This morning’s key headlines from GenerationalDynamics.com
- Iranian officials blame rising chicken prices on external enemies
- Battle rages in Syria’s largest city, Aleppo
- Pentagon’s 30,000-pound bunker-buster ‘superbomb’ ready for use
- European officials take August breaks before September storm
Iranian officials blame rising chicken prices on external enemies
Long lines of people in Tehran waiting to buy chicken
As sanctions on Iran continue to bite, officials are blaming thesudden countrywide near doubling of the price of chicken on “thepsychological war waged by Iran’s enemies. … There are no shortages;rather these psychological wars lead to a false demand for goods inthe country.” This comes two weeks after Tehran’s police chiefcriticized state-controlled television for broadcasting images ofpeople eating chicken. He suggested such footage could spur theunderprivileged to revolt against affluent Iranians. “Films are nowthe vitrine of the society, and some individuals witnessing this classgap might say, ‘We will take knives and take our rights from therich.'” Radio Zamaneh and RFE/RL
Battle rages in Syria’s largest city, Aleppo
There were varying reports on Sunday on the progress of thebattle of Aleppo, the largest city in Syria, and Syria’scommercial center. The Free Syrian Army (FSA) has taken controlof the city in the past few days, and the Bashar al-Assad regimehas no choice but to take it back. For four or five days, therehave been predictions of a massive “mother of all battles” attack,but apparently that hasn’t happened so far, although helicoptergunships have opened fire in some areas.
In previous regime assaults on Syrian cities, it was usually theSyrian army targeting unarmed civilians who had merely gone out afterFriday prayers to protest and demonstrate against the al-Assad regime.The army would surround the town, blocking all exit roads with tanks,then send in tanks and helicopter gunships to destroy entireneighborhoods, and exterminate as many innocent civilians as possible.
The situation in Aleppo appears to be different. The regimeisn’t fighting unarmed local civilians any more, but FSA fightersfrom other regions who have become battle-hardened from otherregime attacks. The FSA fighters don’t have anything like theheavy weapons that the army has, but they do have more weapons thanthe used to, including rocket-propelled grenades (RPGs) that candisable a tank.
(Nobody is admitting where the weapons come from, but it’s thoughtthat regime weapons come from Russia and Iran, while FSA weaponscome from Turkey, Saudi Arabia and Qatar.)
Aleppo’s large size makes the regime’s former strategy of blockadingall roads impossible, and in fact there are reports that 200,000refugees have fled their homes in Aleppo in the last two days.
Finally, this is also a generational Awakening era in Syria, andgenerations of people with still-vivid memories of the massiveslaughter in 1982 do not want to see the same thing happen. Thisincludes the people in the regime’s army, who are being forced toslaughter their own people for no discernable reason. It’s stillgenerally believed that the regime will recapture Aleppo, but it won’tbe as easy as it’s been in the past. CNN and VOA and BBC
Pentagon’s 30,000-pound bunker-buster ‘superbomb’ ready for use
The biggest conventional bomb ever developed is ready to wreakdestruction upon the enemies of the US. Air Force Secretary MichaelDonley said its record-breaking bunker-buster has become operationalafter years of testing. “If it needed to go today, we would be readyto do that,” said Donley. “We continue to do testing on the bomb torefine its capabilities, and that is ongoing. We also have thecapability to go with existing configuration today.” The weapon wasbuilt to attack the fortified nuclear facilities of Iran and NorthKorea. Russia Today
European officials take August breaks before September storm
European officials will take their summer holidays in August.When they return, a number of crucial events, decisionsand deadlines will be waiting:
- On September 12, Germany’s Verfassungsgericht (Federal Constitutional Court) will issue a verdict on whether the euro zone rescue plan for Spain and other countries is legal under European treaties and the German constitution.
- The Netherlands will hold parliamentary elections on September 12, and may vote to oppose further bailouts of “spendthrift euro zone governments.”
- In September, Greece will need approval to postpone many of its austerity measures. This will require a third bailout package for Greece.
- Spain remains in crisis, as its 10-year bond yields (interest rates) are still close to 7%. They came down from 7.5% after several European officials promised to do “everything necessary” to save the euro. It will be necessary for the European Central Bank (ECB) to “print money” and use it to purchase Spanish bonds — something that violates existing European treaties.
- Italy is following right behind Spain with the same problems.
None of measures does more than kick the can down the road a littlewhile longer. Nonetheless, the pressure will be on Germany, with itsown economy faltering, to agree to assume the debt of these othercountries, something that the German public widely opposes. Reuters
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