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Robert Gates Escalates Iran Tensions, As US Delegates Walk Out On Ahmedinejad Speech At UN

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Just as the White House released a brief note saying the US delegation has walked out on Ahmedinejad's speech at the UN, so Robert Gates was quoted by Reuters saying that "Iran is taking steps to challenge U.S. naval power in the Middle East." The defense secretary added: "Iran is combining ballistic and cruise missiles, anti-ship missiles, mines, and swarming speedboats in order to challenge our naval power in that region." What about weapons of mass destruction? Oh wait... Either way, the only thing from keeping liquidity overflow from taking the Dow to 36,000 is that risk that Oil would hit $1,000/bbl  first. And geopolitical events are just what is preventing the JPMs of the world from using the same harsh tactics as they do with PMs. The last thing this administration needs is a middle-east war which would send a gallon of gas to $5, the stock market tumbling, and the clotheless Ponzi economy exposed, as even without paying one's mortgage, if the price of a refill doubles, there are only so many iPads one can buy.

 

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Mon, 05/03/2010 - 15:45 | 329535 akak
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It is a logical non sequitur to equate opposition to blatant US military aggression and endless foreign interventionism with "support of an Islamic revolutionary state."

Ron Paul is the ONLY national politician who is not insane regarding the perpetual warmongering that passes as US foreign policy.

Mon, 05/03/2010 - 18:31 | 329815 Not For Reuse
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> "Ron Paul is the ONLY"

Kucinich, there are 2

Mon, 05/03/2010 - 18:51 | 329848 akak
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Sorry for that omission.

Mon, 05/03/2010 - 21:23 | 330020 merehuman
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i cant believe the stupidity. Akak , i think that junker jerk doesnt like you. Probably you could say Hello i love , and still get junked.

I think they are smitten with jealosy of your ability to think

Tue, 05/04/2010 - 10:29 | 330695 Alienated Serf
Alienated Serf's picture

bernie sanders as well

Mon, 05/03/2010 - 15:53 | 329547 wgpitts
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Neocon Perfidy by Paul Craig Roberts
http://www.lewrockwell.com/roberts/roberts66.html

Mon, 05/03/2010 - 15:28 | 329503 JiangxiDad
JiangxiDad's picture

lotta mutts on this blog.

Mon, 05/03/2010 - 15:33 | 329510 ApplesConspiracy
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whoops, my bad.

Mon, 05/03/2010 - 15:37 | 329519 wgpitts
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Iran Sanctions An Act Of War

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AGhHonyTco0

Mon, 05/03/2010 - 15:38 | 329520 Ripped Chunk
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Challenging US naval power in the middle east?  This is a joke right? If Gates has a substance abuse issues he should be replaced.

Mon, 05/03/2010 - 21:24 | 330023 merehuman
merehuman's picture

Ripped Chunk, that is some funny shit. Lol

Mon, 05/03/2010 - 15:49 | 329540 AnAnonymous
AnAnonymous's picture

M.Gates has still his eyes in their sockets.

He knows what needs to be protected in order to keep the US scheme rolling.

 

You dont extort people by sending them flowers.

Mon, 05/03/2010 - 15:51 | 329544 Crummy
Crummy's picture

What the fuck is Gates smoking?
They use a torrent of medium range unguided missiles, swarming speed boats, and mines to control the waters on their side of the gulf and the sea of Oman. They have for years.

This is not a new development.
It's part of the reason why we haven't already attacked. Rebuilding and repairing those ships would be costly in time and resources, but mostly time. And we can't afford to not be at full strength in that region because local leaders will say more mean things to General McChrystal and make his feelings feel bad.

Mon, 05/03/2010 - 16:16 | 329580 Leo Kolivakis
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Let me tell ya a little story of a man named Ahmedinejad...oil baby, black gold! Or better yet, stick to solars for the real melt-up!

Mon, 05/03/2010 - 16:15 | 329592 Grand Supercycle
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DOW/SP500 intra day chart gives bullish signal.
Interesting ...

MARKET UPDATES:
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Mon, 05/03/2010 - 16:15 | 329593 BlueDonkey
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gas to 5 dollars per gallon?  it is already $8 bucks a gallon here in greece

 

Mon, 05/03/2010 - 17:13 | 329597 Weimar Ben Bernanke
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The way things are going I think Israel will go to war with Syria and lebanon first then iran after. It makes sense. If they attack Iran they would face a hellstorm of rockets and scud missiles from Hamas,Hezbollah,Syria,and Iran. They want to get rid of the "proxies" first. So i recommend you guys to watch Lebanon and Syria as the next conflict maybe this summer.

Now Iran wants nukes,not for the reasons the lame stream media have put out. Iran knows if they nuked Israel Israel and the US would obliterate the nation to nothing. Iran wants nukes because Iran is like every nation, it wants power. With nukes Iran could prove to be the power of the Mideast. They are Persian and they think of the arab nations as barbaric dogs. To them they should be the power of the mideast not Saudi Arabia or Egypt. That is why Iran has gone through a massive military build up for the past seven years. Also they want nukes so they would use it as deterrent from attacks from Israel and the US.

Those with a modicum of familiarity with the military, strategic, and economic equities at stake know that an attack against Iran would be a very grave mistake. Israel would have their hands full. Israel should have done it five or six years ago. another thing the lebanese army said if israel goes to war with hizballah they will fight with israel. so to recap he military option has its own risks. First, its success depends on the quality of intelligence on Iran’s nuclear facilities and on the degree of hardening of those targets. Second, it requires successful air attacks. Third, it requires battle damage assessments that tell the attacker whether the strike succeeded. Fourth, it requires follow-on raids to destroy facilities that remain functional. And fifth, attacks must do more than simply set back Iran program a few months or even years: If the risk of a nuclear Iran is great enough to justify the risks of war, the outcome must be decisive.Each point in this process is a potential failure point. Given the multiplicity of these points — which includes others not mentioned — failure may not be an option, but it is certainly possible.But even if the attacks succeed, the question of what would happen the day after the attacks remains. Iran has its own counters. It has a superbly effective terrorist organization, Hezbollah, at its disposal. It has sufficient influence in Iraq to destabilize that country and force the United States to keep forces in Iraq badly needed elsewhere. And it has the ability to use mines and missiles to attempt to close the Strait of Hormuz and the Persian Gulf shipping lanes for some period — driving global oil prices through the roof while the global economy is struggling to stabilize itself. Iran’s position on its nuclear program is rooted in the awareness that while it might not have assured options in the event of a military strike, it has counters that create complex and unacceptable risks. Iran therefore does not believe the United States will strike or permit Israel to strike, as the consequences would be unacceptable. 

It is funny how that during Gulf War one the reasons put forth by Bush senior's team back then to not invade Iraq according to them was (1) It would be a quagmire and (2) they needed Iraq to be a balance against Iran. Man these idiots are dumb. They have don all of that. Now people have wondered why there is a falling out between Israel and Obongo. The reason why they are fighting is because both are disagreeing when to strike Iran. Bibi wants to do it now,Obama wants to wait until the sanctions fail to strike. It is timing,not Jerusalem settlements. Obama wants to do it when the sanctions fail so he can convince Boobus Americanus that he tried everything and now they have no choice but to strike Iran with NATO and Israel. Yeah more war to bankrupt us further!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! Got to get those freedom fries!

Mon, 05/03/2010 - 17:39 | 329749 Phenonymous
Phenonymous's picture

Their own ships in their own waters constitutes a "challenge" to US naval power?  In that case, ignoring for a moment the tricky issue of force projection, the rock in my backyard would be a threat to military powers everywhere.

Exaggerating the threat levels of targets of "opportunity" is becoming absurd now.  The fundamentally predatory intent of asymmetrical warfare planning has the highest echelons of power pursuing the most unhealthy of mindsets:  how to perceive and convey non-threats as dire threats.

Oh no, that kind of thinking won't ever backfire.  I'm sure that little genie will stay in its bottle.

Mon, 05/03/2010 - 21:45 | 330055 merehuman
merehuman's picture

i planted seeds, now those green shoots scare hell outa me.

Earthquakes,volcanoes, floods, bad money and worse lies. And oil where we least want it. 

Is there another planet we can escape too?

Mon, 05/03/2010 - 18:13 | 329786 FrankIvy
FrankIvy's picture

6 Million?  Again?

I guess there's still more mileage to get out of that number.

Mon, 05/03/2010 - 18:53 | 329852 goober
goober's picture

No More bubbles- Is that Villapotos plate old plate?

Mon, 05/03/2010 - 23:45 | 330163 JR
JR's picture

A Realistic Breakthrough? | Antiwar.com | Justin Raimondo | May 2, 2010  (EDITED)

The irony of the Israeli push to sanction and threaten Iran over its alleged nuclear weapons program – a program, by the way, which our own intelligence community believes was abandoned in 2003 – is that it has focused unwanted attention on the one country in the region which already has nukes: Israel. With 600 nuclear-tipped missiles, at a minimum, armed and aimed at god-knows-who, Israel has stubbornly refused to even acknowledge the existence of such a formidable arsenal. There is a certain hollow ring to the outrage of Israeli leaders as they accuse Iran of violating the terms of a treaty Israel has steadfastly refused to sign…

When our emissaries return to Washington and report that our support in the region is slipping-to-nonexistent, as the sainted General David Petraeus recently did, the president must act. The US tilt toward Israel is so exaggerated that it is almost a caricature of al-Qaeda’s propaganda, and nowhere is this more glaring than in the realm of nuclear brinkmanship.  

The US has no leverage, and no standing, to push for the preemptive dismantling of a nonexistent Iranian Manhattan Project, when it follows Israel’s lead in never even referring to their nuclear arsenal. The one Obama administration official who did mention it was viciously attacked, and hasn’t said boo about it since, but – unless you’re under the age of three – pretending something doesn’t exist won’t make it go away. Israel’s nukes cast a long shadow over the region, and the costs of denying it continue to rise. 

The Israelis kvetch that even the possibility of an Iranian nuclear weapon poses an “existential threat” to the Israeli people – evoking images of a second Holocaust – and yet every Arab population in the region is already living that nightmare. Can you imagine Prime Minister Avigdor Lieberman pushing the button, and vaporizing, say, Tehran, or Cairo? I can. This is a guy who once said Israel ought to bomb the Aswan dam, a former  bouncer who is now the Foreign Minister of a nuclear state. 

Israel is one of the few countries on earth which, along with North Korea, refuses to join the NPT. Unlike the crazed North Koreans, however, who boast about their nuclear capabilities, the Israelis insist on this ambiguous fig leaf – and the US goes along with it, albeit with increasing reluctance.  Imagine you’re Gen. Petraeus, and you have to traipse around the Middle East wearing this skimpy attire: it’s embarrassing.  

It’s also contrary to US interests, which lie in preventing not only the Iranians but also the Israelis from reducing the region to a radioactive desert. If the US truly wants to see Iran come around, forswear nukes forever, and submit to a credible regime of inspections and full disclosure, then they must not only acknowledge but also seek to disarm the Israelis. Israel, in short, must sign the NPT…

“Mideast peace” can’t be achieved unless and until the threat of an Arab holocaust is lifted…

Israel has spent the last few years claiming Iran’s alleged pursuit of nukes represents an “existential threat,” but what will they say to a proposal for general and complete nuclear disarmament? If the threat were real, they’d agree immediately. Since there is no such threat, however, existential or otherwise, and since in reality the threat comes from nuclear-armed Israel, and not (as yet) Iran, the Israelis have absolutely no interest in giving up their nuclear trump card. After all, they may have to play it some day…  

As I have documented, the growth of political and religious extremism in Israel is one of the most dangerous trends in existence, precisely because the Israelis enjoy unquestioned military dominance, rivaling the US in their ability to project power in the region…

Make no mistake about it. An Israeli first strike against a perceived threat – a perception that is perhaps based on mistaken intelligence – is entirely within the realm of the possible. If indeed the Iranians are trying to build a nuclear deterrent, we are well along the road to a conflict of horrifying proportions. The United States has a moral and practical interest in preventing such a nightmare scenario. That is why a nuclear-free Middle East must be taken up by the United States government without hesitation or preconditions.  

http://original.antiwar.com/justin/2010/05/02/a-realist-breakthrough/

Tue, 05/04/2010 - 01:30 | 330278 Adam Neira
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I'm-a-geddin really excited about the Rapture !

The number of people on the Planet who know what is really going on are outnumbered by the unaware that they are unaware by about 120,000 : 1. Quality not quantity will prevail...

Tue, 05/04/2010 - 13:07 | 331070 Alienated Serf
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the Rapture will not be televised.

Tue, 05/04/2010 - 08:59 | 330527 Grand Supercycle
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Currently, SP500 futures indicate that the March 2009 bear market rally may be ending. We should get confirmation this week.

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