Rumor Mill

All the jazz about Piracy offshore the number one failed state in the entire world also fires up 'conspiracy' theories.

Ah yes - the charming thing about conspiracy is that when a machination is real - no one ever suspects. When it is fantasy - every one 'knows' (Biblical sense - not included).

Abdul Rahman Al-Rashed, the general manager of Al -Arabiya, recently shared a few pirate rumors from the most rumor rich hood of them all - the ME.

"It is still incomprehensible as to how mere gangs of possibly
illiterate bandits are able to highjack large sophisticated ships in an area teeming with international naval fleets?

The answer to this question is divided between those who said that these operations were carried out by Little Satan's marine commandos, and others who fear that they were carried out by Iranian marine commandos.

Little Satan pretending to be pirates?

"Some from the onset promoted the idea that the Israelis were the
actual pirates under the guise of the Somalis. And what is their reason for this? They claim that the Israelis want to impose their presence and could find no other regional issue allowing them to do so except to offer Israeli assistance in confronting these pirates."

However, the brainiacs behind this rumor are unhappily unaware that Little Satan, like all the other nations and navies can nautically trek about Red Sea as long as they remain in international waters 15km off the shores of Yemen and Somalia.

"There is no need for the Israelis to masquerade as Somali pirates,
since their navy has for decades been able to sail across the Mandeb Strait without fear of being fired on by Yemenis or any others."

The Mandeb Strait is considered international waters and not under the sovereignty of any local government, except the Suez Canal which is under full sovereignty of the Egyptian government.

Therefore there is no logical justification for the Israelis to do this
for the purpose of securing a military presence in a region which it knows better than its own inhabitants do."

Perhaps Persian provocateurs? Another 'strategic/tactical minority?'

"The second group believes that these pirates are nothing more then just an extension of the Iran-sponsored militias in the region, like Hamas and Hizballah. From the behavior and goals of the pirates they deduce that they are just another front for the regional war with Iran.

They say that the capabilities of these pirates are proof of this;
since the pirates are not just another poorly-armed gang. They say that the pirates are in possession of early information with regards to navigation route and that they select accurate targets, and were able to undertake operations like professionally trained marine commandos. The pirates board large ships from small boats, then take full control of the ship until they sail it into port.

When they hijacked the Saudi Arabian super-tanker the "Sirius
Star", the pirates took complete control of the ship so quickly that the crew was not even able to make a distress call.

This second group sees this as proof that these pirates are more
than what they seem, for they were able to hijack a ship equipped with advanced warning systems, a super-tanker that is so large that it takes one hour to traverse its deck on foot. Moreover it took the pirates two days to sail this ship to the Somali coast with the help of advanced guidance and navigation.

This is like stealing a giraffe from the zoo in broad daylight and sneaking her home without anybody noticing anything.

Yet why would the Iranians initiate conflict in the open seas where
American naval strength prevails, especially since Iran has a weak presence in the Gulf Sea, which is close to their own regional waters?

In our world where conflicts are ongoing and the hiring of armed
militias is a reality, these Somali bandits might carry out operations for a power like Iran, Israel, or even the Great Satan.

However, it is well known that such an act will eventually backfire, since these pirates will eventually bite the hand that feeds them."

Pic - "Rumours Mill" by Siebe

Mumbai Massacre

Almost two days after terrorists attacked the Indian financial hub of Mumbai, the military is still working to root out the remnants of the assault teams at two hotels and a Jewish center. More than 125 people, including six foreigners, have been killed and 327 more have been wounded. The number is expected to go up, as Indian commandos have recovered an additional 30 dead at the Taj Mahal hotel as fighting has resumed.

Mumbai Massacre is way different from other mohammedist type attacks - instead of massive truck bombs or scores of munition enhanced makebelieve martyrs, Mumbai was more like a military op.

So far, no one has made the connection with the Beslan school massacre carried out by Chechen and foreign creeps and jihadis that tormented an entire town in Russia.

Perhaps they should.

The operational prep for such an attack is amazing.

Operational security for such a horrific event is tough to maintain and requires organization, discipline and exceptional motivation.

First off - the planning, training and equiping of an attack like this involved tons of data, raw intell and onsite knowledge.

An estimated 12 to 25 terrorists are believed to have entered Mumbai by sea. After landing, the attack teams knocked out the local police, (killing Mumbai's chief anti terror cop along with his especially trained cadre) then split into spearhead teams to attack 'soft', weak and helpless innocents at hotels, cafes, cinemas, even hospitals. Civilians were gunned down and taken hostage, while terrorists looked for people carrying foreign passports.

Indian Coast Guard, Navy, Mumbai maritime police, and customs units have scoured the waters off Mumbai in search of a "mommie ship" that transported one or more smaller Gemini inflatable boats used by the attackers. Unverified reports alledge one of the craft land in Colaba in southern Mumbai and vomited eight to 10 fighters.

Two ships that have been boarded are strongly suspected of being involved in the attacks: the Kuber, an Indian fishing boat, and the MV Alpha, a Vietnamese cargo ship. Both ships appear to have been directly involved. The Kuber was hijacked on Nov. 13, and its captain was found murdered. Four crewmen are reported to still be missing.

Indian security officials found what they believe is evidence linking the boat to the attack, as well as linking the attackers to Pakistan.

"A GPS map of south Mumbai was found along with a satellite phone
on the ship, Coast Guard officials confirmed.
There were reports that this phone was used to make calls to
Karachi immediately before the shootings began in Mumbai."

Indian police also detained three terrorists from the Pakistan-based Lashkar-e-Taiba, a terror group closely allied with al Qaeda. The three men are said to be Pakistani nationals, and claimed to have been part of a 12-man team that launched from the MV Alpha. They said the MV Alpha departed from Karachi.

The Mumbai attack is something different. Foreign assault teams that likely trained and originated from outside the country infiltrated a major city to conduct multiple attacks on carefully chosen targets.

The primary weapon was the gunman, not the suicide bomber. The attack itself has paralyzed a city of 18 million.

And two days after the attack began, Indian forces are still killing killers.

pic - "Les Impressions Mumbai" by Florintine Asch

Thankful

Off all the millions of things to be thankful for - the things that come so easily to recite and the majority that doesn't. Me Maws, Paw paws, rowdy little boy cuz'ses that want to wrestle and beat the living daylights out of you, low deductable auto insurance - all the great stuff that makes life so sweet.

Perhaps the most awesome blessing anyone could have to be thankful for is America.

Everything else seems to fall into place.

Pic - 4am Mall Call 2005

Girls Of Riyadh

Saudiland's recent smoke and mirrors event at UN featuring that wicked old despot king of intolerance himself Abdullah is a risible exercise in the absurb.

Dr David Keyes at the Adelson Institue for Strategic Studies points out how retarded the entire event was:

"Abdullah should be awarded a medal not because he called for plurality, tolerance, and moderation, but because he did so with a straight face. That the ruler of one of the most repressive and despotic nations on Earth convinced anyone to listen to his peroration points only to our willful delusion and profound moral ineptitude."

As Abdullah waxed poetic at the U.N., the West should be working furiously to undermine his regime. Liberty must not be sacrificed on the altar of perceived economic stability. The Saudi people are being radicalized and alienated under the oppressive thumb of King Abdullah and the Wahhabist imams he subsidizes.

For Saudi Arabia to preside over a U.N. conference on tolerance is akin to Iraq being offered the chair of the U.N. Committee on Disarmament (with as Iran co-chair!) or Libya being elected to lead the U.N. Human Rights Committee. Never before have such ferocious foxes guarded such naïve hens.


Any sane discussion about tolerance would feature Saudi Arabia as the precise opposite of what is desired. Abdullah would be roundly castigated and one leader after another would denounce his regime. But that would be asking too much, for it would require a modicum of moral clarity and the ability to stand up for something other than immediate economic gain."

Total control and all it's trappings that despotpedia can provide - like a computerized police state, secret police, 'Ministries of Virtue and Vice Prevention" along with secret trials, secret prisons and secret executions actually fires up desires and wishes that are human - and universal.

Like the hottie naughty underground best seller "Girls Of Riyadh" by Rajaa Alsanea. A sexy sex confessional written as an online blog, set among the closeted female society of modern Saudi Arabia.

Every Friday after prayers, the unnamed narrator 'posts' the latest sexual exploits and experiences of her four upper-class female friends as they text and flirt with men, pop abroad for cosmetic surgery and wear designer clothes – all conducted under cover of the veil.

The book's own success mirrors that of the girls' secret existence: initially unavailable in Saudi, it became an underground smash hit and has topped the Arabic language best-seller lists.

Alsanea's narrative both mimics and is entrenched within its characters' Web and text-speak; as a novel, it lacks depth, characterisation and narrative drive (remind you of anyone else?!).

Yet it boldly explodes Western preconceptions of life in one of Mohammedism's most repressive societies and, as such, surely resembles an act of enormous courage and hope.

Surgeistan

The original gangsta Vulcan, the ever avuncular popular Regime Changin' rowdy ex Def Sec Donald Rumsfeld (and still hot! for an ancient cat - maybe it's all those superior hand gestures he's mastered over the years) reminds Great Satan, her friends, frienimes and oath sworn enemies that the urge to Surge in Afghanistan, Talibanistan and Pakistan is the way forward.

"The way forward in Afghanistan will need to reflect the current
circumstances there — not the circumstances in Iraq two years ago. Additional troops in Afghanistan may be necessary, but they will not, by themselves, be sufficient to lead to the results we saw in Iraq. A similar confluence of events that contributed to success in Iraq does not appear to exist in Afghanistan.

What’s needed in Afghanistan is an Afghan solution, just as Iraqi
solutions have contributed so fundamentally to progress in Iraq. And a surge, if it is to be successful, will need to be an Afghan surge.

Left unanswered in the current debate is the critical question of
how thousands of additional American troops might actually bring long-term stability to Afghanistan — a country 80,000 square miles larger than Iraq yet with security forces just one-fourth the size of Iraq’s. Afghanistan also lacks Iraq’s oil and other economic advantages.

It is plagued by the narcotics trade. Its borders are threatened by
terrorist sanctuaries in Pakistan. Fractured groups of Pashtun tribesmen on both sides of the Afghanistan-Pakistan border do not yet appear willing to unite and take on the insurgents in their midst, as Arab tribes did in Iraq.

To do this, the size of the Afghan National Army will need to be
increased well beyond its 70,000 or so troops and its training accelerated. More American forces will need to undertake the unglamorous work of embedding with Afghan soldiers as advisers, living and fighting together. Kingpins and senior facilitators in the thriving poppy industry that helps to fuel the insurgency will need to be treated as military targets, as Qaeda and Taliban leaders are.

Reconstruction projects should be focused on provinces and towns
that are cooperating with the Afghan government, instead of making blanket commitments to increase foreign assistance across Afghanistan and possibly fostering a culture of dependence.

The current suggestion of “opening negotiations” with the Taliban may
well win over some low- and mid-level supporters, but if history is any guide, offering the hand of peace to hardened fanatics is not likely to prove successful. Aggressive action against Taliban and Qaeda sanctuaries in Pakistan will need to continue.

Pakistani officials will have to isolate any factions in their military and intelligence services that are sympathetic to the Taliban. "

As Surgin' General Petraeus (codenamed P4 in Great Satan's regime changin' enemy killing speak) is the cat to make it happen cap'n, overnight success is cool - but taking time and doing it right - once and for all is the real deal.

"The singular trait of the American way of war is the remarkable
ability of our military to advance, absorb setbacks, adapt and ultimately triumph based upon the unique circumstances of a given campaign."

Thus it has been throughout our history. And thus it will be in
Iraq and Afghanistan, if we have the patience and wisdom to learn from our successes, and if our leaders have the wherewithal to persevere even when it is not popular to do so."

Pic - "America AIN'T what's wrong with the world"

Realpolitik Redux

"Realist." In the after math of the Iraq War, realpolitik and her hand maidens of realism, containment and detente' are upgrading their always under the surface mode into an out of the closet event that could seriously affect Great Satan's foreign policy.

Like with Iran.

Ex CIA spy guy Robert Baer's "The Devil We Know" advocates an incredible return to realpolitik with an almost surrealist (NPI!) bent.

Essentially, Iran is a super power right now. Thus, sitting down and cutting deals with Iran should go far beyond any uranium enrichment interruptus tete' a tete'.

Persia has wielded her soft power like armed proxies, EFP's and shia mohammedism into an undeniable force that needs to wipe clean and draw again the face of the ME.

While corrupt Sunni govs have fired their illit populations against Little Satan for decades with nothing to show for it - the shia's - armed, led, fed and funded by Persians have actually put their money where their mouth is - conducting combat ops with propaganda coups that have marginalized sunnis like Fatah, co opted sunnis like the HAMAS and are riding a wave of shia perceived success that sunnis can only look to Great Satan (now, there's irony for you!) to prevent.

The shia crescent from Persia to the Med and Red Sea.

Iran is the only true nation state in the ME with a long - and legit history of actually being a nation state.

Despite everyone's best efforts - Iran is truly the only 'stable' nation in that neck of the woods. Not one of the 22 members of the Arab league could claim that.

The 1916 Sykes-Picot makebelieve border map is now fully defunct.

Iraq should be dissolved into 4 bits: Shia Baghdad, Sunni Anbar, independent Kurdistan and a new Iranian province comprising Basra, Najaf, Karbala and Kuwait.

The gulf states of Bahrain (outright annexation by Iran) Qatar, the UAE and Saudi Arabia are Persia's any time she wants them. And Mullahopolis doesn't call their Ayatollah in Chief the "Supreme Leader" for nothing.

Since Saudiland is comparatively weak militarily with Iran, The House of Saud should cut a deal granting Iran the control of Mecca and Medina.

Jordan devolves into the new Palestinian State. Gaza goes to either Egypt or Little Satan. West Bank defaults to Little Satan with joint control of Jerusalem

And Bashar and Hiz'B'Allah get all of Lebanon to divy up as the new, improved version of 'Greater Syria' at the same incredible instant Land of the Pure sweetly desolves into 5 brand new ethnically, dialectically different tiny tiny Tribal areas.

Tiny tiny mini states fully stocked with Taliban. Easy access for Great Satan's righteously thorough intense enjoyment with sweet leisured indepth intervention with all her powers - women's rights, humanitarianism, literacy, concern, educators, academics, engineers and sexyful applications of the Univeral Values, doubleteamed with the Democratic Imperatives.

All that hot on the heels of capturing or killing (either is totally cool) Supervillan OBL would be the meds America's 'stomach for success"

Collecting a discombobulated Pakistan's nukey WMD withcraft armoury is an event avec Iranian intell and ops would certainly be an essential confidence building measure.

Curiously though - few alternate options are considered - an endless war with Great Satan supplying occupational muscle financed by sunni bling, a "Mad Max" option of Great Satan splitting just after starting a shia sunni regional war or the afore mentioned grand bargaineering.

Curious - surely an ex CIA spy guy would have an informed op about a regime killing regime change.

Baer also counts on petrol remaining over the $130 bucks a barrel price tag too and weirdly insists Iran is not a police state, that Arabs everywhere love Iran because they are the only force on earth that can mobilize proxies to stand up to Little Satan and that Iran's military is a magical invincible force - fully crunk with missiles, armour, combat jets and the world famous Revolutionary Guard while discounting internal dissent, a pitiful economy and Great Satan.


Pic "The Immortal" by Sina Tasdighi

Redefine Great

Dr Jack Perry, ex ambassador to Bulgaria way back in the last millennium and on again off again academic (he also shares an uncanny resemblence to jolly old St. Nick) unleashed a bizzaro blend of conjecture that cautions patience and perhaps the need to re define 'greatness' in the new millennium.

"Half of us still think we are the superpower who bestrides the earth
like a colossus and can enforce our will on the world. Others see a different world, with new challenges – many of them not at all susceptible to military solutions – and with the United States no longer in the position of unchallengeable dominator.

This does not boil down to questioning American greatness. It does
boil down to defining “great” in novel ways, and understanding that meeting energy needs and healing the global environment and suppressing human rights violations may be just as vital as combatting terrorism or fighting traditional wars.

Ah yes! The 'New Era' and old school concepts like reaching out to enemies - after all - everything is only a matter of communications, signals mixed - negotiations can cure everything!

"You will not be surprised to hear that a former diplomat believes
we are entering a new period when statesmanship will turn increasingly to negotiation, to the partnership of nations and people and groups, and away from guns and supersized “defense” budgets. Isn't this the same liberal twaddle we heard in the '20s and '30s?

No, I sincerely believe we are fated to enter a time now when the
uniting of the nations and peoples against common problems will start to take precedence over that everlasting question, who is most powerful?

We as a nation are so imbued with military ways of looking at the
political world that we are not too far from militarism itself, from thinking that guns and bombs and soldiers and ships take precedence over all politics and all diplomacy. That needs to change, and Obama can't do all the changing."

Great Satan's rowdy readiness to go anywhere and do anything to defend herself and her allies (averaging one intervention every 16 months since 1990) actually answered that everlasting quiz.

Looking at political and diplomatic issues with a big stick in hand (that friends, frienemies and enemies can spot a mile away) is exactly what has ushered in the 'new era'

pic - "Diplopolititary"

Pirate Proof

Since Somalia's pirate boom has resulted in record booty (like 9 ships in 12 days), the world's navies are stepping up patrols and combatty ops all around the thorny looking horn of Africa.

Pirates, are all about the booty.

.

Waves of advice, do a Surge with the Navy, don't do a Surge - go after the sea ports.

Rescue ops are reactionary - and dangerous.

To really get a death grip on it - offensive ops are the only way to go and the AO (Area of Operations for the non nautical) are increasing as pirates organize, bling for sophisticated tech and plot their raids miles away from shore with 'mommie ships' like the one India's INS Tabar literally blasted out of the water.

British Royal Navy Commodore Keith Winstanley, deputy commander of the Combined Maritime Forces in the Middle East, said he feared no amount of coalition forces would be sufficient to secure the 2.5 million sq nautical miles of the Gulf of Aden, let alone the Indian Ocean waters where the supertanker was seized.

“The pirates will go somewhere we are not. If we patrol the Gulf of
Aden then they will go to Mogadishu. If we go to Mogadishu, they will go to the Gulf of Aden.”

Way back in the last millennium, when a royal family lo down ho down finally busted out into the first world war, Allied commerce faced a very similar threat.

Revolutionary technology like submarines - or Unterzeeboot - U - Boats in nautical slang, cruised sea lanes unsweetly torpedoing tonnes of precious materials, munitions, food and people.

Then, like today - the vast trackless expanse of oceans made it nigh impossible for warships to be everywhere at once.

And Germany had a field day.

An early weapon against the u -boat threat was the Q - boat. Essentially a decoy ship that appeared safe as milk, phat, fat and lazy - fully stocked with booty and toted 'panic parties' to act all freaked out when the naughty U - boats closed in for the booty.

Actually Q boats were loaded to the gunwhales with cannons, machine guns and several squads of heavily armed cats who excelled in repelling unwanted boarders.

When the knights of the Kriegsmarine made their pirate run to pillage - it was the Germans who got the nasty surprise.

This is significant.

Especial ops tricked out like fancy yachts, slow traders, titanically fat oil tankers could be used as bait, suckering in pirates for a very short and very exciting encounter.

Pic - "one killer ho and a bottle of rum"

March Of Democracy

Maps Of War has several fully crunk vids barely a minute and a half that map out events through out human history

This is the sweet, irresistable march of democracy

The Girls Of #44

Aside from the headliner up for review in #44's future foreign policy cab, there are also other brainiac hotties hot for gigs advancing Great Satan's humanitarian on the outside and creamy democrazy on the inside delish treat that confronts, challenges and ultimately regime changes cruel uncool unfree failed states and sweetly guides them right into the New Millennium's family of fun, free, functional democrazies.

Failed State femme extroidinaire' Dr Susan Rice has sexy expertise with Africa since way back in the Clintonian era as the Dep State Sec for African Affairs (1997-2001); Special Assistant to the President and Senior Director for African Affairs, the National Security Council, the White House (1995-1997); and Director for International Organizations and Peacekeeping, National Security Council (1993-1995).

Dr Rice (no relation) has done substantial work on the Gap (and not the one at the Mall either) that "Weak States", by their very existence, tend to create - and true to their unfree, nigh unhinged nature -  these illegit regimes also excell at projecting misery onto their neighbors.

A fangirl of the despot killing "R2P", Dr Rice is not too particularly concerned with how illegit regimes are dispatched into history's recycle bin. Her main desires are essentially how to rebuild wrecked little rat's nests after Great Satan's forced imposition of strangling sanctions or 30 year in the future military takes out the trash (either way is fine).

Like the naughty hottie down the street who never gets caught, Dr Rice deploys fashionable smokescreens like "UN", "International Community" and lays off words that drives Great Satan Envy like "democracy" to fly under the radar like a stealth bomber.

Since Africom needs a hood to hang in - why not present them with the largest hood in all of Africa?

"Well, if the Sudanese government maintains its refusal of a robust U.N.
force, then the international community should say to the Sudanese: You have a very short period of time, a week, perhaps two weeks at most, to accept this U.N. force unconditionally or face the threat of the use of military force."

Whoa! Talk about a policy of constant confrontation and selective intervention!

Wouldn't such a robust preponderance of American Power, sweetly tricked out in the little black dress of internat'l legitimacy fire up world opinion against Great Satan? The m"Hammedist world might cry out against regime killing pressure killing a sharia law loving preacher's paradise.

Yeah. They might.

So what?

"If we've come to the point where the United States and the rest of the international community is going to be intimidated by a relatively weak African or other government around the world with the threat of the use of al-Qaida, then we've lost our way, we've lost the war on terrorism, and we've lost our moral compass, if we're not prepared to stand up to protect civilians from genocide."

This is significant.

Despite all the "Joy joy joy joy down in my heart" that the world seems to be reveling in at the moment of Great Satan's recent electile climax, America doesn't really give a flip if intolerant, illegit, gendercidal regimes have their feelings hurt.

Or annihilated.

Pic "Samantha Power and Susan Rice"

Faux Pas

Iran's semi faux diplomacy site has a deceptive revisionist slant that attempts to repaint the sexyful appeals of democrazy ala neoconservative persuasion and recent events since 911 into something it's not.

Actually quite pitiful - at least Dr Bigdeli doesn't fly off track like certain ricocheting smokescreens and pyscho babble that not especially convincing successionist paleoconfauxderates tend to exsanguinate.

Instead of conjuring up shades of long dead bolsheviks, Persia's provocateur points at Baby Jesus fans - and the old standby scapegoat of despotries throughout history - the 'jews'

Essentially-

"The neo-conservative ideology is a mixture of extremist protestant
and Jewish thinking and has an extremist viewpoint on all secular phenomenons. Neo-conservatives wait passionately for Jesus Christ's advent and believe that "He, who is not with us, is against us.

These religious viewpoints caused the neo-conservatives’
ignorance of international commitments and even the UN charter.

This was most evident during the first round of George Bush presidency. According to the peculiar ideology of the neo-conservatives, anyone acting contrary to US interests had no fate but to be eliminated. The policies of the US towards Iran during the eight years of Bush presidency were also included in the same categorization."

Au contraire mon doctaire!

"First, patriotism is a natural and healthy sentiment and should be encouraged by both private and public institutions. Precisely because we are a nation of immigrants, this is a powerful American sentiment.

Second, world government is a terrible idea since it can lead to world
tyranny. International institutions that point to an ultimate world government should be regarded with the deepest suspicion

Third, statesmen should, above all, have the ability to distinguish
friends from enemies."

Thus, a canny mix of American Exceptionalism - as recog'd by saavy cats who KNOW Great Satan's history - know that America will always favor and defend democrazies - and will go anywhere and do anything to defend her own is way more in play than any "Last Days" scenerios or religious beliefs.

This is significant - daemoneoconic circles usually fall apart when domestic issues like religion, pro choice, pro life, taxes and socio - cultural concerns are mixed in.

Dr Bigdeli also conveniently leaves out little facts like 911, realpolitik or even the concept of what is cool and what totally sucks.

"All things are equal" is nowhere to be found in American history. Tolerant, egalitarian societies with all the hot! sweet, sticky goodies like a free, uncensored press, independent judiciary, periodic transparent elections and a military under civie control are far from equal - they are are far superior to illegit, unelected regimes, supreme leaders, fashion police, the secret police and government censorship.

With us or against us is indeed threatening to the afore mentioned unfree regimes - indeed - exactly how much longer can despots and kleptocratic tribalistic 'leaders' reassure their people "...it doesn't get any better than this..." when the frontiers of tyranny are becoming the periphery of democrazies?

pic "Sorry, I thoroughly enjoy distracting you from your propaganda"

Eyecandy #1990

Great Satan's femme voltiguers often use camo enhanced make up to sneak up on enemies - anytime - anywhere.

Engaging Supreme Leader

Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinezhad's congratulatory letter to U.S. president-elect Barack Obama was the first of its kind in the history of the Islamic Republic. In his letter, Ahmadinezhad expressed his hope for fundamental change in U.S. domestic and foreign policies.

Although some observers speculate that the letter suggests a transformation in the mindset of Iran's supreme leader, Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, about normalizing relations between Iran and the United States, this is unlikely. Majlis speaker Ali Larijani expressed the widespread attitude of Iranian leaders on November 9, saying, "Whoever thinks that Obama will change the U.S. foreign policy is naive."

The United States has made efforts to reach out to the Islamic Republic's leaders in the past, beginning with Zbigniew Brzezinski's November 1, 1979, meeting with the Iranian prime minister, which led four days later to the seizure of the U.S. embassy in Tehran. These efforts have largely failed, primarily because the United States was attempting to work with Iranian presidents and diplomats, despite the fact that they are not in charge of key foreign policy issues or the nuclear program.

Ayatollah Khamenei as the supreme leader and the commander in chief of armed forces has the ultimate supervision over the nuclear program, Iran's military strategy in the region, and Iran's foreign policy in general. Any attempt to reach Iran's government is more likely to be successful if it involves the supreme leader. But Khamenei would have to resolve many paradoxes before receiving any American overture directly.

In an October 30 speech, Ayatollah Khamenei reiterated that "the Islamic Republic of Iran's differences with America are beyond political differences and [are] more fundamental than that." He urged Iranians to read the documents seized by students from the U.S. Embassy in Tehran twenty-nine years ago, saying that "the goals of Americans are to deprive Iran of its independence and dignity, cause it to regret the Islamic Revolution, and make it again dependent on and obedient to America."

The supreme leader added, "The hatred and abhorrence of Iran's nation toward America is deep."

Khamenei's unapologetic, uncompromising hatred for the United States has remained unchanged, a profound mistrust that causes him to underestimate changes in the U.S. political atmosphere or policy.

On the eve of the U.S. election, Kayhan, an Iranian newspaper affiliated with the supreme leader, wrote that "no matter who is elected tomorrow, America is our enemy and our relations with it will remain deadlocked. Why? The reason is found in the essence of the two parties. The Islamic Republic of Iran in its government structure relies on the pure Mohammedan Islam, the main feature of which is fighting injustice, while America has an unjust and imperialist nature."

Although some Iranian diplomats and presidents, whether radicals or reformists, have been interested in opening doors to the United States -- and this would seem to include President Ahmadinezhad, as evidenced by his frequent trips to New York -- Ayatollah Khamenei has been able to sabotage any attempt at serious dialogue.

Khamenei considers himself not only the leader of the Islamic Republic but also the highest authority on Islamic ideology in the world. He therefore sees himself as responsible for the survival of Islamic ideology and its values, as well as his image as its leader.

Because the Islamic Republic has failed to meet its economic, cultural, and social promises, Khamenei has made anti-Americanism the cornerstone of that Islamic ideology.

"America" for Khamenei does not refer to a country like any other, but rather to a point of view diametrically opposed to Islamic ideology, on which the Iranian regime relies for its legitimacy. In his mind, allowing the level of "hatred" toward the United States to diminish is tantamount to recognizing the supremacy of "Western culture."

Such a development would be disastrous for Khamenei, because for the last twenty years Khamenei has lived in fear of a "velvet revolution" -- an infusion of Western culture and values that would lead to the overthrow of the regime. Indeed, this fear has led him to kill or arrest political activists and intellectuals and crack down on civil activists, syndicates, and nongovernmental organizations, because he considers them the West's most effective means of waging a "soft war" against Iran.

In order to accept any offer for direct negotiation with the United States, Ayatollah Khamenei would first have to accept that his position is limited to heading a country, not a broader ideology. This could effect a drastic change in Iran's policy in the region and its diplomacy in general.

Today the Islamic Republic's leadership is arguably in a worse position than at any point in the last three decades due to the country's economic crisis, the leadership's lack of a power base in society, and international pressure on the regime. For some Iranian leaders, this state of affairs might justify taking advantage of the election of a new U.S. president to change the tenor of the bilateral relationship.

But there is no evidence that Khamenei is among those officials. Although many Iranians may disapprove of Khamenei as a leader, he has succeeded in expanding his power throughout the Islamic world, especially in the Arab Middle East.

Based on past experience, as long as the Iranian supreme leader does not see dialogue with the United States as necessary for the survival of the regime, he will be unlikely to make much effort to alter the status quo. Of course, receiving an offer from the next administration for unconditional negotiations will place Khamenei in a difficult position.

He has always tried to portray America as responsible for the strains in U.S.-Iranian relations. Asking him to negotiate would undercut this argument and place the burden of responsibility on him for the lack of dialogue.

Khamenei's management model in the past two decades has been to have as much authority as possible with as little responsibility as possible. The first step for dealing directly with the Iranian government is to make its supreme leader responsible. Addressing him directly and publicly with a call to initiate a dialogue will close the exit doors available to him and require him to make a decision.

In dealing with the United States, Khamenei's ideal scenario has been "no war, no peace." This strategy has allowed him to continue the nuclear program and minimize the damage associated with it. Given the fact that Iran could well obtain the ability to produce a nuclear bomb in the near future, the United States has to convince him that the "no war, no peace" strategy will no longer work, and that he has to choose either war or peace.

A bold and direct U.S. offer to Ayatollah Khamenei, such as proposing that a top U.S. official meet with him in his Tehran office, would put Khamenei in a difficult position. It is possible -- although not likely -- that he would accept, especially if he believes that Iran faces a direct threat from economic failure or Israeli attack, or if he thought that American officials would treat him respectfully and end U.S. pressures on his regime.

But even if he refused to meet, the United States, having tried to solve the problem through diplomacy at the highest level, would most likely find it easier to reach consensus with its strategic allies to increase sanctions - or ultimately military action on Iran.

submitted by MeHdI KhAlAjI
Pic - Supreme Leader

Russian Roulette

The inimitable Sen. Joe Biden has predicted that within six months of President-elect Barack Obama taking office, the world would see a major crisis, a test of the new president's leadership. Many of us, who believe that Mr. Obama's inexperience is an open invitation to the world's trouble makers, completely agree with Mr. Biden on this one point.

The world may not even have to wait that long for the anticipated crisis. The Kremlin is where Mr. Obama's first test will originate.

Russian President Dmitry Medvedev threw down the gauntlet to Mr. Obama on Nov. 5th when he gave his first state of Russia address. The speech was carefully timed to coincide with Mr. Obama's acceptance speech, and while Mr. Medvedev chose not to mention Mr. Obama by name, he certainly did send him a message.

If the United States goes ahead with the installation of a missile defense system in Poland and the Czech Republic (the so-called third missile defense site), Russia will take countermeasures, so Mr. Medvedev said. This will come in the shape of Iskander short range missiles installed by Russia in Kaliningrad, a small military outpost of Russia located right on Europe's border, between Poland and Lithuania.

From this vantage point, the Russian missiles will allegedly be able to destroy the 10 American missile interceptors, which are scheduled to be deployed in Poland as part of the U.S. missile shield. Mr. Medvedev also threatened to install equipment to scramble the signals from the U.S. anti-missile system.

While the Russian leadership has previously made ominously growling noises on the subject of the "third site," the Russian threat has ever been this specific. Thus the message to Mr. Obama is clear: Pursue the course set by the Bush administration at your peril and risk a military eruption in Europe.

At the same time, the Russians are pursuing military cooperation with Venezuelan strong-man Hugo Chavez and arranging joint naval exercises in the backyard of the United States. The Russian gambit is strongly reminiscent of Cold War days.

Thus, while the U.S. government has assured the Russians that the missile defenses are not aimed at them and has offered to share missile defense technology in an effort to defuse the issue, Russia has only one familiar response - confrontation and provocation. This international bullying also serves as a handy way of distracting the Russian population from the country's numerous problems.

How will the new president-elect respond?

After all, Mr. Obama has said he would talk to any world leader without precondition, so this could make for an interesting test case. Meanwhile, Mr. Obama has already talked over the phone to Poland's president, Lech Kaczynski, on the subject of missile defense.

Interestingly, the two sides have different understandings of what was said. Mr. Kaczynski understood Mr. Obama to confirm America's commitment to honor the agreement, reached only a few months back between Poland and the United States. Mr. Obama's advisors have denied he said any such thing. Given Mr. Obama's record on being on both sides of numerous foreign policy issues during the campaign, the confusion is not surprising, but it is dangerous. From now on, what the president-elect says counts as policy and will have international repercussions.

The Russians, for their part, cite as evidence of Mr. Obama's more malleable attitude his position on missile defense, as declared on his campaign website, which states that he supports missile defense if the technology is proven workable and can be demonstrated not to be threatening Russia. (In actual fact, both of these are true today, which only makes the Obama position more confusing.)

If Mr. Obama stands by the Bush administration's commitment on missile defense to the Polish government, he will show that he does indeed have the spine of steel that his vice presidential choice, Mr. Biden, spoke so eloquently of. He will have demonstrated reassuring courage and resolve to America's friends and allies such as Poland.

If on the other hand, Mr. Obama backs down in the face of Russian pressure, he will have failed what will likely be his first real international test of leadership.

The consequences of such a failure will be more challenges and more crises to come.

The world is watching.

submitted by dR hElLe DaLe

pic - "Oktobryana" by Petr Sadecky

Military Advisors Manual

Great Satan's Army War College has unleashed a follow up manual to Surging General's Counter Insurgency playbook.

Entitled "American Military Advisor: Dealing with Senior Foreign Officials in the Islamic World" it's available in a free pdf.

"Although the role of the military advisor to senior foreign officials is honored in political history, it became almost a forgotten art when it was needed in Afghanistan and Iraq. Whatever the past, the American military services are now fully engaged in nation-building in the Iraqi and Afghan conflict zones, and the advisory responsibility seems certain to be needed elsewhere as well.

Advisors have become an invaluable part of the nation-building process, and whether they are assigned to counsel and work with governors, generals, or Cabinet Ministers, their role has decided impact on America’s overall political and military strategy.

This guidebook draws on the experiences of diplomats and military officers who have served in such advisory roles, and whose work with senior foreign officials was carried out in conflict zones at critical times.

Although the examples are drawn from life in the Islamic world, the precepts have widespread application, and the examples will be an important part of any advisor’s--be he military or civilian--preparation for his mission."

art - "Brand America"

Veteran's Day

The 11th minute of the 11th hour of the 11th day of the 11th month, Imperial Germany gave up the ghost. America's 1st regime change in the new century. Armistice Day for the War to End all Wars, entirely achieved by the addition of the Great Satan's spiritual fore fathers to an entente of desperate states.

Conscripting an army of free men, America deployed 2 million troops to save Europe from a Prussian military machine that was the world's best - until they hooked up with the Great Satan in combat. Places like Chateau-Thierry and Bellau Wood decisively crushed Teutonicism. Deutschland screamed "GOD! PLEASE! STOP!"

An extensive remixed v2.0 released 27 years later as Veteran's Day.

Americans should go down on their knees and thank God Almighty for raising up this laughing race of freemen.

Americans energetically pursue commerce, science, medicine, technology and the arts. When these designs are halted by conflict, they energetically pursue absolute, decisive, and ruthless destruction of their enemies. After visiting violence and securing victory they energetically return to the pursuit of commerce, science, medicine, technology and the arts.

An excellent example of the concept of service to something larger than self became a personal epiphany 2 years ago, at an especial place and a chance meeting with an ancient Iwo Jima survivor.

17 yo, still on the farm when the horrible news came that the neighbor boy had just been killed in Italy. Staring sacrifice in the face, this living embodiment of American Exceptionalism had to take his homie's "... place in the line..." Ma and Pa agreed and the preacher drove him to Nashville to enlist. Less than a year later, this Marine fought in place in the line at the hallowed bloodsoaked Iwo Jima.

His name is legion, for there are thousands like him. From Bunker Hill to Chickamauga, from Midway to Fallujah.

America's veterans put their lives on hold, deploy overseas, incinerate our enemies, return home and continue to build this awesome place.

America and the world can never thank ya'll enough.

Pic - "Thank You All" by ScOtT dUnGaN

Happy BDay Teuffel Hunden!

Celebrating a 233 year old birthday, the United States Marine Corps is an American treasure. "Semper Fidelis" (Always Faithful)) is especially sweet since her 1st foreign debut centuries ago. In a remakable twist of deja vu, a very young America was faced with a desperate choice - pay ransom cash to an 8th century caliphate or undertake to launch a war thousands of miles away on the shores of North Africa.

Diplomacy was the first choice and Great Satan's Thomas Jefferson himself met with a duly commissioned rep of the 'Barbary Coast'. His report to Congress is totally familiar to Americans in the New Millenium:

"The ambassador answered us that the right was founded on the Laws of the Prophet, that it was written in their Koran, that all nations who should not have answered their authority were sinners, that it was their right and duty to make war upon them wherever they could be found, and to make slaves of all they could take as prisoners, and that every Mohammedist who should be slain in battle was sure to go to paradise."

Jefferson used the Marine Corps to grant them their very wish. A task force led by the USS Enterprise stormed into the 8th century and defeated the Mohammedists in Great Satan's very first regime change.

Great Satan's enemies have learned the hard way that the Marine Corps is very often the piercing tip of the American spear. Like Kaiser Wilhelm's vaunted Prussian elites who admiringly christened the Americans at Bellau Wood - das Teuffel Hunden - 'Devil Dogs'.

"Retreat Hell - We just got here."

Sweet irony that Deutschland surrendered on the day after the Marines 143rd birthday

10 November 1775 to 10 November 2008. Always Faithful indeed. Happy Birthday USMC.

The Marine Anchor, Eagle and Globe is a wonderful reminder to America's friends and enemies that Great Satan built the modern world.

And she knows her way around.

Kristallnacht

Kristallnacht.

70 years ago a series of events unfolded that have meaning still today.

On November the 3rd, 1938, Herschel Grynszpan, a Polish student in Paris, received an appalling letter from his sister Bertha in Hanover emphasizing that the family together with 12K Polish people were surprisingly deported to the Polish border.

Picked up by the Regime's secret police in the dead of night and shipped off to the railhead in a tiny rural stadt of Zbaazyn.

It was the start of Deutschland's Nazi Peace Time drive to drive minorities out of Germany.

"Judenrein" - Deutsch for ethnic cleansing.

Herschel was so fired up about his sister's distress and his own family in extremis - he hopped a bus to the Left Bank in Paris - bought a Berreta with several rounds of 22 calibre shells and used public transport to bushwhack Nazi Germany's handpicked diplomat at the Deutsch embassy in Paris by pumping 5 bullets into Ernst Vom Rath.

French Police quickly apprehended the shooter who had literally shot a foreign charge d' affairs to pieces right before their eyes.

And the story should have ended after a trial.

Only the illegit regime in Germany didn't let the wheels of French Justice click along at all.

Vom Rath passed on to Valhalla on 7 November and Deutsch Nazi's went on a rampage.

The night between 8 to 9 of November 1938 in Germany's major cities: Berlin, Frankfurt, Munich, Keln, Hamburg, Dresden etc. and was named as the KRISTALLNACHT - the night of the shattered glass.

On the following days, 191 synagogues, thousands of Jewish businesses and houses were burnt down.

Nearly 30K Germans, guilty only of being born jewish were rounded up and the world began to hear of a term several years old in Deutschland - Konzentration Lager

On November the 15th 1938, after the KRISTALLNACHT events, a glorious funeral was held in Dusseldorf for Ernst vom-Rath.

The Zbaazyn deportation story was told by Herschel Grynszpan's father during his testimony in Adolph Eichmann trial in Jerusalem.



Pic - "Kristallnacht" by Aratix

Prequel

The Prequel to "Future Foreign Policy - Tactical and Strategic Designs in the New Millennium" is of course "Daemoneocons in the Boardroom"

On sale soon...

Hollaback Girl

"I heard that you were talking trash
And you didn't think that I would hear it
That's right, put your pom-poms down, getting everybody fired up

A few times I've been around that track
So it´s not just gonna happen like that
'Cause I ain't no holla back girl - I ain't no holla back girl"

Anthemesque, this hot hit from the way back machine by one of Great Satan"s Hootchies of the Year last year - the So Cali Grrl "From the land of the bomb ass hemp beat - a place where you never find a dance floor empty" lushious Gwen Stefani and those legs that run all the way up her neck, is actually interpreted as a double entendre of the nonrisque repoire.


Reliably informed in cheerleader operational methodology, the team captain leads the cheer. Like the old "Gimmie an A!" and the other cheer babes respond - or hollaback.

Another interpretation in this tune is the concept of confronting or intervening in events that are aggressively incorrect and require the 'bust' in robust for redressing aggression, brutal intolerance and all the grief they provide.

A Lo Down Ho Down.

"Ready to attack, gonna lead the pack

Gonna get a touchdown, gonna sock it to you

That's right put your pom poms down, another one bites the dust"

Like recent trash talking certain wanna be Paleocons. In that time traveling world of 1808, outright joy is expressed that a certain cat along with his posse of fully crunk McCaineocons suffered electoral defeat.

Fair enough.

The latest spell these appearantly eccentric, especially unimpressive enchanters of doom and gloom bite and recite is historically weak, fantasy rich, hysterically null and void with a deadly dose of intervention phobia.

This is significant - and a flaw in logic.

Great Satan's critics cry foul that she has overextended herself unnecessarily in other nations affairs.

"These criticisms are completely off the mark. Those who worry about
America's projection of power are overlooking how America got to the position she occupies at this moment in history: the world's dominant political and military, the only nation that will actually go into the world and strike down evil."

America's commitment to universal principles are built into Great Satan's founding framing docs. These principles are not debatable - indeed as Alex Hamilton laid it out- "... written in the stars by the hand of God..."
Great Britain's Right Honourable (and Right H0T!) Foreign Minister cat David Miliband defends and defines Intervention as universal

"Democracy can take root in all societies. In time, it will. The equal worth of human beings, their equal right to independence and self-government, requires no less.

And all those brave people who are fighting to gain tomorrow the democracies that we, in the lucky, rich nations of the world are blessed with today, deserve our support.

Not just in words, but in deeds."

By default, pseudo naysayers and inappropriate, inhumane makebelieve afflictions like isolationism and intervention phobia are totally retarded along with the unhappy fact of being dangerously dangerous.

Ancient PNAC texts and scrolls "rally support for a vigorous and principled policy of American international involvement and to stimulate useful public debate on foreign and defense policy and America's role in the world." Great Satan should "increase defense spending significantly," "strengthen ties to democratic allies," "promote the cause of political and economic freedom abroad," and "accept responsibility for America's unique role in preserving and extending an international order friendly to our security, our prosperity, and our principles."

Great Satan's history disproves any notions or commotions hooking only one political party to these time honored concepts.

Great Satan survived and thrived because of and in spite of the War Between The States, The Beatles and President Carter. She can certainly hang out with #44.

Never cool to mock the afflicted - true - the real quiz is that perhaps intervention intolerance says way more volumes about the afflicted than demonizing, dissing American power, her traditionally relentless march to egalitarianism, values, attributes, history and hard won blood stained righteous combat bona fides.

A life time experience where any and all trouble is handled by meetings, friendly give and take - or ultimately a pink slip may mean an inablity to concieve concepts that prove moral relativism is suspect.

In Girl World of the New Millennium, intervention is often the decisive decision:

Like realizing a dearest bf4E is so totally creeped out - catamose - whenever her mom's new live in bf hits the house.

Standing up to bullies in the hood, at the mall or school.

Watching over innocents, a voice for the voiceless.

Americans know the truth, and do not admit alternate truths. Instead of playing the relevancy game Americans play 'Which one of these is not like the other?"

"Oh things for instance things like supremacy of democratic states
overtyrannies, which is just a very simply notion. The fact that there is not moral equivalence between a despot and a democratic leader, that we free people do not inhabit the same plane morally as terrorists"

In an age of WMD crunk caliphates, illegitimate, corrupt, murderous regimes, rocket rich body part collectors and any fanboy fellow travellers (rocket hot or not) there is little reason to even tolerate their existence.

Intervention phobia in favor of ruinous failed states and their 'leaders' who torment their own people, their neighbors, foreign humanitarian compassionates, condone and practice genocide, horrific gendercide on their own sweet girls, indulge in slave trading while their 'nations' suffer pitiful literacy rates, poor sanitation, blinging on missiles, militaries, secret police instead of hospitals, schools, free media or a future for their young people, sprout up militias in innocent civilian rich turf and tend to act out against any democrazie in weapons range is a very tough case to make.

Pic - "Daemoneocons in the Board Room"