Tariq Ali's diarrhea of the pen

"Tweed jacket? Check. Black turtleneck? Check. Clenched fist? Check...my image as a Marxist wackademic is complete."

Tariq Ali, a Pakistani-born novelist, activist and Communist living in Britain, wrote this editiorial piece (for al-Guardian, natch). In it, he:

• defends Iran's rights to pursue nuclear weapons, but considers their efforts "primitive gropings"
• accuses Washington of "manufacturing" the crisis
• dismisses Iran's denial of the Holocaust and threats against Israel

Aside from simply making my head hurt, his ramblings included the jaw-dropper quote of the day:

"Nor is fundamentalist backwardness exhibited in the denial of the Nazi genocide against the Jews and the threat to obliterate Israel, a basis for any foreign policy."

A "basis for any foreign policy"? Excuse me?

Mr. Ali goes on to make the completely unsubstantiated claim that "Plans were thus well advanced [for military action against Iran] before Mahmoud Ahmadinejad's victory in the June 2005 Iranian presidential election."

Read the whole thing...but keep the Tylenol close at hand.