Oct 20 2007

Drums of War: Iranian Negotiator Quits: Hawks Take Control

TPM puts Kurd threats to repel Turkish intrusions by force way up high. Vladimir Putin warned the US not to attack Iran just days ago.

Iran today appointed a key ally of Iranian President Ahmadinejad as Iran’s new nuclear negotiator just days before a crucial meeting with the EU.

An Iranian spokesman, “Gholam Hossein Elham, said a deputy foreign minister, Saeed Jalili, would replace Mr Larijani in time for a meeting on Tuesday with the European Union’s foreign policy head Javier Solana.”

Mr. Jalili, unlike his predecessor Ali Larijani, is a hard-liner. His appointment by the man who really holds control of Iran’s nuclear project, Iran’s supreme leader, Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, suggests an end to compromise….

From the BBC:

The resignation is a sign, says our correspondent, that Iran’s supreme leader, Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, has thrown his weight behind President Ahmadinejad and his hard-line approach on the nuclear issue.

Although Mr Larijani is a conservative who was appointed by Mr Ahmadinejad to be Tehran’s point man on the nuclear issue, his successor is known to be a close ally of the president.

AP via MSNBC provides more background.

India-US relations have changed dramatically in the last few months. Russia and Iran have signed key energy deals with Turkey, Syria and Iraq. Bush’s feckless mismanagement of US policy in the Middle East has created a new landscape in which Iran and Russia are calling the shots.

The collapse of US soft-power weakens America’s ability to negotiate policy, much less issue dictates, as Mr. Bush is prone to do. The question of legacy looms large. For some there is little to discuss. Iran with the capability to manufacture nuclear weapons is ‘intolerable’. Iran seems determined to proceed with its nuclear program. Will President Cheney Bush quietly slink off the stage or ‘impose his relevancy’ on us all. The stakes are growing and a Turkish incursion into northern Iraq, supported by Iran, could trigger a conflagration with Mr. Bush showing everyone once and for all who the ‘decider’ really is.

10 comments

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  1. can I say? It’s a royal mess.

    • pfiore8 on October 20, 2007 at 18:08
    • #

    arrogance is a soft-power killer

    doesn’t it?

  3. TPM is pushing. But I like my propaganda fresh-like.

    KRG.org/Al Jazeera TV, 17 Oct Prime Minister Barzani said, “For the past 16 years we have enjoyed good relationships with  Turkey. Turkey helped us during the Anfal campaign, along with the UK and US it helped protect the Kurdistan Region. It has been an important neighbour in the past, and it will continue to be one. The KRG is serious about improving relations with Turkey.”

    Likewise, reports of ‘communist’ influence on parliamentary proceedings are overstated. Bilateralism is dead. The Burma/Myanmar junta proved it. But no one in the US gubment will admit that. I suppose, until the MNCs are comfortably relocated to Dubai.

    some remarks re: multilateral strategies to destroy US market-making.

  4. I’m afraid that BushCo will bomb Iran just to show Russia they can’t tell us what to do.

  5. Gary Kasparov, chess master running against Putin for president (that’s takes some rooks, what?), made the point that high oil prices were all that was keeping Putin in power, therefore, Putin was behind much of the Middle East unrest, behind the scenes, to insure the prices stayed high:

    KASPAROV: But, it went – but, it went wrong for Bush from the very beginning, because at their first summit, Bush tried to play psychiatrist and look at Putin’s eyes, searching for his soul. [laughter]

    MAHER: Right.

    KASPAROV: Instead of looking – looking at his record. And now, Putin – Putin just is basically spitting in his face by making this open friendship with Admadinejad. But it was obvious from the very beginning, because Putin has only one item in his due political agenda. He needs high oil prices. And tension in the Middle East helps him to keep the oil prices all-time high.

    MAHER: Right.

    KASPAROV: So that’s why he sells nuclear technology to Iran; he sells missiles to Hezbollah and Hamas via Syria, because it helps Putin to stay in power. If the oil price goes down, Putin regime goes down. And I’m surprised that White House didn’t recognize it in time.

    Chris Mathews’ reaction to Kasparov:

    “ever get the feeling that they’re playing chess and we’re playing checkers?”

    MATTHEWS: They are so far – he’s so far – that was sophisticated, and this audience was listening to every word. Our guys never get to that level of sophistication.

    MAHER: Right.

    MATTHEWS: They talk down to us.

    Transcript:

    http://www.billmaher…

    Highly recommend reading the whole thing. 

  6. He’s just revising the specifics.  

    “…The revised bombing plan for a possible attack, with its tightened focus on counterterrorism, is gathering support among generals and admirals in the Pentagon. The strategy calls for the use of sea-launched cruise missiles and more precisely targeted ground attacks and bombing strikes, including plans to destroy the most important Revolutionary Guard training camps, supply depots, and command and control facilities…”

    While many experts continue to deny the liklihood of an attack, neocons like Bolton Cheney & their chickenhawk warmongering crowd are undeterred by sane and rational counterarguments or by reality. 

  7. Today, Turkey’s Cabinet is meeting in an emergency session to determine the response to “Kurdish Rebels killing at least 12 Turkish soldiers” and Turkish forces responding by killing 23 PKK rebels …

    Meanwhile, back in the US: The Secret History of the Impending War with Iran that the WH Doesn’t Want You to Know — the chickenhawks continue playing checkers with chessmasters…

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