naked capitalism

ajax says:

From the Amended Complaint, page 19:
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Chevrolet was the agreed-upon codeword for the plot,
according to the complaint. If car == plot, why would
Shakuri want to tell Arbabsiar about “another car?”, i.e.
“another plot?”. In fact, if there were “another plot”,
Arbabsiar probably should not be informed of this.
If Shakuri is an Iranian spook, he ought to know
about the “need-to-know” principle.

The affidavit by the FBI Special Agent provides no
interpretation for Shakuri’s words:
“[UI] brought me another car” …

(a) Who or what is [UI] ?
(b) what is the meaning of “brought me another car” ?

Paul Tioxon says:

One of my fondest routines is watching Sunday morning political PR broadcasts. I flip from channel to channel, avoiding the most nauseating of the lying sacks of shit, but still, dutifully engage with what the next round of policy, PR and general movement out of DC portends for me, my community and fellow citizens. This is all to even more extreme nausea of my friends who clamp their jaws shut and let me indulge myself when I reference these shows in serious politico analysis.

And of all the shows, my routine never loses its desire to watch the McLaughlin Group from beginning to end. I have grown fond of, to the point of savoring the sentimentality and affectionate ball busting between Eleanor Clift and Pat Buchanan. Of course, there is John McLaughlin himself, the aged, sometimes seemingly doddering Mr Magoo of the panel of varying pundits, who have come and gone, but he remains, like baseball, the one constant in the endless stream of change from the last few decades of 20th century America to the 2nd decade of the 21st.

Which brings me to the Iranian Plot. The hallmark of a superpower is it’s international relations, it’s ability to dominate the system of nations through leadership, coercion, in every dimension of power thinkable. Mclaughlin’s blood never races faster then when the great game of nations provides global power scheming and our government’s response to any such initiative. It is the type of event that sharpens the blade of the saber that is always threatening to be unsheathed, much less rattled. This story and its details were absurd on its face, the facts pointing to an over reaching Walter Mitty, than to a James Bond, that no one on the panel could make much sense out the reaction of AG Holder to a seemingly ridiculous overture by a loser who could not keep his life in order, much less the tactic command details between the Mexican Drug cartels and the Iranian intelligence service. Did I mention the Iranian individual was a Texas used car dealer. Maybe the acumen of intrigue attributed to him was due to a confusion with a republican Congressional Committee Chairman. But I digress.

Other than a key fact of actual money being transferred to this guy from known Iranian funding sources for intelligence operations, if it is true at all and can be proven, (but let’s just assume that this might be the case to continue this exercise in doping out what is going on), the panelists did not seem to lend much credence to this rising to the threat level of an actual, well, an actual threat. I mean, maybe the Iranian spymasters wrongly wired the funds. Maybe, intra political feuding attempting to discredit or weaken one faction or another within Iran, wired the money in such an amateurish manner that even our FBI caught it. But the main point is, it does not seem that way even to the militantly right wing conservatives, who always welcome a war, they did NOT seem to welcome this Gulf Of Tonkin Gambit. And not because, as even they said, Obama could use some military adventure to boost him over the finish line for a 2nd term. What was startling, was how agitated Mclaughlin, pushing 85, appeared to this whole notion of ginning up a pretext to attack Iran. Forcefully arguing that they are one of dozens and dozens of countries that have nuclear power plants, for energy, and that the Russians who appear to be supplying them in this endeavor would have no basis what-so-ever for seeing the Iranians become THEIR equal with nuclear weapons, much less Israel’s or anyone else. He faced down Mort Zuckerman, billionaire owner of the US News and World Report, a frequent regular, and demanded to know if he was listening to Netenyahu about Iranian threat levels.

And why does this mean anything at all? When it comes to intelligence services it is important to understand first and foremost that these are secret organizations, not just organizations with secrets. We never know what is going on with them because they lie. They lie about the lies. They lie about the truth. They lie about the known knowns, the known unknowns and the unknown unknowns. In other words. Don’t try to really figure out the facts. You can’t. Sable rattling, more than likely. Why? as it has been pointed out in the past when the US government lies about some military skirmish that is used as a pretext for an act of war, really, why would a country like, say, Libya send its jets to shoot at the US Navy? Are they crazy? Why would a couple of PT boats from N Viet Nam attack the US Navy? Are they crazy? All of the governments of the world know full well just how powerful the US is. Furthermore, they know just how easy it could launch target practice on their nation, if need be, to provide that after burner ummph to poor polling numbers to sitting US President. The N Viet Namese timed moves with the American political calender. We are not that hard to understand for the rest of the world.

There is a complex and overlaying grouping of power networks that seek to manipulate and make things happen to the material benefits of those in power and with privilege here and in Iran and around the world. The world wide social movement in the streets show that people world wide have had enough and are building up to a show of real resistance that could bring changes to those in power. This plot, to what ever extent it is real, is a crime that has not been committed, but was in the discussion stages. At worst, a conspiracy to commit a crime, but not the criminal act. It is not enough to distract the population but it is a chance to put the screws to the Iranian economy.

The Saudi’s will use their soft power to disrupt the Iranians in anyway they can, and it weakens sympathy for Iranians within Saudi Arabia, for any American diplomatic initiatives to further cripple the Iranian economy. It further isolates Iran, with hopefully, Russia and China getting on board with us, with a little arm twisting, to do the Iranians in, by cutting off any political support that they may offer. John Mclauglin, for all of his being woefully out of touch with important domestic concerns of state, still has that dinosaur brain for international politics, that is still operating, outside of the signal reach of Rush Limbaugh, out where national leaders have not taken Grover Norquist’s pledges. The Westphalian World of Real Politik does not give a shit about what the Baptists think about Mormons. They do care about what Obama wants from them, when he really wants something bad enough to make them feel the rewards or the pain if they do help him.

The goal seems to be weakening the Iranian grip on power, short of a military strike which will just strengthen their position at home and in the view of global Islam and with the Russians, the Chinese and the rest of the world that is sick and tired of the US using the stick so often, when it is rich enough to use the carrot, and be a lot less disruptive.

rotter says:

Oh thank GOD the for the “vigilance” of the FBI. If not for the ever “vigilant” FBI, one of their own plots to blow something up might succeed and then we would be force to drone Switzerland. Im not falling for that “neutral” song and dance.