Archive for 'Iran'

Saturday, March 15th, 2008

War With Iran Is Immiment - Or Maybe Not

I’m late on highlighting this, but with the resignation of Admiral Fallon, top military man in the Middle East, last week, tongues started wagging again about our plans re:Iran. Widely quoted was this Terry Atlas U.S. News piece giving six reasons we may be going to war with Iran.
In the Washington Post, William Arkin […]

6 Comments » - Posted in Israel, Iran, Iraq, Foreign Affairs by Mark

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Thursday, December 6th, 2007

Why The Change On Iran? Some Details Emerge

Good piece from David Sanger in this morning’s NY Times on the events that led up to the changed NIE on Iran’s nuclear ambitions:
American intelligence agencies reversed their view about the status of Iran’s nuclear weapons program after they obtained notes last summer from the deliberations of Iranian military officials involved in the weapons development […]

37 Comments » - Posted in Iran, Radical Islam / GWOT, Foreign Affairs by Mark

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Wednesday, December 5th, 2007

You Can’t Have Your Cake…Etc., Etc.

As the impact of the Iran NIE sinks in, it is apparent that some folks are so set on absolving Iran that they ignore the ‘high certainty’ of the estimate that Iran DID, in fact, have a nuclear weapons program until 2003, and the ‘high certainty’ that they could start it back up pretty much […]

38 Comments » - Posted in Iran, Radical Islam / GWOT by Mark

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Monday, December 3rd, 2007

Two Surprises

I must say, I am astonished that emerging tyrant Hugo Chavez is letting (for now, at least) a quite public rebuke of his rule stand:
Venezuelan President Hugo Chávez suffered an unprecedented defeat after voters on Sunday rejected a constitutional package of 69 reforms that included scrapping presidential term limits and declaring Venezuela a socialist state. […]

4 Comments » - Posted in Iran, Foreign Affairs by Mark

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Sunday, November 25th, 2007

An Improving Iraq Forcing Dems To Reevaluate

Not even the Democratic presidential nominees can ignore the progress in Iraq any longer:
As violence declines in Baghdad, the leading Democratic presidential candidates are undertaking a new and challenging balancing act on Iraq: acknowledging that success, trying to shift the focus to the lack of political progress there, and highlighting more domestic concerns like health […]

1 Comment » - Posted in Iran, Israel, Elephants, Donkeys, Iraq, Election 2008 by Mark

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Monday, November 19th, 2007

Hitchens Greets The Rising Tide In Iraq With Welcoming Skepticism

Perhaps still stinging from his fervent declarations in the war’s beginning that it was only a matter of time until the WMDs were found, Christopher Hitchens now plays the skeptic to news of a turning point in Iraq - although certainly a hopeful skeptic, at that:
A few weeks ago, in Britain’s Prospect magazine, the paper’s […]

30 Comments » - Posted in Iran, Hitchens the Great, Radical Islam / GWOT, Iraq by Mark

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Sunday, October 21st, 2007

Victory Within Reach?

Hmmm…even I haven’t been THIS optimistic about the war:

Should we declare victory over al Qaeda in the battle of Iraq?
The very question would have seemed proof of dementia only a few months ago, yet now some highly respected military officers, including the commander of Special Forces in Iraq, Gen. Stanley McCrystal, reportedly feel it is […]

3 Comments » - Posted in Iran, Radical Islam / GWOT, Iraq by Mark

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Saturday, October 13th, 2007

The Syrian Target Was A Nuclear Reactor

I think we can finally lay this one to rest.  The NY Times becomes the latest media outlet to add to what by now appears to be all but official: Syria was seeking a nuclear program, backed by North Korea.
Israel’s air attack on Syria last month was directed against a site that Israeli and American […]

2 Comments » - Posted in Israel, Iran, North Korea, Radical Islam / GWOT by Mark

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Sunday, October 7th, 2007

A Welcome Sign…If You Read Between The Lines

Why is further confirmation from ABC News that the Israeli air strike on Syria was against a nuclear facility good news?  First, the excerpt:
The September Israeli airstrike on a suspected nuclear site in Syria had been in the works for months, ABC News has learned, and was delayed only at the strong urging of the […]

21 Comments » - Posted in Israel, Iran, North Korea, Radical Islam / GWOT by Mark

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Monday, September 24th, 2007

Strange Bedfellows

Despite much controversy over the decision to invite Mahmoud Ahmadinejad to speak at Columbia, give credit to the institution’s president for pulling no punches:
Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad took the stage at Columbia University on Monday to a blistering reception from the president of the school, who said the hard-line leader behaved like “a petty […]

47 Comments » - Posted in Donkeys, Iran, Progressive Nonsense / Nutroots®, NY Times/Media Watch, Hillary Clinton, Democratic Candidates by Mark

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Sunday, September 23rd, 2007

A Message To Iran

This is the third posting I’ve done on the Israeli raid on Syria, and given my reduced blogging load, that’s quite a bit, but the story has the potential to be the biggest story of the year. I use the phrase ‘has the potential’ with all deliberateness, because it’s easy to go overboard on these […]

3 Comments » - Posted in Israel, Iran, North Korea, Radical Islam / GWOT, Foreign Affairs by Mark

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Saturday, September 22nd, 2007

Israel’s Raid On Syria Becoming Less Mysterious

A number of new articles have shed light on Israel’s air raid on Syria on September 6th, and it is becoming more and more probable that it was related to nuclear trade between Syria and North Korea:
Israel’s decision to attack Syria on Sept. 6, bombing a suspected nuclear site set up in apparent collaboration with […]

1 Comment » - Posted in Israel, Iran, North Korea, Radical Islam / GWOT, Foreign Affairs by Mark

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Thursday, June 14th, 2007

A Palestinian Civil War - And The Wrong Side Is Winning

Well, these are dark days indeed for Israel and its supporters, as Hamas is very close to pulling off a coup:
Fighters from the Islamic party Hamas claimed full control of Palestinian Authority security agencies in Gaza late Thursday as Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas dissolved his unity government and declared a state of emergency.
Fighters loyal to […]

8 Comments » - Posted in Israel, Iran, Radical Islam / GWOT, Foreign Affairs by Mark

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Thursday, May 17th, 2007

Party Over, Oops, Out Of Time

The cold hard facts appear to be these: absent a U.S. or Israeli military strike, Iran will have the bomb.  Soon…very soon.  Here’s the Chicago Tribune:
Iran appears to have solved most of its technological problems and is beginning to enrich uranium on a far larger scale than before. Tehran may well have passed the critical […]

10 Comments » - Posted in Iran, Radical Islam / GWOT, UN/Oil-For-Food by Mark

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Saturday, March 31st, 2007

As Iran Continues To Defy Britain Over The Captured British Troops…

…it may be of interest to you to note that the ‘cold’ conflict with Iran already turned hot, as far back as September 7th of last year, when U.S., Iraqi, and Iranian troops were involved in a firefight that left at least one Iranian and several Iraqis dead.  TIME has the details:
The soldiers who were […]

5 Comments » - Posted in Iran, Radical Islam / GWOT, Iraq by Mark

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Friday, March 30th, 2007

The Russian Bear Is The Fool Of The Animal Kingdom

As there any decency to Russia’s foreign policy? Even a shred? Read along with me:
Prime Minister Tony Blair said Thursday that Britain would not negotiate over British sailors and marines held hostage by Iran. In an interview with ITV News, Blair again called for the unconditional return of the 15 Royal Navy personnel who were […]

4 Comments » - Posted in Iran, Radical Islam / GWOT, Iraq, Foreign Affairs, UN/Oil-For-Food by Mark

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Tuesday, March 27th, 2007

Iran Pulling Back?

Some signs Tehran is getting the message on the British troops it is holding:
Iran said Monday it was questioning 15 British sailors and marines to determine if their alleged entry into Iranian waters was “intentional or unintentional” before deciding what to do with them — the first sign it could be seeking a way out […]

No Comments » - Posted in Iran, Radical Islam / GWOT, Foreign Affairs by Mark

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Monday, March 26th, 2007

The Madman Of Tehran

I seriously think Mahmoud Ahmadinejad is insane.  Does he really think Tony Blair will sit by and let him do this?
FIFTEEN British sailors and marines arrested by Iran’s Revolutionary Guards off the coast of Iraq may be charged with spying.
A website run by associates of Mahmoud Ahmadinejad, the Iranian president, reported last night that the […]

2 Comments » - Posted in Iran, Radical Islam / GWOT, Iraq, Foreign Affairs by Mark

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Saturday, March 24th, 2007

New Sanctions On Iran…

…but to what avail?
Iran’s foreign minister rejected a unanimous vote by the U.N. Security Council on Saturday to impose new sanctions on Iran because of its refusal to suspend its uranium enrichment program.
Speaking to the 15-member council in measured tones after the vote, Iranian Foreign Minister Manouchehr Mottaki said, “Iran presents no threat to […]

No Comments » - Posted in Iran, POTUS, Iraq, UN/Oil-For-Food by Mark

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Tuesday, March 20th, 2007

Russia Now Helping Against Iran?

This is a welcome story:
Russia has informed Iran that it will withhold nuclear fuel for Iran’s nearly completed Bushehr power plant unless Iran suspends its uranium enrichment as demanded by the United Nations Security Council, European, American and Iranian officials said.
The ultimatum was delivered in Moscow last week by Igor Ivanov, Russia’s Security Council Secretary, […]

No Comments » - Posted in Iran, POTUS, Radical Islam / GWOT, Foreign Affairs, UN/Oil-For-Food by Mark

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