For a brief moment it seemed that US President Barack Obama was moved by the recent events in Iran. On Friday, he issued his harshest statement yet on the mullocracy's barbaric clampdown against its brave citizens who dared to demand freedom in the aftermath of June 12's stolen presidential elections.
...Alas, it was a false alarm. On Sunday Obama dispatched his surrogates - presidential adviser David Axelrod and UN Ambassador Susan Rice - to the morning talk shows to make clear that he has not allowed mere events to influence his policies.
...whether an America-hating regime is legitimate or not is completely insignificant to the White House. All the Obama administration wants to do is go back to its plan to appease the mullahs into reaching an agreement about their nuclear aspirations. And for some yet-to-be-explained reason, Obama and his associates believe they can make this regime -- which as recently as Friday called for the mass murder of its own citizens, and as recently as Saturday blamed the US for the Iranian people's decision to rise up against the mullahs -- reach such an agreement.
...Perhaps what is most significant about Obama's decision to side with anti-American tyrants against pro-American democrats in Iran is that it is utterly consistent with his policies throughout the world. From Latin America to Asia to the Middle East and beyond, after six months of the Obama administration it is clear that in its pursuit of good ties with America's adversaries at the expense of America's allies, it will not allow actual events to influence its "hard-nosed" judgments.
TAKE THE ADMINISTRATION'S response to the Honduran military coup on Sunday. While the term "military coup" has a lousy ring to it, the Honduran military ejected president Manuel Zelaya from office after he ignored a Supreme Court ruling backed by the Honduran Congress which barred him from holding a referendum this week that would have empowered him to endanger democracy.
Taking a page out of his mentor Venezuelan dictator Hugo Chavez's playbook, Zelaya acted in contempt of his country's democratic institutions to move forward with his plan to empower himself to serve another term in office. To push forward with his illegal goal, Zelaya fired the army's chief of staff. And so, in an apparent bid to prevent Honduras from going the way of Daniel Ortega's Nicaragua and becoming yet another anti-American Venezuelan satellite, the military - backed by Congress and the Supreme Court - ejected Zelaya from office.
And how did Obama respond? By seemingly siding with Zelaya against the democratic forces in Honduras who are fighting him. Obama said in a written statement: "I am deeply concerned by reports coming out of Honduras regarding the detention and expulsion of president Mel Zelaya."
...Like Carter before him, Obama may succeed for a time in evading public scrutiny for his foreign-policy failures because the public will be too concerned with his domestic failures to notice them. But in the end, his slavish devotion to his radical ideological agenda will ensure that his failures reach a critical mass.
[Al Arabiya Latest] Lebanon's military prosecutor on Monday charged three suspects allegedly linked to al-Qaeda with planning terrorist attacks in Lebanon and Syria, a judicial source said.
"Judge Saqr Saqr has charged the three people, none of whom are Lebanese, with forming a gang linked to al-Qaeda and preparing to carry out terrorist acts in Lebanon and against the regime in Syria," the source told AFP.
" (The al-Qaeda network planned to) destabilize Lebanon, Syria, Iraq and Gulf countries including Kuwait "
Brigadier General Jean Kahwaji
The suspects were identified as Syrian national Samir Hijazi, Kuwaiti Mohammad Abdul Latif al-Dosari and Mohammad Zahamor bin Qamaruddin of Tajikistan.
Lebanon dismantled an al-Qaeda network earlier this month, according to army chief Brigadier General Jean Kahwaji, who told a Kuwait newspaper it planned to "destabilize Lebanon, Syria, Iraq and Gulf countries including Kuwait."
In December 2007, Lebanon indicted 31 al-Qaeda-linked suspects, including a Saudi national and four Syrians, on charges of plotting to carry out attacks in the country.
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Posted by: Fred ||
06/30/2009 00:00 ||
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Top|| File under: al-Qaeda
[Al Arabiya Latest] Finnish-German telecom equipment maker Nokia Siemens Networks (NSN) said Monday technology it sold to Iran in 2008 could be used to monitor calls, but denied claims it can be used for web censorship.
A petition calling for a boycott against Nokia has begun circulating over the Internet, claiming the technology had helped Iran to monitor mobile phones and read emails during the recent post-election protests.
"There is a lot of misinformation out there," NSN spokesman Ben Roome said, pointing out that NSN is a separate organization from Nokia.
He explained that NSN had delivered a network expansion with voice call monitoring centre to Iranian telecommunication operator TCI in the second half of 2008. "Voice call monitoring is required by the courts to listen to phone calls coming from a particular phone number, the telecommunication systems have an ability to do that," Roome said.
He added that the standard for call monitoring was set by the European Telecommunications Standards Institute and available in many other countries as well.
The technology "we provide in Iran allows millions of Iranians to communicate every day," Roome noted.
A spokeswoman for the world's biggest mobile phone maker Nokia said the company had received some feedback relating to NSN delivery in Iran.
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Posted by: Fred ||
06/30/2009 00:00 ||
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[11138 views]
Top|| File under: Govt of Iran
[ADN Kronos] Lebanon's Grand Mufti on Monday condemned the violence that occurred between rival factions in Beirut at the weekend. Sheikh Mohammed Rashid Qabbani said the violence, in which a woman was killed, was an act of aggression against the state and called for the arrest of those responsible. "Rioting on the streets of Beirut is an act of aggression against security in the country and against the state," said Sheikh Mohammed Rashid Qabbani in a statement quoted by Lebanon's English-language media site Naharnet.
He also called for "the arrest and punishment of the aggressors" and urged Lebanon's security forces to "address any breach of security and to intensify efforts to protect the safety of citizens."
According to Qabbani, the unrest was aimed at thwarting the formation of a new government to be headed by prime minister-designate Saad Hariri. The unrest took place on Sunday, a day after Hariri was appointed prime minister of Lebanon by the country's president Michel Suleiman. Supporters of the western-backed Sunni prime minister clashed with followers of the Shia Amal group aligned with Lebanon's re-elected parliamentary speaker Nabih Berri. Thirty-year-old Zeina Miri was killed by a stray bullet and six other people were injured. Gunfire was also reported in several districts of Beirut.
The Lebanese army has warned it would fire on any armed person in the streets and many people have reportedly been arrested in overnight raids.
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Posted by: Fred ||
06/30/2009 00:00 ||
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[11132 views]
Top|| File under: Hezbollah
Iranian police officials have reportedly arrested the armed imposters who posed as security forces during post-election violence in the country.
Iran's Basij commander, Hossein Taeb, said Monday that the imposters had worn police and Basij uniforms to infiltrate the rallies and create havoc. Taeb added that the recent anti-government riots have killed eight members of the Basij and wounded 300 others.
Iranian security officials --and in particularly the Basij volunteer forces-- have been accused of killing and injuring protestors who took to the streets to protest the outcome of the June 12 election -- which saw incumbent President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad win by a landslide. "Basij forces are not authorized to carry weapons," said Taeb, asserting that armed groups are the main culprit behind the killings.
Tehran Police Chief Azizallah Rajabzadeh has also insisted that his department had no role in the shoot-out that has become the focus of most media outlets in the West. "Policemen are not authorized to use weapons against people," said Rajabzadeh. "They are trained to only use anti-riot tools to keep the people out of harms way," said Rajabzadeh.
Last week saw some of the worst violence since the election after some 'terrorist elements' infiltrated the rallies on Saturday, according to Iranian officials. The insurgents set fire to a mosque, two gas stations and a military post in Western Tehran, leaving scores of people dead and wounded.
Supporters of the defeated candidates have staged a torrent of rallies, which have provoked unprecedented mayhem in the country over the past nine days. Mir-Hossein Mousavi election campaign officials, however, have insisted that the defeated candidate's supporters are not within the rioters.
Continued on Page 47
Posted by: Fred ||
06/30/2009 00:00 ||
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Top|| File under: Govt of Iran
#1
Dinner Jacket has a bus to throw his people under too?
#2
That's their out. It's a pretty good one, too - blame "outside agitators" who were pretending to be basji, and they'll pull a karma houdini & preserve the basji for the next round of motorcycle-riding axe-swinging suppression of political unrest.
Some of the Arab mercenaries who were brought in to fill out the basji ranks are about to get prominently lynched for the mullahs' sins.
I'd call this endgame preparation. They think they've won, and they're getting ready for the aftermath.
Posted by: Mitch H. ||
06/30/2009 9:34 Comments ||
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#3
Ah, the "no good Scotsman" excuse
Posted by: European Conservative ||
06/30/2009 11:54 Comments ||
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#4
They had better see to it that the imposters don't talk to journalists. Tongues out every one!
Posted by: Richard of Oregon ||
06/30/2009 12:04 Comments ||
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[ADN Kronos] Iranian president Mahmoud Ahmadinejad has asked the head of the country's judiciary to investigate the death of Neda Agha-Soltani, the young woman killed during the protests against the presidential election. Iranian state media said Ahmadinejad sent a letter to judiciary chief Ayatollah Mahmoud Hashemi Shahroudi on Monday calling for a probe into what it called the "suspicious" death of 26-year-old Neda, suggesting her death could be linked to "opponents of the Iranian nation".
"Neda Agha-Soltan was shot dead in one of Tehran's streets on June 20 by unknown elements in a completely suspicious way," said the president, quoted by the English-language state channel Press TV.
Ahmadinejad used his statement about the investigation to attack foreign interference in the events that followed the disputed election.
"Amid vast propaganda by foreign media and many other evidence about the heartfelt event, it seems definite that opponents of the Iranian nation interfere (in Iran's internal affairs) for their political misuse."
According to Press TV, Neda's death was considered "suspicious" after sources said she was killed by a small-calibre pistol, a weapon not used by Iranian security forces.
Last week, one of Iran's most powerful clerics, Ayatollah Ahmad Khatami said that protesters were responsible for the death of Neda.
Khatami considers Ahmadinejad the official winner of the presidential election on 12 June despite complaints by defeated candidates including Mir Hossein Mousavi.
Official election results gave a landslide victory to Ahmadinejad but supporters of the defeated candidates including Mir Hossein Mousavi have disputed the result and taken to the streets of Tehran and other cities in the thousands.
It is the most dramatic upheaval seen in the country in more than 30 years since the Islamic revolution in 1979.
At least 17 people are believed to have died in protests after the disputed presidential poll, which the opposition complains was rigged.
At least 1,000 opposition supporters are reported to have staged a noisy rally outside a mosque in Tehran on Sunday evening before it was broken up by police and militia.
Continued on Page 47
Posted by: Fred ||
06/30/2009 00:00 ||
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[11142 views]
Top|| File under: Govt of Iran
#1
The old O.J. ploy. Dinnerjacket will find the real killers too?
[Al Arabiya Latest] Iran's top legislative body confirmed on Monday the results of a disputed June 12 election which was won by President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad, state broadcaster IRIB reported, while British staff remained in detention in Tehran. "The secretary of the Guardian Council in a letter to the interior minister announced the final decision of the Council ... and declares the approval of the accuracy of the results of ... the presidential election," IRIB said.
Iran's English-language Press TV television station said a partial recount of the election that was carried out on Monday had shown no irregularities in the vote.
Defeated opposition candidate Mirhossein Mousavi had previously rejected the Council's offer of a partial recount, saying the vote was rigged in Ahmadinejad's favor and that the whole election should be annulled.
"This recount is being done before (state broadcaster) IRIB cameras in various provinces and cities and we will subsequently announce the outcome for public information. ... We will try to release the outcome by the end of working hours (on Monday)," Kadkhodai had said.
Iran's state-run Press TV broadcasted live from one Tehran district where a Guardian Council supervisor was quoted as saying the recount in the area showed no major irregularities. The information could not be independently verified as foreign media are banned from the streets under tough new restrictions imposed by the authorities in the wake of the election.
The results of the election that saw record turnout were announced 12 hours after polls closed.
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Posted by: Fred ||
06/30/2009 00:00 ||
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[11151 views]
Top|| File under: Govt of Iran
#1
TOPIX > CHAVEZ BELIEVES CIA CAUSING IRAN UNREST; + AZERBAIJAN ACCUSED OF FOMENTING "ORANGE REVOLUTION" IN IRAN.
#3
Serious question, Has there EVER been peace in the mideast? Even when the crusaders were in charge?
Posted by: Redneck Jim ||
06/30/2009 12:26 Comments ||
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#4
Yes, RJ, there was. From about 1450 to about 1890, the Ottoman Empire kept the peace over an area stretching from Albania to the Iranian border, over about half of North Africa, and all of the Arabian Peninsula. The Ottomans began to lose control in 1840, when the Greeks managed to gain their independence on a small portion of what is now Greece. The Ottoman Empire maintained peace by a complex system of bribes, assassinations, and religious supremacy. The end of WWI saw the Ottoman Empire broken into about a dozen entities, controlled by Britian or France, that gained independence beginning in the 1920's. That's the "map" - and the mess - we're currently living with.
Iran was actually fairly peaceful but backward until WWII, and the needs of the British and Americans to ship war material to the Russians. The Allies practically occupied the country, while building a road and rail net from Abadan to Baku. The US also interfered to keep the Russians from claiming a large part of Kurdish Iran as Russian territory following the war.
Posted by: Old Patriot ||
06/30/2009 14:14 Comments ||
Top||
A multi-volume chronology and reference guide set detailing three years of the Mexican Drug War between 2010 and 2012.
Rantburg.com and borderlandbeat.com correspondent and author Chris Covert presents his first non-fiction work detailing
the drug and gang related violence in Mexico.
Chris gives us Mexican press dispatches of drug and gang war violence
over three years, presented in a multi volume set intended to chronicle the death, violence and mayhem which has
dominated Mexico for six years.
Rantburg was assembled from recycled algorithms in the United States of America. No
trees were destroyed in the production of this weblog. We did hurt some, though. Sorry.
[ADN Kronos] Lebanon's Grand Mufti on Monday condemned the violence that occurred between rival factions in Beirut at the weekend. Sheikh Mohammed Rashid Qabbani said the violence, in which a woman was killed, was an act of aggression against the state and called for the arrest of those responsible. "Rioting on the streets of Beirut is an act of aggression against security in the country and against the state," said Sheikh Mohammed Rashid Qabbani in a statement quoted by Lebanon's English-language media site Naharnet.
Iranian police officials have reportedly arrested the armed imposters who posed as security forces during post-election violence in the country. 
[ADN Kronos] Iranian president Mahmoud Ahmadinejad has asked the head of the country's judiciary to investigate the death of Neda Agha-Soltani, the young woman killed during the protests against the presidential election. Iranian state media said Ahmadinejad sent a letter to judiciary chief Ayatollah Mahmoud Hashemi Shahroudi on Monday calling for a probe into what it called the "suspicious" death of 26-year-old Neda, suggesting her death could be linked to "opponents of the Iranian nation".
[Al Arabiya Latest] Iran's top legislative body confirmed on Monday the results of a disputed June 12 election which was won by President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad, state broadcaster IRIB reported, while British staff remained in detention in Tehran. "The secretary of the Guardian Council in a letter to the interior minister announced the final decision of the Council ... and declares the approval of the accuracy of the results of ... the presidential election," IRIB said.
