The Iranian propaganda machine is in need of improvement

Does Iran’s state media use Photoshop? The charge has been leveled before. So far, though, it can’t be said with any certainty whether there is any official Iranian involvement in this instance. Sepah apparently published the three-missile version of the image today without further explanation.

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The military junta ruling Burma is the most evil entity on the planet. We hear the term “evil” tossed around a good bit these days. Then there is that certifiable moron on MSNBC who hosts the “Worst Person in the World” segment on his show every night, seemingly thinking that only conservatives qualify as bad people. How Bill O’Reilly is worse than Kyin Nyunt is something only the most neurologically deficient can fathom. Somebody needs to take a potassium supplement.

For those who think sua sponte military invention is inherently a bad thing, perhaps the relief effort in Burma deserved just that sort of response. The supplies were there. The need was there. The only thing standing between some of the most destitute individuals on the planet and survival were the four hardly working helicopters of a morally bankrupt and illegitimate military government. One aerial raid would have enabled the survival of thousands. In the interim, a government that has a vested interest in killing a sizeable portion of its population has continued to kill a sizeable portion of its population, through systematic neglect and theft.

For very little cost, the United States military (and the former countries of SEATO, to include Australia - oh, for John Howard!) could easily have diverted a humanitarian crisis of near-biblical proportions, and weakened one of the most horrific regimes on the planet. If there was a time for justifying the most minor of military interventions, the tsunami that devastated Burma is it.

At some base level, all dictatorial types are hypocrites. Aggrandizing power involves a certain amount of demagoguery, and keeping that power usually involves projecting the societal problems that arise from totalitarian rule on a predictive bogeyman. Whether it’s Hitler and the Jews, or Sharia law, or Pol Pot, it’s always the blame game.

So long live the hypocrisy of Robert Mugabe, “president” of Zimbabwe

Mr Mugabe, who has been in power since independence in 1980, is under heavy international criticism for the delay in releasing results from a March 29 presidential election, which the opposition Movement for Democratic Change (MDC) says was won by its leader, Morgan Tsvangirai.

But the President was characteristically defiant in his speech, repeating a familiar line that Britain, not the MDC, was the real enemy. “Today they have perfected their tactics to a more subtle form by using money literally to buy some people to turn against their government. We are being bought like livestock,” he said.

Having been in power since 1980, Mugabe is a veteran of the tactic. Nevermind that things have gotten worse since Mugabe took over power from the British since … 1980. Last year the Zimbabwe economy shrunk by over five percent. Inflation is nearing 8,000 percent (yeah, that’s three zeros), and with a population of approximately 13 million, can only muster a miserly GDP of $400 million (do that math!).

Robert Mugabe is a disaster, and it’s all the Brits’ fault. Even by African standards, he has run his country into the ground.

The Olympic Committee is getting exactly what it deserves.

China, which maintains a propped up “free trade” coast line to hide the impoverished peoples of its inland, is cracking under international pressure. The communist regime is now demanding apologies from CNN for calling its goons “goons”. Could no one see the Tibetan uprise coming, and the subsequent Tienneman-like squashing of it by the authoritarian government? Did anyone now know that the Chinese government is subsidizing the genocide in Darfur? Or that the Chinese would do anything - absolutely anything - in an attempt to avoid embarrassment?

Just last week, Chinese authorities claimed to have uncovered a terrorist threat in the western-most Xinjiang Province, an area known also as East Turkestan, that the Chinese have oppressed for decades. The nearest Olympic event to Xinjiang Province is approximately 2,000 miles. The primary mode of transportation in the province is the donkey cart. I am attempting to imagine a bunch of East Turkestan rebels kidnapping athletes in donkey carts, but just keep laughing. We need Indiana Jones to make that chase scene interesting.

So, apparently no one knew much about China. Or else had some severely debilitating condition that affected foresight. Now officials say that Beijing must get its air clean before the games start. I can only imagine the lengths the communist government will go to make that happen.

Does anyone have my PIN?

Hugo Chavez is about half as clever as he thought he was

President Hugo Chavez on Sunday threatened to cut off oil sales to the United States in an “economic war” if Exxon Mobil Corp. wins court judgments to seize billions of dollars in Venezuelan assets. Exxon Mobil has gone after the assets of state oil company Petroleos de Venezuela SA in U.S., British and Dutch courts as it challenges the nationalization of a multibillion dollar oil project by Chavez’s government.

A British court has issued an injunction “freezing” as much as $12 billion in assets.

There’s nothing like nationalizing billions of dollars in hard assets and oil rights, then forgetting about your government’s Western off shore bank accounts. Someone give Chavez a map and circle the Caymans.

Venezuela needs hard currency as much as it needs air and water. The prospects of Chavez ceasing oil exports to the United States is a rhetorical joke, minus the hard hitting punchline.

The aspiring Venezuelan dictator has been operating a political Ponzi scheme since his first election. He promises more and more to maintain power, then needs to take more and more to meet the promises, always trying to stay one step ahead. He is finding out the hard way that the portion of the public demanding government handouts can never be satiated, no matter what the country or what the ultimate cost.

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I’ll have more thoughts on it later, more related to how the presidential candidates respond throughout the day than how things are evolving on the ground in Asia. As usual, the best place on the web to follow developments is Drudge.

Pakistan was already a mess. Now it’s a nuclear empowered bigger mess. I don’t think there’s much more expert analysis needed, and I’m not one to offer it. Muslim fundamentalists executed a pro-Western, female candidate for prime minister, largely because she was female, and had threatened to do so multiple times before. I’m not among the surprised.

UPDATE More from Bob Krumm

Byron York opines on the potential political fallout of the Bhutto assassination. He contends that this hurts Iowa frontrunners Huckabee and Romney, helps Giuliani and McCain, and would help Fred Thompson if more people were paying attention to him. By the same logic, someone else it helps is Hillary. That’s because we will be reminded that very recently Obama had some very naive things to say about Pakistan.

Add this to the recent Iowa polling, and Michelle Obama may prove to be quite the distinguished prophetess.

RIP, you tank-conquering, vodka-swilling, giggling-with-Clinton world leader, you.

I wrote a bit about Yeltsin on his last birthday (during a few months of our blog that has mysteriously disappeared from our archives … yeah, I’m looking at you, Putin), so I won’t repeat my thoughts here.   I do think he was an intriguing man who was a champion for freedom.  But, I do wonder if Yeltsin did actually just die.  The Russians have a way of pickling and propping their leaders until the time is right to announce an unfortunate demise.

Question — Will the Kremlin count the news of Yeltsin’s death as part of the 50% good news or 50% bad news when it gets reported on state radio?  He couldn’t be a favorite of the current leadership that wishes to bring back the KGB and those nifty five-year plans.  Oh, Vladimir.  How did Bush miss that glaring hammer and sickle when he looked deep into your eyes?

I do like one bit of analysis offered by a terrified employee:

“When we talk of death, violence or poverty, for example, this is not positive,” said one editor at the station who did not want to be identified for fear of retribution. “If the stock market is up, that is positive. The weather can also be positive.” 

They’ve got to look to the weather to meet their “positive news” quotient?  What would such a broadcast sound like?  Something along the lines of, “The glorious city of Moscow received ten minutes of sunshine today at which time the glare off the snow created a spectacular prism of color!  We owe our thanks to our amazing leader, Brother Putin, who certainly created this perfect day.”

AC Kleinheider over at Volunteer Voters (or, V squared, as the cool kids call it) posted a query in response to my post on Yeltsin’s birthday.

At my mention that today’s world is so different than the time that the United States and the Soviet Union existed as the two superpowers, Kleinheider writes:

Was it really that different? Sometimes I wonder. Are we not in very many ways engaged in a similar kind of situation with the “Islamofascists” as we were with the Russkies in the Cold War?

Discuss.

My responding comment was as follows:

The situations are very different. The Soviets didn’t want to die. That’s why MAD was such an effective deterrent. There were two world superpowers and nearly every country in the world lined up with one or the other. There was a certain order to the geopolitics. Now, “rogue nations” and Islamic terrorists who claim no particular nation may or may not have access to nuclear weapons and martyrdom by death is a goal. 

So, I bring the same debate over here to the fine MooreThoughts blog.  Is our conflict with the Islamic terrorists similar to our Cold War with the Soviets?

On the heels of electorally induced riots in Budapest, Hungary, it seems the government in Thailand has been overthrown.

From a StratFor Intelligence Alert that just hit my Inbox

The Thai military moved tanks around government headquarters in Bangkok the evening of Sept. 19 as part of an apparent army coup. Thai Prime Minister Thaksin Shinawatra is in New York, and he will not be able to return until some sort of compromise has been made. Thaksin tried to make a statement on television regarding a state of emergency, but the programming was interrrupted to show pictures of Thai royalty while songs associated with former military coups played in the background.

The tanks moved in shortly after Thaksin issued a state of emergency and ordered army Commander in Chief Sondhi Boonyaratkalin to report to Deputy Prime Minister Pol. Gen. Chidchai Wannasathit. It is unclear whether this is an attempted coup, preventative military action or a countercoup.

Meanwhile, things are relatively calm in Bankgkok. No soldiers have been patrolling the streets, no curfew has been declared and the airport is open.

The crisis seems to have been averted, for now.

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Looks like Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad has been taking some tips from Harold Ford, Jr.

TEHRAN, Iran (AP) — Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad proposes having a televised debate with President Bush on world issues. 

No word yet on whether or not Ahmadinejad will call President Bush a chicken for not agreeing to enough worldwide debates.

I’d be surprised if this resolution does any good at all

Earlier Thursday, US Ambassador John Bolton suggested that the new UN resolution could reach its final form by Thursday night and be put to a vote as early as Friday, but that “there are no guarantees.”

First, however, the Americans and French wanted to make sure that a resolution was acceptable to the Israelis and the Lebanese, who rejected the original draft circulated on Saturday.

The latest draft reportedly does not call for the immediate disarmament of Hizbullah, and calls for French troops to join both a UNIFIL force and the Lebanese army in the Israel-Lebanon border area.

French troops are never a good selling point, unless your invading force speaks Deutsch.
Anything short of complete disarmament of Hizbullah offers little value to the Israelis. A partially armed Hizbullah only makes the potential for a greater escalation later more likely. And I seriously doubt those French troops will be stopping trucks crossing the Syrian border from the Imam Furher

Israeli Prime Minister Ehud Olmert notes the Israeli requirements for any UN resolution

Olmert explained to Welch that the important points of the UN agreement, as far as Israel was concerned, were the deployment of a robust multinational force, the unconditional and immediate return of the kidnapped soldiers, the retention of Israel’s right to defend itself from continued rocket attacks, Hizbullah’s departure from southern Lebanon, and an embargo on selling weapons to Hizbullah.

I don’t think the current resolution will do it.

The things that Fidel is worried about

HAVANA (Reuters) - Cuba’s communist government has signaled a crackdown on black-market satellite dishes used by citizens to get news and views from its arch enemy, the United States, nine days after ailing leader Fidel Castro temporarily relinquished power to his brother.

The Communist Party newspaper Granma warned that the dishes, which many Cubans use to watch Spanish-language TV programs from the exile bastion of Miami, could be used by the U.S. government to broadcast subversive information.

“They are fertile ground for those who want to carry out the Bush administration’s plan to destroy the Cuban revolution,” said the newspaper, the official voice of the government. Similar articles in Granma usually signal that action can be expected.

How long has that revolution been going on, anyway? Last I checked revolutions are supposed to end. I hear through the grape vine that a revolution is still ongoing in North Korea, too. But far be it from America to interfere with the divine right regime headed by Fidel Castro

While Cuban coastal communities have been told to scan the skies for a U.S. invasion that Washington has assured Cubans it will not stage, Cuban authorities continued to organize neighborhood rallies in support of the Castro brothers.

The half-million-member Communist Youth Union and other student organizations wished Castro a rapid recovery in a letter published by the newspaper Juventud Rebelde.

French actor Gerard Depardieu added his name to a list of 400 international personalities, including leftist commentator Noam Chomsky and South Africa’s Archbishop Desmond Tutu, who signed a statement against U.S. interference, Granma said.

I’m trying to figure out why Depardieu stuck his nose into this. I guess he couldn’t help himself.

The Tennessean editorial board has today come out for free trade and for reducing the size of the Metro Council.

I have nothing to complain about. It’s a nice feeling.

If Fidel Castro dies of old age, it will have to go down as one of the greatest injustices in history. If there is anyone who deserves a reckoning both in this world and the next, it is the Cuban dictator. I for one would feel better if we find out he had been poisoned.

UPDATE Six Meat Buffet chimes in nicely

Somebody let me know when he kicks the bucket. I want to enjoy a drink in the honor of his joyous passing and journey across the River Styx into the lake of fire.

Amen.

I get the feeling we’re about to have a Generalissimo Francisco Franco moment.

As if the geopolitical scene surrounding North Korea wasn’t bizarre enough, we now have a glimpse into Kim Jong Il’s…love life

There is no official information available about the marital history of the 64-year-old leader of the highly secretive government, but Kim is widely believed to have been married three times. His last wife, Ko Yong Hi, reportedly died of cancer in 2004.

Since then, Kim has been living with Kim Ok, who had served as his personal secretary since the 1980s, Yonhap reported, citing South Korean government officials it didn’t further identify.

Kim Ok, 42, “virtually acts as North Korea’s first lady” and frequently accompanies the North Korean leader on his visits to military bases and in meetings with visiting foreign dignitaries, Yonhap said.

No sexual harassment suit? He must have shredded all the documents.

The New York Times shows us that moral equivalency isn’t dead 

WASHINGTON, July 21 — The Bush administration is rushing a delivery of precision-guided bombs to Israel, which requested the expedited shipment last week after beginning its air campaign against Hezbollah targets in Lebanon, American officials said Friday.

The decision to quickly ship the weapons to Israel was made with relatively little debate within the Bush administration, the officials said. Its disclosure threatens to anger Arab governments and others because of the appearance that the United States is actively aiding the Israeli bombing campaign in a way that could be compared to Iran’s efforts to arm and resupply Hezbollah. [emphasis added]

Is that really the appearance? Surprisingly, the Times gives credence to the belief that the United States selling precision arms to a fellow democracy under attack is comparable to an Islamofascist government funneling arms to a terrorist group targeting the civilians in that democracy. Let’s not forget that precision arms are designed to do two things: hit military targets more accurately, and reduce civilian casualties. With noted gusto, The Times has chosen to ignore that particularly relevant detail.