Kouchner: "World Should Prepare for Possible War With Iran"

French Foreign Minister Bernard Kouchner said in an interview on RTL radio and LCI television,

"We must prepare for the worst," Kouchner said, adding: "The worst, sir, is war."

Le Monde (link in French) also mentions that the French armed services are preparing for such an eventuality:

"We are preparing ourselves by trying to put together plans that are the chiefs of staff's prerogative (but) that is not about to happen tomorrow."

An interesting aspect is that Germany is apparently also involved,

"We have decided to … prepare ourselves for possible sanctions outside the U.N. sanctions and which would be European sanctions. Our German friends proposed it. We discussed it a few days ago."

How will this translate in the upcoming UN summit?

We shall soon find out.

One thing is clear: Europe can not afford to have Iran armed with nuclear weapons. The Iranians have made themselves perfectly clear that they will use those weapons as soon as they get them.

Update, Monday 17 September:
Hardly surprising, Iran scorns French warning of war.


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What war on Caliphate Islam?

Today: Germany: 3 Held in Terror Plot Against US Base, Airport

Three suspected Islamic militants were arrested on allegations of plotting attacks on the U.S. military base in Ramstein and Frankfurt's international airport, German authorities said Wednesday.

"There was an imminent threat," German Defense Minister Franz Josef Jung told Germany’s ARD broadcaster.

Video.

Yesterday: Bomb Plot Thwarted in Copenhagen, 8 arrested.

And there those insist on saying there's no terrorist threat. Welcome To the Age of Psychopathy, indeed.

Two sides of the same propaganda coin

A brief look at the international press gives you an idea of how the PR wars are fought:

From Spain's El Pais, via Lady Godiva:

El proyecto socialista de Chávez divide a sus partidarios entre pragmáticos y radicales
El ex ministro de Defensa venezolano avisa: "Antes de redistribuir la riqueza, debemos crearla"

Señaló que el socialismo que se pretende instaurar en Venezuela no tiene por qué estar reñido con la democracia ni con la propiedad privada.

My translation:
Chavez's socialist project splits his followers as partisans or radicals.
Ex-Minister of Defense warns: "Before we redistribute wealth, we must creat it"
"He pointed out that the socialism they are attempting to establish in Venezuela doesn't have fight against democracy or private property."

Things were a tad more blunt over in Germany:

Via Baron Bodissey,

Bürger sollen "überflüssigen Reichtum" abgeben
"Citizens should hand over superfluous wealth"

which in plain English means: "Hand over your wallet!"

Sarko meets Tony

In yesterday's podcast, one thing Siggy and I discussed was how Blair made the British people proud of being British again. Then in last night's France2 news they showed Nicolas Sarkozy giving a speech saying he wants the French to be proud of being French again.

I find that a very refreshing idea but I'm not optimistic for its prospects. Instead of a collective show of EU hands, it's time for individuals to take pride for their own heritage and what their nations have and can contribute. On the other hand, Sarko's proposing a mini-treaty to replace the failed EU constitution, which would mean that people wouldn't be able to reject it through referendums as they did the first time.

So much for the individuals.

Sarko's EU strategy has two other points:

• calls for Europe to "protect" its citizens from globalisation
,
• his call for an explicit statement that Turkey will never become a full member of the EU.

Sarko will take office on May 16. There's more in the works:

• Today he's meeting with Tony Blair in Paris. They will discuss the EU. There's another meeting scheduled on a different date with Angela Merkel. The emergence of leaders like Merkel and Sarcozy signals to perhaps not a new Europe, but perhaps a Europe less hostile to America. (No, anti-Americanism didn't start with GWB. It's been around for decades.)
• Chirac and Sarko met with Saad Hariri, the son of slain former Lebanese Prime Minister Rafik Hariri, signalling continued support of the Lebanese over Syria. Will the Sarko years reflect Chirac's customary duplicity? We'll have to wait and see.
• Sarko's been criticized for taking a 2-day luxury cruise on a billionaire's yatch. Not only is he unapologetic - since the trip was not at taxpayers' expense - he asserts his position that he wants rich people to remain in France and to invest in France.
  (and according to Erik, apparently he was wearing a NYPD t-shirt while jogging)

Next month's Parliamentary elections are crucial.

Meanwhile, out on the streets, the link above states that there have been over 1,200 cars torched in France since last Sunday's election: 730 on Sunday, 296 on Tuesday, 200 on Wednesday. I don't know how many were torched on Monday night, but we'll know Sarko has changed things when whatever few French automotive insurance companies are left in the country lower their rates.

In other French news, Erik Svane made it to the front page. He looks marvelous.

Update: The French Left Pitches A Fit

----------------------------------------------------
For an excellent essay on how Tony Blair's attitude towards the EU went sour, read Richard North's article at Pajamas Media

The upcoming Professional Protesters Agency of Central NJ

Used to be, in the olden days you could get a few unemployed to attend your protest by handing out a couple of bucks. In the developing nations you can still do that - and if there's a G8 summit, you can get demonstrators from other countries just by providing transportation and perhaps a meal. Of course that doesn't apply in France, where protesting is the national sport (and from what I've heard, more popular than sex and soccer) and people do it for free as a weekly family outing.

But there's a new development:

During yesterday's podcast Siggy sent this article: Germans put price on protesting.

The ever-enterprising and always well-organized Germans, in a grasp at entrepreneurship, have come up with the concept of professional protesters:

They refuse to rally for neo-Nazis, but as long as the price is right a new type of German mercenary will take to the streets and protest for you.

It's not just any slouch that qualifies, it's - to use Siggy's words - GOOD LOOKING protesters:

Next to a black and white posed picture, Melanie lists her details from her jeans size to her shoe size and tells potential protest organisers that she is willing to be deployed up to 100km around Berlin.

So you can cast your demonstration according to height, age, size, and so on - even by shoe-size. I speculate that the professional protester might even accessorize his/her apparel according to the protest's theme: love beads and mood rings for peace, kaffiyeh for Palestine, and so on. However, the casting is crucial.

Global warmers will probably prefer protesters with tiny-sized feet, say, men wearing shoes size 7 or smaller, women with size 5 shoes, as symbolic of a reduced carbon footprint. It'd probably end up being a demonstration of very short people, but oh-so-paradigmatic of the love of Gaia as its emission of carbon gasses would then be smaller.

But the high-quality protester doesn't come cheap:

Six hours of Melanie bearing your banner or shouting your slogan will set you back 145 euros.

That's about $180 per protester; $30/hr. Now you're talking. A good protester agent should be able to keep 1/3 of that, saving their clients' valuable time by taking care of the paperwork and providing a full range of well-qualified attractive protesters custom-cast for the special event, small feet and all, while not having do actually do any of the protesting herself.

And I won't even ask for your shoe size unless it's absolutely necessary.

Venezuela: Ken loves Hugo, Hugo loves subs

Just like Joe Kennedy, Ken Livingstone is fond of Hugo. It has been a rocky relationship, but they appear to have made up.

With a little help of a lot of money:


Mayor signs Venezuelan oil deal

Ken Livingstone has signed an oil deal with Venezuela - providing cheap fuel for London's buses and giving cut price travel for those on benefits.

V Crisis sums it up nicely: Dictator Hugo Chavez to give up to $32 million/year to Livingstone

Chavez is to give up to $32 million/year to Europe's richest city.

World Politics Watch reports on the ongoing Venezuelan arms race, Venezuela Preparing for 'Asymmetrical' Showdown With U.S.

Venezuela is beefing up its military capabilities by land, sea and air in preparation for what one senior official called a possible "asymmetrical conflict" with the United States.

Venezuelan Ambassador to the United States Bernardo Alvarez said that while his country is preparing for possible warfare with the United States -- a notion President Hugo Chavez has repeatedly asserted -- Venezuela is nonetheless in complete compliance with international and regional non-proliferation treaties.

By characterizing a warfare scenario with the United States as "asymmetrical," the ambassador was acknowledging the distinct firepower and personnel advantage of the United States, though he noted his country was preparing itself for defense nonetheless.
...
The ambassador's remarks follow a recent report that Venezuela's latest arms improvement will focus on the country's navy, which is said to be interested in purchasing nine additional submarines.

Having already spent $3.4 billion on Russian arms, including assault rifles and fighter jets, the Venezuelan Navy is planning to spend $3 billion more to create the largest submarine fleet in the region by 2012, according to Venezuelan Navy Vice Adm. Armando Laguna.
...
The submarines will be the "diesel-electric variety," said Laguna in a recent communiqué, quoted earlier this month by Brazil's leading newspaper, Estado de Sao Paulo, and will weigh in at approximately 1,750 metric tons apiece. The Venezuelan Navy is currently considering bids from German, France and Russia, the odds-on favorite, for the new vessel contracts.

The French must really know how to forgive and forget.

Meanwhile, Venezuela to Al-Qaeda: Do not menace us, we are anti-imperialists!! (h/t MNM)

"Human beings were created"

The Atlas of Creation book says, "human beings did not evolve (from another species) but were indeed created."

The Atlas of Creation says that the theories of Charles Darwin are "the true source of terrorism."

The Atlas of Creation is being distributed to tens of thousands of schools and universities. In fundamentalist Christian middle America?

No - in France and Germany.

Keep that in mind the next time you hear that Turkey wants to join the EU.

Update Le Monde (link in French) has more.