The undertow of anti-Iranian fearmongering becomes stronger. This is a tremendous bit of totally baseless fearmongering from an Obama administration official in the New York Times, positing nuclear bomb collaboration between Iran and North Korea:
The Iranians are also pursuing uranium enrichment, and one senior American official said two weeks ago that “it’s very possible that the North Koreans are testing for two countries.” Some believe that the country may have been planning two simultaneous tests, but it could take time to sort out the data.
This is on a par withthe Bush administration’s totally false claim of links between Saddam Hussein and Al Qaida. There is no linkage between the governments of Iran and North Korea; both regimes are highly unpleasant in many ways, but they have utterly conflicting ideologies and absolutely zero history of political collaboration. This is ludicrous scaremongering fantasy.
New CIA haed John Brennan put Iran and North Korea into the same sentence with nuclear weapons in his Senate confirmation hearing. This aspect was overlooked by the mainstream media, which focused on Brennans defence of drone killings (and ludicrous claims of absence of bystander deaths). But Ray McGovern rightfully picked up on this part of his opening statement:
“regimes in Tehran and Pyongyang remain bent on pursuing nuclear weapons”.
As Ray points out, the US intelligence services own assessment is that while Pyongyang plainly is developing nuclear weapons, the situation in Tehran is much more nuanced. There is no clear intention of Iran to develop nuclear weapons. That Brennan gives a position at variance with the actual analysis of the agency he is to head is worrying, to say the least.
We have the same seamless and completely unjustified linguistic waving together of North Korean and Iranian nuclear programmes from former Israeli Foreign Minister and Netanyahu prop Liebermann quoted here:
Former Foreign Minister Avigdor Lieberman says North Korea’s nuclear test was an “obvious example” of diplomacy failing to curb a nuclear program. Lieberman told Army Radio on Wednesday that “anyone who thinks sanctions or negotiations will stop Iran is wrong.”
Iran remains the best justification for bloated military budgets and the next obvious target for war profiteers and hydrocarbon vultures. Expect a crescendo of this nonsense this summer/
@Villager,
I saw your post on the other thread; will digest & respond in a day or two.
I remember you were interested in the dire state of the US prison system, so maybe you will find this interesting;
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=t12LcsshpAE&feature=player_embedded
Kempe, you are aware, are you not, of the context in which Galloway made the remarks directed at Saddam?
Are you also aware of the subject of Rumsfelds discussions with the now deceased Butcher of Baghdad?
I suspect you are a troll.
The Evil Rise Again
NEW YORK – USA – In a remarkable admission by former Nixon era Secretary of State, Henry Kissinger, reveals what is happening at the moment in the world and particularly the Middle East. [ACCURATE SATIRE]
Speaking from his luxurious Manhattan apartment, the elder statesman, who will be 89 in May, is all too forward with his analysis of the current situation in the world forum of Geo-politics and economics.
“The United States is bating China and Russia, and the final nail in the coffin will be Iran, which is, of course, the main target of Israel. We have allowed China to increase their military strength and Russia to recover from Sovietization, to give them a false sense of bravado, this will create an all together faster demise for them. We’re like the sharp shooter daring the noob to pick up the gun, and when they try, it’s bang bang. The coming war will will be so severe that only one superpower can win, and that’s us folks. This is why the EU is in such a hurry to form a complete superstate because they know what is coming, and to survive, Europe will have to be one whole cohesive state. Their urgency tells me that they know full well that the big showdown is upon us. O how I have dreamed of this delightful moment.”
“Control oil and you control nations; control food and you control the people.”
Mr Kissinger then added: “If you are an ordinary person, then you can prepare yourself for war by moving to the countryside and building a farm, but you must take guns with you, as the hordes of starving will be roaming. Also, even though the elite will have their safe havens and specialist shelters, they must be just as careful during the war as the ordinary civilians, because their shelters can still be compromised.”
After pausing for a few minutes to collect his thoughts, Mr Kissinger, carried on:
“We told the military that we would have to take over seven Middle Eastern countries for their resources and they have nearly completed their job. We all know what I think of the military, but I have to say they have obeyed orders superfluously this time. It is just that last stepping stone, i.e. Iran which will really tip the balance. How long can China and Russia stand by and watch America clean up? The great Russian bear and Chinese sickle will be roused from their slumber and this is when Israel will have to fight with all its might and weapons to kill as many Arabs as it can. Hopefully if all goes well, half the Middle East will be Israeli. Our young have been trained well for the last decade or so on combat console games, it was interesting to see the new Call of Duty Modern Warfare 3 game, which mirrors exactly what is to come in the near future with its predictive programming. Our young, in the US and West, are prepared because they have been programmed to be good soldiers, cannon fodder, and when they will be ordered to go out into the streets and fight those crazy Chins and Russkies, they will obey their orders. Out of the ashes we shall build a new society, there will only be one superpower left, and that one will be the global government that wins. Don’t forget, the United States, has the best weapons, we have stuff that no other nation has, and we will introduce those weapons to the world when the time is right.”
Good reflinks in that article at the The Daily Squib couk ,including this Anonymous art: War
And thank heavens for the bright spark at The Newstatesman.
Whistleblower talks about when the Bush admin determined it would attack 7 countries:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pyEJ6Aja-UQ
Death knell sounds for the BBC, about bloody time too, it’s long been unfit for purpose.
Sorry to hear that Boaden has been inflicted on BBC Radio. Sad too that James Purnell has joined the BBC, as his legacy at the DWP: ESA, comes totally unravelled after 5 years of chaos, costs and misery inflicted on the vulnerable and sick. It just shows that the recipe for success in this society is a wide streak of cruelty, twisted ideology and incompetence.
It is as well that the TV license is an unenforcable voluntary subscription.
I had hoped for Purnell to have committed suicide by now. Scum it seems rises to the top.
This puts us in our place and will the asteroid pass by later today?
http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-2279020/It-like-scene-Armageddon-movie-More-500-people-injured-buildings-smashed-Russian-mobile-network-wiped-meteorite-shower-causes-widespread-panic.html
Villager, Macky and Doug Scorgie. It would obviously be sensible for me to stay out of this but I totally agree with what you are saying. You will get my drift.
Wrongly, I did think we were free of it.
Habbabkuk
I asked you: Why do you think Galloway is a bit of a fraud? Please elaborate.
You replied:
“If I were one of those people, the reason I would offer you… would be “because people like you and the other Eminences support him”.
So because people like me support him that’s all the evidence you need to consider Galloway a fraud?
What an idiot you are.
North Korea appears to be upgrading one of its two rocket launch sites, US experts say, perhaps in a move to test bigger rockets.
Activities around the new launch pad also revealed possible EVIDENCE OF ASSISTANCE FROM IRAN,
http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-asia-21468893
Dunt Dunt DAHHH!
Habbabkuk, CE and Kempe – the Axis of Stupidity. Always trolling but rarely, all together, on the same thread.
What would be the collective noun for the Eminences on this blog (Villager, Nevermind, Doug Scorgie et al?
How about “An Egregiousness of Eminences”?
Re who posts where, well, I have noticed that the individual who gets corrected or reproached rarely answers himself – it’s usually one of his fellow Eminences. Villager defends Nevermind, who in turn leaps to the defence of Doug Scorgie. Which leads one to suspect the presence of a pack. I, on the other hand, am capable of answering for myself.
I answer stupid questions put to intresting commenters, because i want them to keep on their topic and not mess about with the stupid little ruses that you emit Habbabkuk. Aye and youll even make little complaints about that.
@ ThatCrab – sorry I overlooked you, of course you’re also a member of the Egregiousness of Eminences. And I do admire your spirit of collegiality and self-sacrifice : it can’t be easy for you to keep intervening on behalf of fellow Eminences and getting owned for your pains.
Speaking of stupid little ruses, ThatCrab : give me just one example of a comment from me which has been refuted by reasoned argument and facts, as opposed to low abuse, juvenile name-calling and silly smears (eg, Zionist, man with an agenda…etc).
********
La vita è bella, life is good ! (even for a boiled-alive crab)
Habbabkuk, don’t get phobic. Don’t also forget that the “Eminences” is a figment of your imagination and you have conjured this up in self defence after multiple-attacks on your stalking/superintendent/brusque/tactless/self-righteous style. If you really had the intellect you claim, you would’ve “got it” by now. You have been counselled repeatedly by a variety of people with many appeals sincerely meant to little effect.
Btw, i have never come in Nevermind’s defence–in fact i have hardly ever engaged with him; far more with you.
I recall you and i made our (surprising even to me) peace. And the next day you started referring to me derogatorily as the Eminences.
I have even wondered if you have Asperger’s Syndrome or something akin, a subject i have some experience with. I don’t care for labels, but people with AS struggle socially in reading other people particularly when they are needling others, and don’t know where to stop. If you are at all aware you have some such characteristic, i/others too, i imagine, can be more understanding.
By the way, at least you are honest, you claim to have intellect, and make no claim to intelligence. I ask you, in your perspective, what is the difference?
Beelzebub
I fear it may be a sickness or loneliness of Eminences if Villager is anything to go by – having diagnosed me as bi-polar he has now assigned Asperger’s Syndrome to yourself. Perhaps one of the other Eminences should tell him that such behaviour if not particularly nice (especially given our host’s very honest writings on the subject) and that no serious person would attempt diagnosing such conditions by postings on a blog. He probably wouldn’t behave in such a manner to anyone he met in public – and all I can diagnose is a case of attention seeking possibly brought on by a lack of regular human contact.
Just imagine the reaction if you and I were to trade in similar insults – I rather doubt that we would be met by a quiet embarassed shuffling of feet. One piece of advice I would give Villager is think about what the sigh means in that rather good poem he posted by Robert Frost.
As for Galloway being present on the anti Saddam rallies etc. etc. when he was gassing the Kurds and Iranians – that isn’t what Ann Clwyd who led the campaign against Saddam at the time said – is it? And doesn’t being aware of that behaviour actually make his subsequent fawning even worse – “lets pop along to Tariq’s for Xmas, it’ll be a gas”
The man’s political philosophy is now fundamentally Baathist – and we all know how close that movement’s founders were to a certain right wing gentleman. I’m afraid the MP for Blackburn West is a sort of modern day Oswald Moseley.
@ Resident Dissident :
well, Villager’s just playing around, don’t you think? All part of the rough and tumble of this blog! I feel totally uncrushed and having studied the question have come to the conclusion that Mr Asperger and I are unconnected. 🙂
Les Piss, you really have something of the night about you, rather like your avatar. You are truly such a dummy. You address Habbabkuk as Beelzebub hoping to endear him on to your ‘side’! You obviously haven’t understood him for a second. Habbabkuk is a free spirit–he is nobody’s man except himself. Remember what Groucho Marx said: I don’t want to join a club that wants me as a member.
He also said referring to the door bell by the garbage-man: Tell him we don’t want any today.
Habby is twice as smart as you–i read every word he says, even if my gripe sometimes his style. Whereas you, you write garbage that nobody bothers with.
Wrt to ’embarrassment’ when you started hugging me and blowing me kisses here, i could only think that you had either lost your marbles or your wife or both. I can completely understand why she’d walk out on you and i can also completely understand if you were bi-polar.
When you’re strange, no one remembers your name… Check it out–it may open a door to understanding…
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QZN4qLSwS5U
@@ Resident Dissident
There’s a special extra hot place in Hell for the likes of Ann Clwyd, because like Colin Powell, she helped facilitate the Crime against Humanity that is the catastrophe that befell Iraq & its people; her hysterical & demented self-righteousness lead her to shrieking non-stop about “human shredding machines”, which was a demonizing lie to match Blair’s “45 minutes” & Bush’s “WMDs” & “al qaida links”
I rather take Tam Dalyell’s word that his recollection is that the only MP he can remember turning up to protests against Saddam back in the 1980’s was George Galloway.
I’ve also posted this before, but make no apology for reposting;
Letter in Independent Saturday May 21, 2005.
MR GALLOWAY I SALUTE YOU
Sir: The last time I met George Galloway, around the time of his expulsion from the Labour Party, he told me: “Tell your New Labour editor to stick his questions up his arse.” So I think it’s fair to say I don’t particularly owe him anything. But I will say this: I recall, as a young news agency reporter in, I think, 1989 or 1990, reporting on the unveiling of a memorial in a Glasgow park to Kurds massacred by Saddam Hussein’s forces. The main speaker at the event passionately condemned Saddam and his treatment of the Kurds, which at that time had received very little publicity. That speaker was George Galloway. He was the only politician there. And not a single newspaper, in Scotland or further afield, used the copy. And it was quite good copy, even though I say so myself.
RAYMOND HAINEY
Now that you have resurfaced, are you finally going to answer the question put to you many times now; if in the same situation as Assange, ie real risk of being shipped to a decades long stay at a US hell hole prison, if it were possible would you not also seek to avoid this by seeking sanctuary/asylum /guarantees against US extradition?
@Villager, just posted something for you on the other thread.
@ Villager :
Be fair, Resident Dissident only addressed me as Beelzebub because that’s how I described myself once (in jocular fashion); but it was on a older thread, so you probably don’t recall it.
Here’s another jocular comment (well, it is the weekend, after all) : are your flattering words designed to make Resident Dissident think we’re in an adulterous relationship, with the objective of getting him to divorce me?
*******
La vita è bella, life is good! (devilishly good)
Habbabkuk, thank you for explaining the history behind his flirtation with you. Yes that falls in the pre-Eminence period 😉
I’m into Freedom and Beauty myself, and given your other past declaration about your leanings (no, i don’t mean catholic), I know you can resist the overture. I also know that if she were beautiful, you would’ve fallen like a sucker.
On the matter of flattery, actually I did want to acknowledge, on behalf of the Eminences of course, your contribution by identifying the missing wiki-link on Daniel Bethlehem. The operative word is ‘objective’, you understand very well. But the operative action is ‘relationship’, i.e. tact.
Let’s have a week as light as its’ end shall we? And let the devils try to organise the truth.
@ Villager : I positively refuse to let you charm me into behaving! 🙂
Never say never, Habbabkuk. I know you can’t help yourself, but being aware is half the battle won.
Time for a cappuccino, molto schiuma (pronounced scuma). You can translate that for Res Diss if required. Oh well its not such a strong word in the end is it?
Have a good Sunday!
Habba
No need to translate for me – I’ve always seen his Eminence as molta schiuma. Sometimes, he really does need to get in touch with his feminine side.