Make Some Noise!

This interesting message brought to you via Skippy (and first mentioned by James over at Left End of the Dial). Apparently Skippy has been hanging around Little Persia in LA, whence this snap.

Why the street grafitti in this vein, you might ask? Well, if you didn't ask, you should. It appears we may all wake up one day and find we have taken Tehran, invaded Isfahan, conquered Qom, what have you. According to this and that on the blogosphere, Russian Intelligence predicts a Spring offensive. Thankfully this did not happen on Norouz, but may in time for Orthodox Easter, a symbolism not unwasted on the US (as in the hanging of Saddam on the first day of Eid), but certainly not wasted east of Rome.
While the US has been itching to mix it up with Iran for months now, enter a new and fascinating scenario:
The British Sailors: act I, II and III, co-produced by, in alphabetical order, Great Britain, Iran and the United States
Not, may I point out, accompanied by music by Gilbert and Sullivan or even Andrew Llyod Weber.
Act I is currently playing, Ladies and Gentlemen, at least the part in front of the curtain.
Act I seems to be going like this: in the prologue, the US seizes several Iranian diplomats in Iraq and detains them. The curtain goes up and Iran has seized a number of British sailors, claiming they have gone into Iran's waters. The Brits produce a map suggesting, nay, stating, Iran has committed a crime in detaining the crew. But wait! What's this? The map is potentially old, wrong and a ploy. Former British Ambassador Craig Murray has challenged the accuracy/versacity of the map while Tehran claims to have footage of the incident, that includes, they now say, repeated forays into Iranian waters.
Shades of the summer the Cedar Revolution got burned to a crisp due to arson?
This being the 21st century, no such spectacle would be complete without a mediated component.
Let's reel in the TVs and see, shall we?
Ah yes, the parading of the captives. Apparently several, including the female crew member, apologized for being in Iranian waters. . I haven't seen the video myself but I have seen stills, and while the three sailors don't look thrilled to be there, they don't look physically mistreated, either. The NYT has a transcript of Leading Seaman Faye Turney's on camera statement.
Much has been made in the British sector of the fact that Turney was seen wearing a scarf- it's black alright, but hardly tied like a hijab- she's not wearing chador and she looks more like a younger babushka doll.
What wasn't seen (as another writer has pointed out - I'll reference when I find it again)- were orange jumpsuits, guns pointed at them, signs of torture, shackles or hoods. Which is because the show isn't being staged by the Americans at this point.
Besides, this kind of background casting is very expensive- but I digress.
The point to be made is that no one should be paraded in front of the cameras like this.

Act II: will be brief. The curtain closes on the West wringing its hands over the appearance of the sailors on Iranian TV and rises on impassioned pleas for their release on the part of the Brits, careful posturing on the part of the US, and the bullying of the UN to declare more sanctions by them both while Mohammed El Barradei reprises his role in the 2003 production of the W Shock and Awe Show (a yet to be completed passion play), saying Iran poses no threat as a nuclear-capable state. The curtain falls on deaf ears as Barradei's soliloquy draws to its ineffective close.

Act III: the beginnings of Act III are currently classified- suffice to say, the Americans firmly believe that one good turn deserves another- and something has happened- a soldier was killed on the Iraq/Iran border, whatever - something the equivalent of the slap the French Ambassador recieved from the Dey of Algiers- and we're off - with the British taking the lead for a short time before the US outmaneouvers them to steal the show.
But because this is primarily an Anglo-American production (the Iranian participation ceases at the end of Act II), the production is not actually complete and there is talk of a fourth act, as yet still classified, but we understand it involves Iraq, disgraced exiles and an oil barrel or two.
There is a strong possibility that Rice will pronounce the epilogue at the final curtain- since by now- the production will have taken on profoundly Shakespearean tones.

Joking aside- this does not bode well for any of us. Iran did something possibly unbelievably stupid- it remains to be seen about the map- and W is once again herding us to the brink of a destructive, pointless conflict that will lead to more misery everywhere, and possibly the collapse of the US as we know it.

Do not, do not follow this man blindly. He has ruined us- but I do not hold him entirely responsible. I hold the American people primarily responsible. What is wrong with you that you cannot see what is happening? How can you let this happen to us? What has happened to you? This is no longer the country I grew up in and I hate and dispise you people who continue to support this travesty of an administration.