I saw a headline on Yahoo News that caught my attention.
Ahmadinejad Fills Cabinet With Hard-Liners
At first I thought "well gee, that's not good, that will just increase the problems Iran has been having with the global community by dogmatically sticking to hardline positions"
And then I thought "But wait a minute, he's just doing the same thing Bush did when he took office, surrounding himself with yes-men who will rubberstamp his every move. I remember conservatives back then saying that it was a president's right to surround himself with advisors who agree with him."
And then it hit me "Well crap, that's a bad thing for America and Iran isn't it?
Sycophants.
That's what these leaders have surrounded themselves with.
TEHRAN, Iran - Iran's new President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad presented a Cabinet to parliament on Sunday that featured known hard-liners in the foreign, interior and intelligence ministries.
Condoleeza Rice, Porter Goss, Powell Jr, Ashcroft, Gonzalez.
The conservative lawmaker Manouchehr Mottaki was nominated as foreign minister and a former hard-line deputy intelligence minister, Mostafa Pourmohammadi, was named as interior minister.
The names suggest that Iran will move away from the moderate policies it pursued under the previous president, reformist Mohammad Khatami.
Just like how Bush's cabinet selections showed he was definitely moving away from the moderate policies advanced by Clinton.
The nominated ministers are widely believed to be followers of Iran's supreme leader, Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, a noted conservative who has the final say on all state matters.
Fundy theocrats, need I say more? Swap out the Ayatollah with Dobson and we're set.
The parliament has to pass a vote of confidence in the Cabinet before it takes office.
Guess that's worse then a recess appointment.
Ahmadinejad named as intelligence minister Gholam Hossein Mohseni Ejehei, a cleric whom reformist journalists regard as an unyielding opponent of press freedom.
Again, sounds familiar. Also sounds like Gollum. What parallel appointments to this can you come up with?
The proposed foreign minister, Mottaki, is a hard-liner who has criticized Iran's nuclear negotiations with the Europeans, saying the country should adopt a tougher position and not make concessions.
Like looking into a dark mirror, ain't it?
So here's the problem we have forming. We've got two leaders with cabinets and administrations of sycophants and yes-men. These so-called leaders are also religious fanatics and are political hardliners. Neither so-called leaders have vast global support, although both sides can claim some heavy hitters. We have the U.S. and England on one side, and Russia and China and Iran on the other. China needs a lot of oil, they have a robust military (yes we can beat them in theory but I wouldn't like the fight, that's for damn sure), and they're getting their oil fix from Iran same as we're getting a big part of ours from the Sauds.
Bush has managed not only to divide the country but also the world. Great job!
So, can anybody see a good end to this? We've got two testosterone jocks playing a game of nuclear chicken on the global highway. Looks bad to me.