The Lobby wants War with Iran!

The Israel lobby has been running into a few problems lately, but it’s nothing they don’t think they can handle: a charge of treason, a strong suspicion of obstructing justice, and a gathering storm of criticism from a few dissident intellectuals and policy types. Nothing to get too exercised about.read the rest ...

Israel-Iran Range Study

Here is a link to an interesting discussion on the study done by Abdullah Toukan and Anthony H. Cordesman on a possible Israeli strike on Iran’s nuclear development facilities.

Quoting a commenter from that blog entry:

An unprovoked unclear first strike? America and allies may have been able to get away with attacking Iraq on unfounded suspicions of WMDs but it had a number of factors in its favour. Firstly Saddam was a first order tyrant, secondly it was a conventional attack and thirdly - and of much greater importance - the US was too powerful to be held to account for its actions anyway.

Toukan & Cordesman mentioned the widely perceived application of double standards which some of the EU states have been abetting despite internal public opinion. While the US has been able to cover for Israel with SC vetoes etc. I doubt any country would even attempt to justify such a crime, apart [from] Israel and the US. If the US tried to claim justification or were shown in anyway to have had foreknowledge and failed to warn or try and prevent the attack I suspect they would find they had less friends than North Korea. - Link

Iranian reformers unite; seek ouster of Ahmadinejad

Ahmadinejad may be losing support. Is it a new day for Iran?

clipped from www.nytimes.com Mohammad Khatami, the reformist former president, has decided to withdraw from the June presidential race to support a political ally “The most important goal is to prevent Mr. Ahmadinejad from re-election, not to get Mr. Khatami elected,” Mr. Mousavi, who is also a painter and architect, stayed out of politics for the past two decades and had turned down calls to run as presidential candidate in previous elections. His wife, Zahra Rahnavard, was the dean of the prestigious women’s university, Al Zahra, from 1998 to 2006 and is close ally of Mr. Khatami. President Ahmadinejad is supported by the conservative Iranian establishment, but his economic policies have unleashed economic inflation of over 25 percent, and two major setbacks last week suggested that he might be losing support ahead of elections.

Why bombing Iran won't work

And some things that just might ...

clipped from www.niacouncil.org "You can't bomb knowledge," said Robert Litwak, Director of the Division of International Security Studies at the Woodrow Wilson International Center for Scholars [...] [B]ombing ... Iran's nuclear sites will not deter future technological developments [...] US military action ... would only trigger major responses worldwide, ... a worsening of the fragile state of Iraq and "a rally around the flag effect in Iran." Washington will need to recognize that "what is politically serious in Washington is politically insignificant in Tehran." What the US has previously viewed as a big step toward normalization, such as allowing the importation of pistachios and carpets, has little weight in Iran [...] Pres. Obama and other political figures have not recognized the need to use sensitive language when dealing with Iran. Iran has expressed its disdain for phrases such as "carrots and sticks," that the US has repeatedly used [...] [T]his mistranslates to say that the US plans to deal with Iran as a donkey, either reward it with carrots or beat it into submission. "This will backfire on us," ... stated Robin Wright, journalist, author and public policy scholar at the Woodrow Wilson Center.

Iran Nuke News is 86% US Media Hype

Iran does not have the capability of enriching uranium to sufficient levels to become bomb-grade. Yes, it's enriched, but to only about 1/20th of the quality needed.

clipped from www.juancole.com Iran Nuclear Program Hyped again Note to mainstream media: Iran cannot construct nuclear bombs with uranium enriched only to less than 4%. It needs to be enriched to something like 90% to make a bomb. Iran is not known even to have that capability, and no it cannot be done in 2 months (try a decade), assuming they were trying to do it, which our $40 bn. a year intelligence agencies say they are not. So all the silly articles on Friday about how iran now has enough enriched uranium to make a bomb are just illiterate. Moreover, the report in question actually says that Iran is slowing its enrichment activities. h/t Jay McDonough.

Any hints on Mossad-Madoff allaiance?

Please drop a line.
Facts are appreciated, but musings are also accepted (please specifically state "hypothetical").

Israeli boy rants: This is my land ...