Iran, the emperor has no clothes

Iranians are upset with the sudden fuel rationing measures, and at least two gas stations were torched. While the rationing had been planned for weeks, consumers were given only a few hours warning.

Turkish Weekly:

The Reuters and AFP news agencies quoted witnesses as saying the attack, at a station in the Punak area of northwest of Tehran, was carried out by youths throwing stones and chanting slogans denouncing President Mahmud Ahmadinejad.

Could this be the start of an uprising by the Iranian people against President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad? We can only hope. Former U.S. Ambassador John Bolton on Iran:

Worse still, according to Ambassador Bolton, the Bush administration does not recognize the urgency of the hour and that the options are now limited to only the possibility of regime change from within or a last-resort military intervention, and it is still clinging to the dangerous and misguided belief that sanctions can be effective.

As a consequence, Bolton said he was "very worried" about the well-being of Israel. If he were in Israel's predicament, he said, "I'd be pushing the US very hard. I am pushing the US [administration] very hard, from the outside, in Washington." (Jerusalem Post hat tip Michael)

Image via DeMediactratic Nation who has more information including this from the NYT:

One Iranian gentleman effected by the rationing questioned: '

''Is this good timing, to announce rationing only three hours before it starts?'''

On Iran's fuel needs:

Iran is the second biggest exporter in the Organization of Petroleum Exporting Countries. But because it has low refining capability, it has to import more than 50 percent of its gasoline needs. To keep prices low, the government subsidized gas sales, saddling it with enormous costs. [snip]

“This man, Ahmadinejad, has damaged all things. The timing of the rationing is just one case,” said Reza Khorrami, a 27-year-old teacher who was among those lining up at one Tehran gas station before midnight on Tuesday. (more at Peace and Freedom)

Bernie at Planck's Constant says, let the situation in Iran be a lesson to Democrats.

That's interesting: The Democrats also came to power promising great things, but instead stepped up their anti-American and anti-Israeli foreign policy agenda. A word to the wise.

By the way, Iran is the world's fourth-biggest oil exporter but because of its lack of refining capacity, it has to import 40% of its gasoline! [snip]

So why don't we have new refineries going up? [snip]

Indeed, the refining industry has closed 50 refineries since the 1990s because it would have been prohibitive to make them comply with pollution laws and not one single new refinery has been built since the 70s. It will only get worse. If the Gorites take control of Congress we can expect Global Warming concerns to make building new refineries completely impossible. $30/gallon gasoline, anyone? (more)

The Merry Widow has " Updated info on the Iranian invasion."

Unofficial and unconfirmed are 4, that's right, 4 different incursions or invasions into another country in the ME.

How much longer this pressure cooker is going to boil before it blows is something only G*D knows.

In Iraq:

Brave, Brave Sir Lugar! Yet he passes for relatively constructive opposition., Pros and Cons:

GOP critics of the war have reverted … along with the more sane Democrats … to the Donald Rumsfeld position on Iraq that they helped kill in 2003. Rumsfeld wanted to turn over Iraq immediately to a government in exile and keep a small supporting force on the ground backed by heavy air support to hunt down terrorists, and let the local politics sort themselves out. The idea was to avoid classic counter-insurgency tactics that take about a decade to play out and are manpower intensive.

Instead, the UN, Old Europe, many of our European allies and virtually the entire Democrat party intervened and insisted instead upon an occupation ...

Across the border in Pakistan, "President Pervez Musharraf told Pakistan’s tribal leaders to expel al-Qaeda terrorists sheltering in the region bordering Afghanistan, saying their presence destroys peace and security."

“Foreign terrorists are the biggest threat to our country and therefore they have to be flushed out,” the official Associated Press of Pakistan cited Musharraf as telling a meeting of tribal leaders, known as a jirga, in Peshawar, northwestern Pakistan, yesterday. [snip]

Pakistan’s anti-terrorism operations have resulted in the arrest of about 700 suspects since 2001, including alleged al- Qaeda commanders Khalid Sheikh Mohammed and Ramzi Mohamed Abdullah Binalshibh, both accused of helping plan the Sept. 11, 2001, attacks in New York and Washington. (Peace and Freedom)

Others:

Iran Beano Use Up; Gas Shortage, DeMediacratic Nation

Web Reconnaissance at The Thunder Run

Chief Justice Roberts and General Petraeus–The Best and Brightest Do Matter by THE TYGRRRR EXPRESS

Leaders do exist. Some are born, others are made, but successful leaders truly are the best and brightest. It can be book smarts, street smarts, or a combination of both, but there is no substitute for those that apply their skills in an intelligent fashion.

Amen!

Comments

[Ortho]

Hi Debbie! Interesting post!

Pushing and perhaps precipitating regime change in Iran is not a sound tactical strategy. Who would the U.S. replace Ahmadinejad with? Would destabilizing Iran's government plunge the territory into a civil war? Does the U.S. military have enough troops to fight a multi-front perpetual war on terror, perpetrate Iranian regime change, stabilize post-regime change Iran, and continue its current involvement in the Iraqi civil war.

Nation state enemies are the least of the U.S.'s worries. The U.S. government should focus upon terrorist networks who are planing and preparing to perpetrate attacks of terror upon U.S. interests. The war of terror is a war that has nothing to do with nation states. It has to do with battling organizations that are non-nation state actors.

[Rastaman]

Looks like we both find this an interesting development. I posted on this, this morning, also.

Rasta

[the merry widow]

Hi, Debbie!
Thank you for including my little bit. I appreciate that.
I'm very concerned by the lack of caring about what is going on, as I had said earlier, there are possibly 5 different groups ready to pounce on Israel, 3 are terrorist organizations, 2 are nation states, and the 1 which is the driver is Iran. It is the common denominator to this mess.
They are feeling very confident, and with their contracts with Russia and China...long, hot summer ahead of us.

tmw

[incognito]

If the Serbian/Yugoslavians were able to do it, why not Iran?!

I hope for all our sakes they do.

[Honz P]

Thanks for the link.
Tygggr has also shown up recently.