Who’s Blowing Up Iran?
Another week, another explosion at or near an Iranian military installation (or is it a nuclear research facility?). As usual, the regime doesn’t know what to say. The mullahcracy is so intensely divided that different “spokesmen” from different ministries/news outlets/cults/mafias put out different versions. There was an explosion, or at least “the sound of an explosion.” This goes out on the wires. Then, no, there was no explosion, it was just the sound of our fierce military training. Then again, yes, there was something, but not to worry, just go home and shut up. And so it goes in the Islamic Republic of Iran, as our president so loves to call his intended international partners.
I’ve been reporting for many months about the ongoing sabotage of pipelines, refineries, military sites, Revolutionary Guards’ aircraft and trains, and groups of regime thugs. and have received the usual cold shoulder from publications “of record,” which is to say silent sneers. But the tempo of attacks, most notably the monster blast a week ago that vaporized General Moghaddam and his foreign visitors (at least some of whom had taken the shuttle from Pyongyang to be with him on what they wrongly expected would be a happy day) led the Washington Post’s man in Tehran, Thomas Erdbrink, to note the phenomenon in a useful story entitled “Mysterious Explosions Pose Dilemma for Iranian leaders.” He gives us a pretty good rundown of the explosions, and, living as he does in Tehran, gives ample space to regime “explanations” such as bad welding, western sanctions, and so forth. Given the number of foreign journalists who have come to a bad end in Iran, you’d do the same.
Safe in London, on the other hand, Roger Cohen of the New York Times has no doubt about what’s happening: his guy Obama is waging a secret war against the mullahs. “It would take tremendous naïveté,” he lectures the great unwashed, “to believe these events are not the result of a covert American-Israeli drive to sabotage Iran’s efforts to develop a military nuclear capacity. An intense, well-funded cyberwar against Tehran is ongoing.”
So color me tremendously naive. I would really love to believe Roger Cohen; the very idea that Obama, at long last, has ordered a response to the Iranian war against the west (totally unmentioned, needless to say), is delightful. But I don’t believe it, and Cohen doesn’t give us any evidence for it, aside from intoning, as the mullahs themselves are so wont to do, that it’s the infidels and the Zionists.
Yes, there’s a cyberwar, but Revolutionary Guards generals don’t get vaporized by Stuxnet. And Cohen’s judgment is so swayed by his fandom for Obama that it verges on the worst of the early Chris Matthews. Try this, for example:
Foreign policy has been Obama’s strongest suit. He deserves great credit for killing Osama bin Laden, acting for the liberation of Libya, getting behind the Arab quest for freedom, winding down the war in Iraq, dealing repeated blows to Al Qaeda and restoring America’s battered image.
I suppose some copy editor took out “ordering the” before “killing” and the “of” right after it, but sure, full marks for seeing it through. As for the Libyan, Egyptian, Tunisian and Iraqi decisions, the jury’s out, and seems to be leaning against Cohen’s client nowadays. The blows to Al Qaeda–by which he is referring to drone attacks and the like–are fine, albeit the really vicious body blow was the defeat of AQ and their sponsors in Iraq. If you think our national image has been “restored” under this president as a result of his great foreign policy, more power to you. Ring up Roger in London, maybe he’ll give you tea.
Since I’m pretty much the only guy in town who forecast the war against the mullahs, and it’s now so obvious that even MSM reporters and columnists can mention it without blushing, I’m sticking to my story. I don’t think the ongoing assault against the regime is coming from outside Iran. I think it comes from the Iranian opposition within the country. And I think it shows that the opposition is a great deal stronger than the experts have opined.
If you were Supreme Leader Ali Khamenei, what would you be saying to that unhealthy face in the mirror? You’d say, “they come and go at will; they obviously have the full cooperation of traitors at very high levels of the regime, even inside the Guards. They not only knew Moghaddam was going to be there, but exactly where and when. Now Isfahan, another heavily guarded base. That doesn’t look like Zionists and infidels, whose pathetic collaborators we round up easily over and over again; it looks like people who are trusted and supported by the traitors in my own house.”
When a regime cracks, even very high officials start to do favors for the opposition, hoping to avoid the worst if the regime comes down. Khamenei knows that the head of the shah’s secret intelligence service went on to hold the same position under the fanatical Ayatollah Khomeini. Recent events will have convinced the supreme leader that his own security may be as compromised as the shah’s was.
Add to this the dreams common to regular users of opium (Khamenei is one of them) and you’ve got a very explosive situation.
Can we expect the good ayatollah to keel over and die soon? Seems like he’s been sick for a while now. They’ve got to have a pine box picked out for him by now.
Sorry, you should know that that is not the Islamic way….Bathing and covering the body, and allowing it to gently slide into the Sea is the Islamic way of burial….What is wrong with you, did you not lurn from Father 0b0zz0, and his little parrot….lol
The ongoing sabotage acts apparently spearheaded by the MeK against Iran will be as successful as the Jundullah terrorism was. Their only result will be a complete destruction of the democratic Green Movement that seeks peaceful transformation in Iran.
On the other hand, military intervention in Syria may result in the formation of a single pro-Iran & Shi’a-dominated state or front consisting of Iraq, Syria and Lebanon of a total population of 57 million where the Sunni Arabs (‘Our friends’) will be a meager minority; the 3.1 million Christians — as well as the Druze — of these three countries scared of the so-called Arab Spring hijacked by the Sunni Islamists will be on the Shia side, and the Kurds of Iraq, Syria and Lebanon will remain neutral for various reasons.
As long as the West does not denuclearize Pakistan and does not stop the slow annihilation of the Baloch in Pakistan, the Western hue & cry concerning Iran’s nuclear ambitions and for human rights will not carry any moral weight.
My Friends, the NeoCon / NewCon strategy did not work in Iraq; It will not in Iran.
you know something about MEK that i don’t know? you know something about military intervention in syria? i don’t. stop sucking your thumbs and provide some evidence, please.
Neither I nor, I suspect, Abu have, or could have, access to any documented evidence that the MEK is behind the bombings in Iran as we are not privy to any intelligence on the subject. However by the process of elimination one can assign a probability value to the capabilty of any of the opposition blocks to carry our such acts. As I mentioned in a previous post to my knowledge, without any evidentiary support, the Monarchists do not either have the capabilty or the desire to engage in acts of terror (good terror in this case). The Greens, to my understanding, have chosen a path of passive agressive resitance to the Islamic regime. So, it leaves the MEK, which does have the capabilty and the experience to carry out these acts the same way they did in the 70′s when they were targeting high Iranian military officials and a slew of American military personnel stationed in Iran. Now if any of these actors have changed their modus operendi recently to include bombings and assasinations, I do not know about that.
There is also no doubt that the Brotherhood has hijacked the Arab Spring, as I suspected they would when I wrote here many months before the removal of Mubarak and Qaddafi. The only hopeful words seem to be coming from Syria where the leader of the opposition said that in a post Assad Syria ties willl be severed with Iran and aid to Hammas and Hezbollah will be stopped. One hopes that is the case and the Syrian branch of the Brotherhood will not hang him after Assad has been removed.
If the “Neocon” intervention into Iraq is assumed not to have worked, which I don’t totally agree with as the people of Iraq are probably going to be better off (as long as Iran is conatained)under the current system compared to their plight under Saddam it can be traced to two decisions. One, President Bush was accepting advice from two camps, Sec Powell and those in agreement with him and VP Cheney and his people. That was a mistake. On the advice of “Neocons” he invaded Iraq and removed Saddam and on the advice of the competing school of thought he wanted to introduce Jeffersonian democracy toute suite. Had he treated Iraq as an invaded country and placed a MacArthur type in charge of a military government with an indefinite period of martial law to clean up the counry before even considering a democracy, maybe better results would have been achieved.
Secondly, in my humble opinion, the wrong country was targeted. As bad as Saddam was, the Islamic regime in Iran was then and is still a greater danger to the region and the world. Regime change efforts should have been directed towards the psychopathic Ayatollah.
as you know, radish, i said at the time that Iraq was the wrong target, and we used the wrong methods. we should have supported revolution in Iran. But I think that the days of Green non-violence are over, as I predicted many months ago…it was always a matter of time until they would begin to hit at their oppressors and torturers. But time will tell…
I did not say that military intervention in Syria HAS TAKEN PLACE. What I said was that in case of such intervention such and such things MAY happen. There are all the signs, however, that the Syrian Liberation Army — or whatever the name is — is getting outside help. Hillary Clinton is on the record for her ‘advice’ to the Syrian rebels NOT TO DISARM. It is the Iranian factor that is forcing the Turks, Saudis et al to think twice before launching an invasion of Syria. The fact is that concerning Syria, the West (not Israel) is in an impasse — thanks to the Bush-Cheney Iraq adventure, and thanks to Pakistan for duping duping the US for more than half a century!!
On ‘my evidence’ concerning the MEK, let me mention first a Baluchi proverb: “I can not see God, but can see the works only God can do = HUDAA-yaa NA-GINDAAN, BALAY HUDAA-yay QODRATAAN-a GINDAAN.”. Before I get a letter from the Rajavis with their notarized signature confessing that the MEK is indeed involved in terrorism in Iran, the circumstantial evidences the Baluchi Word of Wisdom is referring to — and as “radish” has mentioned –should be enough.
Let me quote just two ‘thumb-suckers’ out of many many: In a piece in Los Angeles Times (online)dated Dec. 4,2011 titled “MYSTERIOUS BLASTS, SLAYINGS SUGGEST COVERT EFFORT IN IRAN”, Ken Delarian writes: “Some analysts suspect that the CIA and Israel’s intelligence agency, Mossad, are involved with possible help from the MEK, a fringe Iranian group that … … has many allies in Washington’s foreign policy establishment … “. “The Republic, Columbus, Ohio” published a piece by Douglas Birch of the AP, titled: “IRAN EXILED GROUP CLAIMS BLAST NEAR TEHRAN HIT CLOSELY GUARDED MISSILE …. ….” Birch writes: “…… some analysts [thumb-suckers?] say that the CIA, Mossad, European spies and a dissident Iranian group called MEK have been terrorizing Iran for two years in order to eliminate the need for broader airstrikes , the Los Angeles Times reports.” For the rest, just type “MEK sabotage in Iran” or something like this in an internet/Google search box and click. One will have enough evidential material and references to write a thesis about the MEK’s past and present involvement in terrorism — and about the ongoing West-MEK flirtations.
By the way, Michael, you are grossly underestimating your knowledge of Pakistan affairs as well as of the MEK activities. The West’s continued insensitivity concerning the ongoing Baloch tragedy in Pakistan, I am afraid, will leave no other choice for the Balochs occupied by Pakistan but to look towards Iran for help. Similarly, the use of MEK by the West will unite almost all Iranians including the Balochs and the Kurds to support the existing regime. As I have mentioned before, the best strategy for the West is to convince the Pahlavi Royalists, the so-called Aqalliyyati Leftists and the Non-Persian Regionalists to form a united front with the Green Movement, by accepting the interim leadership of Mousavi and Karroubi.
It could be both. I have no doubt the attacks aren’t carried out by American elite units or Mossad agents. Not that there would be anything wrong with it as far as I’m concerned, but it’s just too difficult to infiltrate that deeply as to carry out so many attacks on deep targets in such a short period of time. But I wouldn’t be surprised if the Iranian opposition is getting help in the form of money, weapon, training, and/or intelligence cooperation from the US and/or Israel and/or Saudi Arabia. It would be a natural alliance between people the regime is destroying and people the regime is threatening to destroy.
could be. a happy thought. i love happy thoughts at bedtime…
Thanks to Michael Ledeen and others in the New Media who constantly show the DBM how to do straight news, unbiased journalism over and over until red faced the msm has to acknowledge events that happen.
My guess is this is all Israeli all the time.But who knows.
I’m just glad its happening. But won’t be surprised next year when our regime takes credit as zeros numbers plunge even more.
It is unlikely Obama will take credit for this opposition, unless it succeeds spectacularly and brings the regime down quickly, just before the election, so facts can’t be verified.
As happy thoughts go, this fits right in with watching a Shirley Temple movie.
Me too Micheal after working out in the cold all day today and only paid 2.99 for my gasoline I will sleep much better!
According to recent daily news from Mohsen Sazgara (http://www.sazegara.net/english/), Khamenei was scheduled to visit that military base fora rocket show 2 hours after the explosion. However, according to Naghdi, one of Khamenei’s thugs, he was scheduled to visit that base the next day. That is why after the explosion, he cancelled ALL and ALL of his meetings with everyone, until they could find the hole in their security system.
I think the 2 hours early explosion was intentional to miss him and to gives Khamenei a signal that if we want to take care of you, we could have done it. So you better play ball.
Michael, how do you know that about the opium?
Yes, I had the same question — this is the first I heard of that. I’m not doubting you, just wondering if you can hint as to your source? Thanks in advance,
– FF
If this was Afghanistan the media would rejoice. The language used by the media is uniform when it comes to anything in Afghanistan. But as soon as it is anything to do with The Hezbollah Party in Iran, everyone uses a different label and description for them. Most refer to them as Iranian which is an insult. And then of course The Hezbolah system obsfucates the issue. We need simplification. Anything to diffuse the situation. It works and the Ayatollahs rejoice.
I think what you are saying is nonsense. The opposition, even if it were as strong as you wish to believe, wouldn’t choose such means as blowing up military and nuclear installations. Also the explosion at the rocket site near Tehran was a remarkable job, annihilating a huge area in apparently geometric precision. Could this be carried out by an oppressed opposition?
What Cohen is uttering is unworthy balderdash, as is his wont.
I don’t believe for a moment that these operations are American led. The whole thing is mysterious and very interesting.
As much as I respect Michael’s acumen, my money-and my life!!-is on the Mossad, of course, with various ‘helping hands’.
The Mossad can absolutely, positively embed itself into the highest recesses of the regime. There is no doubt about it.
As far as Stuxnet, Duqu….it can indeed cause things to go boom in the night. I firmly believe that it is a combination of human assets and electronic warfare at play here.
Don’t ask me how I know, I just do.
You are doing it to me again, Michael- giving me hope that things are going to change in Iran. . . .
Do you think Imanutjob sleeps in a different bed every night?
I agree Michael and there is good reason to belive that there is more than one oposition group. Good things (bad things) happen in three’s. One more and Khamenei may just be warming his jets up at Tehran airport again.
As much as I can’t stand Putin, I don’t even think he would take Khamenei unless the price was right, as I don’t think he opiated mullahs in ushanka’s are his cup of tea.
As for Obama’s and Clinton’s new found foreign policy, did I miss an article somewhere? I thought they were still pushing NIAC’s appeasement agenda. You may have to write about this later. Iranians fed-up with Obama policy take matters into their own hands and begin to launch Molotov cocktails at IRI rocket fuel storage depots.
WaltM wrote, “Iranians fed-up with Obama policy take matters into their own hands….”
This has always been Obama’s most effective policy: I made you do it yourself by me doing nothing at all. Not only will I do nothing, but I won’t even promise to do anything. And if I promise to do something, do not take that as a commitment.
Sounds like either the Mossad or possibly the Mossad supported by American Special Ops forces, which I doubt. Knowing Obama, he probably wants his hands clean and doesn’t want to have anything to do with Iran, so it could be the Israeli Mossad working in conjunction with Iranian rebel groups, which is what we should be doing now! Oh well, results are results, and if the Mossad can get them this way, more power to them. I just wonder if the Kurds are helping the Israelis out? If the Israelis are smart, I’m sure they’ll be using the Kurds (who hate the mullahs as much as we do) to their best advantage.
If Iran could make even the slightest case that Israel or America was involved in this they’d be blaring it from loudspeakers 27/7.
What is most interesting and informative here is what you’re not hearing and that is very telling. Generally speaking, the Iranian gov’t are liars but lying is an art form so when one tries too hard to keep a thing quiet and forgets to lie, something extraordinary is going on, something that has the Iranian gov’t worried and rather exposed. What that is I have no idea but whatever the case, it seems rather more damage has been or security compromised than Iran wishes to even lie about.
Bingo.
Maybe there is a simpler explanation here: there are still a few sane people in government in Iran who realize the quest to acquire the bomb to attack Israel and the Great Satan in the name of the Mahdi (12th Imam) is just going to get a whole lot of Iranians killed and a country – that could easily be wealthy, happy, peaceful and well liked – trashed from border to border.
They’ve got the Jews against the wall – and that is no safe place for any Arab state to put the Jews. It’s only massive pressure from Washington that has kept the Israelis from flattening Iran already.
Lest anyone should doubt that Israel could perform such a feat you should be well aware of what kind of weapons the Jews have at their disposal. The Iranians are trying to acquire what is basically advanced versions (much smaller and more efficient so they can be mounted on a missile) of what we used at Hiroshima and Nagasaki.
The Jews have been deep inside of our weapons engineering departments for decades and what they have built is basically duplicates of our very best weapons. NOT old-style single stage fission bombs but modern 2-stage fusion weapons that are hundreds and thousands of times more powerful – and they have somewhere between 200 and 500 warheads on various platforms (all based on our designs). Israel probably has about the same arsenal as China on much better delivery systems – fighter-born, cruise missiles, land and maybe sea-based multiple warhead missiles with ranges in excess of 5,000 miles. They can pretty much hit anyone anywhere on earth – just like us.
If the Jews become convinced that only they can protect themselves from Iran, they will act … and God help the Iranians, as what we did to Japan to end WWII will look like a love tap in comparison. Iran may or may not be able to destroy Israel even if they get off the first shots, but, there won’t be an Iran as a viable, civilized nation – just a remnant of ragged survivors crawling thru radioactive debris.
It appears that there may be some folks in Iran who actually think that just maybe getting and using nukes isn’t a part of Allah’s path to victory over the Jews – just a massive leap into the grave for their people. This is the whole best use for nuclear weapons: they are a fate so terrible that it forces saner people to find better ways than war to settle their differences…and why we and the Russians managed to survive our conflict.
The Israelis almost assuredly have a nuclear capability installed in at least some of the dolphin-class submarines they’ve obtained from Germany — one or two of which can be sure to be lurking off the Persian Gulf awaiting instructions.
And now we have the super-drones, literally hundreds of them the size of Boeing 727′s. It would be foolish not to fit some of those too with a nuclear capability — and since there’s no man on board, they can have the drone fly fairly close before letting them go. Jane’s and others claimed they can reach higher altitudes than Israel published (to be expected), specifically 40,000 feet. It’s my understanding that no Surface to Air missile owned by Iran at least can reach that altitude.
But your point is well taken that Iran is only working on the size bombs of Hiroshima. And before someone points to the vast swaths of flattened earth in Hiroshima and says, yeah, but look how effective they are, let’s remember that most of those buildings in Japan were barely more than shacks. No safe rooms, no bomb shelters to speak of, hell, barely, if any re-bar(!) — no stringent building codes as exists in modern Israel. Draw your own conclusions.
The word is that Israel has deployed its Jerico missiles in the field. These are medium range nuclear tipped missiles. Its a first for that country to put these weapons in the field. The weapons have been identified as far as the West Bank. Something is brewing and its not going to be pretty.
By “the Jews”, do you mean the government of Israel? Not quite the same thing…
If it were the opposition, they’d be blaming the Jews.
If it were the Jews, they’d be doing exactly what they are doing, which is denying anything is happening at all.
I believe it is Israel.
Go Israel!
Actually my money is on a lot of angry people in Iran. Muslims, like American oafs need conspiracy theories but they really never get any fresh bait in the traps.
I suspect that at least some of what is happening follows the classic covert action model per Charles McCarry: “Covert action is merely providing people the means to do what they want to do anyway.”
I suspect there are a lot of enablers with a lot of motives, some contradictory both within and without the groups in question. It is safer cleaning and more cost effective than using your own people.
Someone like Cohen really like the big macher ideal rather than something like the truth: a lot of people are angry enough to act, and you can’t buy this sort of thing or do it yourself.
For a change it is so lovely to hear about explosions that are killing military and destroying nuclear facilities in a country so thrilled with killing civilians and destroying peaceful businesses in other countries.
I was enormous happy for the destruction of the missile base west of Tehran and vaporizing of many top-ranking revolutionary guards commanders and their foreign visitors. It made my day. It was another wonderful day when another base explosion happened on Monday in Isfahan
I hope that Israel has all necessary elements to save herself, Western civilization and even Iranians (not those who call themselves Muslim) from these Muslim Nazis and their Marxist allies.
Iran just kicked the British out, and took their flag. I’m not sure what that means, but it could be on the to do list leading up to full scale mideast war. Notice, the rockets that hit northern Israel in the early am.
We have the Trident missle platform now, but befor this we have the Posideon(sp). Perhaps, on of those old three stroy rockets were used called the Zeus weapon to destroy such a large area. Taken the other actions together, with the redeployment of American troops and Naval craft, we could be seeing a two pronged approch.
One, change Syria’s government to be more Muslim Brotherhood friendly, and limit Iran’s abilty to wage war. Both must realize by now, they have two options. All out war, or take it.
What will Russia do with it’s navy off the coast of Syria?
No matter who or which group is responsible for this sabotage, you can bet that Obama will find a way to jump ahead of the parade and eventually take credit for everything. The covert players in Iran won’t argue and he will be the fearless warrior. He’s quite good at taking credit but taking responsibility – not so much.
What would the situation in Afghanistan look like if the head of the terrorism snake was finally cut off? What are we seeing right now from the leaders of Iraq and Afghanistan who have been hedging their bets in Tehran’s direction? Seems to me that whatever they are doing now would be a pretty good indicator of the situation inside Iran. If they see the regime teetering on the brink, what will they do? If the situation in Iran is really as bad (for the regime) as it seems, what would you be thinking if you were Karzai right now?
As for Iran itself, if the regime did fall, it seems clear to me that the victors would have no use for us. After all, we’ve abdicated our responsibility to stand up to the mullahs. Do we as a nation have any plans for diplomatic ties with a potential replacement for the regime? This is fascinating stuff.
I’m a little puzzled by all the current sabre-rattling by some of our hawks. Iran is clearly wobbly, requiring only a few deft pushes for it to topple over on its own. The real challenge will be seeing that a pro-western government takes the current regime’s place.
Our next president will have the opportunity to create an actual lasting peace in the middle east. We need someone up to the task.
Next President? LOL
You actually think PharObama is going to allow himself to be voted out office next year when he is so close to creating the conditions he thinks duplicate those Lenin and Hitler used to takeover Russia and Germany?
Hah.
Obama isn’t leaving the White House in lawful election loss.
What about a pro Iranian people’s government? You have to remember the vast majority of Iranians want nothing to do with this.
Dream on.
I think you would know if all this activity was an inside job if there was an unusual spike in top level arrests.
@LibertShip
Yes, results are results.
I don’t know how long it takes to build a network within Iran, I have read that is no small feat, and not something done over night or on a sudden whim.
Roger Cohen should shut up. He is almost singlehandedly destroying the popular conception that we Jews are super smart and devious.
How are we supposed to control the world if people start believing we are not smart enough to do so?
I’m with you, Cohen is undermining our reputation, or at least what’s left after voting heavily in favor for Obama in 2008.
Don’t worry. Those who believe that will continue believing that, no matter how stupid some of the smartest Jews are, because those who believe that are even dumber than we are. Imagine if a disinterested Martian landed on Earth and was told the history of the Jews in the last millennia and how Israel is treated today, and then was told that we control the world and exploit it for our own interests – having an average humanoid IQ he would no doubt conclude that we’re extremely inept at it, and being so spectacularly incompetent we obviously don’t have what it takes to rule the world. So he will conclude it must be a joke. But those who do believe it are that dumb that even the dumbest craziest Jew looks to them like a genius.
Don´t you understand??
Jews control the world, so they also control the history text books, where they portray themselves as victims in order to control the world. The holocaust was a jewish invention, and so on…
Gosh, it just occurred to me. What will happen to us if our enemies discover how stupid we really are? At the very least we’ll be inundated with credit card offers.
Oh yeah…blame the victim. You probably believe Hitler was the good guy.
Mr. Sebastian, they do NOT portray themselves as victims, THEY WERE IN FACT (THE VICTIMS OF EUROPEAN FASCIST REGIMES). Absolutely harrowing, as usual the thoughtless comments against Jews. Do you not have a conscience? You anti-Semitic people come to hate Jews and always blame the Jews on your problems.
Mr. Sebastian, I am not Jew but the suffering of Jews highly TOUCH MY HEART, because I come from societies (Arabs, Muslims and Poles) where Jews are most cursed and scorned.
The jews have suffered greatly, the Jews are the only people who have suffered in human history. the Jews are the victims of the unjust life since the Pharaohs Epoch and emergence of Islam and then by European Crusades, and recently the horrible European fascism holocaust. Here in Europe, the racist anti-Semitism played a decisive role in the Holocaust, especially in the countries of central and Eastern of Europe…for example, Poland had a terrible long history of anti-Semitism before World War II and is still. The Jews were the largest single group of singled out for horrible killing by the Nazis and their collaborators from central Europe countries.
HERE on this Damn Soil “Poland” it was most terrible painful time and shocking agony period for Jews, when European fascism tried to clean the face of the earth from Jews. Poland is a place where more Jews killed than in any other country in the world. Approx. more than 3 million Jews were murder in ways that are not humane in the mass extermination camps.
In general the victims of European fascism more than 6 millions Jews, they were butchered by the Nazi only because they were ALIVE JEWS “for NO reason”. Oh my God! Unbelievable and sickening acts…How can anyone do something like this? Horrible, disgusting, insane brutal men. I think the devil himself would have been covering his eyes at such man made horrors…and after all, some come who do NOT have a human conscience, blame the victims, telling the world that “holocaust was a Jewish invention.”
Mr. Sebastian, I would like ask you regarding the major safe Jewish tribes “Banu Qurayza, Banu Qaynuqa and Banu Nadir” which lived in northern Arabia “presently Saudi Arabia”, until the 7th century, when were besieged by Muhammad and his followers. at that time that male members of of some Jewish tribes were beheaded, apart from those who surrendered where many of whom converted to Islam in order to save their lives, while all the women and children were taken captive and enslaved.
Was it a Jewish invention as you think??!!
Mr. Sebastian, please STOP believing in the conspiracy theory. Jews are greatly worthy of respect, the incredibly positive impact the Jews have had on the world, the Jews have participated a very very great contribution in the history of Western culture and the humans life. Most of great scientists and the most famous and influential of all time are Jews such as Einstein, Freud, and Marx.
They are forming a tiny percentage of the earth population, less than 15 million people scattered through the world, today not more than twenty million, they have come from the tragedy “Holocaust”, yet they forced the world to respect them, with their knowledge, not with their gun, not with their violence. They united and won their rights through work and knowledge. Most considerably, the Jews have contributed of values that are now linked with freedom and democracy “respect for life, justice, equality, peace, lore and sciences, education…etc”.
Jews have only been awarded a disproportionate number of Nobel prizes for their intellectual contributions. 22% of all the Nobel Prizes of Science, Medicine, Math, Chemistry…etc. were awarded to Jews. 38% of all the USA National Gold Medals for Science were earned by Jews.
Jews are smart, just by their practices and family values…we need to learn and share from them, NOT hate them. (So a world without Jews is a world without blessing and hope of salvation.)
Jassem Othman – Syrian dissident – Poland.
Who’s Blowing Up Iran?
Who cares? as long as it gets done.
My thoughts as well.
Britain’s embassy taken over and firebombed now?
Gee, I wonder what sort of geopolitical chess is going on over there.
Thank you ruler4you, that was my exact thought. I’m kind of leaning toward the Iranian people themselves doing it but couldn’t care less so long as the job gets done.
Maybe they’re denying anything happened because they don’t want to admit they screwed up and had an accident.
Michael, You have been ahead of the curve on Iran for years. Your reporting is head and shoulders above the MSM . Perhaps the reason you are shunned is because your articles put those they promote to shame. Job well done.
Menachem
ps- I always laugh when Obama or his sycophants demand credit for the killing of OBL. I cant get the picture of Obama cringing in the corner while Seal Team 6 was on the ground out of my head. Nor can I ignore the SIXTEEN HOURS Obama took to give the go-ahead for the team to move in after target acquisition. ” Sleep on it “, indeed.
With the, apparently, government sponsored storming the UK embassy, ala ’79, it seems the sanctions are working.
Let’s dial back the Dogs of War and their incessant drumbeat. They’ve already used up their credibility (Ledeen?)
Tell Bebe to stop gunning his engine and wait.
It appears the sanctions are working with the 300 students taking the UK embassy ala ’79 and saying the embassy is a nest of spies.
The, apparently, government sanctioned event, the protestors are complaining about the hardship of the sanctions.
So, let’s dial back the War Drums and give the sanctions more time to work.
Tell Bibi to cool his jets. Ledeen, too. We have been to the circus; seen the puppet show.
Safe in London, on the other hand, Roger Cohen of the New York Times has no doubt about what’s happening: his guy Obama is waging a secret war against the mullahs. “It would take tremendous naïveté,” he lectures the great unwashed, “to believe these events are not the result of a covert American-Israeli drive to sabotage Iran’s efforts
And on YNET we have Richard Silverstein lecturing its “unwashed” that it is the Mossad at play.
Who’s Blowing Up Iran?
We all know, but I’m not gonna tell you.
Clue: Do you think the brave, valiant, courageus POTUS has finally decided to fearlessly put to work his moral convictions and with boldness and resolution fight the evil forces that menace one of the most civilized countries in th world?
So hard to immagine?
This looks like the Israelis to me. Trained sabotage specialists, well supplied with command detonated demolitions, and backed up by intelligence on higher command’s movements. The target choices, with first the missile site which could have been an accident, but now the Nuclear facility, this is clearly enemy action designed to elicit a response from the Iranians. I will be curious to see if this is the last attack, and if the Mullacracy begins to eat its own in a witch hunt for traitors.
Excellent take, as usual.
My immediate thought was of the French resistance blowing up German stuff while France was occupied. Also, the way the American revolutionaries were able to fight an unconventional war to force the British out comes to mind.
Maybe it all comes down to COMMITTED people.
The old “at the margin” truism, quite handy in economics, also applies IN SPADES to politics, which is war by —–
Since Iran couldn’t rely on Obama to use all of America’s power, like cornered rats, the freedom-loving Iranians, who still have their own power, are being forced to join the do-it-yourself crowd.
What’s that Osama bin Laden insight about following a winning horse?
When China went communist, the big question was, “Who lost China?”
When—not if—Iran goes for freedom, in the Radical Islamist world, I wonder how they will answer the question of “Who lost Iran?”
As you always write, Mr. Ledeen—Iran is THE head of this snake, so when it is cut off, a whole lot of irreversible good must come.
As a spiritual being once put it—“Come slowly, or come quickly, but surely come to Me.”
“Iran is THE head of this snake”
Is it? Well, what does that make Russia and China, then? Russia in particular is, if not the head of the snake, the snake’s benefactor and protector. It’s Russia which sent ships to protect its pet snakes, Syria and Iran. It’s Russia which strengthened the Arabs’ hand all these years against Israel. It’s Russia and China which prevent sanctions from harming the Iranian regime.
Can Russia and China ever be forgiven for self-servingly propping up these devilish regimes?
Maybe Russia and China will wage war on each other one day, weakening themselves to the point where no Middle East despot can depend on them for support.
Russia is stupid, that’s what. One of these days Iran is going to drag them into a war with Israel.
Ledeen ! (heh, heh)
What’s a Mullah to do? I know, start a crises! Maybe take over an embassy? Has that ever been done? Make sure students do it so the regime can’t be blamed even though police in riot gear stand by and do nothing.
I wouldn’t be surprised to find that the Saudis might be quietly slipping money and arms to the Iranian opposition. After all, they have as much, or more, to fear from Iran as we do.
The explosions are most likely the result of some genius smoking around a fuel tank. Nonetheless paranoia by the regime is usually a good thing.
The Iranian (Persians) opposition is doing this. Islam was forced on the Persians centuries ago, and they have had it with that desert idealogy of hate. The Persians know their history of advanced culture (before Islam), and they are finally doing something to regain it.
The longer a revolution is delayed, the more violent the revolution (when it happens).
If we had a diplomatic corps (or a President) with a clue, the US would be publicly supporting the Iranian opposition in this endeavor. There is no good reason to support them covertly.
Someone who lives in a glassy home never have to throw stones!
This is a wise proverb. And they just and only say “will shoot will shoot” but never be able to shoot. It’s the habit of mullah’s, tell but not to do! Mullah’s just wanted to push the Arabs go forward, stupid Arabs.
So what is this? Cowardliness. They hang themselves to démodé and rubbish North Korea military missile techniques! Mullahs are exactly like the old and ugly and disgusting whores who no one wants to …uck them but only some diseased and hopeless plagued prisoners and not even from the …unt but only to their …ss! To prevent the infection! This is the real situation of mullah’s and North Korea and Russian missile experts.
Cohen is certainly full of it–we (USA) has never done stuff like this successfully, and our recent failures in Lebanon suggest that such exploits in a much more closed country we know less about are unlikely. Whether the Israelis are doing it seems unlikely as well. Wasn’t the master of such sabotage–Meir Dagan–just forced out? If the Israeli press is any indication, I would imagine that resources are being reoriented towards an aerial bombing campaign.
As for the opposition doing it, why don’t they claim responsibility, then? And what exactly would their objective be? If they’re discovered, they’re easily cast as saboteurs weakening Iranian defense, working at the behest of Great/Little Satan. Even accepting that Iranians hate and don’t believe this regime, and are not so skeptical towards the West, it is still hard to believe that any good Iranian patriot would support the sabotage of their own prized military projects.
Nice to see the ETA of the 12th Imam pushed again into the future, possibly even the hyperfuture, mathematically delineated by “the closest anticipatory target the standard ticking of time is too slow to ever catch up with”. About the Opium consumed by the Honchotollah, don’t worry about it, I have it from good authority that it’s only medicinal.
More good surprises? I enthusiastically join Dr. Ledeen battle chant, “Faster please!”, on the belief that this is our only hope of preventing the 12th Imam from ever catching up with our unidentified benefactors. Kudos to them, whomever they are!
Mr. Ledeen: I admire your work. You appear to KNOW more about what is happening in Iran and the Middle East than most who speak or write on the subject. It is presented without flourish and in a manner which inspires confidence in the accuracy of your reports. Please continue.
The Supreme Leader: 72.5 years old. drug addict. pancreatic cancer. Paranoid. Living in a country without adequate health care.
This fellow is running up against the limits of physics/anatomy, it seems to me. And in such unstable environs, doesn’t this sort of thing have a way of becoming self-fulfilling, as everyone around the dead man walking jockeys for power or an escape route?
Or the dying man decides to go out in a “blaze of glory.” A dying revolutionary is exceedingly dangerous because he perceives himself to have everything to gain and nothing to lose.
The Baha’i are doing it.. the baha’i end game is a new world order.. the Sunni are poised to begin the final processes.. the Shia need to be prevented from screwing with the bigger goal of large blocks of total control..
I like that, an explosion a week! Uh, could we make that, one per day? I just love explosions, especially the kind around nuclear facilities in Iran and wherever the Red Guards like to hang out. One day, the people of Iran will be free!!!
“…Ring up Roger in London, maybe he’ll give you tea…”
As Cynic points out, the anti-Zionist, pro-Obama Jews abound. In Judea, two thousand years ago, the Cohens were up to the same scurrilous business that Roger is today– screwing their fellow Jews while sucking up to the brutal Roman occupiers. In those rough times there existed an effective antidote to Roger Cohen’s brand of self-serving treachery. They were called Sucari or “long knives” and their policy was to assassinate Hellenic Jewish priests and their fellow collaborators wherever they found them.
I’m a peaceful fellow and I certainly wouldn’t recommend Roger Cohen’s assassination. Nonetheless, it can’t be denied that six inches of steel in Cohen’s belly could do much to improve integrity among journalists and be a blessing to the all the Jews.
Yes, but the Zealots died out while the Christians converted the Empire. The Christians didn’t have to use violence; challenging the Levitical priesthood on a theological basis was more effective anyway.
I can tell you why there are explosions in the Iranian Nuke complexes in one six letter word
MOSSAD!
I have no special insight, just an observation that when choosing between malice and incompetence, it is almost always incompetence. Especially in a turd world nation.
http://www.state.gov/t/pm/rls/fs/141988.htm
Spontaneous explosions at munitions dumps are a world wide concern. Especially old soviet munitions. Iran is under arms embargo. That means ammo for their old D-30 artillery tubes has to be bought on the black market and smuggled in. The Russians are aware that the millions of artillery shells they have been storing since WW2 are one little bump away from boom! So they are in the process of destroying them. That is a prime source for smugglers. The Col. in charge gets a few bucks per shell and everybody is happy. Until that 60 year old shell, full of unstable explosives goes boom! Then whoever is nearby pays the price.
I wish Mr Ledeen would look at the facts, then NOT describe them in ways to embarrass his own self, in a pathetic attempt to discredit President Obama.
As for who is doing what to the Iranian military-industrial complex, I don’t know, nor do I care. Its results are the only thing safeguarding Iran and the whole MidEast from a far far worse conflagration. If it is internal Iranian forces, then all the more power of wisdom to them. As for the outside forces (eg Stuxnet), there must have been US approval and participation. Conclusion: a war averted. I hope.
Lets remember: at this time it is Pres. Obama at the helm of State.
Be grateful.
I have no doubt the Israelis have nuclear fission/fusion warheads on par with the latest tech the USA has at our disposal. They also have multi-stage high precision ballistic missiles and submarines armed with nuclear weapons. No doubt, cruise missiles as well. Everything from small tactical nukes to enormous multiple city destroying weapons of mass destruction. But they could also have EMP (Electro-Magnetic Pulse) weapons that can blackout all technology in a country such as Iran if detonated at a high enough altitude. In addition, I suspect Israel has neutron bombs which can kill via enormous radiation without the huge blast and destruction of property. Neutron bombs were designed to kill people not cities. Sam Cohen, father of the Neutron bomb stated Israel has hundreds of Neutron bombs at their disposal in an interview in 1997.
KJV – Zechariah 14:12 And this shall be the plague wherewith the LORD will smite all the people that have fought against Jerusalem; Their flesh shall consume away while they stand upon their feet, and their eyes shall consume away in their holes, and their tongue shall consume away in their mouth. 13 And it shall come to pass in that day, that a great tumult from the LORD shall be among them; and they shall lay hold every one on the hand of his neighbour, and his hand shall rise up against the hand of his neighbour. 14 And Judah also shall fight at Jerusalem; and the wealth of all the heathen round about shall be gathered together, gold, and silver, and apparel, in great abundance. 15 And so shall be the plague of the horse, of the mule, of the camel, and of the ass, and of all the beasts that shall be in these tents, as this plague.
That describes the effects of extremely high neutron radiation to a “T”. It literally vaporizes flesh at close range. Also the ability to go and collect the wealth after the attack, seeing as the neutron radiation quickly dissipates and doesn’t poison the area for 50+ years like a normal nuclear fusion weapon. Those caught in the immediate ground zero flash will instantly melt. Those at a further distance will see their flesh decay slower. Those further out will simply get very ill with swelling of flesh before it melts. Those further out still will simply get sick and die after their hair falls out. Death will either be instantaneous, or it will occur hours, days later. The radiation will be gone immediately after the blast but those contaminated will carry it in their flesh till it kills them.
Neutron bombs are tactical anti-tank weapons, not strategic weapons for offense. They’re good for decimating invading armies; they aren’t nearly powerful enough to wipe out the population of a city. Doses up to 10 Gy are survivable with the use of radioprotector drugs AND antibiotics. Doses up to 7 Gy are survivable with radioprotectors OR antibiotics. With neither radioprotectors nor antibiotics, it still takes 4 Gy to be fatal. Below that level, the victim will get sick, but eventually recover, albeit with a slightly elevated risk of cancer. Doses below 1 Gy may not even sicken the patient.
After the 1983 Marine Barracks murders, America should have destroyed Hizboalla, and the PLO. Then, backed the Shaw instead of letting a moon god worshiping POS start a false religious war for the last thrity years. That, and not caving in to special interest from oil companies keeping it hard to build nuke plants for energy.
Now, look at the crapper we are in. It would have been better if we had invaded Mexico. At least, they want to work.
I agree. This is the Iranian Resistance at work here, not BHO.
As for Cohen’s statement: “Foreign policy has been Obama’s strongest suit” — It is to laugh. Barack’s (and Michelle’s) strongest suit has been foreign *travel* — they are truly excellent at that.
Hey guys, you can’t have a universal Caliphate until the Shiite apostates are driven out of power but Barry needs them to attack Israel first.
“Conclusion: a war averted. I hope.”
NO. War is never averted. It can be delayed, to the advantage of one side or the other. Right now the Mad Dog MUllahs (MDM) think that delay is to their advantage, since they don’t have enough nukes to do anything yet.
The US political process will never produce a POTUS capable of dealing with international affairs. Domestic Politics and International Politics are so different in America that anyone good enough at Domestic politics to get elected POTUS is mentally unable to adjust to International Politics.
As an anology, think snow skiing vs water skiing. They both are on skis, so they are the same? Right? Good luck with that.
That disconnect between foreign and domestic politics is why the USA has a robust State Department. It is the Oldest and Strongest American bureaucracy because it has to be. POTUS comes and goes. Left, Right, (D), (R), Conservative, Liberal. Through it all, State tries to keep out of the ditch and on an even keel.
That is why any POTUS that thinks he will conduct foreign policy needs a Psych eval.
As President Bush found out.
The Optimal time for the USA to engage Iran was in December of 2003. We were right there and ready. The MDM knew that, which is why they stopped their nuke program and started hiding bits and pieces. Due to the left’s rabid resistance and Bush’s lack of moral fiber, the deed was not done. Iran has been at war against America since 1979.
Capturing an Embassy IS AN ACT OF WAR. Carter being a coward doesn’t change that.
Iran will keep pushing the great Satan until we go postal on them. A small taste of American style war today will save millions of lives tomorrow. Bomb the Mullahs, bomb the Revolutionay Guard. Bomb the Quds Force. Hunt them to extinction. Leave the people untargeted.
The war has been raging–from one side only–for nearly 33 years.
No, Michael, this is just one skirmish in a war that has been going on for about 1300 years or so.
Interesting about the blast at Isfahan. Media today reports that Israel has satellite images proving that there was a big explosian at the nuclear facility. Iran is insisting there was no blast at all.
The report comes from the Times which is the usual source for Mossad “leaks” and was repeated by an “Israeli official” who said that it was “no accident”.
Lying about a big blast which must have been heard and witnessed by many people is risky but there are good reasons why the Iranians would do so. This comes just a few weeks after the massive explosion at the missile base which was heard in Teheran. No getting out of that one. To admit another one now would indicate that they have lost control. Also it is not the MO of Israel intel to make up stuff like this so I am going with the assumption that both of these were deliberate sabotage.
May there be many more such nonexistant accidents.
I doubt Obama would do anything hostile to Iran. He probably still dreams of a rapprochement with Iran and dumping Israel, but cant do that before the elections. Roger Cohen is the president of the Iran fan club at the NYT, and given his embarassment with Israel, perhaps hopes that Iran wipes it off the map. This is the dream of many of the far left Democratic party
It is part of a columnist’s job to speculate. As to the many respondents, those who say don’t know, and those who know won’t say.
Someone once said that opinions are a dime a dozen. And that was when a dime was actually real money,
Save up your wishes for the ballot box. That’s when you have some actual power.
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I would really love to believe Roger Cohen; the very idea that Obama, at long last, has ordered a response to the Iranian war against the west (totally unmentioned, needless to say), is delightful.
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If obumma did order this… what, is this 5 or 6 *wars* we are in now? I'm losing track there are so many.
No, no way obumma would do this. Getting too close to an election to alienate one of the last remaining groups that would vote for him. I suppose this is the reason behind the statement obumma made "I have to deal with him (Netanyahu) every day. (I really doubt Netanyahu is telling obumma anything. obumma is a spectator in this.)
This is the last big push by Israel to avoid a very big mess by having to attack Iran in a conventional attempt to shut down the Mullahs and their nuclear program. Breaking critical 'things' and blowing up critical 'people' might delay the eventual showdown… but when you have this regime in place with the apocalyptic nut-jobs running the show there will be that eventual showdown. Israel might just be buying time to get their plans/equipment/people in place before needing to act in self defense. It's called 'Prepping (or Shaping) the Battlefield.' If you can break things, kill critical people AND get the regime to turn on its own before the onset of open hostilities… so much the better.
obuma would do well to deal with Netanyahu by supporting Israel. And help Iran by helping the Persian people working to get rid of the islamic-arabs bunch that stole their country.
My big worry, how much of the world will the Mullah's be willing to pull down around their heads come their day of reckoning.
The 30+ year war waged upon the US by Iran is Jimmy Carter’s lasting legacy. The closest we’ve seen of Carter’s foreign policy expertise is that of the current President’s. OBL death, continuation of Bush policy. Renditions and drone attacks..Bush. Exit from Afghanistan natural consequence of Bush policy…with announced ‘retreat by date’..Obama’s. Pullout of Iraq..natural consequence of Bush policy..taste of diplomatic failure..H. Clinton/Obama smart diplomacy. Guantanamo..continuation of Bush policy. Wiretaps and cyber spying..continuation of Bush policy. Pakistan backlash..Obama/H. Clinton failure. Mysterious explosions in Iran…Israeli real diplomacy.
Well, given the violation of the British Embassy (English Embassy – lol), it is now obvious who is responsible for all these kinetic events: Daniel Craig (aka James Bond!). They must simply be filming the latest episode on location and some of the squibs got outta hand. OOPS!
it’s those lousy canadians again
Did I do that?
quite frankly, I am finding it heartwarming!
Dear Michael, in the case of Iran Freedom, the history MUST BE FAIR WITH YOU “Dr. Michael Ledeen”, because you are the only American outspoken pundit who for a long time beats the IRAN FREEDOM DRUM, while the sanctimonious in the USA from “pundits, journalists and the humiliating defeat makers of the sellers of lies and scandals and glibness” such as Mr. Roger Cohen, Mr. Carter and others of this sort, they always have been made themselves and shamefully a good tool advocating the tyrannical regimes and others of that ilk, spreading their lies and lies of their media…but most sadly sometimes this brutal life is unfair with you…
Michael, doesn’t this result in Turkey winding up being the main Islamic Power, and frankly being less belligerent with the West, than the Khameini regime?
who’s offering the trade?
It’s not so much a trade, but dynamics within the Greater Middle East.
war,war,war,war,WAR,WAR,WAR,WAR,WAR,WAR
the only method and best to get rid of this damn regime is war, full attack, fire at will, fire at will, …uck them all, start the carper bombing and flat everything in Iran, yeah, send the cool cowboys and drop the gigaton and megaton nuke on Tehran, hee-haw, yeahhhhh, rough riding on a giant gigaton bomb yeahhhh, such a cool feel, it orgasms all the cowboys, like the doctor strange love movie! by Stanly cubric.