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Today's Stories January 12 / 13, 2008 Saul Landau January 11, 2008 Dave Lindorff Paul Craig
Roberts Andy Worthington Kenneth Couesbouc Jeff Ballinger Christopher
Brauchli Manuel Garcia, Jr. Andrew Silverstein Marwan Bishara Robert Weissman Patrick Irelan Website of
the Day
January 10, 2008 Alexander Cockburn Bob Wing Michael Donnelly David Macaray China Hand Ayesha Ijaz Khan Rannie Amiri Website of the Day
January 9, 2008 Cockburn /
St. Clair Dave Lindorff John Chuckman James Bovard Alan Farago Russell Mokhiber William S. Lind Peter Morici Josh Reubner Mike Roselle Website of the Day
January 8, 2008 Paul Craig
Roberts Russell Mokhiber Robert Fantina Dave Zirin Shamako Nobel John Ross Brenda Norrell Laura Carlsen Patrick Irelan Evelyn J. Pringle Jonathan M.
Feldman Michael Dickinson Website of
the Day
January 7, 2008 Chris Floyd John Blair Uri Avnery Andy Worthington Binoy Kampmark David Macaray Ralph Nader Michael Donnelly Ron Jacobs Gideon Levy Dave Lindorff Website of
the Day
January 5 / 6, 2008 Douglas Valentine Kevin Young Richard Rhames Saul Landau Marc Lynch Robert Fantina Donna Volatile Jelle Bruinsma Bob Sutcliffe Harvey Wasserman Missy Beattie David Swanson Jacob Hornberger Shepherd Bliss Ron Jacobs Poets' Basement Website of the Weekend
January 4, 2008 Cockburn /
St. Clair Jonathan Cook Paul Craig Roberts Stan Goff Dave Lindorff Niranjan Ramakrishnan Allan Nairn Joshua Frank Peter Morici Mary McInnis Website of the Day
January 3, 2008 Fatima Bhutto Pam Martens Joanne Mariner Zoltan Grossman David Domke Norman Solomon Nikolas Kozloff Jacob G. Hornberger Martha Rosenberg Russell Means Website of the Day
January 2, 2008 Jeff Taylor M. Shahid Alam Gary Leupp Paul Craig Roberts Heather Gray Fred Gardner David Macaray Benjamin Dangl
January 1, 2008 Iain A. Boal B. R. Gowani Shahid Mahmood Linn Washington,
Jr. Harvey Wasserman John Ross Website of the Day
December 31, 2007 Alexander Cockburn Tariq Ali Liaquat Ali Khan Wajahat Ali Robert Fisk Ajai Sahni Marwan Bishara Uri Avnery Mark T. Harris Brenda Norrell Website of the Day
December 29 / 30, 2007 Alexander Cockburn Tariq Ali Fawzia Afzal-Khan Gary Leupp China Hand Jacob Hornberger John Chuckman Missy Beattie Ralph Nader Fidel Castro Robert Fantina Greg Moses Catherine Lutz Kristin Van
Tassel Kim Nicolini Phyllis Pollack Poets' Basement Website of
the Weekend
December 28, 2007 Farzana Versey Wajahat Ali Binoy Kampmark Ayesha Ijaz
Khan Anthony DiMaggio Ray McGovern Jim Goodman Ron Jacobs Russell Hoffman John Murphy Website of the Day
December 27, 2007 Dilip Hiro Murtaza Shibli Stephen Soldz Bill Quigley Paul Craig Roberts Omer Subhani Marjorie Cohn Allan Nairn Jacob G. Hornberger Norman Solomon Patrick Irelan Ben Tripp Website of the Day
Charles Tripp Paul Armentano Rannie Amiri Stanley Heller John Walsh Martha Rosenberg Norman Madarasz Website of
the Day
December 25, 2007 Patrick Cockburn December 24, 2007 Andrea Peacock Tariq Ali Uri Avnery Jill Jameson Steve Melendez Mike Whitney Chuck Munson John Walsh Farzana Versey Richard Neville Website of the Day
Alexander Cockburn Ralph Nader Andy Worthington Ahmad Faruqui Bill Moyers Rev. William
E. Alberts Timothy J. Freeman Anthony DiMaggio Fred Gardner Paul Krassner Seth Sandronsky William Loren
Katz Michael Dickinson Ron Jacobs David Vest Poets' Basement Website of the Weekend
December 21, 2007 John Ross Jacob Hornberger Dick J. Reavis Jeff Cohen
Peter Morici Jack McCarthy Raúl Zibechi Steve Early David Macaray Patrick Bond Lakota Freedom Delegation Website of
the Day
December 20, 2007 David Rosen Alan Farago Laura Carlsen Ashley Dawson Wayne Smith Website of
the Day
December 19, 2007 Saul Landau Paul W. Lovinger Norman Solomon Dave Zirin Marjorie Cohn Sen. Russell
Feingold Sonja Karkar Anthony Papa Christopher Ketcham Davey D Website of
the Day
December 18, 2007 R. F. Blader George Wuerthner Steven Higgs Vijay Prashad David Macaray Ralph Nader Eva Liddell Martha Rosenberg Dave Lindorff Peter Morici Website of
the Day
December 17, 2007 Mike Whitney Tom Barry Uri Avnery Greg Moses Allan Nairn Patrick Bond Stephen Lendman Charles Jonkel Laray Polk Stephen Fleischman December 15 / 16, 2007 Peter Linebaugh Howard Zinn Standard Schaefer Raymond J.
Lawrence Alan Farago Saul Landau Jenna Orkin Ahmad Samih
Khalidi Robert Fantina Missy Comley
Beattie Ramzy Baroud James L. Secor Elijah Wald Website of
the Weekend
December 14, 2007 JoAnn Wypijewski John Ross Jacob Hornberger Andy Worthington Allan Nairn Dave Zirin Dave Lindorff Misty MacDuffee Ben Terrall Dr. Mustafa
Barghouthi Website of the Day
December 13, 2007 Paul Craig
Roberts Mike Whitney Ron Jacobs Norman Solomon Peter Morici Sandy Mayes Franklin Lamb Jacob Hornberger Nadim Rouhana Dave Zirin Website of the Day
Allan
Nairn Alan
Farago Ray
McGovern Winslow
T. Wheeler Evan
Jones James
Petras Joel
Hirschorn Joshua
Frank Sherry
Wolf Dan
Bacher Website
of the Day
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Weekend
Edition Diplomatic Sleight of HandBush, Iran and the Magician of the TarotBy Col. DAN SMITH
Those familiar with the Tarot know that
the figure depicted on the first card in the deck is the Magician.
The Magician is a very powerful figure, for seemingly he creates
realities where before there was nothing. A clear indication
of this creative power is the presence on the card of the mathematical
sign for infinity -- -- representing the possessor of all knowledge
(magi), all space, all time going forward. Think back to June 16th, 2001, when George Bush and Vladimir Putin met for the first time in Slovenia. In answer to a reporter's question about whether the U.S. could trust Russia (and by implication, Putin), Bush replied: "I looked the man in the eyeI was able to get a sense of his soulI appreciated so very much the frank dialoguethat's the beginning of a very constructive relationship." At this time, before Russia regained economic strength from rising oil prices, before September 11th, 2001, before Iraq, Bush saw himself as the man who would make things happen. After all, as the new millennium opened, the United States was indisputably the most powerful nation in the history of the world. In short, even then Bush saw himself as the Magician, as the "decider." In reality, those who see themselves in that role are sure to be deceived, for they are focused on that which is intended to distract attention from what is really happening. The power of any good Magician, after all, is to be able to conjure an illusion that holds the attention of his audience long enough to reveal the reality that has always existed but was hidden. Fast forward to late 2007-early 2008. With one year left in his presidency, George Bush has no significant positive foreign policy achievements. At the beginning of 2007, he sent 40,000 additional U.S. troops into Iraq to stave off increased sectarian and ethnic depredations. In January 2008, he is sending 3,200 more troops into Afghanistan to try to stabilize conditions there. The attempt to push forward the "roadmap" for Mid-East peace--starting with the November 22nd Annapolis summit, had bogged down and, unless re-invigorated, would likely stall as had all previous efforts. We may never know who the "Magician" behind the curtain was who kept the props in place while the actors played their parts on history's center stage. But assume he or she finally succeeded in pushing forward one other long-standing issue whose resolution in 2008 would guarantee George Bush's coveted positive mark on world history. It would, if successful, rival the Nixon-Kissinger opening to China in 1972 in its impact. But like Nixon-Kissinger in 1972, powerful centers in the U.S. would oppose the opening--and the same could be expected in the country to which the opening would be made. The whole project would have to be concealed; the attention of the media, the American public, and most of those in the U.S. administration, had to be diverted. The presidential campaigns in the U.S. would help, but the background rhetoric would have to be steady and highly critical. What the Magician intended--and Bush finally agreed to do--was to go to Tehran to end 30 years of estrangement with Iran. The grand distraction would be a trip ostensibly to reenergize the Israeli-Palestinian negotiations. But while everyone was focused on that process, the "exploratory" talks about talks in Baghdad between the U.S. ambassador to Iraq, Ryan Crocker and his Iranian counterpart, Hassan Kasemi Qumi, really would be working out details of the visit to Iran. Among all the warnings of the dangers a nuclear Iran represented to the other Gulf states, despite the charges that Iran was supplying Iraqi insurgents with weapons used to kill U.S. troops in Iraq, the hidden exchanges never faltered--unlike in 2003 when the U.S. abruptly cut contact with Tehran. It was in his December 4th, 2007 press conference, after release of the National Intelligence Estimate on Iran's nuclear weapons programs, that Bush signaled he was prepared to make the leap: "On the one hand, we should exert pressure, and on the other hand, we should provide the Iranians a way forward. Andour hope is that the Iranians will get diplomacy back on track." Thirty days passed. Just as Nixon had worried that something would derail his opening to China, Bush could see his legacy disappearing. Then on January 3rd, 2008, Iran's Supreme Leader, Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, speaking to a small group of Iranian students, signaled back: "I would be the first one to support these relations. Of course we never said the severed relations were forever. But for the time being, it (restoring ties) (would) provide an opportunity for security agents to come and go, as well as for espionage." But was this reply a yes or a no? Were the Iranians about to pull the rug from under the secret negotiations for the visit? Three days passed. Suddenly the whole project seemed lost because of what appeared to be a serious incident-at-sea between three U.S. warships and five Iranian fast patrol boats. Someone in a senior position in Tehran, opposed to any rapprochement and having control of military sea craft, must have suspected something was about to happen. And although the U.S. press played up the encounter's hazards--and began to probe deeper into other incidents that might lead them toward the Magician and his illusion of countries-at-odds--the official Iranian version (after denying that the encounter ever occurred) stressed that the meeting was a routine exchange of ship identities, course and intent and that no hostile actions took place. Nonetheless, some in the U.S. press immediately equated this modern-day encounter to the August 1964 "Gulf of Tonkin" incident which led to a major escalation of U.S. troop units in South Vietnam. Interestingly, word of the encounter leaked first from the White House, but reporters had to go to the Pentagon for the details--most of which were still murky. Departure day for the Mid-East trip arrived. As Air Force One became airborne, Bush found himself in a quandary similar to Richard Nixon in 1972: then, when the American president landed in Beijing, he still had no assurance he would be able to meet directly with Chairman Mao. He did, and changed U.S. relations in Asia and the globe. Then the issues were 55,000 dead in South Vietnam, a looming recession, the price of oil soon to (for then) skyrocket, and the abandonment of the gold standard. Today the issues for Bush are 4,400 U.S. dead in Afghanistan and Iraq, a looming recession, the price of oil on the verge of skyrocketing, the precipitous decline of the dollar against other currencies, the troubled housing market, global warming, and U.S. Iranian relations. Of these, only on the latter is Bush still "the decider"--or rather co-decider.
Is there still a Magician in the house? Col. Dan Smith is a military affairs analyst for
Foreign Policy In Focus ,
a retired U.S. Army colonel, and a senior fellow on military
affairs at the Friends Committee on National Legislation. Email
at dan@fcnl.org. ![]()
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