AUSTRALIANS AT WAR

AUSTRALIANS AT WAR
THE NEW AMERICAN CENTURY is a compelling factual history of neoconservatism and its influence on US Foreign Policy in the Middle East during the first decade of the twenty-first century. Click on image above for details.

Sunday, January 20, 2008

IS THE ‘FINAL CONFRONTATION’ FINALLY UPON US? ONE HOPES NOT, BUT THE SIGNS ARE NOT GOOD.

I have for some time been warning of the impending final confrontation between the US-Israeli alliance and Iran. The pointers indicating that the moment of that final confrontation may have almost arrived are now too irresistible to ignore. I hope I’m wrong.

Here are a few of those pointers; some obvious, some not so obvious.

First off, of course, is the obvious; if it’s going to happen, then it has to happen soon because after next November Bush won’t be around and it is doubtful that his successor would even dream of it, let alone actually do it. So, as every day goes by, the reality of the final confrontation draws closer.

Other pointers are as follows. About eight weeks ago, toward the end of November last year, the US Navy put out tenders to charter extra ships to carry over a million barrels of ship and jet fuel for their warships and aircraft in the Straights of Hormuz off the coast of Iran. Before the end of January the carrier USS John C. Stennis will join the carrier USS Dwight D. Eisenhower which is already cruising Persian Gulf waters. This extra fuel order comes on top of last August’s massive order from Israel for millions of litres military JP-8 jet fuel and military diesel fuel. Allowing time for the various House and Senate committees to approve the order, the fuel has either been recently delivered or is also on its way.

This activity comes atop an increasingly aggressive rhetoric from the US and Israel particularly after Bush’s recent visit to Israel and the region where he has unsuccessfully attempted to garner support among the Arab nations of the Middle East to put pressure on Iran over its so-called nuclear weapons program. However, because the other Arab nations know full well that the only nation in the region that has an interest in nuclear weapons, and actually has them, is Israel and because the other Arab nations also know full well that there is no evidence whatsoever of Iran wanting or having, or even having had, a program to obtain nuclear weapons, despite US and Israeli assertions to the contrary, and because the other Arab nations have heard all of this exact same rhetoric and lies before when the US and their allies invaded and destroyed Iraq, the other Arab nation declined to offer their support to Bush. Unfortunately, the Arab nation’s failure to support Bush is unlikely to stop Bush and his neoconservative cronies, together with Israel, from attacking Iran.

Heralding Bush’s visit to Israel and the region, which began on 9 January, was the bizarre and rather too conveniently well-timed episode of the five little Iranian outboard speedboats supposedly ‘harassing’ huge US warships in the Straights of Hormuz just prior to Bush’s arrival.

As soon as Bush had left Israel, Israeli terrorists resumed their slaughter of Palestinians in the Gaza Strip saying that the killings were in response to Palestinian fighters launching rockets into Israel. Since Bush left, some thirty-nine Gazan Palestinians have been murdered by Israeli terrorists including a number of civilians. Ehud Barak, Israel’s Defence Minister, has warned of increased Israeli terrorist actions in the Gaza. While Israeli attacks against the Gaza have increased, the threatened all-out invasion has not yet come. Could it be that an attack against Hamas in the Gaza could come at the same time as an attack against Iran? Come to that, could it be that such attacks will also be coordinated with simultaneous attacks against Hizbollah in Lebanon and even Syria?

The Winograd report is likely to be released on 30 January. It is unlikely to be kind to Olmert thus raising the spectre again of Olmert being forced from office and the possibility of an election being called. Olmert survived a vote of no confidence by the skin of his teeth when the preliminary Winograd report was released at the end of April last year. It remains to be seen whether or not he’ll survive any further calls for his resignation when the full report is released. The extreme right-wing Avigdor Lieberman of the Yisrael Beiteinu Party recently resigned from Olmert’s coalition where he was deputy Prime Minister and Minister of Strategic Threats. It is likely that he will now join forces with Benjamin Netanyahu in an effort to oust Olmert. Olmert desperately needs something to distract Israelis from his problems and bring Israelis back under his influence. What better than a war against your favourite enemy – and then resign as a hero rather than the loser of the Second Lebanon War.

And last, but not least, we still have the pleasure to come of Bush telling the world about the State of the Union. Who knows what he has in store for the world on 29 January. One can only hope that he doesn’t think a war with Iran will be something exciting to talk about and a fitting finale to his Presidency.

As I said, I do hope I’m wrong!


HOW DOES THE WEST LET THIS GO WITHOUT OUTRAGE?

If Hamas or Hizbollah publicly called for the assassination of Israeli Prime Minister Ehud Olmert there would be outrage from the governments of the West. Yet when Israeli politicians call for the assassination of Hizbollah leader Sheikh Hassan Nasrallah the West says nothing at all.

The values that ‘they’ hate about ‘us’ are arrogance and hypocrisy. Who can blame them?

18 comments:

Uncharted Thoughts said...

I don't think its going to happen for a while. I think you will see an effort to kill Vladimir Putin before a strike on Iran happens. If they can get another puppet in Russia, then Russia's promise to defend Iran is no longer a problem for Israel/US.

I think the major slowdown has been Russia, or else Iran would have been invaded many months ago.

If Putin is serious in his vows to defend Iran, Israel/US would usher in the dreaded WW3, or nuclear holocaust as its been labeled.

This WW3 could only be avoided if Russia was under different leadership. I wonder if this ties into Pakistan somehow?

Anonymous said...

Obviously the Russians think that the neocon crazies are still out of the box and ready to attack Iran. Russian military officials warning us of their preparedness to use nuclear weapons are trying to use words to ward off the the possibility of a ghastly US/Israeli attack on Iran.
I'm very afraid!
Ekk

Anonymous said...

"This WW3 could only be avoided if Russia was under different"

Since the zionist-extremist Bush regime was
the radical entity who barked threats of WW3,
removing the neo-Zionist Bush regime is the only way to avoid it.

Anonymous said...

And I thought it was only the radical Muslim who was suicidal.

"Go ahead , make my day." Please Israel, please attack Iran. I just hope you sweet, poor innocent little Jewsis all have your papers in order and locked away someplace safe. I have a strange feeling all of your friends are goona betray you in the end. Like I said, zionists are gonna make fine slaves. Hope you've enjoyed it while it lasted.

Anonymous said...

i am not trying to say you are wrong, because i too realize this is alot of fuel ordered, but i remember seeing where the deputy prime minister of japan Fakuda saying japan had evidence 911 was an inside usa job and they would no longer be a supplier of oil for bush illegal wars, now whether he had that much power as deputy prime minister or not, i personally dont know. that was in november 07 when he announced that, so the time frame seems right, but the thing that makes me agree with your assessment is something entirely doifferent that you didnt cover, i think most everyone has heard that on 911 there were 5500 put options selling short on airline stocks at united and american aoirlines , the 2 airlines whose security was breeched that day,now in 2008, there are 5500 call options that have been placed betting long that oil will reach 200 a barrel before the end of the year 2008.the only thing i can foresee that would cause that big of an increase would be war in the hormuz strait.

Anonymous said...

Good to see racism alive and well..lololol...are you nazi vermin allowed to print this crap??? I realize that oz was populated by criminals...but wow! zionist this...Israeli terrorists that...you people are funny...lololol...pathetic yes...but amusing....do they let you out of your cages on the weekend or do you have computer hookups in there?

Anonymous said...

re:youworshipup said...

The only people that care about what happens to Israel are politicians and business people...the average person around the globe sees Israel for what it is...a terrorist state seeking legitimacy..it has turned our worst than the Nazi regime...United States and George Bush only intend to bomb Iran to protect the Jews....everyone knows that!!...but this time it will be different...there is going to be some serious pain this time...the Iranians know it going to happen..and they are going to get hit really hard...but they are going to hit back and then the shit is going to hit fan...

Anonymous said...

I would love to write about the stupidity and bias is about your article--But your words say it so perfectly--YOU ARE GOING FOR A PHD AND YOU'RE AN IDIOT--ANTI-SEMITE TOO!!!!!

Randy said...

Excellent summary Damian and unfortunately I fear that you are correct. The only thing that might stop Bush/Cheney/Olmert from attacking Iran appears to be resistance from the U.S. military leadership and parts of the ironically misnamed “intelligence” community. [“Military intelligence – a contradiction in terms.” G. Marx]

Admiral Fallon, for example, has stated that there will be no war with Iran on his watch. This emphatic statement makes no sense unless he was indeed feeling pressure to attack Iran in the first place.

http://thinkprogress.org/2007/05/16/fallon-carrier/

Certainly, the NIE report on Iran’s nuclear weapon’s program ending in 2003 was an attempt to bridle Bush and the Neo-Cons. Seeing déjà vu all over again after the disastrous Iraq invasion in pursuit of phantom WMDs—as well as the efforts to scapegoat the CIA afterwards—someone resolved to choke off the next war.

Clearly, Bush’s petulant, dismissive, and bizarre reaction to the report was a strong indication that it was unlikely to sway him in his desire to start a war with Iran.

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/tag/bush-iran-nie

http://www.buzzflash.net/story.php?id=36694

For the Israelis, they know their window of opportunity is closing in sucking the U.S. into a war with Iran. They cannot be certain that the next U.S. President will be as pliable in doing their bidding—at least in launching a war for them.

Bush is an extraordinary piece of work. Although his apologists and camp followers like to compare Bush to Churchill (while ardent critics often mention Hitler), a specialist in German history recently compared him to Kaiser Wilhelm, a not inapt analogy.

http://commentisfree.guardian.co.uk/fritz_stern/2008/01/imperial_hubris.html

Once Bush gets hold of a bad idea, he works it like an old dog working a bone. With his lack of curiosity and empathy, bad ideas become obsessions, what the French call an idée fixe. With 2008 looking to be a disastrous year for the U.S. economy, Bush will be in desperate need of something to change the subject.

A war with Iran, where Bush can play-act being Churchill, is the perfect antidote to economic complexities.

Is Fallon going to disobey a direct order to attack Iran—especially if they can manufacture a Gulf of Tonkin incident? And even if Fallon resigns, what is it that will stop Bush and his puppet-master Cheny from simply replacing him with a more receptive commander? For example, why not Petraeus? Or perhaps they can quickly promote a young Curtis LeMay clone from the Air Force to head up Centcom.

http://www.geocities.com/lemaycurtis/

Certainly, they will not face impediments from either the American public or the so-called opposition party in Congress. If we have to depend on the U.S. military to stop the next war then we are in desperate times.

As to Putin and Russia going to war to defend Iran, I think this is extremely unlikely and even borderline silly. Russia clearly wants to stop this lunacy before it starts but they will, in fact, probably benefit from standing back and watching oil prices soar and the U.S. Empire embroil itself in yet another ghastly colonial war. There will be a great deal of anger in Moscow when Russian technicians are slaughtered in the bombing campaigns but Putin is a chess player.

Why kick over the board when your opponent is about to sacrifice his own queen for Israel, Christian Zionism, and delusions of grandeur? Fortunately, for all of us, the Russians will play it strategically and permit the American madness to run its course.

Anonymous said...

Read Ezekiel 38-39 in the Bible. Russia will form a military alliance with Iran (which is occuring now, unless you consider building nuclear reactors and arms sales and pledges from Russia to use nuclear weapons to protect its allies anything other than an alliance) and other Arab countries and will lead a war against Israel. What is happening now was predicted over 2500 yrs ago. I believe the trigger for this war will be a pre-emptive strike on Iran. Regardless of what triggers it, it is going to happen. And all will see that Gods words are true. Dust off your Bibles and check it out.

Anonymous said...

Re: rxgary said...

"but i remember seeing where the deputy prime minister of japan Fakuda saying japan had evidence 911 was an inside usa job and they would no longer be a supplier of oil for bush illegal wars"

Fakuda is the Prime Minister, and was in support of the refueling mission. It was his opposition in parlament that voted against him and ended the mission saying it was against their constitution.

Yukihisa Fujita, a member of that opposition party (from what I gather, but he could be from yet a 3rd party) is the one who made the 20 minute speech regarding the validity of the American government's claims regarding 9/11. It was unrelated, but did preceed the vote.

http://www.globalresearch.ca/index.php?context=va&aid=7803

Anonymous said...

And so why aren't all the America [is the angel] bible thumpers joining the military? Just waiting around to be picked up, right? You are killing for Christ, right now, hundreds of thousands of Iraqi children. Is this part of your plan?

Disgusting to read from American's who totaly ignore the satanic crimes the US+Israeli try to hide from the braindead average American, just so it doesn't appear they donot practice what they preach, the U.S. can't speed up the rapture enough by loving and praying for the lessor nations, it has deemed iself judge ,jury and executioner and truly believe they are pleasing God. And they are shouting it from the smut ridden Jewish controlled American media mafia that the return of Jesus will be because they kinda helped put the anti-christ in power. Sound mixed up? Take a look at today's average American voter.

God created the jews, Jews created communism and the neo-con's and Al-Qaeda and the Sunday money worshipping American christian. Not to mention America's corrupt politicians and Presidents that fool around on each other (Clinton) and break their arms patting themselves on the back while calling themselves the chosen holy armies of the prince of Peace. Armies with names like "Blckwater" and "Dragons breath", yeah, your God's chosen warriors alright. If there ever was a country that fit perfectly what the bible describes as the 3rd and final anti-christ (he/she will proclaim to be a Christian / the voice of Christ/ will lie to start wars, will lie some more, and do so under a banner of goodwill,) All the lies and death and destruction and deception apon the true Christians who have the sense to "Test the spirits" America and Israel fit the bill as the false prophet.

Randy said...

I think it’s representative of the almost incalculable ignorance and stupidity of the human species that someone would bring up bizarre Biblical ramblings from Revelations as the final word on the topic.

Of course this is classic Rorschach testing. You can find just about anything you want to see in these fulminating lines. And Christian Zionist opportunists such as John Hagee do exactly that.

http://www.alphanewsdaily.com/Warning%206%20Russia%20Iran%20Invasion.html


http://wordforit.wordpress.com/2008/01/18/where-is-the-united-states-in-bible-prophecy/

In fairness, others find firm foundations for flying saucers and alien visitors in Ezekiel’s ramblings, and perhaps they are correct:

http://www.uforc.com/research121404/uforc_research-FECarlisle_120404.html

It sounds more plausible anyway than the geopolitical prophecy. Of course it’s all completely subjective and quite convincing to utter fools.

It’s also the case that Ezekiel made other prophesies which were pretty lucid and these turned out completely false: for example, Ezekiel 26:14 and the alleged destruction of Tyre by Nebuchadnezzar never happened.

http://iidb.infidels.org/vbb/archive/index.php/t-64190.html

Here are some additional lines—with a helpful commentary from a true believer-- from the pertinent Ezekiel passage:

‘I will go up against a land of unwalled villages; (the cities in Israel are no longer 'walled')

I will go to a peaceful people, who dwell safely,

all of them dwelling without walls, and having neither bars nor gates’

Can you imagine a passage that sounds less like modern Israel than this description? Israel today, in contrast, claims to be constantly threatened and under siege from its enemy neighbors.

Apparently, God and the prophet didn’t foresee the new wall going up across Israel’s occupied territories. No gates? How about the checkpoints and endless security features of modern Israel? A comparison of Israel with ancient Sparta would make more sense then this silly passage.

However, Bible prophecy charlatans simply ignore anything that deflates their thesis.

Ancient Scythia has little to do with modern Russia needless to say. (And since this is divine prophecy, why not say Russia in the first place instead of Magog? That would impress the skeptics.) Modern Russia only shares a tiny fragment of its land space with the ancient Scythians and shares absolutely no linguistic or cultural links.

Revelations, it should be noted, is also the bastard lunatic child of the Bible:

“The Book of Revelations in the Bible, upon which they build their scenario, is also very controversial. It was made scripture three centuries after the death of Christ. Traditionally attributed to St. John, most Biblical scholars now recognize its literary style and its theology has little in common with John's gospel or his epistles and was likely written after his death. Martin Luther found the vindictive God of Revelations incompatible with the gospels and relegated it to the appendix of his German translation of the New Testament instead of the body of scripture. All the Protestant reformers except Calvin regarded apocalyptic millennialism to be heresy."

http://www.counterpunch.org/hill01042003.html

The fact that this strange mutation of Christian thinking that has morphed from John Darby to Hal Lindsay to Tim LaHaye has infected tens of millions of Americans—and possibly its President—with such a pernicious and violent meme is scary indeed.

Damian Lataan said...

Randy, thanks for your input. I think you are right with regard to Russia’s position in this. Russia, while making it clear that it will not be behind any move to strike Iran, is hardly likely to go to war against America if the US did. However, it may well strain (already strained) relations to such an extent that US foreign policy could well be realigned with only a change of President at the end of the year providing any relief from such strain – particularly if America votes in a Democrat President. Time will tell how this is all going to pan out.

Anonymous said...

I wish Israel well, but I do not wish to sacrifice a single American life or a single American dollar for her.
These are the words of a man named Michael Scheuer a former CIA official. I agree with him. I would say the same about every other foreign country, including Britain and Germany, the homelands of my ancestors. I should not have to say so, but I do not consider myself anti-Semitic in any way. I will never be silenced by any such accusation.

Daniel said...

Seven comments out of fifteen by Anonymous! One can't determine whether they're all by the one person or seven different people.

Down with Anonymous, I say!

P.S. Besides, when the Rapture comes, God won't know who is who.

Anonymous said...

Dar Damian, I'm delighted to find other Australians doing something about the threat to Iran.

I posted a three part letter on the issue to our new PM on YouTube before Xmas. (Iran, a letter to our new PM) it's slightly out of date now, but I'd be happy if you took a look.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eCZ40lmiLCg

I have been working on GetUP. I think it's important they run a campaign to get our Govt to take a strong stand against any pre emptive strike ahead of time, and undertake to give no support if it does. I point out that once the madness starts it will be much harder to be critical or even neutral. So far, no luck with getUP

Mike

Damian Lataan said...

Your efforts are to be commended Mike. If more people were to make the effort, even just writing to ones MP in Oz or representative of any government depending on where you are, then maybe, just maybe, we could make a diference.

The big problem is that most people have become complacent and no longer believe that protest makes difference. But, if there is enough of us, it can. At least we have to try!