Instahoglets 25th May 06

Some news, some views, even some "news less travelled" - all in the accepted "InstaAtrios" style.

No, we are not safer because of Bush's bungled foreign adventures. That's what the International Institute for Strategic Studies' (IISS) annual assessment of global security threats says, anyway. Iran, Iraq and Afghanistan are all identified as flashpoints, as well as North Korea. Iraq? The IISS director says that "It is doubtful that a collective sense of Iraqi nationalism can survive in a context of increasing sectarian violence and the continuing security vacuum. Democracy has exacerbated Iraq's ethnic and religious tensions, with voters largely dividing along Sunni, Shia and Kurdish lines." and "The danger is clear: an increase in instability, violence and radical Islamism."

Given that Iraq is in civil war and the Taliban are resurgent in Afghanistan from their bases in Pakistan, it seems just stupid to be inviting a war with Iran which would add a piggy-in-the-middle to the geographic problem. Yet the Bush administration has ruled out previously authorised direct talks between Tehran and the US ambassador in Baghdad, which were to have focused on the situation in Iraq.

Bush is a weak flip-flopper who was for negotiations with Iran before he was against them? Or was it always just a cynical lie showing the most powerful man in the world deals with others in bad faith? It HAS to be one or the other. Go on, Bush cheerleaders, pick one!

This week we learned that Bush has delegated to John Negroponte the ability to allow companies to sidestep SEC reporting requirements in the name of national security. Michael Roston at "looking for Someone to Lie to Me" blog puts two and two together and thinks the most likely candidates for such exemptions are to sheild companies like MZM ("Duke" Cunningham bribers) involved in corruption and companies involved in extraordinary rendition flighhts in Europe and elsewhere. I would add, perhaps, companies like the one with possible ties to both Jack Abramoff and the CIA who ended up with 5 tons of cocaine on board their plane.

Michael is on fire this week, with another excellent post - this time he picks up on a typical Mike Ledeen moment in connection with the shooting by extremists of five Turkish judges last week. Ledeen warns that "If we continue to dither along as we are at present, the day will come when some disgusting animals shouting "God is great" burst into our courtrooms and kill our judges, and the deranged elite of this country will wonder what terrible things we have done to provoke such carnage." while conveniently fogetting that the "disgusting animals" who have already said violence against judges here in the U.S. include the GOP's very own John Cornyn.

Ledeen is theleading pundit in the stable of Benador Associates. Given that, it isn't too surprising that his fellow Benador hack Amir Taheri was caught so flagrantly making sh* up in pursuit of the hard-on for regime change in Iran that every Benador shill for the neocon whackjobs possesses. The Jewish Week has the rundown on exactly the scam was run and how it was debunked.

What is really surprising to me is that anyone in the Benador stable is able to hold a position of prestige as a reporter or pundit, many for important media outlets - and often never mention their involvement with Benador's shilling for the neocon movement. Either they declare it openly or the newspapers etc. are coniving in a grave misleading of the public that their reporting is "fair and balanced". Yes, I mean you too, Washington Post.

Greg Palast writes that we have passed the point of "peak oil" but that we still have as much oil as we could possible need for decades. Confused? Palast explains that we have to distinguish between an economist's concept of "running out" and a scientist's. This is a must-read column if you want to understand modern geopolitics as well as understanding why Chevron is running ads to sell the "peak oil" idea that we now consume more oil than we discover.

Newshog will never officially endorse a candidate for anything (although it may state a preference). I'm a foreigner in your wonderful country and it's not my place to do such a thing when I can't carry through by going out and voting for my endorsement. Newshog's wife, however, is native born and has no such problem. In a state where the Democrat machinery seems just as firmly enmeshed in lobbyist shenanigans and corporate welfare as any Republican, she is getting Kinky.

Ken Lay and Jeff Skilling of Enron, once Bush's biggest corporate donor, have been found guilty of a total of 29 criminal counts, including a conspiracy to hide the failing health of the company by selling a boosterish optimism to Wall Street and the public. Ben Adler at Tapped has a first "reaction to the reaction" as he lays the smackdown on anyone who would write that this verdict will damage Bush in any way. Sadly, it will not happen.

Speaking truth to (nuclear) power?: "Nukes breed nukes. As long as some nations continue to insist that nuclear weapons are essential to their security, other nations will want them. There is no way around this simple truth," ElBaradei told the Paul H. Nitze School of Advanced International Studies at Johns Hopkins University.

"When it comes to nuclear weapons, we are reaching a fork in the road. Either we must begin moving away from a security system based on nuclear weapons or we should resign ourselves to President (John F.) Kennedy's 1960s prediction of a world with 20 to 30 nuclear weapons states," he said.

How embarassing will it be for the neocons who cried "traitor" if Murtha turms out to be right again? Suddenly they go from being patriots decrying anyone "undermining" the war on terror to apologists for atrocities. It's looking awfully like he was. Their very own NPR has a report that says the criminal investigation has established some serious wrongdoing and is focused on the actions of a Marine sergeant and a corporal. Unfortunately, none of it will help the dead get better.