Friendly North Korean Weapons, al Qaeda of Arabia

Jacob Weisberg
Abbas Milani
Robert Haddick


"It's not preposterous to imagine laws that would try to save money by encouraging the inconvenient elderly to make a timely exit. After all, that's been Republican policy for years." - Jacob Weisberg

"The scars of living under a paranoid regime last a lifetime. " - Abbas Milani

"I did not want him to be searched, but he surprised me by blowing himself up." - Prince Mohammed



Analysis on Iran's leadership feud...
From the Foreign Policy website, Karim Sadjadpour, an Iran expert at the Carnegie Endowment for International Peace, thinks “this might just be theater.” Reached by e-mail, he told FP that “Khamenei wants to try and rehabilitate his image as a magnanimous leader who stays above the fray, and hence he issues more conciliatory statements ... while giving [Ahmadinejad] free reign to be the attack dog.”

Weapons bound for Iran seized...

First, Russian rockets get stopped from being delivered to Iran, and now a North Korean ship that was full of rocket propelled grenades destined for Iran was detained by the UAE: "The United Arab Emirates has seized a cargo ship bound for Iran with a cache of banned rocket-propelled grenades and other arms from North Korea, the first such seizure since sanctions against North Korea were ramped up, diplomats and officials told The Associated Press on Friday.

The seizure earlier this month was carried out in accordance with tough new U.N. Security Council sanctions meant to derail North Korea's nuclear weapons program, but which also ban the North's sale of any conventional arms." Most of these devices find their way into Iraq and Afghanistan.

According to defensetech.org, the armor piercing roadside bombs are designed in Iran, with many being made their and smuggled into Iraq: "Pentagon and intelligence officials say that some shipments of the new explosives have contained both components and fully manufactured devices, and may have been spirited into Iraq along the porous Iranian border by the Iranian-backed, anti-Israeli terrorist group Hezbollah, or by Iran's Revolutionary Guard. American commanders say these bombs closely matched those that Hezbollah has used against Israel." Other supplies come in through Syria, which both Hezbollah and al Qaeda use as a safe haven.

Other fun hotspots flaring up in violence, that are extremely dangerous for vacationers and free-lance journalists right now, are Chechneya, which still wants its independence from Russia, and Yemen, where the Sunni government, backed by Saudi arabia, has been fighting for the last two weeks against Shiite rebels also backed by Iran. As you can see, Iran has been focused on more than the show trials...

al Qaeda on the Arabian Peninsula...

The Saudis have also been trying to stop the spread of al Qaeda style terrorism in its own country, and in response, a suicide bomber tried to kill the official and member of the royal family in charge of anti-terrorism in the Kingdom. According to Google News:

" Hours after being lightly wounded by a suicide bomber, a senior Saudi prince largely credited w

ith the kingdom's aggressive anti-terrorism efforts said Friday he was more determined than ever to fight militants in the country.
The bombing was the first assassination attempt against a member of the royal family in decades and was also the first significant attack by militants in the kingdom since 2006. Saudi Arabia has waged a fierce crackdown on al-Qaida militants in the country that succeeded in killing or capturing most of its leaders after a string of attacks that started in 2003."

It's a tad ironic, since Osama bin Laden is a Saudi and still has access to his family fortune. Many other more moderate Islamic countries view Saudi Wahabism as extremist and influential in forming al Qaeda, they view the evangelicals moving into their countries as dangerous and try to keep track of them. Many Saudi fighters who have been to Iraq, Pakistan, and Afghanistan to fight against the infidels, have been coming back to form their own groups in the areas surrounding Saudi Arabia, including Yemen. One of their plans is to set up training camps to send members into the Gaza strip. Let's not forget that many of the 9/11 hijackers were also from Saudi Arabia, with many ultra conservative Saudi princes supporting them with money...

Glen's paranoia...
GLENN BECK: I'm tired of being a sheep. I'm tired of being a victim. I'm tired of being pushed around. You know what? The gloves come off.

JASON LINKINS: I have no idea who is pushing Glenn Beck around! He gets his very own television show and radio show and book deals and he gets to say whatever in the world he feels like saying and people give him millions and millions of dollars for it. He can have, if he wants, his very own pony at his gigantic and secluded manse to ride on whenever he wants and can hire someone to bake him delicious funnel cakes any time he likes! These are the hard won perks of being a celebrity, earned from having a dedicated fan base.

late night political jokes:

"Obama family vacationing on Martha's Vineyard and Obama has been mostly relaxing with just a little bit of work. And you know, that sounds like George Bush's entire eight years." --David Letterman

"The entire island of Martha's Vineyard has gone Obama crazy. There's even a cocktail that they've named after Barack Obama. It's called the Obamarita. Not to be confused with a cocktail inspired by John McCain, the Cosmopoligrip. And then there was one a couple of years ago inspired by George W. Bush, the Mojidiot. Of course, there was the Bill Clinton Screwdriver." --David Letterman

"John McCain is out there in Arizona. He had a town hall meeting and you know these town hall meetings. Have you been watching? They've got out of hand completely. There's one old guy, had a gun rack on his walker, honestly." --David Letterman

"McCain at one point had to have a crazy woman removed by security at one of these town hall meetings. And I'm thinking, jeez, he should have done that a year ago." --David Letterman

"Federal Reserve Chairman Ben Bernanke will serve four more years, or until the United States becomes a colony of China." --David Letterman

"Bernanke looks like a guy you see at the airport holding a sign that reads 'Dr. Rothman.' He looks like a guy who ran a Madoff feeder fund. He looks like a personal physician to a pop star. He looks like a medical examiner on 'Kojak.'" --David Letterman

"Ladies and gentlemen, here's an example of why we're all screwed. You know the stimulus checks that the government's sending out? Thousands of these stimulus checks have been sent to prison inmates. Well, I'm pretty sure they'll give 'em back. I mean, if you can't trust a con who -- I mean, seriously." --David Letterman

"It's all part of Obama's new 'Cash for Convicts' program." --David Letterman

"The good news is the checks arrived today, just in time for the big dance on Saturday." --David Letterman

"But according to a newly released memo from the CIA, they used horrible torture techniques on prisoners. Dick Cheney claimed that it wasn't torture. Enhanced interrogation techniques, that's what he called it, enhanced interrogation technique. And he didn't shoot that guy in the face. No, no, that was enhanced quail hunting." --David Letterman

"Speaking of John McCain, he says that people are so angry and concerned about America's future, that he sees a revolution coming. McCain said, 'I had this exact same feeling in 1776.'" --Conan O'Brien

"Federal Reserve Chairman Ben Bernanke has been a victim of identity theft. His credit card company became suspicious when they noticed repeated purchases of large, failing American car companies." --Conan O'Brien