Actually, This is Good News, Right?

Iranian 'students' rampage in Tehran.

DEBKAfile are reporting that the Gulf Cooperation Council, led by the Saudis, have given up hope of the US dealing with Iran's plans to go nuke and will themselves "defend the oil emirates" by military action if necessary.

Saudi King Abdullah reportedly also told US Defense Secretary Robert Gates on April 6 and National Security Adviser Tom Donilon a week later, that he (the king of Saud) "could not forgive the Americans for throwing former Egyptian President Hosni Mubarak to the wolves in Cairo and for the unrest they were promoting against Arab regimes."

For their part, Iran has "beefed up its strength along the Pakistani border to warn Islamabad that if it matters come to a clash with Saudi Arabia, Pakistan and its military will not escape punishment."
At the same time, thousands of Iranian 'students', mobilized by the Revolutionary Guards and Basijj voluntary corps have laid siege to the Saudi embassy in Tehran for most of the past week, complete with firebombs.

Of course, the whole Arab-Persian thing predates the Old Testament, so the idea of a nuclear Persia is not one the Arabs will view with any relish.
Myself, I figure any time any parts of the "Muslim world" go after each other, they're less likely to go after the rest of us.

Oh, and note the irony, the Saudis and their neighbors are unhappy because the US and the Israelis are not "interfering" in the region's affairs.

They should make up their minds already. Sheesh.

The Iranian Dream

What Ever Will Become Of Egypt?

How's about Iran 2.0?

That'll be what the Muslim Brotherhood are aiming for.

Queers Against Israeli Apartheid Tour Iran

Happy Anniversary, Mr Rushdie

Congratulations on still being alive.

It was twenty years ago today- February 14th 1989- the Ayatollah Cockamamie issued the fatwa calling on all good adherents of the Religion of Peace to kill this guy over his book, The Satanic Verses. Fortunately, he's still alive and kicking.
I own a copy of the book and have read it four times over the years. Unlike some, who call it "largely unreadable" and such (I suspect an element of ass-covering), I think its a tremendous book, one of Rushdie's best (I've read most of his stuff). I love his playful use of language and I find his story-telling engrossing.

"Now that I am dead I have forgotten how to forgive. I curse you, my Gibreel, may your life be hell. Hell, because that's where you came from, devil, where you're going, sucker, enjoy the bloody dip. Rekha's curse; and after that, verses in a language he did not understand, all harshness and sibilance, in which he thought he made out, but maybe not, the repeated name Al-Lat."

Maybe it helps to have a handle on the Koran and Hadiths. The title, of course, is apparently as much a part of the "insults to Islam" as anything, referring as it does to the not really halal to mention original (Satan's, allegedly) version of Sura 53:

Have you thought of Al-Lat, al-'Uzza and Manat the third, the other?
These are the exalted Gharaniq, whose intercession is hoped for.

Sura Al-Najm (Q.53)

Live long and prosper, Mr Rushdie.

Obama Snags Coveted Tehran Endorsement

I'madinnerjacket wants you to know he likes Barry O for Pres.

"Tehran wants Barack Obama in the White House, rules out war

DEBKAfile Special Report

October 23, 2008, 11:19 AM (GMT+02:00)

During a visit to Bahrain, Iran’s parliament speaker Ali Larijani said Wednesday, Oct. 22, that Tehran would prefer Democratic senator Barack Obama in the White House next year. He also ruled out any US attack on his country. “The risk was low before, but now I am 100 percent certain that the United States will not unleash a war against Iran,” he said at a new conference in Manama.

“We lean more in favor of Obama,”, “because he is more flexible and rational, even through we know American policy will not change that much.”

DEBKAfile’s Iranian sources note that Larijani is one of the most powerful voices in Tehran’s conservative camp and a close confidant of supreme ruler Ayatollah Ali Khamenei. He would not have spoken out in favor of Obama without top-level sanction.

The location Larijani chose for his statement is significant: Bahrain is one of America’s greatest friends in the Gulf region, host to the US 5th Fleet headquarters. Tehran was laying claim to a foothold in the Gulf region.

The argument he advanced against a US attack was arithmetical: “The economic crisis has cost America 1,400 billion dollars and Washington is working to resolve its internal problems and not a war.”

http://www.debka.com/headline.php?hid=5670

I predict Chris Matthews will lead with this tomorrow and he'll be getting that special Obamessiah feeling up his legs again.

Lebanon Heading for Civil War?

The exceptionally reliable Debkafile's sources are reporting that "Pro-Western Siniora government and Iran-Syria-backed Hizballah forces exchanged fire in the streets of Beirut Wednesday, May 7."

Both sides are apparently calling up all the fighters they can muster. Worse yet, "Hizballah fighters clad in national army and police uniforms are infiltrating government party strongholds in the capital to seize control."

Hizballah infiltrating the apparatus of the crumbling Lebanese government, laying seige to the Beirut airport and worst of all, beefing up their missile network with a "secret underground telecommunications system" with the help of Iran.

Just when you thought the news from the Middle East couldn't get worse ...
http://www.debka.com/headline.php?hid=5248