Sabre-rattling with Iran

Tick.
Tick.
Tick.
I only hope these are just threats, not plans...
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Via A Persian's Perspective...
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The long awaited US military attack on Iran is now on track for the first week of April, specifically for 4 AM on April 6, the Good Friday opening of Easter weekend, writes the well-known Russian journalist Andrei Uglanov in the Moscow weekly “Argumenty Nedeli.” Uglanov cites Russian military experts close to the Russian General Staff for his account.
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The attack is slated to last for twelve hours, according to Uglanov, lasting from 4 AM until 4 PM local time. Friday is a holiday in Iran. In the course of the attack, code named Operation Bite, about 20 targets are marked for bombing; the list includes uranium enrichment facilities, research centers, and laboratories.
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Via Judith Weiss...
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The very public diplomatic game going on among England, Iran, and America, masks a deadly covert war that does not make the front pages of your newspapers.
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Why have the Iranians chosen this moment in time to kidnap these British troops?
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First and foremost, Iran's economy is in shambles. The mullahs are desperate to divert restless public attention from domestic troubles: lack of basic services, food and gas — to the "foreign devil." It's a reliable Communist ploy that the Islamic tyrants find most useful. Hence, all the sound and fury regarding Holocaust denial in Tehran. It's the oldest playbook in the world: scapegoat the evil Jooz!
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Several weeks ago, to slow the march of this genocidal plan, Israel's Mossad assassinated an Iranian nuclear scientist.
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In retaliation, in Paris, David Dahan, head of the Israeli Defense Ministry Mission to Europe, was assassinated by Iranian agents, the MOIS. The Israelis put out the cover story that Dahan committed suicide, but it is quite clear that this was a MOIS hit. Dahan died in service to his country. Baruch Dayan Emet.
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Ali Reza Asghari, a former Iranian deputy defense minister, defected to the West while visiting Turkey. He is now being questioned by US intelligence. Asghari is a most valuable asset. The West will use his information to analyze the Iranian nuclear defense capabilities.
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This is a tremendous threat to Iran's nuclear establishment. You can be sure that Israeli and American pilots are, at this very moment, punching in new coordinates, and flying practice missions with ferocious bunker-busting payloads that are just right for their newly acquired targets.
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The cheerleaders are getting their act together...
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Hugh Hewitt: Now let’s get to the first major issue of the day, which is Iran. Mr. Speaker, if the United Kingdom feels obliged to use force, if diplomacy fails to get their people back, will you applaud?
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Newt Gingrich: I think there are two very simple steps that should be taken. The first is to use a covert operation, or a special forces operation to knock out the only gasoline producing refinery in Iran. There’s only one. And the second is to simply intercede by Naval force, and block any tankers from bringing gasoline to Iran…
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HH: Would you do, would you urge them…
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NG: And say to the Iranians, you know, you can keep the sailors as long as you want, but in about 30 days, everybody in your country will be walking.
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HH: So how long would you give them, to give them that ultimatum, the Iranians?
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NG: I would literally do that. I would say to them, I would right now say to them privately, within the next week, your refinery will no longer work. And within the following week, there will be no tankers arriving. Now if you would like to avoid being humiliated publicly, we recommend you calmly and quietly give them back now. But frankly, if you’d prefer to show the planet that you’re tiny and we’re not, we’re prepared to simply cut off your economy, and allow you to go back to walking and using oxen to pull carts, because you will have no gasoline left.

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HH: I agree with that 100%. Would your recommendation to the United States President be the same if Iran seized our forces?
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NG: Absolutely. I mean, the reason I say that, it is the least violent, least direct thing you can do. It uses our greatest strength…you know, the mismatch in Naval power is absolute. And so you don’t have to send troops into Iran. Everybody on the left is waiting for conservatives to say things that allow them to run amok and parade in San Francisco, and claim that we’re warmongers. I want to avoid war by intelligently using our power to eliminate the option of sustaining an economy, so that the Iranian dictatorship will be shown to be the hollow dictatorship it is, so the people of Iran decide they’d like to have a decent government with real electricity and real gasoline, so they overthrow it. And I want to do that without risking a single American life, or being engaged in a single direct confrontation. And Naval power lets you do that.
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"I want to avoid war," he said. But that was Part Two of the plan after using covert or special forces operations to disable Iran's only gas refinery. "Covert" in this case may mean having plausible deniability.
What?
Somebody blew up your only gas refinery!
We're shocked, shocked!
Who might do such a thing?
That's too bad. Well I'll tell you how to avoid having to deal with US troops on top of whatever other problems you have...
Got it? Boy, that's what I call a real exercise in diplomacy.
One of Mao's most famous lines was "Political power grows out of the mouth of a gun." Oh, well. it was a later Chinese leader who added "It makes no difference what color the cat is as long as it catches mice."