Israel As America’s Crazy Girlfriend
Iran’s military threat is largely Photoshopped.
Israel is like America’s crazy girlfriend. You know, the kind of girl who will pick fights with random people and expect you to go along with it? It gets embarrassing. Israel’s government hates Iran so America is like, uh, I also hate Iran. But they don’t, or at least they don’t need to. Iran actually isn’t a threat to the US, certainly not one requiring war.
The issue the US and Israel is making – Iran developing nukes – is about as irrelevant and disingenuous as the fixation on Iraq’s WMDs. In Israel’s case it’s also self-defeating logic. Israel has about 200 nukes, neither confirms nor denies having them, and has not signed the Nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty. If they were anyone but Israel, they’d be a rogue state with illegal nukes. Yet they’re trying to pillory Iran for the same thing.
I oppose the Iranian government on the grounds that they repress their own people, but the nuclear programme is not a huge problem for voters internally. Not having their votes counted, yes, but Iran developing nuclear power was not what they were in the streets for. Indirectly messing up international relations and the economy yes, but there are far more direct concerns. If anything, the Mossad policy of assassinating scientists and threatening bombing will probably unite Iranians.
Iran with nukes is also not a major issue for the United States. However much the US freaks out, Iran can’t hit them and Israel already has enough nukes to deter an attack. Indeed, the only one with nuclear weapons acting truly belligerent in this scenario is Israel. Meanwhile everyone in the region has to worry about war, the rest of the world has to worry about energy supplies (including Sri Lanka, for reals*), and it actually serves no strategic purpose for the US, who is tacitly backing the madness. While most military experts in both America and Israel are aware of this reality, politicians on both sides are acting crazy dumb. Israel really is acting like a crazy girlfriend, and America is trying to placate her in public. It’s embarrassing, and highly volatile.
UPDATE: Sri Lanka has apparently stopped importing crude from Iran due to threats of sanction. I find this somewhat amazing, since something over 90% of the crude we use for electricity generation is from Iran
There’s a section of Sri Lanka – call them UNPers, elites, ESE, Ceylonese, whatever – that really really dislike Mahinda Rajapaksa and everything he represents. They’d like to see him thrown out of power at the least and tried as a war criminal at the most. This amorphous population, however, cannot beat him in elections and many don’t even vote. They do have disproportionate international connections so are featured a lot in international coverage of Sri Lanka, but they’re not especially influential within. I generalize because I’m talking broadly about a community I am or moreso was a part of.
There’s been a lot of talk about Edward Snowden and the NSA, specifically whether he should be 
Shamefully, places of worship were 
Cantaloupe is an events management team that grew out of the old Colombo Nightlife crew, AFAIK. I’ve met a few of the directors and they’re nice enough, though those sort of events and nightclubs (Amuseum) are not my scene at all. They are, however, a scene which a lot of people seem to enjoy. Underneath that lifestyle, however, there’s always an undercurrent of violence and danger. This New Year’s Eve nobody shot off guns (which happens in Colombo), but an entire stage did collapse, injuring hundreds. There are limited ways to respond to such disasters, but not being prepared, not getting the injured to hospital as a priority and continuing the party have not represented Cantaloupe or the Hilton well.
[...] think the US sanctions on Iran are bullshit. As I’ve said, Israel is like America’s crazy girlfriend, and America is picking somewhat random fights to keep her happy. Iranian people get hurt, but so [...]