Profile on Qassem Suleimaini - great piece

[MaddAdam]

Last February, some of Iran’s most influential leaders gathered at the Amir al-Momenin Mosque, in northeast Tehran, inside a gated community reserved for officers of the Revolutionary Guard. They had come to pay their last respects to a fallen comrade. Hassan Shateri, a veteran of Iran’s covert wars throughout the Middle East and South Asia, was a senior commander in a powerful, élite branch of the Revolutionary Guard called the Quds Force.

The force is the sharp instrument of Iranian foreign policy, roughly analogous to a combined C.I.A. and Special Forces; its name comes from the Persian word for Jerusalem, which its fighters have promised to liberate. Since 1979, its goal has been to subvert Iran’s enemies and extend the country’s influence across the Middle East. Shateri had spent much of his career abroad, first in Afghanistan and then in Iraq, where the Quds Force helped Shiite militias kill American soldiers.

http://www.newyorker.com/reporting/2013/09/30/130930fa_fact_filkins?currentPage=all

 

[Tasmaniac]

Good read.

Thanks for posting.

 

[MaddAdam]

Good read.

Thanks for posting.

I particularly liked the bit about him texting the Yanks post the Israel fight in 2006.

 

[blackcat]

I particularly liked the bit about him texting the Yanks post the Israel fight in 2006.

some of that stuff is just wrong. the NY fame fact checkers, not really doing their jobs on the information that flirts in the ambiguous foreign propaganda territory. The Buenos Aires bombing of the Jewish Day Centre, was done by Argies, affiliated with the police (top brass) and then some right wing racist cadres.

Basically, if you know of Bob Baer spouting this crap, you know it is bullshit. Anything he says, just take the oppositive pov.

Other stuff on the Iranian nuke program, well, the National Intelligence Estimate is easy to get a hold of, so whey is Filkens getting this thru the editorial team. Its like Jeffrey Goldberg's naked propaganda.

 

[blackcat]

Hezbollah operative attacked a tour bus filled with Israelis in Bulgaria, last July

s**t, not even Hezbollah. That was a "franchise" of Al Qaeda.

Hezbollah dont operate outside the south of Lebanon. Ok, they may be now up to their armpits with Syria.

But this is just BS. New Yorker sounding more and more like NYTimes and just another arm of State.

Sebastian Junger crap? American exceptionalism. i have had enough of this s**t.

 

[MaddAdam]

I'm working on the principle that it is about 50/50 true.

The colour anecdotes almost certainly true, the Ryan Crocker stuff probably reliable enough, the overall POLITICAL DIRECTION of it shifty as as a three bob note. The timing of it no surprise (see huge Israeli PR offensive to negate attempts by Rouhani to take some heat and light out of the fight for coming years and recover the Iranian economy to a degree).

Still a cracking read though.

 

[MaddAdam]

s**t, not even Hezbollah. That was a "franchise" of Al Qaeda.

Hezbollah dont operate outside the south of Lebanon. Ok, they may be now up to their armpits with Syria.

But this is just BS. New Yorker sounding more and more like NYTimes and just another arm of State.

Sebastian Junger crap? American exceptionalism. i have had enough of this s**t.

I will disagree with you there. The good men (and women) of Hezb'Allah are very active on the west coast of Africa and in South America too, largely fundraising.

They also operate militarily in Syria and Iraq.

On the Bulgaria bus bombing, I'd be more inclined to believe some Balkan wannabe jihadis who got "lucky" but the spin came in. Makes no sense for HZ to attack there.

Of all the terrrorist groups who could have actually taken down the Twin Towers if they WANTED to, it is HZ. (Bin Laden and crew just phenomenally lucky again).

Most effective non state armed actor since PIRA in the early 70s to mid 80s.

 

[blackcat]

I will disagree with you there. The good men (and women) of Hezb'Allah are very active on the west coast of Africa and in South America too, largely fundraising.

They also operate militarily in Syria and Iraq.

On the Bulgaria bus bombing, I'd be more inclined to believe some Balkan wannabe jihadis who got "lucky" but the spin came in. Makes no sense for HZ to attack there.

Of all the terrrorist groups who could have actually taken down the Twin Towers if they WANTED to, it is HZ. (Bin Laden and crew just phenomenally lucky again).

Most effective non state armed actor since PIRA in the early 70s to mid 80s.

as i wrote, i knew i would be having to <redact>

layperson understanding, hezzies as nationalist militancy to expel the israeli's occupation in the 80's. without the hez resistance, they never would have left in 2003, or whenever they withdrew.

nb caveat layperson appreciation non apppreciation

 

[blackcat]

I'm working on the principle that it is about 50/50 true.

any inferral of moi, more than that 50-50 rule of thumb, was hyperbole.

need something right, as in a limited hangout tactic
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Limited_hangout

 

[MaddAdam]

as i wrote, i knew i would be having to <redact>

layperson understanding, hezzies as nationalist militancy to expel the israeli's occupation in the 80's. without the hez resistance, they never would have left in 2003, or whenever they withdrew.

nb caveat layperson appreciation non apppreciation

Hmmmm. As piece points out, HZ not exactly pure Lebanese nationalist resistance. Always been into the "Shia International" idea, largely at the best of Iran. But they know their political bread is buttered in Lebanon (and wider throughout the Muslim world) with the idea that they were simply "defenders of the country" who kicked the Zionist occupier out. Now the Syria fight has drawn them into a straight sectarian war though, there's no need to maintain that fiction anymore.

One thing about the Syria fight is that it has finally provoked the Shia "jihadi" movement, similar to what Sunni do. Lots of Shia from the region and around the world going to Syria to join the fight in a way we haven't really seen before but the Sunni jihadis do as a matter of course.

 

[MaddAdam]

any inferral of moi, more than that 50-50 rule of thumb, was hyperbole.

need something right, as in a limited hangout tactic
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Limited_hangout

It is certainly a thorough and well researched piece of long form journalism. The bloke didn't stab it out half cut on his iPhone from a quiet corner of The Men's Gallery a la Robbo.

As I said, I reckon most of the "colour" anecdotes are probably bang on and stuff like what Crocker says about Iranian willingness to co-operate in the past are also correct.

But it is the "N (J) ew Yorker" that plays to a certain audience. And while that certain audience are no doubt supporters of a two state peace process and hate Bibi and have dilemmas about going over there to see Auntie Ruth and Uncle Shlomo for their 50th wedding anniversary, they also are still unquestioningly loyal to Israel at the existential level and a nicely wrought piece about a devlishly cunning Persian fox who is committed to israel's end despite what he may or may not do a tactical level will be lapped up. It plays nicely into the narrative Netanyahu has been running the whole time, and is ramping up again right now, of Obama as naively well intentioned amateur being taken for a ride by the ancient and devious ways of the Persians. And only Israel, who "knows their neighbourhood", REALLY knows what shifty Shiraz is up to.

I think there is some truth in that, but I also think Obama is a far cagier operator than the Israelis give him credit for. He knows the Iranians desperately need some breathing room economically to keep fighting in Syria (ands to prevent civil unrest at home). If he can look good by "making peace" and thus keep them off his back on the international stage for a few years, while he secures his domestic legacy, he'll happily do that even if it gets Israeli knickers into a knot.

 

[MaddAdam]

And as I've been predicting the whole time, the "szensible" and secularish elements of the rebels are talking to Assad.

http://www.independent.co.uk/voices...g-talks-with-assads-senior-staff-8847615.html

They'll end up fighting side by side with the SAA against the jihadis.

It is Syria's "Anbar 2006" moment.

 

[blackcat]

robbo
mens gallery
half cut
iPhone

did Robbo's mohel * the job up?

 

[blackcat]

http://scotthorton.org/2013/09/30/93013-m-j-rosenberg/

9/30/13 M.J. Rosenberg

M.J. Rosenberg, Special Correspondent for The Washington Spectator, discusses AIPAC’s attempt to stop Obama from making a deal with Iran; the Democratic Party’s heavy reliance on pro-Israel contributors; Israel’s tone-deaf public relations strategies; why Republicans are too distracted to thwart an Iran deal; and the recently revealed evidence that Nixon and Kissinger aided genocide in Pakistan/Bangladesh.​

​

​

​

​

 

[blackcat]

think MJ was an intern, or worked for AIPAC for a couple of decades, before they jumped the shark and felt they could elect non elect cynthia mckinney et al. prolly before Mega Martyn Indyk etc.

if you put Mega + "Martin Indyk" into google, you get the trove of Elders type trope websites, and not the John Elliott IXL type. and the truthers. http://wakeupfromyourslumber.com/node/9139

 

[blackcat]

It is certainly a thorough and well researched piece of long form journalism. The bloke didn't stab it out half cut on his iPhone from a quiet corner of The Men's Gallery a la Robbo.

Lance Armstrong was a sucker for the private corner at Yellow Rose in Austin too. heheheh. not brad pearce at goldfingers.

 

[Hot Pocket]

Good read. I knew Iran was running Iraq by default for a while, but had no idea how one stupid line from GWB (the gaffe that keeps on giving) essentially scuttled Iranian/American relations.

Makes a lot of sense though, because throughout history Iran/Persia has existed primarily as an empire, not a nation. They still have that global reach and expertise, its in their national identity.

Much like China and Turkey, they are likely to be an empire/power again in the nearish future.

The europeans really did luck out for a few hundred years there, but soon enough we'll be back fighting amongst ourselves and destroying the joint while the historical powers like China, Persia, Arabia, Russia and Turkey do most of the heavy hitting.

The yanks will soon completely kill off their middle class, which was nothing more than an aberration based on Japan and Germany being crippled. They'll revert to a nation designed to service a moneyed few, made up mostly of violent, poor, religious, hicks. Just like they were up until WW1. Australia will go the same way.

 

[blackcat]

Good read. I knew Iran was running Iraq by default for a while, but had no idea how one stupid line from GWB (the gaffe that keeps on giving) essentially scuttled Iranian/American relations.

well, we HEAR day after day after day. IED = Iran 2003-2010.

apart from speaking in third person, blackcat would usually now say, bull$h!t, you dont know, show me proof.

well, if this blackcat one, oracle he may be, was a little detached, he would appreciate that is a premise of Rumsfeld's known unknowable. its an absurdist take on Goedel's incompleteness theorem, for a redneck american.

... since i dont know IRan were actually not causing havoc for the marines, how can i pot the intelligence from the State dep't and pentagon. So Logic FAILURE right there.

But simple geopolitic strategy says.
(i) we have a Shiaa/Sunni schism.
(ii) Sunni minority did rule
(iii) Shiaa majority was under rule.
(iv) Persians = Shiaa.
(v) next door neighbour.

ofcourse they will be involved.

but for a long time, my rule of thumb has been
CIA and American Intelligence * = blackcat takes the oppositve pov. and usually i have been better for it.
but this is the false dichotomy innit.

my point, that DawOfPromotion took, was i dont buy much stuff coming from DC and the thinkwanks. It is like all the babies that Saddam's special guard threw on the floor in Kuwait in 88 or whenever GulfWarI was.


/As Is.

*remember a few months before the USSR breaks up, the CIA were predicting strength to strength. enemy qua enemy, overwhelming threat

 

[Run n Spread]

And as I've been predicting the whole time, the "szensible" and secularish elements of the rebels are talking to Assad.

http://www.independent.co.uk/voices...g-talks-with-assads-senior-staff-8847615.html

They'll end up fighting side by side with the SAA against the jihadis.

It is Syria's "Anbar 2006" moment.

Good read. A hell of a s**t storm on all sides really. Funny thing about Assad is both sides I reckon would be pretty happy to piss him off as "he isn't worth the trouble" but he will probably push on due to the s**t storm dealing with the fall out of the power vacuum if he leaves. The yanks don't want to have to deal with a Jihadi power base and the Iranians risk losing major assets.

One thing I took out is the Iranian Religious Power Base still has an iron grip and as long as that continues Suleimani will have a huge say it what goes down.

Makes a lot of sense though, because throughout history Iran/Persia has existed primarily as an empire, not a nation. They still have that global reach and expertise, its in their national identity.

Much like China and Turkey, they are likely to be an empire/power again in the nearish future.

The europeans really did luck out for a few hundred years there, but soon enough we'll be back fighting amongst ourselves and destroying the joint while the historical powers like China, Persia, Arabia, Russia and Turkey do most of the heavy hitting.

The yanks will soon completely kill off their middle class, which was nothing more than an aberration based on Japan and Germany being crippled. They'll revert to a nation designed to service a moneyed few, made up mostly of violent, poor, religious, hicks. Just like they were up until WW1. Australia will go the same way.

The nations that will dominate in the future will be those that innovate and develop the next new markets away from current dependencies like oil. Agree about the direction of the US and Australia, unless our leaders and decision makers pull their fingers out quick smart.

Hard to see how the Persians or Arabs are somehow going to recreate an empire with the internal divisions and the need to keep a growing and rapidly educated population happy. If oil ever runs out they will be farked and down the same toilet as the US is heading. (Yeah their base will be big but worth bugger all).

The Euros were stupid to try and effectively merge and the smarter nations there that can extracate themselves without damage may be in the box seat.

The Chinese and Asians are interesting. Well placed, plan ahead and have a clear direction but not market leaders or innovators. (Excluding a few nations like Japan).

Race there is still open.

 

[blackcat]

The Chinese and Asians are interesting. Well placed, plan ahead and have a clear direction but not market leaders or innovators. (Excluding a few nations like Japan).

Race there is still open.

sans education, the tigers usually come with momentum and innovation, per capita, that is significant. See how the Koreans became the Japanese of the 70s and 80s. Just a few bounds.

My worry is for the Africans, as apart from the Nigerian email scammers, they really dont have much mercantile leaning. Apart from the Saffas, and they are Dutch, Brit, German, and Jew diaspora. And most of them with talent left like #KPgenius eh medusala
#KeplerVessels