The Obama Administration Launches the Disarming Offensive. 
News that the Obama team is sending polite letters and signals in all directions to our well known adversaries now includes the logical development that the president is preparing a letter to the Holocaust-denying and hallucinatory Ahmadinejad of Iran. (Setting aside the
fact that the Obama camp has been whispering to Tehran for many, many months through cut-outs like Robert Malley.) It is familiar and hollow diplomacy and will come to grief. During the so-called Disarmament Conference (right) that started in 1932 and extended into 1933, FDR sent a message that was simple, blunt and absurd:
The way to disarm is to disarm. The way to prevent invasion is to make it impossible. I have asked for an agreement among nations on four practical and simultaneous steps: First, that through a series of steps the weapons of offensive warfare be eliminated; Second, that the first definite step be taken now; Third, that while these steps are being taken no nation shall increase existing armaments over and above the limitations of treaty obligations; Fourth, that subject to existing treaty rights no nation during the disarmament period shall send any armed force of whatsoever nature across its own borders...
Hitler assumed power from the decrepit Hindenberg at the end of January 1933 and by spring found a way to praise the FDR message. The scene I like is the president pushing his ear close to a short-wave radio in the White House to listen to a speech by the new chancellor. FDR translated Hitler's words with his credible German to his staff, including his close pal Missy LeHand. Delusional, sadistic Hitler said that he welcomed the new president's gestures to peace, and that everyone knew what was wrong with Europe was the cause of the corrupt and stupid Versailles Peace Treaty of 1919. The Disarmament Conference adjourned from June till October, when Germany found an excuse to drop out. FDR shrugged: too busy with his Nanny State of his pseudo-scientific NRA and the rules he liked for every business from sweater factories to railroads. Within thirty months, Hitler seized the Rhineland without need of many offensive weapons other than bluff. Catastrophe and Holocaust followed.
Ahmadinejad is Consciously Aping the Devils.
What was not clear these last years of looking for the analogy between the 1930s and now is that we did not see that we would re-experience the panic of the great depression that set up
the weakness in liberty and confidence which the Devils Lenin, Trotsky, Mussolini, Stalin and Hitler exploited. Now we see it. The Obama administration aims to make a de facto truce with Tehran and its allies Hezballah, Hamas, and its hirelings and neighbors Al Qaeda and the Taliban. The explanation is that the president must focus on the broken US economy, no time for bullying foreigners to discover the joys of the Magna Carta. Same explanation FDR gave himself. Winston Churchill saw the Devils rising. FDR ignored them. They come for us all. The Devils are loose again, and this time they have the nukes we created to stop their last wave of terror. Mr. Obama writes a letter to Ahmadinejad seeking to disarm Tehran with dialogue. The price tag for this sort of conversation is very high.
Scary. Too much of a reality to dismiss.
And so accurate in so much as pointing out the failures of our institutions, which make us all weaker and MUCH more vulnerable from within, as well as from outside. Our financial intstitutions, educational institutions, my beloved Catholic church (US), the Political class, on and on... And, mainly, now, this intellectual-bourgeoise-socialist class that is bent on self detruction, singling out the white male in it's cross hairs, to go first.
Not good. I'm most in fear for our kids.
Like Peter Pan and Tink, if you clap loud enough you can raise the dead.
As we sit here helplessly watching as it all goes down the toilet, it might be instructive to consider how the same thing has happened elsewhere numerous times before. JB provides us with plenty of examples from history by which we could learn a thing or two. At this point, the lessons he presents are purely curatorial. Nothing more can be gained by cracking Clio’s dusty volumes in search of answers as to what we can and should do. We are locked in(to) a death spiral and the ground is rapidly approaching. We failed to heed the lessons while there still was time; we failed to consider the consequences before pulling the levers at the voting booth. Instead, we threw our darts blindly. “Yes we can!” Can what?
Bush was the worst. How much worse can it get? Plenty worse! Consider Zimbabwe (formerly known as Rhodesia, the breadbasket of Africa). Mugabe - an avowed racist, Maoist and mass murderer - was elected in response to international pressure against Ian Smith’s minority rule. The Shah of Iran was deposed in response to international pressure against what was broadly hyped as corruption, and the Ayatollah Khomeini was triumphantly installed. The people of Gaza elected Hamas to lead them to slaughter. In each of these cases the final die was cast. The people would never have a chance for a do-over. Similarly Barrack Obama was elected on the basis of a thin platform proclaiming “change” in response to international pressure against the hyped inequities of capitalism and a hatred of George W. Bush.
Now we watch with trepidation as the landscape darkens. We had boarded the NRZ Express with such high expectations – based on what? Why are we now surprised that the final destination is none other than Harare?
About Iran, a letter, & diplomacy-> From JPost:
'Referring to the Obama administration's suggestion of direct talks, Javanfekr said, "We are ready for talks with some preconditions ... including ending America's military presence in Iraq and Afghanistan," he said and repeated the demand for an apology.
Earlier Wednesday, Ahmadinejad called for "profound changes" in US foreign policy - including an end to support for Israel and an apology to the Islamic republic for past misdeeds.
Ahmadinejad also urged Washington to withdraw its troops stationed around the world. He said Iran would be closely watching what President Barack Obama's new administration does and would welcome a real shift in the US approach.'
About US efforts concerning dialogue with Iran--> from The White House website:
'Diplomacy: Barack Obama supports tough and direct diplomacy with Iran without preconditions. Now is the time to use the power of American diplomacy to pressure Iran to stop their illicit nuclear program, support for terrorism, and threats toward Israel. Obama and Biden will offer the Iranian regime a choice. If Iran abandons its nuclear program and support for terrorism, we will offer incentives like membership in the World Trade Organization, economic investments, and a move toward normal diplomatic relations. If Iran continues its troubling behavior, we will step up our economic pressure and political isolation. In carrying out this diplomacy, we will coordinate closely with our allies and proceed with careful preparation. Seeking this kind of comprehensive settlement with Iran is our best way to make progress.'
Prospects are for some lovely conversations, don't you think?
In La Lidia, does Matador soothe El Toro with pleasantries during Faena at the Corrida? Some Poetry with a Touch to a Horn... Then the Espada
Must every international mess we find ourselves in be compared to what happened in the Thirties? That decade has got more smudge marks on it by now than a convict's old copy of Hustler.
The Obama Admin letter to Ahmadinejad is not confirmed. I am waiting for it. It makes sense. It is reported in the Guardian. But my best source on such a letter does not like it till he confirms it. The report of back channel talks through cut-outs ti Tehran is confirmed, but this is not a letter from the POTUS.
If the White House press corps had some ******, they would ask the POTUS or WH press secretary if there is direct or indirect communication with A'jad. Instead they will ask another gushing question about the kids and soon to be adopted dog.