Here is my interview with New York City Ballet principal dancer Damian Woetzel - the only ballet great who also happens to have a masters from Harvard's Kennedy School of Government.

Frankenstein's back, with a resounding endorsement of Barack Obama. I refer, of course, to the reemergence in public of former Clinton Secretary of State Madeleine Albright.

Albright chastized Bush and defended Obama's statement that he would be happy to talk to Iran and other enemies of the United States. Albright blasted the current approach to the Middle East and made the anodyne point that it is just as important to converse with one's adversaries as it is to converse with one's friends.

The problem, of course, is not with talking with folks like Mahmoud Ahmedinejad. The problem is: who is going to do the talking? Certainly a President McCain has the experience and resolve to sit across the table with the bad guys and not fall for their deceptions or give in to their pressures. With an unseasoned guy like Obama, whose global experience may be confined to an occasional visit to the International House of Pancakes, who knows?

With Albright too it is credibility that becomes an issue. On May 11, 1996 this woman was asked by a television interviewer for "60 Minutes" whether she was troubled by the fact that Clinton-supported sanctions had resulted in the death of 500,000 Iraqi children. "It's a hard choice," she replied, "but we think it's worth it."

Leftists should keep Albright's response in mind when they wail about civilian casualties as a consequence of Bush's war in Iraq. Iraq Body Count keeps track of these casualties, and they are less than one-fifth the number of innocent civilians (mostly children) killed in the aftermath of sanctions. Sanctions had no effect on Saddam or his henchmen, who didn't miss a meal. Rather, they hurt the most vulnerable members of Iraqi society.

These facts remind us not only of the shortcomings of sanctions, which are not likely to work better with Iran than they did with Iraq. They also remind us that bad things in the world must be measured not against utopia but against what came before. Bush's Iraq war has resulted in a steep reduction of Iraqi deaths compared to the 300,000 people Saddam deposited in the mass graves and compared to the even greater number of deaths that Clinton's policies seem to have produced.

Still, I come back to Albright's original dismissal of half a million deaths with the calm affirmation: it's worth it. Can you recall another secretary of state making a remark more shockingly callous than Albright's? How this Frankenstein became the first female secretary of state remains a mystery.

And it is this same person who would presume to lecture us on what we should now be doing with Iran. I don't think we need more advice from Albright. Rather, what we need from her is an apology, followed by an overdue withdrawal from public life.

Republican presidential candidate John McCain suspects the war in Iraq will be over by 2013.

"By January 2013, America has welcomed home most of the servicemen and women who have sacrificed terribly so that America might be secure in her freedom. The Iraq War has been won," said McCain.

Despite the fact that he predicts the war will "be won" in five years, McCain denies any claims that he has drawn up a timetable for full-scale troop withdrawal.

"It's not a timetable; it's victory. It's victory, which I have always predicted. I didn't know when we were going to win World War II; I just knew we were going to win," said McCain during his speech in Columbus, Ohio.

There you have it: John McCain JUST KNOWS the U.S is going to win the war in Iraq. He might not know how, but he just knows. One of the journalists who attended McCain's speech suggested he took listeners on a "magic carpet ride" to the future.

With the number of U.S casualties increasing, and the faltering economy in mind, occupying Iraq for an additional five years is a scary thought. But there are other underlying issues in McCain's statements.

First off, John McCain's response to reporters makes no sense at all. If he has not at least created a game plan for the Iraq War, what is the premise for him saying the war will end by 2013? Does he just assume things in the Middle East will smooth over by the end of his presidential term (if he gets elected)? Surely, he must have some sort of "timetable" set if he has the ability to announce a year as to when Americans can expect their sons and daughters to return from the war.

Denying that he has a game plan probably hurts him more than helps him. It's understandable that McCain likes to stick to his guns. In fact, he would be accused of hypocrisy if he didn't stand by his word. In his campaign during the primaries, McCain criticized former Republican rival Mitt Romney for hinting at a timetable for troop withdrawal. But since when is it a bad thing to have a timetable? Is the electorate keen on staying in Iraq for years to come?

The Republicans claim they are tough on national security, and that is precisely why they have kept U.S troops in Iraq. However, keeping troops in the Middle East has not secured the U.S at all. McCain's Democratic rival Barack Obama said the war has failed to secure America since it has made the U.S military weak and vulnerable to any potential attack made by other Middle Eastern countries such as Iran.

Cenk makes a good point about McCain's current comments in the following clip:



Nonetheless, it's comforting to know one of the candidates for presidency makes predictions with no real premise or plan.

There is a new story about how the Iranian government is pissed they can't control the Barbie dolls flooding into Iran. As I explain below, the Iranians are right to be concerned. Once you introduce American culture to a population, it is infectious. They can't get it out of their system. It is our best weapon:




Young Turks on You Tube

Republican Presidential hopeful John McCain has traveled to the Middle East to endorse his foreign policy expertise. But while speaking to reporters in the Jordanian capital of Amman, he displayed a shocking level of ignorance.

McCain told reporters several times that al-Qeada, a predominantly Sunni militant group, has been receiving aide and training from Iran. Keep in mind Iran is mainly a Shiite country, and past reports have shown Sunnis and Shiites simply do not get along. They are even less likely to aide one another.

Despite the fact that McCain's statements were extremely false, he continued to say that it is "common knowledge and has been reported in the media that al-Qaeda is going back into Iran and receiving training and are coming back into Iraq from Iran, that's well known. And it's unfortunate."

Senator Joseph Lieberman was standing by McCain while he was speaking to reporters, and actually pulled McCain aside to whisper the correction in his ear. After Lieberman spoke to him, McCain said, "I'm sorry, the Iranians are training extremists, not al-Qaeda."

Aside from being somewhat comical, McCain's statements were scary. When comparisons are drawn between George Bush and McCain, the similarities are striking. But McCain's recent comments further confirm if he gets elected as president, he will serve as a continuation of Bush's idiocy.

McCain has mentioned his readiness to invade Iran. But how credible is his foreign policy experience when he isn't aware of the important issues in the Middle East? I would argue that someone who aspires to be the president of the United States should know everything possible about the situation in Middle East, and especially militant groups such as al-Qeada. But apparently not.

What's even more disappointing is the fact that people will continue to vote for McCain despite his ignorance.

Here's what Cenk had to say about it today on The Young Turks:




Watch TYT!

Some people say, Obama's only opponent is time.
I don't know about you guys, but this music video is pretty cool...For a political music video.

The artist explains why he made it on the Huffington Post. I watched the "Super Tuesday" dealy. I was flipping between NBC and CNN...Friggen repetitive, how many times do I need to be told woman voted for Hillary and Men voted for Obama, say it once, demote the information to the constant scrolling ticker. If sober I possibly could have memorized each graph. Either way, it could have been made more entertaining, I notice some of the Cable News reporters always seem nervous when they report. Relax ladies you look great.

More following up of the Canadian Torture List controversy that's stirred things up around here a little. Since the US, Guantanamo and Israel are being removed from the list, Iran now calls our list biased, got that link via an editorial from Seattle.

TRN spoke with Michael Ratner and asked for some background and details in regards to the controversy.

Bush is tearing through the Middle East and has finally stumbled upon the magical kingdom of Saudi Arabia. While Bush has been angering most of the western world the past seven years, it's countries like Saudi Arabia that have been kept happy.

Remember how happy Israel was when Bush delivered the $30 Billion worth in weapons, well Saudi Arabia is just as happy with the $20 Billion worth in weapons Bush is going to give them. Seriously, who the fuck gives George W Bush a medal?

The war drum is obviously beating. Bush is touring his Middle Eastern allies with gifts of weapons worth Billions and asking them to mobilize for war, during the same tour has been giving speeches about how evil and dangerous Iran is to the rest of the world. He wants another war, I am curious, are Americans going to support a third Bush war in the middle east? Or will you be cheering for Wexler tonight?

Another statistic to consider is a study West Point conducted recently, the results indicated that 41% of foreign fighters (terrorists, suicide bombers whatever you want to call em, those guys who attack Americans) in Iraq are from Saudi Arabia. There are actually more Moroccans fighting Americans in Iraq than Iranians! Sorry, this is all very insane to watch develop, so don't listen to me, here are some links, form an opinion.

Wapo: US Plans New Arms Sales to Gulf Allies - July 28th 07.
NYT: U.S. Plans Sale of 900 Missiles to Saudi Arabia -Jan 15th.
AP: Congress likely to OK Saudi arms deal - Jan 14th.
CNN - Impact of Saudi Arms deal - Jan 14th.
TDS - History of Arms sales - Jul 26th 07.

Below is a recent segment of PBS Newshour discussing the Bush Visit to Saudi Arabia.

So even after the intelligence said that Iran halted it's Nuke program in 2003, Iran is still a threat? How now? Oh, Terrorism, of course. Olbermann just recently had a rant about Bush and his Iran warmongering?

Bush's comments come appropriately while he is on a key middle eastern tour to promote "peace."

Headlines from around the World.
- George Bush Launches Scathing attack on Iran - AL-Jazeera (video)
- Bush Says Iran Sponsors Terror - BBC (Video)
- Bush to Court Saudi Allies after Warning Iran - AFP
- US, Israel on 'same page' on Iran - Jerusalem Post
- Bush urges Arab nations to confront Iran - Guardian UK

I've never used the "Islamic Radicals" category yet on AOL, and I think Iranians driving speedboats around American battleships surely fits that definition. I am sure these Iranians won some sort of bet once they returned to shore.

Bush Castigates Iran, Calling Naval Confrontation 'Provocative Act' Video Via al-jazeera

The Pentagon releases footage filmed from the USS Hopper showing Iranian boats heading towards the vessel as well as an audiotape of radio communications.

*updated Jan 10th: Turns out Iran has now also released their own version of the video from their perspective. BBC Reports.

A US National Intelligence Estmate (NIE) -- issued by all 16 US spy agencies -- on Monday claimed that Tehran mothballed its atomic weapons programme four years ago and said that US charges about Tehran's nuclear ambitions have been overblown for at least two years...Read More...

First, let's hear from Bush and what he has to say about the NIE earlier this week.

Now, let's enjoy Keith Olbermann rip it into the President. C&L has a transcript.

Yesterday President Bush had a press conference full of ridiculous assertions -- such as if Iran does not have a nuclear weapons program, it means they're dangerous because they could have one -- and outright lies, like the last quote in the video below:

What Does Bush Do When He Gets Intelligence Info?

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Here's the quote by President Bush in yesterday's press conference:

Interesting words from the guy Colbert calls "the brown haired guy on Fox and Friends that isn't Steve Doocy."

You may double-take after watching this clip and when American news stations make such statements it makes the rest of the world uneasy.

Irancoverage.com says his statements are "criminal" - I am not up to date on the law, but maybe somebody reading this knows why these words are "criminal."

Here is a rough transcript of what Brian Kilmeade said.

One thing could we do, could we start arming the anti government groups inside Iran, could their cars start blowing up inside Iran, like our humvees are blowing up, maybe inside Tahran so they wont be doing it inside Baghdad?

After "weather problems"

These militant groups are as upset about the direction of the Iranian government almost as much as the United States is, we are not doing enough to arm them to support them and let them create havoc inside Iran.

Suddenly everywhere in the rolling news I am reading about the escalating tensions between Iran. "Nuclear Holocaust," "world war III" no less. Although the IAEA is working some very important diplomacy, the United States appears to not be supporting it. These developments along with the high level of "war on Iran" rhetoric going on in the American media, really reminds me of the war drums before the Iraq war, will people think they are watching a re-run and ignore this?

Here is 'blast from the past' Hans Blix answering some very important questions about the Nuclear Iran situation.