“The Iranian nuclear program is of course exclusively civilian in nature”
Ahh, so that’s why they have been developing and building ICBM’s? Go figure…

Posted by: zed | Aug 31 2015 13:15 utc | 3

Iran deal creates a wonderful opportunity for US and Israel (US shares intel with Israel) to learn precise GPS coordinates plus general and specific logistics regarding every installation and much more.

Posted by: fast freddy | Aug 31 2015 13:33 utc | 5

@3 And what Iranian ICBM would that be, zed?
As far as I am aware the only public announcement of an “Iranian ICBM” was that burped out with great flatulence by Benjamin Netanyahu way back in 1997.
I gather that even he doesn’t repeat that fairy tale.
Or are you thinking of something else?

Posted by: Yeah, Right | Aug 31 2015 13:52 utc | 7

8;good one!The Zionist never sleep,and to think the monsters are giving up is an error.
The British MSM attacks Corbyn over OBL trial statements.sheesh.
And its not Likud,4,its both Israeli parties culpable for the disaster that is Zion.Uh,who are the only nation to benefit from 9-11?Freaking Israel,which should lead to some awakening from their slumber of BS.

Posted by: dahoit | Aug 31 2015 15:27 utc | 9

#10 The missiles described in that Aviation Week article are NOT ICBMs. You don’t know what you are talking about.

Posted by: ToivoS | Aug 31 2015 16:20 utc | 11

As expected everyone is falling into line to support the Iran deal because the spoils will be shared or inducements will be offered.
Israel will get more aircraft for their ‘defense’ and the Saudis will get Russian help with their Nuke program that this new deal will serve as a template for. The Saudis will demand the same capabilities as Iran maintains and both will be capable of Bomb production after a short breakout period.
The rest of this show is pure theatre so everyone has their 15 minutes of airtime before the money begins to flow.

Posted by: Wayoutwest | Aug 31 2015 16:47 utc | 13

I think leftists should admit we were wrong — like most of us, I said here 9 months ago that I thought the deal would not go through — and learn a few lessons. As someone above said, it ain’t over yet, but it looks like the Israel Lobby will lose and a major shift in Gulf region power — set in motion by the crazy Neocon/Zionist/Bush invasion of Iraq — will happen. It can be turned back at a later date, but it is still happening. FWIW, the lessons to learn are mostly good news:
Lesson 1: The Israelis and Zionists are less powerful in DC than we thought.
Lesson 2: ‘Western’ capitalism led by the US is not a united, all rowing the same direction empire. There’s grumbling about and resistance mainly to the burden of a crazy out-of-control Israel, but also (but to a lesser extent) to the knee-jerk and excessively militarist nature of the Western capitalist empire.
Lesson 3: Western capitalism probably has decided that it has alienated too many of the obvious key pieces of a Eurasian capitalist coalition. Not just India but also Iran — maybe the ambition is for all of south and southeast Asia — has to be kept on the Western side.

Posted by: fairleft | Aug 31 2015 17:50 utc | 15

@12
Thanks for the laugh! Mileikowsky, hehe…

Posted by: slirs | Aug 31 2015 18:21 utc | 17

I said right from the start, it would go thru, with yikes, quotes from Obama way back when, before his first election. Kerry too, since forever, has wanted, nay ardently desired, to bring Iran into the fold. (That went over like a lead balloon..) At one point I had some doubt but still ..over or at least 50%.. etc..
Sure there are the commercial / trade / and more opportunities that everyone has been dying for (incl many Iranis), and it is hard to judge how the momentum was created, or coalesced.
The US (B.O and J.K), pressure from big corps, energy, automotive, banks; sanctions not obeyed; in fact they were declared illegal by the EU court recently after about 7 to 10 years of litigation (that judgment was then subsequently partly overturned), and who was sanctioning US cos. that dealt with Iran? All this melded together. The whole thing was no longer tenable.
Still, it is not done yet, but as some US senator pointed out a few days ago, I have forgotten his name, it will be done with or without the USA. In fact the USA had better deliver soon, and stop being obstructionist, because if it does not, it will lose face, as it will be ignored. (One opinion piece in a CH paper, and what my ‘banker’ (whom i met in a caf and did not ask anything) said. I guess he read the op-ed.) Netanyahu obviously also prefers not to pursue a losing fight. Not that any of it has to do with Iran’s nuclear industry, so there is that. It is a fig-leaf for other deals, event, etc.

Posted by: Noirette | Aug 31 2015 18:25 utc | 19

For a while the lobby’s loss may dampen the influence Israel has over U.S. foreign policy.
I wouldn’t count on it. But that’s not going to stop me from enjoying my schadenfreude while it lasts. Excuse me for a moment … bwahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahaha …

Posted by: Some Guy | Aug 31 2015 19:21 utc | 21

#16-slirs-They have just hot air in theirs heads-see Boehner and others RINO’s….

Posted by: sejmon | Aug 31 2015 19:30 utc | 23

@zed
“Iran is a country oppressed by a crazy, medieval islamo-fascist dictatorship with “big” plans, who killed many Iranians, run a huge prison network full of “dissidents” and have the highest execution rate per capita in the world (289 executions last year according to their official numbers). Never forget those facts, as such – unrelated to the rest of the discussion. And then tell me, would you, personally, let someone like that unobserved while he develops ICBM’s and runs 15+k centrifuges, while all the time shouting “death to infidels”, including US and Europe? Seriously?”
Not one sentence of what you say above is correct or substantiated by facts and even a reformist in Iran wouldn’t agree with one iota of what you are saying. Instead he would have put it this way:
Iran had a germane revolution 36 years ago which constitute the basis for her current dynamism. Immediately after the Revolution, an unprecedented war was imposed upon the country to overthrow the choice of the Iranian population, with the adversary using all the means necessary to win the war (chemical weapons included), while Iran refused to retaliate in the same manner. The legitimacy of the political system is based on Islam which is the glue sticking together all the parts of the political society. The institution symbolizing this legitimacy is on the way to become more and more formal (the way for ex. the sovereign in the UK became) and any reformist should welcome that trend. The country has a constitution based on the principle of separation of powers, although she hasn’t been yet entirely successful in implementing the rule of law, and one might add like many other participatory systems in the world, any reformist should encourage the trend for the respect of the rule of law and back any effort in this direction. Iran’s industrial enrichment program and nuclear power generation plans was setup by the previous regime, with the backing of the West, and the country is only following the path opened around 40 years ago. The Iranian Space program is civil in nature but like in any other country developing such industry certain aspect of it are inherently linked to military. The Islamic Republic Human Right records are certainly dismal and need improvement but, first they are not perceived as such by the majority of the population which accept the legitimacy of the system, and second compared to the actions of outside hegemons in the region (West, Israel etc…) and most other regional countries they can be considered negligible.
CONCLUSION: the one time that those “Islamo-fascist” had the means, and the reasons, to use weapons of mass destruction against an enemy which had attacked them and was using wmd against them in a continuous manner, they refrained to do it on the moral ground. While the one exceptional country, as soon as she developed her first nuclear weapon, didn’t hesitate to use it, without any moral consideration, against civilians of an enemy country on the verge of surrendering.
Now tell me who will you trust more?

Posted by: ATH | Aug 31 2015 20:37 utc | 25

I meant debathification, of course.

Posted by: Ibrahimyazeji | Aug 31 2015 21:28 utc | 27

@10
I invite everyone to follow those links.
The first two refer to cruise missiles, which most definitely are not ICBMs.
Zed: “You don’t invest billions into building these just to haul around a few kg of TNT.”
Except, of course, that’s exactly what the USA does.
All its cruise missiles are tactical weapons, not a single one carries a nuke warhead.
So every single American cruise missile does nothing more than “haul around a few kg of TNT”.
The third link is simply unsubstantiated nonsense, and may as well have been bottom-burped from Netanyahu’s nether regions.
Note this: “The Islamic Republic is the only country to develop a 2,000-km missile without first having a nuclear weapons capability.”
First thing first: “a 2,000-km missile” is not an ICBM. It isn’t even halfway towards being an ICBM.
Second, of course, is the inconvenient fact that Iran hasn’t test-fired anything with a 2,000-km range.
Not once.
Not ever.
But I can name one country in the region that does have nuclear-capable ICBMs, and has indeed test-fired one.
I can even give you the date: January 17 2008.
And the launch location: Palmachim Airbase.

Posted by: Yeah, Right | Aug 31 2015 22:15 utc | 29

b: ” But in a year or two the Iran deal will be out of the news headlines and the lobby will have spent enough money to recuperate its influence.”
Won’t take a year b, these AIPAC people have deep pockets.
Noirette @ 20: “(I am less pro-Assad than many here) ”
Actually, it might be anti-empire and it’s minions, that drives support for Assad.

Posted by: ben | Aug 31 2015 22:44 utc | 31

Is this a true event?
○ Russia Has Begun Its Military Intervention in Syria | Ynet News |

Posted by: Oui | Sep 1 2015 0:02 utc | 33

Oui @ 33 asked:”Is this a true event?”
Haven’t a clue, if true, it’s big news. IMO, maybe its time the biggest bullies on the block received some push-back. (meaning the empire, and it’s hired, modern day Hessians)

Posted by: ben | Sep 1 2015 2:16 utc | 35

Whatever went on in the background netanyahoo will have wrung some biggies outta amerika. Netanyahoo likely got what he wants
The real question is will Iranians get what they need?
I’ve always held high regard for Iranian strategies in dealing with amerika and Israel, but not so much Rouhani who seems to have a similar mindset to barack oblamblam or tony bliar – that is he places personal aggrandisement ahead of the needs of citizens, or loyalty to his culture.
Iran has been under siege for a very long time a siege that has been murderous and cruel yet it also prevented Iran from becoming enmeshed in the quagmire of neoliberal economics. world bank imf etc
That will all go with the passage of this treaty and I simply don’t believe Rouhani and crew have the wherewithal (even if they had the will) to withstand the mac truck of corporate hegemony and deceit that is about to smash into Iran at 200mph.

Posted by: Debs is dead | Sep 1 2015 3:08 utc | 37

@25 ATH: there is no such thing as separation of powers there. The Ayatollahs rule supreme and the presidential candidates are only from the pre-chosen pool. Just even mentioning any “democracy” when talking about that is outright ridiculous.
Their prison network and the count of (mostly public!) executions are iranian official numbers. Those are hard facts. The “west” puts the number of executions way higher than the official numbers.
And then I hope you remember that first british removed the only genuinely democratic iranian government (Mossadegh) when he nationalized the oil industry and took it away from the “Anglo-Iranian Oil company”, then they did the same to Shah for the same reasons in 1979, via the MI6-CIA driven “islamic revolution” that brought us the current regime etc. Those are also well-known hard facts. The Mullahs are very comparable to the current ISIS caliphate, just not so anti-technology. Let alone that they are calling for the destruction of “big satan” (all of us in the west) on a weekly basis, easily provable by looking at the iranian press. And sorry, but Islam is not “the glue binding the society”, nor are all Iranians shiite muslims to begin with. The certain flavor of political Jihad is imposed upon the whole society, which is the very definitiojn of religious dictatorship. Also when the state is owned and ran by a bunch of oligarch-priests, that’s the very definition of fascism, as defined by Mussolini himself. Suppression of the individual’s rights for the “greater good” was the same in nazi germany, soviet Russia or current Iran.
I definitely don’t ever trust religious zealots with fascist tendencies, that will never change. Regardless of which region or which religion – they are to be removed.

Posted by: zed | Sep 1 2015 9:35 utc | 39

It has ALWAYS been just a ruse. Netanyahu pistol-whipped the US Congress to extend sanctions against RU…then immediately flew back to Hebron to inaugurate the New Israeli Free Trade Zone … with RU!!!
26% of Israelis, the same 1/4 super-minority of former Soviet ‘white Jews’ who have kept Netanyahu in power, are still black-market dealing with their erstwhile Russian cohorts … including black-market trading … with Iran!!!
Bibi was just smoking out the $10s of BILLIONS the West is going to pour into Iran for trades that Isreal has already developed the pipelines for. They’ll prolly sell Ukraine guns (Ukraine one of world’s largest gun makers) to Iran to fund the Yinon Plan war in Syria with.
“We won, you lost. It’s just bidnez, get over it. NOW GET THOSE AID $Bs TO TEHRAN!”
Need the visual?
Shredi Vishtar

Posted by: NoReply | Sep 1 2015 9:56 utc | 41

The Ynet article explains the “Syrian refugee crisis – suddenly in Germany“. DW is official – government paid – German news.

It does not happen every day that the White House puts out a statement explicitly praising a foreign leader for his or her actions on a certain issue. By doing so and by singling out Berlin’s decision to suspend the so called Dublin rules to allow more Syrian refugees to come to Germany, President Obama was providing crucial support for the chancellor, who has faced criticism at home for being too slow to act.
“I think the US is trying to put their political weight behind that leadership that she is showing,” said Elizabeth Collett, director of the Migration Policy Institute Europe.
Obama’s presidential praise came on Wednesday. Hours earlier, Chancellor Merkel was booed by far-right protesters during a visit to a refugee center in a German town at the center of a recent wave of anti-foreigner violence.

“Ukraine refugee crisis” next.
To clarify what I mean. There has been a Syrian and Ukrainian refugee crisis for quite a while. That Europe feels compelled to take Syrian refugees in (and integrate them in their societies) means a decision has been taken on the outcome of the civil war.

Posted by: somebody | Sep 1 2015 10:11 utc | 43

Erdogan’s foreign policy seems to have gone down.

According to Moscow Times on Monday, the Russian President, Vladimir Putin, summoned Turkey’s Ambassador in Moscow, Ümit Yardim, and told him to convey a rather undiplomatic message to President Erdogan. “Tell your dictator President he can go to hell along with his ISIS terrorists, I will make Syria a ‘Big Stalingrad for him!” he reportedly said.

Posted by: somebody | Sep 1 2015 10:46 utc | 45

Oui @ 33
Voltaire Network
The Russian army is beginning to engage in Syria
by Thierry Meyssan
A profound and significant change has just occurred in the Levant – the Russian army has begun to engage against terrorism in Syria. Although Russia has been absent from the international scene since the dissolution of the Soviet Union, and although it is moving with care, it has just created a Russo-Syrian Commission, has begun supplying weapons, sharing intelligence, and sending advisors. All of this is more or less coordinated with the White House.
http://www.voltairenet.org/article188522.html

Posted by: okie farmer | Sep 1 2015 12:06 utc | 47

@39
zed: “The Ayatollahs rule supreme and the presidential candidates are only from the pre-chosen pool.”
And that’s different from the US Presidential race, err, how, exactly?
Since 1979 there have been only two (2) serious US Presidential candidate who emerged who weren’t “from a pre-chosen pool”, and in both cases the “rogue” candidate was an egocentric megalomaniacal billionaire: Ross Perot and Donald Trump.
And Perot had exactly zero chance of ever being elected, as he well knew.
zed: “Just even mentioning any “democracy” when talking about that is outright ridiculous.”
Oh, please, just listen to yourself.
What passes for “democracy” in the USA is now an equally-ridiculous farce, and if you can’t see that then, honestly, you might like to ponder why it is that a nonentity like Saunders is cast as a “liberal” or even (hah!) a “socialist”.
zed: “Their prison network and the count of (mostly public!) executions are iranian official numbers. Those are hard facts. The “west” puts the number of executions way higher than the official numbers.”
Yes, Iran visits death upon its own citizenry.
In that it is markedly different to the USA, whose specialty is visiting death in vastly greater numbers upon foreigners.
Foreigners whose only “crime” is to find themselves between Uncle Sam and something that he wants.
Or Israel, who kills without remorse simply because the natives have the misfortune of living on land that The Chosen People choose to call “Mine! Mine! It’s All Mine!”.
Hey, at least Iran insists that all those that it executes are executed following an exhaustive legal system, which is totally unlike the USA or its Mini-Me – neither of whom will even bother to tally the deaths that they cause.
Something to do with “exceptionalism”, I believe…..

Posted by: Yeah, Right | Sep 1 2015 12:49 utc | 49

Same link as #50

But there is a deeper reason for America’s inability to confront Isis successfully. Ever since 9/11, the US has wanted to combat al-Qaeda-type movements, but without disturbing its close relations with Sunni states such as Turkey, Saudi Arabia, Pakistan and the Gulf monarchies. But it is these same allies that have fostered, tolerated or failed to act against the al-Qaeda clones, which explains their continuing success.

I would say the same in a different way: Should the US effectively fight ISIS they have no allies in the Middle East left.

Posted by: somebody | Sep 1 2015 13:10 utc | 51

Gaza, biggest concentration camp in the world

Posted by: blockquote | Sep 1 2015 13:27 utc | 53

Over at AW they claim Petraeus wants to use AlCIAda to fight IsUS.What a maroon.I mean,even Sanders is infected with terrible takes on reality,expressing stupid ideas about the Saudis,and not recognizing facts.
And the NYlying Times says;Corbyn says OBL killing tragedy,not noting he actually said,it was a tragedy he wasn’t brought to trial.The monsters never sleep.

Posted by: dahoit | Sep 1 2015 13:36 utc | 55

ATH @ 25:Excellent post, right on point. Facts are such pesky things.
YR @ 29-49: More reason, wonderful.
Zed at 39: Agree with your last thought, but, not much else.
Question for Zed. Does Iran match this record?
http://academic.evergreen.edu/g/grossmaz/interventions.html

Posted by: ben | Sep 1 2015 14:21 utc | 57

@56
I’m sure Putin and Russia are anxious to repeat another Afghanistan adventure, that turned out so well.
This rumor is being repeated by the real Moonie Press, the Washington Times so it being parroting here by lesser Moonies is predictable.

Posted by: Wayoutwest | Sep 1 2015 15:31 utc | 59

Meanwhile in the real world (and this is just one of many sectors). Having soon moved away from the nuclear issue, Iran will hopefully reintegrate itself in the global economy where it belonged (though catching up will take plenty of years and capital).

Posted by: never mind | Sep 1 2015 15:47 utc | 61

Somebody, you and Patrick Cockburn are both in denial, which results in the facts not fitting the real world (emphasis added):
Cockburn: The disastrous miscalculation made by the United States [nope, it was a sensible calculation and it’s working out as planned] in signing a military agreement with Turkey at the expense of the Kurds becomes daily more apparent. In return for the use of Incirlik Air Base just north of the Syrian border, the US betrayed the Syrian Kurds who have so far been its most effective ally against Islamic State. …
But wait, how can the most powerful military in world history, with no problem killing many civilians in pursuit of its enemies, actually be fighting against the Islamic State and have the following record of failure:
President Barack Obama has assembled a grand coalition of 60 states, supposedly committed to combating Isis, but the only forces on the ground to win successive victories against the jihadis over the past year are the ruling Syrian-Kurdish Party (PYD) and its People’s Protection Units (YPG). Supported by US air power, the YPG heroically defeated the Isis attempt to capture the border city of Kobani during a four-and-a-half month siege that ended in January, and seized the Isis crossing point into Turkey at Tal Abyad in June.
But wait, the US and the 60 states it allies with have zero victories over ISIS? The US (most powerful military in history, etc.) and those 60 states can’t _really_ be fighting “against” the Islamic State, can they? No, they can’t be and have a track record like that.
Somebody: Russia saving Obama once more?
No, Russia, if it is entering Syria in force, is opposing the US and its unofficial allies, Islamic State and Al Qaeda and its variations. Sensible interpretation is that the US is a rational actor advancing its interest: it wants to overthrow Assad and therefore enemies of Assad are US allies. Russia is a rational actor advancing its interests: it wants to preserve Assad and doesn’t want to ‘save Obama’.
Cockburn: But there is a deeper reason for America’s inability to confront Isis successfully. [Because ISIS is an ally in the fight to overthrow Assad? No, that would be too logical, and too in line with the actual facts.] Ever since 9/11, the US has wanted to combat al-Qaeda-type movements [Really? Then why does it always end up helping such movements, ‘except’ for the occasional well-publicized PR episode?], but without disturbing its close relations with Sunni states such as Turkey, Saudi Arabia, Pakistan and the Gulf monarchies. [Saudi Arabia and the other Gulf dictatorships are very dependent, very subordinate, and very penetrated allies of the US. Al Qaeda was an official ally of the US in 1980s Afghanistan, ferchrissake. Why does Cockburn (and the mainstream media generally) pretend the US has not always been “in” on the creation, funding, and manipulation of the half crazy, half mercenary Saudi Arabia terrorist groups?] But it is these same allies that have fostered, tolerated or failed to act against the al-Qaeda clones, which explains their continuing success. [Yes, but in close cooperation with and with full knowledge of the USA (and UK as well).]

Posted by: fairleft | Sep 1 2015 16:42 utc | 63

Ii was referring to the Dalai Llama’s government. Thanks for the correction.
And the difference is?

Journeying through Tibet in the 1960s, Stuart and Roma Gelder interviewed a former serf, Tsereh Wang Tuei, who had stolen two sheep belonging to a monastery. For this he had both his eyes gouged out and his hand mutilated beyond use. […]
In 1959, Anna Louise Strong visited an exhibition of torture equipment that had been used by the Tibetan overlords. There were handcuffs of all sizes, including small ones for children, and instruments for cutting off noses and ears, gouging out eyes, breaking off hands, and hamstringing legs. There were hot brands, whips, and special implements for disemboweling. The exhibition presented photographs and testimonies of victims who had been blinded or crippled or suffered amputations for thievery. There was the shepherd whose master owed him a reimbursement in yuan and wheat but refused to pay. So he took one of the master’s cows; for this he had his hands severed. Another herdsman, who opposed having his wife taken from him by his lord, had his hands broken off. There were pictures of Communist activists with noses and upper lips cut off, and a woman who was raped and then had her nose sliced away. […]
What upset the Tibetan lords and lamas in the early 1950s was that these latest Chinese were Communists. It would be only a matter of time, they feared, before the Communists started imposing their collectivist egalitarian schemes upon Tibet.
The issue was joined in 1956-57, when armed Tibetan bands ambushed convoys of the Chinese Peoples Liberation Army. The uprising received extensive assistance from the U.S. Central Intelligence Agency (CIA) […] The Dalai Lama’s second-eldest brother, Gyalo Thondup, established an intelligence operation with the CIA as early as 1951. He later upgraded it into a CIA-trained guerrilla unit whose recruits parachuted back into Tibet.28
Many Tibetan commandos and agents whom the CIA dropped into the country were chiefs of aristocratic clans or the sons of chiefs […] “As far as can be ascertained, the great bulk of the common people of Lhasa and of the adjoining countryside failed to join in the fighting against the Chinese“.

Source

Posted by: Kraut | Sep 1 2015 17:17 utc | 65

@52 OK, I can see that my point flies waaaaaaaay over your head.
Let me try again.
Iran is an inward-looking country. What death it visits it visits upon its own citizens that it deems to be criminals, and those deaths – even by your own argument – numbers in the hundreds.
Israel is an expansionist country. It visits death upon innocent civilians – almost invariably Palestinian and/or Lebanese – and those deaths number in thousands.
It does so not because those that it kills are “criminals”, but because those unfortunates happen to live atop resources (Land, in the case of Palestinians, water in the case of the Lebanese) that Israel believes should be Mine! Mine! Alllllll Mine!
The USA is a global hegemon. It visits death upon innocent civilians numbering in the MILLIONS, and it does so for reasons of “exceptionalism”.
So we have here a world in which Iran kills criminals in the hundreds (invariably its own citizens, nary a foreigner amongst them), while Israel kills innocent Palestinians and Lebanese in the thousands, and the USA kills uncounted millions around the globe.
Yet you are outraged by the former, and utterly indifferent to the latter two.
How odd. How singularly odd.

Posted by: Yeah, Right | Sep 1 2015 22:12 utc | 67

Somebody at 45 —
The quotation about Stalingrad is a fabrication. See my nr. 10 at Syria: Is Israel Planning to Escalate?
On Russian co-operation with Syria —
I would wait for confirmation from other sources. Moscow denied the reports about fighter jets when it first surfaced, stressing the long-term the long-standing and ongoing nature of their relationship. Meyssan overstates the cooperation. Some of the actions he notes are a few years ago and in other areas, in Central Asia, if memory serves.
It’s from about two weeks ago, but explains the stakes well, Mike Whitney from Counterpunch. Assad may go, but Russia will not back away from Syria.
Should there turn out to be a more robust Russian presence in Syria, it would be a sign that the Syrians position has deteriorated, as the MSM has been suggesting of late. The Russian response will be, like that in the Ukraine, firm, measured, defiant but not provocative. I’d keep some money on the table myself.
So far it looks like Turkey in front, ISIL closing on the far right, Syria third but still running strong despite the serious jostling from members of the pack. Kurds sadly trailing the field (I gotta go with the long shot here), America running poorly but talking a good game. Saudis and the Gulf Stables are running well, and could close on the final turns. Conditions are dry and the track is fast.
Kraut at 65 —
Parenti is usually pretty good, thanks for posting it. PopCult celebs cultivate this aura of Tibetan holiness, overlooking that the monks of the monasteries owed their contemplation to harsh exploitation of the peasantry, whom they repressed mercilessly.

Posted by: rufus magister | Sep 2 2015 1:54 utc | 69

The “pro-nazi” in the last line above of course refers to current Ukraine-related reporting.

Posted by: zed | Sep 2 2015 8:25 utc | 71

Further to 69
Moscow says, No Migs for You! I don’t recall where I read it, but it was observed that ground attack aircraft would be of more use.
RT also calls BS on the report.
Elliott Abrams talks it up, so it’s gotta be BS.
The Saker at Russia Insider also provides an analysis.

Posted by: rufus magister | Sep 2 2015 23:06 utc | 73

First Jewish Revolt coinage was issued by the Jews after the Zealots captured Jerusalem and the Jewish temple from the Romans in 66 AD at the beginning of the First Jewish Revolt. The Jewish leaders of the revolt minted their own coins to emphasize their newly obtained independence from Rome.
In the revolt’s first year (66–67 AD), the Jews minted only silver coins, which were struck from the temple’s store of silver. These coins replaced the Tyrian shekel, which had previously been used to pay the temple tax. The newly minted silver coins included shekels, half-shekels, and quarter-shekels, each being labelled with the year of minting and their denomination. These are the first truly Jewish silver coins,[3] and depict a chalice on the obverse with the year of the revolt above, surrounded by the ancient Hebrew inscription “Shekel of Israel”. Three budding pomegranates are featured on the reverse, with the inscription “Jerusalem the Holy”.[4]
During the second (67–68 AD) and third (69–70 AD) years of the revolt bronzeprutah coins were issued, depicting an amphora, and with the date and the Hebrew inscription (חרות ציון Herut Zion)”The Freedom of Zion
yeah,wrong #74
the difference between israel and iran is simple
the jewish people are fighting a war for a land that they have had a connection to for over 2000 years
iran is hanging people for crimes

Posted by: mcohen | Sep 3 2015 12:29 utc | 75

Err, that was not me, so please stop misquoting stuff. Talk to the other guy.

Posted by: zed | Sep 3 2015 14:13 utc | 77

Lots of crazy drivel from you, but still nothing of substance, just repating your long-debunked twitter-nonsense from Hamas-youngsters. Just as expected.
No discussion possible with such utterly fact-resistant haters like you. And please allow me to call you a Jew-hater, which is simply what you are. You only care about DEAD Palestinians too, like all the murder-porn loving hypocrites of that kind.
Wish you lots of fun in your little reality bubble, I’m out.

Posted by: zed | Sep 3 2015 14:21 utc | 79

Yeah what 80
Due process in the middle east is 2 arabs on a donkey sitting back to back one going forward,the other going backwards.

Posted by: mcohen | Sep 4 2015 8:35 utc | 81

Here’s a little example of ‘”due process” for you:
Recent example:
“Iran’s revolutionary court sentenced 18 Christian converts on charges that include evangelism, propaganda against the regime, and creating house churches to practice their faith. The sentences totaled almost 24 years (the lack of transparency in Iran’s tightly controlled judicial system does not allow for a breakdown of individual sentences). The defendants were also barred from organizing home church meetings and given a two-year ban from leaving Iran. The Christians, many of whom were arrested in 2013, were sentenced in accordance with Article 500 of the Islamic Penal Code, which states that “Anyone who engages in any type of propaganda against the Islamic Republic of Iran or in support of opposition groups and associations, shall be sentenced to three months to one year of imprisonment.””
Also here:
http://www.foxnews.com/world/2015/06/02/crackdown-on-christianity-iran-sentences-18-to-prison-over-faith/
That’s your “criminals” right there.

Posted by: zed | Sep 4 2015 9:37 utc | 83

@81
Too funny. The argument is about the practice of capital punishment in Iran, to which mcohen responds with a racist rant against….. Arabs.
I can’t be bothered explaining why mcohen is as ignorant as he is racist.
I’ll leave the long explanation to others.
I’ll give him the short version: They’re Persians, dimwit

Posted by: Yeah, Right | Sep 4 2015 9:42 utc | 85

@82
zed: ….”It’s mostly people killed by Hamas”…
*sigh*
I’ve now lost count of how many times I’ve pointed out that the IDF killed 50,000 Lebanese civilians during its 1982 invasion of Lebanon.
Apparently it doesn’t matter how often I point that out, because he never, ever acknowledges that inconvenient fact
Instead he just pretends it has never been mentioned, all the better for him to parrot *squawk* *squawk* *Hamas* *squark* *Hamas*.
Dude, Hamas didn’t kill 50,000 civilians in Lebanon in 1982.
But die those civilians most certainly did, and it was most definitely the state of Israel that done did kill ’em.
Your comment, please, and if you squawk *Hamas* again then you’ve already lost the argument.

Posted by: Yeah, Right | Sep 4 2015 9:54 utc | 87

Benjamin Netanyahu’s attempt to scare Democrats on the Iran deal apparently backfired

On Aug. 9, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu cleared his calendar and sat down with 22 U.S. Democratic lawmakers who had been flown to Israel by a branch of the American Israel Public Affairs Committee (AIPAC). The topic was the Iran nuclear deal. Netanyahu didn’t ask any of the lawmakers to oppose the deal, some of those lawmakers tell The Wall Street Journal, but he answered their questions, explained his opposition to the accord and why he thought it dangerous to Israel, called their upcoming vote a “moral” choice, and at one point drew a picture of a “nuclear gun” with “nuclear bullets.”

If true, I’d fear that he’s out of his mind because that is truly disturbing.

Posted by: never mind | Sep 4 2015 14:09 utc | 89