Extraction Of The Stone Of Iranian Madness

President Bush performing an extraction of the stone of madness on The Iranian President Ahmadinejad with Pope Benedict and Michelle Malkin looking on. The original is called "The Cure of Folly" (Extraction of the Stone of Madness) by Hieronymus BOSCH, ca. 1475-80 Museo del Prado, Madrid

"President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad of Iran triggered new international outcry by saying the "tumour" of the state of Israel should be relocated to Europe."

Really? Well that makes perfect sense, you can then nuke us all in one go, a kind of a 45, including Israel, for one. Why waste precious recourses on multiple fronts. Ahmadinejad's threats to wipe a country as small as Israel literally off the map must raise urgent concern about Iran's nuclear weapons progress. But what is considered urgent ever in an increasigly 'laissez faire' climate of apology.

"Some European countries insist on saying that Hitler killed millions of innocent Jews in furnaces and they insist on it to the extent that if anyone proves something contrary to that they condemn that person and throw them in jail,"

Although we don't accept this claim, if we suppose it is true, our question for the Europeans is: is the killing of innocent Jewish people by Hitler the reason for their support to the occupiers of Jerusalem?" he said.

"If the Europeans are honest they should give some of their provinces in Europe ... to the Zionists, and the Zionists can establish their state in Europe," he said.

Annan last month canceled a trip to Tehran because of Ahmadinejad's call in October "to wipe Israel off the map."

Ereli said the remarks appeared to be part of a "consistent pattern of rhetoric that is both hostile and out of touch with the values that the rest of the international community lives by."

When are we going to realize what Iran is up to?

President Ahmadinejad’s candid expression of his vision of Iran’s foreign policy vis-à-vis Israel is particularly revealing, and since he made sure to reiterate the message, there is no room for doubt concerning his genuine intent. (a must read)

It is curious, if not outright hypocritical, how an organization such as the UN intends to maintain the membership of a country whose policies are antithetical to the founding principles and values of the organization itself.

Fortunately, Iran’s call for a modern-day Holocaust was countered by the UN Resolution establishing an international day of remembrance, commemorating those massacred in the Holocaust of WWII.

It is troubling that against the backdrop of the UN Resolution - aimed among other things, at establishing a moral taboo against such acts for ALL of humanity - Iran blatantly incites towards a repeat of such atrocities.

To people like me, the answer has been plain for several years now. It should now be plain to everyone else. President Ahmadinejad’s bold repetition of the promise to bring about a new Holocaust, in combination with Iran’s scarcely-concealed race to become a nuclear power with long-range missile delivery systems, leaves nothing ambiguous.

But then, neither did Ahmadinejad’s recent underreported, psychopathic speech to the U.N. General Assembly. And it should be remembered that even his opponent in the Iranian presidential run-off last June, Akbar Hashemi-Rafsanjani, had called repeatedly for Israel’s annihilation, as speaker of the Majlis through much of the 1980s.

Quite honestly I have no idea what it is going to take for us to wake up? How many more underscores of  our concerns about this man's regime will we tolerate. Whilst it is of paramount importance that the regime not be given the ability to develop nuclear weapons, who is going to enforce this. At the moment the world is playing a waiting cat and mouse game and if not careful the game will be played out far too soon.

To do anything but to wholeheartedly condemn Ahmadinejad’s comments unreservedly, together with a firm slap on the wrist followed by some serious concequences if repeated, would be detremental to our freedom sooner than one thinks. They have no place in civilised political debate, but moreover like the possessed child portrayed in the Excorcist movie who is testing boudaries, he must be stopped in his tracks with zero tolerance given, and shown that we are united in our resolve to crush his insane ideas of domination.

UPDATE: FROM Robert Spencer @ The Jihad Watch:

Just in case anyone is still laboring under any illusion that the Thug-In-Chief has any peaceful intentions whatsoever. Of course, he is still maintaining the facade. And no doubt hordes of useful idiots will believe him. From Reuters, with thanks to Sr. Soph:

    TEHRAN (Reuters) - President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad on Thursday said Iran would not halt its drive to produce its own nuclear fuel because it did not trust the West to guarantee a supply to feed its planned atomic power reactors.

    Speaking in Mecca, where he was attending an Islamic summit, Ahmadinejad said Iran's right to develop a full civilian nuclear program was non-negotiable.

    "We are not allowed to negotiate on the principle of having peaceful nuclear technology," Iran's official IRNA news agency quoted him as telling a news conference.

    European Union leaders warned Iran on Wednesday not to pursue work on machines able to make uranium fuel enriched to the grade used in nuclear bombs, saying such moves defied efforts to ease an international crisis over Tehran's atomic program.

The Anchoress pays me a wonderful compliment, discussing the above visual composition: "...there is simply nothing else in the blogosphere that combines humor, passion, intellect and fire like this creation..."

The California Conservative also does a piece with the painting: "...she also used her artistic hand to create the clever graphic above. The portrait frames the issue nicely."

Sigmund, Carl and Alfred understands me only too well when he says that I do not mince my words: "There are no excuses, no dances and no tolerance for concocted moral relativism. The stakes are too high."

Hugh Hewitt is astonished that Ahmadinejad is going to have nukes.

Roger L. Simon: " Even the Saudis are complaining about Iran's "New Stalin." The UN also issued a condemnation." And the German reaction via one of his readers.

Whilst Rumsfeld discusses the responsibility of Europe in helping control Iran, in an interview with Spiegel., again via one of Roger's readers on the above thread.

Joe Carter @ WorldMagBlog: "In calling for Israel to be moved to Europe, though, Ahmadinejad appears to be growing more moderate: Just this past October he was saying the Jewish state should be "wiped off the map.”

UPDATE: An extensive Iranian news round up @ Regime Change Iran plus "A special report on Ahamdinejad's dedication to the mystical devotion to "the hidden Imam." including the much reported interview of Ahmadinejad regarding his spiritual experience while speaking in NY to the UN General Assembly."

LATEST UPDATE: My friend over  @ Neo-Neocon is fact checking the LA Times article discussing whether Israel should give up it's nukes. Providing here the SSI--US Army War College document on which Bisharat, the author, based his article.

Decision 8 comments: "When a nation is threatened with extinction, particularly THIS nation, founded in the aftermath of the threat nearly made good, that nation does not disarm…" Heh.

Ed Morrissey weighs in on some more news from the religion of peace: "The Treasury Department has identified the Islamic Society of Boston and its founder, the now-imprisoned Abdurahman Alamoudi, as major financial contributors to the al-Qaeda network and a conduit for Saudi funds to radical Islamist terrorism. The New York Sun's Meghan Clyne reports that the politically-connected Muslim group has several connections to terrorism, not just al-Qaeda -- revelations that will prove embarrassing for both political parties."

A video interview with al-Qaeda deputy leader Ayman al-Zawahiri. The complete version of this interview was only posted on the net two days ago. Thanks to the cool site Liquid for the discovery.

And finally, The Wall Street Journal is not sure if The Holocaust took place. Heh from Mark in Mexico.

LATEST UPDATE: One  of my readers comments on the above 15thC painting by Hieronymus Bosch:

"I see the point of this and the idea is good, but there is a slight problem. You should know that this "stone operation" was part of a folk belief, to put it politely. The modern equivalent is a phony "psychic surgeon" who uses sleight-of-hand to pretend to remove tissue from within someone's abdomen without making an incision.

I don't think putting Bush in the role of a quack is the message you intended."

You are absolutely right if it was a stone that was depicted.

But it's not, and I am very pleased that you bring this up. The surgeon is actually removing the second of two flowers. You notice the first in full display lying on the table.

You see, Bosch was much much more complex than simply stating the obvious. In the original, a further piece of 'evidence' is in fact depicted to support your case; a large funnel upside down on top of the surgeon's head.

But these were all symbols to throw the casual observer off track. Remember, Bosch lived during the tumultuous times of early and violent reformations. Heresy got people killed.

Bosch's real meaning, and I am grossly oversimplifying here, is actually the act of castration (meant in the sense of stripping away patriarchal power - in addition to the easily understood meaning of the flowers, namely two testicles, notice the patient's shoes under the chair despite being in open air on a field. A bold reference to the 'removal' of power to rule), in an allegorical attack against fat-cat bullies terrorizing their subjects.

Bosch understood the role of the surgeon actually to be that of the rational 'modern' man, which obviously had to be heavily disguised. I actually removed the funnel as we thankfully have no need to disguise our opinions.

Further links: The Memeorandum, Big Lizards, RedState.org, Baseball Crank, Decision '08, Joe Gandelman @ The Moderate Voice, Danieldrezner.com, Michael Stickings @ The Reaction 

Linked to Wizbang Carnival

Comments

[spiritofecstasy]

Fascinating Alexandra. I would love to diverge but You have made such fine explanation of the work that I'll abstain. So to keep my flowers planted.

[Alexandra]

Stefan,

I wonder about that myself, amd whilst I try to educate myself with the westernized international Iranians I know, they seem a little out of touch with the events on the ground.
The problem Stefan is that in order for the west to truly put any pressure on that is meaningful, they will have to forsake a few of their hidden agendas, which seem to cripple them in taking the hard line of zero tolerance.

[North by Northwest]

Stefan,

Too right. That'll be first prize. But the leadership is incredibly hard to unseat. They've got a near total grip on power.

[Alexandra]

Jim C

"I see the point of this and the idea is good, but there is a slight problem. You should know that this "stone operation" was part of a folk belief, to put it politely.
[...]
I don't think putting Bush in the role of a quack is the message you intended."

You are absolutely right if it was a stone that was depicted.

But it's not, and I am very pleased that you bring this up. I will do an update in the main body of text, to fully explain. The surgeon is actually removing the second of two flowers. You notice the first in full display lying on the table.

You see, Bosh was much much more complex than simply stating the obvious. In the original, a further piece of 'evidence' is in fact depicted to support your case; a large funnel upside down on top of the surgeon's head.

But these were all symbols to throw the casual observer off track. Remember, Bosh lived during the tumultuous times of early and violent reformations. Heresy got people killed.

Bosch's real meaning, and I am grossly oversimplifying here, is actually the act of castration (meant in the sense of stripping away patriarchal power - in addition to the easily understood meaning of the flowers, namely two testicles, notice the patient's shoes under the chair despite being in open air on a field. A bold reference to the 'removal' of power to rule), in an allegorical attack against fat-cat bullies terrorizing their subjects.

Bosch understood the role of the surgeon actually to be that of the rational 'modern' man, which obviously had to be heavily disguised. I actually removed the funnel on his head, as today we thankfully have no need to disguise our opinions.

[Stefan]

Where are the Iranian people in this equation? I am no expert on this matter but as I understand it the population is much more western oriented than their leaders. With a successful Iraq, Jordan, Lebanon, and Afghanistan you have the makings of a moderate band of relatively stable and open countries through the heart of the Middle East. Will this embolden the reformers and those on the fence who may not like the game of chicken that the present Iranian government is taking? Sprinkle in some pressure from the west and maybe something can happen from the inside. Perhaps?

[Jim C.]

I see the point of this and the idea is good, but there is a slight problem. You should know that this "stone operation" was part of a folk belief, to put it politely. The modern equivalent is a phony "psychic surgeon" who uses sleight-of-hand to pretend to remove tissue from within someone's abdomen without making an incision.

I don't think putting Bush in the role of a quack is the message you intended.

[spiritofecstasy]

Stone of Madness,

I was alluding to the contradiction in officialdom (read: governments, nations, powers that be.) The overlapping and "apparently" illogical relationships between entities.

Also I am pointing to something else. When surrounded by contradiction one can be sure the prize lies elsewhere.

(Friend from that other thread in that other time, Yes it surely was such!!! LOL Of course, what else????)

[Liquid]

Your picture here rocks! I love your blog...just lovely it is!

[Stone Of Madness]

So what exactly are you saying Mr.Spiritofecstasy? I hear that y chromosome talkin'.

You seem to be saying that the Western Countries' are in business with the Middle Eastern Countries. While China is also in business with the Middle Eastern Countries.

At the same time You seem to be saying that some Western Countries are fighting terrorism which comes from the Middle Eastern Countries that are in business with the Western Countries. But you are also saying that Western Countries allow Middle Eastern agression/terrorism by funding that elitist parking lot the UN.

Now I'm pushing it but you may be saying that Israel could go jihad and nuke some of the Middle Eastern Countries who are founders of terrorism but who are allied with Western Countries as is Israel.

And the you say life goes on.

Are you saying that it is all rigged somehow? Or are you saying that it is immensely more complicated than history reveals??

Come out from that cone of silence!

[RC]

regimechangeiran.com

ciao bella !

; )

[spiritofecstasy]

Solar power is fine and it can be relatively simple. Pour a cement slab and glass it in = passive solar.

People won't do such, on a mass scale, until they are queued by authority, THAT IS HUMAN NATURE. Though the individual can do such "alone" and independent of a "national trend."

Authority will not seriously queue anything that risks losing power in the standing global power structure. The standing pwr structure is intimately tied to hydrocarbons I.E. oil. Our everyday lives are utterly surrounded by the products synthesized from mineral rich petroleum. (Search the topic)

IMO the nature of beast is far more elusive than believing that theorectical energy independence will kill headline-hardline freaks like Ahmadinejad.

We sit in different parts of the World reading headlines and websites while being physically removed from the Middle East region. So I am not discounting the violent ambitions of Iran with respect to Israel and THE ALWAYS VIOLENT AGGRESSION OF ARAB/MUSLIMS/PALESTINIANS.

It was the Israelis who destroyed Baathist Iraq's Nuclear Plant. The Israelis are always on the front as if the Kingdom of David never existed 3000 years ago and as if their calender didn't mark 5766 years of existence IN THAT SPECIFIC REGION. There is a reality there, in the Arab/Arab/Arab/Jewish Middle East that eludes those of us who live elsewhere.

A decent Human Being with a strong will who was brutalized and crippled by Arabs. Arabs who are victims of oppression by other Arabs.

But now I'll go out of the box "alone."

Iran has a well published nuclear program underway but they have substantial oil reserves. (China the biggest importer of Iranian oil now.) They have oil and don't need nuclear power as France does. France has no energy resources. Iran has oil oil oil. French, without oil, president Jacque Chirac's picture is featured with the thankfully late Yasser Arafat on postage stamps to be used by Arab/Palestinians. Friends.

The UN, which is almost entirely paid for by Western Nations, sits annoyingly and idly by while Iran threatens to destroy Israel with the nuclear weapons they are "now" trying to produce.

Ahmadinejad rants like a stuck pig twice a week. What he says gets published by global press and not a word is lost on Western MSMedia.

The Saudis of Saudi Arabia are allied with the US and many Other Nations yet stand blissfully accused of funding hardline terrorist producing madrasas and schools all over the Western World and the Middle East World. Additionally the highly respected billionare investor Prince Waleed ibn Talal, of Saudi Arabia, chairman of Kingdom Holding Company, spends millions to expand the Islamic wing of the Louvre in Paris while he uses the same old fake Soviet line about Israeli occupation. Didn't Osama binLaden, from THE second wealthiest family in the entire Kingdom of Saudi Arabia, start using that old Soviet propaganda about occupation sometime after 9-11-01? I think he did.

So we have a very complex situation hiding in plain sight. So I expect that Israel will get the call to destroy another nuclear plant/s built by a fanatical relgious state sometime in the future.

Back in the box. So we have energy consumption, energy suppliers, brutal violence, apparent inaction by funded organizations, we have energy consuming yet very powerful nations in the mix, endless rhetorical threats from fanatics and then we have human nature and the history to prove it.

But Life does still go on regardless of anything else. So must the individual. Now I invoke unwritten rules and become -silent-.

[patrick]

As for energy alternatives, I support the fuel cell in the home instead of fuel cell cars. Couple that with the feasible 10-20% reduction at the home or business just through energy efficient systems, insulation, and personal practices and we could see a large change. The nice thing about the fuel cells in the home, we would have a distributed self-healing power network which would be much less vulnerable to mother nature and "attacks" upon our infrastructure.

I do not think we will achieve large changes until we see a change in the american way of life. We need to live closer to where we work so that it is possible to not to spend a tenth of our our salary on auto/maintenance/etc. But until we change from business-residential regions, we are stuck with what we have...

[Alexandra]

Guys, I just posted an update on the nuc issue.
And John, I hope that was a compliment. I love Jeff...LOL!1

[John Gillnitz]

The possibility of “nutty” Iranian leaders is discussed in today's
American Thinker, http://www.americanthinker.com/articles.php?article_id=5061
Posted by: MarcH | Friday, December 09, 2005 at 03:35 PM

Ah, questioning your opponent's sanity. Goldstein Technique #137.

Mohammad Khatami seems like a very progressive Arabic politician. They have to speak in a certain way, but his actions in his own country have been pro-democratic. He is the Iranian Bill Clinton who is at odds with Iranian conservatives. They are the ones more likely to go bat shit and nuke Israel. They are also the ones who would gain the most public support from an attack by the West.

[Jim R]

Steve Said: "Democrats do their darndest to promote the wrong energy and foreign policies."

Last time I checked Bush's Energy policy was use more, screw reduction, screw the environment. Great policy - Not.

Democrats (at least this democrat) want true oil independence. Use less, drive more efficient vehicles, take more public transportation, build more alternative energy sources including wind, solar, bio-diesel. Find alternatives to petroleum based products – use less plastic, etc.

Just think of what could be achieved if every household had a solar panel that reduced electric grid usage by even 10% - pretty achievable actually. We would not have to build more energy plants.

[MarcH]

John wrote, “The idea that Iran would nuke Israel is kinda nutty. Political rhetoric aside MAD still works”.
I think that two of John’s assumptions may not be correct:
1. The leaders of Iran may well be “nutty”; and,
2. MAD stability may have been a product of the conditions of the last century: bi-polar world and nuclear powers with either liberal western or socialist-atheist world view.

The possibility of “nutty” Iranian leaders is discussed in today's
American Thinker, http://www.americanthinker.com/articles.php?article_id=5061

[Alexandra]

John & Steve,

We are in fact well on our way to wean our dependancy off Arab Oil. From one of my earlier posts:

As so often erroneously charged, the motivation [for the Operation Iraq Freedom] was not to shore up domestic OIL supplies (we don't need it, Asia does: if Middle East oil exports were completely cut-off in 2010 for some disastrous reason, the West [read, the ENTIRE WEST, i.e. US percentage is as little as 1.5%-2%] would have to replace 3-4% of its total energy requirement. In contrast, Asia would need to replace upwards of 28% of its total energy requirement; 3-4% you can manage, but 28% you can not replace in a hurry...). And their economic shock would spread very quickly to affect us all.

[Steve Y.]

John, your point on our Iranian oil dependence is key. I believe we must work to eliminate our middle eastern energy dependence in order to allow us to take the proper stance with countries in the region. Unfortunately the Democrats do their darndest to promote the wrong energy and foriegn policies. I only hope their is time to right the ship!

[John Gillnitz]

Iran is the 4th largest producer of oil. An attack against it could have disastrous consequences for the global economy and even more so for the U.S. economy.

The idea that Iran would nuke Israel is kinda nutty. Political rhetoric aside MAD still works.

It is our good buddy Pakistan that is really scary. They already have a nuke and have been the largest proliferators of nuclear technology to regimes hostile to the U.S.

[HollywoodNeoCon]

sigmund, carl & alfred said,

"They have willingly placed themselves outside the accepted norms of civilized behavior."

Partially correct.

Consider the Japanese "celestials" during WWII, who viewed us as "less-than." This worldview, albeit delusional in our eyes, granted them the ability to perform all manner of atrocities absent any semblence of guilt or remorse. Worse yet, how about this nation's proponents of slavery in the 18th and 19 centuries?

But this is 2005. We're supposed to evolved beyond this sort of nonsense, right?

Sadly, the Mohammadans have not. In the eyes of this blood cult, we will either recite the shahada or be put to death. Jews & Christians may proceed to the front of the line.

I fear the growing movement of Islamic fundamentalism (or fascism, really) will not ebb until Americans are prostrating themselves 5 times a day, our women are wearing burkhas, and dissenters are being executed at Wrigley Field.

My opinion, for what it's worth, is that any serious discussion of what to do about Iran cannot begin without first acknowledging how "these people" REALLY see their future in the world.

Eric in Hollywood (proud to be living in the first American city stupid enough to have championed Hitler as a "great social idealist")

[North by Northwest]

Great point SCA - I wonder how this latest outrage will play out in UN land...

[MarcH]

Bingo to Alexandra. Great post.

But here's a question. Is Ahmadinejad, [A] a true psychopath, [B] a brilliant and ruthless leader who uses the psychopath persona to intimidate the rest of the world, or, [C] a Hitlerian combination of the two?

My money is on [C], but I wonder how the high level analysts and players of the U.S. foreign policy community see him? Oh, to be a fly on Condi's wall!

[sigmund, carl and alfred]

Excellent post! Here is some more realiy:

Tens of millions of Arabs consider Hitler because he killed 6 million Jews. Even the most cursory examination of Arab media, school curriculums and religious sermons and instruction validates that truth.

Mein Kampf has been a best-seller for decades throughout the Arab and Muslim world.

As a consequence, there are at least 25 PLO members go by the name of Hitler or Abu Hitler.

There has never been any excuse extended to Nazis for their hatred of Jews. That said, when it comes to Islamic terrorists, all kinds of excuses are made.

That legacy of the efforts of Arab apologists will come back to haunt the Arabs. They have placed themselves beneath the Nazis.

They have willingly placed themselves outside the accepted norms of civilized behavior.

I wrote that, "In the Middle East, whole cultures and societies that had nothing to do with the Holocaust, embrace the evil doers and celebrate their crimes. They, who should have the moral superiority to chatise the Christian world for our inaction and self imposed distance, choose to identify with evil- so much so, that they teach it in schools and echo the hatred in political and religious milieus. We see the celebration of murder and evil on a scale heretofore unprecedented. We hear it daily and say nothing. We have this need to 'negotiate,' it seems, with evil. We cannot seem to take a stand. History repeats itself."