Democrats:  It's different when they do it...

...how many remember how the Dems tried to bring Reagan down because of Iran-Contra?

Big scandal....running a complicated scheme to free American hostages from Iran through Israel was really, really awful back when a Republican was in office.

Now, though, the Lightworker - believed of those who matter - can just airlift cash directly to Iran and it's all good.

Do we expect anyone to stand up for the rule of law on this?

I don't.

We have a corrupt political/media/legal culture.

//To summarize, the anti-terrorism sanctions are still in effect, a fact the administration has touted many times. Obama conceded at his press conference both that these sanctions are still in effect and that they applied directly to his $400 million pay-out to our terrorist enemies. But here’s the president’s problem: While he is correct that the sanctions barred him from sending Iran a check or wire transfer, that is not all they forbid — not by a long shot. They also make it illegal to do what he did.

As noted above, the sanctions prohibit transactions with Iran that touch the U.S. financial system, whether they are carried out in dollars or foreign currencies. The claim by administration officials, widely repeated in the press, that Iran had to be paid in euros and francs because dollar-transactions are forbidden is nonsense; Americans are also forbidden to engage in foreign currency transactions with Iran.

Obama had our financial system issue U.S. assets that were then converted to foreign currencies for delivery to Iran. Both steps flouted the regulations, which prohibit the clearing of currency of any kind if Iran is even minimally involved in the deal; here, Iran is the beneficiary of the deal.

The regs further prohibit supplying things of value to Iran, regardless of whether it is done “directly or indirectly.” Expressly included in the “indirect” category are transfers of assets to another country with knowledge that the other country will then forward the assets, in some form, to Iran. That’s exactly what happened here, with Obama pressing the Swiss and Dutch into service as intermediaries.

Although these regulations leave no room for doubt that their point is to prevent and criminalize things like sending $400 million in cash to the world’s leading sponsor of terrorism, the ITSR adds another reg for good measure. Section 560.203 states://

America - Now with more hope and change...

...and smart diplomacy.

//So what does Iran joining the conflict really mean?  "It's hard to forecast whether Russia's presence will decide the fate of Syria, but it will lengthen the fighting and bloodletting for at least another year because ISIS won't give up," said the source.

In other words, unless even more foreign powers intervene, you know "to stop ISIS" by focusing all their firepower on attacking or defending Assad, the Syria conflict will drag on indefinitely with an unknown outcome. Which in turn begs the question: how long will Israel keep out of the war, and if it decides to join whether it be using one of the more traditional, false flag methods to enflame public opinion against Iran. Who will be collateral damage then.

One thing is certain: with the GOP unable to block the Iran nuclear deal in the Senate, should it emerge and be confirmed, that Iran is indeed present, then Obama will be faced with the biggest diplomatic headache in his administration's history, namely the explanation of why he is scrambling to restore diplomatic connections with a regime that couldn't even wait for the Iran deal to be formally passed before it turned its back on its newest "best friend" in the Oval Cabinet, and promptly side with the KGB agent who over the past two years has emerged as the biggest US enemy in three decades.

Furthermore, it also means that now Russia suddenly has the media leverage in its hands: a few "leaked" photos of Iran troops to the press and the phones in the US Department of State will explode.

But the most important news is that, as we warned previously, with every incremental party entering the Syria conflict, the probability of a non-violent outcome becomes increasingly negligible. And now that Iran is involved, it means that both Israel and Saudi Arabia will be dragged in, whether they like it or not.//

Will the Obama administration defend Iran from Israel?

I floated this idea last week to my law partner. He thought I was nuts, and I said that it was unlikely, but, said I, given the Obama administration's anti-Israel, anti-colonialism reflexes, I'd bet that the idea had been considered.

It's looking like I was right.

Via James Taranto:

Here's Obama adviser Zbigniew Brzezinski in an interview yesterday with CNN's Fredricka Whitfield:

Whitfield: You have been quoted in the Daily Beast a while back as saying the U.S. should blow Israel right out of the sky if it would pre-emptively want to strike Iran, just as we've just heard Netanyahu kind of articulate in recent weeks that this is something that he would want to do, whether he has the U.S. blessings or not.

How do you advise the administration on moving forward or having to deal with what Netanyahu wants to do versus what you believe and what the administration believes ought to be done?

Brzezinski: Before I start advising the administration, let me advise you. If are you quoting someone, in this instance, me, make sure that you quote correctly. What you have cited me as saying is absolutely 100% wrong.

I wasn't advising the U.S. government to blow the Israelis out of the skies. I was warning that if the Israelis use American airspace without permission, there could be an incident. And I explicitly said that's nothing to be wished for, but there could be an incident involving the Israelis and us.

There was one back in 1967 involving the U.S.S. Liberty which was attacked by the Israelis and a lot of Americans were killed. I wouldn't want anything similar to happen to either party.

Here's what Brzezinski actually said in that Daily Beast interview, with Gerald Posner:

Posner: How aggressive can Obama be in insisting to the Israelis that a military strike might be in America's worst interest?

Brzezinski: We are not exactly impotent little babies. They have to fly over our airspace in Iraq. Are we just going to sit there and watch?

Posner: What if they fly over anyway?

Brzezinski: Well, we have to be serious about denying them that right. That means a denial where you aren't just saying it. If they fly over, you go up and confront them. They have the choice of turning back or not. No one wishes for this but it could be a Liberty in reverse.

That's certainly consistent with Brzezinski's statement now that "that's nothing to be wished for," but it is also consistent with Whitfield's description of what he said at the time.

Military forces massing in the Straits of Hormuzd...

...as Israel contemplates strike on Iran.

Sadly, I assume that America is not behind the latest string of succesful covert military actions against Iran.


Bomb in Tehran kills Iranian nuclear scientist.

A bomb blast in Tehran has killed a university professor who also worked as a scientist on Iran's nuclear program, Iranian media say.

The Fars news agency said someone on a motorcycle planted the bomb under the car of Mostafa Ahmadi Roshan. Iranian officials blame Israel for the attack.

According to the report, two other people were wounded by the blast Wednesday in the northern part of the capital.

Fars said Roshan supervised a department at the Natanz nuclear facility. Iran has been enriching uranium to relatively low levels at the above-ground site.

Iranian officials confirmed Tuesday that a new underground complex has started refining uranium, and diplomats with ties to the U.N. nuclear agency say the work is being done at a much higher lever of purity.

Attackers have killed or wounded several Iranian nuclear scientists in recent years, including blasts in late 2010 that state media also attributed to bombs placed on cars by motorcyclists.

Iranian officials blamed the U.S. Central Intelligence Agency and Israel's Mossad intelligence agency for those attacks.

Someone is carrying out full-scale military operations in Iran and being very succesful at it.

The Shadow War????

This is interesting:

While this story has not been caught by any of the major wires, The Australian's Jerusalem correspondent Sheera Frankel reports something quite disturbing: "All eyes on Israel after second Iranian blast. CLOUDS of smoke billowed above the city of Isfahan - evidence that the latest strike against Iran's alleged nuclear weapons program had hit its target." We will report more if this story is confirmed by any ot

her news agencies because if true it means that at this point things behind the scenes are no longer happening in the shadows.


As a reminder, from Monday: Satellite Image Confirms Iranian Missile Base Was Destroyed

Today's curious news report posted by Iran's semi-official news agency Fars, which was promptly muted, only to be republished by Israel's Haaretz, of a major explosion near the Iranian city of Isfahan, has left many scratching their heads. As Haaretz reports: "Speaking with Fars news agency, Isfahan’s deputy mayor confirmed the reports and said the authorities are investigating the matter. However, after the incident was reported in Israel, the report was taken off the Fars website." Which led many to wonder: is this a real event or merely a provocation designed to make Iranians believe they were attacked? Furthe

r complicating matters is the just released news from Washington Post which shows satellite images of the aftermath of another explosion in Iran, this time from two weeks ago at an Iranian missile base. "The image of the compound, near the city of Malard, doesn’t provide any clues as to what caused the Nov. 12 explosion, which Iranian authorities described as an “accident” involving the transport of ammunition. But it does make clear that the facility has been effectively destroyed. Paul Brannan, a senior analyst for the Institute for Science and International Security, which specializes in the study of nuclear weapons programs, said it’s impossible to tell from the image whether the blast was caused by sabotage, as has has been speculated in this explosion and others at transport facilities, oil refineries and military bases in Iran. Brannan said ISIS had recently learned from “knowledgable officials” that the blast had occurred just as Iran had achieved a milestone in the development of a new missile and may have been performing a “volatile procedure involving a missile engine at the site.” So the question stands: is Iran being systematically attacked with the news being covered up for fear that it can not retaliate and thus seem week; is it being sabbotaged on a weekly basis, or is everything just one big media disinformation campaign designed to provoke Iran to lash out? We will probably know very soon, today's "oversold" and now completely disconnected from reality rally notwithstanding.

Stopping these people from getting "nukes" would seem to be a common-sense idea.

Political allies of Ahmadinejad have been arrested on charges of "sorcery."

Close allies of Iran's president, Mahmoud Ahmadinejad, have been accused of using supernatural powers to further his policies amid an increasingly bitter power struggle between him and the country's supreme leader, Ayatollah Ali Khamenei.


Several people said to be close to the president and his chief of staff, Esfandiar Rahim Mashaei, have been arrested in recent days and charged with being "magicians" and invoking djinns (spirits).

Ayandeh, an Iranian news website, described one of the arrested men, Abbas Ghaffari, as "a man with special skills in metaphysics and connections with the unknown worlds".

The arrests come amid a growing rift between Ahmadinejad and Khamenei which has prompted several MPs to call for the president to be impeached.

On Sunday, Ahmadinejad returned to his office after an 11-day walkout in an apparent protest over Khamenei's reinstatement of the intelligence minister, who the president had initiallyasked to resign.

"Sorcery" is still a crime in Iran?

Religion of Peace Update.

Alternative title, "This is absolutely nuts."

Wintery Knight posts an entry on how 500 Muslim clerics have endorsed the murder of the Pakistani Governor who dared to oppose blasphemy laws.

And, in a scene reminiscent of Weimar judges apologizing to Hitler for having to give him a lenient sentence for his failed attempt to overthrow the government, the killer - who was the governor's bodyguard - was showered with roses when he made his court appearance:

The increasing radicalization of Pakistani society was laid bare Wednesday when the nation's mainstream religious organizations applauded the murder of provincial governor Salman Taseer earlier this week, while his killer was showered with rose petals as he appeared in court.


Taseer, 66, the governor of Punjab, the country's most heavily populated province, was assassinated Tuesday by one of his police bodyguards after Taseer had campaigned to ease Pakistan's blasphemy law. Religious groups threatened to kill others who questioned the blasphemy statute, which is designed to protect Islam and the Prophet Muhammad from "insult."

In other news, Iran is rounding up Christian leaders.

"Wars are won by destroying the enemy's will to fight. A nation is never really beaten until it sells its women."

Spengler on Iranian whores and why Iran is passing as a nation.

Fascinating.

Here's Spengler's latest contrarian essay, which describes why a nuclear armed Iran is so very dangerous:

Their efforts to isolate Iran from the cultural degradation of the American "great Satan" have produced social pathologies worse than those in any Western country. With oil at barely one-fifth of its 2008 peak price, they will run out of money some time in late 2009 or early 2010. Game theory would predict that Iran's leaders will gamble on a strategic long shot. That is not a comforting thought for Iran's neighbors.

Two indicators of Iranian morale are worth citing.

First, prostitution has become a career of choice among educated Iranian women. On February 3, the Austrian daily Der Standard published the results of two investigations conducted by the Tehran police, suppressed by the Iranian media. [1]

"More than 90% of Tehran's prostitutes have passed the university entrance exam, according to the results of one study, and more than 30% of them are registered at a university or studying," reports Der Standard. "The study was assigned to the Tehran Police Department and the Ministry of Health, and when the results were tabulated in early January no local newspaper dared to so much as mention them."

The Austrian newspaper added, "Eighty percent of the Tehran sex workers maintained that they pursue this career voluntarily and temporarily. The educated ones are waiting for better jobs. Those with university qualifications intend to study later, and the ones who already are registered at university mention the high tuition [fees] as their motive for prostitution ... they are content with their occupation and do not consider it a sin according to Islamic law."

There is an extensive trade in poor Iranian women who are trafficked to the Gulf states in huge numbers, as well as to Europe and Japan. "A nation is never really beaten until it sells its women," I wrote in a 2006 study of Iranian prostitution, Jihads and whores.

Prostitution as a response to poverty and abuse is one thing, but the results of this new study reflect something quite different. The educated women of Tehran choose prostitution in pursuit of upward mobility, as a way of sharing in the oil-based potlatch that made Tehran the world's hottest real estate market during 2006 and 2007.

A country is beaten when it sells its women, but it is damned when its women sell themselves. The popular image of the Iranian sex trade portrays tearful teenagers abused and cast out by impoverished parents. Such victims doubtless abound, but the majority of Tehran's prostitutes are educated women seeking affluence.

Only in the former Soviet Union after the collapse of communism in 1990 did educated women choose prostitution on a comparable scale, but under very different circumstances. Russians went hungry during the early 1990s as the Soviet economy dissolved and the currency collapsed. Today's Iranians suffer from shortages, but the data suggest that Tehran's prostitutes are not so much pushed into the trade by poverty as pulled into it by wealth.

A year ago I observed that prices for Tehran luxury apartments exceeded those in Paris, as Iran's kleptocracy distributed the oil windfall to tens of thousands of hangers-on of the revolution. $35 billion went missing from state oil funds, opposition newspapers charged at the time. Corruption evidently has made whores of Tehran's educated women. (Please see Worst of times for Iran, June 24, 2008.)

But, hey, public virtue doesn't matter that much, does it?