Category Archives: Iran

Updated: Barack Gets Brownie Point On Iran

Barack Obama, Democracy, Foreign Policy, Iran, Neoconservatism

Barack Obama’s message is infuriating the left and right neoconnery, and that’s good for America. “The basic message is: We support the Iranian people and their democracy. Any change in how Iran is governed is their decision, not America’s. … What we’re seeing in Tehran is a reminder that millions of Muslims hunger for change — but they want to make it themselves.”

Now, let us hope the president sticks to this tack.

Update: “Foreign Policy as Social Work: The Obama foreign policy must now come down to Earth,” Mona Charin screeched. It’s satisfying to witness the neocons wander in the political wilderness. However, I worry that Obama’s own people are natural-born meddlers. I fear he’s on his own in leaving Iran to its own devices.

Mark Steyn writes equally predictably: “This election was stolen for reasons of internal survival and long-term regional strategy by a regime confident enough to snub not just a U.S. government promoting impotence as moral virtue but those allies in Europe who regularly jet in to offer cooing paeans to the vibracy [sic] of Iranian democracy.”

Don’t they sound ridiculous? The Megaphones of a crumbling empire…

McMussolini chimed in: “‘[Obama] should speak out that this is a corrupt, flawed sham of an election,’ Mr. McCain said in an interview Tuesday on NBC’s ‘Today’ show. ‘The Iranian people have been deprived of their rights.'” I have news for the senator from Arizona (whom another Arizonian, Barry Goldwater, disdained): Look in your own political plate! The rights of Americans are also imperiled.

Good for Senator Richard G. Lugar of Indiana. “[T]he ranking Republican on the Foreign Relations Committee said he agreed with the approach that Mr. Obama and his advisers had taken since the Iranian elections on Friday, which Iranian leaders have said Mr. Ahmadinejad won in a landslide against three challengers, including his nearest rival, Mir Hussein Moussavi.”

“For us to become heavily involved in the election at this point is to give the clergy an opportunity to have an enemy and to use us, really, to retain their power,” Mr. Lugar said in an interview Tuesday on the CBS News program ‘The Early Show.'”

In case you missed it, here’s PRESIDENT OBAMA statement in full: “Obviously all of us have been watching the news from Iran. And I want to start off by being very clear that it is up to Iranians to make decisions about who Iran’s leaders will be; that we respect Iranian sovereignty and want to avoid the United States being the issue inside of Iran, which sometimes the United States can be a handy political football — or discussions with the United States.

Having said all that, I am deeply troubled by the violence that I’ve been seeing on television. I think that the democratic process — free speech, the ability of people to peacefully dissent — all those are universal values and need to be respected. And whenever I see violence perpetrated on people who are peacefully dissenting, and whenever the American people see that, I think they’re, rightfully, troubled.

My understanding is, is that the Iranian government says that they are going to look into irregularities that have taken place. We weren’t on the ground, we did not have observers there, we did not have international observers on hand, so I can’t state definitively one way or another what happened with respect to the election. But what I can say is that there appears to be a sense on the part of people who were so hopeful and so engaged and so committed to democracy who now feel betrayed. And I think it’s important that, moving forward, whatever investigations take place are done in a way that is not resulting in bloodshed and is not resulting in people being stifled in expressing their views.

Now, with respect to the United States and our interactions with Iran, I’ve always believed that as odious as I consider some of President Ahmadinejad’s statements, as deep as the differences that exist between the United States and Iran on a range of core issues, that the use of tough, hard-headed diplomacy — diplomacy with no illusions about Iran and the nature of the differences between our two countries — is critical when it comes to pursuing a core set of our national security interests, specifically, making sure that we are not seeing a nuclear arms race in the Middle East triggered by Iran obtaining a nuclear weapon; making sure that Iran is not exporting terrorist activity. Those are core interests not just to the United States but I think to a peaceful world in general.”

We will continue to pursue a tough, direct dialogue between our two countries, and we’ll see where it takes us. But even as we do so, I think it would be wrong for me to be silent about what we’ve seen on the television over the last few days. And what I would say to those people who put so much hope and energy and optimism into the political process, I would say to them that the world is watching and inspired by their participation, regardless of what the ultimate outcome of the election was. And they should know that the world is watching.

And particularly to the youth of Iran, I want them to know that we in the United States do not want to make any decisions for the Iranians, but we do believe that the Iranian people and their voices should be heard and respected.”

The Heritage Foundation’s laments are THE ULTIMATE endorsement for the Obama stance: “President Obama has shown little interest in continuing President George Bush’s push for democracy in the Middle East.”

Yippee! Let’s hope Obama’s “disinterest” in democratic evangelism persists.

Update VI: Blow Them Out Of The Seas! (& No Somali Nation-Building)

Africa, Bush, Crime, Europe, Founding Fathers, Iran, Justice, Military, Neoconservatism, Terrorism, The West, Trade, UN

Pirates! That in itself is a romantic euphemism. These are terrorists on the high seas. They’ve been operating a criminal enterprise that targets innocents with impunity–and with great success. Yet the West does nothing. China, a country that seems to act in its national interests more so than do we, is, by The Washington Times’ account, “deploying vessels to secure their shipping since they can no longer rely on other powers to keep trade flowing unmolested.”

To recap: North Korea has committed no real aggression against the US with its measly missile. The Iranians shoot their mouths off. Both countries know that if they deign to aggress against the US, why, we’ll obliterate them. Yet, on-and-on the debate goes as to whether America should kill the innocent people of these lands. Conversely, when confronted with evil in action—plunderers thwarting the lifeblood that is trade—nothing much is done.

Or murmurs of negotiations ensue.

“Pirates” operate near “ the Horn of Africa, the Gulf of Guinea and around the Strait of Malacca near Singapore,” and threaten peaceful commerce with raids on “cargo vessels, tankers, fishing vessels, cruise liners, yachts and the occasional tugboat.”

The first seizure of a U.S. flagged vessel by pirates in recent memory was thwarted yesterday as the crew retook the vessel. The taking and retaking of the Maersk Alabama has grabbed headlines, but it was one of six ships attacked in that area since last weekend. The only reason this ship was saved is that the American crew fought back.

This is an excellent opportunity for private companies to step in to fill the protection gap. But, knowing the “United Nations Convention on the Law of the Sea,” “any vessels but clearly identified naval or other national forces,” are prohibited from “seizing pirate vessels.” As are “the rules of self-defense at sea somewhat murky.”

If ever there was a time to thumb the proverbial nose at the nosy UN, this is it. I say, “as President Washington said in 1786, lamenting payments being made to the Barbary Pirates, … ‘crush them into nonexistence.'”

Or, blow them out of the seas!

Update I: From the Wall Street Journal: “In the waning days of the Bush administration, the National Security Council issued a detailed yet little-noticed plan for combating piracy off the coast of Somalia.”

Commensurate with Bush’s emphasis on using force, mostly, when it was inappropriate to use it, the previous administration “was nearly silent … on what to do if a ship is taken by pirates and crew members are held captive. And what little guidance it provided was vague. U.S. naval forces were given authority to ‘terminate the act of piracy and any included hostage situation.’ Just how they were to do that was left unsaid.”

I hope he surprises me, but I doubt Barry will deviate from the perplexing policy of aggression against non-aggressors, and non-aggression against aggressors.

Update II (April 10): OBAMA AWOL The silence of this White House, so far, is deafening; the inaction of the best navy seals in the world perplexing. The brave captain of the Maersk Alabama attempted to escape. Stealthy seals were nowhere in sight to help him get away and annihilate his pursuers. He is recaptured.

Knowing that the US media would be covering for Obama, I went straight for the international coverage. The Times Online plasters an appropriate headline on its website: “US Navy misses chance to rescue American captain held hostage by pirates“:

Captain Richard Phillips fled through a back door in the covered lifeboat about midnight on Thursday local time and began swimming away, US officials said.

At least one pirate jumped in after him and brought him back aboard the boat, which is drifting without fuel, before the nearby US destroyer, USS Bainbridge, could intervene. The incident was captured on video by a US drone overhead. “He didn’t get very far,” one official said. …

The Bainbridge, backed by drones and surveillance aircraft, was standing guard a few hundred yards from the lifeboat, which had run out of fuel. The frigate USS Halyburton and the assault ship USS Boxer, armed with about two dozen helicopters and attack planes, sailed to the scene yesterday.

“[a] former US ambassador in Ethiopia and an expert on the Horn of Africa, advocated a tougher policy against pirates, including sinking their ‘mother ships.'”

This is a disgrace! Worse: it’s a disregard for American life.

While Obamby vacillates, President Sarkozy gave French commandos the order to storm a yacht captured by “pirates,” off the coast of Somalia. There is one casualty, but two families are freed. This operation is “the seventh in a year by French forces,” all ordered by the French president.

Hardly a softy is Sarkozy.

According to SPIEGEL ONLINE, “Over the last few days the spike in new pirate attacks has been dramatic. Ten ships, including the MV Hansa Stavager, a German freighter, have been taken. A total of 20 ships remain in the hands of pirates.”

Update III (April 11): SOMALI SHAMANS AND FOOLISH FBI TO THE RESCUE. The US navy’s lackluster efforts to free Capt. Richard Phillips ran aground today… again. Yesterday, a US drone captured, on video, Capt. Phillips making an attempted escape. Had the “vigilant” marines been glued to their monitors, they might have blown the pirates’ dingy out of the sea as soon as the Capt. jumped the craft.

Today, U.S. sailors tried to reach the lifeboat, but the “pirates” did what “pirates” are wont to do: fired on them. The US Navy responded by doing what the Navy, apparently, does when aggressed against: retreat: “The gunfire forced the sailors, who did not return fire, back to the guided missile destroyer USS Bainbridge,” reports CNN.

As if this faux pa were not enough, we learn that the this act of terror on the high seas will be bureaucratized:

“The U.S. Navy — which is in charge of the situation” [– and cannot handle it] has “requested help from the FBI to resolve the standoff.”

The FBI is launching a criminal investigation into the hijacking and hostage-taking, two law enforcement officials told CNN. The probe will be led by the FBI’s New York field office, which has responsibility for looking into cases involving U.S. citizens in the African region. Agents from the office were scheduled to leave for Africa sometime this weekend, the officials said.

Yes, I can think of nothing more appropriate in resolving a stand-off with criminals than to launch an “investigation.” Perhaps the FBI can call in their Behavioral “Sciences” pseudo-scientists, who can then draw up a profile of an African pirate. (Daddy had too many wives and didn’t spend quality time with pygmy pirate.)

Wait a sec, I know of an even better course of action for our bureaucrats. The Christian Science Monitor tells that “relatives of the four Somali hijackers, along with a group of Somali elders, are traveling to the coastal area nearby determined to ‘solve the problem peacefully … without any guns or ransom.'”

Now, if you believe that these are relatives of the hijackers rather than some wily old men from the tribe, who want to get their faces on CNN, and con stupid westerners, then, you must have believed, together with Fox and Friends, that WMD were probably moved to Syria, and al-Qaeda and the Ba’athists were an item.

I hope the savvy Somalis show the foolish FBI how to throw some bones and conjure the ancestral spirits. That ought to help free Capt. Phillips.

Update IV (April 12): To some degree, I agree with “Gunjam’s” comment hereunder. This is a top-brass issue. Although, the military is not exactly what it used to be any longer. Desperate people are being signed up these days. Affirmative action abounds in the military too. Read “OSAMA’S SNICKERING AT OUR MILITARY.” Enough of this Fox-News-type adulation of men just because they wear a uniform. This mission is a complete failure so far. Most of it may come from the top, but, it would seem, quite a bit of the blame rests on the men themselves. With the electronics the military has, with a drone straining on the poor captain as he jumped ship—not to have been there to fish him out is preposterous.

I am well aware that there are many forums where military groupies congregate.

(Update V): The details are still sketchy, but Capt. Phillips is free at last. What wonderful news! It is still unclear whether this exceptional mariner attempted, first, to escape again, and the navy picked him up as they picked-off the pirates. Or whether the order was finally given, and naval forces went in and did what needed to be done.

Either way; this is such a good day; such a fine conclusion to an unnecessarily protracted stand-off. The nightmare of a hostage unrescued, documented repeatedly during the unlawful, immoral invasion of Iraq in columns such as “AFTER THEIR HEADS ROLL, AMERICA’S DEAD REMAIN FACELESS,” has been averted.

Reuters: “Joseph Murphy, whose son, Shane, was Phillips’s second in command and took over the Alabama after pirates left with Phillips, said in a statement read by CNN, ‘Our prayers have been answered on this Easter Sunday.'”

Update VI: NO TO NATION BUILDING. Here’s what I’ve gleaned from all the disjointed reports: On Friday (only) the president had issued a standing order sanctioning force if the hostage’s life was in danger. Since the life of the captured master of the Maersk Alabama had always been in danger—is that not the definition of a hostage situation?—this would indicate only that Obama’s preferred option was to end this act of thuggery peacefully.

This, I might add, is in contrast to the French government’s actions.

Navy Vice Adm. William E. Gortney, commander of U.S. Naval Forces Central Command, said “the White House had given military operators ‘very clear guidance and authority’ if Phillips’ life was in danger.”

“The on-scene commander took it as the captain was in imminent danger and then made that decision (to shoot), and he had the authorities to make that decision, and he had seconds to make that decision,” he said.

Clearly Obama’s order gave the U.S.S. Bainbridge commander all the latitude he needed. All the while, negotiations had been ongoing, with the outcome that the pirate dingy was now fastened to the U.S.S. Bainbridge, was being towed by it, and was comfortably within sights. Supplies were being provided to the occupants.

A young pirate who’d been stabbed by the brave, unarmed sailors of the Maersk Alabama, was on board the Bainbridge, ostensibly “negotiating.” The mariners of the Maersk, incidentally, had never lost control of their vessel. If these stellar members of the American merchant marine had managed to hold off—and hurt—the pirates without any guns, just image what they’d have pulled off had they been armed!

While the navy had failed to rescue Phillips after he had heroically escaped the lifeboat the first time around, it is not exactly clear whether he had jumped this time too. What is apparent is that, “Capt. Phillips was pulled out of sea and transported to the Bainbridge.”

Sometime on Saturday, I believe, Navy Seals had been parachuted onto a vessel out of the pirates’ earshot. They made their way to the U.S.S. Bainbridge, and positioned themselves. “On the marksmanship of the snipers,” a very impressive Vice Adm. William E. Gortney said succinctly: “We pay a lot for their training and we got a good return on our investment.”

I’d say!

The Somali elders were disappointed that their “help” would no longer be needed, but judging from the prattle coming from neocon nation-builders on the left and right—these corrupt old coots may find themselves on call soon.

From CNN especially comes the notion that piracy is really poverty and powerlessness in disguise. (Donna Lemon, CNN’s cherubic, remarkably bad newsman-cum-woman, forgot to blame the “pale, patriarchal, penis people.”) Nevertheless, the consensus among the neocons, left and right, is that what Somalis really need is American boots on the ground to show them how democracy nullifies the need for piracy (NOT). And aid, lots of it.

Here we go again.

Update VI: Blow Them Out Of The Seas! (& No Somali Nation-Building)

Africa, Bush, Crime, Europe, Founding Fathers, Iran, Justice, Military, Neoconservatism, Terrorism, The West, Trade, UN

Pirates! That in itself is a romantic euphemism. These are terrorists on the high seas. They’ve been operating a criminal enterprise that targets innocents with impunity–and with great success. Yet the West does nothing. China, a country that seems to act in its national interests more so than do we, is, by The Washington Times’ account, “deploying vessels to secure their shipping since they can no longer rely on other powers to keep trade flowing unmolested.”

To recap: North Korea has committed no real aggression against the US with its measly missile. The Iranians shoot their mouths off. Both countries know that if they deign to aggress against the US, why, we’ll obliterate them. Yet, on-and-on the debate goes as to whether America should kill the innocent people of these lands. Conversely, when confronted with evil in action—plunderers thwarting the lifeblood that is trade—nothing much is done.

Or murmurs of negotiations ensue.

“Pirates” operate near “ the Horn of Africa, the Gulf of Guinea and around the Strait of Malacca near Singapore,” and threaten peaceful commerce with raids on “cargo vessels, tankers, fishing vessels, cruise liners, yachts and the occasional tugboat.”

The first seizure of a U.S. flagged vessel by pirates in recent memory was thwarted yesterday as the crew retook the vessel. The taking and retaking of the Maersk Alabama has grabbed headlines, but it was one of six ships attacked in that area since last weekend. The only reason this ship was saved is that the American crew fought back.

This is an excellent opportunity for private companies to step in to fill the protection gap. But, knowing the “United Nations Convention on the Law of the Sea,” “any vessels but clearly identified naval or other national forces,” are prohibited from “seizing pirate vessels.” As are “the rules of self-defense at sea somewhat murky.”

If ever there was a time to thumb the proverbial nose at the nosy UN, this is it. I say, “as President Washington said in 1786, lamenting payments being made to the Barbary Pirates, … ‘crush them into nonexistence.'”

Or, blow them out of the seas!

Update I: From the Wall Street Journal: “In the waning days of the Bush administration, the National Security Council issued a detailed yet little-noticed plan for combating piracy off the coast of Somalia.”

Commensurate with Bush’s emphasis on using force, mostly, when it was inappropriate to use it, the previous administration “was nearly silent … on what to do if a ship is taken by pirates and crew members are held captive. And what little guidance it provided was vague. U.S. naval forces were given authority to ‘terminate the act of piracy and any included hostage situation.’ Just how they were to do that was left unsaid.”

I hope he surprises me, but I doubt Barry will deviate from the perplexing policy of aggression against non-aggressors, and non-aggression against aggressors.

Update II (April 10): OBAMA AWOL The silence of this White House, so far, is deafening; the inaction of the best navy seals in the world perplexing. The brave captain of the Maersk Alabama attempted to escape. Stealthy seals were nowhere in sight to help him get away and annihilate his pursuers. He is recaptured.

Knowing that the US media would be covering for Obama, I went straight for the international coverage. The Times Online plasters an appropriate headline on its website: “US Navy misses chance to rescue American captain held hostage by pirates“:

Captain Richard Phillips fled through a back door in the covered lifeboat about midnight on Thursday local time and began swimming away, US officials said.

At least one pirate jumped in after him and brought him back aboard the boat, which is drifting without fuel, before the nearby US destroyer, USS Bainbridge, could intervene. The incident was captured on video by a US drone overhead. “He didn’t get very far,” one official said. …

The Bainbridge, backed by drones and surveillance aircraft, was standing guard a few hundred yards from the lifeboat, which had run out of fuel. The frigate USS Halyburton and the assault ship USS Boxer, armed with about two dozen helicopters and attack planes, sailed to the scene yesterday.

“[a] former US ambassador in Ethiopia and an expert on the Horn of Africa, advocated a tougher policy against pirates, including sinking their ‘mother ships.'”

This is a disgrace! Worse: it’s a disregard for American life.

While Obamby vacillates, President Sarkozy gave French commandos the order to storm a yacht captured by “pirates,” off the coast of Somalia. There is one casualty, but two families are freed. This operation is “the seventh in a year by French forces,” all ordered by the French president.

Hardly a softy is Sarkozy.

According to SPIEGEL ONLINE, “Over the last few days the spike in new pirate attacks has been dramatic. Ten ships, including the MV Hansa Stavager, a German freighter, have been taken. A total of 20 ships remain in the hands of pirates.”

Update III (April 11): SOMALI SHAMANS AND FOOLISH FBI TO THE RESCUE. The US navy’s lackluster efforts to free Capt. Richard Phillips ran aground today… again. Yesterday, a US drone captured, on video, Capt. Phillips making an attempted escape. Had the “vigilant” marines been glued to their monitors, they might have blown the pirates’ dingy out of the sea as soon as the Capt. jumped the craft.

Today, U.S. sailors tried to reach the lifeboat, but the “pirates” did what “pirates” are wont to do: fired on them. The US Navy responded by doing what the Navy, apparently, does when aggressed against: retreat: “The gunfire forced the sailors, who did not return fire, back to the guided missile destroyer USS Bainbridge,” reports CNN.

As if this faux pa were not enough, we learn that the this act of terror on the high seas will be bureaucratized:

“The U.S. Navy — which is in charge of the situation” [– and cannot handle it] has “requested help from the FBI to resolve the standoff.”

The FBI is launching a criminal investigation into the hijacking and hostage-taking, two law enforcement officials told CNN. The probe will be led by the FBI’s New York field office, which has responsibility for looking into cases involving U.S. citizens in the African region. Agents from the office were scheduled to leave for Africa sometime this weekend, the officials said.

Yes, I can think of nothing more appropriate in resolving a stand-off with criminals than to launch an “investigation.” Perhaps the FBI can call in their Behavioral “Sciences” pseudo-scientists, who can then draw up a profile of an African pirate. (Daddy had too many wives and didn’t spend quality time with pygmy pirate.)

Wait a sec, I know of an even better course of action for our bureaucrats. The Christian Science Monitor tells that “relatives of the four Somali hijackers, along with a group of Somali elders, are traveling to the coastal area nearby determined to ‘solve the problem peacefully … without any guns or ransom.'”

Now, if you believe that these are relatives of the hijackers rather than some wily old men from the tribe, who want to get their faces on CNN, and con stupid westerners, then, you must have believed, together with Fox and Friends, that WMD were probably moved to Syria, and al-Qaeda and the Ba’athists were an item.

I hope the savvy Somalis show the foolish FBI how to throw some bones and conjure the ancestral spirits. That ought to help free Capt. Phillips.

Update IV (April 12): To some degree, I agree with “Gunjam’s” comment hereunder. This is a top-brass issue. Although, the military is not exactly what it used to be any longer. Desperate people are being signed up these days. Affirmative action abounds in the military too. Read “OSAMA’S SNICKERING AT OUR MILITARY.” Enough of this Fox-News-type adulation of men just because they wear a uniform. This mission is a complete failure so far. Most of it may come from the top, but, it would seem, quite a bit of the blame rests on the men themselves. With the electronics the military has, with a drone straining on the poor captain as he jumped ship—not to have been there to fish him out is preposterous.

I am well aware that there are many forums where military groupies congregate.

(Update V): The details are still sketchy, but Capt. Phillips is free at last. What wonderful news! It is still unclear whether this exceptional mariner attempted, first, to escape again, and the navy picked him up as they picked-off the pirates. Or whether the order was finally given, and naval forces went in and did what needed to be done.

Either way; this is such a good day; such a fine conclusion to an unnecessarily protracted stand-off. The nightmare of a hostage unrescued, documented repeatedly during the unlawful, immoral invasion of Iraq in columns such as “AFTER THEIR HEADS ROLL, AMERICA’S DEAD REMAIN FACELESS,” has been averted.

Reuters: “Joseph Murphy, whose son, Shane, was Phillips’s second in command and took over the Alabama after pirates left with Phillips, said in a statement read by CNN, ‘Our prayers have been answered on this Easter Sunday.'”

Update VI: NO TO NATION BUILDING. Here’s what I’ve gleaned from all the disjointed reports: On Friday (only) the president had issued a standing order sanctioning force if the hostage’s life was in danger. Since the life of the captured master of the Maersk Alabama had always been in danger—is that not the definition of a hostage situation?—this would indicate only that Obama’s preferred option was to end this act of thuggery peacefully.

This, I might add, is in contrast to the French government’s actions.

Navy Vice Adm. William E. Gortney, commander of U.S. Naval Forces Central Command, said “the White House had given military operators ‘very clear guidance and authority’ if Phillips’ life was in danger.”

“The on-scene commander took it as the captain was in imminent danger and then made that decision (to shoot), and he had the authorities to make that decision, and he had seconds to make that decision,” he said.

Clearly Obama’s order gave the U.S.S. Bainbridge commander all the latitude he needed. All the while, negotiations had been ongoing, with the outcome that the pirate dingy was now fastened to the U.S.S. Bainbridge, was being towed by it, and was comfortably within sights. Supplies were being provided to the occupants.

A young pirate who’d been stabbed by the brave, unarmed sailors of the Maersk Alabama, was on board the Bainbridge, ostensibly “negotiating.” The mariners of the Maersk, incidentally, had never lost control of their vessel. If these stellar members of the American merchant marine had managed to hold off—and hurt—the pirates without any guns, just image what they’d have pulled off had they been armed!

While the navy had failed to rescue Phillips after he had heroically escaped the lifeboat the first time around, it is not exactly clear whether he had jumped this time too. What is apparent is that, “Capt. Phillips was pulled out of sea and transported to the Bainbridge.”

Sometime on Saturday, I believe, Navy Seals had been parachuted onto a vessel out of the pirates’ earshot. They made their way to the U.S.S. Bainbridge, and positioned themselves. “On the marksmanship of the snipers,” a very impressive Vice Adm. William E. Gortney said succinctly: “We pay a lot for their training and we got a good return on our investment.”

I’d say!

The Somali elders were disappointed that their “help” would no longer be needed, but judging from the prattle coming from neocon nation-builders on the left and right—these corrupt old coots may find themselves on call soon.

From CNN especially comes the notion that piracy is really poverty and powerlessness in disguise. (Donna Lemon, CNN’s cherubic, remarkably bad newsman-cum-woman, forgot to blame the “pale, patriarchal, penis people.”) Nevertheless, the consensus among the neocons, left and right, is that what Somalis really need is American boots on the ground to show them how democracy nullifies the need for piracy (NOT). And aid, lots of it.

Here we go again.

Updated: Mad Mahmoud Saner Than Bailout Bastards

Economy, Federal Reserve Bank, Inflation, Iran, Socialism

Who’s crazier; Mad Mahmoud Or the Bailout Bastards?

Ahmadinejad’s God gobbledygook aside, the Iranian loon has figured out something the newly crowned King Henry (Paulson) and his cronies reject root-and-branch:

“‘The U.S. government has made a series of mistakes in the past few decades,” Ahmadinejad said an interview with the Los Angeles Times. ‘The imposition on the U.S. economy of the years of heavy military engagement and involvement around the world … the war in Iraq, for example. These are heavy costs imposed on the U.S. economy.’”

“‘The world economy can no longer tolerate the budgetary deficit and the financial pressures occurring from markets here in the United States, and by the U.S. government,’ he added.”

Economist Robert Higgs has pegged all defense-related spending—the price of America’s empire—at approximately $1 trillion per year. That, and this, will do it.

Update: “THIS MASSIVE BAILOUT IS NOT THE SOLUTION, IT IS FINANCIAL SOCIALISM, AND IT IS UN-AMERICAN.” Who is Jim Bunning? He’s the only politician (other than Ron Paul) to have called the hideous thing by its name: socialism.

Senator Jim Bunning’s statement at the “Banking, Housing, and Urban Affairs Committee Hearing on Turmoil in the U.S. Credit Markets”:

“We cannot make bad mortgages go away. We cannot make the losses that our financial institutions are facing go away. Someone must take those losses. We can either let the people who made bad decisions bear the consequences of their actions, or we can spread that pain to others. And that is exactly what the Secretary proposes to do – take Wall Street’s pain and spread it to the taxpayers. The plan has not even passed, and already Americans are paying for it because of the fall in the dollar as a result of all the new debt we will be taking on.

I know there are problems in the financial markets, and I share a lot of the same concerns that our witnesses do. However, the Paulson plan will not fix those problems. The Paulson plan will not help struggling homeowners pay their mortgages. The Paulson plan will not bring a stop to the slide in home prices. But the Paulson plan will spend 700 billion taxpayer dollars to prop up and clean up the balance sheets of Wall Street. This massive bailout is not the solution, it is financial socialism, and it is un-American.” [My emphasis]