Wednesday, July 19, 2006

Dots

Most of the time there really aren't any lines that go between them. Sometimes I really don't like the lines that could be drawn between them.

Omar at Iraq the Model has a worrisome post up that indicates a call to action by Iran to its Shia allies in Iraq.

An Israeli using the name 'Woland' has a curious piece concerning a game show on Hezbollah's Al Manar channel.

Typical Arab bluff or has the maddest of the mullah's gone round the bend?

12 comments:

Barry Dauphin said...

Rick,

"Curious Piece" link sends you back to YARGB

Rick Ballard said...

Thanks, Barry. Fixed.

buddy larsen said...

Troubling as hell, both links. ItM's prognostication doesn't surprise, tho. That this war is seamless across all boundaries and distinctions is becoming more clear by the hour.

The 'puzzle' is the wicked thing--what do the denizens of the tv production studio know, that IDF intell wouldn't?

Rick Ballard said...

I just read a comment over at JOM from a guy who works in air cargo at SFO - they've been notified to expect delays of several hours due to increased inspection and security.

The curious thing to me in the ItM link was the color shift in the banners. I've always figured a real civil war in Iraq was at least a 50/50 proposition. The longer they wait, the worse it will be.

buddy larsen said...

I'm sure CenCom is hyper alert right in here.

Luther said...

We all need to be in 'high alert'. Better to be ready and wrong, than slack and dead.

I think we in the west have a difficult time interpreting the religious fanatics we face. We can only suspend our disbelief so far. The bastards we face have no such limitation.

I want peace, love, happiness, butterflies and kites flying. I will not see it in my lifetime. This is a war for the soul of the earth.

Barry Dauphin said...

Although I believe that Iranian President Armed-jihad has intentions to do something, these are still two dots. With three or more you can begin to fill out the picture. I would suspect that there will either be more dots soon or some of this is wishful jihadist thinking. Some of the braggadocious dates have already come and gone (wasn't April going to be Armageddon?). I still don't think that the Iranians expected Israel to bring down the hammer in this way, as they seem only minimally prepared (notwithstanding the successful attack on the ship). Also opinion manipulation has not been successful so far (i.e., the proverbial world opinion is not so favorable to the Iranians). If media are a part of the strategy, then the Iranians have miscalcualted. The Adminstration is in no rush to settle things down. The Israelis have been planning this for a while. Surely some mid-east bloggers can conjure up some answers for the "puzzle". I really think that many Arab muslims "forget" that most recent last prediction of the destruction of Israel didn't pan out as if the predictions were never made.

Rick Ballard said...

Barry,

I know that if it weren't for bluster and lieing Arabs would be mute - the only reason I'm feeling a bit nervous has to do with the sophistication of the missile that hit the Israeli ship. The Lebanese Army had to have provided radar targeting for that shot - Hezbollah doesn't have it's own radar arrays as far as anyone knows.

I wonder what other surprises Iran has cooked up.

Barry Dauphin said...

Rick,

Yes the missile shot was a surprise and had to have been planned well in advance. Believe me I'm not saying I'm worry-free, far from it. But this feels a bit different than the usual pleas for peace. Even though Israel is bombing the crap out of suspected Hizballah strongholds and doing a lot of damage, it seems that the most indignant are the TV anchors, who must be indignant or else they don't know what to do.

I sense (maybe because I hang out on this blog and others) that there is a fair amount of "tolerance" for what Israel is doing, and I don't think that the Iranians put that into their calculations. Perhaps this will lead them to do something more desparate. I certainly hope that Israel can decimate Hizballah and be allowed to finish the job as much as possible.

One thought, probably wrong. What if Ahmadinejad actually believes his 12th imam? What if he hopes to stir things up, help create chaos, but has no nukes, just stirring things up and waiting and waiting....and then number 12 is a no show. Does he lose credibility in the eyes of the devout at some point or only lose credibility if he capitulates to the Great Satan?

Unknown said...

And what happens when the imam does not appear?

yesterday I heard a blurb on TV about an incident in Iraq where a woman and her three children had their throats slit for "cooperating" with the infidels. How much of this will people tolerate?

buddy larsen said...

Say Thank You, Lord, for providing us our SSBN, aka "Boomer" fleet. No matter what, we take 'em with us, whoever the hell they are.

Unknown said...

buddy:

Yeah, like that Caliphate will last for more than a couple of seconds.