Well, while we go on and on here (and I'm as guilty as everyone else on this) about this bullshit UAE ports business, Iraq has just exploded, and in my opinion in the worst possible way.
Surely everybody's aware that the golden-domed Al-Askari shrine was blown up today by a well-organized group dressed as Iraqi cops? And that as of this moment, at least 19 Sunni mosques have been attacked in retaliation, 3 Sunni clerics killed, 27 confirmed deaths including three journalists, and tens of thousands of exceedingly pissed off Shia are in the streets demanding reprisal?
This is big. Really fucking big.
While we've been narcissistically diddling about here fretting about the possibility of Osama bin Bogeyman sneaking nuke-packed shipping containers in via the UAE, I think the seeds of our utter undoing are sprouting in the country where we just got done bombing 100,000 or so folks into nonexistence. Curiously, as of this moment, this site seems comparatively unconcerned, which I don't get.
From what I can tell, the deal is this: The Al-Askari shrine is one of THE holiest Shia pilgrimage sites, as it is supposed to be the place where the 12th Imam descendent of Mohammed, Mohammed al-Mahdi, was removed from human view by God. In the end times, al-Mahdi is to reappear (with Jesus, interestingly enough). And having it blow up is, to many, about as cataclysmic as the Vatican going up in flames.
I just spent a couple hours talking with a Shia friend of mine about today's events. He's a Lebanese expat, normally unflappable, and quite accustomed/resigned to the daily parade of atrocities issuing from Iraq and elsewhere throughout the Middle East. Today he can only be described as shocked and horrified.
His first thoughts were concerning his own country: In his view, with the Syrians absent, it is entirely likely that the Shia and Sunni within Lebanon are likely to descend even more swiftly into the sectarian violence that's already looming. But beyond that, he envisions brutal Shia reprisals against the Sunni population in Iraq; this will likely trigger interference from surrounding predominantly Sunni countries in response; these, in turn, would prompt Shia Iran to get in on the action...and you can guess where things lead from there.
Now, factoring in that some Iraqi Shia leaders and some Iranians have both already laid at least partial blame for the mosque's destruction at the feet of the US, it takes little imagination to surmise what the possible outcomes of this might be: Direct "terror" attacks are an obvious possibility/likelihood. It is further likely that the U.S. presence in Iraq will grow increasingly untenable - not that Bush Corp. would acknowledge that fact; the likely outcome that U.S. troops find themselves at war with much of the civilian population.
Meanwhile, it is not hard to envision retaliation directed against Israel; if of sufficient significance, it wouldn't be hard to imagine Israeli air strikes on Iran...leading to God knows what.
And then I recall that Bush has this curious belief that he was "chosen," and that he's living in the "end times," and that he's an agent of biblical prophecy and all that shit. And I actually get scared.
How 'bout you?
Updated to add:BBC reporting that 50 bodies recovered in Baghdad so far, "dozens" of Sunni mosques attacked, and the 3 dead journalists are (ironically?) from Al-Arabiya...which I believe is the US-puppet "alternative" to Al Jazeera, and (also ironically) based in Dubai. Figuring that word of the mosque's destruction hasn't even filtered out to rural areas/many other countries without ready access to TV and the 'net yet, this could be totally insane by tomorrow when the newspapers come out.