Matrix Dominatrix

That famous photo of Condi Rice can be found here at Instapundit. Kesher Talk has a good roundup. I think Judith is too kind to the Washington Post's idiocy, but the quote from Aaron is a must-read.

The Manolo, he is posting here.

The Nir Rosen Peace Plan

Guest blogging at Michael J. Totten's place, Jeremy Brown deconstructs Nir Rosen's piece in the New York Times Magazine about the Kurds, Iraq, and oil.

Rosen is trying to induce in you, the reader, the idea (and you are to think it was your own) that as bad a man as Saddam was, things are going to get much worse than ever in Iraq. And very soon. Why focus on the Kurds? Because they are the most closely allied with the U.S. And because people have a tendency to, well, like them ...

Read Jeremy's post as a study in the kind of critical reading we all ought to be doing with the MSM. And read it to the very end - for its final, chilling paragraph.

False Hope vs. No Hope

Iraq the Model has a fascintating response to Big Pharaoh on the different ways a population can be demoralized by a fascist regime. Very important information in both of these posts; go read and learn.

Why the Pope Is Not Like the Commandant of the Marine Corps

Great post on the Pope's illness by Michael Novak at The Corner.

Is there no end

... to the corruption and depravity of the United Nations?

Go read this post at the Redhunter.

Calling Joseph

Big Pharaoh has a dream.

I have a dream. I am obsessed with this dream. Everyday I search the news for any indication that my dream will ever come true. It is my euphoria, my ecstasy. Ohhhh, how sweet is this dream. If it came true, it will resemble a massive earth quake that will shake the Middle East. I believe it will have greater effects than the purple fingers revolution in Iraq or the Hariri revolution in Lebanon.

Now, for just a couple minutes, let us forget reality and imagine if we actually saw the below sequence of headlines:


Millions march through Tehran demanding freedom

Riots all over Iran

Student protesters occupy Tehran TV station

Government of Iran losing control

CNN’s Christian Annampour: These riots and demonstrations exceeds what we saw in 1979. The Revolutionary Guards of Iran fired live ammunition on the rioters to disperse them but the throngs are getting bigger and bigger.

Ayatollah Ali Khamenei delivers a speech promising reform and free elections. Students call for the government and the cleric based council to step down.

Iranian regime falls ...

Read the rest of the dream at the link. Then help make this dream a reality.

Melissa: Bald is Beautiful

Melissa Etheridge performed hairless at the Grammy Awards, but unlike Sinead O'Connor's early gesture of rebellion, Melissa's scalp carried a serious message: survival.

While officially a tribute to the late Janis Joplin, many saw the bald-headed Etheridge -- in her first appearance since being diagnosed with breast cancer -- as a symbol of empowerment, not only for female rock musicians, but also for the millions who have suffered from breast cancer.

Read about it at CNN.

"Lebanon United Against Syria"

Photos of the Lebanese demonstrations posted by Stefania at Free Thoughts.

IRI Catches "Mole", Worries Over Protests

A new bulletin from Debka reports:

DEBKAfile’s intelligence sources reveal: A high-placed Iranian mole has been caught in Iranian president Mohammed Khatami’s office in Tehran.

Hossein Marashai, head of Iran’s cultural heritage council, was caught using a sophisticated US-manufactured listening-long-distance-transmitting device at top-level Iranian leadership meetings. DEBKAfile’s sources calls this the deepest foreign intelligence penetration in all 26 years of Iran's Islamic regime.

I don't care to dwell on the likely fate of Hossein Marashai at this hour; but I will be praying for him and his family. Let us hope his service in the cause of freedom will not be in vain.

On a brighter note, the cause of freedom seems to be marching forward - and it's been marching through the streets of Tehran lately, according to this thread on Free Iran:

From an Iranian Student:
I am receiving confirmed reports of protests in Alameh university campus in Tehran, now.

BBC Persian language service confirms the reports and posted a news story in Persian language on this.

A group of students are on strike in Tehran to ask for freedom of expression and release of all political prisoners.

They are protesting against the closure of newspapers, imprisonment of outspoken professors!

They demand support from the free world and the US! They support hunger strike of political prisoners. ...

Visit Regime Change Iran for updates.

If they can keep it up for six hours or more, the regime will have a real problem on its hands:

In a recent secret report to the Iranian regime's Supreme Leader Ali Khamenei, Iran's Revolutionary Guards Corps pointed out that were a demonstration or rebellion to last more than six hours in Tehran, the security apparatus would no longer be able to control the situation.

"Society is in an unstable state. Were certain sensitive locations in Tehran to 'explode' under these circumstances, and the capital sink into chaos, if uprisings continue unabated and grow larger for more than six hours in Tehran, the situation would become uncontrollable", the report said.

The Iranian capital has been the scene of numerous clashes between people and State Security Forces over the past few months.

The Iranian regime has stepped up repression throughout the capital over the past year to combat any outbursts against the state.

Clashes have also erupted elsewhere in Iran in recent weeks. Iranian Kurds and security agents clashed heavily on Friday in three towns in western Iran, leaving dozens injured and hundreds arrested.

The disruption occurred after SSF agents used force to disperse demonstrations taking place simultaneously in the towns of Sardasht, Saqqez, and Baneh in protest against severe fuel shortages in the area, eye-witnesses reported. ...

Read the whole story at Iran Focus for full details. Hey, I wonder how that "secret report" got out ... our friend Hossein Marashai, perhaps?

Morning Report: February 24, 2005

It's all about oil. In a series on "The Second Front" (i.e. Southeast Asia), Wretchard explores the role of Saudi money in anti-US operations, including projected Cole-like naval operations and the recently discovered plot to assassinate President Bush: 'As Little Green Footballs notes, Ahmed Omar Abu Ali, the US citizen charged with conspiring to assassinate President Bush, was not simply "a former Virginia high school valedictorian" the regular newspapers make him out to be. The "high school" he attended was a Saudi funded madrassa called the Islamic Saudi Academy.' (Belmont Club)

Fatah legislators approve new cabinet. Debka reports: 'After two rejections, Palestinian legislature finally confirms PM Qureia’s third cabinet lineup by majority of 54 to 12 with 2 abstentions. All 17 ministers are new faces unassociated with Arafat’s corrupt administration.' (Debka)

Syrian terrorism in Iraq. Hammorabi provides details on the Syrian regime's involvement in terrorism against Iraq, citing captured terrorists Adam Doma and Anis al-Essa: 'Some were arrested in Mosel and Baghdad including Arabs from Syria, Saudi Arabia, Lebanon, Sudan, Egypt, Yemen and others. Adam Doma (42 years) from Sudan confessed that he received training in Syria under the supervision of Syrian Intelligence officers. He confessed that he beheaded 10 Iraqi civilians by his own hands. ... Anis Al-Essa is a Syrian who works as an officer in the Syrian Intelligence Security. He was arrested with Doma ...' (Hammorabi)

Robert Lawrence: Space pioneer's memory honored. Astronaut selectee Maj. Robert Lawrence would have been the first African-American astronaut to fly in space, had not a tragic training accident cut short his career in 1967. MSNBC features his story. Like the thirteen women originally selected for service in the Mercury program (collectively known as the Mercury 13), Lawrence is a name that deserves to be better known. (MSNBC)

Hundreds Dead in Iran Earthquake

The known death toll continues to rise in an earthquake that struck near Zarand, Iran. CNN reports:

Rescuers in central Iran searched for survivors Tuesday after a magnitude 6.4 earthquake flattened villages and killed at least 270 people.

Iranian officials told state-run television that at least 950 people were injured in the quake, which struck near Zarand, a city of about 135,000 people in Kerman province.

AP via Fox News reports:

A powerful earthquake toppled mud-built homes and flattened villages in central Iran on Tuesday, killing at least 270 people and injuring 950, officials and state-run television said. A senior official said the death toll could top 350. TV footage showed residents frantically digging through piles of debris looking for loved ones following the 6.4-magnitude earthquake, which struck at 5:55 a.m. While homes made of mud collapsed, buildings of cement appeared not to sustain heavy damage. Survivors pleaded for help finding the buried: "What a catastrophe. Please help us," one said. Rain was hampering rescue efforts. The quake's epicenter was on the outskirts of Zarand, a town of about 15,000 people located 35 miles northwest of Kerman ...

More information and discussion is posted on this thread at Free Iran.

Ha'Aretz: Sharansky's Influence

Israeli official and former Soviet dissident Natan Sharansky is profiled in this article in Ha'Aretz, which examines the influence of Sharansky's book "The Case for Democracy" in American and Israeli circles. President Bush and Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice have cited the book as a major ideological influence. As Ha'Aretz' Yoav Stern explains:

The basic principle of the theory is simple. Terror and war stem from the existence of tyrannical regimes that deny their peoples' liberty. In order to maintain their regimes, the tyrannical rulers must direct the anger of the masses to an external enemy - and lead them to war. The toppling of these tyrannical regimes, not by force but rather by means of economic and public pressure, will lead to the expansion of the circle of free democracies - which do not fight one another.

Read the article at the link.