Yo check dis eric. 1.6 billion muslim and ah’ gots no problem wid dat and ah’ guess neida’ do bush o’ cheney.BUT big problem be de radical muslim.
Now ya’ kin say dat only 300,000 is radical but some dink dat upside 500,000,000 is radical. Islamic terro’ist is gunnin fo’ continent uh Africa. Check dis Somalia. Dey mos’ took it and dat’s jus 1 african country.
Bush administrashun be lookin’ at old global warfare. If continent uh Africa be converted into some huge radical islam state where ya’ at den? Big trouble be where ya”d be at. So’s ya’ kin label Bush some villain but he be crusadin’ against radical islam around da damn wo’ld.
Moderate Islam be A OK’ but dey aint da damn ones attackin’ somalia. Duz ya’ know whut radical islam preaches? No booze, sex, skimpy dress, prostitushun, weed o’ po’n. Yo t’hell wid dat brud! Let’s git dem radicals befo’e dey turn deir conservative views into law
Posted by reggie007 at January 2, 2007 07:30 PM
Yo Reggie
U is come bleedly mis gided- radical Christians be killin all da time. Day is da real enema- check it!
Posted by Joshua at January 2, 2007 08:43 PM
Behold the mind of Mr. Margolis, dear readers. He calls Mahmoud Ahmadinejad a “Villain of 2006” – not because he’s threatening to annihilate Israel with nukes, but because his threats might give President Bush an excuse to attack Iran. That’s like calling Hitler a “Villain of 1939” because he might give Winston Churchill an excuse to attack Germany.
Here’s Mr. Margolis’ real problem: he promised us last May that “Iran is not a threat.”
http://www.ericmargolis.com/archives/2006/05/iran_is_not_thr.php
Now that reality is catching up with him, Mr. Margolis is trying to disguise his plate of crow before he eats it. I, for one, am not going to be fooled.
Eat up, Eric!
Posted by jkwilson at January 4, 2007 09:52 PM
Spot on, jkwilson.
Posted by Bino at January 5, 2007 08:43 AM
At what point did Ahmadinejac say, exactly, that he would annihilate Israel with nukes? To my knowledge, he has never explicitly acknowledge that Iran was pursuing nuclear technology for anything outside of civilian energy use. You’re attributing to him comments he never made at one time, or over the course of several speeches.
What makes him a villain to me, is his use of nationalist rhetoric to prop up a regime that is fundamentally unpopular, and endangering the welfare of millions of Persians in so doing. Iranian Shia are reluctant Muslims at best, and few are radicalized. Yet, they contend with an ‘Islamic revolutionary government’ as the public face of their nation. Just as most Americans don’t view the world in the same way that our current leadership represents, Ahmadinejad endangers his people with his rhetoric, and in that sense, he is a villain.
The fact that you see Israel’s endangerment as being more imminent than the danger to Iranians misses the point; assuming what the Bush administration says is true, Iran is still years away from a working nuclear device, and even further from a miniaturized device that could fit on the tip of a missile. If the Iranians develop a working bomb 5 years from now, how many would it take to really ‘wipe Israel off the map?’ 3-4? How would the Iranians deliver those weapons? Strat bombers? Hizbollah infiltrators? Compared to that, how imminent are threats against Iran by war crazed Washington Neocons or idiots like Olmert? Somewhat more in ‘the present’ I think. I only hope that Israel’s recent experience in Lebanon, and our current headache in Iraq, will temper the sword rattling of such moronic politicians.
Accompanying the fantasy of Iranian capability is Iranian political will. People take Ahmadinejad seriously without ever noting that he sits at the helm of a national government; a government that controls the lives and welfare of over 50 million Persians in one of the most resource-laden regions of Central Asia. If attacks against Israel were ever tied to the Iranian government, what would happen to an Iranian government concerned with preserving its own power? Their grasp on the people is already weak enough that Ahmadinejad must resort to nationalist jingoism and hostility against external neighbors just to keep people from looking inward. But talk and action are entirely different when the consequences of action are considered. There is a substantial gulf between rhetoric and practice in any society, and Iran’s is no exception. Ahmadinejad says what he says because he wants to remain president, even as his government is relatively ineffective and unpopular. Acting on his threats not only ensures the destruction of his government by external powers greater than him (U.S, Israel), but also exposes his constituents to the hazards of war.
In my view, Eric is right on the money; Ahmadinejad’s threats against Israel are empty bombast meant to inspire national pride; this is something Iranians have in spades, and it has nothing to do with Islamic fundamentalism. But the external consequences of his words may be quite grave. Trigger happy administrations in Washington and Tel Aviv are more than happy to use such aggressive nationalist rhetoric as a pretext for ‘regime change’ or ‘surgical strikes.’ Ahmadinejad is gambling that the external powers can’t or won’t respond to mere words, and that he can continue to blame external bogeymen for the problems created by his own unpopular regime. However, the words are only that; words. Ahmadinjad has neither the means, nor does he represent the political will, to act on any such threats, real or implied.
Posted by chatman at January 5, 2007 04:03 PM
Chatman, will you accept this Aljazeera article, titled, “Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad has openly called for Israel to be wiped off the map”, as a source confirming his statements?
http://english.aljazeera.net/news/archive/archive?ArchiveId=15816
Posted by Bino at January 8, 2007 02:02 PM
Spot On Eric and Chatman!
Posted by Farhan at January 13, 2007 06:30 AM
Israel is easily the greatest threat in the region. Israeli nationalism is so out of control, this mental affliction will just lead to $150 a barrel oil, a tax on the West and the enrichment of Wahabi oil sheiks that the AIPC crowd so despises. Yep nationalism is a scary thing.
Posted by ptosh12_3 at January 27, 2007 09:59 AM