The Grand Chessboard: The Axis of Evil Closes in on Iran's Nuclear Sites, while the G20 stamps on our Civil Rights

Related: Senate Passes $636 Billion Military Bill"

ABC News: Is the U.S. Preparing to Bomb Iran?

DoD Contracts for Oct. 2, 2009

McDonnell Douglas Corporation of St. Louis, Missouri was awarded a $51,900,000 contract to provide Massive Ordnance Penetrator Integration on B-2 test aircraft. At this time $32,150,000 has been obligated. 708 ARSG/PK, Eglin Air Force Base, Florida is the contracting Activity. (FA8681-09-C-0280,P00002)

Massive Ordnance Penetrator Integration = Bunker Busters

Pepe Escobar: It's Bomb, Bomb, Bomb Iran Time

Connecting the Dots: The Axis of Evil Closes in on Iran's Nuclear Sites, while the G20 stamps on our Civil Rights

In the great global chess match, the Axis of Evil exchanges pieces with Russia towards a check-mate on Iran, while Afghanistan is set to be the proving ground of an open-ended military strategy.

The G20 crowns itself queen of the global economy, as our civil liberties are pawned off the board for the illusion of security.

If the audience is the human masses, they seem blithely disinterested in the high-stakes moves on the board and only vaguely aware that beneath the board itself Mother Nature is shaking the table, rattling the Earth and making waves.

September was yet another episode in the slow motion collision of humanity's tragic history and reality.

Playing Chess with the Usual Suspects

It was rather obvious that Obama's U-turn on the missile shield on Eastern Europe was to be used as a bargaining chip with Russia. Placing the 'shield' in Poland and the Czech Republic was a clear attempt to ensure US military dominance in the region and over Russian in particular. Now however, the US has backed down, changed course and decided to station Ballistic-missile defense ships in the waters around Europe instead (more on that further down). But what is Obama asking of the Russians in exchange for this rare example of US diplomacy? We have a clue from a report which appeared a few months ago in the Russian newspaper Kommersant, which reveals that Obama wrote to Russian President Dmitry Medvedev to tell him that Russia's aid in resolving the 'threat' from Iran would make the missile 'shield' plans unnecessary.

Another clue comes from Israeli Prime Minister and notorious psychopath Benjamin Netanyahu's secret meeting in Moscow, which many read as a sign of an impending attack on Iran - and they may be right. We can picture 'Bibi' making the Russians an offer they couldn't refuse: get tougher on Iran, and we will gladly instruct Obama to take away those pesky rockets from Poland and the Czech Republic!

Whatever the case, the move worked just fine for Israel, as it is now apparent that Russia has hardened its stance on Iran, which includes endorsing additional sanctions against the country.

With Russia apparently out of the way (although one never knows with that wiley Putin at the helm), Britain, the US and France are free to step up the pressure. While Iran claims that IAEA rules apply to the new Qom nuclear site - and so far there is no reason to believe otherwise - the Axis of Evil is demanding visits to what it is called a 'secret' site. Their bellicose rhetoric is filled with indignation that Iran 'surprised' them with this second site, despite the fact that its location was well known as far back as 2006. This axis of proven liars argue that the Qom plant is "probably intended for producing highly-enriched uranium for weapons" because "it is too small for the kind of plant that would be needed to enrich the large quantities of uranium needed for a civilian power program...." However, the opposite argument has been used against the Natanz plant: that it's too big for civilian purposes.

Damned if they do, damned if they don't. But such is the logic used by these pathologically infested Westen powers when they MUST have war, at any cost. What's next we wonder; "Dear Iran, have you stopped beating your wife yet?"

In keeping with the neocon style, the intel is being fixed around the policy. Next thing you know Colin Powell will dazzle us all with a presentation at the United Nations showing blurry satellite pictures and badly hand-drawn pictures that 'prove' that Iran has got the bomb and is planning to use it in 45 minutes. Indeed, as Peter Symonds observes:

Obama's campaign bears an unmistakable resemblance to Bush's use of the weapons of mass destruction allegations in the run-up to the war against Iraq. Like the Iraqi regime, Tehran is confronted with an impossible task - to prove a negative, namely, that it has no plans for a nuclear weapon. The failure to find evidence in one place simply leads to lurid new allegations and fresh demands to allow more extensive intrusions by international inspectors that have close links to Western and Israeli intelligence agencies. The purpose of such demands is not to test the veracity of Iran's claims but to justify an escalating confrontation. [...]

The current campaign against Iran is not the product of a recent policy shift, but of longstanding plans. The tactics being followed by the Obama administration can be found in outline in a series of think tank studies by the Bipartisan Policy Centre, the Centre for a New American Security and the right-wing Washington Institute for Near East Policy last year. While varying in details, the reports all advised a steady escalation of diplomatic pressure followed by punitive sanctions, backed by preparations for military strikes.

Dennis Ross, who is well known for his pro-Israel views and links to Bush's notorious neo-cons, was centrally involved in all of the studies. He is currently Obama's top national security adviser on Iran.

[...]

Click the links for a lot more. I have some reservations about this last article because they connect a lot of dots towards the end that are probably tenuous at best, but still good food for thought, and good for stimulating debate