Charlie Rose

BENEZRAA  08/13/2010 12:10 AM Report

RE: ISRAEL AND IRAN

Israel has no designs on Iran and not so long ago had excellent relations with Iran prior to the present tyrannical government in Iran under Ahmadinijad. Ahmadinijad clearly has designs on Israel, has publicly stated so repeatedly, and seeks to wipe Israel off the face of the map. Israel is surrounded by enemies, who do seek to delegitimize Israel, and who repeatedly fail. Ahmadinijad seeks to be their Muslim Messiah according to Shiite Legend by bringing successful Jihad to the Muslim world under his Shiite banner. If Israel does delegitimize itself, it is only by it's restraint in both war, peace, and the media. This frustrates much of the world, which behaves like schoolyard children thriving on schoolyard brawls, screaming, "Fight, fight, fight...." After all, Israel does not seek war, but, is constantly provoked into it. May God have mercy on the Middle East, if Iran is successful in using Hezbollah to provoke a regional war against Israel.

chrisco  08/11/2010 10:33 PM Report

I don't agree with everything he says but it is all very reasonable, and plainly stated and he deserves massive kudos for that, especially his willingness to say positive things about al-Jazeera, which is effectively censored and banned in the United States.

chrisco  08/11/2010 10:26 PM Report

There is not an international campaign to deligitimize Israel. There is only a national campaign to do so and Israel is conducting it.

chrisco  08/11/2010 09:44 PM Report

Nice interview. Armitage said that Iran has nothing to gain by gaining a nuclear weapon, saying that will just lead Saudi Arabia and Turkey to get one. Well the latter point is purely conjectural. But the former point is just wrong. They would gain deterrence.

Right now, Iran is under serious threat of attack especially from Israel but also from the US. I would suspect that this threat would largely be alleviated if they had a nuclear bomb. I am not saying they should have one, just pointing out the obvious rationale for them to obtain one. I think we should stop the threats of attack and the funding of destabilization operations in Iran. In other words, stop giving them good reasons to want the bomb.

jimmasters  08/11/2010 07:01 AM Report

Re: Your Richard Armitage interview --

Please cut the Mr. Nice Guy, Charlie...

On the subjects of Turkey and PM Erdogan, your Richard Armitage interview was dangerously naive -- making the entire interview suspect. Turkey is in grave danger of becoming a de facto Islamic State under Erdogan's so-called democratic rule. But you let Armitage slide, barely questioning his shallow 'binders-on' statements - as if Turkey were in reasonably good hands, when in fact it's in dire democratic straights. Erdogan recently described Democracy as, "a train that you ride until you get to your destination, at which point you step off," a clear indication of his orthodox Muslim intentions -- in which secularism exists in name only. So...if you aren't going to ask informed probing questions, Charlie, you shouldn't interview dubious 'experts' like Armitage, who reminds me of a gullible government boob straight out of 'The Ugly American'. Signed: Jim Masters, a dual American-Turkish citizen, and resident of Turkey for the past 18 years

robdverity  08/10/2010 02:16 PM Report

13 million! Massive thinking followed by massive (Berlin style) air lifts and food drops should be started asap.

FAT CHANCE!!

robdverity  08/10/2010 02:10 PM Report

Ben - if your conjecture (plausible or otherwise) makes someone (that counts) think, then it's worth the ink.

Substantially agree with Armitage with the exception noted by REMant, plus his disingenuous assertion that US relief into Pak flood areas was curtailed by weather. Rings hollow as too many reports of news overflights sans inclement weather have been chronicled.

Like Katrina (and Haiti?) we're missing an opportune time to win more hearts and minds with humanitarian works than with 10 yrs of mindless gun-toting.

BENEZRAA  08/10/2010 01:36 PM Report

SUNSPOTS AND MICROWAVES

Richard Armitage may be complimented for drawing attention to climate matters. Too often military minds are neither credited nor respected for their knowledge and ideas pertaining to environmental concerns. Not presuming to any answers as to the cause, Richard Armitage is right to ring the bell and say that we need to get on the stick and do our best to figure things out.

Two ideas come to mind, one surely relevant, the other perhaps plausible:

(1) sunspot cycles and activity levels have been linked to planetary climate cycles, and...

(2) is it at all possible that we are micro-waving ourselves and our planet into premature expiration? This latter idea is probably ridiculous, but, it would be interesting to see if there are any valid studies showing a correlation or lack of correlation between the growth and expansion of microwave technology deployment in relation to bizarre climate activity.

Not superficially, none of us would stick our heads into a micro-wave oven and turn it on; perhaps superficially, given the exponential growth of micro-wave technology via the mediums of satellites, cellular phones, and other applications (which most of us may not be aware of, perhaps due to secrecy or perhaps due to use along low traffic pathways) one has to wonder, has our planet become one giant micro-wave experiment? Are we the proverbial "frog" to be boiled alive in the slowly rising temperature cauldron of planet Earth? Pardon me... I must pick up my cellular telephone and make as many calls as necessary until I find someone sufficiently studied in climatology and micro-wave technology, who may have a plausible answer to my plausible question. Now, where are my sunglasses and my zinc oxide? Rivit... rivit... rivit... rivit....

REMant  08/10/2010 12:08 PM Report

He is clearly one of the most rational Republicans and I agreed with much of his analysis. But I can't agree with what I perceive to be his Israel-Iran line despite being less rigid than many. Nor do I agree about the 14th amendment. It may have been passed in the name of republican values, but like the Civil War, itself, it only served to "consolidate" the Constitution and country. It is a monarchist's view. Hamilton's, Adams', Morris' and prob Jefferson's, but not Madison's.

It IS hard to figure who Obama's friends are. Supporters, yes; friends, no. I am not sure Clinton had real friends either, but he certainly seems to have had an old boy approach to politics Obama lacks or eschews. I am not sure Americans are capable of friendship (for the same reason as I mentioned re love the other day), which puts us at odds with the rest of the world. And I would think this extends to neo-cons as well. Statesmen would do well I think to read Cicero's dialogue on the subject as well as his tract on duty De Officiis (both at http://oll.libertyfund.org/index.php?option=com_staticxt&staticfile=show.php?title=540&Itemid=27)

I do not think the US ought to attempt mercantilist foreign policy no matter what China does, because it will not only be resented as always, but also farcical. I do not know for how long we can continue to dominate the world by being merely its largest market, but I would not think for very long.

We seem to agree about Afghanistan, tho I'm afraid the Pakistan flood is much too large a crisis for us to make much of a dent in and we will be blamed for it as a consequence of global warming anyway, but, of course we have to do what we can nevertheless. The flooding extends into India, and no doubt whatever is causing it, is also causing the Russian tinderbox. If we cannot get something significant done on the climate front this year, I don't know what it will take. Together with the economic situation it recalls the mid-30's. But the politicians seem to be digging in again, and I see signs of another push toward the kind of deficit-supported, market-bullying that got us into this mess. The president will probably be faulted by history for not having taken sufficient advantage of the moment in this and many areas. Being considered a registered Democrat at the moment, I filled out my questionnaire last week and could give him a grade of no better than fair.

I watch Al Jazeera and BBC every day too, tho not RTV, I guess because I think I know their views. But I would not call Al Jazeera really biased, just focused on the 3rd world and the poor people in it. They continue to do a good job IMHO, and there's a lot of former BBC and other network newsppl on it. Certainly the domestic sources are inadequate at world news, even tho I frequently see BBC reports repeated on ABC, and ITN reports on PBS.