skippy the bush kangaroo: and now, some perspective...

Tuesday, June 30, 2009

and now, some perspective...

via agi of the guys from area 51, the daily beast on iran and the death of michael jackson:

the jokes popped up almost immediately that mark sanford was the luckiest guy on earth after word broke that michael jackson had suffered a heart attack. but the notion that jackson's death, which preempted virtually all other news coverage on the cable networks last night, is sucking up media attention from other matters carries a dark edge to it as well. national-security experts are warning that without sustained attention on iran, its repressive tactics could grow more deadly in the coming days.

the jackson story, paired with farrah fawcett's death and sanford's own scandal, “without a doubt” poses a danger in iran, according to michael rubin, an american enterprise institute scholar and former bush administration official.

...

“to put it this way, the gods are not in favor of hope and change,” rubin said. “unfortunately in iran people are going to prison, but when a tree falls in the forest and there's no one to hear it, the pressure goes away.”

...

“it's a sad commentary that celebrity still trumps national security in news coverage, but that’s the world we live in,” he said...

yes, it is. and it probably sucks big time if you're an iranian. but if you're an american, it works out rather nicely, doesn't it? as long as we're amused, everything's dandy -- twitter doesn't care if the subject is tributes to jacko or protesters in tehran being hauled to prison. it's just... well, amusing... to hear the sad truth coming from a former bush administration official. who did those people listen to when it came to national security for about eight years? the neocons. these clowns have wanted to take ahmadinejad down for years; now they're supporting him. that's precious.

but that's about the level of seriousness we're accustomed to. so if what went on in iraq for the last six years is any indication, the iranians might be better off if we just stay the hell out of that mess and let them sort it out themselves. we like to think of ourselves as that shining city on the hill. well, if the city is las vegas and the hill is in reality a dune? yeah, that sounds like us...

Labels: foreign policy, Iran