Zappa.com

http://hosted.ap.org/dynamic/stories/N/ ... TE=DEFAULT<br><br>Situation is getting scarier every day !<br><br>Let's hope the US will have some self control & the UN will finally do it's job. >:(

The US show self control and the UN do its job good joke there pedro ha ha ha

Glad SOMEBODY caught the sarcasim there  ;)

I think Iran's current behavior is a result of their being emboldened by the US failures in Iraq and UN failures everywhere (IMHO it was NATO intervention more than UN intervention that helped end the Bosnian war).  They know the US military is spread so thin that they cannot start ANOTHER war in Iran.<br><br>IMHO, Iran is rattling its nuclear sabre to extort trade and other concessions from the rest of the world.  I think it will work.<br><br>I also think they will build a bomb anyway.  Wouldn't YOU do the same if the country that is occupying your neighbor's county has labeled you as part of the same Axis of Evil of which your neighbor is a part?<br><br>vcf

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There isn't much chance that you'll get people to like you. The best that most folks can hope for is that people will put up with their shit. MTF

Revel in your otherness. MK

STILL pissed at Tipper. VCF

Senator Murtha said it right on Face the Nation Iran, N.Korea, China, Russia ect...all know our military is spread so thin we're not a threat to anyone. Super power my ass, we're more vulnerable now than we've ever been.  8)

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Distant cousins there's a limited supply, down to the dozen and here's the reason why.

[quote author=ZardozII link=board=general;num=1141820482;start=0#4 date=03/09/06 at 05:11:06]Senator Murtha said it right on Face the Nation Iran, N.Korea, China, Russia ect...all know our military is spread so thin we're not a threat to anyone. Super power my ass, we're more vulnerable now than we've ever been.  8)[/quote]And if actually attacked the only thing left for US military defense is its nuclear arsenal.<br><br>--Bat<br>

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http://s9.photobucket.com/user/GOConnor/library/Facebook/Justin%20Bieber%20and%20You

[quote author=BatchainPartIV link=board=general;num=1141820482;start=0#5 date=03/10/06 at 01:29:17]<br>And if actually attacked the only thing left for US military defense is its nuclear arsenal.<br><br>--Bat<br>[/quote]<br><br>Which is scary seeing were the only country to have actually used it.  8)<br>

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Distant cousins there's a limited supply, down to the dozen and here's the reason why.

[quote author=BatchainPartIV link=board=general;num=1141820482;start=0#5 date=03/10/06 at 01:29:17]<br>And if actually attacked the only thing left for US military defense is its nuclear arsenal.<br><br>--Bat<br>[/quote]<br><br><br>I don't know - kinda think that's jumping the gun a little.<br><br>I think the UN would try sanctions first , then maybe a few key assasinations ( of course WE would never do that -  right ) and then try to install some type of puppet regiem of our own choosing. <br><br>The older population in Iran is quickly going by the wayside and the younger generation , which I believe is about 65% of the total population , is getting tired of the old guard and becoming more and more western.<br> <br>The real problem is that we have let Iran go unchecked ( like N. Korea ) for far too many years and Iran has been smart enough to conceal most of their workmanship underground. But at the same time, having them almost surrounded by our troops ( can you say LONG TERM STRATAGY ) is to our benifit. <br><br>No matter how you look at it though , it could get VERY ugly in a VERY short time period. In the meantime China keeps building and spending more on their military , de-valuing their money , and using the world's resources without us batting an eye.<br><br>Let's just hope common sense prevails , but I'm not holding my breath. ::)

Those who play with fire...

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Iran plane crash: Ukraine refuses to rule out Boeing 737 was shot down by missile near Tehran killing 176
Gareth Davies, Breaking News Editor Josh White Verity Bowman

8 January 2020 • 6:58pm

Ukraine has refused to rule out that the plane that crashed in Iran and killed all 176 on board was struck by a missile.

The foreign ministry in Kyiv confirmed that everyone aboard the Boeing 737-800 flown by Ukraine International Airlines was killed after it came down shortly after it departed from Imam Khomeini International Airport in the Iranian capital of Tehran.

President Donald Trump is expected to address the crash in a press conference on the escalating US-Iran tensions at 11am EST (4pm GMT).

There were three British people on board, as well as citizens from six other countries, according to the Ukraine's Minister for Foreign Affairs Vadym Prystaiko.

Asked at a briefing in Kyiv if the plane could have been downed by a missile, Ukraine's Prime Minister Oleksiy Honcharuk refused to rule it out, but cautioned against speculation until the investigation concluded.

Initially, Ukraine's embassy in Iran said on Wednesday morning that engine failure caused the plane to crash and denied that it was terror-related or that a rocket had hit the aircraft.

But it later withdrew this statement, saying that anything was possible, and Mr Zelensky instructed Ukraine's prosecutors to open criminal proceedings over the crash.

Video footage by Iran's ISNA news agency purports to show the plane on fire in the seconds before it crashes into the ground, which is corroborated by Qassem Biniaz, a spokesman for Iran's Road and Transportation Ministry, who said it appeared a fire struck one of its engines.

Hassan Razaeifar, the head of air crash investigation committee, said it appeared the pilot couldn't communicate with air-traffic controllers in Tehran in the last moments of the flight and witnesses said the pilot steered the plane towards a football field to avoid a residential area.

It is not clear whether the incident is related to Iran's missile attacks on US bases in Iraq on Wednesday morning.

Live Updates:
https://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/2020/01/08/iran-plane-crash-170-passengers-feared-dead-ukraine-boeing-737/

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that's what happens when you don't read you loose your link to higher thinking

Looks like somebody was interfering with elections...us, as in overthrowing the Iranian democracy because the elected leader of Iran was saying Iranian oil belongs to Iran, not the US, GB, and British Petroleum.

So we overthrew their democracy and installed the Shaw who would play ball with the US and Great Britain and was a hated tyrant on the Iranian people.

We were happy to sell Saddam ingredients for weapons of mass destruction, and satellite targeting information so Saddam could start gassing Iranians...so naturally the Iranians fought back...driving the Iraqi army back across their border into Iraq.

In hundreds of years this is the only time Iran had attacked another country....hundreds of years. While with voter help, the US now maintains multiple illegal wars permanently, now for decades....and Iran is the aggressor?

Guess who else shoots down planes? You guessed it.

And we sit 3 miles off the Iranian coast with subs and carriers, pointing hundreds of nuclear tipped missiles at them and threaten them that all weapons are on the table, and tell them they cant have nuclear weapons, only we can.

Course this stuff ain't on TV, so how the fuck could lesser evils know it.

Operation Ajax


Russia interferes with elections hurting evil hillary? What about King Obomba's* unconstitutional bombing of Lybia?

Cry me a river.


If you want to know what country scares the shit out of me, it's my own.


-------------------------------
Added later...
* I say "King" Obama because he just up and started bombing Libya (access to worlds finest light sweet crude), on his own, WITHOUT even anything from Congress...kings attack on their own one man decision.

The way this works is the constitution says "Congress shall declare war," (not the king).

Also double illegal because we are a signatory to International Law, and by the constitution Treaties entered into are Supreme law of the land...meaning Treaties are ABOVE state and federal law.

International Law states no nation may attack another nation unless under direct or imminent attack, (incoming missiles in the air about to hit is imminent attack).

-------------------------------

More on Iran.

Both Iran and the US are signatories to the NPT (non-proliferation treaty), making the NPT supreme law in the US.

This treaty specifies that nuclear nations must disarm, and no non-nuclear nations may attain nuclear weapons.

Our treaty further stipulates that nuclear nations in the treaty MUST supply non-nuclear nations in the treaty with enriched uranium for peaceful purposes, meaning it is supreme law of the US for us to supply Iran with enriched uranium, (peaceful use is nuclear power and medical uses).

So Obama's trillion dollar nuclear weapons upgrade (which Trump is continuing), also breaks supreme law of our land...and parking the nuclear tipped task forces off Iran's shore makes the US belligerent in the extreme.

Near complete unawareness of such extreme US hypocrisy is common in the American general consensus, the rich get what they want, and we vote for more and more of it...with no signs of changing.

"Doc reads the newspapers and watches the TV News...anybody who does that will believe anything."
-Edward Abbey, from "Heyduke Lives."

The rich control the news, and the news controls what most Americans think about, (and don't think about).

The rich control most (not all), of us....we need a lot more in the independent thinkers group who are willing to vote if we're ever going to get out of this self-imposed oppression.

A trillion dollars for illegally upgrading thermonuclear weapons....and no health care for you....how do you spell icepick in the forehead?"
-baddy / FZ

Don't forget to register to vote.
-FZ

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Lesser-evilism is war.

Iran Says It Shot Down Ukrainian Jetliner By Mistake
January 10, 202011:21 PM ET

James Doubek
https://www.npr.org/2020/01/10/795480690/iran-unintentionally-shot-down-ukrainian-jetliner-killing-176-people


A rescue worker searches the scene where a Ukrainian plane crashed near Tehran on Wednesday, killing all on board. Iran says the plane was shot down in an "unforgivable mistake."
Ebrahim Noroozi/AP

Updated at 4:21 a.m. ET Saturday

In a "terrible catastrophe," Iran says it mistakenly shot missiles at a Ukrainian civilian jetliner minutes after takeoff on Wednesday. The plane crashed on the outskirts of Tehran, killing 176 people.

"Armed Forces' internal investigation has concluded that regrettably missiles fired due to human error caused the horrific crash of the Ukrainian plane & death of 176 innocent people," President Hassan Rouhani wrote on Twitter early Saturday.

"Investigations continue to identify & prosecute this great tragedy & unforgivable mistake," he added.

It's a reversal from earlier statements by Iranian officials, who had repeatedly denied that their own missile system shot down the plane.

The country's military now says the plane was shot down because it was thought to be a hostile object that was approaching a sensitive location of the country's Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps.

Iranian officials blamed heightened tensions with the U.S., with Rouhani saying the military was expecting attacks from the U.S. amid "the atmosphere of threats and intimidation by the aggressive American regime." Iran's foreign minister tweeted that it was a "sad day" but that U.S. "adventurism" had caused the disaster.

The area where the plane was shot down is near a missile research center and other Iranian military sites. They are "definitely sites that will be targeted in an all-out war," Fabian Hinz, a researcher with the Middlebury Institute of International Studies at Monterey, told NPR this week, saying Iran's air defenses were likely "on high alert" at the time.

Ukraine International Airlines Flight 752 was headed from Tehran to Kyiv Wednesday and was carrying 176 people, including 82 Iranians, 57 Canadians, 11 Ukrainians and others from Sweden, Afghanistan and the U.K. (Canadian officials had earlier said 63 Canadians were on board but revised that number Friday.)

Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau, who had already pointed toward Iran's military as being behind the crash, released a statement after Iran's admission saying Canada's focus going forward would be "closure, accountability, transparency, and justice for the families and loved ones of the victims."

He said Canada would work with other countries to "ensure a complete and thorough investigation, and the Canadian government expects full cooperation from Iranian authorities."

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskiy said his country "insists on a full admission of guilt. We expect Iran to bring those responsible to justice, return the bodies, pay compensation and issue an official apology. The investigation must be full, open & continue without delays or obstacles."

Other governments, including the U.S. and U.K., had already said evidence pointed to an Iranian missile downing the plane, likely unintentionally.

Video evidence online appears to show a missile hitting the plane. And governments likely have other evidence, including satellites that can detect heat signatures of missile launches and possible intercepted Iranian military communications.

In the face of such evidence, Iran may have calculated that a quick reversal would be preferable to continued denials.

"There's nothing you can do to cover it up or hide it," Anthony Brickhouse, an air safety expert at Embry-Riddle Aeronautical University and a former National Transportation Safety Board investigator, told The Associated Press. "Evidence is evidence."

Investigators from Ukraine arrived in Iran Thursday, and Iran has invited representatives from the NTSB and Boeing, the plane's manufacturer, to participate in the probe.

Tensions between Iran and the U.S. are high after President Trump authorized the assassination of a top Iranian general, who was killed in a drone strike last week. Iran retaliated this week with ballistic missile strikes on Iraqi bases that were hosting U.S. forces, though U.S. officials say no Americans or Iraqis suffered casualties in the attacks.

Secretary of State Mike Pompeo and Treasury Secretary Steve Mnuchin announced new sanctions on Iranian government officials Friday in response to the missile attacks in Iraq. Pompeo said the U.S. would "let the investigation play out" before pursuing punitive measures against Iran over the plane's downing.

NPR's Barbara Campbell contributed to this report.

Trump administration abruptly cancels 4 classified Iran-related briefings
https://www.cnn.com/2020/01/15/politics/state-department-cancels-iran-briefing/index.html

By Zachary Cohen, CNN
Updated 10:51 PM ET, Wed January 15, 2020

Washington (CNN) The Trump administration has abruptly canceled four classified congressional briefings related to the ongoing Iran crisis, in some cases providing little or no explanation for doing so.

The State Department called off two briefings that had been scheduled for Wednesday, Senate and House aides confirm to CNN.

Congressional lawmakers had been slated to receive a briefing on embassy security while the Senate Foreign Relations Committee had expected to hear from top State Department officials about the administration's Iran policy and authorities for the use of force before the last-minute schedule changes.

FBI officials had been expected to brief a group of House lawmakers on counterintelligence issues related to Iran on Wednesday in a separate closed-door session but those plans also changed at the last moment, according to two sources familiar with the planning. The reason for the cancellation remains unclear but the briefing was added to the calendar late last week, one of the sources said.

The FBI did not immediately respond to CNN's request for comment.
Additionally, the Pentagon scrapped Thursday's classified briefing on Iran for the House Armed Services Committee due to scheduling issues, according to a US defense official and House aide.

John Rood, the Defense Department's top policy official, had been expected to deliver that briefing. A spokesperson for the Pentagon said that the Department of Defense was working to schedule a time to conduct the briefing.

"Given votes and member travel schedules, the Committee was unable to host the briefing any time other than one hour between 9 and 10 am - which conflicted with a previously scheduled inter-agency meeting for Undersecretary Rood," Pentagon spokesman Jonathan Hoffman told CNN on Wednesday evening, saying the postponement of the briefing was not a unilateral Pentagon move.

"Undersecretary Rood spoke with Chairman Smith directly and the briefing was instead scheduled at a time after recess when more members will be able to fully participate in this important briefing," he added.

Congressional lawmakers were slated to receive a briefing on embassy security while the Senate Foreign Relations Committee expected to hear from top State Department officials about the administration's Iran policy and authorities for the use of force before the last-minute schedule changes.

The sudden briefing cancellations come as some lawmakers, particularly Democrats, continue to question the administration's justification for killing Iranian General Qasem Soleimani. Senators appear likely to rebuke President Donald Trump soon in the form of a vote on a war powers resolution to limit his military actions in Iran.

Wednesday's briefing on American diplomatic outposts was originally going to focus on situation in the African country of Burundi but the topic was changed to a global assessment of embassy security at the request of congressional staff after the strike that killed Soleimani.
An aide tells CNN the request of topic change was made January 7. The law requires monthly briefings for national security committees in both chambers on threats to embassies.
"This has not been rescheduled. We don't know why it was canceled," the aide said. "Staff is pissed."

The staffer told CNN there was no noticeable chill in the planning process for the briefing on embassy security after the State Department shifted the topic.

"They understood that this was a reasonable request," the staffer said.

Politico was first to report the embassy security briefing cancellation.

CNN reported on Monday that State Department officials involved in US embassy security were not made aware of imminent threats to four specific US embassies, two State Department officials tell CNN, further undermining Trump's claims that the top Iranian general he ordered killed earlier this month posed an imminent threat to the diplomatic outposts.

Without knowledge of any alleged threats, the State Department didn't issue warnings about specific dangers to any US embassy before the administration targeted Soleimani, Iran's second most powerful official, according to the sources.

The State Department sent a global warning to all US embassies before the strike occurred, a senior State Department official said and the department spokesperson confirmed, but it was not directed at specific embassies and did not warn of an imminent attack.

The State Department also postponed Wednesday's classified hearing on the administration's Iran strategy at the last moment as criticism continues to mount from Capitol Hill on the Trump administration's legal rationale for its strike against Iran's top military commander earlier this month.

"State 100% canceled the briefing. We know they will vaguely claim it was a logistical issue, even though this briefing had been already locked into the schedule for days," the aide said.

A Republican aide however downplayed it as "just a scheduling change."

"The briefers had a conflict and State has assured us that we will reschedule to have several hearings on Iran in the coming weeks," the aide said.

Brian Hook, the State Department's Special Representative for Iran, and David Schenker, Assistant Secretary of State for Near Eastern Affairs were expected to brief the Senate Foreign Relations Committee. Schenker returned from a trip to the Middle East last week that included a stop in Iraq.

Marik String, an official in the State Department's Office of Legal Adviser was also expected to brief the committee.

The State Department did not respond to CNN's request for comment regarding either schedule change.
Connecticut Democrat Sen. Chris Murphy suggested that the White House was behind the sudden cancellation of Wednesday's scheduled briefing for the Senate

Foreign Relations Committee, of which he is a member.

"FYI the White House cancelled today's Soleimani briefing. But nobody from the intelligence community was coming anyway," he tweeted. "We need a full briefing on the 'imminent threat' intel - including the alleged embassy threats - now. If the President didn't make up the threats, prove it."

On Tuesday, Murphy led eight Democratic senators by writing to request a briefing from the Office of the Director of National Intelligence on the specific evidence underlying public claims from Trump and Secretary of State Mike Pompeo that Soleimani was planning imminent attacks on multiple US embassies.

A Democratic aide told CNN Wednesday that ODNI had not responded to the letter.

Br@21l's Culture secretary for B0rsalino quoted a Goebbel's speech, read to a Richard Wagner background, to outline their plan for culture in the coming decade:

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