By Mike WHITNEY April 08, 2005 "If the world's central bankers accumulate fewer dollars, the result would be an unrelenting American need to borrow in the face of an ever weaker dollar - a recipe for higher interest rates and higher prices. The economic repercussions could unfold gradually, resulting in a long, slow decline in living standards. Or there could be a quick unraveling, with the hallmarks of an uncontrolled fiscal crisis." -- New York Times editorial I know, from reading the comments on this web site, that many Smirking Chimp readers believe as I do, that the economic tsunami planned by the Bush administration is probably only months away. Many of us have watched helplessly as the national debt has increased 3 trillion dollars while the dollar has continued its predictable decline. At present, the dollar has fallen a whopping 38% since Bush took office, due entirely to the massive $450 billion tax cuts Bush gave away to his constituents. At the same time, myriad laws have been passed (Patriot Act, Intelligence Reform Bill, Homeland Security Bill, National ID, Passport requirements etc) anticipating the need for greater repression when the economy takes its inevitable nosedive. Regrettably, that nosedive looks to be coming sooner rather than later. The administration is currently putting as much pressure as possible on OPEC to ratchet up the flow of oil another 1 million barrels per day (well over capacity) to settle down nervous markets and buy time for the planned bombing of Iran in June.
TEHRAN, June 22 (Xinhuanet) -- Iran has cracked down on a network that defames presidential candidates for Friday's runoff, the official IRNA news agency reported Wednesday, quoting a senior Iranian official.
"Interior Ministry officials working with security and judiciary forces succeeded in identifying a large organized network working to defame candidates of the presidential election ahead of the runoff on Friday," Interior Minister Abdolvahed Mousavi Lari said.
The network managed to produce and distribute millions of copies of CDs and letters containing "reactionary" issues about contenders of the upcoming runoff election, he said.
Iran's pragmatist former President Akbar Hashemi Rafsanjani and ultra-conservative Tehran Mayor Mahmood Ahmadinejad will vie for presidency on Friday as they emerged as top two vote-getters in the first round of polling last Friday.
Lari did not explicitly say who was targeted by the defaming propagandas or what their contents were, only revealing that they portrayed the candidate as individual whose acts were contradictory to his words.
"There is no doubt that some foreign hands from outside the country were involved in producing and distribution of the CDs and letters," Lari added.
There have been reports of fraud in the election since the result of the first round was announced, in which Ahmadinejad won a surprising second place following Rafsanjani.
Wednesday is the last day for their legal campaignings to win supporters for Friday's race, which will elect a new president to succeed outgoing President Mohammad Khatami. Enditem
Iran’s Interior Minister blames bombings on foreigners Tue. 28 Feb 2006 Iran Focus
Tehran, Iran, Feb. 28 – Iran’s Interior Minister blamed agents of foreign governments for carrying out Monday’s bomb attacks on the offices of the governors of the south-western Iranian oil cities of Abadan and Dezful in the volatile province of Khuzestan.
Radical Shiite cleric Mostafa Pour-Mohammadi was quoted on Tuesday by the official state news agency as saying, “The groups that carried out the bombings in Khuzestan were led from beyond our borders and certain countries were involved in the attacks. The intelligence service has obtained specific leads in this regard”.
He said that most of those responsible for an earlier spate of bombings in the Arab-dominated province had been arrested.
Pour-Mohammadi described those responsible for Monday’s bombings as “remnants of the previous disruptors and the agents that carried out the previous bombings”.
A string of top Iranian officials including hard-line President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad have accused Britain of being behind a spate of bombings in Khuzestan since 2005.
London has repeatedly denied any involvement in the attacks.
Iran is claiming to be under attack by the U.S. from its eastern border in Sistan–Baluchistan Province and its western border from Iraq.
From Iran’s western border Ahvaz has been the target.
"It has become clear that several counter-revolutionary groups in Iraq have been dispatched to Iran from the region where the Americans and the British are deployed," he said on Monday.
Gholamreza Shariati, the deputy provincial governor for security affairs, suggested that the reason for the attacks was the destruction of Iran's territorial integrity and the deterrence of voters from participating in the upcoming presidential elections. http://english.aljazeera.net/NR/exeres/2EA85595-A597-4786-85F6-2CF185776D7D.htm
On April 15, a letter, which was said to be written by Iran's former vice president Mohammad Ali Abtahi to promote a coercive migration of Arabs in the southwestern province of Khuzestan, touched off riots in the provincial capital of Ahvaz.
Iran disclaimed the letter and reined in the unrest, claiming "some foreign agents" were behind the incident. #msg-6489463
On June 12, bomb explosions target Iranian elections in Ahvaz the same place we were supposed to have touched off the Arab riots. #msg-6647963
From Iran’s eastern border.
Meanwhile, terrorist elements, who had previously failed in their attempts to foment crises among the minority and majority of Iraq, have entered Iran through its eastern border in Sistan–Baluchistan Province and are currently targeting Iran’s national security, using obscure names for their organizations denoting ethnic division.
In fact, the U.S. and non-Iranian terrorist groups are attempting to spread ethnic and sectarian strife from Iraq to Iran by provoking insecurity in Iran through an unholy alliance. Will the U.S. eventually realize its evil goals in Iran? #msg-6689087
<<In fact, the U.S. and non-Iranian terrorist groups are attempting to spread ethnic and sectarian strife from Iraq to Iran by provoking insecurity in Iran through an unholy alliance. Will the U.S. eventually realize its evil goals in Iran? #msg-6689087>> i would just rephrase and write "in fact, the U.S and non-Iranian groups and the Iranian MEK group are attempting--------?" Will they succeed? We will only succeed in getting hopelessly entangled in a montrous maelstorm, a massive Tornado building to a categoy 5 Tornado, with potential to category 6 etc.etc. This is where i feel "reason will prevail" need get a notion to a harder reality, that is the U.S. government , has learned nothing from Iraq, they persist in outlining "o boy this is a can do, slam dunk". Even as we sink into deeper and deeper disaster in Iraq, Bush today is, yep, believe or not, talking about we have made progress, and he hopes the Iraqi Security forces will be strong enough sometime this year to start pulling out troops"
I remind Bush lies EASILY, he lies with the ease of a psycopath.
This lastest, as with the others, "things are getting better" are complete propaganda that is hiding the darkest nightmare of all, and that is the U.S. has NO intention of losing in Iraq and Iran, once they get the Iran matter rolling.
Problem, they have bitten off far far more than they can possibly handle.
Iranians will not surrender and the U.S. troops will then go from being in one hellacious beehive where they are being slowly stung to death, to being in 2 hellacious beehives and will be faced with a humiliating defeat. Here is where the nightmare commences, this administration or any Clintonesque administration or any McCainnesque future administration , will NOT accept defeat. They have become as obsessed as the Japanese in WWII, defeat is not an option, retreat and say we won is an not option, they are embedded with we MUST never have Nam be repeated again, EVER. The primary ranter on this is John McCain, he is simply wacko on "Never ,Never Again another Nam, another retreat and call it, victory will make America look weak and vulnerable and they will no longer be Empire America"(o what sorrow, are not Empires divine?--Divine? NOT!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!) Bush talks of troops coming back once Iraq has taken care of their security. Rubbish. We will not leave Iraq in the hands of a secured Iran FRIENDLY country and that is the only Iraq that can secure itself. Remember always, foreign policy is NOT for public consumption, that includes what really are our plans ahead. Under Top Secret protection, Bush can say over and over we hope to withdraw troops soon(like , hey the all of two brigades withdrawn last time) This darkly sinister regime of ours invaded a beehive in 2003 with no plans of what next, now it is, we do the what next, whatever it is to take control of both Iraq and Iran---we will stay the course and never withdraw without our objective being completed. I wrote, before the war, that to send troops into a BeeHive is rule number one of things NEVER to do in war. I hate to remind, but fact is the majority of liberal media, posters, editorialist, were arguing this was all bluff and vacuous rhetoric and Bush would never be so lame as to pursue this war. Now John Bolton is shooting off his mouth with "we will do whatever is needed, airstrikes, invasion, whatever, we will do this, if Iran does not surrender totally on the Nuke issue" And, believe it or not!!, i am reading liberal press and liberals in general, saying "o it is just talk" When will people realize this regime is a fascist warmongering machine that think, in their dementia, they are saving the world--LOL!. I see where the number one most read book on the Hill is now Tom Friedman's "The World is Flat" ode to his dimwitted visions of a Global Utopia just around the bend.Tom Friedman is plain stupid, a run of the mill utopianist hack, that whose bodies are strewn thru out history, their dreams exposed as rubbish.But his book is the number one read on The Hill. Idiots lap up this quack's blithering in mindless glee as it re-enforces the "One World, Corporate World, Utopia", which is actually naught but a hell where near everyone in such a nightmare utopia would be but slaves to the ultra rich Corporate World Bosses. I, for the one thousandth time, write if you want to see this future Utopia, it can be seen if one slams themselves down in a chair in front of TV screen and put in the movie Brazil, directed and written by Terry Gilliam , of Monty Python, the one american Python(he did all animation in the Monty Python series and in their movies, and appears here and there.)
Out of rant time---next chapter, "How far will the U.S. go to NOT retreat--as far as Gotterdammarung?????' LOL!---remember, i am only, as Henri Poirot says, exercising my synapses, as i drink my morning expresso.:)Max
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