|
Next
Event
Friday, September 26, 2008, 07:00 PM: Truthiness and Agnotology
Does the massive increase in communications technology -- the internet, cell phones, satellite and cable television, internet video like youtube, and so on -- make us more informed? Or does it do the opposite -- spead doubt, confusion, lies, mythology, crackpot conspiracy theories, and the like? Bandwidth will keep increasing and increasing, so what should we expect for the future?
More...
|
|
|
|
Iran
|
[Opinion] Moscow's rapprochement with its regional ally are inevitable as instability widens.
The Persian state is bordered effectively by four war zones. The first is Turkey whereby Ankara appears in have been drawn this December into a "mini guerrilla war "with the Kurds on its southeastern border. Furthermore, the other three: Iraq, Afghanistan and now Pakistan are all in a big-bloody mess to say the least. Iraq has begun to decompose and is headed for a de facto partition along sectarian-religious lines. Afghanistan risks "rollback" in the form of a Taliban revival and return to power of the Mullahs and Imams.
Moreover, nuke equipped and civil- war prone Pakistan is on the verge of an Islamist takeover which would make the 1979" Iranian revolution" look like a kindergarten- tea party by comparison.
|
|
A National Intelligence Estimate (NIE) on Iran has been held up for more than a year in an effort to force the intelligence community to remove dissenting judgments on the Iranian nuclear programme, and thus make the document more supportive of U.S. Vice President Dick Cheney's militarily aggressive policy toward Iran, according to accounts of the process provided by participants to two former Central Intelligence Agency officers.
|
 The Bush administration is expected to announce a massive series of arms deals in the Middle East tomorrow that are being seen as part of a diplomatic offensive against the growing influence of Iran in the volatile region.
The centrepiece of the deals is an agreement between the US and a group of Persian Gulf nations, including Saudi Arabia, that could eventually be worth at least $20bn, according to news reports. At the same time, 10-year military aid packages will be renewed with Israel and Egypt.
The main thrust of the deal is the supply of advanced American weapons to long-term Arab allies in the Gulf. They include Saudi and five other Gulf states: the UAE, Kuwait, Qatar, Bahrain and Oman. All those countries have been jittery over the growing power of Iran and the possibility that Tehran is seeking to build a nuclear bomb. The supply of American arms to the countries not only gives them greater military power to counter Iran's but also cements them further as American allies.
In fact, so great is the White House's fear over Iran's intentions that the deal appears to ride roughshod over other American strategic concerns - such as Israeli fears over arming Arab countries and concern that Saudi Arabia has been supporting Sunni militants in Iraq.
|
|
|
|
