filth: It comes from a Pentagon report, and has been reported in other places, but feel free to ad hominem to your heart's content.

Subby should have linked to an article in a legitimate paper then.

Iran is increasing its paramilitary Qods force operatives in Venezuela while covertly continuing supplies of weapons and explosives to Taliban and other insurgents in Afghanistan and Iraq, according to the Pentagon's first report to Congress on Tehran's military

And those WMDs and Al Qaida links will be turning up in Iraq any minute now.

Aaaaaany minute now...

Do you know what Iran and Venezuela have in common? They both are neighbors to countries that receive huge military support from the US.

But Iran and Venezuela have no right to build defenses or ally themselves. That would imply that the US doesn't always function benevolently, and we can't have that sort of thinking going around.

Well it seems that Iran is conspiring against us.

Our path is clear my fellow Americans.

The time has come to invade Belgium.

Or they're preparing a nice comfy hideout for Khamene'i and Ahmadinejad to flee to when the revolution comes.

They're making it too easy.

Suede head: Iran is increasing its paramilitary Qods force operatives in Venezuela while covertly continuing supplies of weapons and explosives to Taliban and other insurgents in Afghanistan and Iraq, according to the Pentagon's first report to Congress on Tehran's military

And those WMDs and Al Qaida links will be turning up in Iraq any minute now.

Aaaaaany minute now...

Yep. Another fine example of what I'm talking about. Its fine if we invade another country, because we're perfect. Or maybe it was a mistake, but our intensions were good and we got rid of that evil Saddam Hussein (whom we supported while he was committing the worst attrocities), but if a neighboring country wants to supply arms to the resistance, well then thats part of the Axis of Evil(tm).

You see we have every right to interfere with Iraq because we own the world, how dare anyone else interfere with our interfering.

CanonicalNerd: You see we have every right to interfere with Iraq because we own the world, how dare anyone else interfere with our interfering.

You sound stupid. Stop talking.

Are you seriously connecting Venezuela to the Taliban now? Is this even remotely plausible? I can't take this article seriously.

Suede head: And those WMDs and Al Qaida links will be turning up in Iraq any minute now.

Obviously they are hidden in oil-rich Venezuela.

I am so thankful none of you braying ignorant dupes have any influence in U.S. foreign policy.

Also...



/I couldn't get away

greenz: CanonicalNerd: You see we have every right to interfere with Iraq because we own the world, how dare anyone else interfere with our interfering.

You sound stupid. Stop talking.

LOLz

The QOD army?

greenz: CanonicalNerd: You see we have every right to interfere with Iraq because we own the world, how dare anyone else interfere with our interfering.

You sound stupid. Stop talking.

Thanks, but no thanks.

Miss Venezuela/Miss Argentina. Best beauty pageants evar!!

Invisible Penis!!!

It's about time for some new right-wing paranoid fantasy material to make its way to an NCIS episode.
/oil extremists
/no troops, just advisers

NikolaiFarkoff: What is that, like the wheelchair army? How do they navigate the jungle terrain?

The same way R2-D2 did in ROTJ.

In the event of conflict with Iran, I'm sure glad that our southern border is secure from infiltration by Latino-looking Venezuelan paras bent on sowing the seeds of terror here in the good old USA.

CanonicalNerd: greenz: CanonicalNerd: You see we have every right to interfere with Iraq because we own the world, how dare anyone else interfere with our interfering.

You sound stupid. Stop talking.

Thanks, but no thanks.

You must like walking uphill.

/I don't mind, what kind of place would we live in if we all thought the same.

hitlersbrain: Well it seems that Iran is conspiring against us.

Our path is clear my fellow Americans.

The time has come to invade Belgium.

i LOL'd.

hitlersbrain: Well it seems that Iran is conspiring against us.

Our path is clear my fellow Americans.

The time has come to invade Belgium.

Belgium? Closer than you think. Try the Netherlands.

CanonicalNerd: Suede head: Iran is increasing its paramilitary Qods force operatives in Venezuela while covertly continuing supplies of weapons and explosives to Taliban and other insurgents in Afghanistan and Iraq, according to the Pentagon's first report to Congress on Tehran's military

And those WMDs and Al Qaida links will be turning up in Iraq any minute now.

Aaaaaany minute now...

Yep. Another fine example of what I'm talking about. Its fine if we invade another country, because we're perfect. Or maybe it was a mistake, but our intensions were good and we got rid of that evil Saddam Hussein (whom we supported while he was committing the worst attrocities), but if a neighboring country wants to supply arms to the resistance, well then thats part of the Axis of Evil(tm).

You see we have every right to interfere with Iraq because we own the world, how dare anyone else interfere with our interfering.

We can't guarantee the world will be better off if we interfere but it is very likely to be worse off if we don't. Imagine a world where the military and economic power was in the hands of Iran or North Korea to the extent that it is in ours.

We are not perfect but the world could do a lot worse.

So I read the pentagon release that the story linked to and there was no mention of Venezuela or sending troops there. There was a reference to increasing influence in Latin America, but that's a hell of stretch.

FTFA:

The report gives no details on the activities of the Iranians in Venezuela and Latin America

Headline:

Iran boosts Qods shock troops in Venezuela

I guess there is no surprise that the Washington Times fails at reading comprehension.

CanonicalNerd: You see we have every right to interfere with Iraq because we own the world, how dare anyone else interfere with our interfering.


3/10..or not...

either way, back under the bridge.

It's all very Leslie Marmon Silko Almanac of the Dead lately.

Sure is a lot of stupid in here.

/heres to you CanonicalNerd!

The US/UK really screwed the pooch with Iran didn't we.

We'll have nothing but problems with them for generations.

The thing is that Venezuela is pretty beholden to the US for its foreign exchange. The US provides 39.8 pecent with the Netherlands Antilles and China in very distant 2nd and 3rd. They are 116th of 192 in FDI, and their inflation rate is around 20%. Annoying the US (and Colombia) in the media is a convenient propaganda tactic to feign some sort of existential threat which only Mr. Chavez can save them from but it's little more than that.

Note that oil exports comprise " for roughly 90% of export earnings, about 50% of the federal budget revenues, and around 30% of GDP.*" It is not in their national interest to get themselves cut off from the only thing that keeps the country solvent. On the flip side, the US' oil needs preclude any significant crackdown on perceived threats from Venezuela. It'll basically end up like what happened between the US and USSR over Cuba. They remove the missiles from Cuba, we remove the missiles from Turkey. Catch is, we were going to remove the missiles anyway since we have trident missile-armed subs.

Iran's gaming in Afghanistan is a bigger concern. The moral of the story is avoid the thinking that Iran is just like any other third world hole that we're so fond of when branding our foreign policy opponents.

*CIA World Factbook

greenz: CanonicalNerd: You see we have every right to interfere with Iraq because we own the world, how dare anyone else interfere with our interfering.

You sound stupid. Stop talking.

Agreed. It's time to stop.

MesaMike85: Sure is a lot of stupid in here.

/heres to you CanonicalNerd!

We're all glad you are perpetuating that line of reasoning.

After they defeat America I'm sure they can peacefully agree on either the Iranian or Venezuelan culture to support

the enemy of my enemy != my friend

006andahalf: The thing is that Venezuela is pretty beholden to the US for its foreign exchange. The US provides 39.8 pecent with the Netherlands Antilles and China in very distant 2nd and 3rd. They are 116th of 192 in FDI, and their inflation rate is around 20%. Annoying the US (and Colombia) in the media is a convenient propaganda tactic to feign some sort of existential threat which only Mr. Chavez can save them from but it's little more than that.

Note that oil exports comprise " for roughly 90% of export earnings, about 50% of the federal budget revenues, and around 30% of GDP.*" It is not in their national interest to get themselves cut off from the only thing that keeps the country solvent. On the flip side, the US' oil needs preclude any significant crackdown on perceived threats from Venezuela. It'll basically end up like what happened between the US and USSR over Cuba. They remove the missiles from Cuba, we remove the missiles from Turkey. Catch is, we were going to remove the missiles anyway since we have trident missile-armed subs.

Iran's gaming in Afghanistan is a bigger concern. The moral of the story is avoid the thinking that Iran is just like any other third world hole that we're so fond of when branding our foreign policy opponents.

*CIA World Factbook

That was a very well put analysis.

I may be showing my age, but there was a doctrine, named after an early President that we used to learn about in elemtary school....very applicable to this situation...but B Hussein Africanus would never resort to centuries old US policy, as that would be too white...

'Looking forward to November...if Dems thought they rode a tide of public opinion to office, wait until the tidal wave removes them from power for years and years and years...I'm sure there are some greeter jobs at Napa wineries that Botox Nancy can find to occupy itself'

006andahalf: Catch is, we were going to remove the missiles anyway since we have trident missile-armed subs.

Polaris were the first SLBMs

angryjd: FTFA: The report gives no details on the activities of the Iranians in Venezuela and Latin America

Headline: Iran boosts Qods shock troops in Venezuela

I guess there is no surprise that the Washington Times fails at reading comprehension.

I think their problem is more that conservatives have to lie to make the world fit their delusions. It's a twelve page report, here is the entire section on Venezuela: "...recent years have witnessed an increased presence [of the Islamic Revolutionary Guards Corps Quds force] in Latin America, particularly Venezuela..."

That's it. The Washington Times made up the rest.

Well, if the US and Israel can put military personnel inside Iran to sabotage and create anti-government movements, I guess it's only fair to expect the Iranians to land in Venezuela, move up Central America and enter the US via our porous southern border.

Blowback, er, payback is a biatch.

mark12A: CanonicalNerd:

Yes, because one side is a free, tolerant, democratic society, trying to protect and expand human rights, and the other side is a fascist, theological, intolerant society that actively seeks to destroy individual freedoms, so of course both are absolutely morally equivalent and it doesn't matter who wins, right?

That's precisely the sort of rhetoric I'm talking about:

We is supporting the free, tolerant, democratic society, trying to protect and expand human rights.
We are opposing fascist, theological, intolerant society that actively seeks to destroy individual freedoms.

But just take ten minutes to compare the rhetoric to the history, and there's simply very little basis for it.

The Shah was a dictator, we supported him because he allowed Iran to be our client state. Saddam Hussein was a dictator, we supported him because he was opposing Iran. Iran has not been free for a long time, but we only started caring once they decided they had no use for the U.S.

Same goes for Afghanistan, and most of Latin America. So please save the 4th of July speeches for someone who doesn't want to look at the actual history.

TheShavingofOccam123: Well, if the US and Israel can put military personnel inside Iran to sabotage and create anti-government movements, I guess it's only fair to expect the Iranians to land in Venezuela, move up Central America and enter the US via our porous southern border.

Blowback, er, payback is a biatch.

South America already has it's share of nuts.

/Prefer the nuts in the middle east stay there

We must spend all our time ignoring Iran and Venezuela so we can focus on vilifying Goldman Sachs.

My 401k knows who the real enemy is.

Darkrover2: I may be showing my age, but there was a doctrine, named after an early President that we used to learn about in elemtary school....very applicable to this situation...but B Hussein Africanus would never resort to centuries old US policy, as that would be too white...

I'm unaware of anything B Hussein Africanus has done contrary to the Monroe Doctrine. In fact this thread is pointing to an article whose source is the State Department, which is controlled by B Hussein Africanus.