Saturday, September 29, 2012

About a Delisting

It has been a while. With the election approaching fast, and all the recent religious inspired silliness and the global turmoil, life seems to have gotten slightly more frenzied all around. My mind too has been in turmoil.
 So it turns out that a particularly devious bugger of a sclerosis had found an abode in the right hemisphere of our puny brain, thus causing all manners of mischief. But I suppose we all have to make do with the hand that’s dealt us. A bit of confusion and lots of entertainment on the cheap has been the story of my recent past.
 The most immediate impact these days is the alterations in my visual perception of the world. All kinds of interesting patterns and shapes present themselves in nature and in the sky. Not hallucinations, mind you. Things just look different. Occasionally, cartoonish characters in the clouds cause a slight chuckle. Mind is funny that way. And don’t even get me started on what I can see on the web! Anyhow, lots of interesting events all around us.
 So today, I was thinking that we do live in interesting times indeed if two of our more intrepid reporters on different sides of the political spectrum end up roughly on the same side of a single issue. The People’s Mujahedeen Organization of Iran is being taken off the list. Danielle Pletka’s Terrorist no more and Green Greenwald’s Five lessons from the delisting offer insightful takes on the matter.
 If the full story here is how easy it is to sway prominent members of respectable society with a pittance-- in the higher scheme of things that is, then we are in more trouble than what we expected;  I mean, why risk reputation and standing for a few thousand dollars?
 I tend to believe, however, that what we are additionally witnessing is the emergence of the broad contours of the likely war plans this Administration is developing should it survive the election.
The massive bombing campaign against the Iranian military assets intended to degrade external warfare capabilities of the regime seriously in a few months; once that is, the increasingly effective sanctions regime has had time to deprive the IR of the possibilities of an effective reconstruction in the aftermath.
Then, the opening of assorted military fronts using indigenous forces—once the central control has been weakened-- in Kurdistan and/or either Baluchistan or Khuzestan with minimal expenditure of American treasure or life.  It all hinges, perhaps, on how things end up in Syria and whether or not the vulnerable flank in the oil rich gulf monarchies could be protected so the shock to the markets is kept to a minimum. We’ll get to see soon, I suppose.
 A sober piece on the subject, Iran talk, What’s in a war.
In the meanwhile, as long as everyone is in the repackaging business these days, some one should actually take a closer look at the flag of the MEK, if it hasn’t been changed already , and prevail upon the leadership the necessity of altering the Quranik verse out of respect for the sensitivities of the new patrons.
 I would volunteer Mr. Gingrich seeing what a cordial and gentlemanly relation he has forged with Ms. Rajavi judging by the picture above.