6.44pm: Here is some grainy but fantastic footage of the march to Imam Khomeini square in Tehran, from 5 pm Iranian time. You can hear the crowd chanting "Ya Hossein! Mir Hossein!" 6.40pm: Just after 10 pm in Iran, Saeed writes that the people are again shouting "Ya Hossein! Mir Hossein!" and "Allah-o-Akbar!" (Arabic for "God is Great!") all across Tehran. 5.24pm: A reader i
(...)chanting "Ya Hossein! Mir Hossein!" 6.40pm: Just after 10 pm in Iran, Saeed writes that the people are again shouting "Ya Hossein! Mir (...)
==============
In the event that the divisive Ahmadinejad were to be dropped and Mousavi became president, his 25-year-long battle with Khamenei can be expected to resume in earnest. That is a strong reason for Khamenei to fight hard to keep him out. But while the warring cousins differ sharply on social issues, there may be more room for an accommodation than many suspect.Iran protests: live
guardian.co.uk, Thursday June 18 2009
Daniel Nasaw and... more
Everything you know about Iran is wrong, or at least more complicated than you think. Take the bomb. The regime wants to be a nuclear power but could well be happy with a peaceful civilian program (which could make the challenge it poses more complex). What's the evidence?Iran: They May Not Want The Bomb
And other unexpected truths.
By Fareed Zakaria... more
Vanunu a traitor ?? or a Hero !! Israel and Iran one has nuclear-power the other does not (yet) Israel and Iran one sells nuclear power the other tries to purchase it Israel and Iran one has done 8 wars in 60 years the other only one in 200 years Israel and Iran one has the backing of the...Israel and Iran
Vanunu a traitor ?? or a Hero !! Israel and Iran one has... more
Oil and social gains: WHY THE U.S. IS TARGETING IRAN
“The forces opposing Washington’s policy ofendless war--whether waged through sanctions, coups, invasions, bombings or sabotage--should stand with Iran, recognize its accomplishments, defend its gains and oppose imperialism’s efforts to
re-colonize the country.”
Why is Iran increasingly a target of U.S. threats?
Who in Iran will be affected if the Pentagon implements plans, already drawn up, to strike more than 10,000 targets in the first hours of a U.S. air barrage on Iran?
What changes in policy is Washington demanding of the Iranian government?
In the face of the debacle U.S. imperialism is facing in Iraq, U.S. threats against Iran are discussed daily. This is not a secret operation. They can't be considered idle threats. Two aircraft carriers--USS
Eisenhower and USS Stennis--are still off the coast of Iran, each one accompanied by a carrier strike group containing Hornet and
Superhornet fighter-bombers, electronic warfare aircraft, antisubmarine and refueler planes, and
airborne command-and-control planes. Six guided-missile destroyers are also part of the armada. Besides this vast array of firepower, the Pentagon has bases throughout the Middle East able to attack Iran with cruise missiles and hundreds of warplanes. In fact, the U.S. is already engaged in a war on Iran. Ever-tightening sanctions, from both the U.S. and U.N., restrict trade and the ordering of equipment, spare parts and supplies. Seymour Hersh reported in the New Yorker magazine a year ago that U.S. special operations forces were already operating inside Iran in preparation for a possible attack. U.S.-backed covert operatives had
entered Iran to organize sabotage, car bombings, kidnappings and attacks on civilians, to collect targeting data and to foment anti-government ethnicminority groups. News articles have reported in recent months that the Pentagon has drawn up plans for a military blitz that would strike 10,000 targets in the first day of attacks. The aim is to destroy not just military targetsbut also airports, rail lines, highways, bridges, ports, communication centers, power grids, industrial centers, hospitals and public buildings.
It is important to understand internal developmentsin Iran today in order to understand why this country
is the focus of such continued hatred by U.S. corporate power. Every leading U.S. political figure has weighed in on
the issue, from George W. Bush, who has the power to order strikes, to Hillary Clinton,
who has made her support for an attack on Iran clear, to John McCain, who answered a reporter's question on policy toward Iran by
chanting "Bomb, bomb, bomb Iran" to the tune of the Beach Boys' song, "Barbara Ann." The media--from the New York Times to the Washington Post to banner headlines in the tabloid press to right-wing radio talk shows--are
playing a role in preparing the public for an attack.The significance of oil production
and oil reserves in Iran is well known. Every news article, analysior politician's threat makes mentionof Iran’s oil. But the impact of Iran’s nationalization of its oil resources is not well known. The corporate owners in the U.S. want to keep it asecret from the people here. They use all the power of their media to demonize the Iranian leadership and caricature and ridicule the entire population, their
culture and religion.
What’s been achieved?
The focus of media coverage here is to describe Iran as medieval, backward and feudal while somehow becoming a nuclear power.
It is never mentioned that more than half the university students in Iran are women, or that more than a third of the doctors, 60 percent of civil servants and 80 percent of all teachers in Iran are women. At the time of the 1979 Iranian Revolution, 90 percent of
rural women were illiterate; in towns the figure was over 45 percent.Also ignored is the stunning achievement of full literacy for Iranian youth.
Even the World Bank, now headed by Bush's --Oil and social gains: WHY THE U.S. IS TARGETING IRAN
“The forces opposing... more
Tell Obama and Congress:
Sanctions are War! Stop War on Iran!
Add your name to those of over 30 thousand
people who are taking a stand
against another illegal war.
— Sign the Online PetitionOnly the People will stop the war
StopWarOnIran.org
Tell Obama and... more
by Soraya Sepahpour-Ulrich(CASMII Columns)
Thursday, April 2, 2009
Normal 0 false false false MicrosoftInternetExplorer4 st1\:*{behavior:url(#ieooui) } /* Style Definitions */ table.MsoNormalTable {mso-style-name:"Table Normal"; mso-tstyle-rowband-size:0; mso-tstyle-colband-size:0; mso-style-noshow:yes; mso-style-parent:""; mso-padding-alt:0in 5.4pt 0in 5.4pt; mso-para-margin:0in; mso-para-margin-bottom:.0001pt; mso-pagination:widow-orphan; font-size:10.0pt; font-family:"Times New Roman"; mso-ansi-language:#0400; mso-fareast-language:#0400; mso-bidi-language:#0400;}
I often hear that you care about Iranians; yet your apparent apathy towards Iran’s rich heritage expressed by your silence, one of the hardest arguments to refute, is incomprehensible. Surely the fate of Iran’s historical and cultural heritage, the Persepolis Artifacts which are in the balance and may be awarded to Jenny Rubin and other plaintiffs for damages attributed to Hamas bombs in Jerusalem, in defiance of all international laws, should boil your royal blood?
I write to you in the hope that in the absence of a blatant disregard for international law by your friends, you may use your connections to help salvage what rightfully belongs to Iran and Iranians. Many of the people you know are highly influential in Israel as well as in the United States, in particular some who attended a conference with you in June 2007 in Prague -“Democracy and Security” -- with organizers such as the Adelson Institute for Strategic Studies at the Likudist Shalem Center in Jerusalem.
Going down the list of attendees, Weekly Standard’s editor, William Kristol, who serves on the Shalem’s board of directors (incidentaSilence: An Open Letter to Reza Pahlavi
by Soraya Sepahpour-Ulrich(CASMII Columns)... more
Even though Iran has not fought a war for conquest in over two hundred years, our government, our media, our politicians and our “ally” Israel continue to beat the war drums and cast Iran in the harshest light possible. We forget that Iran gave us permission to use their airspace to engage the Taliban and Al Quaeda and provided information as to the whereabouts of their leaders. This stopped when George Bush included them in his “axis of evil”.
13 March, 2009
Countercurrents.org
I never cease to be amazed at American news. I watch a few outlets, just to see if they ever mention anything about the rest of the planet. Except for earthquakes, floods, threats against the US and plane crashes, if we didn’t have maps and globes, we wouldn’t know that there is a world outside the U.S., Mexico and Canada (unless we are in a war somewhere). I realize I’m being a bit facetious when I write about how ignorant our news outlets have become, but the fact is that I’m much closer to the truth than not.
Sometimes I ask myself why our media doesn’t cover the events taking place in other countries. Most Americans don’t know that Iceland, a prosperous country a couple of years ago, went completely bankrupt. There were riots in the streets and this hardly made the mainstream media. There are other things that don’t make news in the media even though it affects us all. Call me a conspiracy believer, but I figure that the government would rather have Americans know little or nothing about the real world. This way, if we end up going to war with another nation, they can spin it just the way they want to.
You can always tell when our government wants something from another nation. The first clue is that we hear much more about the country on the news. It seems that suddenly, a nation that becomes a “place of interest” and gets a thorough look by the media. The history, the resources, the plight of the people and its global importance (especially to the United States) becomes paramount. Countries we turned a blind eye to, nations that were ignored while starvation and genocide were taking place, instantaneously become the center of attention the minute the first drop of oil is pumped out of a proven oil reserve.Iran: The Propaganda Never Stops
By Timothy V. Gatto... more
Iran: UPDATE - Targeting women’s rights activists - Alieh Eghdam Doust and Nafiseh Azad taken into custody
Front Line is concerned at recent reports that women's rights defender Alieh Eghdam Doust has been taken into custody to serve her sentence which was reduced on appeal, while Nafiseh Azad has also been taken into custody while her objection to the temporary arrest warrant against her is investigated. This has been followed by a violent raid on the home of Nafiseh Azad.
Statement by the Campaign for Equality
February 3, 2009: Security Officials from the Special Security Branch of the Office of the Prosecutor of the Revolutionary Courts stormed the home of imprisoned Campaign for Equality member and women’s rights activist, Nafiseh Azad and seized her personal property as well as the property of her housemates. During this search and seizure operation officials violently beat Elnaz Ansari, another member of the Campaign and Nafiseh’s housemate and beat and handcuffed Vahid Maleki (Nafiseh’s husband)
Alieh Eghdamdoust who had been sentenced to three years of mandatory prison as a result of her participation in the June 12, 2006 protest in Hafte Tir Square has been transferred under guard to the Office of Implementation of Sentences at the Revolutionary Courts. Alieh Eghdam Doust, a women’s rights defender, was arrested during the protest objecting to discriminatory laws against women in Hafte Tir Square in June 12 2006, and spent a week in prison. She was sentenced by the 15th security branch of the Revolutionary Courts to three years and four months mandatory prison sentence and 20 lashes.
The appeals courts upheld three years of the mandatory prison sentence, reducing her original sentence by four months and 20 lashes.Iran: UPDATE - Targeting women’s rights activists - Alieh Eghdam Doust and Nafiseh... more
