliances, and that is a harder task
than before."

Since 911, Great Satan has demonstrated her will power, fire power and staying power to hit up scary places in the world, adapting, annihilating and allying.

A better case could be made that Great Satan's Globe Stomping DID remake the world. And Great Satan knows Her way around.

Cross posted at GSGF

Iran

In the Holy Sh!t department:

DAVOS, Switzerland (Reuters) - U.S. Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice said on Wednesday she believed the nuclear stand-off with Iran could be resolved diplomatically but that Tehran must not be allowed to become a nuclear weapons power.

Just one day after getting agreement on a draft U.N. Security Council resolution against Tehran, Rice offered the incentive of a "more normal relationship" and expanded trade if Iran gave up sensitive nuclear work, according to the prepared text of her speech to the World Economic Forum in Switzerland.

"Ultimately, though, we believe that we can resolve this problem through diplomacy," Rice said according to the text, which was distributed by conference organizers.

"If Iran would suspend its uranium enrichment and reprocessing activities - which is an international demand, not just an American one - then we could begin negotiations, and we could work over time to build a new, more normal relationship," she said.

Reuters

I wish I could find people that would trust me as much as the US government trusts Iran after the way it has acted.

heh and to make this 'special', this is my 666 post (cue eerie music)

Divine Intervention and the Date Police

Preacher Command in Tehran blitzes a ton of internet cafe's, computer clubs and tech saavy kids in their desperate doomed attempt to control socialising in a nation fixing to bust with young people.Colonel Nader Sarkari of the Mullahs Online Posse explains during a well earned break from targetting almost 500 online hot hook up spots why the regime is freaking out at unbridled internet access. Lawless hoods and out of control ho's are frequenting these shady establishments for a myriad of wicked purposes:

"Using immoral computer games, storing obscene photos ... and the presence of women wearing improper hijab were among the reasons why they have been closed down."

Goodluck. In a increasingly prohibitive society, fun of any kind is outlawed, contact with hotties (h'jibed or not) and hot guys severly limited, and no free media.

This Achilles heel is exploited by kids in Iran right now. Filter busters appear scrawled on the back of bus seats in Tehran's Mass Transit System - risable' rich as the current hand picked Pres of Iran has a PHD in traffic management and as mayor tried to segregate bus lines.

One of the Regimes top 20%ers, cleric Ahmad Khatami's announcement lends heavy despotic weight and talks plainly to kids - in a language they can easily understand. The regime desperately wants to dial in ancient days on the way back machine. Explaining that all mullahs in the Islamic Republic desire the very same

"Our people want their women to be able to go in the streets with respect and want their dignity to be protected, Our people want the society to be morally clean."

Only prob - "Our people" means the Mullahs. In their 'clean society' concepts are not easily upgraded to the New Millenial standards of free choice. The Mullah's clean society is a medievel society that sometimes considers concepts like shame and honor so dear (note these dear concepts often seem to be between the legs of their daughters, sisters, nieces and girl cousins).

In an illegitimate theocratic regime like Iran's, their particular brand of Sha Ria, alas, is as unpopular as any law, tradition or time honored practice tends to crush the human spirit. And when spirit crushing is in demand - break out the secret police.

Newly appointed Police Chief Brigadier-General Ahmad Reza Radan is no stranger to crisis or extremeis. As a young Revo Guard commander in the Iran Iraq war he's dealt with the human spirit and young people too.

Using 1000's of "Besiji's" - essentially teenage boys - many volunteered by their families to fight at the front as a Martyr's Battalion - Radan saw 1st hand the very creative use of human wave attacks when the Armies of the Ayatollah drove the Iraqis out of Iran and began payback counteroffensives that beseiged Basra for nearly six years. Despite the utmost in faith, tons of plastic keys to the gates of paradise and some of the very first duct tape Red China built - multi groups of boys bound together tended to have the same horrific failed effect when pitted against entrenched machine guns, mustard gas and fixed machine gun kill zones.

Even faithful Guard Commanders and their NCO's might suffer a slip of faith now an then. The waste of lives for gains measured in yards weighed heavily on a younger comrade who openly asked why Allah would allow such carnage among faithful children armed only with a plastic key and unlimited faith in Ayatollah Khomeini. Radan's answer was quite esoteric:

"How do you know Allah doesn't require these measures?"

Recently at one of the regimes fake "Police Fairs" Radan was available for questions by concerned citizens about Police crackdowns on music, dress codes and essentially unIslamic activity. One of the reporters of ISNA (Iranian Students News Agency) was brave enough (hasn't been heard from since Oct.) to quiz the General about a conversation cops and a girl which he had recorded a few days ago. Here are some parts of the conversation. (The girl is arrested in her car with her date.)

Police officer: Allah has sent me to arrest you and prevent a crime.
Girl: What are you talking about? What crime?
Police officer: You have sat together at this unusual time, inside a dark car, in a deserted area of the city.
Girl: Is it our CRIME? Allah has sent you for this?
Police officer: yeah, Allah knows if I wasn't here on time what a scandal could happen to your family.
Girl: It is not deserted here. There are many people there in the park and so may cars pass by here.
Police officer: I don’t know. I just know Allah has sent me…

ISNA then asked Radan about the admittedly unIslamic concepts of civil rights and if cops should treat people like this.

Radan's answering question was quite esoteric

"How do you know that officer was not sent by Allah?"

{Cross-posted at GreatSatansGirlFriend where GSGF is the author}

Sex in Iran

This post is by GSGF:

"I don't know what the book is about. But when the government bans a book, there is something interesting in it." Ahmad Abbasi says, forking out twice the book's price at an undisclosed location.

Life under an illegitimate regime like Iran's mullahs does have one benefit. You know when the government bans a book - it's got to be good. Especially one that made it through a first edition before the "Culture Ministry" caught the error.

"Memories of My Melancholy Whores" a Persian translation of Colombian writer Gabriel Garcia Marquez novel at first seems about as dangerous as listening to your 'rents Steely Dan box set.

Older guys trying to hook up with young hotties is the theme. Happens every Ladies Night in the Free World. Nothing major or government threatening - or is it?

In the Mohammedist preachers paradise of the Islamic Republic of Iran it is like Kryptonite in Smallville.

Culture Minister Mohammad Hossein Saffar Harandi has the sitch well in hand.

"Necessary measures have been taken to avoid reoccurrence of such a printing"

Such measures include sacking the censors for "negligence". Alas, the traditional despotic remedy may be too little too late. Over 5K copies have been printed and are selling out fast.

The novel of bummed out hoes deals with an old man who has been a customer of prostitutes his entire life. For his 90th Bday he wants to hook up with a 14 yo teenage virgin.

Just like a Steely Dan song - he falls hopelessly in love with her.

"The first edition has sold out but we were ordered not to publish the second edition," an employee with Niloofar Publications said Saturday, declining to give his name due to the sensitivity of the issue.

The Culture Ministry, whose censors are responsible to check the contents of books before print, said a "bureaucratic error" led to the government giving permission for the novel to be published.

Thankfully, Iran's faithful reported the oversight and the ban is now in place.

It was only banned after the Ministry of Culture received complaints from conservatives who believed the novel was promoting prostitution.

Far from driving the massess away from such blatant desire for Laffy Taffy literature, the ban may have actually backfired.

The ban has only provoked greater interest in the novel and on Saturday, copies of the book were being sold for more than twice their list price.

28yo Ahmad Abbasi says "I'm buying the book out of curiosity."
-----
Sources:
http://www.farsnews.com/English/farsnews.php
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2007/11/17/AR2007111700810.html?sub=AR
http://www.parstimes.com/gov_iran.html
http://www.iran-press-service.com/ips/articles-2005/november-2005/culture_crackdown_261105.shtml
http://www.lyricsfreak.com/s/steely+dan/hey+nineteen_20130113.html
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JGDHmDWe2iE

Truthers and Homosexuals

Ahmadinejad was at Columbia U. earlier (I'm not even going into the why) and was brought to task (slightly) on some subjects.

NEW YORK - Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad questioned the official version of the Sept. 11 attacks and defended the right to cast doubt on the Holocaust in a tense appearance Monday at Columbia University, whose president accused the hard-line leader of behaving like "a petty and cruel dictator."

Ahmadinejad smiled at first but appeared increasingly agitated, decrying the "insults" and "unfriendly treatment." Columbia President Lee Bollinger and audience members took him to task over Iran's human-rights record and foreign policy, as well as Ahmadinejad's statements denying the Holocaust and calling for the disappearance of Israel.

"Mr. President, you exhibit all the signs of a petty and cruel dictator," Bollinger said, to loud applause.

He said Ahmadinejad's denial of the Holocaust might fool the illiterate and ignorant.

"When you come to a place like this it makes you simply ridiculous," Bollinger said. "The truth is that the Holocaust is the most documented event in human history."[link]

None of this changes anything, he's still a madman and he still will deny the holocaust and continue to call for Israel's destruction. This next part was funny though:

Asked about executions of homosexuals in Iran, Ahmadinejad said the judiciary system executed violent criminals and high-level drug dealers, comparing them to microbes eliminated through medical treatment. Pressed specifically about punishment of homosexuals, he said: "In Iran we don't have homosexuals like in your country."

With the audience laughing derisively, he continued: "In Iran we do not have this phenomenon. I don't know who's told you that we have this."

I wonder if any of the 'rights' groups will protest the slime?

Nothing to See Here

After all the worrying and posturing against Iran's nuclear program, we can all finally breathe easy. According to Iran, they mean Israel no harm (heh):

Envoy: Iran poses no threat to Israel

By SLOBODAN LEKIC, Associated Press Writer
1 hour, 35 minutes ago

MUNICH, Germany - Iran's nuclear program is not a threat to Israel and the country is prepared to settle all outstanding issues with the International Atomic Energy Agency within three weeks, its top nuclear negotiator said Sunday.

Ali Larijani, speaking at a forum that gathered the world's top security officials, said Iran doesn't have aggressive intentions toward any nation.

"That Iran is willing to threaten Israel is wrong," Larijani said. "We pose no threat and if we are conducting nuclear research and development we are no threat to Israel. We have no intention of aggression against any country."

Iran insists it will not give up uranium enrichment, saying it is pursuing the technology only to generate energy. The United States and some of its allies fear the Islamic republic is more interested in enrichment's other application — creating the fissile core of nuclear warheads. (link)

Now that the question of Iran and the Middle East is settled, maybe we can tackle the really big problems like Global Warming Climate Change (heh).
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Reason to yawn

Filed: nukes, Iran, Middle East, Israel, terrorists, LordNazh

Acts of War (one-way?)

A little war talk over at the Washington Monthly. Kevin Drum posts about the attack on the Iranian consulate (note: not a consulate) in Iraq and quotes Andy McCarthy talking about it being an act of war.

ACT OF WAR....The big buzz today is that war with Syria and Iran is all but imminent. Over at The Corner, Andy McCarthy seems to be pretty happy about this:

With that in mind, the raid on the Iranian consulate in Iraq's Kurdish region has to be welcome news. We would certainly regard that as an act of war if the tables were turned.

Points for honesty, I guess. But what if it doesn't work? What provocation will we dream up next to ensure that we get the war conservatives so desperately want?

UPDATE: Nope, it turns out it wasn't a consulate. I guess we'll have to try something else after all.(link)

Notice how Drum states, "I guess we'll have to try something else..." {ellipsis mine-LN} on the fact that it wasn't a consulate (and therefore may not be an act of war). What Drum and his commenters (especially Blue_idiot_in_a_red_state) fails to remember (or is it this just not in their 'history') is that in 1979 the Iranians stormed the U.S. consulate and took people hostage. Now this is indeed an act of war and has never been answered.

Also, we have Iranian weapons in the hands of people in Iraq shooting at our soldiers, Iranian guardsmen (Quds) training terrorist to shoot at our soldiers (they stop being insurgents and become terrorist when they target civilians, think about it idiots). So now we have 3 acts of war (yes there are more over the intervening years, but I think this is enough to illustrate) against the U.S. by Iran. Where are the posts from Drum and tWM posters (and commenters) belaying that fact?

There won't be any. To those people, the U.S. is wrong (always) and no matter what any other country does, it is our fault if we do anything back except roll over and play France.

Read a few left-wing sites, in almost every thread there will be at least 1 (if not many) comments saying that '..so and so right-winger... should enlist and grow some... etc.), the ironic fact that these people say this from there home and not in the military is just ... lost?

Hi to the tWM readers/commenters who click here :) feel free to spit in my comments.
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Reason to fear the left in power
Filed: Iran, TWOT, anti-war, the Washington Monthly, Kevin Drum, acts of war, Iraq, history, LordNazh