Broken News: Iran Moving toward Military Dictatorship

Overheal

You know, ya crazy ol' bitch, I could have told you this 6 months ago. But, nah, lets wait until they have the Bomb just for kicks.

http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/2010/feb/15/clinton-iran-dictatorship-revolutionary-guard

The Obama administration switched to tougher tactics against Tehran today focusing on the corrupt and powerful Revolutionary Guard and seeking to drive a wedge between the elite military group and the public.
The US secretary of state, Hillary Clinton, on a visit to the Middle East, warned that Iran's democratic institutions were in danger of falling to the guard, the most powerful wing of the country's military.
"Iran is moving toward a military dictatorship," Clinton said in Doha, Qatar. "I'm not predicting what will happen but I think the trend with this greater and greater military lock on leadership decisions should be disturbing to Iranians as well as those of us on the outside."
Her comments mark a shift away from Barack Obama's offer of engagement with Iran, and shows a new willingness on the part of the US administration to become involved openly in Iran's internal politics – in contrast to last summer when the White House was long reluctant to comment on Iran's post-election demonstrations.
The White House aims to contrast the relative poverty of much of the population with the wealth the Revolutionary Guard has accrued. The guard, set up after the 1979 Islamic revolution, has about 125,000 fighters, owns hotels, airlines and other businesses, reports directly to the supreme leader, Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, and has a reputation inside Iran for thuggishness.
Clinton said the US was seeking UN sanctions "that will be particularly aimed at those enterprises controlled by the Revolutionary Guard, which we believe is, in effect, supplanting the government of Iran".
She added: "That is how we see it. We see that the government of Iran, the supreme leader, the president [Mahmoud Ahmadinejad], the parliament, is being supplanted and that Iran is moving toward a military dictatorship. That is our view."
She told reporters flying with her: "I think the civilian leadership is either preoccupied with its internal domestic political situation or ceding ground to the Revolutionary Guard and that's a deeply concerning development.
"It's a far cry from the Islamic republic that had elections and different points of view within the leadership circle."
Clinton's predecessor in the Bush administration, Condoleezza Rice, targeted the Revolutionary Guard with US sanctions, but this is the first time that a senior member of the Obama administration has pinpointed the group.
Karim Sadjadpour, one of the leading Iran analysts in the US, based at the Carnegie Endowment for International Peace, agreed that Iran was headed towards military dictatorship but disagreed with Clinton's analysis that the Revolutionary Guard was at odds with Khamenei and Ahmadinejad.
"Clinton's comments are a reflection of the reality on the ground. I wouldn't argue that the Revolutionary Guard are supplanting Ahmadinejad and Khamenei. However, I think the latter have actually spearheaded Iran's transition to military dictatorship," he said.
While sceptical about the value of previous rounds of sanctions against Iran, Sadjadpour said measures designed to stigmatise the Revolutionary Guard for their human rights abuses and deprive them of their ability to sign billion-dollar deals with multinational corporations would be welcomed by many democratic activists.
The biggest problem facing US attempts to persuade the UN security council to adopt sanctions against Iran is China, which has a veto in the council and is dependent on Iranian oil. Part of Clinton's mission to the Middle East is to encourage King Abdullah of Saudia Arabia to give China a guarantee that it would make up any shortfall in oil supplies.
The move on sanctions comes at a time of strained US-China relations, with Beijing opposed to Obama's meeting at the White House on Thursday with the Dalai Lama. Russia, which used to align itself with China in opposition to sanctions, has signalled a degree of willingness to support punitive action. The Israeli prime minister, Binyamin Netanyahu, today pressed Russia to back "sanctions with teeth" by targeting Iran's energy sector.
The tougher US line reflects White House frustration that the Iranian leadership has not responded positively to Obama's offer to negotiate. Clinton, during the US presidential primary contest against Obama, repeatedly pushed for a tougher approach along the lines of that now being adopted.

tl;dr - Apparently "The Revolutionary Guard will overthrow Ahmedinijad" is the new "Saddam has WMDs" excuse being generated to incite hostilities.

Such a conveniently timed proclamation. Notice she doesnt mention Nuclear Weapons or anything. Seems a pretty obvious omission given the events of last week: Iran enriching Uranium to 20% and Launching animal test subjects into space on a sizeable delivery system. Hint hint. Wink. Nudge. :rolleyes:

I don't approve of the way we have been choosing to handle the situation at all and I don't like where its heading.

/not in US Pol. Tad too International no?

Nodin

...could be just a Space Monkey program....

Overheal

They were space Turtles iirc.

ei.sdraob

nothing like a war to get the economy rolling... especially if your main industries are in the "defense" and "arms" sectors (US,UK) ...

Biggins

Must be that time of the decade again. Time to beat the drums again...
Just in time too when the troops start to go home from Iraq/Afghanistan and get bored!

Mr.Micro

ei.sdraob wrote: »

nothing like a war to get the economy rolling... especially if your main industries are in the "defense" and "arms" sectors (US,UK) ...

Too right, so long as the yanks and the UK get to destroy another country and then rebuild...... as they both know best, not.

Biggins

When I read H. Clintons words in the New York Times, I thought to myself right away "Christ, here we go again...!"

“We will always defend ourselves, and we will always defend our friends and allies, and we will certainly defend countries who are in the Gulf who face the greatest immediate nearby threat from Iran”

http://www.nytimes.com/2010/02/16/world/middleeast/16diplo.html?hp

...and just in time too when they are finally getting their act together on their missile defence shield!
See: http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/worldnews/article-1250734/U-S-Star-Wars-laser-plane-shoots-ballistic-missile.html

scully74

Overheal wrote: »

You know, ya crazy ol' bitch, I could have told you this 6 months ago. But, nah, lets wait until they have the Bomb just for kicks.

http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/2010/feb/15/clinton-iran-dictatorship-revolutionary-guard


tl;dr - Apparently "The Revolutionary Guard will overthrow Ahmedinijad" is the new "Saddam has WMDs" excuse being generated to incite hostilities.

Such a conveniently timed proclamation. Notice she doesnt mention Nuclear Weapons or anything. Seems a pretty obvious omission given the events of last week: Iran enriching Uranium to 20% and Launching animal test subjects into space on a sizeable delivery system. Hint hint. Wink. Nudge. :rolleyes:

I don't approve of the way we have been choosing to handle the situation at all and I don't like where its heading.

/not in US Pol. Tad too International no?

No offence, but the news(papers, radio and tv) we get is alway geared towards the westis right and east is dangerous, and the west considers itself the police of the world, and the US is still the only country to drop the bomb

Overheal

scully74 wrote: »

the US is still the only country to drop the bomb

On a target of interest; but not in testing.

jank

Overheal wrote: »

On a target of interest; but not in testing.

I think you know what he ment.

Anyway it sucks but the US cant do anything about this. They can only hope for a revloution from within. Other than that Israel might get a bit itchy but they can expect a huge backlash if anything happens.