tagged w/ Middle East Politics
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The big question that President George W. Bush posed after the 9/11 attacks was “why do they hate us?” followed by his ridiculous answer, “they hate our freedoms.” A new book by BBC correspondent Deepak Tripathi offers a more realistic analysis http://consortiumnews.com/2011/08/23/explaining-why-they-hate-us/The big question that President George W. Bush posed after the 9/11 attacks was... more
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Another example of Lieberman's power to make America dance to the fiddler.
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http://graphics8.nytimes.com/images/2011/05/20/us/20obamaspan/20obamaspan-blog480.jpg
Obama’s Middle East Speech Has Many American Audiences
By MICHAEL D. SHEAR
President Obama spoke about Middle East policy at the State Department on Thursday.
Thursday’s speech by President Obama on the upheaval in the Middle East is aimed at a global audience. But it will also play out in a domestic — and political — context as Mr. Obama seeks a second term in the White House.
Since taking office, Mr. Obama has sought to strike a balance between reaching out to the Muslim world while also combating terrorism and pushing for progress toward peace between Israel and the Palestinians. The as-yet unfulfilled promise of that approach, which he described in a speech in Cairo in 2009, helped win him the Nobel Peace Prize early in his presidency.
But the effort to construct a cohesive narrative for American voters about his administration’s efforts in the region has proved more difficult. The peace process has been largely halted. The move away from Bush-era terrorism policies has gone more slowly than expected. And the uprisings in the Arab world have forced case-by-case decisions that sometimes appear contradictory.
“They need to make the case for why all of this stuff matters to Americans and give some narrative that makes sense for all the different things we are doing,” said Marc Lynch, the director of the Institute for Middle East Studies at George Washington University.
Mr. Obama’s decision to launch the raid in Pakistan that killed Osama bin Laden has clearly helped to define for Americans a new Obama story in the region. Thursday’s speech will give the president the opportunity to put those actions in a broader context, Mr. Lynch said.
Jewish voters are a small but critical Democratic constituency in terms of both votes and fund-raising; Mr. Obama, a Democrat, won nearly 80 percent of the Jewish vote in the 2008 election. That support will be particularly important Mr. Obama, who has been viewed with suspicion by some Jewish voters because of his early efforts to put pressure on Israel to stop settlement construction.
“Pivoting into presidential campaign season, they are going to want to have in place a robust story to tell,” said Mr. Lynch, who writes the Middle East blog for Foreign Policy magazine. “The more that they can choose a few clear themes that fit together into a clear story, the better.”
Thursday’s speech at the State Department is designed to be the first in a series of rhetorical opportunities for the president. On Friday, he will meet with Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu for a conversation that will be closely watched by the Jewish community in the United States.
And this weekend, Mr. Obama will address the American Israel Public Affairs Committee, the largest pro-Israel lobby in the United States. Together, the post-speech events will give the president a chance to assert his support for Israel early in the 2012 campaign cycle.
White House aides who previewed the speech for reporters Wednesday said that the president would use the opportunity to speak about the Middle East and North Africa region as a whole and how its challenges relate to the United States.
“Now, having wound down the Iraq war and continuing to do so, and having taken out Osama bin Laden, we are beginning to turn the page to a more positive and hopeful future for U.S. policy in the region,” a senior administration official said. “The president will have the opportunity to speak broadly about the change in the Middle East and North Africa, the implications for U.S. policy, and some concrete proposals for American policy going forward.”
Whom will he be speaking to? Leaders and citizens in the Middle East, of course. But several different American audiences will also be listening carefully to what he says. Here are some of them:
* His 2012 rivals: Before Bin Laden was killed, the Republican candidates for president had begun attacking Mr. Obama as a weak, feckless leader with no backbone. That argument is more difficult to make now.
But Mr. Obama’s rivals for the White House are not going to back away entirely from their criticisms of his foreign policy. They will be listening to his speech on Thursday for ways to criticize his policies toward Iran and his outreach to the Arab world.
They will also be watching closely for any evidence that Mr. Obama is being critical of Israel in the hopes they could use that as an electoral advantage.
* Liberals: Mr. Obama’s base has been frustrated at times by his willingness to continue anti-terrorism policies put in place by his predecessor. The terrorist detention facility at Guantánamo Bay — which remains open despite Mr. Obama’s promise to close it — is a constant reminder of their dissatisfaction.
The speech gives Mr. Obama a chance to describe how his approach to the region fulfills his campaign promises and to claim that his policies have worked better than Mr. Bush’s. That could help energize his base — a crucial part of the path toward getting reelected.
* American Jews: The president’s early decision to press Israel to end settlements was done in the hope that it might kick-start peace talks with the Palestinians. In fact, after the Israelis balked, the policy has so far failed to move the peace process along. The administration’s top negotiator, former senator George Mitchell, quit last week.
But in the process, the tough-love approach to Israel caused friction between Mr. Obama and some Jewish voters. That could be particularly important in certain swing states like Florida, where there is a large Jewish population.
* Congress: The debates in the House and Senate during the next 18 months are likely to focus primarily on the domestic economy. But with the House under Republican control, leaders there may be looking for ways to question Mr. Obama’s handling of foreign policy, especially in the volatile Middle East.
Republicans struggled at the height of the Middle East uprisings earlier this year, first criticizing the president’s lack of action in Libya and then later criticizing the aggressive use of force in ways that Mr. Obama said would halt the slaughter of those leading the uprising.
Democratic lawmakers, too, will be watching the speech for clues to the defense they may have to mount to Republican criticism. Last year’s extended debate over a nuclear treaty with Russia showed how differences over foreign policy can sometimes play out in the halls of Congress.http://graphics8.nytimes.com/images/2011/05/20/us/20obamaspan/20obamaspan-blog480.jpg... more
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A great day to throw a frisbee if you were Jimmy Carter.
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Today I walked the streets of Egypt proud--proud of my people and my country. It took us 18 days of protests to force Mubarak and his corrupt regime to resign. Their accounts will be frozen and the billions of dollars that should've gone into building a better and cleaner country will finally be restored for the good of our nation.
Mubarak left and we're all proud of getting rid of a corrupt dictator but it's the incidents I've witnessed with my own eyes throughout this revolution that has me swollen with pride. When Muslims prayed on a bridge, the police sprayed them with water and even though some slipped and fell, they stood back up and resumed. Egyptians of all religions were moved by this and when the water was pointed back at them, they created another front line of prayers. People kept coming in to reduce the impact of the water.
The following Friday Christians circled us Muslims during our prayers and protected us like human shields. On Sunday when the "Sunday of Martyrs" mass took place in Tahrir, Muslims did the same and protected them. Moments after, Christians and Muslims held hands and chanted in unity. Priests and sheikhs embraced each other and the thousands of observers were in tears of joy.
The days that followed were less intense but when Wael Ghoneim, the administrator of the Facebook group that called for a protest, was released by the police, he went on TV and asked not be regarded as a hero because he spent all the days in a dark room while the Egyptians took it to the street. When the host showed him a picture of all the martyrs, he broke into tears and sobs. Ghoneim got up and left afterwards, "I want to leave." Is what he said. He couldn't take it anymore.
The following day millions went to Tahrir to listen to his speech. He said more of the same but the importance is in the fact that he managed to re-energize the protesters. Hope was restored and strengthened. Tahrir Square was more like festival than anything else. With the absence of thugs, police and danger, Tahrir Square went from the most dangerous place to be at in Egypt to the most peaceful. People shared food, medical supplies and services. Tents were set up and protesters fought boredom with humor. Songs, jokes and signs circled the area and brought laughs and smiles to Egyptians all over the city. On Thursday, former (the sound of that makes me feel so good) President Mubarak announced that he would address the nation within an hour.
http://blogs.suntimes.com/foreignc/2011/02/a-letter-from-cairo-on-february-11-2011.htmlToday I walked the streets of Egypt proud--proud of my people and my country. It took... more
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GONE-GONE-GONE !
By PAUL SCHEMM and MAGGIE MICHAEL, Associated Press – 8 mins ago
CAIRO – Egypt's vice president says Hosni Mubarak has resigned as president and handed control to the military.
Car horns were heard around Cairo in celebration after Vice President Omar Suleiman made the announcement on national TV on Friday.
"In these difficult circumstances that the country is passing through, President Hosni Mubarak has decided to leave the position of the presidency," Suleiman said. He has commissioned the armed forces council to direct the issues of the state."
THIS IS A BREAKING NEWS UPDATE. Check back soon for further information. AP's earlier story is below.
CAIRO (AP) — Egyptian President Hosni Mubarak has stepped down and handed power to the military.
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http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/ml_egypt;_ylt=Aowyq.tizwx.ZcjR1E.sz8rs.6F4;_ylu=X3oDMTFiZjh1aDV2BHBvcwMxBHNlYwN5bl9icmVha2luZ19uZXdzBHNsawNicmVha2luZ25ld3M-
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http://www.deseretnews.com/photos/midres/web-359385.jpgGONE-GONE-GONE !
By PAUL SCHEMM and MAGGIE MICHAEL, Associated Press – 8 mins... more
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There is a compelling movie called The Diary of Anne Frank that is recommended. It is about a Jewish girl and her family who spent over two years in an attic hiding from Hitler’s goons. Anne Frank survived for much of that time through the generosity of former employees of her father who risked their own lives to bring food to these outcasts.
Like many Jews in Hitler’s Germany, their fate was not uplifting. Anne’s mother, sister, father and friends were betrayed to the powers that be, and with exception of her father, died after being transferred to concentration camps. Her father lived near forty years longer, but can you imagine the memories that tormented him before his physical being expired?
History says that Hitler killed six million Jews while the civilized governments of the West tried to appease him. Were it not for a blunder that lead his armies to attack Russia, and a similar miscalculation by the Japanese in bombing Pearl Harbor (incidents which galvanized support amongst the Allied Powers and led to the fall the Axis Powers), it is possible that Germany would have become Europe’s ruler, and not a partner in what is today the Earth’s most esteemed political union.
The descendants of Jews who experienced the sickness, deprivation, and chaos of World War II are the catalyst for some of today’s stories of injustice. So History has an uncomfortable way of repeating itself, but sometimes the protagonists and the antagonists are different. Jews who were once vilified and murdered are now accomplished political and military forces in at least two parts of the world (Israel and the United States).
The State of Israel which has an umbilical cord tied to the mightiest nation on Earth (the United States) is a de facto sixth permanent member of the U.N. Security Council, and uses its power to intimidate, threaten, kill and deprive the Palestinian people of the basic necessities of life, suffrage, and ownership rights to which every human aspire.
The Jews of Israel are rewriting History in such a way that they have lost the high ground, and are committing crimes as heinous as Hitler's. They blockade and falsely imprison 1.5 million Palestinians who live in the Gaza Strip. The Palestinians survival depends on those who burrow under the borders of Egypt to risk life and limb to bring in necessities like food. Yet irresponsible publishers print articles intended to support that life in the Gaza Strip is functioning normally. How can life be normal in the Gaza Strip when its people are denied access to the outside world by a cruel and oppressive regime in Israel? Are their lives the lives that human beings are content to live anywhere else on Earth?
Only the foolish could believe that a naval blockade of the Gaza Strip is necessary for the security of Israel, a mighty and effective military force in the Middle East, against Hamas, a force weaker than Lebanon, a nation that Israel threatened recently with retaliation if it so much as allow a ship laden with humanitarian good to sail from its ports to the Gaza. Only a fool could believe that Israel is afraid of Hamas when the Jewish state is saber rattling and willing to take on Iran, an enemy with a potent military establishment that dwarfs Hamas. The Gaza Strip is an ambitious dream of Israel for territorial expansion and destruction of Palestinians.
Like Anne Frank, a Palestinian child knows what it is like to be persona non grata. A Palestinian life can be altered dramatically by a decision made in Tel Aviv, or through a powerful Jewish lobby in Washington DC. All that a Palestinian has can be destroyed or taken away by a government in Israel whose actions will only be appeased by the governments of the West. The government of Israel has no legal authority over the people of the Gaza Strip and the West Bank, but it dictates the life they live.
There is doubt that the governments of the West and Russia intend to bring about a lasting and permanent peace in the West Bank and the Gaza Strip. Were these governments to be interested in a satisfactory and permanent solution to that cinder box they helped to create they would not have appointed Tony Blair as the Special Envoy for the Quartet on the Middle East.
Mr. Blair served as Prime Minister of the United Kingdom which is one of the five permanent members of the U.N. Security Council. During his time as Prime Minister, Mr. Blair’s esteemed office was consumed by an ineffectual foreign policy, and the nation’s energy was exhausted while assisting President George W. Bush in creating another quagmire for the West in Iraq. Mr. Blair’s appointment to negotiate and facilitate solutions to do away with the stalemate in Palestine establishes that the West is interested in keeping the status quo as it now stands on the ground in the Middle East.
For there to be a cessation of hostility between Israel and the people of Palestine four important and necessary steps must be implemented. First, the West must appoint a respectable and neutral person to Mr. Blair’s position with the authority and understanding that a Palestinian state is to be realized even if it is to be imposed on Israel. Second, the West should move speedily to implement sanctions against Israel and its industries should it continue to encroach on Palestinian lands, and break International Law. Third, humanitarian aid must flow unhindered in the Gaza Strip. Fourth, Palestinians of the Gaza Strip must have free access to the outside world.
Israel will not comply with any condition placed on it as long as it knows that there are no consequences to its actions. None of us will be truly free from the burdens of the Middle East until we solve the problem that was created when the British foisted the idea of a Jewish State on the residents of Palestine that lead to formation of Israel in 1948. The walls that are being built around Israel will not bring peace, freedom or protection from those they consider their erstwhile enemies. Walls are mere fixtures, and over time they become as ineffective as the Great Walls of China, and those that tumbled down in Berlin, for they are too immobile to deal with a dynamic and continuously shifting situation such as life.
Archbishop Desmond Tutu once wrote of his experience of Apartheid in South Africa that freedom is indivisible. No one is free until we are all free. The slave owner was not free until his slaves became free for it is true that much of his energies were consumed trying to prevent his slaves from revolting and killing him. The whites of South Africa and the United States were not free until they understood that all men are created equal and endowed by their creator with certain unalienable rights as Thomas Jefferson wrote, among these are Life, Liberty and the pursuit of Happiness.
During Apartheid in South Africa and segregation in the United States everyone were trapped by a condition of fear. The Jews of Israel and the United States will never be free until the Palestinians of the West Bank and the Gaza Strip are treated with the same respect as their Jewish brothers, and the Palestinians too realize their dream of freedom and nationhood. This is a process that Desmond Tutu kindly refers to as transfiguration; the Earth is renewed when goodness reigns supreme as a rite of passage.
Read More:http://globalpoliticalawakening.blogspot.com/2010/11/nations-that-lose-high-ground.htmlThere is a compelling movie called The Diary of Anne Frank that is recommended. It is... more
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George Mitchell: Face to face Mid-East talks critical
Advertisement15 September 2010 Last updated at 19:42 GMT Help Israeli and Palestinian leaders have held a second day of Middle East peace negotiations.
US Middle East envoy, George Mitchell, said they tackled the issues at the heart of the Israeli-Palestinian conflict, up front.
In a news briefing following talks, he spoke of the importance of face-to-face discussions.
He said negotiators would meet next week to prepare the next round of talks.George Mitchell: Face to face Mid-East talks critical
Advertisement15 September 2010... more
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Israel's air force has unveiled a fleet of unmanned aircraft that its says are able to reach the Gulf, putting Iran within range.
The Heron TP drones, which have a wingspan the size of a Boeing 737 passenger jet, were presented to the media on Sunday, as Israel pushes for international action against the Islamic republic over its nuclear programme.
The aircraft, developed by the state-owned Israel Aerospace Industries, can fly at least 20 consecutive hours and be used for surveillance or launching a missile attack.
http://english.aljazeera.net//news/middleeast/2010/02/2010221181347325634.htmlIsrael's air force has unveiled a fleet of unmanned aircraft that its says are... more
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For the past year the Guardian has been following Palestinians who were caught up in the devastating war in Gaza. To mark the war's one year anniversary, Inigo Gilmore returns to Gaza to explore the fate of families trying to piece together their lives, including those who want Israel prosecuted for what they say are war crimes during the 22-day assaultFor the past year the Guardian has been following Palestinians who were caught up in... more
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A presentation of facts aggressively repressed by the Baha'i sect based in Haifa Israel which facts reach into the very core of the Jewish, Christian and Moslem Faiths and which will ultimately unite them and the entire population of the world, both religious of all faiths and secular.A presentation of facts aggressively repressed by the Baha'i sect based in Haifa... more
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By ALI AKBAR DAREINI, Associated Press Writer – 7 mins ago
TEHRAN, Iran – Security forces and militiamen clashed with thousands of protesters shouting "death to the dictator" outside Tehran University on Monday, beating them with batons and firing tear gas on a day of nationwide student demonstrations, witnesses said.
The protests were the largest in months, as university students — a bedrock of support for the pro-reform movement — sought to energize the opposition with rallies at campuses across the country. The opposition has been reeling under a fierce crackdown since turmoil erupted over the disputed presidential election in June.
Thousands of riot police, Revolutionary Guard forces and pro-government Basij militiamen flooded the area around Tehran University since the morning, vowing to prevent any unrest from spilling out into the streets.
Banners and signs bearing slogans from Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei blanketed the tall campus fence, hiding whatever took place inside. Cell phone networks around the universities were shut down, and police and members of the elite Revolutionary Guard surrounded all the university entrances and were checking IDs of anyone entering to prevent opposition activists from joining the students, witnesses said.
The heavy clampdown raised fears of an escalation of violence during Monday's clashes.
"There's anxiety that there will be violence and shooting. I shout slogans and demonstrate but try not to provoke any clash with the security," one Tehran University student, Kouhyar Goudarzi, told The Associated Press in Beirut by telephone. "We are worried."
Clashes erupted when thousands of protesters massed in the streets outside Tehran in support of the students. As they chanted "death to the dictator," riot police fired tear gas and Basij militiamen charged the crowds, the witnesses said.
http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20091207/ap_on_re_mi_ea/ml_iranBy ALI AKBAR DAREINI, Associated Press Writer – 7 mins ago
TEHRAN, Iran... more
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ANKARA, Turkey — Turkey's government has approved a plan to open the country's first Kurdish-language department at a university as part of its efforts to reconcile with the Kurdish minority.
Kurds largely welcome the government's overtures to try to end the Kurdish conflict, which has killed tens of thousands of people as the rebels fight for autonomy in the Kurdish-dominated southeast.
Small scale violence continued Tuesday. For the third day in a row, stone-throwing Kurdish militants clashed with police across the nation in the wake of last week's anniversary of the 1978 founding of the rebel group.
The Cabinet's decision about the new university department was published in the Official Gazette on Tuesday in another step toward recognizing the once-banned Kurdish language.
Copyright © 2009 The Associated Press. All rights reserved.
http://www.google.com/hostednews/ap/article/ALeqM5h9VhSca_oZldvbO-XktR7l7Sa_PgD9CAG28G1
http://www.mtholyoke.edu/acad/intrel/kurdish_86.jpgANKARA, Turkey — Turkey's government has approved a plan to open the... more
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ANKARA, Turkey — Turkey's government announced bold new measures Friday aimed at reconciling with minority Kurds and ending an insurgency that has dragged on for 25 years, but there was no mention of the sweeping amnesty sought by Kurdish rebels.
Interior Minister Besir Atalay told Parliament the government wants to remove all restrictions on the use of the once-banned Kurdish language, create a committee to fight discrimination, restore Kurdish names of villages and establish an independent body to deal with complaints against security forces.
"It is an open-ended, dynamic process," Atalay said.
The rebel Kurdistan Workers' Party, or PKK, launched its fight for autonomy in 1984 and tens of thousands of people have died, with human rights abuses committed by both sides. Fighting has ebbed, but Turkey's civilian and military leaders have acknowledged that force alone cannot solve the problem. Making peace with its Kurdish opponents would also help Turkey in its struggling bid to join the European Union.
Some of the proposed measures would require legislative approval. The ruling party of Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan has a strong majority in parliament, and would likely pass the measures despite opponents who say the plan would ignore the sacrifices of slain soldiers and undermine the unity of the state.
"We aim to expand all our citizens' political rights and freedoms," Atalay said. "The democratic overture does not intend to harm our unitary state and national unity, but to strengthen it."
http://www.google.com/hostednews/ap/article/ALeqM5h9VhSca_oZldvbO-XktR7l7Sa_PgD9BUMJKG0ANKARA, Turkey — Turkey's government announced bold new measures Friday... more
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Looks like the US wasn't so wrong about Iran developing nuclear weapons...now multiple sources are leading to more unanswered questions...
http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/2009/nov/05/iran-tested-nuclear-warhead-design
excerpt below :
The UN's nuclear watchdog has asked Iran to explain evidence suggesting that Iranian scientists have experimented with an advanced nuclear warhead design, the Guardian has learned.
The very existence of the technology, known as a "two-point implosion" device, is officially secret in both the US and Britain, but according to previously unpublished documentation in a dossier compiled by the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA), Iranian scientists may have tested high-explosive components of the design. The development was today described by nuclear experts as "breathtaking" and has added urgency to the effort to find a diplomatic solution to the Iranian nuclear crisis.
The sophisticated technology, once mastered, allows for the production of smaller and simpler warheads than older models. It reduces the diameter of a warhead and makes it easier to put a nuclear warhead on a missile.
Documentation referring to experiments testing a two-point detonation design are part of the evidence of nuclear weaponisation gathered by the IAEA and presented to Iran for its response.Looks like the US wasn't so wrong about Iran developing nuclear weapons...now... more
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Relatives and friends of Hind Qassim, 35, load her coffin during her funeral in the Shiite holy city of Najaf, 160 kilometers south of Baghdad, Iraq, Oct. 27, 2009. Qassim was killed when a pair of suicide car bombings on Sunday devastated the heart of Iraq's capital in the country's deadliest attack in more than two years.
By REBECCA SANTANA
BAGHDAD (AP) -- Iraq's Sunnis, long dissatisfied with the Shiite-led government, seek more power, respect and a bigger share of oil wealth in upcoming elections. But disunity among their political leaders and the sheer force of Shiite numbers threaten to derail those hopes.
The result, some analysts and Iraqis fear, could be increased violence as some embittered Sunnis try to destabilize the government and gain power.
Sunday's bombings that killed 155 people in Baghdad sent a chill across the country, with an al-Qaida-linked group claiming responsibility. Three years ago, Iraq descended into intense violence when Sunni extremists launched bombing campaigns that aggravated the underlying Sunni-Shiite tensions, fueling a vicious cycle of sectarian reprisals that brought the country to the edge of chaos.
But analysts caution that fringe al-Qaida-linked groups, like Islamic State of Iraq which claimed responsibility for Sunday's attacks, could play off the simmering Sunni fear and anxiety, especially if the January election proves bad for Sunnis.
"They want to make this government dysfunctional," said Riad Kahwaji, head of the Dubai-based Institute for Near East and Gulf Military Analysis, discussing attacks by Sunni extremists.
Al-Qaida in Iraq, which once held sway among Sunni insurgents in the country, "wants to make a comeback, and they seem to be making a comeback in a very noisy and bloody way," he said.
Sunnis, who make up 20 percent of the overall population, have never accepted their status as a minority after generations as the politically dominant group in Iraqi society. They lost that status when the U.S.-led invasion toppled Saddam Hussein and propelled the Shiites, who make up an estimated 60 percent of the population, into power.
In addition, Sunnis complain that the Shiite-led government keeps them from positions of power such as the police, doesn't share the country's oil wealth sufficiently with Sunni areas and targets Sunnis for arrest.
Intensifying fears of violence is the fact that a law to govern January's elections remains caught in a deadlock. It has been during periods of political impasse that Iraq becomes particularly vulnerable to renewed violence.
In 2006, months of political wrangling over the country's first permanent post-invasion government allowed al-Qaida linked insurgent groups, backed by some Sunnis, to provoke Shiite militias into a near-civil war.
So far, Shiites in Iraq do not seem to be responding, even when provoked by the recent rash of extremist al-Qaida-linked attacks.
Yet, "there is always that danger that the sectarian factions can revert to violence. So, it's vital to keep the political process going," said Terrence Kelly, a senior analyst at the RAND Corp. "Al-Qaida's goal has always been to keep a democratically based political process from taking hold."
The attackers have targeted mostly government buildings - a potent target since the government is Shiite-led, but less outright sectarian than attacking Shiite markets and neighborhoods as in the bloody days of 2006 and 2007.
Iraq's mainstream Sunnis have been quick to distance themselves from the horrific bombings, and analysts note that groups like al-Qaida in Iraq which claimed the attacks, should not be confused with the Sunni population or political groups.
Yet there is no question that many Sunnis are disaffected as the January vote nears, and looking to the election to regain some of their lost power, who led the country under Saddam, bocotted a critical first nationwide vote in 2005, resulting in a Shiite-led government.Relatives and friends of Hind Qassim, 35, load her coffin during her funeral in the... more
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Boomgen TV is a new news service that reports the news from inside Iran in English on daily basis. Here is the report no. 25.Boomgen TV is a new news service that reports the news from inside Iran in English on... more
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As a foreigner living in the US, I was amazed to see how many Americans view Reagan as the person who supposedly "defeated" the Soviet Union. This strange myth and many others are described in the book "Tear Down This Myth: How the Reagan Legacy Has Distorted Our Politics and Haunts Our Future". The writer, Will Bunch, describes how this myth was created largely by Washington conservatives in the 1990s, who wanted a hero who they could associate with the conservative agenda.
As a person who still remembers Reagan "Iran-Contra" affair and his relationship with hard-liner part of the Iranian government, I hope the younger generation reads this book to know more about this horrible disgusting president of the United States, and what he did to this country and to the world.As a foreigner living in the US, I was amazed to see how many Americans view Reagan as... more
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There is no way the racist Zionist regime can deny the truth now.
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A Defense Department study offers what may be the first time in a unclassified report that Israel is a nuclear power. On page 37 of the U.S. Joint Forces Command report, the Army includes Israel within "a growing arc of nuclear powers running from Israel in the west through an emerging Iran to Pakistan, India, and on to China, North Korea, and Russia in the east."A Defense Department study offers what may be the first time in a unclassified report... more
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