The new golden boy of Take That! Radio, Steve Schippert, puts things into perspective about Iran:

It seems “Stop killing Americans” would be a reasonable precondition, nay a responsible precondition, to any talks with the Iranian mullah regime on any subject at all. Such wouldn’t even require the intellectual energy of nuanced language.

But instead, the grand international stage is being set. The actors and props are taking their proper places. President Obama said he would decide whether his “open hand” policy toward Iran was working by the G20 Summit in Italy in September. Right on time, as usual, the Iranians had their envoy to the IAEA signal that, yes indeed, Iran is ready now to begin talks (about talks) with the West on its nuclear program, provided there are “no preconditions.”

You can subscribe to The Steve Schippert Show via iTunes, or download it from the web by checking out Take That! Radio’s website.

Tonight.

Tuesday, June 23, 2009
8:00pm - 10:00pm
Gole Sorkh to Mel Lastman Square (and back)
Meet in front of Gole Sorkh (6184 Yonge Street)
Toronto, ON

I will try to be there, but I have my reasons for wanting to avoid the crowd. On that point I know Winston will forgive me. That said, I will make the effort to at least check it out, and anyone else in the area should too. The Iranian people fighting the Mullahcracy are running on adrenaline, hope and moral support.

They need that moral support from those of us around the world.

Tabitha Hale from Raisin Hale and pinkelephantpundit.com guest hosts.

Special guests are Steve Schippert and Winston.

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I’m not here, and I’m not blogging. I’m over on Twitter, watching big things unfold. The images coming out are unbelievable. I just watched a girl die in the streets of Tehran.

Brass Balls Radio will be released on iTunes tomorrow, and will include an interview with Steve Schippert and Winston, talking together about the present and future of the Iranian regime.

But here’s the thing - Iran is still an Islamic shithole, no matter the outcome of the revolution. They will still hate America, still hate the West, still burn the Stars and Stripes. But they will have democracy. And they will be working toward freedom. Baby steps.

Anyway, back to Twitter. Later, y’all.

Won’t be fought on CNN.

I will admit I haven’t been following too closely. Just when I have Tweetdeck open and can see the trending topics. The messages have been flying around, and at one point I teared up when it began to circulate the people were opening portals and proxys to keep the news flowing from the people in the middle of it, despite Ahmedinejad’s attempts to filter and eventually shut down the internet.

A million people rallied in Tehran today. A million! A general strike has been called for tomorrow, to bust the regime’s economy. Ahmedinejad is flailing, his military is raiding and shooting, the university in Tehran was raided and burned in some places… but the people march on.

CNN, Fox and the other major media sources are obsolete. It is too easy for the Ayatollah and Ahmedinejad to ban the media, just like they do in North Korea and China. Instead, the news comes out by text message, Twitter and email. This is a people’s revolution.

I’m getting a lot of my news from here, from Winston. An Iranian exile in Canada. He’s been awake for two solid days. He’s shaking and bordering on the hysteria that comes from lack of REM. And if I’m not around later this afternoon, I will probably be with him, manning the messages with my Persian-to-Redneck dictionary while he sleeps.

Godspeed Winston, to you and your family back home. This, unlike much of what we’ve seen elsewhere, is a hope for change we can belive in.

From Wikipedia:

On December 26, 2003 at 5:26 AM local time(1:56 AM UTC) Bam Citadel — “the biggest adobe structure of the world” — and most of the city of Bam proper were devastated by an earthquake. The United States Geological Survey estimated its magnitude as 6.6 on the Richter scale.^[2] The BBC reported that “70% of the modern city of Bam” was destroyed.^[3] Death toll numbers as high as 80,000 were rumoured on the street and 70,000 reported in the media. However, the total death toll was given as 56,230 on January 17 and the latest estimate from Tehran has halved previous estimates to 26,271 deaths. An additional 10,000 – 50,000 were reported injured, however this number is very uncertain; the most reported number is 30,000, which may have originated from an early Reuters account. According to the Iranian news agency IRNA, the old Bam Citadel was “levelled to the ground”.

This much most know. What most may not know is why so many died there when it was commonly known that it was a hazardous region and the Shaw of iran had in fact made it illegal for anyone to live there except for archaeologists and scientists studying the fascinating and long history of this city.

Why then did so many thousands perish in Bam? Tens of thousands more than where legally allowed to be there under the Shaw?

After the revolution and Iran, the most secular of all ‘Islamic states’ and the only Muslim state that has any respect for its pre Islamic history it was decided to sell deeds to properties in Bam. As well as buying your new home you could get a ‘fatwa’ that promised you there would be no earthquake for an additional five thousand dollars.

This of course is reminiscent of the ‘indulgences’ of the Catholic church during its most corrupt days of raising money by selling holy relics and certificates of forgiveness. However this cost the lives of something like 40,000 people.

As bad as the Shaw may have been he was at least capable of looking after the basic interests of his people in forbidding them to live in a mud house in an area plagued by frequent earthquakes. The dark greedy and corrupt superstitious whims of the Mullahs and clerics who followed, where all too ready to sacrifice the lives of tens of thousands of their fellow Iranians for five grand a household. I wonder how many of them where there when the city came apart. I bet it was a round number.

Much has been made of the report that Obama has offered to give Israel a ‘nuclear shield’ as a defence against likely Iranian nuclear attacks. I was asked to give my opinion in email to this issue and thought I would post the report and my answer here. I would very much welcome in comments any of your thoughts to this issue. How you guys feel about Iran’s ambitions and what the best courses of action might be.

First the report and comments from the MSM then my response then hopefully some of yours…

U.S.-ISRAEL COLLISION
Published on TheHill.com on December 16, 2008

With the election of Barack Obama, the United States has moved dramatically to the left in its foreign policy at just the time that Israel, which seems likely to return Bibi Netanyahu to office in early February, is moving to the right. A collision is almost inevitable.

Caroline Glick, the highly astute conservative columnist for the Jerusalem Post, writes that the “international community” believes that Obama “will move quickly to place massive pressure on the next Israeli government to withdraw from Judea, Samaria, Jerusalem and the Golan Heights in the interests of advancing a ‘peace process’ with the Palestinians and the Syrians.” She notes that “people who have been in close contact with Obama’s foreign policy transition team have privately acknowledged that the widespread belief that Obama will move swiftly to put the screws on Israel is fully justified. According to one source who has spent a great deal of time with the transition team since last month’s U.S. elections, Obama’s people are ’scope-locked’ on Israel.”

Meanwhile, in Israel, there is a growing consensus, reflected in public opinion surveys, that trading land for peace is a chimera. Netanyahu points out that “we do not have a viable partner with whom to negotiate peace.” The Palestinian Authority does not speak for the people of either Gaza or the West Bank, and Hamas, which probably does (it won the election), does not want to be a party to any peace agreement. Recent experience suggests that Hamas will quickly install rocket launchers on any territory Israel concedes, using it not as a basis for peace, but as a platform from which to kill more Jews.

Former Prime Minister Ehud Olmert and the candidates of the left, Labor’s Ehud Barak and Kadima’s Tzipi Livni, are deeply committed to land for peace. Their rejection by the Israeli electorate — the anticipated outcome of the Feb. 10 election — will signal a bold departure in the political consensus of the Jewish state, a consensus that flies directly in the face of Obama’s likely policy.

The difference between the U.S. and Israel also extends to the realm of how strongly they oppose Iranian development of nuclear weapons. While Iran moves closer and closer to a bomb that could and will be used against Israel, Obama speaks of extending the American “nuclear umbrella” to cover Israel.

Reading between the lines, this means that he doesn’t think he can stop Iranian nuclear ambitions and will retreat to a policy of deterrence, accepting a nuclear Iran in the bargain.

If Netanyahu wins the election, he will bring with him a determination to stop Iranian nuclear weapons, no matter what, and a refusal to concede more territory in the name of the peace process. But Obama’s foreign policy team will be focusing on pushing Israel in just the opposite direction.

The result is likely to be the most significant divergence between Israeli and American policies since 1956, when President Eisenhower sided with the Arabs to halt the British-French-Israeli invasion of Suez.

The United States has tremendous leverage over Israel — military, financial and political. And Obama’s ability to carry the Jewish vote by a wide margin despite his likely Middle East policy makes him largely immune to the kind of political pressure that has disciplined American presidents in the past and forced them to incline toward accommodating Israeli views on the Middle East.

But Israel probably has the military capacity to bomb Iran and to win the Middle East war against Syria, Hamas, Iran and Hezbollah that is likely to result. Unlike Olmert, Netanyahu will use ground troops right off the bat and will fight such a war to win and to win big. But they may have to do it without their strongest ally: the United States.

Although I didn’t deal with every aspect of this article, itself a kind of ‘chimera’ I did focus on the issue of Iran the US and Israel….

some of this is good but like most stuff I read on the matter it seems under informed.
I so far at least do not see Obama’s admin as fundamentally different than Bush’s.

There are strong rumors of Obama offering to set up a ‘nuclear umbrella’ for Israel but in fact there is already a US base operating an ABM site and has been for some time albeit a ’secret’ one so Obama’s offer is nothing at all new.

What’s worth looking at is the idea that the US strategy is one of defense of Israel to Iranian nuclear missiles as opposed to preventing Iran from developing these weapons. It would appear that Iran will develop the capability for a nuclear device if they have not already done so and may in the coming years be able to develop an actual deliverable weapon.

Let’s put ourselves in the position of Iran for a moment…

We have a massive economic crisis. For the first time we are issuing debt bonds, something we are normally opposed to as an instrument. We use Islam as the tie that binds for a large number of disparate groups within Iran. The negative focus is the USA and Israel to try and keep our people united despite massive poverty and growing oppression at home. Our budget is based on a minimum USD $60.00 per barrel oil price and Iran’s crappy oil cannot get over $30.00 $PB at the moment and probably less, so Iran is sliding into more and more debt.

should we decide to go ahead with expensive nuclear weapons programs the thing to do would be distract the world with new missile tests and purchases from Russia and then build a shitty primitive nuclear device aboard a large ship and detonate it off the coast of Israel while everyone is busy with super high tech missile defense systems.

this is what I would do if I was Iran.
I tend to agree that any attempt to eradicate Iran’s program is probably not practical. It would mean a rapid end to the Obama admin for one thing. He would have to use all his political capitol up as it would be a near impossible sell at home if indeed it was even possible logistically. There is no point in destroying the facilities. You have to kill the people with the know how. This means you would have to have a surprise attack in order to be effective as the equipment is cheap and easily replaced and wouldn’t set the program back much at all. Chances are they have a lot of U235 available and ready now. The scarce resource is the technicians who have the know how to actually do anything with it.

Iran has been somewhat masterful at deception and stalling. Its a safe bet most of what we know is a dodge. The chinese bomb design is likely not what they are making. a simple U235 bomb needing a minimal of know how is probably what they are going for and it would be easy to construct this aboard a ship. something the size of Hiroshima bomb, maybe 15 or 20 kilotons would do to destroy Tel Aviv or more likely if they could, launch it high enough to create an EMP which would effectively set Israel back to pre 1900s technology and make it easy pickings for ground forces.

In any of these cases I find the analysis I see of Obama’s offer of a Nuclear shield to be lacking in decent information. It isn’t new and it doesn’t tell us anything we need to know.

If there is an attack on Iran’s facilities planned, as I said it would have to be a surprise. So the more we hear about one the less likely it is to happen.

More meaningfully the bickering over ABM systems for central Europe are indicators that the US is planning to defend against Iranian missiles as opposed to ending Iran’s capability to acquire them.

This seems to me a more telling example of US policy. That they are ready to incur Russia’s wrath for a system most definitely intended to defend against Iranian threats to Europe.

Here is a series of utterly paranoid lectures by a Muslim religious figure who has a hat large enough to conceal the huge amount of LSD he must be taking via some kind of special apparatus in there. The bit at the end is especially funny.

Posted by James Cohen for Right Girl

While the Main Stream Media has ignored the event, sources in Iran confirm that Moqtada Sadr, the Shiite maverick Iraqi cleric, who runs the pro-Iran Sadr Brigade hit squads inside Iraq, is in an Iranian hospital, in a coma after “food poisoning”.

Fingers crossed…. I’ll be keeping an eye on this one.

Update March 7, 2008: Damn.

This is a timely article for us Torontonians.

A top Muslim cleric in Iran, Hojatolislam Gholam Reza Hassani said on Wednesday that women in Iran who do not wear the hijab or Muslim headscarf, should die.

“Women who do not respect the hijab and their husbands deserve to die,” said Hassani, who leads Friday prayers in the city of Urumieh, in Iranian Azerbaijan.

Yet we’re told the hijab is a choice….

It was on this date in 1979 that Iranian militants took Americans hostage at the embassy for 444 days. Today Iran uses it as a lesson in hatred for the next generation of would-be martyrs and thugs.

Thousands of young Iranians proclaimed “Death to America” on Sunday as they celebrated the 28th anniversary of the storming of the US embassy in Tehran by student radicals.

A massive crowd, composed mainly of schoolchildren bussed in to central Tehran, gathered outside the site of the former US embassy, known locally as the “Den of Spies.”

“Death to America! Death to Israel!” the young people shouted, wearing bibs that depicted the burning of the US and Israeli flags.

Interior Minister Mostafa Pour Mohammadi, in a keynote address, hailed the embassy seizure as “a great and glorious event” from which Iranians were still drawing inspiration.

Todays Weekly Friday Hate highlights provided by Provisional Friday Prayer Leader of Tehran Hojjatoleslam Ahmad Khatami.

On the Knighthood of Salman Rushdie:

Khatami then focussed on the British Queen’s decorating of the disbeliever Salman Rushdie with a Knight Medal, as a sign of Britain’s direct confrontation with 1.5 billion Muslims around the globe.

He said, “The old, and decrepit British colonialism that claims to be the standard bearer of the human rights is now awarding a wretched bankrupt fellow that has insulted the sanctities of 1.5 billion Muslims.” Posing the question, “Is that the meaning of the human rights and the Western Civilization of yours?” he added, “The old and feeble British Government had better realize now that it is no longer an empire, but an ear-ringed slave of the Americans.” Pointing out that the Islamic movement is gaining momentum around the globe, he said, “Under such conditions the height medal of honor of Britain is given to a wretched fellow that knows no art at all.” Khatami added, “The Islamic World is unanimously protesting against that new insult, and in Islamic Iran, too, the verdict issued against Salman Rushdie is still in effect, and irrevocable.

He emphasized, “The British had better know they are for sure the losers in this scene.”

His latter-day minions are pretty damn cowardly. Think about it. Osama is hiding in a cave on the Pak/Af’stan border. Moqtada al Sadr has been hiding since the surge was announced. Even the “secular” Saddam Hussein was found in a spiderhole, wretched and filthy, not having seen the sun in weeks. These are the people that are leading resistance? How could anyone be foolish enough to follow them and do their bidding?

The orders [to resist the surge] come from a diminished Sadr, who still has yet to poke his head above ground in Iraq since the beginning of the surge. At first, he fled to Iran supposedly to hold strategy meetings with senior Mahdi Army commanders and to consult with his Iranian allies, but most suspected he bugged out before the Americans could seize him and his most loyal followers.

Sad, sad, sad.

a clever Persian girl figures out how to beguile a blood-thirsty misogynist Persian mullah who likes to bed virgins and execute them

Kate’s running a contest. Go over and put yours in the comments.