Iran Must Not Have Nuclear Weapons? Why?

I mean this in all sincerity. Why is everyone so adamant that Iran getting a nuclear weapon would be the absolute worst thing on the planet? Don’t get me wrong; I think there should be NO nuclear weapons held by any country, but since 9 countries (1 of which still ‘pretends’ that they don’t) already have them, I’m not sure that they should have the right to dictate that other countries should not.

 

Perhaps a look into the past (although I know that might not be convenient to some, or relevant to others), would be required. America’s relationship with Iran is over two hundred years old. Much of that time, they were allies. Iran shared a border with what was then the USSR, and during the Cold War, that was of value to the US. Relations with England and the USSR were tense at the time, but America had their backs… as long as it was convenient to the US.

 

During WWII, Iran was a conduit for aid from the UK and US into Russia. It also was key in helping Polish refugees and Polish Armed Forces to escape ahead of invasion by the Axis countries, so much so that Stalin, Roosevelt, and Churchill issued the Tehran Declaration, guaranteeing both self rule and territorial rights for Iran.

 In 1953, however, Mohammad Mosaddegh was elected Prime Minister of Iran. The oil industry in the country had been nationalized just two years earlier, basically taking over the Anglo-Iranian Oil Company and slapping the UK in the face in the process. Britain wanted to retaliate, but good old Harry S Truman said no… until he said yes. Suddenly ‘Communism’ was too much of a threat, at least  to the oil industry there, and so MI6 and the CIA decided it was time for some regime change. Here is where the wheels come off.

To be fair, by this time, the US and UK were getting pretty handy at trying to force leadership changes in other countries – handy at trying, but not succeeding. The US reportedly tried to force regime changes 72 times just during the Cold War. So, what gives the US the right to think that they can just disregard the choices made by the people of a country, and override them, to the sole gain of the US? According to the Cline Center at the University of Illinois, 72 is just a drop in the bucket. They point to 350 coup attempts initiated by the US, 191 of them just since 1982.

So why, out of all the countries of the world, is the US so adamant that Iran cannot have nuclear weapons? Well, they have a cultist leader. Human rights mean not a lot to the Iranian leaders. Their administration is perhaps unstable. There is major corruption at the top. Now look at some of the countries who do have nuclear capabilities and tell me how they are any different than Iran. Russia, China, India, North Korea, and Israel all tick all of those boxes. The USA also does now.

 

There was an agreement with Iran to allow the rest of the world to monitor what they were doing, in an attempt to cool off hostilities, and as a small show of faith between two countries that have a tumultuous history, but that didn’t matter to the latest administration in America. Israel was the one to start bombing in Iran, just because they could, and because Netanyahu needs every distraction he can create while committing his plethora of hideous crimes and genocide, and the Orange Felon bought into it, hook, line, and sinker.

Be honest about this: the illegal bombing of Iran this last weekend was not about anything that Iran was doing. As Secretary of State Marco Rubio said, ‘Forget the intelligence.’ It was about two other governments who are horrible corrupt, who have leaders who are adjudicated criminals, who have created unmitigated disasters in their own countries, and will now resort to damned near anything just to save their own skins, and if they can line their pockets in the process, then so much the better. Creating this new global crisis has removed the scrutiny of their own illegality, their cruelty to their own people, the mountain of human rights violations they commit on a daily basis, their willingness to sacrifice human lives, and the environment, and world peace and stability, without batting an eye.

Perhaps our efforts are better spent on demanding (or forcing) regime change in Israel and the US, and leave Iran alone. The world would be a better place for it. Demanding that Iran go to the ‘negotiating table’ to hash out a penalty for crimes they have not yet committed, is no different than the rest of the world trying to ‘negotiate’ their way out of illegal tariffs that they never implemented. There is no negotiating with a lying madman.

Back in the Saddle, Riding Past Mountains of Horse Shit

 

If I am dusting this thing off after these years, I want to do it properly. I will try not to do the long editorial shit (like yesterday) unless I am really really pissed off. Note: That seems to happen more as I age and as I witness the rising of the Fourth Reich.

 

For those keeping track, as we watch The Fuhrer and his BeBe Buddy getting ready to strike the match for the powder keg that is the Middle East, Israel has been bombing civilians in Gaza for 1 year, 8 months, 1 week, and 3 days. Of the 251 hostages that were taken by Hamas on October 7, 2023, 53 are still being held, and at least 20 are believed to be still alive. Apparently blasting the everloving hell out of Gaza wasn’t such a great strategy for getting hostages back, but it’s one hell of a plan for getting a few seaside ocean resorts in the area. Apparently, the loss of life isn’t the issue at all anymore; now it’s just a couple of wrinkly old dogs having a pissing match despite the inability to hold up a hind leg.

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The G7 meeting in Kananaskis, Alberta has ended. One of the results of the meeting was a concerted, united effort to (finally) offer more substantial support to Ukraine by way of sanctions against Russia, money and munitions for Ukraine, and an ultimatum. It seems that in the massive vacuum left by a bloviating bully leaving early, the adults were allowed to actually do some work. This has gone on way too long, and there is no way that Ukraine should be compromised in any way to get a peace deal. They didn’t start this shit, they didn’t want this shit, and it was 100% unnecessary, other than for the greed and ego of what is quickly becoming pathetic and paranoid Putin.

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As Heir Fuhrer is denouncing criminals and sending his jack-booted, pussy-whipped, mask-wearing thugs to pick on Senators and city Comptrollers, one wonders what it will take to get law enforcement to turn their attention to the real criminals in the US – the ones sitting in the GOP caucus rooms. Now, before you get all pissy with me about it, I know, they aren’t all criminals, but come on, the ones who are just sitting there saying nothing and going along to get along are as criminal as the ones actually doing the shit.

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Bill C-5. Why is it that politicians cannot create laws that don’t have other more nefarious crap buried inside them. Carney’s C-5 is intended to break down some of the trade barriers that exist between provinces in Canada. Now, this is a good thing, but it is only one step. The rest of the work has to be done by the provinces, but this clears away some of the red tape along the way.  But then, it goes on to enact the Building Canada Act, a delightful little ditty that allows the federal government to ignore whatever regulations or procedures or restrictions that might exist for a project, if they deem it an issue of ‘national interest.’ This overreach potentially means that any First Nations land claims, any environmental issues, any health concerns, can be totally disregarded, and there is no recourse to stop it. Of course, a bill like this should have proper debate and discussion before being passed, right? Hell no. Of course not, because then all the things wrong with it would be exposed. How do I know this? Because any time the conservatives agree to limiting debate on a liberal bill, you know there is shit in there that ought not be, and here it is. This is how the shit starts. Write your MPs and tell them that this bill is bullshit. If the project is in the national interest, then there is a way to make it work with discussion and agreement, not just ramming this shit down our throats.

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Yesterday, a young woman from Georgia passed away. Well, actually, she passed away 4 months ago, but because she was a few weeks pregnant, the government ordered that she be put on life support until the baby was viable. She was a government-sanctioned baby incubator, and nothing more. Her life didn’t matter. Her dignity didn’t matter. Her family’s wishes didn’t matter. After four long, expensive months, it was determined that the baby was viable. They cut her open, pulled out the 1-pound baby, unplugged the ventilator and let her die… again. Please someone explain to me (actually, that’s rhetorical because I really don’t give a crap about your stupidity) how this is pro-life. This is pro-birth. The government made the demands, the family now has to deal with the hardships, not the least of which will be the medical bills. In a time when the Trump government is more than happy to deprive living people of the medications they need to keep on living, when they find it entertainment to see how seniors juggle between paying for prescriptions or paying for their food, and really not being able to afford either, they just dumped absolutely smothering debt onto the shoulders of a family who has been put through a very special, very sick hell. Oh, but there will be social programs to help this family, right? Fuck no! Those are all being cancelled as well. Food stamps? Lunches at schools? Help with daycare? I mean, come on, you had the baby, so now you deal with it. If any of these people were prolife, they would also be all in on social programs to help all children, all families, all seniors, instead of vilifying them. If they were really pro-life, as Jesus intended, then they would want the same rights for colored people, for immigrants, for gays and lesbians, for trans people, but noooo, they are only pro-birth, and then, well, you call all fuck off, unless of course you are a white Christian conservative.

 

 

Time to Play Taps for America?

 

I have held my tongue for a long time now. When Heir Trump showed up on the scene, I figured that irony was dead, and what was the point in trying to talk about something so completely unhinged. I figured that our friends to the south would eventually figure it out, but here we are. Now, I do think they are figuring it out (FAFO baby), but is it too late?

Take the G7 meetings these last three days. You would think, in the event of a war breaking out in the Middle East, the leaders would want to work together, to provide a united front. The Fuhrer had most of the main heads of state right there to discuss it with, but no, Captain Ego couldn’t do that. Instead, he does the ‘I’m too important’ crappola, and with the poise of a tantruming five-year-old, he stomps off to his plane and fucks off back home.

This administration is like a masterclass in hypocrisy. The Secretary of Defense is too busy defending his stupidity and drinking to actually know anything about his portfolio. The Secretary of Education wants to shut down public schools. The Secretary of Commerce is head cheerleader for the destruction of the economy… the sous chef of the old TACO truck, if you will. And the Secretary of Health is determined to kill as many people as possible, as quickly as possible, using his worm-rejected atrophied brain to the best of his ability.

They screamed about Hilary’s emails, but when it comes to the Sec Def sharing attack plans on an unsecured device, using an unsecured platform, and including unsecured personnel (although thank you for that incompetency), they offer crickets. They claimed that Biden was suffering from dementia, but apparently the moron who cannot stand straight, who cannot read, who blatantly shows the sans-worm devouring of his cranial grey cells is totally okay.

So now as we are on the verge of war with Iran, for who knows what possible reason, we hear them saying that Iran cannot be trusted to have such powerful weapons, like nuclear warheads. We hear about how regime change would be a good thing for them, so perhaps dropping a few bombs on them would help. They talk about the cruelties of an Iranian regime on their own citizens. Now change the word ‘Iran’ to ‘USA’ in that paragraph.

The thing with ‘conservative values’ is that they are not about values at all. They tell you who to hate, who to point fingers at, and how someone else is ripping off the system by being poor, or having health issues, or being the wrong color or religion. Hate the gay people, the trans people, the immigrants, the special needs people, the seniors because they are robbing you of what you should and could have. Don’t look at the corporations or the millionaires who are making millions under the guise of creating a strong economy. Remind yourself that there is only one thing that trickles down, and it sure as hell is not money from the rich. The cruelty of the rules don’t matter, as long as they don’t impact your own perfect little Christian life. The cruelty is the thing that they crave, because it helps those at the top stay at the top.

So, amid the assassinations, the depriving of healthcare and education, the ignoring of judicial decisions, the protests and parades, the arrests, the lies, the bloviating, the hypocrisy, please tell me how the US now differs from Iran. Change has to come from within. Watching the reactions of the GOP these last few weeks, I am not sure that’s possible anymore. Perhaps it truly is time to break out the bagpipes, and squeeze out a plaintive rendition of Taps for the world’s greatest experiment in democracy.

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The G7 is taking place in Kananaskis, Alberta this week. If you catch nothing else of the festivities, be sure to catch the absolutely magnificent eyeroll from Italy’s Giorgia Meloni as she responds to Macron whispering in her ear, almost assuredly about some asinine thing that the US Fuhrer said or did.