Sour Grapes

The contrast between how Obama dealt with Iran and how Trump does is so dramatic that it makes Obama supporters uncomfortable. Here is a typical liberal quote: “I’m kinda happy that this evil man Soleimani is dead ... but, but I still want to blame Trump for something. Let’s see, perhaps he didn’t think things all the way through to 2034? Or perhaps Trump will certainly have blood on his hands when the Iranians strike back.” (Not that this Iran Revolutionary Guard leader didn’t kill and wound thousands of Americans already.) Or even, maybe this was Trump’s attempt to distract the public from his impeachment.

All rubbish! What’s the saying? “Having your cake and eating it too?” Particularly if topped with sour grapes.

Puppet-Masters

The strategy is simple. Russia and China use surrogate puppet states ... Iran and North Korea ... to distract America and draw down our resources rebuffing the crazed antics of their puppets while they plan their world domination.

America has for many years been cowed by the bluster emanating out of Iran and North Korea. These two nut-job countries have continually threatened mayhem in order to get their way. And they have been egged on by their puppet-masters, Russia and China. And the United States, fearing World War 3, has backed down. This brinkmanship, of course, has exacerbated the situation ... for every capitulation and appeasement has led to the next confrontation.

It was inevitable that the limit of American patience had to be reached ... and it was last week ... when President Trump cut the head off of the Iranian snake ... namely Qasem Soleimani, the leader of Iran’s Revolutionary Guard ... while he was in Iraq planning more lethal mischief.

Of course, it is unclear whether this dramatic step will trigger the escalations that Iran has threatened. Trump and most Americans hope it doesn’t. But, if it does, it is only precipitating what would have happened eventually anyway, as the bluster-ers would have done something horrendous that they could not retract. So Trump’s calling Iran’s bluff has only changed the timing of things ... not the actual event itself ... whatever it may turn out to be.

Our president has busted the bluster that kept us backing up...  both in Iran and North Korea ... at what cost is still to be determined. Will their puppet-masters now step in to cool things down before the world ends? One would expect so. But, at least America is no longer groveling and our attention can be focused on our real adversaries, China and Russia ... more so China ... for Russia I think sees the wisdom in counteracting China’s growing threat.

Headlines

All from Internet news sites. Guess which from Politico?

Nikki Haley was Trump's Iran whisperer

Tesla fires hundreds of employees while trying to ramp up production, report says

ANOTHER Vegas timeline shift caps days of confusion ...

Trump authorizes sanctions on Iran's Revolutionary Guard Corps

Mueller's team interviewed Priebus on Friday

Oil will crash to $10 a barrel with electric vehicle revolution, strategist says

Layoffs hit ABC as rumors about network's future swirl ...

Sen. Susan Collins will not run for governor of Maine

Corker unloads on Trump for trying to 'castrate' Tillerson

Great again: Consumer sentiment hits 13-year high ...

Actress calls out [George] Clooney in misconduct claim ...

Shock report: Harvey's contract 'allowed' for sexual harassment

Headlines

These headlines are real ... they have all been discovered on Internet news sites. 

Guess which ones came from Politico?

'Repair Kit' for heart offers hope to millions ...

Divided Republicans look to Trump to lead on tax reform

Oscars: Dozen-plus celebs bash Trump

Sean Spicer targets staff in leaks crack down

Palestinian official: 'I pray to Allah that Iran will produce 1,000 nuclear bombs'

Schumer puts GOP Intel [Committee] Chairman on notice

Revolutionary Guard Commander admits [Iran] terror cells ready to strike in America

Lawyer: Justice Dept. to no longer contest Texas voter ID law

Trump to governors: We're giving power back to the states ...

Democrats invite undocumented immigrants to Trump's speech [to Congress]

Kim Jong Un guns down five senior officials with anti-aircraft gun

Former store owner jailed for $2.8 million food stamp fraud

A Dangerous Chess Game

Iran is saber rattling again ... threatening to close the Strait of Hormuz if stricter economic sanctions are imposed upon it by the European Union (see: Reuters Story).  Of course, the United States would not permit such a belligerent action (unless The Barry was distracted by a Hawaiian wagyu-beef luau) and would blow the Iranian navy, speedboats and all, into Davy Jones's locker.

Nevertheless, it is curious why Iran would exhibit such rhetoric bluster close on the heels of its equally lunatic take-over of the British embassy a few short weeks ago (see: TheWeek Article).  Not that such moon-howlings are alien to Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad  (as sanctioned by the Iranian Ayatollahs) ... he has repeatedly threatened to obliterate Israel once Iran is in possession of atomic weaponry.

The question becomes why such taunting of the West is now escalating?  I can see three possible reasons:

1) The United States has recently pulled all of its troops out of Iraq.  Iran's throwing up of all this gorilla dust makes it look more imposing in the eyes of the Shiite Iraqis and thus increases its sphere of influence on its erstwhile enemy neighbor.

2) Iran's "elections" are due to occur in March.  There is no doubt as to the expected results of this sham balloting.  However, if Iran can get the nationalistic juices flowing among its younger people, there might be less chance of the kind of rioting that occurred after the last phony election over two years ago.  (Also, the capture of the U.S. drone aircraft a few weeks ago ... see: Cyber Warfare ...  may have been partially directed toward this very same end.)

3) Iran is suspected to be getting very close to actually producing atomic weapons and their ability to deliver them on long-range missiles.  A potential naval clash in the Strait of Hormuz could serve as a smoke screen, helping to distract the wimpy West from the far more existential threat of a nuclear Holocaust in this area.

So Iran is once again playing its foolish chess game --- a few black pieces against the full contingent of white chessmen.  One rash move on the part of any of its Revolutionary Guards could cause explosive repercussions ... such as Israel taking out much of Iran's nuclear capabilities and, maybe even, the United States obliterating that captured drone in the process (like we should have weeks ago.)

The Ayatollah is a Neocon?

Zbigniew Brzezinski was on MSNBC’s “Morning Joe” for about the twentieth time since his daughter Mika took over as co-host (with Joe Scarborough). As always, he opined mainly about world geopolitics concentrating on, or course, Iran. During this pedantic pontificating he labeled the Ayatollah (or, as Obama calls him, "Supreme Leader") and his henchmen as “Iranian neocons” … not just once but numerous times. This sly semantics of the left unfortunately went unchallenged by the former Republican Representative from Florida, Joe Scarborough, and, more understandingly, the rest of this show’s mostly left-leaning talking heads (including Boston's erstwhile plagiarist, Mike Barnicle). Now, if the MSNBCers can get away with this linguistic slight-of-hand once, they will surely try to drum this notion into the heads of the few thousand viewers that they draw to their other left-wing propaganda podia-ists – Chris Mathews, Rachel Maddow, and Keith Olbermann. I also predict that we will eventually see this smear hung on the neocons by network television, CNN, and most of the print media. Now, here are the things that an alert Joe Scarborough should have said the first time Zbigniew uttered this insidious affront:

- our neocons did not impose a religious agenda on the U.S.
- our neocons did not brutally repress political speech or civilian assembly
- our neocons were freely elected … not governing as a result of a political coup
- our neocons had no private army (such as Iran’s Revolutionary Guard and the Quds)
- our neocons did not censor the media nor exile foreign correspondents
- our neocons did not sponsor worldwide terrorist activity
- our neocons did not threaten to annihilate Israel (or even the Axis of Evil)
- as far as I know, our neocons did not murder their political enemies

Finally, one should always remember that Zbigniew Brzezinski was our National Security Advisor under Jimmy Carter … when we made such a dog’s breakfast out of our relations with Iran. He just might still have a hidden-agenda reason to deflect criticism from his own historic failings.