the opinionist

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Posted on March 29th, 2009 under 2009, Afghanistan, Americans, Arms Trade, Axis of Evil, Britain, Bush, Bush Administration, CIA, China, Cold War, Conspiracy, Cyber-Warfare, Defense Security Service, Deficit, Democrats, Depression, Dmitry Medvedev, Espionage, Federal Reserve, Global Policeman, Global Poverty, Great Satan, IMF, Iran, Iraq, Japan, Medvedev, Middle East, Moscow, Multipolar, NATO, Nuclear Bomb, Nuclear Weapons, OPEC, Osama bin Laden, Oval Office, Pentagon, Politics, Presidential Election, Reagan, Russia, São Paulo Forum, U.S., US Dollar, US Treasury Bonds, Unilateralism, Unipolar, United Nations, Use of Force, WTO, War, War on Terror, WikiLeaks, World Trade, al Qaeda, counter-intelligence, defence. Comments: None

The Middle East – and Iran issue specifically – lies at the center of so many foreign policy hurdles for the United States. The pursuit of peace in the Middle East and the reestablishment of a legitimate U.N. entity can only start with a proven warming of relations between the U.S. and Iran.
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Posted on March 21st, 2009 under Ahmadinejad, Amanpour, Americans, Arab Americans, Axis of Evil, Ayatollah Khomeini, BBC, Barack Obama, Bush Administration, Bushehr Reactor, Defense Security Service, Espionage, Global Policeman, Great Satan, Human Rights Watch, Iran, Iran Attack, Islamofascist, MEK, Mullahs, Muslim, NeoCons, New York Times, Nuclear Bomb, Nuclear Weapons, OPEC, Pentagon, President, Presidential Election, Revolutionary Guard, Robert Gates, Russia, S-300, State Department, Terrorism, U.S., US Dollar, United Nations, Venezuela, War on Terror, Washington, counter-intelligence, gasoline, gates, israel, oil. Comments: None

The Guardian Newspaper (UK) yesterday reported on a confidential report leaked to the Press that outlines a ‘bleak picture of a counterinsurgency effort undermined by intelligence failures that at times border on the absurd.‘
This is on topic of recent comments by Army General David McKiernan – the top U.S. commander in Afghanistan – that equally [...]

Posted on March 7th, 2009 under Afghanistan, Americans, Axis of Evil, British Sailors, Bush Administration, CIA, Espionage, Gitmo, Global Policeman, Guardian, Iran, Iraq, Islam, Islamofascist, Jack Bauer, Middle East, Mullahs, Muslim Brotherhood, NATO, NSA, Obama, Pentagon, President, Robert Gates, Rumsfeld, Russia, Security, Spending, Spying, Terrorism, U.S., UN, United Nations, War on Terror, Washington, WikiLeaks, al Qaeda, counter-intelligence, interviews, john mccain, journalism. Comments: None

Based on President Obama’s rocking speech last night … an economic, social and foreign policy home-run… it is very easy to understand why foreign states – allies and adversaries – continue to celebrate the departure of Bush 43. Obama’s candid and unabashedly open-mindedness for talks with former Axis-of-Evil nations (Iran, Syria and North Korea [...]

Posted on February 25th, 2009 under Cold War, F-35, Iran, Iran Attack, Iraq, Lockheed, Medvedev, Nuclear Bomb, Nuclear Weapons, Obama, Pentagon, Putin, Rosoboronexport, Russia, S-300, israel, nuclear. Comments: None

With the daily avalanche of doom and hideous gloom battering us from every angle – it’s very difficult (neigh, almost impossible!) to find any silver lining strong enough to tug on with reasonable focus and interest. So when you trip over the odd headline here and foreign-correspondent article there (in quiet corners of the [...]

Posted on February 18th, 2009 under Ahmadinejad, Alternative Energy, Axis of Evil, BRIC, Bolivia, Brazil, Chechnya, Chávez, Cold War, Corruption, Czech Republic, Dmitry Medvedev, EU, Emerging Markets, Global Policeman, Globalizm, Gulag, India, Iran, Jingoism, Mullahs, NATO, Natural Gas, OPEC, President, Refineries, Russia, Security, Senate, State Department, Syria, São Paulo Forum, UN, United Nations, Venezuela, War, War on Terror, World Trade, Zhirinovsky, counter-intelligence, gasoline, gorbachev. Comments: 1

According to MENAFN News, Iraqi Oil Minister, Hussain Al-Shahristani, has today announced plans to construct an oil and natural gas pipeline to both Iran and Syria – scheduled to begin construction in 2008.
Both neighboring countries have been long accused by the United States of meddling inside Iraq and are both accused of fueling the ongoing [...]

Posted on September 10th, 2007 under Iran, Iraq, Pipeline, Syria, oil. Comments: 1

Have just finished reading an eighty page report by Dr Dan Plesch and Martin Butcher entitled, “Considering a war with Iran: A discussion paper on WMD in the Middle East.”
It is a compelling read full of assumptions – yes – but balanced, and disturbing.
If the U.S. is truly contemplating a unilateral attack on Iran then [...]

Posted on August 30th, 2007 under Ahmadinejad, Bush Administration, Dr Dan Plesch, Iran, Iran Attack, Martin Butcher, Unilateralism. Comments: 2

Article in Time.com from Saturday August 18 by Robert Baer.
Entitled, “Prelude to an attack on Iran.”
Begins:
Reports that the Bush Administration will put Iran’s Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps on the terrorism list can be read in one of two ways: it’s either more bluster or, ominously, a wind-up for a strike on Iran. Officials I talk [...]

Posted on August 21st, 2007 under Bush, Iran, Revolutionary Guard, Robert Baer. Comments: None

Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice and Defense Secretary Robert Gates trip to the Middle East and the subsequent and substantial $63 billion arms deal with Saudi Arabia, Egypt and a handful of smaller Arab states has drawn considerable criticism back home from Presidential hopefuls (Edwards | Obama) and other media-starlets as an act of incompetent [...]

Posted on August 2nd, 2007 under Bush, Condi Rice, Edwards, House of Saud, Iran, Iraq, Middle East, NeoCons, Obama, Putin, Russia, SNSC, Shia, Sunni, Syria, israel, saudi arabia. Comments: 1

Reports today in the Jerusalem Post of fresh new sales to Iran by Russia of cutting-edge military hardware lends support to the notion that a frigid new Cold War is emerging between Russia and the West.
The JPost article, entitled “Reports: Iran to buy jets from Russia”, suggests Russia is to sell 250 ‘advanced long-range [...]

Posted on July 30th, 2007 under Ahmadinejad, China, India, Iran, Middle East, Putin, Russia, Syria, Venezuela, israel. Comments: 3

Yesterday the Persian Journal published a very succinct but insightful article on the 1980-1988 Iran-Iraq War, who helped to end it and how.
You can understand the not wholly misplaced distrust the Iranians hold against the United States and the United Nations. Whilst the U.S. aggressively sought to mediate an end to the bloody conflict – [...]

Posted on July 30th, 2007 under Ahmadinejad, Basra, Chemical Weapons, Iran, Saddam Hussein, United Nations. Comments: None

Every once in a while I get a comment from a reader. These are terrific because my opinions do indeed change as based on new facts, clarifications or even when I’m pointed to ‘real’ facts and not, perhaps, an over-reliance on faulty sources or assumptions. Hey – I’m human and I’m not an economist! I [...]

Posted on July 3rd, 2007 under China, Cyber-Warfare, Iran, Tibet, Venezuela, oil. Comments: 1

The coalition of ‘Evil-Do’ers’ and anti-American antagonists continue their strategy of under-mining the global dominance of the United States one nasty little paper cut at a time!
Just as the paper-tiger United Nations debates ever-tighter trade and security sanctions on Iran, and just in time for Putin’s ‘Weekend at Bernie’s’-esque visit to the Bush retreat in [...]

Posted on June 29th, 2007 under Hugo Chávez, Iran, Russia, Venezuela, nuclear. Comments: 1

I probably sound rather silly and melodramatic when I state my longing for credible and agenda-free news coverage that focuses on the real issues facing the U.S. and the world. Perhaps extremely silly! So yes, there is indeed a wonderfully diverse news universe out there … but you have to know where to look [...]

Posted on June 28th, 2007 under Ahmadinejad, Iran, NeoCons, UN. Comments: 2

That folks may stumble across and actually read a blogger’s (not so daily) posts is an enjoyable feeling. To receive comments – positive or negative, that contribute to a discussion or slam and denounce – is a healthy much appreciated event and I’d like to thank those that do take the time to share their [...]

Posted on June 26th, 2007 under Dana Pittard, Iran, Iraq, Kurdistan, Syria, Turkey. Comments: None

The energetic French presidential race concluded yesterday with the election of moderate conservative Nicolas Sarkozy. But even as Sarkozy reaffirms France’s close relationship with the United States, the French will continue in their role as a diplomatic counterweight by reminding the U.S. of the challenges to be faced in the likely multi-polar world of the [...]

Posted on May 7th, 2007 under Ahmadinejad, Brazil, Bush, China, France, IMF, Iran, Jean-David Levitte, NATO, Nicolas Sarkozy, Russia, UN. Comments: 3

Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad is literally running out of time – politically, militarily, and rather frighteningly, spiritually! Iran is teasingly close to an all-out war with the United States and the consequences for Iran, the U.S., and the world are enormous and potentially cataclysmic.
Politically:
Conservative Ahmadinejad was swept into power in August 2005 on a [...]

Posted on April 2nd, 2007 under 12th Imam, Ahmadinejad, Bush, China, Iran, Iraq, Mahdi, Qods, Russia. Comments: 2

Vladimir Volfovich Zhirinovsky is a Russian politician, deputy and vice-chairman of the State Duma (the Russian parliament), and a lawyer. Zhirinovsky is (also) the founder and the leader of the Liberal Democratic Party of Russia (LDPR), the third largest party in the Duma. He is also a member of the Parliamentary Assembly of the Council [...]

Posted on March 29th, 2007 under Bush, Iran, Iraq, Putin, Russia, Zhirinovsky. Comments: 1

Russian News & Information Agency (RIA Novosti) – a state run media outlet – published a report last week in which retired Russian General [Leonid] Ivashov proposes a detailed report on U.S. plans to strike Iran on Friday April 6.
General Ivashov was the Chief of Staff of the Russian armed forces during the September 11, [...]

Posted on March 29th, 2007 under Ahmadinejad, British Sailors, Iran, Iraq, Russia, U.S.. Comments: None