In an effort to present what is clearly the supporters of Hamas, here is a video of a demonstration in none other than Ft. Lauderdale, Florida on Tuesday, December 30. To be fair, there were calls by the demonstrators to “nuke Israel” and to put Jews “in the ovens”. Be sure to take a good look @ the freeze frame  below (5:12) and notice with whom these people are aligned.

Meet Sudanese supporter of terrorism and cameraman for Al-Jazeera TV, Sami al-Hajj. Al-Hajj was aboard the SS Dignity, which was essentially given a rather blunt message as it tried to enter Gaza. The message that the Dignity was carrying was unmistakable as opposed to its actual physical contents which were but stage props. Mr. Al-Hajj is a former detainee at Guantanamo Bay. Following is a list of the evidence which was presented to a military tribunal which implicates Mr. Al-Hajj with al Qaida:

1.During the period 1996-2001, the detainee traveled extensively throughout the Middle East, Balkans, and the former USSR, arriving in Afghanistan in October 2001.
2.The detainee admitted to transporting large amounts of cash from the United Arab Emirates (U.A.E.) to Azerbaijan on multiple occasions from 1996-2000.
3.From 1997 through 2000, the detainee was responsible for financial and material aid for Chechen armed groups and foreign mercenaries operating in the Northern Caucausus.
4.The detainee provided assistance, obtaining travel/immigration documents, for an Iraqi businessman moving to the U.A.E.
5.The above Iraqi businessman is reportedly close to Usama Bin Laden.
6.Prior to 11 September 2001, the detainee arranged for the transport of a Stinger anti-aircraft system from Afghanistan to Chechnya.
7.Since 2000, the detainee has engaged in distributing terrorist propaganda over the internet.
8.While attempting to re-enter Afghanistan in December 2001, the detainee was apprehended by Pakistani authorities for inconsistencies with his travel documents.

After staging a hunger strike and having calls for his release by the Sudanese government, Al-Hajj was released on May 1, 2008, based partly upon his commitment that he was to return to Sudan and work in his family’s business there. A U.S. military jet flew Al-Hajj back to Sudan on May 2.

Now Al-Hajj shows up on a boat headed for Gaza during a war between Israel and Hamas. Mr. Al-Hajj has broken his promise that he wished to return to Sudan and work there, and instead he is back in business doing what he does best – propagandizing. Anyone could have driven the boat carrying supplies to Gaza, but people like Al-Hajj and former U.S. Representative Cynthia McKinney decided to milk the situation for its rich mass media content.

Forgetting the fact that rockets had been falling on Israeli towns for months, the media is hijacked in order to present only one side of the story. History has proven over and over that there is no reliable basis in tests of moral equivalency. Winners and losers are well defined by history itself, and a well-defined, easily perceived thread runs through both. When writing history it is important to understand which side is the winner, because ultimately tiny cracks begin to show which literally blows one side of the story completely out of the water. Lucky for Mr. Al-Hajj, the Dignity was not dealt a lethal blow, however, the message that was delivered to it was unmistakably that of Mr. Al-Hajj’s cover having been blown instead.

-TDN

The question has been put to me whether Tzipi Livni is the reincarnation of the spirit of King David. Actually, let me rephrase that. It wasn’t so much a question as it was a statement. It was put to me by someone whose mother told him many years later that she did not have sexual relations with his father, meaning he was conceived immaculately. Now first of all, I’m not going to say whether the story is actually true, that is, if my friend was actually conceived without sexual relations having had taken place between his mother and father. But suffice it to say, I do tend to listen a bit more carefully to him when he speaks rather than just anybody else. I haven’t been told things like this by practically anyone else, and so I pay attention – naturally.

The bible tells us that King David lamented over the death of King Saul at the hands of the Philistines at Mount Gilboa because he saw it as a defeat for the entire nation of Israel. It is most like a reliably accurate account, and yet this statement is more of a lecture on military tactics than on the feelings of Israel’s greatest ruler. Let’s call it the “Philistine issue”, much like the “Palestinian issue” lives and breaths today. The manner in which Israel is defined by way of its battles. To proclaim that the word of God was handed down to one nation is only one side of the coin, because along with great national pride also comes great national responsibility. There will always be doubters. The concept of freedom of conscience as dictated by the one and only God is the one and only precept which on its merits defines what a human being is, that is one which has a conscience.

Let’s not dabble further in the definition of what makes us all human and why, but rather what does all this mean? Tzipi Livni is just another Israeli politician to some. She has her drawbacks indeed, since the founder of the Kadima Party was Ariel Sharon, who in his final years in politics back peddled on years of an opposite point of view and adopted the two-state proposition much to the amazement of the Israeli military establishment. The wounds suffered at Mount Gilboa are still felt today, since the problems which beset David all seemed to spring from a sense of national vulnerability. The Philistines have earned themselves the dubious distinction of having drilled self-doubt into the Israeli mentality – not very becoming of God’s chosen people, who were supposed to be resolute in their faith and doing all for the sake of Israel.

Coming full circle is tough work because the same forces that launched this epic momentum of history by way of defeat are being harnessed and employed once more. Israel is literally having to relive its painful past in order to exorcise it from its national psyche. In that sense, it is likely that the spirit of King David is being felt by all of Israel today. The Iranian government has threatened to wipe Israel off of the map, and their support of Hamas and Hezbollah is unmistakeably the sign of a long tentacle attached to a painful and distinct reminder that runs deeper than the Holocaust. It isn’t enough to some that Jews simply go back into exile and stop fighting for their survival. Now the nom de guerre of modern terrorism today is obliteration of anything remotely resembling a Jew holding a weapon. Something is afoot here. There is a stench in the air that is almost palpable that history is coming around full circle and there will be a resurgence of feelings which have not been felt for thousands of years.

Yes, I do tend to believe my friend who says that King David’s spirit is returning. I also believe that Tzipi Livni could well be a prime candidate for leading the revolution that is history in the making. The defeat at Mount Gilboa was a tragedy that echoes in the psyche of Israel and is a tiny voice always reminding the tiny nation of its precariousness. A country which is home to a belief cannot survive by simply being a belief in one’s home. It takes hard work to maintain a belief system which is predicated on geography. Every life takes on special meaning because the land itself is history, and history never stops for a rest. The Daily Nigger often argues that thinking for oneself is tantamount to examining ones place on God’s earth.

We are not disconnected from history to the point in which all we have to show for ourselves is a remote control and a worn spot on a sofa. We are players on the stage of history, which conducts and orchestrates this finely tuned machine to a rightful and just conclusion. One need not argue the merits of whether Israel is justified in its actions vis-a-vis its enemies, because the mere geographical proximity to Israel of the haters of what it represents in history is enough to justify removing all traces of it once and for all. Like Tzipi Livni so eloquently said, “Enough is enough”. That was enough for me to hear that points to a revolution back to a time when military battles against Israel’s enemies were always successfully waged. This is a thought that today many people have a hard time wrapping themselves around, but I would tend to agree that doubters during decisive times like these are almost always left behind. History could just well be on Israel’s side.

-TDN

From Associated Press
By Zarar Khan in Islamabad and Riaz Khan in Peshawar
December 29, 2008

ISLAMABAD, Pakistan – Taliban militants are beheading and burning their way through Pakistan’s picturesque Swat Valley, and residents say the insurgents now control most of the mountainous region far from the lawless tribal areas where jihadists thrive.

The deteriorating situation in the former tourist haven comes despite an army offensive that began in 2007 and an attempted peace deal. It is especially worrisome to Pakistani officials because the valley lies outside the areas where al-Qaida and Taliban militants have traditionally operated and where the military is staging a separate offensive.

“You can’t imagine how bad it is,” said Muzaffar ul-Mulk, a federal lawmaker whose home in Swat was attacked by bomb-toting assailants in mid-December, weeks after he left. “It’s worse day by day.”

The Taliban activity in northwest Pakistan also comes as the country shifts forces east to the Indian border because of tensions over last month’s terrorist attacks in Mumbai, potentially giving insurgents more space to maneuver along the Afghan frontier.

Militants began preying on Swat’s lush mountain ranges about two years ago, and it is now too dangerous for foreign and Pakistani journalists to visit. Interviews with residents, lawmakers and officials who have fled the region paint a dire picture.

A suicide blast killed 40 people Sunday at a polling station in Buner, an area bordering Swat that had been relatively peaceful. The attack underscored fears that even so-called “settled” regions presumptively under government control are increasingly unsafe.

The 3,500-square-mile Swat Valley lies less than 100 miles from the capital, Islamabad.

A senior government official said he feared there could be a spillover effect if the government lost control of Swat and allowed the insurgency to infect other areas. Like nearly everyone interviewed, the official requested anonymity for fear of reprisal by militants.

Officials estimate that up to a third of Swat’s 1.5 million people have left the area. Salah-ud-Din, who oversees relief efforts in Swat for the International Committee of the Red Cross, estimated that 80 percent of the valley is now under Taliban control.

Swat’s militants are led by Maulana Fazlullah, a cleric who rose to prominence through radio broadcasts demanding the imposition of a harsh brand of Islamic law. His appeal tapped into widespread frustration with the area’s inefficient judicial system.

Most of the insurgents are easy to spot with long hair, beards, rifles, camouflage vests and running shoes. They number at most 2,000, according to people who were interviewed.

In some places, just a handful of insurgents can control a village. They rule by fear: beheading government sympathizers, blowing up bridges and demanding women wear all-encompassing burqas.

They have also set up a parallel administration with courts, taxes, patrols and checkpoints, according to lawmakers and officials. And they are suspected of burning scores of girls’ schools.

In mid-December, Taliban fighters killed a young member of a Sufi-influenced Muslim group who had tried to raise a militia against them. The militants later dug up Pir Samiullah’s corpse and hung it for two days in a village square — partly to prove to his followers that he was not a superhuman saint, a security official said on condition of anonymity.

A lawmaker and the senior Swat government official said business and landowners had been told to give two-thirds of their income to the militants. Some local media reported last week that the militants have pronounced a ban on female education effective in mid-January.

Several people interviewed said the regional government made a mistake in May when it struck a peace deal with the militants. The agreement fell apart within two months but let the insurgents regroup.

The Swat insurgency also includes Afghan and other fighters from outside the valley, security officials said.

Any movement of Pakistani troops from the Swat Valley and tribal areas to the Indian border will concern the United States and other Western countries, which want Pakistan to focus on the al-Qaida threat near Afghanistan.

On Friday, Pakistani intelligence officials said thousands of troops were being shifted toward the border with India, which blames Pakistani militants for terrorist attacks in Mumbai last month that killed 164 people. But there has been no sign yet of a major buildup near India.

“The terrorists’ aim in Mumbai was precisely this — to get the Pakistani army to withdraw from the western border and mount operations on the east,” said Ahmed Rashid, a journalist and author who has written extensively about militancy in the region.

“The terrorists are not going to be sitting still. They are not going to be adhering to any sort of cease-fire while the army takes on the Indian threat. They are going to occupy the vacuum the army will create.”

Residents and officials from the Swat Valley were critical of the army offensive there, saying troops appeared to be confined to their posts and often killed civilians when firing artillery at suspected militant targets.

The military has deployed some 100,000 troops through the northwest.

A government official familiar with security issues estimated that some 10,000 paramilitary and army troops had killed 300 to 400 militants in Swat since 2007, while about 130 troops were killed. Authorities have not released details of civilian casualties, and it was unclear if they were even being tallied.

The official, who insisted on anonymity because of the issue’s sensitivity, disputed assertions that militants had overrun the valley, but said a spotty supply line was hampering operations. He said the army had to man some Swat police stations because the police force there had been decimated by desertions and militant killings.

A Swat militant boasted that “we are doing our activities wherever we want, and the army is confined to their living places.”

“They cannot move independently like us,” said the man, who was reached over the phone and gave his name as Muzaffarul Haq. He claimed the Swat militants had no al-Qaida or foreign connections, but that they supported all groups that shared the goal of imposing Islamic law.

“With the grace of Allah, there is no dearth of funds, weapons or rations,” he said. “Our women are providing cooked food for those who are struggling in Allah’s path. Our children are getting prepared for jihad.”

Visit msnbc.com for Breaking News, World News, and News about the Economy

An Israeli no-spin zone is alive and well. Tzipi Livni minces no words in describing the catastrophe that radical Islam has created.

To hell with Hillary Clinton and all those who think that her pandering to Bill and Barack is a sign of strength. Meet Tzipi Livni and Condoleezza Rice, who by most accounts are the real women who run this world. These are two women who won’t roll over and play dead after what had been done to black men and Jewish men during their respective modern slavery. Good for them is what The Daily Nigger says. Rock on, girls.

Pay attention to what Tzipi Livni is saying. Iran is supporting the activities of Hamas as well as Hezbollah. Meanwhile, back in Hawaii, not a peep and not a sound from the “president-elect”.

We are choking Iran. America is driving the price of oil down by declaring a global recession. We are doing so because we are driving a financial stake through the heart of Iran’s government. We are putting the big squeeze on Iran and giving them some pause about what else we might have in store for them in return for their military-backed expansionist policy crafted by none other than their Islamic religious leaders. One need not imagine what the consequences would be of such a scenario taking shape and form with nuclear weapons. Succinctly, this will never happen.

Cut to: Barack Obama being hustled away to Hawaii while Israel bombs the bejesus out of Gaza. Remember the last time he was conveniently removed from the scene? It was during Russia’s invasion of South Ossetia. Then layer on this the news that Gov. Blagojevich’s attorneys have subpoenaed Obama’s aides to testify at his impeachment hearing. The pieces of the case against Obama are being laid into place bit by bit, and the government of the United States itself is pushing back against Obama, whom insiders certainly now consider to be “not one of theirs” any more. Obama couldn’t keep his mouth shut for them until at least he got into office and then (not before) turn on a dime from his campaign rhetoric about removing troops from Iraq immediately. One can only guess that his desire to be his own man and not his handler’s porch monkey caused him to come out early and start backtracking. Now he’s in Hawaii, safe and sound and away from the media. He can’t do any more damage in exposing himself as America’s foreign policy puppet. ‘No comment’ just won’t go very far when you have promised to talk in the first place. Remember that one? The way Obama was almost leaping toward talking with Iran’s government is overshadowed by his absence on the scene while America’s foreign policy chugs along.

And back we go to Iran in which the unofficial, official policy of the United States is to push back on Iran’s influence. America is starving Iran just like was done to Iraq. This is the first step toward the ultimate goal of a military strike. It is a classic military process, and it shouldn’t come as a shock or awe anyone that this is not true. The problem is when you have a president who was put into power by people who are also having buyer’s remorse. His handlers are no doubt coming to the conclusion that the liberal way of handling foreign policy matters by espousing appeasement does not make for a healthy outcome. There is a monumental struggle going on within the U.S. government for control of the foreign policy of America, and it is clearly visible in the way in which Obama slips away to Hawaii whenever there is a war happening. The foreign policy of America cannot be compromised by having a discussion simultaneously occurring about the veracity of the individual who stood for things which are diametrically opposed to it. The consequences would be catastrophic since the silence of the mainstream media to the hypocrisy would be noted immediately.

Even so, it is already apparent that Obama is under attack even before he is in office. He is whisked away out of sight while the house of cards upon which he rests is being systematically dismantled and its structure compromised so that at the least no further departures from the script take place. Obama has been discovered to not only be a good front guy but also a very bad behind the scenes player. In other words he could do the former for those interested in him as president, however, he is incapable of keeping the bullshit alive and well. Say what you will about George W. Bush, he managed to pull off the whole WMD thing to the point where people are still talking about it as though it were a believable position in the first place. People still feel it necessary to make the point that we “went to war under false pretenses”, which of course assumes that WMD was a pretense in the first place. WMD was not a lie, it was a bluff. George W. Bush bluffed everyone by it by portraying himself to be unaware that the intelligence he was receiving was faulty. Yes, he lied about it, but everyone was simply supposed to play along rather than pretend that they did not know what the real purpose of invading Iraq was about.

The foreign policy of the United States of America is to isolate Iran and choke off the government. Period. If this fails then the military option is on the table. We are not going to leave Iraq until the Iran question is resolved. End of discussion. Obama is being removed from the scene more and more through physical dislocation to Hawaii and by marginalizing him from his staff so that he is isolated. The purpose of which is to ensure that he is unaware of what is going on unless and until he one day understands how to deliver this information in a way that does not signal to America’s enemies what is under way. Unfortunately, by such outward signs being exhibited vis-a-vis Obama’s handlers, the future does not look too bright for his future because the cat is already out of the bag. After all, if it’s Tuesday, it must be Honolulu has to be the tag line his entourage is smiling and saying to one another as they read their schedule that was given to them by their friends at the Pentagon.

-TDN

Does anybody think that Israelis will just sit there and take being hit with rockets all day and night and not do a thing about it? And what’s up with Hamas? Do they think that Israel won’t respond in kind to them launching rockets into Israel? To all those knuckleheads who condemn Israel for defending themselves, ask yourselves why you probably also condemn America for defending herself against international terror networks whose goal it is to pick apart America and Americans. Terrorists and their left wing supporters can run to the media and beg for sympathy while at the same distorting reality, but the bottom line is that you can’t fool all the people all the time.

You might not like what Ron Paul says, because the wound is already there and we’re just scared that the snake that bit us might be venomous. It’s irrational fear.
I have been looking for a word to describe The Daily Nigger, and I think I found it. It is venomous. The Daily Nigger is poisonous and noxious. It poisons an open wound, i.e., one that has already been opened by a snake, for example. Without venom a snake is nothing more than just another stupid looking reptile, a relic from the past. The venom is what makes the snake deadly and drives everyone who comes face to face with one to the edge of utter fear.

The American established power structure is the snake that threatens us just like it threatens our adversaries abroad. Power knows no one, meaning that the snake, like the one who holds a monopoly on power, can instill fear in someone simply by opening their mouth and showing their fangs. Who really knows if this snake is poisonous or not. The point is it hisses you become paralyzed with fear. You don’t want to move because the snake might make a run for you, but at the same time you don’t want to stand there face to face with it either. America is in a nail biting stand off where irrational fear has taken control. The media plays this up to a point where you don’t want to have sex, touch a door handle, get on an airplane, ride on a roller coaster, go whitewater rafting or forget to floss. We are scared by Tylenol, salmonella, bird flu, and HIV, yet we are encouraged to walk around with a woody for three hours by taking Viagra and to sign a mortgage that we can’t afford. We are subjected to the most inane logic ever to have been propagated against what are supposed to be enlightened free people. And we all caved into this voluntarily, meaning of our own free will. Nobody pointed a gun at us and told us to believe all this shit. We did it on our own and we’re damn glad about it and proud of it. We’re so proud of our ignorance that we invade other countries and force our lifestyle on them. This is what is called being an uppity nigger, that is, dumb as a fencepost and having an attitude that draws attention to your stupidity.

Is America venomous, or is the mainstream media snake just bluffing? I think they’re bluffing. I think they are covering for the power establishment in America that is a combination of members of board rooms, the military, bankers and of course our friends at The Federal Reserve, which is the place where these folks go whenever they need to throw a war or make money off of millions of bad real estate loans that bilk the poorest and most vulnerable of us all. Without the mainstream media to get the word out that everything is okay, then the house of cards fails. The corporate mainstream media is the great messenger, which is another way of saying that they’re the same people as the ones who really run America. If you can’t understand this by now given the way the banks have been helped out of the mess they created and not the homeowners themselves, then somebody needs to take you to the sanitarium for treatment.

Some people complained about Ron Paul that he was too simplistic and his foreign policy did not take into consideration the threat from terrorism. But frankly, this is not true. America cannot be lethal against its enemies unless it possesses something that its enemies want. This means of course America’s moral high ground, which is now pretty much a faded memory. The truth about Iraq has always been about Iran. It was the case in the 1970’s during America’s support for Iraq against Iran, and it is true today. Nothing has really changed in the policy vis-a-vis Iran, except the media is telling everyone that Iraq was a preemptive war based on the presence of weapons of mass destruction. This is a distraction from the real policy, which is to act as a buffer against Iran. Consider that Pakistan is amassing troops right now on the border with India. Two nuclear powers are raising the ante in what looks like could amount to war. If Iran were allowed to get into the fray then this would spell doom. Nuclear proliferation in the middle east would be tantamount to blowing up dynamite at a gas station. If America is perceived as not being able to intervene at this critical moment, then the images of Obama body surfing while Russia invaded South Ossetia will begin to take on real meaning for those who are thumbing their nose at America.

The way America is structured today is by not only leaving out average Americans, but also by hoodwinking them and bamboozling them into thinking that they are actually participating in something that they aren’t. Just like the truth about America’s real monetary system isn’t being publicized, so too our military policy is being masqueraded as something that it is not. The Daily Nigger does assert that there is much venom that can be released from America’s military, but the use of irrational fear in which to deliver the venom is what is actually causing so many in the world to doubt us. We are saying this to people because in order for America to succeed economically and in terms of furthering our interests around the world we have to be honest about who we are despite what the media portrays us as being. Americans have deluded themselves into believing that others around the world are as dumb as they themselves pretend to be. Acting stupid is not a trait that most people find endearing, but it should not come as any surprise to anyone why this is phenomenon is occurring because of the media’s victim mentality that promotes underachievement.

We at The Daily Nigger are venomous because we are standing beside the harmless reptile with the venom in our hand. We can see the victims paralyzed with fear and while they are looking at the snake, we are looking at them. The only difference between the snake and The Daily Nigger is that we can do damage much easier by simply throwing our venom on them as epitomized by the word nigger which has been censored by the media in their quest to influence Americans to say and do things which are irrational and not based on reality, much less the law. The Daily Nigger shows a great deal of restraint by not threatening to throw the word nigger at people who know better than to get bitten. We only threaten to throw it at those who fell for the bullshit to begin with, the ones who are already damaged goods. These are the people who go where they shouldn’t and find themselves trapped by propaganda like WMD, Change and Hope, and that bailouts for banks are good for the economy. We politely remind people that they can believe they won’t get hurt by this if they want to, but the bottom line is that time could be running out and you can’t stand there like a deer in the headlights forever and expect everything to turn out okay.

-TDN

Obviously 2009 is going to be a pivotal year in the world. The most unusual things are likely to happen. Please allow me to explain what those might be.

Iran looms large on the horizon for what can best be termed emergency care. The Iranian people are experiencing freedom in ways in which they had previously not known. The world is creeping into Iran and once planted freedom is a tough competitor to anyone trying to pull it up by the root. In a nutshell, the U.S. policy has always been to plant freedom in the middle of the region and then pipe in immense amounts of western style advertising that come in the form of products, travel, and eventually trade. It’s the trade part that isn’t evolving, and this is part of the tease. However, for all its appearances on the outside as a democracy, the leader of Iran is in reality Ayatollah Ali Khamenei. This overt dichotomy in Iranian politics is being forced to the surface as an embarrassment to the Iranian people, who by most accounts are used to more intelligent ways of governing.

In many ways, the reflection of American politics is mirrored by what is happening in Iran by having a shadow government that sets policy and directs the nation’s energy and resources to certain areas. The information that is disseminated by the talking head puppets are but a show meant to distract the general public from the real matters at hand. Notice that no mention has been made of the nuclear issue, because while keeping the threat of military action alive there is a real possibility that a kind of velvet revolution might well occur in Iran. Is this the latest in a series of mini cold wars to break out among rogue nations, and if so what is the real policy for dealing with occurrences like a nuclear armed Iran?

For one, people have known for a least a decade that Iran had nuclear aspirations. The choices for dealing with this threat have been analyzed and positions put forth on how to deal with it have been around for as long as the Iranian nuclear dilemma cropped up on the radar screen. To believe that suddenly today the U.S. military and Israel are scrambling to develop a plan to deal with Iran is absurd. What is happening today is nothing more than phase two of a three pronged approach toward solving the Iranian question. Trust me, it is not going to be easy but nevertheless this is the way so-called cold wars are played, which is precisely why Iran is turning to Russia for assistance. Russia seems to think they know how the game is played better than America, and they think America is bluffing. Which brings an interesting point and that is Obama is a front for what is otherwise a game of subterfuge being waged against the Iranian government. In war games effective bluffing is tantamount to victory. Any game that results in fewer losses while maximizing benefits is the one that is being played. Make no mistake about it, the unofficial-official policy of the United States is to undermine the government of Iran without a single shot being fired. This was the purpose of the Iraq invasion just like it has always been the U.S. policy in Iraq since the Iran-Iraq war thirty years ago.

But military action against Iran has only proved to embolden the hard liners in the Iranian government. The religious leaders know well the benefits of a holy war when it comes to strengthening their hand. They play to the people through their spokespeople in the government, and the establishment stays firmly in place. Understanding how Iranian politics is played and who pulls the strings is so obvious that it jumps right out at you. It would be foolish not to understand that most Iranians find their government to be appalling, yet they feel powerless to do anything about it. This is what is called in the diplomacy business, a giant gaping opening for change to occur, and the pressure that is being applied to Iran via veiled military threats coupled with the undeniable onslaught of freedom coming from Iraq and beyond is slowly chipping away at Iran’s political status quo. Iranians are by and large people who respect intelligence, and frankly their shadow government is far more understandable and straight forward than, say, America’s which by most accounts is intricately woven through boards of directors, committees, and social networking covered by a thick shell created by the media. America’s policy is the hardest to crack because of the many layers one must penetrate to hit pay dirt, not so with Iran.

2009 will be the litmus test for whether America’s policy shift vis-a-vis Iran will work. I am reminded of the expression “like sands through an hourglass” which arose from the daytime soap opera Days of Our Lives. These are in fact the days of our lives leading up to the hour of truth. The question will finally be answered as to whether our policy has worked. If Iranians choose to take the first step and jump the fence to a different way of conducting their political affairs, then the door is wide open. Elections will be held next year, and Iranians must choose whether to admit to what has been unnecessary limitations placed upon them. Reliving the cold war is not a claim to fame especially when you are a pawn in the hand of those who are simply reenacting it. But bearing in mind that the plans that are on the table for Iran have been worked out long ago by people who know what they are doing, the odds are that they will succeed. One can only hope for the sake of saving lives from a military conflict, which if all else fails is imminent in 2009.

Either way, change in Iran is imminent and either way it occurs is likely to be the greatest surprise of 2009. But to many who understand how the game is played, there will be few surprises. One can only hope that the loss of life will be minimized while history is being revealed.

-TDN