Tonight on the NewsHour I watched Dennis Ross (former administration Mideast adviser) with a straight-face assert that we very well may be “sliding into war with Iran” -- actually, being FORCED into such a scenario -- because of Iran’s threat of nuclear enrichment.
Only let’s bottom-line it. “Iran’s NON-EXISTENT bomb” is the non-justification justification for a strike against Iran that would set off a deadly conflagration of God knows what intended and unintended U.S. and Israel imperialistic profits-over-who-gives-a-shit-how-many-dead-or-maimed-or-displaced-people consequences!
Non-existent weapon of mass destruction? Has a familiar ring to it, nes pa?
How ballsy the USWarMachine has gotten. They don’t even have “pretend” weapons of mass destruction any more as casus belli. The unproven “twinkle” of nuclear intention in Iran’s eye is now enough to go to war. A war that will be launched by or doggedly provoked by one country with over 5,000 warheads and/or another with over 200. But no one in corporate media ever brings up that international double standard.
Marjorie Cohnin "Pressure Israel, Not Iran":
... Iran has not attacked any country in some 200 years. In 1953, the CIA engineered a coup that replaced a democratic government in Iran with the vicious Shah. He ruled Iran with an iron hand for 25 years, wreaking torture and terror on Iranians while keeping Iran open to Western investment. When I visited Iran in 1978 as a human rights observer, there were dozens of U.S. corporations in downtown Tehran. One year later, the chickens came home to roost. The Iranian revolution overthrew the Shah, replacing him with a tyrannical theocracy that continues to violate the rights of the Iranian people. But that does not mean that Iran, if it does obtain nuclear weapons, will attack Israel. The Iranian government knows that Israel and the United States would retaliate with unimaginable military force that would devastate Iran and much of the Middle East.
Nevertheless, the official drum-beaters on the media declare it is Iran that is the BIG THREAT.
So I watched Margaret Warner politely and obsequiously nod to Mr. Ross, offering NO CHALLENGE, no followup question, to that righteous and all too familiar by now “offensive-defense” “pre-emptive” bullshit justification for war trotted out one more time before us, the INCREDIBLY impotent American citizenry.
One more time corporate media obediently lets the same propaganda garden path playbook be used for war, just like with Afghanistan, Iraq, Libya, etc.
Iran, one of the next countries on the USWarMachine’s (and that of Israel’s) bloody clipboard agenda for world hegemony.
Bill Van Aukenof wsws on the realpolitik of the pending Iran War:
While the ostensible concern driving US war threats is Iran’s nuclear program, the underlying motive is Washington’s determination to prevent Iran from emerging as a regional power capable of resisting the imposition of US imperialist hegemony over the oil rich regions of the Persian Gulf and Afghanistan.
Bordering both Iraq and Afghanistan and with significant influence in both countries, Iran has become an increasing preoccupation of US foreign policy amid the US military withdrawal from Iraq and the pending drawdown of US troops from Afghanistan. Tehran has opposed US efforts to establish a permanent military presence in both countries, while seeking to wrest control of the distribution of energy resources from US hands.
By ratcheting up the sanctions regime, Washington is now trying to strong-arm the rest of the world into joining its campaign against Iran. Passed unanimously by Democrats and Republicans in the US Senate and signed into law by President Barack Obama on New Year’s Eve, the new sanctions will go into effect in June, barring access to US markets for any third country public or private institutions that buy oil through the Central Bank of Iran.
It is an election year. Why, that alone makes it hard for the U.S. not to have another war, particularly with Iran. All those politicians, and I mean ALL THOSE POLITICIANS, including the President, posturing so hard not to be “soft on terrorism” and courting that powerful AIPAC backing.
Marjorie Cohnonce again on the U.S./Israel warmongering:
Neocons in Israel and the United States are escalating their rhetoric to prepare us for war with Iran. Even the infamous John Yoo, architect of George W. Bush’s illegal torture and spying programs, is calling on the Republican presidential candidates to “begin preparing the case for a military strike to destroy Iran’s nuclear program.”
[snip]
Under the 1968 Nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty (NPT), Iran has the legal right to produce nuclear power for peaceful purposes. The United Nations International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) has found no evidence that Iran is developing a nuclear weapons program. Defense Secretary Leon Panetta recently said on CBS that Iran is not currently trying to build a nuclear weapon.
Nevertheless, the United States and Israel are mounting a campaign of aggression against Iran. The United States has imposed punishing sanctions against Iran that are crippling Iran’s economy, and pressuring other countries and strong-arming financial institutions to stop buying oil from Iran, the world’s third largest exporter. The Obama administration is also preparing new punitive measures that target the Central Bank of Iran. And the House of Representatives voted overwhelmingly to pass the Iran Threat Reduction Act of 2011 which would outlaw any contact between U.S. government employees and some Iranian officials.
There is also evidence that Israel, with the possible assistance of the United States, has orchestrated the assassinations of at least five Iranian nuclear scientists or engineers since 2007. The New York Times reported: “The campaign, which experts believe is being carried out mainly by Israel, apparently claimed its latest victim on [January 11] when a bomb killed a 32-year-old nuclear scientist in Tehran’s morning rush hour.” These assassinations constitute acts of terrorism. There have also been cyber-attacks on Iranian centrifuges and an explosion at a missile facility last year that killed a senior general and 16 other people.
These acts of aggression are designed to provoke Iran to retaliate, including possibly closing the Strait of Hormuz, which will spark a war that could spread to the entire Middle East.
After all these years of bloody carnage after 9/11, the exploited “9/11” tragedy (and how curious the actual 9/11 hijacking murderers were all primarily from a country that isn’t even on the USWarMachine’s bloody clipboard) in which “mistakes were made” ... you know, that three-word cop-out of responsibility that accounts for literally millions of gratuitous deaths and devastated lives -- some still occurring as I type this. You try to do the math on what a war with Iran would mean.
Iran, by the way, ally of China AND Russia, among other countries. World War III, anyone? It is like the US and Israel are playing “bad cop” and “crazy cop” on the international stage. The crazy cop, by the way, allegedly perpetrating those provocative assassinations of Iranian nuclear engineers. And the US pleading innocence, meanwhile shoving that $3 billion of U.S. taxpayer money at Israel each year. Obama declares he has no influence or responsibility over the actions of Israel. Bullshit.
What are these two governments thinking? They assuredly are not feeling ... not for humanity, for damn sure.
“Being America is never having to say you are sorry.” In fact, being America is committing the same or escalated bloody obscene travesty over and over and over and over.
How can we, as citizens, stop them? How can we turn off the burner boiling up this next obscene and criminal war?
[cross-posted at correntewire and sacramento for democracy]
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Producing and selling weapons, whatever the projected cause or result is a rather profitable sector of the US economy
I hate NPR and PBS. They are owned by the corporations like the rest of the MSM but pretend to be public. Just look at the beginning of their shows when they say brought to you by war profiteering weapons makers, too big to fail banks, and other multinationals looking to stick it to us, oh and by viewers like you.
The other reason for wanting to attack Iran is that they are trying to sell their oil in currency other than the US dollar. This is what got Iraq and Libya in trouble. If the dollar is no longer the currency used for the oil markets, the US economy will crash.
The other reason for wanting to attack Iran is that they are trying to sell their oil in currency other than the US dollar. This is what got Iraq and Libya in trouble. If the dollar is no longer the currency used for the oil markets, the US economy will crash.
Jan, yes yes yes re producing and selling weapons for profit and power. money for the weapons, and the perk of the bloodshed from said weapons destabilizing the little guy countries from within or between each other for ultimate takeover and installation of puppet leaders. it is sub-basement evil. but look at our own politicians who assert that weapons manufacturers are giving jobs, who gives a sh*t about the consequences of carnage and destabilization. Thanks for commenting! libby
Alaska, thanks for your comment!
yes, those corporate sponsors are deadly to not-so-public tv.
Yes, yes, yes, the threat to the dollar sealed the fate of Hussein and Gadaffi, etc. I meant to get into a Pepe Escobar article above but then had done so much emotional ranting about war I decided not to, but I am glad you brought the issue up. Here is a quote from escobar about the dissing of the dollar by Iran and others that is VERY TROUBLING to the US bastards of the universe (politicians, military and oligarch pimps):
http://www.commondreams.org/view/2012/01/18-4
The Myth of “Isolated” Iran
Following the Money in the Iran Crisis
by Pepe Escobar
"That Iranian isolation theme only gets weaker when one learns that the country is dumping the dollar in its trade with Russia for rials and rubles -- a similar move to ones already made in its trade with China and Japan. As for India, an economic powerhouse in the neighborhood, its leaders also refuse to stop buying Iranian oil, a trade that, in the long run, is similarly unlikely to be conducted in dollars. India is already using the yuan with China, as Russia and China have been trading in rubles and yuan for more than a year, as Japan and China are promoting direct trading in yen and yuan. As for Iran and China, all new trade and joint investments will be settled in yuan and rial.
"Translation, if any was needed: in the near future, with the Europeans out of the mix, virtually none of Iran’s oil will be traded in dollars.
"Moreover, three BRICS members (Russia, India, and China) allied with Iran are major holders (and producers) of gold. Their complex trade ties won’t be affected by the whims of a U.S. Congress. In fact, when the developing world looks at the profound crisis in the Atlanticist West, what they see is massive U.S. debt, the Fed printing money as if there’s no tomorrow, lots of “quantitative easing,” and of course the Eurozone shaking to its very foundations.
"Follow the money. Leave aside, for the moment, the new sanctions on Iran’s Central Bank that will go into effect months from now, ignore Iranian threats to close the Strait of Hormuz (especially unlikely given that it’s the main way Iran gets its own oil to market), and perhaps one key reason the crisis in the Persian Gulf is mounting involves this move to torpedo the petrodollar as the all-purpose currency of exchange.
"It’s been spearheaded by Iran and it’s bound to translate into an anxious Washington, facing down not only a regional power, but its major strategic competitors China and Russia. No wonder all those carriers are heading for the Persian Gulf right now, though it’s the strangest of showdowns -- a case of military power being deployed against economic power.
"In this context, it’s worth remembering that in September 2000 Saddam Hussein abandoned the petrodollar as the currency of payment for Iraq’s oil, and moved to the euro. In March 2003, Iraq was invaded and the inevitable regime change occurred. Libya’s Muammar Gaddafi proposed a gold dinar both as Africa’s common currency and as the currency of payment for his country’s energy resources. Another intervention and another regime change followed.
"Washington/NATO/Tel Aviv, however, offers a different narrative. Iran’s “threats” are at the heart of the present crisis, even if these are, in fact, that country’s reaction to non-stop US/Israeli covert war and now, of course, economic war as well. It’s those “threats,” so the story goes, that are leading to rising oil prices and so fueling the current recession, rather than Wall Street’s casino capitalism or massive U.S. and European debts. The cream of the 1% has nothing against high oil prices, not as long as Iran’s around to be the fall guy for popular anger."
As energy expert Michael Klare pointed out recently, we are now in a new geo-energy era certain to be extremely turbulent in the Persian Gulf and elsewhere. But consider 2012 the start-up year as well for a possibly massive defection from the dollar as the global currency of choice. As perception is indeed reality, imagine the real world -- mostly the global South -- doing the necessary math and, little by little, beginning to do business in their own currencies and investing ever less of any surplus in U.S. Treasury Bonds."
yes, those corporate sponsors are deadly to not-so-public tv.
Yes, yes, yes, the threat to the dollar sealed the fate of Hussein and Gadaffi, etc. I meant to get into a Pepe Escobar article above but then had done so much emotional ranting about war I decided not to, but I am glad you brought the issue up. Here is a quote from escobar about the dissing of the dollar by Iran and others that is VERY TROUBLING to the US bastards of the universe (politicians, military and oligarch pimps):
http://www.commondreams.org/view/2012/01/18-4
The Myth of “Isolated” Iran
Following the Money in the Iran Crisis
by Pepe Escobar
"That Iranian isolation theme only gets weaker when one learns that the country is dumping the dollar in its trade with Russia for rials and rubles -- a similar move to ones already made in its trade with China and Japan. As for India, an economic powerhouse in the neighborhood, its leaders also refuse to stop buying Iranian oil, a trade that, in the long run, is similarly unlikely to be conducted in dollars. India is already using the yuan with China, as Russia and China have been trading in rubles and yuan for more than a year, as Japan and China are promoting direct trading in yen and yuan. As for Iran and China, all new trade and joint investments will be settled in yuan and rial.
"Translation, if any was needed: in the near future, with the Europeans out of the mix, virtually none of Iran’s oil will be traded in dollars.
"Moreover, three BRICS members (Russia, India, and China) allied with Iran are major holders (and producers) of gold. Their complex trade ties won’t be affected by the whims of a U.S. Congress. In fact, when the developing world looks at the profound crisis in the Atlanticist West, what they see is massive U.S. debt, the Fed printing money as if there’s no tomorrow, lots of “quantitative easing,” and of course the Eurozone shaking to its very foundations.
"Follow the money. Leave aside, for the moment, the new sanctions on Iran’s Central Bank that will go into effect months from now, ignore Iranian threats to close the Strait of Hormuz (especially unlikely given that it’s the main way Iran gets its own oil to market), and perhaps one key reason the crisis in the Persian Gulf is mounting involves this move to torpedo the petrodollar as the all-purpose currency of exchange.
"It’s been spearheaded by Iran and it’s bound to translate into an anxious Washington, facing down not only a regional power, but its major strategic competitors China and Russia. No wonder all those carriers are heading for the Persian Gulf right now, though it’s the strangest of showdowns -- a case of military power being deployed against economic power.
"In this context, it’s worth remembering that in September 2000 Saddam Hussein abandoned the petrodollar as the currency of payment for Iraq’s oil, and moved to the euro. In March 2003, Iraq was invaded and the inevitable regime change occurred. Libya’s Muammar Gaddafi proposed a gold dinar both as Africa’s common currency and as the currency of payment for his country’s energy resources. Another intervention and another regime change followed.
"Washington/NATO/Tel Aviv, however, offers a different narrative. Iran’s “threats” are at the heart of the present crisis, even if these are, in fact, that country’s reaction to non-stop US/Israeli covert war and now, of course, economic war as well. It’s those “threats,” so the story goes, that are leading to rising oil prices and so fueling the current recession, rather than Wall Street’s casino capitalism or massive U.S. and European debts. The cream of the 1% has nothing against high oil prices, not as long as Iran’s around to be the fall guy for popular anger."
As energy expert Michael Klare pointed out recently, we are now in a new geo-energy era certain to be extremely turbulent in the Persian Gulf and elsewhere. But consider 2012 the start-up year as well for a possibly massive defection from the dollar as the global currency of choice. As perception is indeed reality, imagine the real world -- mostly the global South -- doing the necessary math and, little by little, beginning to do business in their own currencies and investing ever less of any surplus in U.S. Treasury Bonds."
I have a lot to say, Libby, but Jan Sand beat me to the punch. This is it. Excellent post. R
How to turn it off indeed? I don't know how.The drum-beat for Still Another War is relentless and goes unquestioned, unchallenged, in the MSM. I live in small-town America when so many young men are eager to volunteer for military service because there simply are no other job or educational opportunities in existence--and because military service is so glorified, admired, and romanticized. Those that don't go into the military often aspire to become cops or prison guards. Penology and militarism seem to now be America's only two "growth industries with a real future and a chance for advancement." A society increasingly based on Coercion & Control: the wave of the future? [R, of course]
♥╔═══╦╗╔╗╔╦═══╦═══╦════╗♥
♥║╔═╗║║║║║║╔══╣╔══╣╔╗╔╗║♥
♥║╚══╣║║║║║╚══╣╚══╬╝║║╚╝♥
♥╚══╗║╚╝╚╝║╔══╣╔══╝─║║
♥║╚═╝╠╗╔╗╔╣╚══╣╚══╗─║║
♥╚═══╝╚╝╚╝╚═══╩═══╝─╚For the responsible thing to do.
♥║╔═╗║║║║║║╔══╣╔══╣╔╗╔╗║♥
♥║╚══╣║║║║║╚══╣╚══╬╝║║╚╝♥
♥╚══╗║╚╝╚╝║╔══╣╔══╝─║║
♥║╚═╝╠╗╔╗╔╣╚══╣╚══╗─║║
♥╚═══╝╚╝╚╝╚═══╩═══╝─╚For the responsible thing to do.
What really gets me is that Iran has currently replaced the Soviets in trying to fool us with anticapitalist propaganda. There is a lot of concern about nonviolent guru Gene Sharp, whose materials are widely used in OWS protests. It's a matter of public record that Sharp used to work for the CIA and CIA-linked foundations. This information about Sharp's early history first originated with Thierry Massan, editor of Voltaire.net, in 2005. Interesting that the Daily KOS blames Iran for starting these vicious rumors.
See http://www.dailykos.com/story/2011/02/17/946086/-How-Egypt-happened:-Gene-Sharp-and-Optor-and-years-of-organizing
See http://www.dailykos.com/story/2011/02/17/946086/-How-Egypt-happened:-Gene-Sharp-and-Optor-and-years-of-organizing
by shutting off the gas, of course...
and lighting the fire of conscious indignation.
Saludos libby~
and lighting the fire of conscious indignation.
Saludos libby~
Its is worth remembering that before the revolution in 1979 there were peaceful protests which were suppressed with violence by the Shah. Action from the US was minimal if it existed at all; they probably made the usual protests with no back up. They missed an opportunity to allow a transition to the less radical students that wanted democracy instead the got a theocracy.
Now they won't be satisfied unless the Iranians have an enormous amount of incentive to try to build a nuke; so their giving it to them.
Now they won't be satisfied unless the Iranians have an enormous amount of incentive to try to build a nuke; so their giving it to them.
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