[Al Arabiya Latest] French President Nicolas Sarkozy threatened on Wednesday to press for tougher sanctions on Iran while developping nations agreed to back Iran's push to debate a ban on military attacks targeting nuclear facilities.
In his annual address to France's ambassadors, Sarkozy lambasted the leadership of Iran and said tougher sanctions would have to be discussed if Tehran does not change its position on the contentious nuclear program that the West believes is aimed at developing a nuclear bomb.
Because Tehran has demonstrated the effectiveness of Western threats of sanctions... and the effectiveness of actual sanctions as well. Petty posturing by those who refuse to do more.
AFAICT, it was the sanctions imposed so far, limited though they are, that impacted Irans economy enough to create opposition to Dinnerjacket beyond the intellectual class, and that thus led to the election stealing, and the street protests, whose full impact has not necessarily been fully played out. We may yet see regime change in Teheran.
And we have not yet seen the impact of much tougher sanctions.
Blame BHO for eagerness to engage. Blame Russia and China for threatening to veto tougher sanctions. Blame IAEA types and lefty pundits for minimizing the urgency.
But dont blame Sarko, who, afaict, is pushing for a harder line as much as can. No one in euroland is going to go for force before trying real sanctions first - this is hardline a position as will fly over there. Sarko should be commended for it.
Posted by: liberal hawk ||
08/27/2009 10:14 Comments ||
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#3
Would a new government in Tehran discontinue progress toward nuclear weapons, liberal hawk? As far as I've been able to gather, pretty much the entire population supports the effort, as a matter of national pride, so it isn't merely a matter of driving out President Ahmadenijad or the ruling mullahs. So long as Iran works toward the bomb, Israel remains threatened.
#4
It's a strange world where the President of France is the last conservative hope for the hawkish line on non-proliferation.
Posted by: Mitch H. ||
08/27/2009 13:44 Comments ||
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#5
Would a new government in Tehran discontinue progress toward nuclear weapons, liberal hawk? As far as I've been able to gather, pretty much the entire population supports the effort, as a matter of national pride, so it isn't merely a matter of driving out President Ahmadenijad or the ruling mullahs. So long as Iran works toward the bomb, Israel remains threatened.
Some folks say that the population supports on pride, but when you look at actual quotes, its always "We support Iranian nuclear energy" not we support a bomb, or even we support enrichment. The Iranian govt has deliberately elided the distinctions between a bomb program, an enrichment program, and an atomic energy program, in both its domestic and foreign propaganda. Until there is a free discussion in Iran, its not clear if the people (or a democractic govt) would be unwilling to strike a deal that lets them keep an atomic energy program, while giving up enrichment.
But lets assume the worst, that they want a bomb anyway and regime change doesnt impact that. Well, Pakistan has a bomb. Israel lives with that. The assumption being A. Pakistan is not obsessed with Israel and B. the govt of pakistan is rational (in at least the we dont want to get blown up, and we dont expect a hidden mahdi to save us sense of "rational") and so, deterrable. Is there any reason to think a new regime in Iran, with no more official role for mullahs, with the Rev Guard dissolved, with the khomeinists sidelined, would not be rational and deterrable?
Posted by: liberal hawk ||
08/27/2009 16:47 Comments ||
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#6
I just don't know, liberal hawk. The countries around Israel have spent two generations vilifying the Jewish state in the most horrible terms, and I just don't know how to calculate the odds that a non-mullah Iranian government would not continue to sing that song. Saddam Hussein's government was not religious, nor is the government of Syria, but both were open and active enemies of Israel. Iraq is not, at this time, but recently Kurdish politicians have been censured for travelling there and for dealing with Israelis.
[Al Arabiya Latest] Iran's supreme leader said on Wednesday opposition protests that erupted after the country's June presidential vote were planned in advance, but he said he did not believe its leaders were agents of foreigners.
Iranian officials have previously portrayed the protests as a foreign-backed bid to topple the clerical establishment. They have accused Western powers, particularly the United States and Britain of fomenting the unrest, a charge denied by Washington and London.
"I do not accuse the leaders of the recent incidents to be subordinate to the foreigners, like the United States and Britain, since this issue has not been proven for me," Ayatollah Ali Khamenei said in a statement read out by a newsreader.
"This plot was defeated, since fortunately our enemies still do not understand the issue in Iran," added the statement, read out over pictures of Khamenei.
"Our enemies were given a slap in face by the Iranian nation, but they are still hopeful and they are pursuing the issue," he said.
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Posted by: Fred ||
08/27/2009 00:00 ||
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[Al Arabiya Latest] A member of a parliamentary committee looking into events after Iran's disputed election said on Tuesday the committee was investigating a rumored "mass burial" in a Tehran cemetery of protesters who had been killed.
The reformist website Norooz said last week that "tens" of people were buried in unnamed graves in the Behesht-e Zahra cemetery on July 12 and 15 -- about a month after the election, which sparked widespread street protests. Norooz did not identify those who were buried or say how they died. "Parliament is investigating a rumor about a mass burial of post-vote detainees," the official IRNA news agency quoted MP Hamidreza Katouzian as saying.
"We cannot deny or confirm the case at the current time and if it is needed we will visit Behesht-e Zahra," Katouzian added, referring to Tehran's largest cemetery south of the capital.
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Posted by: Fred ||
08/27/2009 00:00 ||
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[Iran Press TV Latest] With Iran roiled by allegations of mistreatment of post-vote prisoners, the Leader of the Islamic Revolution moves to defuse the controversy, promising that no detainee's rights will be trampled upon.
Accusations of prison rape and the violent treatment of detainees have caused uproar inside and outside Iran and have prompted parliament speaker Ali Larijani to assign a special parliamentary committee to investigate the matter.
Ayatollah Seyyed Ali Khamenei moved to address concerns over the issue, saying that the Islamic establishment will not fall short of expectations in dealing with such crimes and those who commit such acts.
The issue was brought to the fore in Iran after defeated presidential candidate Mehdi Karroubi wrote a letter to the influential Head of the Assembly of Experts, Ayatollah Akbar Hashemi-Rafsanjani, on July 29, claiming that jailers brutally "raped" post-vote protesters in Iran's detention centers.
Karroubi has even called for a meeting with the country's top officials -- including the president -- to present evidence of alleged sexual assault against some post-election detainees.
In reference to the allegations of jail rape and alleged evidence of the issue, Ayatollah Khamenei said that in dealing with issues of such "great sensitivity" the authorities should not act based on "speculations and rumors".
"In issues with such great sensitivity, the Judiciary should judge based on irrefutable evidence; even if there is evidence supporting certain rumors, such evidence cannot be a base for judgment," Ayatollah Khamenei added.
The issue of a night-time raid on a Tehran University dormitories was also raised during the meeting between the Leader and university students and scholars.
The raid on June 14 was among the controversial incidents of Iran's post-vote frenzy which drew fierce criticism from various political quarters.
Acknowledging that crimes have taken place in the university dormitory raid, Ayatollah Khamenei said "a special file has been opened on the matter so that the wrong-doers are punished regardless of their [governmental] posts."
The Leader, however, warned against publicizing the matter with political motivation, saying "an order has been imposed since the initial days for careful, determined action on the matter."
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Posted by: Fred ||
08/27/2009 00:00 ||
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[Iran Press TV] After one of the defendants standing trial for Iran's post-vote unrest implicated the son of influential cleric Akbar Hashemi-Rafsanjani in an embezzlement plot, the top official's son moves to deny the accusation.
During the fourth round of the mass trials held for post-election detainees on Tuesday, defendant Hamzeh Karami told the court that about $2 million of the assets of the Iranian Fuel Conservation Organization -- which was headed by Mehdi Hashemi-Rafsanjani at the time -- were used to finance his father's presidential campaign in 2005.
"Mehdi Hashemi believed that the elections in Iran were financed with government funds. He did not believe in spending private savings for the election. So they set up a system for forgery and falsification of documents," Karami claimed.
Mehdi Hashemi-Rafsanjani in a letter to the head of the Islamic Republic of Iran Broadcasting (IRIB) Ezzatollah Zarghami categorically denied the allegation, saying it was an "outright lie."
The son of the former two-time president questioned the credibility of the court and the confessions made in the session by stressing the fact that Karami "stood trial on Tuesday without a defense attorney after having spent over 70 days in solitary."
He explained that the conditions under which the court session was held was against a law mentioned in clause 1 of the Article 188 of the Constitution of the Islamic Revolution.
Mehdi Hashemi went on to deny the allegations levelled against him by arguing that establishing a system for forgery and document falsification as mentioned by Karami in Iran's Fuel Conservation Organization is "impossible" as the body's financial activities are under strict supervision of senior authorities in the country.
"Over the past four years after I left the organization, Audit Commissions in Iran have made several formal assessments on the existing documents on the body's annual costs," said Hashemi, adding that publicizing a charge which is yet to be proven is a crime and the person responsible for the matter can be taken to court.
Hashemi went on to urge an investigation not only into claims made about the $2 million from the IFCO's assets but also into an alleged $340 million which went missing in the same year from the assets of Tehran's municipality.
Mehdi Hashemi linked the accusations made against him to a complaint lodged by the Hashemi family against President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad.
"It is worthy of note that this move has only taken place after the family of Ayatollah Hashemi-Rafsanajni sent a complaint against Mr. Ahmadinejad to the Judiciary," he wrote in his letter.
The son of the head of the Assembly of Experts went on to call on Iran's state broadcaster to provide him with sufficient airtime so that he can defend himself against the cited accusations publicized on the IRIB.
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Posted by: Fred ||
08/27/2009 00:00 ||
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[Iran Press TV] Iran's envoy to the IAEA, Ali-Asghar Soltaniyeh, has ruled out the possibility of any military attack on Iran's nuclear facilities.
The international community knows very well that any attack on [Iran's] nuclear facilities would cause horrific catastrophes at the sites of the facilities, in the region, and in the world, ISNA quoted Soltaniyeh as telling Italy's AKI news agency on Tuesday.
"We've all seen the millions of radiation and cancer deaths that resulted from the Israeli destruction of Saddam Hussein's Osiraq facility," he added.
He stated that those country's that threaten Iran will eventually find themselves isolated. No one would dare to launch an attack on a nuclear facility anywhere in the world, Soltaniyeh said.
Suuuure they won't.
"Using the carrot and stick policy is not a civilized way for dialogue and will lead to the isolation of those who use this policy," he noted.
Actually, using the carrot and stick policy is the civilized method. Bouncing the rubble of the entire country, then salting the earth, and leading the survivors away in chains for a lifetime of slavery, that is the uncivilized method.
Israel is the only player in the Middle East that possesses a nuclear arsenal, but its officials have repeatedly voiced their determination to halt Iran's peaceful nuclear program, even through military means.
Iran says its nuclear program is meant to meet the civilian needs of its people and is being pursued within the framework of IAEA regulations.
Even the IAEA has noticed that lie, Envoy Soltaniyeh.
[Al Arabiya Latest] Iran put several leading reformers in the dock on Tuesday, official media reported, in its fourth mass trial of people accused of fomenting unrest after June's disputed presidential election.
Iran has already staged mass trials of around 140 people on offences linked to the massive demonstrations and street violence that followed President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad's hotly-disputed victory in the June election.
The court proceedings, which opposition leaders denounced as "show trials," have angered the international community and heightened political tensions as Iran battles its worst crisis since the 1979 Islamic revolution.
Attempt to uproot opposition
" In the fourth court session, the elements and plotters of the recent riots and disturbances in Iran will be put on trial and some of them are expected to present their defiance "
IRNA
Those tried in a Revolutionary Court on Tuesday included several aides to former Iranian president Mohammad Khatami, former Deputy Interior Minister Mostafa Tajzadeh, former Deputy Foreign Minister Mohsen Aminzadeh, former government spokesman Abdollah Ramezanzadeh and Iranian-American scholar Kian Tajbakhsh, news agencies said.
Saaed Hajjarian, a former deputy intelligence minister turned architect of Iran's reform movement, was also among the accused, the official IRNA news agency said. Hajjarian was disabled after an assassination attempt in 2000. "In the fourth court session, the elements and plotters of the recent riots and disturbances in Iran will be put on trial and some of them are expected to present their defiance," IRNA said.
Analysts regard the trials as an attempt by the authorities to uproot the moderate opposition and put an end to the street protests that erupted after the poll.
Most of the former officials held their positions during the 1997-2005 presidency of Khatami, who backed moderate opposition leader Mir Hossein Mousavi in the election against the incumbent, hardliner Ahmadinejad.
Mousavi and Mehdi Karoubi, who came second and fourth in the election respectively, say the vote was rigged to secure the re-election of Ahmadinejad.
The authorities deny the charge, saying it was the "healthiest" vote the country has had in the past three decades.
French teaching assistant Clotilde Reiss and two Iranians working for the British and French embassies in Tehran were among those tried on Aug. 8.
Unconstitutional trials
Khatami said the trials violated Iran's constitution and Mousavi said confessions by some of the accused were made under duress.
Others tried on Tuesday included former Economy Minister Mohsen Safaie-Farahani, former mines and industries minister Behzad Nabavi, business newspaper editor Saeed Laylaz and journalist Ahmad Zeidabadi, media reported.
Rights groups say hundreds of people, including senior pro-reform politicians, journalists, activists and lawyers, have been detained since the presidential election. Many of them are still in jail.
Iran accuses the West, particularly the United States and Britain, of inciting the unrest, in which at least 30 people were killed. They deny the charge. Hardliners have called for Mousavi and Karoubi to also be arrested.
About 4,000 people were initially detained over the protests and hundreds are still behind bars, amid opposition allegations that some have been killed, raped and abused in custody.
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Posted by: Fred ||
08/27/2009 00:00 ||
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[Al Arabiya Latest] Lebanese prime minister-designate Saad Hariri stressed on Tuesday Hezbollah will be part of the next cabinet "whether Israel likes it or not," as he called on the all parties to unite to form a coalition to face the country's challenges.
"The national unity government will include the (ruling) March 14 alliance, and I also want to assure the Israeli enemy that Hezbollah will be in this government whether it likes it or not because Lebanon's interests require all parties be involved in this cabinet," Hariri said at a Ramadan dinner at his residence.
That's nice. Israel said that if Hizb'allah is included in the government, then Israel will treat Hizb'allah attacks as acts of war by the government... and respond accordingly. PM-designate Hariri seems to have difficulty grasping this basic concept.
Hariri said, including the threat of Israel, his country faced numerous social and economic challenges, which "no party can handle on its own."
The prime minister-designate, however, added that national unity "should not marginalize the principles of democracy and freedom.
Lebanon's Daily Star newspaper reported that Hariri held talks Monday night with Hezbollah leader Hassan Nasrallah's political assistant Hussein Khalil, who told Hariri his party supported the demands of the Free Patriotic Movement's leader Michel Aoun.
Hariri, son of slain billionaire ex-premier Rafik Hariri, was named prime minister on June 27 after his alliance defeated a Hezbollah-led coalition.
Tough negotiations have led to a deal on the number of ministers each political camp will have in Lebanon's 30-seat cabinet, with 15 going to Hariri's ruling alliance, 10 to the Hezbollah-led opposition and the president appointing five.
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Posted by: Fred ||
08/27/2009 00:00 ||
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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.
[Al Arabiya Latest] Lebanese prime minister-designate Saad Hariri stressed on Tuesday Hezbollah will be part of the next cabinet "whether Israel likes it or not," as he called on the all parties to unite to form a coalition to face the country's challenges.
