Jimmy Pawn In Pyongyang, Hamas Plans Violent End To Ramadan

Robert Scheer
Bob Cesca

"Barack Obama and the Democrats he led to a stunning victory two years ago are going down hard in the face of an economic crisis that he did nothing to create but which he has failed to solve." - Robert Scheer

Where last week at this time I was allowed to feel good about the state of the world, enjoyed reading the newspaper with my cup of freshly-ground coffee, and even felt good towards all of the dogs and cats lounging around in the house. This morning it looks like the August heat is driving everyone nuts and all reasonable behavior has flown out the window. It's bad enough that the predicted monsoon storms are still battering Pakistan, with over one-third of the country under water. Islamabad has issued orders for 500,000 more people to evacuate their homes, God knows where they will be living a year from now.

There isn't enough food resources left in the world right now to feed everyone who needs relief, donations have begun to stop, and I predict that millions will starve to death. Forget the Taliban, put them to work growing food and talk differing interpretations of Sharia law later. Same thing needs to happen right now in Afghanistan, turn every military expert into a farming expert, the world needs to be fed. If Afghanistan can grow an export crop this year, they can become the savior of Pakistan and turn the tables, even help the Russian regions. The US is too far entrenched in it's military solution, its romantic obsession with spies and covert affairs that blinds the policymakers from seeing any other plausible solutions.

conspiracy alert...
A couple of years ago, when it seemed that half of the state of California was on fire, I thought how easy it was to use wildfires as a terrorist act, because its the last reason that anybody would consider. One year Norther California was on fire, the next Southern California got the torch. This year over 800 wildfires were started in Russia during a record heatwave. All it takes is a few guys on motorcycles and a couple cartons of cigarettes... And now Russia may not be able to harvest enough to feed her own population and has canceled future exports for this year.

Hamas has decided to fight for its future, primarily by starting violent incidents that it hopes will stop the coming negotiations for a Palestinian state. It started today with some minor rioting in east Jerusalem on some trumped up imaginary slight, and may end with something much more serious and devastating: "Hamas is said by our sources to be preparing to activate its West Bank networks for coordinated strikes against a major target inside Israel and another associated with Abbas' power base or the US- and British-trained Palestinian security forces. However, if those networks are thwarted by the preventive measures set in motion meanwhile, Hamas will resort to attacks from the Gaza Strip which it controls or further South from Sinai, across the leaky Egyptian-Israeli border."

If the negotiations become successful, not only will Netanyahu become Israeli Prime Minister For Life, but there will no longer be a need for Hamas to exist. They already have not allowed any elections to take place for fear they would be elected out of power, and a Palestinian state where they did not participate would render them beyond useless: " Khaled Meshaal's speech Tuesday, shortly before the iftar meal breaking the Ramadan fast, was exceptionally vicious. Never before, had he dared vent his fury on Egyptian president Hosni Mubarak and Jordan's King Abdullah. For the first time, Khaled Meshal not only openly criticized Egyptian President Hosni Mubarak and Jordan's King Abdullah but threatened them: Should they refuse to boycott the US-sponsored Israel-Palestinian negotiations, he said, "The results… will be catastrophic for the interests and the security of Jordan and Egypt."

The Hamas leader showed he was even prepared to jeopardize the lifelines given his organization by both Arab governments: Egypt provides Hamas officials and military leaders with their only exit route from Gaza, while Jordan tolerates Hamas' extensive political organization, which has always been careful not to upset its delicate ties with the royal family and risk its freedom of action there." But then, what does Meshaal care, he lives in Damascus... Also noted is that he said these things after having fasted all day and was about to have his evening meal, another proof that simply fasting doesn't make you more religious, just more cranky...

Ex-president Jimmy Carter has extended his stay in North Korea, as it appears he is being used as a bargaining chip to get a personal loan from China for the gala coming out party next month of the next generation of Supreme Rulers. Not to be confused with Supreme Pencils or Supreme Economic Yardsticks... Jimmy has stopped by at Kim Jong Il's request to pick up the mad American who had walked across the border under the impression that God wanted him to help save the North Koreans.

Instead of meeting with Mr Carter, Kim gathered up his son, Kim Jong Un, and took his personal train to Beijing. As the Washington Post reports: "The fact that the North Korean leader made a rare foreign trip that overlapped with the visit shows that the impoverished country is struggling with separate and more pressing interests, analysts said. Kim is desperate to build support for an imminent power transfer to his son, and he needs China's help.


Less than two weeks from now, Pyongyang plans to host a rare delegates' meeting that, according to a growing consensus among North Korea watchers, will herald the rise of Kim's youngest son, Kim Jong Eun. The planned celebration comes at a time when North Korea, cut off from most international aid and battered by floods, faces food shortages and economic peril."

It looks like Kim Jong Il is trying to impress on his Chinese Loanmasters that he can still draw an important crowd to Pyongyang, that his mojo is legitimate, and could they please fund the coming out party for his most worthy son? If he gets the money, Jimmy can grab the prisoner and come home, otherwise he will return alone. His trip won't have been wasted, as he has been hanging out with the number two man in line of importance after Little Kim, and who would like to see more normalized, if not less paranoid relations with the US. So now we have sent two ex-presidents to North Korea. We can't send in George HW Bush, because he is suffering from Alzheimer's and can't leave home, and we can't have George W Bush go, because then we would be Sending In The Clowns...