Riehl World View

Coma Coma Coma Coma Coma Khamenei - You Come and Go o-oh-o ...

The latest from Michael Ledeen at PJM: Now, thank me for putting this old tune back in your head! heh!

This story has been floating around the net for the past day or so, but this report comes from a person who is in a position to know such things.  As I know very well (having been gulled into wrongly announcing Khamenei’s death a while back), it is easy to be misled, and Khamenei has had previous medical emergencies in the past, and recovered, but the source is excellent. Nonetheless, it’s always smart to apply the Reagan Caution:  Trust, but verify.  I’m doing my best.

Here is what he/she says:

An Intelligence Coup And Bunker Busters? Oh My!

Some interesting dots to connect here -first via Breitbart News. The timing with the discovery of the site at Qom is more than enough to fuel serious speculation. Then add in the timing of the original Bunker Buster request via Hot Air - if nothing else, it presents the potential for a real fireworks display on someone's behalf. Will it be Israel, or the US? I wouldn't rule either out depending on how things go in the near term. I honestly don't think Obama wants to allow Iran to have the bomb. And I'm unconvinced he cares enough about international affairs to let any image issues get in his way. His primary agenda has always been domestic in nature. If allowing Iran to go too far would hurt him there, I think he'd likely step up no matter what.

TEHRAN, Iran (AP) - The disappearance of an Iranian nuclear scientist on a pilgrimage to Saudi Arabia in June is raising questions about whether he defected and gave the West information on Iran's nuclear program.

Iran's foreign minister on Wednesday accused the United States of involvement in the disappearance of Shahram Amiri, who reportedly worked at a university linked to the elite Revolutionary Guard military corps.

Amiri vanished several months before the September revelation of a uranium enrichment facility near the city of Qom, which the United States and its allies accuse Iran of building secretly. The timing has led experts to question whether Amiri may have given the West information on it or other parts of Iran's nuclear program.

The discovery of that facility was a coup for Western intelligence. Iran denied trying to hide the site, insisting it was not yet required to declare it to the U.N. nuclear watchdog. Still, it was put on the defensive as it entered landmark nuclear negotiations with the U.S. and other world powers last week, talks that have somewhat eased rising tensions between the two sides.

Obama: We Don't Need No Stinkin' Human Rights!

Pretty sad and amazing when you stop to think about it. Obama has proved himself to be no friend of democracy around the globe. Now he follows it up with with a smack down of human rights because he doesn't want to offend the mad mullahs.

Did you ever get the sense that this guy lies awake at night wishing he could be one? Seriously, I'm not worried about martial law, or all of our freedoms going away in that sense. But I do think Obama is the kind of character who is convinced he has all the answers, if he could only just get his way without all the messy politics.

He can't get out of office soon enough for me. The 2010 elections couldn't be anymore important. I hope you're prepared.

The Iran Human Rights Watch Documentation Center can be excused for thinking that this year might make them more indispensable than ever.  After all, the Iranian mullahcracy rigged a presidential election and brutally suppressed widespread protests and demonstrations against the ruling elite.  Their Basiji irregulars murdered and maimed people in the street.  The State Department’s agency for documenting such human-rights abuses in that country would have to work overtime in the next several weeks just to catch up on all of the data they need to review from the last eleven weeks.

Fox: Ahmadinejad Personally Recruited Felon On Last NYC Visit

Fox is breaking a story on how Ahmadinejad himself used his last UN visit to help recruit a sanction-busting Iranian later charged as a felon for violating sanctions in exporting advanced technology to Iran. He was simply named as Iranian Official #1 in previous court documents.

Now we can add one more item to that list of attainments: A hands-on role, starting with a meeting in New York City in 2006, in helping one of his New York party guests commit the felony of violating U.S. sanctions on Iran.

That story of sanctions violation, pieced together here for the first time, shows Ahmadinejad's brazen abuse of diplomatic courtesies offered to him by the U.S. in allowing him to attend the UN General Assembly — where he is again scheduled to speak Wednesday afternoon.

The details come from evidence introduced in a federal trial in Philadelphia earlier this year of a 65-year-old Iranian-American businessman named Ali Amirnazmi. Press accounts at the time somehow missed Ahmadinejad's role in the case, perhaps because he was mentioned in the indictment only as "Iranian Official #1." But court documents show a web of sanctions-busting intrigue, involving not only Ahmadinejad, but also including communications running through the Iranian mission to the U.N. in New York City, as well as Iran's de facto consular service in the U.S. — the Iranian Interests Section housed at the Embassy of Pakistan in Washington, D.C.

Out of these interactions grew a sanctions-violating plan to transfer to Iran, from the U.S., advanced technology and expertise in the chemical manufacturing industry.

Ahmadinejad himself has not been charged with any crime. As a visiting head of state, he enjoys diplomatic immunity — which he abused with impunity.

They're Laughing In Iran Tonight

Perhaps I'm jaded and hopefully I'm wrong. But it isn't exactly the first time we've heard this from our government. Time will tell. But I couldn't help but believe this statement was greeted with a Supreme laugh in Iran tonight. Unfortunately, I just about laughed myself before thinking about how serious this is.

WASHINGTON — Secretary of State Hillary Clinton urged Iran Friday to engage in talks with the United States and other powers on its suspect nuclear activities or face the consequences.

Clinton made the appeal before she and President Barack Obama consult partners at the UN General Assembly (UNGA) next week in New York in preparation for a meeting that will test the waters with Iran.

"We have made clear our desire to resolve issues with Iran, diplomatically. Iran must now decide whether to join us in this effort," Clinton told foreign policy experts at the Brookings Institution.

The five UN Security Council permanent members -- the United States, Russia, China, Britain and France -- plus Germany are due to take part in preliminary talks with Iran's top nuclear negotiator Saeed Jalili on October 1.

Iran: One Step Away From Bomb

Not that it's an insignificant step, but still some not so great news from the IAEA.

Glyn Davies, the chief U.S. envoy to the International Atomic Energy Agency, said the latest report by the nuclear watchdog shows that Tehran is either very near or already in possession of sufficient low-enriched uranium to produce one nuclear weapon, if the decision were made to further enrich it to weapons-grade.

"This ongoing enrichment activity ... moves Iran closer to a dangerous and destabilizing possible breakout capacity," Davies told the agency's 35-nation board of governors.

 "Taken in connection with Iran's refusal to engage with the IAEA regarding its past nuclear warhead-related work, we have serious concerns that Iran is deliberately attempting, at a minimum, to preserve a nuclear weapons option," Davies said.

The latest agency report describes how Iran now has, at a minimum, 1,430 kilograms (3,153 pounds) of low-enriched uranium hexafluoride, he added.

Iranian Protests Heat Up: Neda's Grave Blocked

This is why it was significant when Neda Agha-Soltan was declared a martyr. In Islamic culture, certain days after a martyr's death are special and intended for mourning. Today is the 40th day after her murder in the streets of Iran. Security forces are cracking down.

And according to Reuters, some mourners are being arrested at the cemetery. Opposition leaders are, or were planning to attend the protest.

Update | 8:23 a.m. Mojtaba Samienejad, one of the few Iranian bloggers we have been following who is still writing from inside the Iran, writes on Twitter that Iranian security forces and members of a pro-government militia have blocked mourners from Ms. Agha-Soltan’s grave: “Police and Basij closed Burial place of #Neda & dont let ppl to go there.”

Rafsanjani Challenges Khamenei

The BBC reports an unconfirm-able Internet report of a million people in the streets of Iran today. That's sounds high, but what is clear is that Rafsanjani issued a direct challenge to Khamenei in his Friday prayer and first public comments since the still disputed election.

He put forth a five-point plan calling for an open media and prisoners from the protests to be released. He was supposedly calling for unity, but it's hard to see the government buying into his rhetoric. This is expected to fuel the protests even more.

One website claimed there were millions of opposition followers on the streets of Tehran, though with foreign media access limited, that is impossible to verify.

Former President Rafsanjani played his trump card, by referring to his friendship with the founder of the Islamic Republic, Ayatollah Khomeini.

 By calling for an open debate about the election result, Mr Rafsanjani was almost openly challenging the supreme leader, Ayatollah Ali Khamenei.

Four weeks ago, from the same pulpit, Mr Khamenei called for an end to discussion about an election result which he declared had been blessed by God.

He quoted Ayatollah Khomeini in ways that appeared to support the opposition's right to demonstrate.

Mr Rafsanjani even called for protesters who have been arrested to be released from prison.

Black Boxes From Iranian Air Crash Found - NYTimes.com

This was a strange cse to begin with. The airplane just did a nosedive into the ground? I'd love to known precisely who all was on that plane. You never know. However, it was Russian built, so it very well may have been a simple failure - sort of what GM will be like now that the US government is running it!

Black Boxes From Iranian Air Crash Found - NYTimes.com.

BEIRUT, Lebanon — Investigators said Thursday they had found two of the three flight data recorders that were on board the Iranian passenger plane that crashed and exploded shortly after takeoff from Tehran on Wednesday. All 168 people aboard the Russian-built airliner were killed, Iran’s state news media said. The plane, leased by Tehran-based Caspian Airlines, had been bound for the Armenian capital of Yerevan.

Iran: Executions Accelerate

And much more via Donald Douglas. Including Obama's befuddled and befuddling response.