Iran | Snapped Shot

"Is interwebz over here?"

Speaking as someone who has a vested interest in electronic Iran, I can't wait to see how this whole thing shakes out. Until then, I'm just quaaaaaking in my boots, maaan.

Via Arutz Sheva:

(IsraelNN.com) Iran has called for the launching of a “media intifada” against Israel, and the first results are apparently visible online, in the form of a Hamas Facebook group. Other groups and sites formed as part of the 'intifada' may have been removed or hacked.

According to the Intelligence and Terrorism Information Center's latest briefing, a conference titled National and Islamic Solidarity for the Future of Palestine was held in Tehran on February 28. It was headed by Iran’s President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad, who gave a typically belligerent anti-Israeli speech.

The conference's participants were a particularly nasty group of terrorists with a decades-old record of murdering civilians: Khaled Mashaal, the chairman of the Hamas Political Bureau; Ramadan Shalah, the secretary-general of the Palestinian Islamic Jihad terrorist group; and Ahmed Jibril, of the Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine.

MATT DAMON!

(Sorry, I had to do it... And Rusty started it, in case you were wondering.)

So it would appear that Iran has launched yet another mid-range ballistic missile, capable of launching a nuclear warhead at the State of Israel. Which, I'm sure, nobody is seriously planning on doing, because Islam Is The Religion Of Peace and all.

How important is this story to our unprecedentedly smart leaders? The U.S. State Department doesn't even mention it--though we should all watch out for that SCARY GLOBAL WARMING, which is the top story at the moment. The White House is equally as silent--"Retrofitting jobs" being the issue of utmost importance at present.

So, how about the Obama Administration's efforts to stop Iran from nuking Israel?

I'd have to give it a good, solid B+!

(And there's Monday's meme. I'm so timely...!)

More: Atlas Shrugs, Closing Velocity ("Leaves North Korea Behind?" Dear Leader's not gonna like that...)  Hot Air reminds us that the scrapped missile shield in Poland just might not have been such a bad idea right now. Weasel Zippers celebrates the CHANGE. Jihad "1938" Watch is awaiting our inevitable surrender.

I used to keep an occasional eye on Mahmoud's blog way back in 2006, but apparently, it fell out of fashion at some point since then.

Never fear, though -- Mahmoud is back online, and he's back with a vengeance.

Not that any of you regular readers are surprised by his rage or anything.

Speaking of, looking back at some of that old stuff has really energized me. Am I the only person here who notices that this blog was a whole lot awesomer way back before our little run-in with the Associated Press? Have I really lost my touch after all these years?

These questions, and more, I expect you to answer promptly down in Ye Comments. Do it now, or the terrorists have surely won!

In a not-so-stunning repeat of 2007, it would seem that Iran has taken another set of British sailors hostage:

The Foreign Office confirmed that a racing yacht owned by Sail Bahrain and crewed by five British sailors was detained by the Iranian Navy on November 25.

The yacht had been on its way to Dubai and, according to the Foreign Office, may have 'inadvertently', strayed into Iranian waters.

If confirmed, the detention of the British sailors will dramatically increase tensions between Iran and the West....

Notice the part about straying into Iranian waters? That was the same excuse Iran used last time, which was later determined to be wholly inaccurate.

(To my peacenik-leaning friends: This is something we like to call "A Lie.")

But hey, I'm sure a pile of Smart Diplomacy will get Britain right out of that there mess.

Thanks to the esteemed Robert Spencer, whom is as skeptical of Iranian's "peaceful" intentions as I am, for the link.

Once again, we see the impressive rewards that the Obama Administration's smart diplomacy are bringing us: Iran has announced over the weekend that it will no longer be voluntarily cooperating with the United Nations nuclear monitoring agency:

TEHRAN - Iran officially announced that it will cease its voluntary cooperation with the IAEA after the agency's Board of Governors adopted a resolution against Iran on Friday under pressure by Western countries.

Iran said the drafters of the anti-Iran resolution made a historic mistake and advised the West to discard its policy of confrontation with Tehran.

The season of good tidings is truly upon us, my soon-to-be-nuked friends. I'm sure you're as ecstatic with fluorescent joy as I am.

In all seriousness, it's not like Iran's "cooperation" with the IAEA has been entirely on the up-and-up. After all, this is the same IAEA that ignored Iran's stockpiling of nuclear production capabilities until, well, Iran came out and admitted it openly.

But hey, "international" diplomacy hasn't given us world peace over the past 80 years -- So why don't we just give it another toothless try?

(h/t Carl in Jerusalem)

A photograph endorsed by the Iranian regime:

Pro-government Iranian demonstrators chant slogans, as one of them holds up a poster showing late revolutionary founder Ayatollah Khomeini, in an annual demonstration in front of the former US Embassy in Tehran, Iran, Wednesday, Nov. 4, 2009, in a ceremony commemorating the 30th anniversary of the seizure of the US Embassy by militant students on Nov. 4, 1979. (AP Photo/Vahid Salemi)

A photograph sent in by the Iranian opposition:

This photo, taken by an individual not employed by the Associated Press and obtained by the AP outside Iran shows Iranian anti-riot police officers directing people during an anti-government protest, on the sidelines of state-sanctioned rallies to mark the 30th anniversary of the U.S. Embassy takeover, in Tehran, Iran, Wednesday, Nov. 4, 2009. Iranian security forces beat anti-government protesters with batons and fired tear gas Wednesday on the sidelines of state-sanctioned rallies to mark the 30th anniversary of the U.S. Embassy takeover, witnesses and state media reported. The counter-demonstrations were the opposition's first major show of force on the streets of Tehran since mid-September that coincided with state-sponsored protests against Israel. (AP Photo) EDITORS NOTE AS A RESULT OF AN OFFICIAL IRANIAN GOVERNMENT BAN ON FOREIGN MEDIA COVERING SOME EVENTS IN IRAN, THE AP WAS PREVENTED FROM INDEPENDENT ACCESS TO THIS EVENT

The disclaimer portions of that caption makes it seem like the AP doesn't even want to cover this story. And, to add insult to injury, the AP editorial desk seems to confuse "directing people" with "threatening to beat them over the head with a baton," which I would think should be a somewhat bigger part of the story here.

You know, in another era, an honest press would have run to the aid of any stringer that provided stuff like this. With offers of employment. With offers of protection. With official status as somebody that's covering Something The World Needs To Know About.

Not so the modern press.

Rather than doing all of that, these faceless editors hedge their bets behind their desks, content to do nothing but rebroadcast official propaganda from the nation that has promised to wipe Israel off the map (and almost has the nuclear capability to actually attempt to do so).

If this is what passes for "journalism" these days, then perhaps the field is far deader than I thought already.

... And judging by this video, which I found courtesy our good friends at The Jawa Report, it looks like Obama's doing just as poorly over there as he is here:

"Obama Obama, [You're] Either With The Mullahs, Or You're With Us."

Indeed.

Gateway has more. One wonders if Obama's esteemed and rightfully elected partners in peace over in Tehran will crush this protest with as much gusto as they usually do...

Gee, who would've guessed that the first post-American president would do everything in his power to disarm American nuclear capabilities, while at the same time allowing Iran to arm itself to the teeth with nukes?

What could possibly go wrong, anyway?

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