The capture of 15 British sailors and marines is only the latest and most dramatic
in a series of naval provocations by Iranian forces.
** UK-IRAN CRISIS ESCALATES. British Prime Minister Tony Blair, noting that 15 British sailors and marines seized by special elements of the Iranian naval forces continue to be held in Iranian custoday more than two days after the incident, spoke today for the first time on the crisis and pronounced it “very serious.” What exactly is Iran up to here? It’s not entirely clear, especially not to me on a weekend, but the incident did occur on the eve of Saturday’s UN Security Council vote to impose further sanctions on Iran for its nuclear program, at a meeting at which ultra-hardliner Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad was to appear, probably in more conciliatory mode, but did not show, for reasons that are at the moment quite murky.
With Russia moving against the Iranian nuclear program by refusing to supply nuclear fuel for the Bushehr reactor project — the Islamic republic has at least three other nuclear projects going, but none in which nuclear enrichment efforts can be easily construed as being for the purpose of nuclear power rather than nuclear weapons — Iran may be feeling that the nuclear issue and the Iraq issue are being separated, something that does not seem to be in Iran’s interest as it engages the US and the Western powers on settling the Iraq mess. This may be an attempt to gain some leverage, by seizing the Brit personnel and claiming that they were in Iranian territorial waters while they did their work in the Shatt Al Arab inspecting merchant vessels for possible smuggling, a fairly routine task that would be hard to escalate into a serious charge of espionage.
** DEMOCRATIC PRESIDENTIALS IN NEVADA. All but one of the Democratic presidential candidates were in Nevada Friday and Saturday, participating all on the same stage Saturday in a forum focused on health care issues at the University of Nevada at Las Vegas (UNLV). I’ll have a full report, with a documentary video, on Monday.
John Edwards impressed again with his detail and presentation, and received much sympathy throughout for the plight of his wife Elizabeth, who was in attendance. Barack Obama showed tremendous presence, but the Politics of Hope has its limits. Bill Richardson was fine, but this is not his strongest issue. Hillary Clinton was much better than she was in last month’s forum in Carson City and was the clear favorite of the mostly labor crowd. She was quite free-wheeling and knowing. In fact, she sounded suspiciously like her husband the President. She raised over $2 million last night at a Hollywood fundraiser.
I shot about an hour-and-a-half of footage inside the hall with the candidates and will produce about a 10-minute video showing the highlights and flavor of this second Nevada Democratic presidential forum.
** NEVADA REPUBLICANS MOVING THEIR PRESIDENTIAL CAUCUS UP AGAIN, TO JANUARY 19TH. Nevada state Republican leaders have informally decided in a conference call to move their state presidential caucuses up again, this time to the same January 19th date that their Democratic counterparts have. The decision must be taken formally by the state Republican executive board and the party’s state central committee next month, but that is expected. Republican Governor Jim Gibbons is on board with the plan.
This move, assuming it is formally adopted, will make Nevada the second contest in the Republican presidential race, as it is now in the Democratic presidential race. It will also lead to a substantial penalty in delegates to the Republican National Convention from the Silver State, as it is against national party rules, but the numbers aren’t that big to begin with.
** A MURKY NEW CRISIS WITH IRAN’S CAPTURE OF BRITS AND MOVEMENT OF THE PRISONERS TO TEHRAN. With special elements of the Iranian navy seizing 15 British sailors and marines on the eve of the UN Security Council’s vote on further nuclear-related sanctions against Iran, and the subsequent reported movement of the prisoners to Tehran, the crisis with Iran enters a new and murky phase. The Brits had just inspected a merchant vessel suspected of smuggling when they they were surrounded in their two small rigid inflatable boats by Iranian gunboats and captured, charged with violating Iranian territorial waters on a much-disputed maritime border between Iraq and Iran.
There has been a recent string of provocative acts by elements of the Iranian navy, as seen in the video above. This, of course, is the most provocative by far.
** JERRY BROWN CLEAR FRONTRUNNER FOR GOVERNOR IN 2010. To what should be the surprise of approximately no one who regularly reads NWN, Jerry Brown has a big lead among candidates in a possible Democratic field for governor of California in 2010. Privately, he says he doesn’t plan to run. His governorship predates the state’s term limit law. Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger, who Brown somewhat briefly considered running against in the 2003 recall campaign, is termed out of office after 2010 and the Republicans have no clear potential winner.
** A GLITCH IN THE PROGRAM. I encountered a not-so-slight problem at my ritzy resort hotel in Las Vegas very late Friday night/very early Saturday morning. I noticed that the in-room Internet service didn’t work. (No, I hadn’t tried it when I checked in. I can monitor things via blackberry, to the extent I’m inclined to do so.) It would have been a huge problem had it been a weekday, but on weekends, traffic on web sites across the Internet is way down. That is especially true of Saturdays. It begins to pick up again later on Sunday.
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Ann :
Where is Barbara, isn’t it all good in the “ME?”
Ann, I posted Friday at 2:59 about the Iranian/British seaman incident
Unlike a certain someone…I don’t like repeating myself…below is more ME info in post yesterday to refresh your memory…and if you read it, you will see not all is good in ME..
The trick to all this is reading and……using some… what is the word I am looking for …oh yes! retention! ..
and “where was Barbara/”..Barbara was wined and dined at 58 and Holding, zocola, had her morning lattes both Sat and Sun at Old Soul horsebacking riding, saw the film “Miss Potter” (a delight!)
and went to Mass….
Friday Post
“Meanwhile:
Intense fighting is ongoing in northwestern Pakistan since Mar 19 between tribesmen and Al Qaeda militants …this is good news,
a major tribal leader in Iraq,who is a Sunni insurgent supporter, asserts that “most insurgent groups and their tribal backers in Iraq’s Anbar province” are not supporting or helping coalition forces against al Qaeda …this is bad news,
Turkey claims that some 3,800 militants from the Kurdistan Workers’ Party (PKK) are “mobilizing from bases in Iraq to launch attacks against targets in Turkey” This is VERY BAD NEWS and something to watch…as this will be something that Iran and Turkey will work togther on to stop if coalition forces do not stop it first…
Reuters claims a plane that just took off at Mogadishu airport in Somalia was downed by a missile …not good news at all and for some reason the U.S. MSM has decided that Somalia is not a major news story …they are wrong…very wrong…
Al Qaeda has a new video on the Internet since yesterday whereby Abu Yahia al-Libi advocates “unification among Sunni militants in Iraq….specifically asked that ps Ansar al-Sunnah Army, the Islamic Army in Iraq and the Army of the Mujahideen all unite …
Mar 23, 2007 09:35 AM “