Nemesis

Iran’s Leadership Battles
By Steven Clemons Washington Note, October 16, 2007

A reply by Kotzabasis and a counter reply by Clemons to the latter’s comparison of Cheney to Ahmadinejad in his piece to the WN ending it with the phrase ‘the “Dick Cheney of Iran”, Mahmoud Ahmadinejad’.

Steve, to print this shameful quote that compares Cheney to Ahmadinejad to please the political Scarlet O’Haras who follow you, shows that you have entered a redlight district willing to prostitute your scholarly reputation for a “scarlet” coin.

Steve said,

kotzabasis — thanks for your note though your attacks on some of my posts are as robust as some of my attempts at metaphorical comparison. seriously though, i do realize that some would be taken back by the comparison of ahmadinejad and cheney. some in the u.s. government — who are friends of mine — have told me as much about their discomfort with that comparison.

How they are dramatically similar is that both have been declining in relative influence and both see political gain in the increasing tension and potential collision between iran and the u.s. to some degree, ahmadinejad and cheney are able to help each other regain some influence in their respective countries.

What fascinates and worries me is that whereas political factions fighting it out in the US administration — or even in Iran — is nothing new, what is new is that you have such weight on both sides of the equation. bob gates is battling cheney. and maybe — wings of iran’s political establishment are battling rogue elements of the al quds force and ahmadinejad.

In that sense, I think that the comparison is apt — but i recognize and ‘respect’ your alternative take.

Thanks for sparring a bit with the blog. i do enjoy reading your commentary and understanding your take on many of these issues.

all the best,

Kotzabasis said,

My dear Steve, I’m always perplexed that a noble person like you stoops at times to the ugly passions of hoi polloi. But Marcel Proust is always relevant.

My best wishes too.

steve clemonsPosted by Steve Clemons at October 22, 2007 10:28 AM

By Con George-Kotzabasis

It’s in the nature of power politics from the Roman republican times of Scipio Africanus (Carthage must be destroyed), to our own that no superpower can metastasize itself into isolationism, as your “minding our own business” implies. A benign superpower such as America by its ineluctable engagement with the world is the axis of global order.

Also, one must not forget that bin Laden is a symbol of a fanatic mass movement with multiple heads whose goal is to destroy the West and its incarnation, “evil America”. You cannot defeat such an enemy by merely “catching” or killing its symbol, bin Laden. You can only defeat him in the field of battle. Islamist terrorism is a mundanely “anarchic” movement with no centre of command. For all its true believers the centre of command is heavenly, since all of them ineradicably believe that they are the instruments of, and take their orders from, Allah.

The only way to defeat decisively such foes is to make them fail in the field of their operations , as presently seems to be happening with al Qaeda in Iraq with the new strategy of the surge which is crippling its suicidal jihadists. It’s at this point that they might start having doubts about being instruments of God and abandon their cause. This is why the outcome of the war in Iraq is of paramount importance to the war against global terror and to the security of the West.

By Con George-Kotzabasis

Only someone with the chutzpah of intellectual arrogance and a parvenu to boot in realpolitik and foreign affairs could be behind such a remarkably doltish resolution that puts an arrow through the heart of a much needed ally, such as Turkey, at a time when the US is engaged in war in the Middle East.

The Democrats with this resolution, from Lantos to Pelosi and Reid, have shown themselves to be immaculate political tyros in the affairs of foreign policy and war. They have committed by the passing of this resolution their own genocide. The “genocide” of the alliance with Turkey, which is so vital to America’s foreign policy interests in the Middle East, and to the protection of US troops in Iraq whose major part of supplies for fighting the war come through Turkey.

By the passing of this totally irresponsible resolution the Democrats have cancelled themselves out from governing the country at this critical time when America confronts and fights a mortal foe. And the Lantos’ resolution will go down in the annals of American politics as the great caricature that it’s in statecraft. In their manic run to force Bush to withdraw from Iraq, they have stabbed in the back the sons and daughters of America who are fighting and winning the war under their superb commander David Petraeus, to achieve their treacherous and despicable goal.

By Con George-Kotzabasis

One would have expected that all this information that is coming out now from their own, Ali Kassae, Khadra Simale, not to mention others, about the crucial role of Sheik Mohammed Omran (aka, Mr. bin Laden is a good man) in radicalizing young Muslims and calling them to join Jihad, would have been in the files of ASIO, and the latter would have acted promptly and decisively against Omran’s Ahlus Sunnah Wal Jammah association.

Australia, as a result of its innocence and gracious spirit, has imported a basketful of poisonous snakes that are lurking in its grass lawns ready to bite. The government will be criminally accountable if it allows such a deadly fifth column to be active in the country while it has committed its sons and daughters to fight in Iraq and Afghanistan an enemy that gets many of its recruits, like Khadra Simale’s son who joined al Qaeda in Somalia and was killed, from the teachings and indoctrination of the enemy within. And one cannot but remember that memorable interview Sheik Omran gave on the ABC when he was asked about the visits of ASIO to his Association, he replied, with that characteristic deceitful smile on his face, arrogantly and tongue-in-cheek, that it was “the job of ASIO to ask questions”, and I would add that it was the job of Omran to tell lies.

It’s about time that Australia “exports” this poisonous breed from its grasslands.

A short reply by Con George-Kotzabasis on:
Clinton’s Statement on Kyl-Lieberman Resolution Washington Note, September 30, 2007

Like the two eminent commentators of the New York Times Paul Krugman and Frank Rich, respectable in their own professions as an economist and art critic respectably, and a bevy of politicians like Nancy Pelosi and Harry Reid, not so respectable because of their populist stunt, all of them being novices par excellence in the affairs of war who have attempted to pass judgment on the war in Iraq and cashier its victory despite evidence to the contrary, we now have another “tired less” tyro joining them in war strategy. The scholar and blogger Steven Clemons of the Washington Note. Clemons indirectly rebukes Senator Clinton for her support and vote of the Kyl-Lieberman resolution that designates the Iranian Revolutionary Guard as a terrorist organization, fearing that this will allow Bush to manipulate this resolution and use it to attack Iran.

He calls therefore on Senator Clinton to exercise “leadership in passing an explicit Senate resolution forbidding Bush from taking action against Iran without clear advice and consent from Congress”. But such action is not a declaration of war against Iran needing the authorization of Congress. It’s a strategic force de frappe on the part of the US against Iran in which the elements of secrecy and surprise are pivotal and decisive in the success of such an attack. Therefore Clemons’ call is strategically oxymoronic.