Friday 29th of March 2024

an elementary moral truism .....

‘What is right for us is right for others: if it is right for our Western governments to reserve the right to attack a sovereign nation for either perceived crimes committed or possible future crimes, then it is right for the enemy to do the same.

 

In this case, Iran would be well within their rights to attack the US, pre-emptively, now. The patent aggression being openly directed towards Iran, mirroring the aggression shown toward pre-invasion Iraq, under our elementary moral truism becomes a valid policy avenue for Iran itself. Inversely, if we declare that it is right for us to have security, not be under external threat, to guarantee the prosperity of our citizens, then it is also a right for the government of Iran. Ideological differences apart, dedication to our notion of liberal democracy apart, it should not be on the personal judgement calls of our leaders, or on the desires of our business communities that a regime is deemed different to us & therefore subject to different courses of action, but on our commitment to a moral integrity, based on our elementary moral truism.

 

What is wrong for others is wrong for us: similarly, if it is wrong for Iran to develop its nuclear capabilities, then it is wrong for us to develop our nuclear capabilities. How can we transgress the Non-Proliferation Treaty, year after year & then deem it a threat or inherently wrong for Iran to do the same?

 

More widely than Iran, if it is wrong for the Russians or the Chinese to supply Iran with weapons, as has been the case recently (think of President Putin receiving a mild scolding from President Bush earlier this year), then it is also wrong for us to sell weapons to nations that on any truthful indicator would fall behind Iran in terms of human rights (think Indonesia).

 

What is wrong for others is wrong for us: perhaps the most important area of all, at the level of the state, is the commitment to the belief that it is wrong to kill civilians, irrespective of the cause. The atrocities of Baghdad, London, Bali & New York are all hideously wrong.

 

But, so too are the atrocities across Iraq & the Middle East, committed by our own governments.

 

All doublespeak about ‘collateral damage’ aside, if we are to have any moral integrity stemming from our elementary moral truism, then the death of civilians anywhere is wrong. Whether they are targeted or not is irrelevant; & the line between targeted & non-targeted civilian death incredibly hard to discern - who can deny that the disgracefully named ‘Operation Shock & Awe’ was not aimed at the entire Iraqi population, a show of brute force to dissuade (for untold thousands, by force of death) one & all from resisting the initial invasion?’ 

 

An Elementary Moral Truism

a nuclear monopoly ......

"The West does not seek the elimination of nuclear weapons, but rather the establishment of nuclear monopoly..." 

 

Iran's Challenge to Nuclear Apartheid:

dumb & deluded .....

‘What kind of fool believes that the way to bring democracy to a country is to invade, destroy cities and infrastructure, and kill and maim tens of thousands of civilians, while creating every possible animosity by aligning with some members of the society against the others?  

 

Condi Rice’s speech at Princeton has branded her as the greatest fool ever to be appointed Secretary of State. The same day that she declared, Mao-like, that democracy comes out of the barrel of a gun, Lt. Gen. William Odom, Director of the National Security Agency during President Reagan’s second term, a scholar with a distinguished career in military intelligence, declared Bush’s invasion of Iraq to be the "greatest strategic disaster in United States history."’ 

 

$300 Billion Terrorist Training Ground

the strangelove strategy .....

‘The strategic decision by the United States to nuke Iran was probably made long ago. Tactics adjust to unpredictable events as they unfold.  

 

There was such an event last week, when Iran's president declared that Israel must be "wiped off" the map. The surprise was not the statement, which was an often-repeated quote by the late Ayatollah Khomeini, directed at a domestic student audience. What was surprising was both the timing (amid discussions about whether Iran should be allowed to enrich uranium) and the relatively low-key U.S. response. Tony Blair expressed "revulsion," Chirac was "profoundly shocked," the European Union in a joint statement "condemned [it] in the strongest terms." Instead, Bush was quiet.  

 

White House Spokesman Scott McClellan commented, "It underscores the concerns we have about Iran's nuclear intentions," and the usually vociferous U.S. ambassador to the UN John Bolton only said that Ahmadinejad's remarks about Israel were "pernicious and unacceptable." Those are uncharacteristically mild statements for this administration in the face of such a provocative statement by Iran against one of the U.S.' closest allies. Why?’  

 

The Real Reason for Nuking Iran

 

 

 

reflections from robert fisk .....

Speaking on his new book, The Great War For Civilization; The Conquest of the Middle East at King Middle School, Berkeley. Nov 19 2005. Fisk, in yet another stirring account, paints a disturbing picture of recent history and events in Iraq and the Middle East. 

 

The Great War For Civilization: The Conquest Of The Middle East

Russia quietly cashes in

From the Moscow Times/Bloomberg

Currency Reserves Jump to $225Bln

Bloomberg
Russia's foreign currency and gold reserves rose to a record $225.7 billion on surging oil and natural gas prices, giving the country cash to pay off its foreign debts early.
The reserves jumped by $8.6 billion by April 28, the 23rd consecutive weekly gain and the biggest increase since January 2005, the Central Bank said in an e-mailed statement Thursday. The country's reserves are now the fourth-largest in the world, behind China, Japan and Taiwan.
Russia is awash with cash from oil and gas after the price of Urals, its main export blend of crude, more than doubled in the last two years.
The stockpile prompted President Vladimir Putin to say on April 27 that he wants to pay off the country's debt to the Paris Club of creditor nations ahead of schedule.
"We are going to see massive reserve growth over the next few months as Russian oil sold today at these record prices will arrive with a lag of one to three months,'' said Peter Westin, chief economist at MDM Bank in Moscow. Westin expects reserves to rise by as much as $6 billion per week over the next few months.
The country's reserves have climbed almost 20-fold since 1998, when crude sank to less than $10 per barrel and the government was forced to default on $40 billion of domestic debt and devalue the ruble, sending the economy into recession.

read more at the Moscow Times

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Gus comments: In the meantime in the US, the reserves grow to minus below the waterline... as the Federal Reserve bank printing presses are busy faking US dollars... hoping no one will notice the number of zeros on the deficit figures... not mentioning the trade black holes that plague the US (minus 20 Billion dollars a week) and Australia (minus 400 million dollars a week...) compared to USD8 billion a week surplus for Russia...

Haaaaa, the smell of petrol... and the glorious elation of tax break-a-leg when public services have been shot in the foot...

Flying high on Airbus??

From Al Jazeera

Russia 'dumps Boeing for Airbus'

Saturday 06 May 2006, 12:28 Makka Time, 9:28 GMT

Russia's flag-carrier is to buy aircraft from Airbus instead of Boeing in retaliation at US opposition to Moscow joining the World Trade organisation, according to Vedomosti business daily.

"This is a clear signal to the United States not to put too much pressure on Russia in WTO talks otherwise many lucrative contracts and privileges could go to the Europeans," Yaroslav Lissovolik, an analyst from the Deutsche UFG investment house, told Vedomosti.

In December, Vedomosti had said Aeroflot was considering buying 22 Boeing 787s, known as Dreamliners.

But on Saturday it reported an anonymous official in Russia's presidential administration as saying that Aeroflot's board of directors had decided "last month that Aeroflot should buy the Airbus-350 liners".

Vedomosti estimated the cost of an Airbus deal at $3billion.

read more at Al Jazeera
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Airbus : 1, Boeing :nil...

Bitter loss for Boeing: Pentagon picks Airbus

By Dominic Gates

Seattle Times aerospace reporter

Aerospace workers including Sandy Hastings, left, protest Friday outside the Machinist Union Hall in Everett after finding out that Boeing had lost the Air Force refueling-tanker contract. The loss means that the 767 assembly line in Everett will close around 2012 when the current commercial orders run out, but no layoffs are likely.

Machinists union representatives put posters up in their union hall in Everett on Friday afternoon decrying the fact that the refueling-tanker contract had been awarded to Northrop/EADS. EADS is the parent of European aircraft-maker Airbus.

In a shocking upset Friday, Boeing lost the long-awaited and lucrative Air Force refueling-tanker contract to a competing bid based on an Airbus plane.

The Pentagon chose Northrop Grumman, partnered with Airbus parent EADS, to build the next generation of Air Force tankers, a contract worth an estimated $40 billion.

Boeing's loss means the 767 assembly line in Everett will wind to a close around 2012 when the current commercial orders run out. No layoffs are likely, though, as the roughly 600 production workers plus supporting engineers will transfer to other programs, including the 787 Dreamliner.