Doug's Darkworld

A reader suggested that mainstream news broadcasts these days should be preceded by a disclaimer like one sees in TV shows: “Based on true events.” Because that’s pretty much what’s going on. This latest business with Iran demonstrates that to a tee, while it is true that Iran revealed a nuclear fuel processing plant last week, that’s about where the factual reporting ended. In fact the stream of nonsense coming out of the mouth’s of Clinton, Obama, and Netayahu beggars belief. And the media just parrots this nonsense as if it were fact. And like the good sheep they are, the citizens of the USA and Israel dutifully swallow this claptrap and regurgitate is as if they were actually expressing  an opinion of their own. I apologize for being so mean-spirited, but it’s really annoying to hear people who apparently got a good education and have a fine primate brain using both to simply regurgitate mindless propaganda. It’s also going to be the death of us all, because it’s not since the run up to World War One has sabre rattling and mindless jingoism reached such dizzying international heights.

Sigh. In any event, a review for the people who still want to hear something besides the usual CNN/Fox/etc blather disguised as reporting. This may not be as polished as my usual posts, because I wanted to wait till then last minute to write about this topic, in case there were any late breaking developments. Fortunately the USA and Israel haven’t carried out their threats … yet. Considering the level of invective though, it does seem possible that an attack on Iran is in the cards. Sigh. At least the situation is easy to understand though, it’s very very simple in fact. Last week, Iran announced they had built a facility for making nuclear fuel. The plant is at least six months from completion, so they fulfilled their obligation under international law. They also announced that of course they would allow International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) to inspect said facility, again in accordance with international law. In short, Iran acted like a good international citizen and did exactly as it was required to do under treaty obligations regarding their nuclear program.

And the gates of propaganda hell opened in the west, spewing forth some of the most incredible nonsense since the Maine was sunk. (Yes, I feel like using hyperbole today, shoot me.) Clinton may have made the most amazing remark, she literally issued an ultimatum that the Iranians  had to allow inspectors into this plant. Since Iran had already announced it would allow the new plant to be inspected, Clinton’s threat transcends the absurd. Obama, Netanyahu waded right in though and added absurdities of their own. A huge deal was made about this “secret” plant. Actually, the US and Israel had known about it for years, so it wasn’t that much of a secret. And Iran announced it well within the required deadline for doing so, so how is this a secret? A big deal was made of the fact that it was underground, as if this too was proof of Iran’s evil intent. News flash, the USA and Israel have been threatening to attack Iran’s nuclear facilities for decades, Iran should just build them them out in the open for Israel to bomb? Get real. And of course Israel claimed this was “proof” that Iran was pursuing nuclear weapons and must be stopped. And the oft repeated claim was made that if Iran gets nuclear weapons, they will of course immediately use them. Along with the claim that Iran was “the greatest threat to peace” in the world.

Right. For the record, Iran hasn’t attacked another nation since the nineteenth century. Unlike, say, um, the USA and Israel. Iran has never threatened to “nuke” Israel, the endless repeating of this nonsense is probably the greatest propaganda coup in history. And for the record, the people who inspect Iran’s nuclear facilities, and every American intelligence agency, have all concluded repeatedly that there is zero evidence that Iran has a secret nuclear program. And for the record, not only is it sensible for Iran to be pursuing nuclear power, it’s an excellent idea. Oil is easily Iran’s largest source of hard international currency, so supplying their own power with domestic nuclear plants means even more money for them. It also means that the pollution and health problems that go with oil fuelled power plants are someone else’s problem.

And yes, it is possible that Iran might secretly make a few nuclear weapons. Considering the non stop threats that the USA and Israel make, not to mention that the USA has invaded and occupied two countries that border Iran, making a few weapons to defend themselves with seems pretty rational. So Iran gets a few bombs, so what? What isn’t rational is the idea that if Iran got a few bombs they will immediately use them or turn them over to terrorists. The USA or Israel would turn Iran into a parking lot if they did anything so mind numbingly stupid. Iran has been a nation state a lot longer than the USA or Israel, in fact longer than most of the world’s nation states. You don’t exist as a nation for several thousand years if your people are prone to suicidal stupidity.

So are Obama, Netayahu, and Clinton stupid? Of course not. The powers that be in the USA and Israel have spent the last sixty years or so using exaggerated foreign threats to consolidate their power and enrich themselves. And in the process have created an enormous industry and lobby that absolutely requires foreign threats to justify its existence. Again, for the record, Israel and the USA have enourmous military machines,  the first and fourth largest in the world. In fact the USA spends more money on defence than the rest of the world combined. So it is essential that their populations be kept in a state of fear so that these expenditures are justified. It’s just sad to me that so many in Israel and the USA completely swallow this threat mongering with no understanding that their leaders are simply lying. And that the once at least semi-independent media goes right along with it, as one Russian observed, in the old Soviet Union they had to shoot people to get the press so subservient to the state. Go figure.

And yes, there’s a lot more going on of course, a tremendous amount of background and other information. I’m not going to post on it though, the information is there for those who want to see. I’ll be posting  links on it in the sidebar in the next week or two. I’ll post on Iran again if there are other developments. Coming later this week, the story of how two inches of dirt and some leaking cannisters set back space exploration by three decades. And I haven’t forgotten Felinae maculosus atrox either, global warming’s biggest threat.

(The above image was released by the Iranian semi-official Mehr News Agency, and then picked up by AP. I’m claiming it as Fair Use under US copyright law. It’s not being used for profit, is central to illustrating the post, and its use here in no way interferes with the copyright holder’s commercial use of the image. Credit and copyright: AP and Mehr News Agency. Yes, Iranian sabre rattling isn’t helping either, but it’s not like they have any choice. To put it mildly, if someone actually threatened the USA and Israel the way they routinely threaten other countries, we would do a lot more than just fire a few test missiles.)

International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA)