Filed under: War on Terror
A report in the UK Times is suggesting that for the first time in thirty years, the United States will engage directly in talks with Iran:
Condoleezza Rice held out the prospect yesterday of direct talks with her Iranian counterpart this week in what would be America’s most significant contact with the Islamic republic since ties were severed almost 30 years ago.
The US Secretary of State was speaking shortly after Iran said that Manouchehr Mottaki, its Foreign Minister, would on Thursday attend talks in Egypt on the future of Iraq.
“I will not rule out that we may encounter one another,” Dr Rice said in a series of interviews with Sunday talk shows. “This isn’t an opportunity to talk about US-Iran issues. This is really an opportunity for all of Iraq’s neighbours to talk about how to stabilise Iraq.”
When I first read this, I wondered, “Gosh, I wonder if George W. Bush will get any credit at all for being the first president to engage in direct diplomacy and discussion with the Iranians. Probably not.”
In scanning the blogs, though, my thought quickly changed to, “How in the hell are we supposed to engage in discussions with this people?” Why the change? Consider this report, offered up by Gateway Pundit:
“Iran Takes Credit For America’s Defeat and Withdrawal
TEHRAN (Fars News Agency)- Owing to the vigilance of Iran’s armed forces, enemy is seeking to escape from the region, commander-in-chief of the Islamic Republic army said on Monday.
“We are monitoring and controlling all enemy moves in the region and the enemy is well informed of this, and due to the same reason it is seeking an opportunity to escape from the region,” Major General Ataollah Salehi said.
He also reminded that his country is monitoring all moves in the region due to the threats posed by the regional and trans-regional forces.
“Today threats in the regional countries have grown arrogant and we have been able to act as an element of deterrence in the region due to the preparedness and precise performance of our forces,” the General continued.
He said Iran is not worried about enemy moves as it is well informed of the enemies’ weak points, reminding that the country’s enemies have weaknesses which have been hidden under their propaganda.
So we are going to discuss stability in Iraq with a major cause of the instability which we currently see? How, exactly, does that work? Unless Condi is going to go heavy-handed into these discussions and say, in the now infamous words of George Bush to Tony Blair, “…knock this shit off.” Otherwise, what’s the point? The Bush Administration must be weary of too direct of talks. It cannot be bogged down with this feeling that we must engage Iran, nor that we should engage Iran, but rather that we can engage Iran. It is important for Americans to remember that we are not obligated to these discussions, else we run th risk of compromising our political will for their’s.
technorati tags: Iran, Iraq, War on Terror, Condoleezza Rice
Filed under: 2008 Election
Yes, I’m still alive…and I can finally breathe. The brunt of the semester is behind me, just two papers, three presentations and an exam stand between me and my fourth, and final, year at Shepherd. With the majority of the year finished, I finally have time to read the blogs, and write again.
So for my first post back, I just wanted to share this little clip from Captain’s Quarters in regards to the potential Fred Thompson presidential bid:
Thompson has not appeared to seek high office, nor has Thompson worked on what looked to be in retrospect a grand plan for a political career. That lack of ego may work to Thompson’s advantage in an era of deep skepticism. It’s not Reagan, but it’s Thompson, and Thompson might sell as the reluctant philosopher, drafted out of necessity.
Drafted out of necessity? Those are big shoes to fill. From my viewpoint, I certainly hope Fred is up to teh job of filling those shoes.
So I’ve been on a week long hiatus, and for that I apologize. Posting for this week will be light and sporadic if at all. I apologize in advance…
Although I should be working, I wanted to briefly highlight this excellent, excellent article from Pravda (which, of course, translates roughly to “truth” in English). Here is the “truth” about Don Imus:
In a clear sign of its intent to reign in dissident American media personalities, and their growing influence in American culture, US War Leaders this past week launched an unprecedented attack upon one of their most politically ‘connected’, and legendary, radio hosts named Don Imus after his threats to release information relating to the September 11, 2001 attacks upon that country.
According to European reports of the events surrounding Don Imus that have gripped the United States this past week, it was during an interview with another American media personality, Tim Russert, who is the host of a television programme frequently used by US War Leaders, wherein while decrying the state of care being given to American War wounded stated, “So those bastards want to keep these boys [in reference to US Soldiers] secret? Let’s see how they like it if I start talking about their [in reference to US War Leaders] secrets, starting with 9/11.”
[...]
to the US War Leaders, Don Imus represented the most serious threat, to date, of the growing assault against them by America’s media personalities threatening to expose the truths behind the events of September 11, 2001 and the Iraq/Afghanistan Wars; and to such an extent that another American media personality, Rosie O’Donnell, has expressed concern that US Military Leaders could actually imprison Mr. Imus.
That’s right! The government is actually going to imprison Mr. Imus! Wait, wait. It gets better.
It is expected, also, that the US War Leaders actions against Don Imus will have a further chilling affect upon other American media personalities questioning their authority, such as the popular US movie actor, Charlie Sheen.
But here’s the ultimate:
To the American people themselves their remains no evidence that they know, much less care, about the dire state of their once Free Nation.
Only in Russia’s TRUTH magazine can we get such TRUTH. Funny that the Russians can recognize the death of freedom in a country where freedom thrives, but cannot see that their President seems to believe he is the tsar reincarnated. It would be funny, anyway, if it weren’t so scary…
One final note: I don’t like Imus. I think he’s stupid, unattractive and obnoxious. However, I don’t think he should have been suspended, let alone fired, for his ignorant comments. When the popular music of today (rap, hip-hop, whatever you want to call it. I call it ‘crap.’) floods ears and airwaves with such trashy talk. I certainly don’t mean to stereotype, however, I’d really love to flip through the CD books of these players. Do they have CDs by P-Diddy (or whatever the hell he calls himself these days), Ludicrous, comedy by Chris Rock etc. etc.? I don’t think it’s too far-fetched to suggest that they do have these things in their possession. But what can we do?
technorati tags: Imus, Pravda, Rap, RapMusic, PoliticalCorrectness, Media
Filed under: Funnies
Week in review:
Here’s a video for your viewing pleasure. Maybe president Bush should follow Frank’s advice:
Here’s a quick round-up of some news stories I thought comment-worthy:
The UN sucks again. From The Hill:
Members of the House Foreign Affairs Committee, led by the panel’s ranking Republican, Ileana Ros-Lehtinen (Fla.), asked the Governmental Accountability Office (GAO) to launch an inquiry into the World Meteorological Organization (WMO). An audit has shown that a WMO official misappropriated $3 million to finance a “money-for-votes scheme” before fleeing.
Next topic: Question: Will courts follow the precedent set by the punishment of Sandy Berger for a similar crime when this man, who stole archive documents, goes on trial? Here’s the blurb:
A 40-year-old intern with the National Archives pleaded guilty Wednesday to stealing 164 Civil War documents, including an official announcement of President Lincoln’s death, and putting most of them up for sale on eBay.
Moving on: College kids make themselves look stupid.I hope people realize that this sort of behavior is not indicative of all college students. Just the liberal ones:
White House advisor Karl Rove was the target of a protest on the American University campus Tuesday night, News4 reported.
Rove was on the campus talking to the school’s Young Republicans club for about an hour. Afterward, when Rove got outside, more than a dozen students began throwing things at his car, an American University spokesperson said.
The students then got on the ground and lay down in front of his car as a protest.
The students said security officials picked them up and carried them away so Rove could leave.
And finally, this boy shows his ass (literally) and now decides to sue?
Tyler Tillung, 18, mooned a teacher “suddenly and without thinking about the consequences” in February, according to the lawsuit filed Tuesday. The teacher had declined to let him into a Feb. 21 school lip sync show that was full. He was suspended for six days and reassigned to a new school.
But the teen wants to graduate with his Palm Harbor University High class in six weeks and complete his final season on the varsity baseball team, the lawsuit said.
Ok. Even I think that is a little harsh…
Instapundit posted today a link to Popular Mechanic’s review of Ford’s new hydrogen powered car. Here’s some of what the article said:
Though wafting zero-emissions exhaust in our face taught us plenty as to the realities of a hydrogen-powered automotive experience, what really made our test special was actually being able to drive a car running on advanced hydrogen fuel-cell technology that can power itself with a 336-volt battery pack.
Now there’s plenty of work to be done on lithium-ion battery development and building up hydrogen service stationsacross the country, but go ahead and tease yourself with this video of the HySeries, which has a 225-mile range at up to 85 mph while delivering 41 mpg.
There’s a really interesting video of the new concept car, which indicates that it was a 2-million dollar vehicle, but according to the interview, Ford seems to think that it will be “consumer ready” within 10 years. I hope that means “consumer affordable,” too. Usually I think these concept cars are above and beyond ugly, but this one’s not bad looking. Here’s a link to the video, because I can’t figure out how to embed it.
