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You’d like to think that the nutcases running Iran would have learned a little something about diplomacy in the 32 years since the Khomeini revolution. But apparently not.
Iranian protesters stormed the British Embassy compound in Tehran on Tuesday, smashing windows and burning the British flag during a rally to protest against sanctions imposed by Britain, live Iranian television showed.
Protesters threw molotov cocktails and one waved a framed picture of Queen Elizabeth apparently found inside the compound, the state TV showed.
An NBC News cameraman at the scene reported that the protesters tore down the British flag and replaced it with the Iranian flag.
The Associated Press reported that the protesters, numbering in the dozens, were hardline students and that they clashed with riot police.
They chanted, “The Embassy of Britain should be taken over” and “Death to England.”
The incident followed Britain’s imposition of new sanctions on the Islamic state last week over its nuclear program.
London banned all British financial institutions from doing business with their Iranian counterparts, including the Central Bank of Iran, as part of a new wave of sanctions by Western countries.
Just yesterday, the Iranian parliament passed a bill downgrading their relations with Great Britain and expelling the ambassador.
And don’t you find it a touch odd that these couple of dozen “hardline students” could overcome riot police and enter the embassy compound? They certainly didn’t try very hard to stop them. After all, they’re perfectly willing to break heads when democracy demonstrations are going on. Why not when the sovereign territory of another nation is being attacked?
This incident is not over. If the Iranians can’t protect the embassy, expect the British to leave until they prove that they can.
News sources are reporting another major explosion from a city in Iran very near a nuclear weapons development site. This comes only two weeks after another such explosion. In both cases the Iranian government, in full baghdadbobbian* mode, denies the explosions have anything to do with their nuclear programs. In the first instance, the official explanation was that the explosion, which killed more than twenty military personnel including a top general, resulted from human error during a routine movement of standard munitions.
As I’m sure happened with most folks familiar with “routine” military activities, my antenna began buzzing intensely at that explanation. Routine movements of standard munitions do not involve supervision by high-ranking generals. Decades ago as a military policeman, I was involved in providing security for the routine transfer of nuclear warheads from Clarksville Base, a secret Navy nuclear weapons installation inside Fort Campbell, to Campbell Army Airfield for flights to points undisclosed. Security was extremely tight, but even so, the ranking officer present was never higher than a major and usually just a captain. Most assuredly it was not a general officer.
Of course the more likely truth about the first Iranian blast was out within days and the Iranian government was made to look much like old Baghdad Bob did back during the Iraq War when the general was on split screen TV touting the glorious victories of the Iraqi forces while the other side of the screen showed live footage of American tanks rolling through the streets of Ol’ Bob’s namesake city. As it turned out, the first Iranian explosion was indeed within a missile facility and Israeli sabotage is almost certainly the cause. Now tonight we are hearing similar bagdadbobbian denials. This from Haaretz.com, website of Israel’s oldest newspaper:
Speaking to an Iranian news website, the government of Isfahan said that the explosion occurred as a result of a military drill, denying reports that the blast was somehow related to the nearby nuclear facility.
“There is no such thing, the blast was entirely from the military maneuver,” the Iranian official said.
Isfahan, the city nearest the blast site is home to a uranium conversion facility but Iranian authorities and news agencies would have you believe that is, of course, mere coincidence.
And here we were all sweating the Israelis igniting a nuclear war in the Middle East with an airstrike to destroy Iran’s nuclear weapon production facilities. Instead those sly Little Satans are amazingly accomplishing their highly critical mission through “routine” Iranian military drills and munitions movements:
One baghdadbobbian blast at a time.
*Could I possibly be birthing a neologism here, a new term to describe the issuance of laughably implausible denials by official sources?
Proverbs 9:10
The fear of the Lord is the beginning of wisdom: and the knowledge of the Holy One is understanding.
Folly or Wisdom? The question hinges simply on procrastination or prompt obedience. Some of us are parents and have children. How greatly those children can differ in temperament! One will obey at once; another will think that by putting it off he can avoid the need to do so.
If that is indeed the case, and you are weak enough to allow him a loop-hole for escape, then the one who procrastinates is in fact the wise one, for he succeeds in doing nothing.
But if you word holds and ultimately must be obeyed, then he is certainly the wiser who faces the issue squarely at once.
Get clear about the will of God. If God’s words can be discounted, then you might not be foolish to try to escape their implications; but if God is an UNCHANGING God with an UNCHANGING will, then be wise; act now; redeem the time. – Watchman Nee: A Table in the Wilderness.
“Thou shalt not go up and down as a talebearer among thy people … Thou shalt in any wise rebuke thy neighbour, and not suffer sin upon him.” Leviticus 19:16-17
Tale-bearing emits a threefold poison; for it injures the teller, the hearer, and the person concerning whom the tale is told. Whether the report be true or false, we are by this precept of God’s Word forbidden to spread it. The reputations of the Lord’s people should be very precious in our sight, and we should count it shame to help the devil to dishonour the Church and the name of the Lord. Some tongues need a bridle rather than a spur. Many glory in pulling down their brethren, as if thereby they raised themselves. Noah’s wise sons cast a mantle over their father, and he who exposed him earned a fearful curse. We may ourselves one of these dark days need forbearance and silence from our brethren, let us render it cheerfully to those who require it now. Be this our family rule, and our personal bond–Speak evil of no man.
The Holy Spirit, however, permits us to censure sin, and prescribes the way in which we are to do it. It must be done by rebuking our brother to his face, not by railing behind his back. This course is manly, brotherly, Christlike, and under God’s blessing will be useful. Does the flesh shrink from it? Then we must lay the greater stress upon our conscience, and keep ourselves to the work, lest by suffering sin upon our friend we become ourselves partakers of it. Hundreds have been saved from gross sins by the timely, wise, affectionate warnings of faithful ministers and brethren. Our Lord Jesus has set us a gracious example of how to deal with erring friends in his warning given to Peter, the prayer with which he preceded it, and the gentle way in which he bore with Peter’s boastful denial that he needed such a caution.
Much use was made of this anointing oil under the law, and that which it represents is of primary importance under the gospel. The Holy Spirit, who anoints us for all holy service, is indispensable to us if we would serve the Lord acceptably. Without his aid our religious services are but a vain oblation, and our inward experience is a dead thing. Whenever our ministry is without unction, what miserable stuff it becomes! nor are the prayers, praises, meditations, and efforts of private Christians one jot superior. A holy anointing is the soul and life of piety, its absence the most grievous of all calamities. To go before the Lord without anointing is as though some common Levite had thrust himself into the priest’s office–his ministrations would rather have been sins than services. May we never venture upon hallowed exercises without sacred anointings. They drop upon us from our glorious Head; from his anointing we who are as the skirts of his garments partake of a plenteous unction. Choice spices were compounded with rarest art of the apothecary to form the anointing oil, to show forth to us how rich are all the influences of the Holy Spirit. All good things are found in the divine Comforter. Matchless consolation, infallible instruction, immortal quickening, spiritual energy, and divine sanctification all lie compounded with other excellencies in that sacred eye-salve, the heavenly anointing oil of the Holy Spirit. It imparts a delightful fragrance to the character and person of the man upon whom it is poured. Nothing like it can be found in all the treasuries of the rich, or the secrets of the wise. It is not to be imitated. It comes alone from God, and it is freely given, through Jesus Christ, to every waiting soul. Let us seek it, for we may have it, may have it this very evening. O Lord, anoint thy servants.
Micaiah, Michaiah [Mīcā'iah,Mī chā'iah]—who is like jehovah. Here is a name occurring many times in the Old Testament and used of women as well as men. It is spelled in different ways. See MICA and MICAH.
A prophet, son of Imlah, who foretold the fall of Ahab at Ramoth-gilead ( 1 Kings 22:8, 9; 2 Chron. 18:8). There are no truer hearts to God than his. Carefully compare the three great prophets of 1 Kings—Ahijah, Elijah and Micaiah.
The father of Achbor, a chief officer of King Josiah ( 2 Kings 22:12, 14).
A prince of Judah ordered by Jehoshaphat to teach the people (2 Chron. 17:7).
A priest of the family of Asaph who blew a trumpet at the dedication of the wall ( Neh. 12:35, 41).
The son of Gemariah, a prince of Judah in Jehoiakim’s time (Jer. 36:11, 13).
Cult-like. Brainwashed. Victims of mind control. Such are the descriptions given of the three thousand-plus residents of Camp Ashraf, where marriages have been banned and male members have been ordered to suppress their attraction to women, all by the orders of the camp’s absentee leaders, Massoud and Maryam Rajavi.
The declared purpose of Camp Ashraf — to serve as a headquarters for the Mujahadeen-e-Khalq (MEK), a militant group designated as a terrorist organization by the U.S., and to start another revolution — came as a welcome opportunity for Rajavi’s suggestible supporters. Lost on them, however, in their blind faith to the charismatic Rajavi was the irony of wanting to bring down the very person they originally fought to put into power (Ayatollah Khomeini), so that they could then put yet another potential despot into power — Massoud Rajavi.
The price Rajavi charged for admission to Camp Ashraf was a complete surrender to the cause. Members had to relinquish their pasts, their current lives, and whatever hold they had on their tenuous futures.
And now, after enduring 25 years of manipulative tactics to keep their minds and hearts suppressed, the residents of Camp Ashraf face imminent danger. In 2003, U.S. troops were able to convince them to relinquish their weapons in exchange for U.S. protection.
Regardless, Iraqi forces have cooperated with the Iranian regime to have the camp attacked several times, leaving dozens dead and hundreds wounded. And now the Iraqi government has given a deadline of December 2011 for the residents to evacuate. With the downfall of Saddam Hussein, who provided Rajavi with financial and military support, they are no longer welcome. Nor can it be believed that they are any longer relevant to their original cause. What, after all, can 3,400 unarmed Iranians in their forties possibly do to assist with overthrowing a regime?
The Rajavis, meanwhile, have left the residents to the camp. Maryam resides comfortably in Paris, and Massoud is in hiding.
What reason, then, for the continued existence of Camp Ashraf? Why do the Rajavis hang onto their followers in their prison-like enclave, even with the deadline fast approaching? They understand well that without the camp, the MEK would lose its legitimacy, and so, therefore, would the Rajavis.
The Rajavis have collected millions of dollars from supporters, yet none of their money has been used to free the people in Camp Ashraf, or, for that matter, to fund any direct attempt to free the people of Iran — their stated goal. They have spent millions on legal fees to fight the foreign terrorist designation and on advertisements in major U.S. newspapers naming several U.S. figures as supporters of their delisting, even hiring a top lobbying firm in the U.S. to help them in their efforts. And yet, where are the ads to promote the freeing of the people in Camp Ashraf?
The Rajavis’ goal is to replace the brutal Iranian regime and to be delisted. Camp Ashraf is their bargaining tool. They falsely claim that they must be delisted in order to free the camp residents, despite the fact that they were offered several opportunities over the years to be relocated to safe locations outside of Iraq. Rajavi halted such actions, as he would no longer be able to use the human rights issue as a scapegoat to elicit sympathy. It is in his best interests to keep the residents in harm’s way, as this is his key to accessing and manipulating U.S. politicians and the American public.
The camp is currently surrounded by tanks and Iraqi military forces; residents fear another attack prior to the December deadline. But the looming possibility of a full-blown massacre or mass suicide has given Massoud Rajavi yet another opportunity to further his personal agenda.
The Iranian community needs to consider making an effort to unshackle the minds of MEK supporters through forgiveness and education about the consequences of thought. As a clinical psychologist, I know that no one is immune to the kind of manipulation executed by Massoud Rajavi. The genocide committed by the Hutu and Tutsi in Rwanda exemplifies the depth of our susceptibility to influence. Families that were close neighbors, who for years cared for each other’s children, were suddenly brutally murdering each other because of a message they received from an authoritarian leader.
Since the residents of Camp Ashraf have a diminished capacity to grasp their circumstances, the international community must protect their lives by demanding their immediate relocation, and defying the wishes of Massoud Rajavi to keep his hostages there for his own self-interest.
For the long-term future of Iran as well as the short-term future of the 3,400 lives in Camp Ashraf, the stakes are the same. Will it be freedom, or tragedy?
Renee C. Behinfar is a licensed clinical psychologist and Iranian-American human rights activist.
In a letter dated March 17, 1779, General George Washington, from his encampment at Middlebrook, wrote a return letter to his Virginia friend, George Mason.
It began by the General recounting how he had complied with a request, dated March 8, from Mason to offer some personal assistance to Mason’s son and a “Mr. Smith.”
Then he wrote how he always welcomed correspondence from Mason. In passages where his somewhat inanimate public image dropped away, Washington expressed his current feelings on the War, Congress, and various behaviors on the home front.
I am particularly desirous of it at this time [the opportunity to exchange opinions with his friend, Mason], because I view things very differently, I fear, from what people in general do who seem to think the contest is at an end; and to make money, and get places, the only things now remaining to do. I have seen without dispondency (even for a moment) the hours which America have stiled her gloomy ones, Eminent dangers but I have beheld no day since the commencement of hostilities that I have thought her liberties in such eminent danger as at present. Friends and foes seem now to combine to pull down the goodly fabric we have hitherto been raising at the expence of so much time, blood, and treasure; and unless the bodies politick will exert themselves to bring things back to first principles, correct abuses, and punish our internal foes, inevitable ruin must follow. Indeed we seem to be verging so fast to destruction, that I am filled with sensations to which I have been a stranger till within these three Months. Our Enemy behold with exultation and joy how effectually we labour for their benefit; and from being in a state of absolute despair, and on the point of evacuating America, are now on tiptoe; nothing therefore in my judgment can save us but a total reformation in our own conduct, or some decisive turn to affairs in Europe. The former alas! to our shame be it spoken! is less likely to happen than the latter, as it is now consistent with the views of the Speculators, Speculation and avarice various tribes of money makers, and stock jobbers of all denominations to continue the War for their own private emolument, without considering that their avarice, and thirst for gain must plunge every thing (including themselves) in one common Ruin.
{snip}
To me it appears no unjust Simile to compare the affairs of this great continent to the Mechanism of a Clock, each State representing some one or other of the smaller parts of it, which they are endeavouring to put in fine order without considering how useless and unavailing their labour, unless the great wheel, or spring which is to set the whole in motion, is also well attended to and kept in good order. I allude to no particular state, nor do I mean to cast reflections upon any one of them. Nor ought I, it may be said, to do so upon their representatives, Congress rent by party but as it is a fact too notorious to be concealed, that C- is rent by party, that much business of a trifling nature and personal concernment withdraws their attention from matters of great national moment at this critical period. When it is also known that idleness and dissipation takes place of close attention and application, no man who wishes well to the liberties of his Country and desires to see its rights established, can avoid crying out where are our Men of abilities? Why do they not come forth to save their Country? let this voice my dear Sir call upon you, Jefferson and others; do not from a mistaken opinion that we are about to set down under our own vine and our own fig tree let our hitherto noble struggle end in ignominy; believe me when I tell you there is danger of it. (The Papers of George Mason, University of North Carolina Press, Vol. II, pp. 491-494)
Once upon a time, in the midst of the ordeal of this nation’s birth, Washington, and other giants, walked the land.
Today, we trace the smallish footprints of our national midgets.
(No offense intended toward persons of small physical statue, some of whom no doubt stand taller than the officious denizens of D.C.’s marble buildings.)
“The list of groups banned outright included the United Nations children’s agency, Unicef, and other UN bodies, the British charity Concern and groups from Denmark, France, Germany, Italy, Norway, and Sweden.” Surely the Saudis and other wealthy Islamic states will be there any minute to fill that gap and help…
More fallout from Libya, along with the now-standard concerns about al-Qaeda’s potential cooperation with al-Shabaab and Boko Haram. “U.K. warns of growing al-Qaeda risk in North Africa,” from the Associated Press, November 28 (thanks to Kenneth): LONDON (AP) – Britain’s Foreign Secretary William Hague says there is a risk mercenary…
They’re not in it for just a little Sharia. They’re in it for the package deal. Even Imam Rauf knows that Sharia does not lend itself to selective compartmentalization. “Islamists want new Libya based on Shariah law,” from the Associated Press, November 28: TRIPOLI, Libya (AP) — Dozens of…
Q and A: This was originally supposed to be a continuation of my print debate at National Review (here and here) with Andrew McCarthy on Islam vs. Islamism. It was changed at the last minute into this panel with the peerless artist Bosch Fawstin and the Baroness Caroline Cox….
Britain is now also officially “worse than the devil,” according to the resolution that legislators passed, with some lawmakers threatening a reprise of the 1979 hostage crisis. “Tehran votes to expel Britain’s ambassador,” by Adrian Blomfield for the Telegraph, November 27 (thanks to Alan): Iran erupted in a fresh frenzy…
The collective action is an attempt to bully universities into modifying their curricula, or at least to secure an exemption on Islamic grounds from knowing and being tested on what every other biology student has to study. That is a slippery slope, with lives at stake where prospective future doctors…
Sharia meets the wide world of sports, just to drive home the point that “there are no homosexuals in Iran.” None. Ahmadinejad said so. “Long suspensions, heavy fines for Iran soccer players’ fanny pat,” from the Los Angeles Times, November 29: REPORTING FROM TEHRAN AND BEIRUT — Long suspensions and…
The intrepid mujadehin, keeping the world safe from joy: the hotel was packed with wedding guests. “Wedding tragedy: Hotel bomb kills 3, wounds dozens in Philippines,” from MSNBC, November 29 (thanks to Kenneth): MANILA, Philippines — Suspected Islamic militants detonated a powerful bomb that killed at least three people and…
That is the extraordinarily grim forecast from the Financial Times’ Wolfgang Münchau. In essence, he doesn’t think that the euro zone leaders – especially Angela Merkel – will do what is necessary to save the euro and keep the entire European Project from unraveling.
What must be done?
First, the European Central Bank must agree a backstop of some kind, either an unlimited guarantee of a maximum bond spread, a backstop to the EFSF, in addition to dramatic measures to increase short-term liquidity for the banking sector. That would take care of the immediate bankruptcy threat.
The second measure is a firm timetable for a eurozone bond. The European Commission calls it a “stability bond”, surely a candidate for euphemism of the year. There are several proposals on the table. It does not matter what you call it. What matters is that it will be a joint-and-several liability of credible size. The insanity of cross-border national guarantees must come to an end. They are not a solution to the crisis. Those guarantees are now the main crisis propagator.
The third decision is a fiscal union. This would involve a partial loss of national sovereignty, and the creation of a credible institutional framework to deal with fiscal policy, and hopefully wider economic policy issues as well. The eurozone needs a treasury, properly staffed, not ad hoc co-ordination by the European Council over coffee and desert.
Just what does creating a “fiscal union” mean? It means that Brussels will, for all intents and purposes, take control of the national budgets of member states. Munchau calls this a “partial loss of sovereignty. I suppose that’s accurate – except its the most important part of sovereignty.
The plan would place enormous power in the hands of EU bureaucrats as well as the central bank. And its success or failure rests on just how committed the Germans are to the idea of a United Europe. Other nations – even France – don’t matter now. Only Germany is big enough and strong enough to impose a solution. And right now, Merkel is balking.
Companies that provide the plumbing for the $4 trillion-a-day foreign-exchange market are testing systems that could handle trading of previously shelved European currencies. … Banks, analysts and investors are preparing for what many of them say is an increasing likelihood of a euro-zone breakup, either completely or in parts, leading to the potential return of currencies such as the drachma, German mark or Italian lira. (HT: Calculated Risk)
Munchau concludes:
I have yet to be convinced that the European Council is capable of reaching such a substantive agreement given its past record. Of course, it will agree on something and sell it as a comprehensive package. It always does. But the halt-life of these fake packages has been getting shorter. After the last summit, the financial markets’ enthusiasm over the ludicrous idea of a leveraged EFSF evaporated after less than 48 hours.
Italy’s disastrous bond auction on Friday tells us time is running out. The eurozone has 10 days at most.
Many analysts appear to be taking the position that the best we can hope for is more can kicking by Merkel and Sarkozy as they struggle to redefine the entire concept of a union of european states. They are trying to do it on the fly, hurriedly, and with little thought to the long term consequences. But as long as Merkel resists the idea that the European Central Bank should act like a real backstop against disaster, it won’t matter because there won’t be any long term consequences to worry about. The EU will be gone and with it, the dream of a united states of Europe.
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