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April 14, 2006
WB: New Pravda No More?

Billmon

But it appears to be beyond Sanger’s brain wattage to ask the obvious question: If talk of war serves the administration’s diplomatic purposes, why are they working so hard to try to knock it down now? The logical answer is that the war talk — and the war planning — is real, but public discussion of it is at this point is premature, i.e. not part of the media plan.

New Pravda No More?

Posted by b on April 14, 2006 at 04:14 UTC | Permalink
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If talk of war serves the administration’s diplomatic purposes, why are they working so hard to try to knock it down now?
Madman diplomacy doesn’t work if you end up sacring more people in your own country than in your enemy’s. The Iranians don’t seem to be flinching at a military confrontation, but the Joint Chiefs sure are.
My take is that the spectacular erosion (mudslide?) of support among the generals and other higher ups lately has made Rove finally realize that his Spring Iranian Offensive will end up costing far more politically than he could ever hope to gain this mid-term. So he’s backing away from that shaky limb as haughtily as he can.
Meanwhile, however, Rummy is still gung-ho. Dick, who has his own troubles, is trying to reign him in, but Donny continues to be a rogue threat which is why a lot of the brass are pushing to get rid of him right now.
But make no mistake about it. There IS no coherent Iranian policy at present. The Bush team is fighting among itself and the cross-currents are playing out in various media outlets like swirling leaves in a tea pot.
I just hope the lid doesn’t blow off.

Posted by: Night Owl | Apr 14 2006 6:19 utc | 1

Following up on my last post and Billmon’s next on Herr Field Marshall Rumsfeld (nice to see you back on a roll again Billmon):
While I agree that the Generals probably don’t have enough fire power to take out Rummy’s entrenched position, their can use coordinated, supressing political fire to keep Donny’s head down.
So, while they may not dig the Field Marshall out of the bunker, at least they can try to keep his homicidal tendencies to a minimum for the next two years.
This may be the start of an informal containment policy by our military against its own leadership. A scary state of affairs but certainly long overdue.

Posted by: Night Owl | Apr 14 2006 6:47 utc | 2

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