Always the Opportunist

Taliban Jack, sensing an opportunity to turn a tense international crisis into a cause for bashing Stephen Harper's government, betrays the Canadian Islamists-Leftist alliance.

"Foreign Affairs Minister Lawrence Cannon lodged a protest with the Iranian Embassy two weeks after Bahari was detained - a delay Layton is calling "unconscionable.""

Let me see now. How many times has Jackoff condemned Iran's seizure of Bahari? Only once, it seems. On the same day that Cannon did. But Cannon's statement is the second one issued by the Harper government. The first came out June 22nd, the day after Bahari was detained. Aw, Jack. You betrayed your friends just to make a stupid, erroneous statement. Not only that, but you waited eighteen days. That's more than two weeks, Jacko, in case you can't count.

Sarah Palin on Twitter

Check it out.

More on Galloway

Azarmehr has YouTube videos. The last one in particular (clickable, but not embedded) shows him kowtowing to Uday, the monstrous son of Saddam Hussein. In the comments:

"One's reaction to such images is the clearest line of demarcation between those, like us, who believe that human beings are naturally endowed with inalienable rights and those, like the despicable Mr. Galloway, Hanif-e-jakesh, et al, who do not.

Watching these also reminded me of why the world owes an immense debt of gratitude to the US and Coalition troops who deposed this monster."

Some day, when Iran is free, and when Iraq is fully on its own feet, perhaps this man will be indicted, arrested and brought to justice. I can only hope I live to see it.

Nail Biter in Iran

Read Michael Ledeen's updates on the demonstrations that took place today in Iran. Some horrific accounts as well as some encouraging ones.

Report from Times Online (London):

"As darkness fell on baking, dust-shrouded Tehran tonight an army of riot police and hardline basiji militiamen used batons, gun butts and tear gas to beat back thousands of Iranians converging on the city centre.

"The security presence was massive. It was like a military occupation," one witness told The Times. "They were clubbing the hell out of people."

The greater victory belonged to the demonstrators, however. Male and female, some quite old, they came armed with nothing more than a burning sense of injustice. They defied the risk of serious physical injury, and the very real possibility of arrest, incarceration and torture. They did this to show the world that their resistance to Iran's brutal and illegitimate government has not been extinguished."

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"The regime did its best to prevent fresh manifestions of public anger today. It took advantage of the dust storms that have smothered the capital this week to close universities, offices and businesses, and to encourage people to leave the city. It shut down the text messaging system, and Morteza Tamadon, Tehran's governor, warned that demonstrations inspired by "anti-revolutionary networks" would be "trampled under the feet" of the security forces.

The demonstrators came anyway — not in the massive numbers of the earlier protests, and not with the banners or camera phones that would make them instant targets, but with even greater courage."

An absolutely must read.

Azarmehr has videos.

Obama!!!

Well lookie here! Every once in a while Obama does something that I agree with.

Barack Obama tells Africa to stop blaming colonialism for problems

""I think part of what's hampered advancement in Africa is that for many years we've made excuses about corruption or poor governance, that this was somehow the consequence of neo-colonialism, or the West has been oppressive, or racism – I'm not a big – I'm not a believer in excuses."

And while we're on that topic, here's something I wanted to post and comment on a few weeks ago, but never got around to it. An interview with Dambisa Moyo, author of Dead Aid: Why Aid is Not Working and How There is a Better Way for Africa. If you've never heard of her, she kicks ass!

Part 1, Part 2, Part 3, Part 4, Part 5

Enjoy.

Condell on the Burqa:

Cyberstealth: the 21st Century's Warfare

Wary of naked force, Israelis eye cyberwar on Iran

Freedom versus firewalls: The Senate can help fend off authoritarian censorship

Both good reads.

Great interview of Nonie Darwish.

...on women in the Islamic world.

More On Omar "F**K Canada" Shaban

Toronto Sun columnist Joe Warmington writes an interesting column about this fool. Quoting extensively from Shaban's own words, it's very apparent that poor boy hasn't got a clue about the history of Canada's treatment of its first peoples. Look at this line of bullshit in particular:

"I apologize to the indigenous people of Canada because their feelings are not taken into consideration at Canada Day celebrations ... and because they had to be slaughtered, killed, massacred, diseased (sic) and dispossessed to establish Canada."

Say what??!!! Exactly where and when did Canada slaughter, kill, massacre or "diseased" any First Nations people?? Some of those things may be said of American treatment of Native Americans, but so what? Find me a place in the world where the record of mans inhumanity to man isn't full of this stuff. For the most part, whatever slaughtering and killing took place was in the context of wars in which various Indian tribes allied themselves with one or the other of the completing European powers. Shit happens in wars. Indians killed Indians. Whites killed whites and they both killed each other.

The "diseased" bit is especially ridiculous. The one and only instance of germ warfare on record (ie. documentary evidence actually exists), and it is somewhat debatable if you care to read reputable historical research, was the infamous smallpox infested blanket incident and it was the Brits, Jeffery Amherst, to be exact, that did that during the French and Indian Wars of 1763. Speculation exists of other incidents of similar tactics occurring during the American Revolutionary War, again by the Brits. (See Pox Americana: The Great Smallpox Epidemic of 1775 - 1882 by Elizabeth A. Fenn) There was no country called Canada then. No one could have foreseen 100 years into the future. Canada can hardly be blamed for actions taken on the battlefield a full century before the country was created.

Kinda of have to wonder what he was being taught in the Kwantlen Polytechnic University in BC, where he is a student. I've never heard of this institution. Must be a stalwart edifice of political correctness.

You'll notice he neglects to mention the valiant efforts of medical professionals in both Canada and the US to inoculate Indians against deadly diseases in more recent times. Does he know about the Hudson's Bay Company's efforts over the many years to provide medical services to the Indians with which they traded? Does he know about the medicine chest clause in Treaty 6 and how, whether accurately or not, that has been interpreted? Apparently, no. These sorts of documented historical facts are deliberately excluded from so many Native Studies curricula, it's little wonder.

Oh. And what about this line of BS "because their feelings are not taken into consideration at Canada Day celebrations"? "Feelings"? Typical Arab cult-of-perpetual-victimhood-poor-me-speak. This guy is a disciple of Edward Said, lock, stock and barrel.

As the saying goes, it's better to remain silent and be thought a fool than open your mouth and remove all doubt.

Great Catch at Ace of Spades

And here's a great analysis of the wisdom of her decision.

British Colonel Tells Truth About Hamas

A Message to Mr. F**K Canada

Over at Jay Currie's blog the other day there was a discussion of the "fuck Canada" comments made by Canadian Arab Federation tool Omar Shaban. Mr. Shaban referenced the treatment of Canada's aboriginal peoples in support of his contempt for the country in which he lives. By way of comparison, I think his own people, the Arabs, have a record with respect to indigenous peoples that should also be laid on the table. Consequently, I offer this one is for his edification:

A Must Read By Michael Ledeen

The storm ahead

"The Iranian tyrant, Ali Khamenei, told his cluster of top advisers two days ago that it was time to totally shut down the protests, and he ordered that any and all demonstrators, regardless of their status, be arrested (although there is no longer room for new prisoners in Tehran’s jails; they are now using sports arenas as holding areas). He further ordered that all satellite dishes be taken down (good luck with that one; there are probably millions of them in Tehran alone). He ordered that the crackdown be done at night, to avoid all those annoying videos. By Sunday night, hundreds of new arrests had been made, including the regime’s favorite targets: students, intellectuals, and journalists."

---

"So Khamenei is under pressure, and he is not well equipped to deal with it. He has a serious cancer, and takes opiates to mitigate the pain. People around him are whispering that his decisions are poorly reasoned and often impulsive, and some of those close to him, including his son, are apparently issuing orders in his name. This sort of rumor is devastating for the sort of personal rule upon which the Islamic Republic rests. We’ll see in the coming days if the Mousavi forces are able to maintain and increase the pressure, and how Khamenei and his henchmen respond.

---

"At the moment, there is evidence of some panic, as Iranian leaders are exporting their wealth."

---

"UPDATE II: The 3-day strike. Apparently the regime was so worried about the strike that they shut down most factories, businesses and offices. This is another sign of regime insecurity. And Mousavi today (Monday) received several distinguished visitors, including Khomeini’s grandson."

Yup. This is looking more and more like the end of the regime. And from one of the comments following Ledeen's article:

Mars Por Gohar

"Roozbeh Farahanipour, one of the leaders of the 1999 student uprising in Iran and other members and leaders of the Marze-Por-Gohar (MPG) Party are back in Iran in preparation of demonstrations for the July 9th anniversary; they have joined with thousands of other Iranian democracy activists and are already planning for rallies and demonstrations in spite of the ongoing crackdown of IRI forces and the statements of some IRI factions who are trying to confine the present movement within the tight Islamic and Constitutional limits, preventing cries for free elections and a democratic Iran being heard."

In the meantime Sarkozy stands firm with Britain while there is news of a French woman taken hostage.

Qom Clerics Speak Out

Qom clerics defy Khamenei

"Perhaps more threatening to the supreme leader, the committee called on other clerics to join the fight against the government’s refusal to adequately reconsider the charges of voter fraud. The committee invoked powerful imagery, comparing the 20 protesters killed during demonstrations with the martyrs who died in the early days of the revolution and the war with Iraq, asking other clerics to save what it called “the dignity that was earned with the blood of tens of thousands of martyrs.”"

---

"The statement was issued after a meeting Mr. Moussavi had with the committee 10 days ago and a decision by the Guardian Council to certify the election and declare that all matters concerning the vote were closed.

But the defiance has not ended.

With heavy security on the streets, there is a forced calm. But each day, slowly, another link falls from the chain of government control. Last week, in what appeared a coordinated thrust, Mr. Moussavi, Mr. Karroubi and Mr. Khatami all called the new government illegitimate. On Saturday, Mr. Milani of Stanford said, former President Ali Akbar Hashemi Rafsanjani met with families of those who had been arrested, another sign that he was working behind the scenes to keep the issue alive."

Top Iran Religious Body Criticizes Election Results

"Late Saturday, Mousavi's Ghalamnews website posted a 25-page report, exposing a laundry list of "fraud and irregularities," during the election, including intervention by the Revolutionary Guards and Basij militia in favor of President Mahmoud Ahmedinejad.

It also charged the Interior Ministry with printing 14-million ballots more than the number of registered voters. The Guardian council spokesman admitted, at one point, that the number of votes counted in one region exceeded the number of voters by three million."

---

"Former Iranian President Abolhassan Bani Sadr, who was overthrown in 1981 and lives in exile in Paris, says that he thinks Rafsanjani and the other clerics are putting up a timid resistance to the government, but the Iranian people have been bolder:

He says that Hashemi Rafsanjani is not able to stand up to Ayatollah Khamenei directly, but is trying to oppose him in a sly and surreptitious manner, using other people as covers. The other religious leaders who came out against the government, he says, are also being cautious, questioning the legitimacy of President Ahmedinejad and the repression he is waging, and electoral fraud. The people, he argues, have gone beyond that point, crying "down with the dictator ... down with Khamenei" and questioning the legitimacy of the entire regime."

I believe this is the beginning of the end. Sooner or later, even the reformist clerics will be swept from power and forced to return to the mosque.

Echo of Zahra Kazemi

Now we have Canadian-Iranian journalist, Maziar Bahari, recently captured by the regime, forced to "confess" on television and now facing trial.

Will Canada's government skirt around this issue they way they did with Zahra Kazemi?

There's News and Then There's Big News!!

h/t Spirit of Man

Saudis give nod to Israeli raid on Iran

"John Bolton, the former US ambassador to the United Nations who recently visited the Gulf, said it was “entirely logical” for the Israelis to use Saudi airspace.

Bolton, who has talked to several Arab leaders, added: “None of them would say anything about it publicly but they would certainly acquiesce in an overflight if the Israelis didn’t trumpet it as a big success.”

Arab states would condemn a raid when they spoke at the UN but would be privately relieved to see the threat of an Iranian bomb removed, he said."

WOW!! What does this say about the shifting dynamic in the Middle East? The House of Saud, birth place of Osama bin Laden and of Salafism, gives clearance to the Joooooos to bomb the piss out of the only Islamist state on the planet!!