Cornered and asked at CPAC if he's running, foreign policy master John Bolton said "I'm thinking about it... and by that I mean I'm thinking about it": that is, he's truly undecided at this point and not merely being coy. Bolton added that there's a number of factors to consider, and he's in no rush... could even toss his hat in at the end of the year.
While noting that he's never run for public office in his life, Bolton stressed that his mission would be to bring the foreign policy debate "front and center"... forcing not only GOP candidates to articulate positions, but the White House as well.... as they appear to have no clue:
Although John Bolton has long had his reservations regarding the Obama Administration's hare-brained foreign policy, the pitiful performance in the Egypt crisis seems to have created almost a sense of panic: even Bolton's in shock at diplomatic bungling that he called "hesitant, inconsistent, confused... and just plain wrong".
He went on to call Obama "weak" and "indecisive" on foreign policy issues, and when asked specifically about the revolution in Egypt, Bolton was blunt to his CPAC audience: "We don't have the leadership in the White House that can deal with it".
And today is to be the big day: major protests coordinated on social networking sites such as Twitter are planned for Friday, although the government has already shut down the entire internet in the country and deployed elite forces. If they do manage to stage more aggressive protests today, expect a real harsh crackdown.
But the media narrative in the west of how these are people seeking freedom, justice, and better living conditions is only partially true: the unrest is driven and coordinated by the oldest Islamist political organization on the planet, the Muslim Brotherhood... a radical, jihadist group that would quickly dispose any real democracy and consolidate power.
Protesters even fired two rocket-propelled grenades at a police station... does that sound like aspiring democrats to you?
Egyptian Interior Ministry's statements asserting this have been mostly dismissed in the west, implying that it's just an excuse to maintain their grip on power. But it's time we consider that they might just be telling the truth... and that their enemies are indeed enemies of democracy, and the United States as well.
The Tunisian protests that inspired uprisings in Egypt, Gaza, and Yemen were no Velvet Revolution with Vaclav Havel, either- more like a symptom of worrying Islamicization. While the corrupt, brutal Mubarak regime has little to commend it outside of stability, the alternative is likely to be no improvement.
And in charge of the strategic Suez Canal? Since it's the MB that's organizing the protests, you can bet your bottom dollar that -like Lebanon today- the budding democracy would simply be hijacked by the Islamists, and dismantled from within as they install the theocracy they actually desire.
And don't let former IAEA head Mohammed El Baradei fool you... this guy is no democrat either, and in fact is suspected by many to be secretly a member of the MB himself- sure would go a long way towards explaining the duplicitous behavior in dealing with Iraq and Iran. With the MB banned in Egypt, members simply run as independents... as El Baradei was planning to do in the next election. Seems events got ahead of the Vienna resident, and he doesn't want to miss out on the chance to score some badly-needed street cred back in Cairo.
Barack Obama and Hillary Clinton typically missed the chance to support Mubarak, instead appearing to abandon him... as westerners default to rooting for the poor, oppressed protesters, ala Tienanmen '89. But again, if the regime is tossed, the ultimate result will be anything but democratic. Thankfully, it's not just about Mubarak, either- the military government that has run Egypt for 60 years is the actual power will not allow it, they've got no problem shooting people- at all.
The regime offered an olive branch on Thursday as well, offering to stage talks with the protesters, a carrot to contrast the riot policemen's stick: alas, Mubarak knows -if nobody else does- that there is unlikely to be any lasting meeting of the minds with those who seek a totalitarian Islamist regime in the mold of Iran... but he has to appear reasonable before he starts cracking heads...
And -as usual- when so many other people have it wrong... John Bolton has it right:
And I never thought I would contruct and use this sentence as long as I live... but I find myself in fundamental agreement with Joe Biden on this one... except the part about Mubarak not being a dictator. But diplomacy is about choices, no matter how unsavory- and even Slow Joe knows that.
Stuxnetis believed to be the most destructive virus ever devised for attacking major industrial complexes, reactors and infrastructure... and it's hitting Tehran hard
The Islamic Republic of Iran looks to be in the midst of a major ongoing cyber attack upon it's most vital computer systems by the unprecedentedly menacing Stuxnet virus...including nuclear reactors and other sensitive facilities:
Mahmoud Alyaee, secretary-general of Iran's industrial computer servers, including its nuclear facilities control systems, confirmed Saturday, Sept. 25, that 30,000 computers belonging to classified industrial units had been infected and disabled by the malicious Stuxnet virus.
This followed DEBKAfile's exclusive report Thursday, Sept. 23, from its Washington and defense sources that a clandestine cyber war is being fought against Iran by the United States with elite cyber war units established by Israel. Stuxnet is believed to be the most destructive virus ever devised for attacking major industrial complexes, reactors and infrastructure.
The experts say it is beyond the capabilities of private or individual hackers and could have been produced by a high-tech state like America or Israel, or its military cyber specialists. The Iranian official said Stuxnet had been designed to strike the industrial control systems in Iran manufactured by the German Siemens and transfer classified data abroad.
The head of the Pentagon's cyber war department, Vice Adm. Bernard McCullough said Thursday, Sept. 22, that Stuxnet had capabilities never seen before. In a briefing to the Armed Forces Committee of US Congress, he testified that it was regarded as the most advanced and sophisticated piece of Malware to date.
According to Alyaee, the virus began attacking Iranian industrial systems two months ago. He had no doubt that Iran was the victim of a cyber attack which its anti-terror computer experts had so far failed to fight. Stuxnet is powerful enough to change an entire environment, he said without elaborating.
Not only has it taken control of automatic industrial systems, but has raided them for classified information and transferred the date abroad. This was the first time an Iranian official has explained how the United States and Israel intelligence agencies have been able to keep pace step by step of progress made in Iran's nuclear program. Until now, Tehran attributed the leaks to Western spies using Iranian double agents...
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Leaks by American security sources to US media referred to the recruitment by Israel military and security agencies of cyber raiders with the technical knowhow and mental toughness for operating in difficult and hazardous circumstances, such as assignments for stealing or destroying enemy technology, according to one report.
DEBKAfile's sources disclose that Israel has had special elite units carrying out such assignments for some time. Three years ago, for instance, cyber raiders played a role in the destruction of the plutonium reactor North Korea was building at A-Zur in northern Syria.
Some computer security specialists reported speculated that the virus was devised specifically to target part of the Iranian nuclear infrastructure, either the Bushehr nuclear plant activated last month - which has not been confirmed - or the centrifuge facility in Natanz.
DEBKAfile's sources add: Since August, American and UN nuclear watchdog sources have been reporting a slowdown in Iran's enrichment processing due to technical problems which have knocked out a large number of centrifuges and which its nuclear technicians have been unable to repair. It is estimated that at Natanz alone, 3,000 centrifuges have been idled...
About time we started employing our nation's dramatic technological advantages over these medieval savages... why we wouldn't throw all we got at 'em is beyond me. At minimum, buys us time until we are forced to go with John Bolton's more traditional approach...
DEBKAfile's sources disclose that Israel has had special elite units carrying out such assignments for some time. Three years ago, for instance, cyber raiders played a role in the destruction of the plutonium reactor North Korea was building at A-Zur in northern Syria.
Some computer security specialists reported speculated that the virus was devised specifically to target part of the Iranian nuclear infrastructure, either the Bushehr nuclear plant activated last month - which has not been confirmed - or the centrifuge facility in Natanz.
DEBKAfile's sources add: Since August, American and UN nuclear watchdog sources have been reporting a slowdown in Iran's enrichment processing due to technical problems which have knocked out a large number of centrifuges and which its nuclear technicians have been unable to repair. It is estimated that at Natanz alone, 3,000 centrifuges have been idled...