Comments Posted By Wes S.
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ACTING BARBAROUSLY TO DEFEAT THE BARBARIANS
Maybe there's another solution:
Given that Iran's terrorism, its military buildup and its WMD programs are funded by its oil exports - to the point that there are recent reports of domestic gasoline shortages inside Iran - and that most of Iran's oil infrastructure is in pretty bad shape, then wouldn't Iran's oil industry be a better target for Special Forces strikes than Iran's widely dispersed nuclear facilities and researchers?
I've heard that most of Iran's oil exports go through a place called Kharg Island in the Gulf. So, for instance, suppose that an LNG tanker were to suddenly and mysteriously go *boom* at one of Kharg's loading docks...
Since you're only going to get one or two successful strikes in before the Iranians presumably manage to tighten up their security, it makes sense to kill as many birds with one stone as you can...which, I think, a successful strike at a couple of vital economic targets like Kharg would do. Doing something to cripple Iran's ability to produce and export oil would both curtail the regime's ability to fund terrorism and its military buildup...while the shock to Iran's economy would further destabilize them from the civilian side, as well. And, perhaps, put the mullahs on notice that we're running out of patience with their provocations...
That assumes, of course, that we could get away with it, at least while achieving "plausible deniablility. Yes, that's a big if, given the political climate in Washington.
Comment Posted By Wes S. On 13.02.2007 @ 22:16
KEEP YOUR ENEMIES CLOSE AND YOUR FRIENDS CLOSER
I demand to know when Joel Surnow hired Jimmy Carter as a scriptwriter for "24." WTF is with Wayne's foreign policy, over?
We all know that in reality, any President whose response to a terrorist nuclear strike was to allow an actual terrorist to address the world on "religion" and "peace" from the White House would be impeached before anyone could organize a coup...and, likely, tarred and feathered as well. If not torn limb from limb by a mob.
And I'm not even going to get into the fact that if an actual terrorist nuke did go off in the United States, that just about any anti-American country working on WMD - Iran, North Korea, maybe France - would be glazed and glowing within hours. So what's with this "If ONE MORE nuke goes off, this country will be at war" nonsense?
Oy. "24" hasn't just jumped the shark; it's trapped in a shark hurdle race.
And it's a testament to my complete lack of a life that I'm still hooked on it.
Comment Posted By Wes S. On 13.02.2007 @ 19:37
Great recap and analysis, Rick. I'm still wondering how Philip and Graem's giving suitcase nukes to terrorists and assasinating Tony, Michelle and President Allstate is an act of "patriotism," but I'm sure the show's writers will get around to explaining that to us.
Meanwhile, after the events of Season Six, I'm beginning to think that Kim is the normal Bauer. Or at least the least dysfunctional one. Where's a good family counselor when you need one?
With that said, I'm off to perform further repairs to my disbelief suspension system, which is becoming more and more stressed by the episode...
Comment Posted By Wes S. On 6.02.2007 @ 12:13
Just as Tom seems to be some sort of liberal parody of a neo-con (the gang at Dave Barry's Blog have taken to calling the character "Tancredo"), isn't it possible that Karen is also a parody of a typical liberal Democrat? As you've pointed out, Karen has plenty of criticisms of Tom's proposed security measures, but nothing in the way of a solution. In other words, her behavior on the show mirrors that of the real-life Democratic Party in the actual War on Terror that we are currently fighting.
I think you could also draw a parallel between the paralysis, indecision and dithering of the show's Palmer Administration in the face of the terrorist threat and the actual Bush Administration's seeming inability to deal with the impending issue of a nuclear Iran. And the bureaucratic infighting in Palmer's fictional Administration despite the crisis certainly mirrors what's going on in real life, doesn't it?
Or maybe I'm just desperately trying to make sense of what has, to this point, been a really boring and implausible season, despite the cool mushroom cloud-over-LA special effect. And perhaps the most implausible thing about the season is that, despite the nuking of Valencia, it seems to be pretty much business as usual in the country...even in Los Angeles.
Oh well, time to go perform some preventitive maintenance on the old disbelief suspension apparatus. Some of those cables are getting pretty frayed, and we're only six episodes into the season...
Comment Posted By Wes S. On 30.01.2007 @ 10:52
Apropos of nothing, here's a couple more observations on last night's episode:
1) I dunno about you guys, but I'm a little suprised at Logan's choice of a manly .45 as his personal sidearm. It just seems out of character to me. I would have thought a cute but wimpy .22 or .25 auto would have been more his style...assuming he wasn't a total Gun-Fearing Wussy. Or that Logan's preferred method of suicide would be slitting his wrists in the bathtub after taking an entire box of Sominex.
2) At least next week's previews gave us an idea of what happened to Aaron the Super Secret Service Agent. And we also got to see Henderson telling Jack that while he (Jack) couldn't touch the criminal masterminds behind this season's events, they could certainly touch Jack.
Which sounds to me like poor Kimmy is about to return to the show...as, yet again, a hostage. Arrgh.
...On the bright side: she does look cute in duct tape...
Comment Posted By Wes S. On 9.05.2006 @ 16:21
I've always thought "24" was basically "Days of our Lives" with spies and guns (that analogy was how I got my parents hooked on the show, my mom being a huge "Days" fan) but I still find the notion of President Logan doing some sort of Deidre Hall split-personality act tough to swallow. Even by the standards of "24," that's pretty unbelievable.
As is the whole idea of Logan being a master manipulator, on the other hand. Hmmm.
Here's an idea for proving your hypothesis, Rick: let's find out if "Logan" can cry on cue like Deidre Hall can. That ought to help establish whether or not we actually have "Marlena Brady" in "24's" Oval Office...
Comment Posted By Wes S. On 4.04.2006 @ 11:22
Great recap. Three quick points:
1) "As we predicted, the boyfriend of Jenny, the Fat Hobbit’s sister, has called the terrorists and told them he has Lin’s CTU key card. We assume he found the number in the yellow pages under 'Terrorists, Foreign and Domestic.'"
Gee, Rick, maybe they just put it up on E-Bay...
2) "Audrey’s telling the young woman that her father is still alive taxes Ms. Cuthbert’s acting abilities to the limit, the news eliciting both facial expressions she is able to make."
Personally, I think Elisha Cuthbert deserves an Emmy nomination simply for being able to play the role of Kim with a straight face; that fact alone demonstrates that the girl has talent. It's too bad "24's" scriptwriters strangled her budding Hollywood career with some of the most implausible plotlines in TV history...although half the fun of the show, particularly in the first couple of years, was waiting to find out what silly thing Kim would do each week to get herself in trouble again.
Of course, then in Season Three the scriptwriters got the bright idea to write Kim out of the show and reveal that it was actually Jack who was on drugs...and the show nearly jumped the shark as a result.
3) You would think that Jack would know by now that if he wants to keep Kim - or anybody else - "safe," then the LAST thing he wants to do is bring them back to CTU's LA headquarters. That's the least safe place in Greater LA...especially given who they've got watching the front door and handling the background checks.
Comment Posted By Wes S. On 7.03.2006 @ 11:02
I'm still laughing over that scene where President Jellyfish told Hobbit-Boy to cowboy up and start taking responsibility for his own actions. Priceless...
...And isn't it just convienent that Audrey happens to have the codes to decipher the chip that Forever Knight - excuse me, Nathanson - handed Jack? I suppose that we're supposed to believe that Audrey knows all the sooper-sekrit DOD codes and can recite them off the top of her pretty little head? Or is SHE part of the plot?
Comment Posted By Wes S. On 21.02.2006 @ 11:44
