Who Voted for War With Iran, Mr. Obama?

[Lumi]

Who Voted for War With Iran, Mr. Obama?

Philip Giraldi
The American Conservative
July 28, 2010

House of Representatives resolution 1553, introduced by Congressional Republicans, and currently working its way through the system will endorse an Israeli attack on Iran, which would be going to war by proxy as the US would almost immediately be drawn into the conflict when Tehran retaliates. The resolution provides explicit US backing for Israel to bomb Iran, stating that Congress supports Israel?s use of ?all means necessary?including the use of military force?. The resolution is non-binding, but it is dazzling in its disregard for the possible negative consequences that would ensue for the hundreds of thousands of US military and diplomatic personnel currently serving in the Near East region. Even the Pentagon opposes any Israeli action against Iran, knowing that it would mean instant retaliation against US forces in Iraq and also in Afghanistan. The resolution has appeared, not coincidentally, at the same time as major articles by leading neoconservatives Reuel Marc Gerecht and Bill Kristol calling for military action. AIPAC thinks it is wonderful.

Ironically, the push against Iran comes at a time when the National Intelligence Estimate on the country is being finished. It might come out as soon as August, but it will be secret and its conclusions will either be leaked or released in summary. My sources inside the intelligence community insist that it will support the 2007 NIE that concluded that Iran no longer has a weapons program. The White House has delayed the process seeking harder language to justify a range of options against Iran, including a military strike, but the analysts are reported to be resisting. So we spend $100 billion on intelligence annually and then ignore the best judgments on what is taking place. Might as well use a Ouija board.

 

[THE KOD]

Is Russia's Backing of Iran Sanctions Starting to Fray?


/ MOSCOW Simon Shuster / Moscow ? Thu Jul 15, 5:25 pm ET
For a couple of weeks in June, it seemed like Russia's stance on Iran was finally coming into line with that of the U.S. President Barack Obama, in one of the biggest achievements so far of his foreign policy, had convinced Russia to support a new round of U.N. sanctions, approved on June 9, meant to stop Iran from building a nuclear bomb. There was a lot of back-patting at the U.N. Security Council, and on June 24, Obama's political honeymoon with his Russian counterpart, Dmitri Medvedev, reached a high point when the two chowed down at Ray's Hell Burger outside Washington, D.C., looking friendlier than ever. But this week, with the two presidents back in their respective capitals, Russia is changing its tone on Iran. The Kremlin appears once again to be playing both sides.

On Wednesday, Energy Minister Sergei Shmatko held a meeting in Moscow with Iranian Oil Minister Massoud Mir Kazemi, and afterwards Shmatko announced that Russia was ready to deliver fuel and oil products to Iran. "The sanctions cannot stop us," he declared. And it is true: the latest round of U.N. sanctions does not forbid fuel sales to Iran, but the unilateral sanctions imposed by the U.S. and Europe do. Russia's decision therefore still has a touch of defiance and seems aimed at demonstrating its independence from the West on the Iran dilemma. At the press conference, Kazemi made it clear that this effort was working. "Independent countries are truly cooperating with Iran," he said. (READ: "An Attack on Iran: Back on the Table.")

The following day, Russia took this initiative further by suggesting it might still sell S-300 missile systems to Iran under an existing contract. For years, Iran has been desperate to buy these rockets, which would make its nuclear installations practically invulnerable to attacks from the air. But the U.S. and Israel, who still consider airstrikes a last resort in dealing with Iran's nuclear program, have pressured Russia not to complete the sale. On June 18, about a week after the U.N. sanctions were adopted, Russia appeared to concede. "Moscow believes that the sanctions resolution clearly forbids the sale of the S-300 system to Iran," Deputy Foreign Minister Sergei Denisov told Russia's state news agency RIA Novosti that day. Later in June, experts from Russia's Federal Service for Military and Technical Cooperation also concluded that these weapons could not be sold to Iran under the new U.N. sanctions. The Israelis and the U.S. breathed a sigh of relief. (See pictures of terror in Tehran.)

But on Thursday, Sergei Chemezov, the head of Russia's state weapons exporter and a long-time friend of Prime Minister Vladimir Putin, said the sale had not been frozen. "The final decision on signing or dropping the contract must be made by the President," Chemezov said at a summit on Russian-German relations in the Russian city of Ekaterinburg. (Comment on this story.)

This puts Medvedev in a very tough spot. Since the summer of 2008, when Obama announced his drive to move beyond Cold War rivalries and reset U.S.-Russian relations, he and his Russian counterpart have developed a personal rapport. Sitting in their shirtsleeves in Ray's Hell Burger, they seemed the picture of camaraderie, and a few days earlier, Medvedev could hardly contain his glee as he toured Silicon Valley, the symbol of American ingenuity that he has staked his presidency on emulating at home. (See where Russia ranks in President Obama's World Cup of international relations.)

But this relationship has always come with demands on Medvedev, with a strong stance against Iran near the top of the list. On this issue in particular, Medvedev has delivered on several occasions. Indeed, at the same summit on Thursday where Chemezov made his surprise comments about selling Iran the S-300s, Medvedev said at a separate press conference that Russia "was not indifferent" to the military components of Iran's nuclear program. "Iran must find the courage to start full-fledged cooperation with the international community, even if it does not like some of the questions that are posed," he said, sitting alongside German Chancellor Angela Merkel, who had flown in for the summit.

At the same time, Medvedev realizes that sidelining Iran would come at a serious price, not least of all for Russia's budget. The S-300 contract is worth around $800 million, and if Russia fails to honor it, Iran has said it would impose a penalty that experts estimate at another $400 million. The Islamic Republic could also refuse to buy any more military products from Russia in the future, leading to an estimated loss of up to $500 million per year, according to an investigative report published on June 30 by the daily newspaper Nezavisimaya Gazeta. The report also noted that China, Russia's emerging rival in the arms trade, would be happy to take its place.

On the security front, Moscow also has a lot to lose. Insurgents and advisers from Arab states are regularly caught in the mountains of the North Caucasus, the hub of the Muslim insurgency fighting to turn part of Russia into an Islamic caliphate. No evidence has ever surfaced of Iran financing these insurgents. But if it begins to count Russia as one of its enemies - as it had threatened to do in the lead-up to the June U.N. sanctions vote - experts say that Iran could throw its weight behind jihadis in Russia, just as it does in Israel for terrorist groups like Hezbollah and Hamas. Likewise in Central Asia, a patchwork of predominantly Muslim states, Iran could position itself against Russia as a rival for influence, particularly in Tajikistan, which shares strong cultural and linguistic ties with Iran. :scared

"So if it wants, Iran has many ways of inflicting damage on Russia, of shifting the security landscape in Central Asia and the Caucasus in a way that could destabilize the region," says Fyodor Lukyanov, political analyst and editor of the journal Russia in Global Affairs. "It has not yet done that, but if there is a radical change in relations with Russia, it can." Lukyanov says that Russia has already gone as far as it can in alienating Iran to please the U.S, and Obama will need to offer Russia some major rewards if he wants an even tougher stand on the nuclear issue. But with Russia now appearing to backpedal on its support for sanctions, such rewards might be necessary just to get the Kremlin to keep the promises it's already made. :scared
...........................................................


All I know is that when Russia and China are leaning towards sanctions with Iran, we know this is a deep shit serious issue.

Something has to be done.

I just hope Obama can push the Iran problem into his second term .

Kinda like how George W handled it the chicken chicken hawk of them all.

 

[Lumi]

Summary:... Pucker Factor of a Negative.... 5, 6 ?

 

[THE KOD]

Summary:... Pucker Factor of a Negative.... 5, 6 ?

.................................................................

hey pucker your lips around this asseyes :moon:

 

[Lumi]

.................................................................

hey pucker your lips around this asseyes :moon:

WTF is that all about banjo boy ?

 

[THE KOD]

oh I thought you were making fun of me in some way


I had a bobbybluechip moment

if you wernt making fun of me again.

then nevermind:facepalm:

 

[Lumi]

No,

Pucker Factor of a Negative # = OH SHIT, OH SHIT, OH SHIT !

Carry On ! Drive On ! Fight On ! :toast:

 

[Trench]

Who Voted for War With Iran, Mr. Obama?

Philip Giraldi
The American Conservative
July 28, 2010

House of Representatives resolution 1553, introduced by Congressional Republicans, and currently working its way through the system will endorse an Israeli attack on Iran, which would be going to war by proxy as the US would almost immediately be drawn into the conflict when Tehran retaliates. The resolution provides explicit US backing for Israel to bomb Iran, stating that Congress supports Israel?s use of ?all means necessary?including the use of military force?. The resolution is non-binding, but it is dazzling in its disregard for the possible negative consequences that would ensue for the hundreds of thousands of US military and diplomatic personnel currently serving in the Near East region. Even the Pentagon opposes any Israeli action against Iran, knowing that it would mean instant retaliation against US forces in Iraq and also in Afghanistan. The resolution has appeared, not coincidentally, at the same time as major articles by leading neoconservatives Reuel Marc Gerecht and Bill Kristol calling for military action. AIPAC thinks it is wonderful.

Ironically, the push against Iran comes at a time when the National Intelligence Estimate on the country is being finished. It might come out as soon as August, but it will be secret and its conclusions will either be leaked or released in summary. My sources inside the intelligence community insist that it will support the 2007 NIE that concluded that Iran no longer has a weapons program. The White House has delayed the process seeking harder language to justify a range of options against Iran, including a military strike, but the analysts are reported to be resisting. So we spend $100 billion on intelligence annually and then ignore the best judgments on what is taking place. Might as well use a Ouija board.

Will these Neoconservative Fucksticks never learn? :facepalm:

 

[Lumi]

Will these Neoconservative Fucksticks never learn? :facepalm:

Thanks for waisting time and space by posting such a stooopid question Trench ! :0008 :toast:

 

[Trench]

Thanks for waisting time and space by posting such a stooopid question Trench ! :0008 :toast:

Sometimes ya just gotta vent Lumi... :SIB

 

[Lumi]

Sometimes ya just gotta vent Lumi... :SIB

I try to limit the amount of beef I eat to twice a week. :facepalm:

 

[Chadman]

Maybe I'm missing something here. Why is this article titled, "Who Voted for War With Iran, Mr. Obama?

:shrug:

 

[THE KOD]

Is Your Detergent Stalking You?
Brazil's Omo Uses GPS to Follow Consumers Home With Prizes
Posted by Laurel Wentz on 07.29.10 @ 12:23 PM

NEW YORK (AdAge.com) -- Unilever's Omo detergent is adding an unusual ingredient to its two-pound detergent box in Brazil: a GPS device that allows its promotions agency Bullet to track shoppers and follow them to their front doors.

Starting next week, consumers who buy one of the GPS-implanted detergent boxes will be surprised at home, given a pocket video camera as a prize and invited to bring their families to enjoy a day of Unilever-sponsored outdoor fun. The promotion, called Try Something New With Omo, is in keeping with the brand's international "Dirt is Good" positioning that encourages parents to let their kids have a good time even if they get dirty.

Omo accounts for half of Brazil's detergent sales and is already found in 80% of homes there, so Unilever's goal is more to draw attention to a new stain-fighting version of Omo and get it talked about rather than looking for a big increase in sales.

That made the idea of doing a promotion where the prize finds the consumer, rather than the consumer having to look for the prize -- and maybe not bothering -- appealing.

Fernando Figueiredo, Bullet's president, said the GPS device is activated when a shopper removes the detergent carton from the supermarket shelf. Fifty Omo boxes implanted with GPS devices have been scattered around Brazil, and Mr. Figueiredo has teams in 35 Brazilian cities ready to leap into action when a box is activated. The nearest team can reach the shopper's home "within hours or days," and if they're really close by, "they may get to your house as soon as you do," he said.

Once there, the teams have portable equipment that lets them go floor by floor in apartment buildings until they find the correct unit, he said.

Of course, Brazil has a high crime rate, and not everyone is going to open the door to strangers who claim to have been sent by her detergent brand to offer a free video camera. Bullet has thought of that. If the team tracks a consumer to her home but she won't let them in, they can remotely activate a buzzer in the detergent box so that it starts beeping. And if the team takes too long to arrive, and the consumer has already opened the box to see if she's a winner or just do laundry, she'll find, along with the GPS device and less detergent than expected, a note explaining the promotion and a phone number to call.

"Anything can happen," Mr. Figueiredo said. "We have to be innovative, but we don't know what reaction to expect from consumers."

In a big web component, the site experimentealgonovo.com.br (Portuguese for "try something new") goes live in August, and will include a map showing roughly where the winners live, pictures of each winner and footage of the Bullet-Omo teams hunting down the GPS-enabled detergent boxes, knocking on doors and surprising consumers.

"It costs more than a traditional promotion and is riskier because it's never been done before, but it's worth it," Mr. Figueiredo said. The technology aspect of the promotion costs less than $1 million, out of Omo's overall marketing budget of about $23 million.

"We believe in using new technology for promotional marketing," Mr. Figueiredo said.

Plus Bullet just likes figuring out how to ingeniously embed stuff in products. Two summers ago, sales of Unilever's Fruttare Popsicles soared when Bullet disguised 10,000 iPod Shuffles as popsicles and popped them in freezer cases. The agency's creatives had noticed while reading their iPod instruction manuals that an iPod can operate at temperatures below freezing. They immediately began freezing their own devices as a test, then constructed a fake ice-cream bar case that mimicked the popsicle but fit an iPod, and a wildly successful summer ice cream promotion was born.
.............................................................

I can just imagine this scene. Illum goes to the local Wall Mart and gets a box of tide.

On returning , Illum opens the box and finds the GPS transponder in the box that tracked his ass home.

Before you know it , Illum has all the windows locked, has a gun by every window and door fully loaded, and is on the phone with the local news reporting his rights have been violated.

:142smilie


PS - This year and even after May as Illum predicted.

I have not been stopped at a army checkpoint or by the police at a checkpoint.
There have been no riots anywhere around me.

And the world has not come to a end.

:0002

 

[Lumi]

I don't shop a Walmart,
I don't use any type of the that laundry detergent

as always I have the windows and doors lock, and yes they are strategically placed around the house.

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