4 replies to this topic

[qqqbear]

AsiaTimes
THE ROVING EYE
The return of the Keyboard Warriors
By Pepe Escobar

Waiting for the end of the world,
Waiting for the end of the world,
Waiting for the end of the world.
Dear Lord, I sincerely hope you're coming
‘cause you really started something.

-Elvis Costello, Waiting for the end of the world

Be afraid. Be very afraid. The Return of the Keyboard Warriors - a prized Return of the Living Dead spin-off - is at hand. From Republican chicken hawks to public intellectuals, right-wing America is erupting in renewed neo-conservative revolt. The year 2012 is the new 2002; Iran is the new Iraq. Whatever the highway - real men go to Tehran via Damascus, or real men go to Tehran non-stop - they want a war, and they want it now.

Go ahead and jump

Exhibit A is an op-ed piece at the Wall Street Journal [1] - similar to countless others popping up virtually everyday not only in this Masters of the Universe vehicle but also in the Washington Post and myriad rags across "Western civilization".

The festival of fallacies ranges from the usual "diplomacy has run its course" to "the sanctions are too late" - culminating in the right-wing weapon of choice; "Iran is within a year of getting to the point when it will be able to assemble a bomb essentially at will." Why bother to follow what the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) is doing, not to mention the National Intelligence Estimates released by the US intelligence community?

And why not add imperial disdain tinged with racism, as in "Iran is a Third World country that can't even protect its own scientists in the heart of Tehran". Of course not; they are being killed by the Iranian terror group Mujahideen-e-Khalq, merrily trained, financed and armed by Israel's Mossad, as US corporate media has just discovered. [2] Everybody in Iran has known this for months.

As a climax, still another fallacy - "the Islamic Republic means to destroy Israel" - unveils the real agenda; "the broader goal of ending the regime." Oh, if we could only have our Persian gendarme of the Gulf back.

This is what passes for geopolitical analysis in Rupert Murdoch-controlled US corporate media - read and relinked daily by the Masters of the Universe. Scary monsters, super freaks

Exhibit B is an op-ed piece at Tina Brown's The Daily Beast, [3] signed by Niall Ferguson, professor of history at Harvard, senior research fellow at Jesus College, Oxford, and senior fellow at the Hoover Institution, Stanford

http://www.atimes.co...t/NB11Ak02.html

[qqqbear]

Feb 11, 2012  

BOOK REVIEW
Decoding Obama's Iran policy
A Single Roll of the Dice: Obama's Diplomacy with Iran by Trita Parsi

Reviewed by Brian M Downing

Trita Parsi's first book, Treacherous Alliance (2008), displayed a masterful understanding of the open and hidden dealings between Iran, the United States and Israel over the past 35 years. This impressive follow-up, a study of events since President Barack Obama came to office in 2009, is welcome and exceptionally well-timed.

The new administration began with hopes of reaching out to Iran, but despite a promising beginning, no diplomatic breakthrough came. Parsi attributes this to inflexibility in Tehran, Washington, Jerusalem and Riyadh. Politicians and bureau consistently misinterpret signals from the other side, are loathe to show flexibility for fear of appearing weak, and ignore earnest efforts by intermediary countries. The conflict has become embedded in the thinking and institutions of all concerned countries.

Tehran was skeptical from the start of the Obama administration. Iran had helped the US to oust the Taliban from Afghanistan in 2001 and set up a new government the following year, but the George W Bush administration remained hostile. Following the US defeat in Iraq of Saddam Hussein in 2003, Iran made a bold overture to open a wide-ranging dialogue with the US. But it was rejected; the US did not speak to evil.

Iran, then, saw little likelihood that Obama would be able to break free of political restraints. His selection of Dennis Ross and Rahm Emanuel as key advisers did nothing to shake Tehran from its skepticism, as Tehran deemed them both pro-Israel partisans.


http://www.atimes.co...t/NB11Ak01.html

[HYPERTlGER]

The USA is a tool of the city of London.

[detachedbear]

HYPERTlGER, on 12 February 2012 - 05:26 PM, said:

The USA is a tool of the city of London.

Hey, calling the USA a "tool" is not very nice.

[detachedbear]

HYPERTlGER, on 12 February 2012 - 05:26 PM, said:

The USA is a tool of the city of London.

Hey, calling the USA a "tool" is not very nice.