Category: Mid East

On Thursday the US sanctions Iran’s military Revolutionary Guard as Washington accuses the Revolutionary Guard, its elite Quds Force and several Iranian banks and companies of supporting nuclear proliferation and terror-related activities.

The sanctions measures, announced Thursday by U.S. Treasury Secretary Henry Paulson and U.S. Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice, are the first time the U.S. has attempted to punish another country’s military through sanctions. As far as I know proclaiming a sovereign nation’s military as a terrorist organization has never been done before by any nation.

Russia and China were not pleased by the US action. “Dialogue and negotiations are the best approach to resolving the Iranian nuclear issue,” China’s foreign ministry said in a brief statement to The Associated Press. “To impose new sanctions on Iran at a time when international society and the Iranian authorities are working hard to find a solution to the Iranian nuclear issue can only complicate the issue.”

Russian’s President Vladimir Putin was more blunt in his comments. Putin said Thursday that the Kremlin would not back new international sanctions, AP reported. “Why worsen the situation and bring it to a dead end by threatening sanctions or military action?” Putin went on to say say in comments apparently directed directly at the U.S. “Running around like a madman with a razor blade, waving it around, is not the best way to resolve the situation.”

The US sanctions without a doubt ratchet up tensions between Iran and the US, as well as widen the growing differences between the US and China and Russia. The Bush administration doesn’t seem to care very much what other nations think. Mohamed ElBaradei, director-general of the United Nations’ International Atomic Energy Agency, has criticized U.S. rhetoric on Iran and said last month that Iran’s declared nuclear material has not been diverted from peaceful use.

The BBC’s Justin Webb in Washington says US Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice continues to be committed to finding a diplomatic resolution to the Iranian crisis.

However, he goes on to say that Vice-President Dick Cheney is widely believed to be pressing for a military strike on Iran before the Bush administration’s term is over, and if these sanctions have no effect, Ms Rice may well have to give way to his strategy of an attack upon Iran.

The US rhetoric and increasing of tensions is for me taking on the unpleasant smell of the odor that originated in the White House before the invasion of Iraq. I hope that it’s my nose that’s out of order. A US attack on Iran may well in my opinion have unforeseen consequences that will place the entire world as we know it today in grave danger.

For one thing, the list of nations on this planet still friendly to the US would become very short indeed. While the US may still think of itself as the world’s only superpower the difficulties that we have experienced in controlling events in Iraq and Afghanistan should give the Bush administration reason to pause and to think long and hard before engaging in additional conflicts.

With 15 months left on their watch President Bush and VP Cheney are likely at their most dangerous. Here is why.

From the viewpoint of respecting the US Constitution, preserving freedoms in America, and in providing leadership that promotes policies that would enhance life for present and future generations of Americans the Bush Cheney team thus far has failed miserably.

Domestically Bush Cheney have failed on immigration reform, they have failed with the No Child Left Behind Act and the cuts in funding that make the act hopeless to fully implement, they have politicized the Department of Justice, they have broken the law with illegal wiretapping and spying against US citizens, they have sanctioned renditions of US citizens and subjected them to torture.

In general, Bush Cheney have expanded the executive branch’s powers to such an extent that the United States is no longer ruled by law but more so by the decrees of a man closer to being a dictator than a President and by his right hand man, a Vice President  who without a doubt wields more power and influence than any VP in US history.

In addition, Bush Cheney and their Republican party have increased Federal spending to levels that are now causing a debasement and possible collapse of the US Dollar. Under Bush Cheney national debt has increased more on their watch than ever in US history with the total increase being larger than outstanding debt in all the previous years of the US combined. Under Bush Cheney spending for the military has soared while programs for children, veterans, the poor, and the elderly have suffered.

In international affairs Bush Cheney over six years ago made the proper decision to go after Osama Bin Laden and the Taliban in Afghanistan. Then with that effort close to success by invading Iraq it was derailed by making one of the most disastrous foreign policy strategic decisions of all time. Five years later the horror and consequences of that decision to invade Iraq are still growing with no end in sight.

The US involvement in Iraq has brought the prestige and moral leverage of the US to an unprecedented low around the world. From the torture of prisoners at Abu Ghraib to Guantanamo Bay to secret prisoner camps in Eastern Europe and in Afghanistan we have engaged in practices that are against every traditional American sense of what’s right and what’s wrong.

Now the Iraq conflict is dangerously close to expanding with direct involvement by the Turks in the Northern Kurdish region. In addition, in Afghanistan and Pakistan, Osama, the man who should be the most hunted man in the world is still at large and the Taliban are making a vigorous comeback.  

Under Bush Cheney the United States has few remaining friends in the world. Indeed, Countries like China, Russia, and now even India, seem to be joining together to oppose and to distance themselves from our actions. Bush Cheney are not respected by world leaders as they talk one game and play another.

With a big thanks to Morteza Pourdanandeh and the “What’s Going On?” blog I would like to bring your attention to the funniest parody that I have seen of the messy situation that the US finds itself involved with in Iraq and possibly, although I certainly hope not, with Iran.

It is absolutely amazing how creative people can be with their video productions on Youtube and other video sites. You can find yourself laughing about the most serious of subjects because someone, somewhere, had the creativity and talent to frame the subject matter in a fresh, perhaps ridiculous, yet humorous and revealing way.

From IMac, Ipod, Irack, Iraq, to Iran, this video is worth watching. I expect that no matter what your views are on the war you will get a hearty chuckle from the presentation.

What’s Going On?, is a new blog site but already has a few entertaining, yet thoughtful videos worth watching. I expect that the number will quickly grow along with the blog.

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