The Iranian opposition group that
first exposed Iran's controversial nuclear-fuel program has given the United
Nations' nuclear watchdog details of what the group says is a working
nuclear-warhead-development facility. The facility at Khojir, a defense-ministry
missile-research site on the southeast edge of Tehran , is developing a nuclear warhead for use
on Iranian medium-range missiles, according to Mohammad Mohaddessin,
foreign-affairs chief for the exiled National Council of Resistance of Iran. He
also said the NCRI has identified a guest house on a military compound near
Khojir that the group says houses North Korean specialists working at the
warhead facility. The information was finalized in recent weeks and is current,
according to Mr. Mohaddessin.
Earlier today the poison dwarf belched the following: President Ahmadinejad said earlier: "World powers have created a black and dirty microbe named the Zionist regime and unleashed it like a savage animal on the nations of the region." He was addressing a rally in the southern city of Bandar Abbas, site of the Revolutionary Guards' command center and main bases. His speech was broadcast in full by state television.
It seems Iran has the most to gain from cutting the cables. The last thing the mullahs want are their people having access to the outside world. Internet access is oxygen to dissidents and reformers.
Al Bawaba claims that a total of five undersea cables
have been disrupted. "However, the International Cable Protection Committee, an
association of 86 submarine cable operators dedicated to safeguarding undersea
cables, has declined to speculate on the cause of the breaches, adding
investigations were underway."
A total of five cables being operated by two submarine cable operators have
been damaged with a fault in each. These are SeaMeWe-4 (South East Asia-Middle
East-Western Europe-4) near Penang, Malaysia, the FLAG Europe-Asia near
Alexandria, FLAG near the Dubai coast, FALCON near Bandar Abbas in Iran and
SeaMeWe-4, also near Alexandria.
Now the tin-foil hats are being broken out. The force behind these cable
outages is ...
Of course, logic never comes into play for these people; it's got to be
Israel's fault. Well, I've got a theory of my own. Instead of saying that Israel
and/or the CIA - which, as we all know, controls Iraq nowadays - deliberately
cut the cables to isolate the Arab world, and especially Iran, and set it up for
"something," I think it was the Arabs/Iran themselves that did the cutting to
make Israel look bad by having something to blame on us. Or we could just call
it a draw, and attribute the breakages to bad winter weather and infrastructure
failure - not unheard of with underwater cables.
Why wasn't Israel affected? Simply because we use a different cable, with
Egypt and company refusing to allow Israel to rent bandwidth on the same one it
uses. Israel's cable is called MedNautilus (http://www.mednautilus.com), originally put together by a
consortium that involved Israelis, but is now wholly owned by Spain's
Telefonica.
But the MIT Technology Review puts things in perspective. There
are lots of cable outages a year. The reason the Middle East is so vulnerable is
because they are served by a relatively few.
Undersea cable damage is hardly rare--indeed, more than 50 repair operations
were mounted in the Atlantic alone last year, according to marine cable repair
company Global Marine Systems. But last week's breaks came at one of the world's
bottlenecks, where Net traffic for whole regions is funneled along a single
route.
This kind of damage is rarely such a deep concern in the United States and
Europe. The Atlantic and Pacific Oceans are crisscrossed so completely with fast
fiber networks that a break in one area typically has no significant effect. Net
traffic simply uses one of many possible alternate destinations to reach its
goal.
Not so with the route connecting Europe to Egypt, and from there to the
Middle East. Today, just three major data cables stretch from Italy to Egypt and
run down the Suez Canal, and from there to much of the Middle East. (A separate
line connects Italy with Israel.) A serious cut here is immediately obvious
across the region, and a double cut can be crippling.
But the vulnerability of the region won't last long. A large number of new
cables are planned along the routes that have been cut by the series of
accidents. Or rather one should say the exposure of the regin to
accidental damage will close as more redundancy is built into the system.
Any undersea cable network, however extensive, is potentially vulnerable to the
power that controls the seas.
UPDATE: Ben notes, "It may be worth noting, or maybe not, that it is generally considered impossible
to tap a fiber optic line- unless you install a special device just for that
purpose.
Which would require you to break the line, which would interrupt
traffic, which would be noticed- unless you used a second break to mask your
tapping break."
Bolton
Blasts UN at UN NewsMax.com - Former US/UN ambassador John Bolton returned to UN
headquarters in NYC on Friday to launch his new book "Surrender Is Not An
Option."
Heh ........... I wish I thought of that. Do you think they lifted their heads out of the trough long enough to notice? Nah, me niether.
On Iran: "Past the tipping point"
More classic J to the B;
"You'd have to have a near religious belief in the strength of UN resolutions .............."
Promoting his book on CNN Friday morning, Bolton told John Roberts that the issue in Pakistan "is not a choice between democracy ... and martial law. ... This is a choice right now between secure command and control over Pakistan's nuclear weapons arsenel on the one hand and chaos on the other. If we have chaos, we could have a radical Islamicist regime in charge of those weapons."
Useful idiot Roberts then asked Bolton about Iran's recent claims of progress in its nuclear program. Bolton responded that "we may be past the tipping-point" and said "I'd analogize this to 1936, when Hitler marched into the Rhineland. ... If Iran gets nuclear weapons, the entire situation in the Middle East changes dramatically."
Roberts also showed Bolton a clip of Republican Sen. Chuck Hagel saying, "Now is the time for the United States to pursue an offer of direct, unconditional, and comprehensive talks with Iran."
"That would be a bad mistake," Bolton commented. "When you go back to the days of the Cold War ... they knew you didn't negotiate with the Soviets until you were in a position of strength. And we're not in that position now. ... I don't think Iran is going to be chit-chatted out of its nuclear weapons."
ROBERTS: great read for me, because you know, all those years of following you around the world with the u.s. Press corps filled in a lot of blanks. A peek behind the curtain, fascinating stuff. So pakistan, what do you see as the eventual outcome of this and what can the u.s. Do to influence events there?
BOLTON: it is obviously distressing. It's important people understand, this is not a choice between democracy and benazir bhutto on one side and martial law and pervez musharraf on the other. This is a choice right now between security command and control over pakistan's nuclear weapons arsenal on the one hand and chaos on the other. If we have chaos, we could have a radical islamic regime in charge of those weapons.
ROBERTS: the people musharraf are arresting are not radicals, they're attorneys, judges.
BOLTON: I think the problem is we don't have a good idea of what the situation is. I think unfortunately, we've contributed to it. And this is one of those things where events can spiral out of control. And if they do that and those nuclear weapons fall into the hands of tirsts, we're all in much worst shape.
ROBERTS: is benazir bhutto the savior of pakistan that they would like to portray her as? she was kicked out of office twice for corruption.
BOLTON: just because she's a harvard graduate doesn't mean she's the savior for pakistan. Her administration, sadly, was no better than most other civilian administrations in pakistan. That's why they call the military the steel skeleton there. We may not like it, but it's a fact of life in that country.
ROBERTS: your book goes into a lot of detail about trying to get iran to give up its nuclear program, and of course that, reached a new milestone this week when ahmadinejad said they had 3,000 of these centrifuges now capable of turning fluoride into highly enriched uranium. Are we at a tipping point in this standoff and are you concerned that israel may try to take preemptive action?
BOLTON: I think we may be past a tipping point. I think iran clearly now has the scientific and technical mastery it needs to get to nuclear weapons. I'd analogyize this to hitler. If britain and france had done some about the violation of the versailles treaty, we may have prevented world war i. If iran gets nuclear weapons, the entire situation in the middle east changes radically.
ROBERTS: and hitler with was appeased in his early march and you accuse the government of trying to appease iran, throwing too many carrots. And you talk about getting to a restaurant and condoleezza rice ordered carrot soup. And kerik is very critical of the way white house is dealing with iran. Take a look at what he said. I want to ask you about it.
BOLTON: now is the time for the united states to actively pursue an offer of direct, unconditional, and comprehensive talks with iran. We cannot afford to refuse to consider the strategic choice any longer.
ROBERTS: direct, unconditional, and comprehensive talks with iron. An -- iran. Your opinion?
BOLTON: I think that would be a bad mistake. Look, when you go back to the cold war and we had leaders leak dean acheson, they knew you didn't associate with the soevts until you were in a position of strength and we're not in that position now. On the nuclear issue, I don't think iran is going to be chitchatted out of nuclear weapons. They've been pursuing it, 20-year-long strategic decision to acquire this capability. They're very close to it. We've missed a lot of opportunities, precisely by engaging in diplomacy via the european union.
ROBERTS: you don't seem to have in this book any great admiration for the way either colin powell or condoleezza rice handled the situation in dealing with iran. Did they blow it?
BOLTON: well, I think by deferring to the europeans in what actually became an obsession with the technique of diplomacy, as if that's a policy objective rather than an instrument of foreign policy, we gave the iranians something they couldn't buy, and that was time, time to get the necessary science and technology to get the nuclear weapons. That's why we're at such a dangerous point today.
Iranian spiritual leader, Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, called on all Arab countries planning to attend a US-sponsored Middle East peace conference slated to be held in Annapolis in November, to cancel their participation because it would hurt the Palestinians.
Ayn Rand said evil is made possible by the sanction you give it, withdraw your sanction. Something these Columbia alumni donors ought to do- withdraw their sanction by withdrawing their mega bucks (and check out the many Jews in the mix - shame on you.)
9:30am - Be in place to block Ahmadinejad's access to the site!
10:00am - Expected arrival...
MONDAY, SEPT. 24:
What: Ahmadinejad to speak at luncheon at National Press Club by videolink
When: Protesters needed from 11:00-2:00. Come for however long you can.
Where: Washington, DC: National Press Club, 529 14th Street NW
Please note: Attendance inside is limited to NPC members, their guests and accredited media only.
Our protest will be held outside of the NPC Building at the corner of 14th and F Streets NW which is close to the Metro Center metro station.
For More info: Contact Meagan Buren at 202-230-7389 or Brandon Gray at 202-857-6627
Then head uptown to the National Rally to End the Threat Now:
MONDAY, SEPT. 24:
What: Rally led by Conference of Presidents of Major American Jewish Organizations and the Jewish Community Relations in cooperation with United Jewish Communities, UJA-Federation of New York and Jewish Council for Public Affairs. Speakers include Debra Burlingame, sister of Charles F. "Chic" Burlingame, III, (Capt., USNR, Ret.), pilot of American Airlines Flight 77 that crashed into the Pentagon on 9/11.
When: 12 p.m. (rain or shine)
Where: NYC: Dag Hammarskjold Plaza, 2nd Ave. at 47th St.(across the street from the UN)
For more info: Conference of Presidents, 212-318-6111 or info@conferenceofpresidents.org or the JCRC, 212-983-4800, ext. 161 or info@jcrcny.org
MONDAY, SEPT. 24:
What: Rally by students from Columbia and dozens of other organizations.
When: 12:30 - 3 p.m.
Where: NYC: Outside Columbia University at W. 116th St. and Broadway- only people with Columbia student IDs will be allowed on campus. The main protest will happen on Broadway on public space next to the building where Ahmadenijad is speaking, so even non Columbia people can protest at this event.
UPDATE: Past President Dwight D. Eisenhower. Oh how the mighty have fallen.
UPDATE: For anyone who wants to join a group of students going to tomorrow's protest at Columbia, we'll be meeting at 11:30 am at the
arch in Washington Square Park.
For anyone who wants to come later: 1:00-3:00 pm
116th st & Broadway
I am sure the leftarded shrews on the left will convulse when they hear JB's latest "policy statement" on how the US must handle the fourth reich's acquistion of nuclear weaponry. But rational men ask - what choice do we have? I have no guilt about my desire to live, for the survival of my nation and for the West to prevail in the war on Islamic jihad.
Ambassador Bolton has consistently displayed a clear understanding of the gathering storm and the severity of deadly enemies we face.
Iranian proxy Syria is amassing forces near Golan
Iranian foreign legion Hizbullah is amassing on Israel's border
Iranian foreign legion Hamas is attacking Israel
daily and rearming, preparing for war Iran is clearly funding and supplying insurgents in Iraq - fomenting civil war and killing American soldiers.
CIA operative Bob Baer told Fox
News that the Bush administration will likely attack
Iran in the coming months. “Iran policy is on close hold, but the feeling is
we will hit the Islamic Revolutionary Guard corps sometime next six months or
so,” said Baer.
Yesterday, former U.N. ambassador John Bolton responded with the testicular fortitude we have come to respect, admire and revel in. While he couldn’t confirm Baer’s statements,he “absolutely” hoped
they were true:
HEMMER: One final step here, too, that I want to take with you. You
told one of our producers earlier today that you don’t know if it’s true — and
you’ve made that clear in our interview here, that you don’t know what the odds
are or are not against that — but you hope it’s true. Why do you hope it’s
true?
BOLTON: Absolutely. I hope Iran understands that we are very
serious, that we are determined they are not going to get a nuclear weapon
capability, and unless they change the strategic decision they’ve been pursuing
for close to 20 years, that that’s something they better factor into their
calculations.
Transcript:
HEMMER: The Bush administration reportedly deciding to designate Iran’s
Revolutionary Guard as a terrorist organization.
So, what does that mean, huh? Well, according to the former CIA operative Bob
Baer, it means the U.S. could be gearing up to launch some sort of military
strike on Iran. Bob Baer was here yesterday morning. Listen:
FORMER CIA OPERATIVE BOB BAER: Iran policy is on close hold, but the feeling
is we will hit the Islamic Revolutionary Guard corps sometime next six months or
so.
HEMMER: With such an — that would start another war. Is the administration up
for this, Bob?
BAER: Well, it’s not exactly it’s a war. It’s what the administration is
convinced of, is that the Iranians are interfering in Iraq and the rest of the
Gulf.
HEMMER: Well, that certainly got our attention. So we asked John Bolton,
former U.S. ambassador to the U.N., for his take on that today.
Sir, good morning. Welcome back.
BOLTON: Good morning. Glad to be here.
HEMMER: Bob Baer says within six months his sources inform him that there
will be a strike on Iran. Do you agree with that?
BOLTON: Well, I don’t think one can tell one way or the other. I don’t think
there’s any doubt, based on the information we have, that Iran is interfering in
Iraq and is posing a direct threat to our troops.
So I think if President Bush as commander in chief believes that information
is accurate, he is fully entitled to take defensive measures, which could
include going after the Revolutionary Guards inside Iran. […]
HEMMER: One final step here, too, that I want to take with you. You told one
of our producers earlier today that you don’t know if it’s true — and you’ve
made that clear in our interview here, that you don’t know what the odds are or
are not against that — but you hope it’s true. Why do you hope it’s true?
BOLTON: Absolutely. I hope Iran understands that we are very serious, that we
are determined they are not going to get a nuclear weapon capability, and unless
they change the strategic decision they’ve been pursuing for close to 20 years,
that that’s something they better factor into their calculations.
And while everyone believes Iran's money woes will sink the regime. I
am not so sure. What did Germany do when their economy collapsed and they would wheelbarrow their dollars to the bank when inflation
rendered them worthless? They got behind a madman and went to war.
Yeah, that's over simplifying and we can split HAIRS over Hitler and the Brown shirts and how he got there (the same case could be made for Ahmadi-kneejerk), but the bottom line is the situations are parallel.
MORE MONEY PROBLEMS FOR IRAN:
What would you do when faced with a cash flow problem? You might try to curb expenditure, work harder to earn more, borrow money, or, when all else fails, put up the family jewels for sale. The latter is precisely what President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad's administration is trying to do as it faces a cash shortage.
Signs that the government may be running out of money have multiplied in recent months. Tens of thousands of civil servants, including school teachers, have not been paid since January. Bills from private contractors working for the government are piling up, threatening the survival of many businesses. . . .
All this may seem surprising if only because Iran has earned almost $150 billion from oil exports since Ahmadinejad won the presidency in 2005. So, were did the money go?
Since Jimmy Carter helped install the Ayatollah Khomeini, Iran has been behind major Islamic terrorist acts and major Islamic terrorist groups, Iranian foreign legions as it were. They declared war on the West in '79 and have never looked back. It is the caliphate they want and the caliphate they mean to inflict on the rest of the world. Imagine this, Iran had its hand in Lockerbie.
Commission expected to conclude that conviction of Megrahi is unsafe
Key witness account brought into question and statements 'missing'
Defence believe motive was to avoid antagonising Iran during Gulf War
Key quote "The Crown Office has a moral obligation to
hold a public inquiry. If it embarrasses the Scottish judiciary, so be it. We're
in danger of becoming the laughing stock of Europe." - TAM
DALYELL
Story in full EVIDENCE used against Abdelbaset
Ali Mohamed al-Megrahi, the Libyan convicted of the Lockerbie bombing, was
subject to deliberate destruction and manipulation for political reasons,
according to leaked documents from his defence team.
The allegations suggest authorities on both sides of the Atlantic attempted
to mislead the original inquiry into the 1988 disaster to divert attention away
from the original Iranian-backed suspects to Libya, with evidence apparently
tampered with, destroyed and overlooked.
In a decision that could send shockwaves through the Scottish legal system,
the Scottish Criminal Cases Review Commission (SCCRC) is expected to conclude
this week that the conviction of Megrahi - jailed in 2001 for his part in the
bombing of Pan Am flight 103 which killed 270 people - is unsafe.
Amid claims from his defence team of a "co-ordinated effort to mislead the
court", tantamount to a perversion of the course of justice, the SCCRC is
studying hundreds of documents and photographs that suggest evidence was
deliberately fabricated, manipulated or ignored by police and CIA operatives.
In a decision that could send shockwaves through the Scottish legal system,
the Scottish Criminal Cases Review Commission (SCCRC) is expected to conclude
this week that the conviction of Megrahi - jailed in 2001 for his part in the
bombing of Pan Am flight 103 which killed 270 people - is unsafe.
Amid claims from his defence team of a "co-ordinated effort to mislead the
court", tantamount to a perversion of the course of justice, the SCCRC is
studying hundreds of documents and photographs that suggest evidence was
deliberately fabricated, manipulated or ignored by police and CIA operatives.
Way to go Joe!! Watch the video
of the CBS Face the Nation interview with Bob Scheiffer
Conn. Senator Says The U.S. Should Strike If Tehran Keeps Helping
Anti-U.S. Forces In Iraq
“We can tell them we want them to stop that, but if there’s any
hope of the Iranians living according to the international rule of law and
stopping, for instance, their nuclear weapons development, we can’t just talk to
them,” Lieberman said. “If they don’t play by the rules, we’ve got to use our
force, and to me that would include taking military action to stop them from
doing what they’re doing.”
(CBS) The United States should launch military strikes against Iran if the
government in Tehran does not stop supplying anti-American forces in Iraq, Sen.
Joe Lieberman said Sunday on Face The
Nation.
“I think we’ve got to be prepared to take aggressive military
action against the Iranians to stop them from killing Americans in Iraq,”
Lieberman told Bob Schieffer. “And to me, that would include a strike into… over
the border into Iran, where we have good evidence that they have a base at which
they are training these people coming back into Iraq to kill our
soldiers.”
The Independent former Democrat from Connecticut said that he was not
calling for an invasion of Iran, but he did say the U.S. should target specific
training camps.
“I think you could probably do a lot of it from the air, but they can’t
believe that they have immunity for training and equipping people to come in and
kill Americans,” Lieberman said.
Lieberman, who has been one of Congress’s most outspoken supporters of the
Bush administration’s Iraq war policies, said that continuing the fight in Iraq
and confronting Iran are necessary for achieving a wider peace in the Middle
East.
If the U.S. does not act against Iran, “they’ll take that as a sign of
weakness on our part and we will pay for it in Iraq and throughout the region
and ultimately right here at home,” Lieberman said.
He said that he has seen evidence that the Iranians are supplying
insurgents and foreign fighters in Iraq.
“By some estimates, they have killed as many as 200 American soldiers,” he
said.
The Senator said he was not calling for an end to the limited diplomatic
efforts that are underway between Washington and Tehran.
“We can tell them we want them to stop that, but if there’s any
hope of the Iranians living according to the international rule of law and
stopping, for instance, their nuclear weapons development, we can’t just talk to
them,” Lieberman said. “If they don’t play by the rules, we’ve got to use our
force, and to me that would include taking military action to stop them from
doing what they’re doing.”
Conn. Senator Says The U.S. Should Strike If Tehran Keeps Helping Anti-U.S. Forces In Iraq
(CBS)
A Quote
"If there's any hope of the
Iranians living according to the international rule of law and stopping, for
instance, their nuclear weapons development, we can't just talk to
them."
(CBS) The United States should
launch military strikes against Iran if the government in Tehran does not stop
supplying anti-American forces in Iraq, Sen. Joe Lieberman said Sunday on
Face The Nation.
"I think we've got to be prepared to take
aggressive military action against the Iranians to stop them from killing
Americans in Iraq," Lieberman told Bob Schieffer. "And to me, that would
include a strike into... over the border into Iran, where we have good evidence
that they have a base at which they are training these people coming back into
Iraq to kill our soldiers."
The Indepedent former Democrat from
Connecticut said that he was not calling for an invasion of Iran, but he did say
the U.S. should target specific training camps.
"I think you could
probably do a lot of it from the air, but they can't believe that they have
immunity for training and equipping people to come in and kill Americans,"
Lieberman said.
Lieberman, who has been one of Congress's most outspoken
supporters of the Bush administration's Iraq war policies, said that continuing
the fight in Iraq and confronting Iran are necessary for achieving a wider peace
in the Middle East.
If the U.S. does not act against Iran, "they'll take
that as a sign of weakness on our part and we will pay for it in Iraq and
throughout the region and ultimately right here at home," Lieberman said.
First please watch this Iranian parade (check out the swastikas, Star of David, and "US" formations.) I think Bush and Cheney ought to switch places for awhile. In response to Cheney, Iran vows retaliation if
attacked: ABU DHABI, United
Arab Emirates - The Iranian president said yesterday that Iran would retaliate
if the United States attacked the country - a tough response to recent comments
by Vice President Cheney that Washington would prevent the Islamic republic from
dominating the Middle East. (The Philadelphia Inquirer)
Iran 'steps up nuclear work'BBC News Iran is enriching uranium on a much larger scale than before, the
UN's nuclear energy agency says.
UN inspectors say Iran closer on nuclear effort Boston
Globe VIENNA -- Inspectors for the International Atomic Energy
Agency have concluded that Iran appears to have solved most of its technological
problems and is beginning to enrich uranium on a far larger scale than before,
according to the agency's top officials.
The New York Times picks up on the story today with word that Iran now has 1,300 centrifuges enriching uranium gas to low levels of enrichment -- suitable for power reactors -- and is testing an additional 300, with another 300 centrifuges still under installation. Iran’s goal is to begin operating 3,000 centrifuges by June, an objective that appears within reach according to officials at the International Atomic Energy Agency which monitors Iran’s efforts. (At left, centrifuges at Natanz.)
Iran’s program is allowed under the NPT, which permits access to nuclear technology for peaceful purposes, but is currently in direct violation of three UN Security Council resolutions that have highlighted Iran’s violations of its safeguards obligations and demanded that Iran suspend especially the enrichment component of its nuclear program.
Two aspects of Iran’s enrichment program are especially troubling to policymakers and experts. One is that if Iran were to operate successfully about 3,000 centrifuges for a year, stockpiling the resulting low-enriched uranium (LEU), it would have a “breakout” capability of several months if it were to withdraw from the NPT, expel IAEA inspectors, and use its stockpiled LEU as feed in its centrifuges (starting enrichment with LEU shortens dramatically -- as much as 75 percent -- the time needed to enrich weapons-grade uranium). That’s a lot of “ifs,” but these are worst case scenarios that most concern diplomats.
The second is that Iran, at least for the moment, appears unshakable in its determination to brush off sanctions, and move doggedly forward with further installation of centrifuges and enrichment. This may force a rethinking of diplomatic strategy, as suggested by the Times, which until now has focused on the requirement that Iran suspend enrichment.
This is the Iran's modus operandi. Iran uses proxies to wage war. Hamas, Hezb'Allah, Syria, Peloshia - all Iranian proxies. This what they do.
Leading Kurd Blames Iran for Terror in
Iraq - Eli Lake While Iran's connection to Sunni Islamist terrorism
is hotly debated in Washington, it is not disputed in Iraqi Kurdistan which
borders Iran. In an interview Tuesday, the director of the security ministry for
Sulaimaniya province, Sarkawt Hassan Jalal, said he has no doubt Iran is helping
send Sunni jihadists into his territory. He listed the five border towns
on the Iranian side where he says they are based: Mariwan, Pejwan, Bokan, Sina,
and Serdai. For General Jalal, Abu Musab al-Zarqawi's original group, known as
Tawhid and Jihad, was sent by the Iranians and al-Qaeda to attack the Kurds and
Americans. "Iran is at the top of the terrorism in all the world. There will be
peace in the world when you change the authorities in Iran," he concluded.
(New York Sun)
Parnaz Azima, a United States citizen and reporter for Radio Free Europe and
Radio Liberty, has been prevented from leaving Iran since she entered to visit a
sick relation on January 25th. Iranian authorities took away her passport
without providing any reason.
Jeffrey Gedmin, President of Radio Free
Europe and Radio Liberty, called on Iranian authorities to release Azima. Read
his statemet here.
There is more to the release of the British soldiers - we know that. William Lind over Military.com has an excellent piece on it here; hat tip Thomas
The Middle East being what it is, I suspect there is more to it. But we
should soon know; if it is nothing more than a border dispute, Iran will accept
Britain's promise to be more careful in future and let Her Majesty's sailors and
Marines go.
A second possibility strikes me as more likely, namely that the Iranians
grabbed some British hostages for a swap. The U.S. is holding five Iranians it
took in a raid in northern Iraq in January. According to The Washington Post,
"Iranian officials expected them to be released on the Iranian new year, March
21." Just two days after that release failed to occur, the Iranians grabbed the
Brits. More, the Iranian forces who seized the British boarding party were
Revolutionary Guard, not Iranian Navy; the Iranians held by the U.S. are also
Revolutionary Guards, from the Guard's elite Quds Force.
What could be more Middle Eastern than setting up a trade?
Iran knows what we all know, the UN is toothless, spineless, and dickless. There are no repercussions. There are no real penalties. The UN is a monument to corruption, embezzlement, antisemitism and skulduggery. It exists to steal from the producers and give to themselves and their serfs. Not to mention the continuing Islamicazation of the UN.
Iran is on a mission. Apparently do not live inn fear of another strongly worded letter.
TEHRAN (Reuters) - Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad on Thursday
dismissed any new U.N. sanctions resolution as "a torn piece of paper" that
would not stop Tehran's nuclear work, the official IRNA news agency reported.
"Issuing such torn pieces of paper ... will not have an impact on Iranian
nation's will (to obtain nuclear technology)," IRNA quoted Ahmadinejad as
telling a rally in central Iran.
Ahmadinejad on Thursday dismissed any new U.N
sanctions resolution as "a torn piece of paper" that would not stop Tehran's
nuclear work, a local news agency reported. (REUTERS/Raheb
Homavandi)U.S., British, French, German, Russian
and Chinese diplomats at the United Nations have reached a tentative deal on
imposing fresh sanctions on Iran and hope to introduce the measure at the
Security Council on Thursday, providing their governments agree.
An earlier sanctions resolution passed by the Security Council in December
was derided by Ahmadinejad in similar terms.
So while we continue to contemplate our collective navels here in the land od denial, the Moolahs are kicking some serious ass. Thet are on a mission .........from Allah. John over at I,Infidel has more here
Tehran
completes first major step towards putting homemade satellites into space on
back of Iranian-made rockets.
Iran said on Sunday it had
successfully launched its first rocket into space, at a time of mounting tension
with the West over its nuclear programme.
"The first space rocket has been successfully launched into space," a state
television anchor announced, without disclosing its range or the date of the
launch.
"The rocket was carrying material intended for research created by the
ministries of science and defence," Mohsen Bahrami, the head of Iran's aerospace
research centre, told state television.
He did not give further details on the nature of the cargo.
Iran's claim of success in launching a space rocket appears to be the first
major step towards its stated ambition of putting homemade satellites into space
on the back of Iranian-made rockets.
Hezbollah leader Hassan Nasrallah
publicly admits that his organization is rearming and secretly transporting arms
to south Lebanon, in blatant violation of Security Council Resolution 1701.
Nasrallah sends a clear message to his opponents: Hezbollah is determined to
maintain its status as “the defender of Lebanon”.
In his speech, Nasrallah admits that Hezbollah is
rearming and secretly transporting arms and ammunition to south Lebanon
(Al-Manar, February 16)
Summary of Nasrallah’s speech
1. On February 16, 2007, Hezbollah leader Hassan Nasrallah gave a
belligerent, arrogant speech in a ceremony held in south Beirut
(in the neighborhood of Al-Rawis) on the anniversary of the killing of two
senior Hezbollah figures. In his speech, Nasrallah admitted that his
organization was rearming and secretly smuggling arms and ammunition to south
Lebanon , in blatant violation of Security Council Resolution 1701 (which ended
the second Lebanon war).
2. Following are the highlights of Hassan Nasrallah's speech (Al-Manar
Television, February 16):
a. Hezbollah is rearming: “We are being very clear and
we are saying that we have arms. We are not lying and [we are]
telling it to the whole world. We have arms [Nasrallah stresses the word
“arms”]… of all shapes and sizes… The resistance [i.e.,
Hezbollah] has arms. It is saying it in public, adding that it is
rearming and increasing the scope of its armament in order to get more dangerous
arms…”
b. Hezbollah is secretly transporting arms to the Israeli front:
“The resistance [i.e., Hezbollah] notes that it is transporting the
arms to the front. We do not hide it. Doing it in
secret is only natural. Could we do it openly? How?... We concealed our
arms because we wanted to conceal them from our enemies… We are transporting the
arms in secret because it is our right… We are transporting the arms secretly
and in straw trucks so as to not embarrass you [the Lebanese government]…”
c. Confiscating a Hezbollah arms truck by the Lebanese government
(February 8): “…As for the resistance [i.e., Hezbollah] and the latest
incident of [confiscating] the arms truck, which, incidentally,
contained ammunition—that is, Katyushas —surprisingly, we heard
many people claim that it was explosive charges, guns, and rifles, that we were
smuggling for the parties [that is, for Lebanese parties allied with Hezbollah]…
The customs know what the truck contained… The Lebanese army, too, submitted a
report about it to senior officials… The arms confiscated [by the Lebanese
government] are arms taken from their rightful owners…”
A civilian truck used by Hezbollah to smuggle arms, confiscated
by the Lebanese army in the Beirut neighborhood of Hazimiyah (Reuters, February
8, photo by STR News). It is our assessment that the arms were smuggled from
Syria . In his speech, Hassan Nasrallah expressed his dissatisfaction with the
confiscation of the truck.
d. Hezbollah as the “defender of Lebanon ”, helping the Lebanese
army: “In the last confrontation [that took place] in front of Maroun
al-Ras, 1 members of the resistance [i.e., Hezbollah] were in top
shape to assist the officers and soldiers of the Lebanese army if the
conflict had developed. The resistance in south Lebanon [i.e.,
Hezbollah] is not a burden on the Lebanese army [but rather] genuine assistance
for the Lebanese army. For our arms are the arms of the Lebanese army, our
rockets are the rockets of the Lebanese army, our depots are the depots of the
Lebanese army… Together, side by side, we will fight to defend Lebanon
…”
e. Hezbollah is committed to continue terrorism in its capacity as
the “defender” of Lebanon : “…We stress our commitment to the
resistance [i.e., the way of violence and terrorism], to the
cause of the resistance and to the project of the resistance that defends the
homeland… I am saying that we will remain on the border, in Beirut , and
everywhere in Lebanon . We are Lebanese, and this country is our
country… Every clod of earth in the south is to us a drop of a shahid's blood.
Every rock in the south is to us a shahid's body… Every olive tree in the south
is to us the loving and sparkling soul of the jihad warriors of the resistance…
and Hezbollah… is willing to wage jihad and persist with its struggle
for justice in all areas…”
Assessment
3. In his speech, Hassan Nasrallah publicly admitted that
Hezbollah is rebuilding its military arsenal, damaged in the war, and even
claimed that it is well within its right to do so in its capacity (according to
Nasrallah) as “the defender of Lebanon”.
4. Nasrallah's speech clearly demonstrates that Hezbollah
systematically and fundamentally violates Security Council Resolution 1701
(August 12), in defiance of the Lebanese government and UNIFIL (and, in fact,
the entire international community), which bear the responsibility to implement
the resolution. According to Security Council Resolution 1701,
Hezbollah and other terrorist elements must be disarmed as stipulated in the
Taif Accord (1989) and in the relevant Security Council resolutions.
5. Contrary to Hassan Nasrallah's
provocations regarding Hezbollah's rearming, he did not address the assistance
his organization receives from Iran and Syria, the two
countries behind Hezbollah's rehabilitation process. 3 The assistance
extended by the two countries to Hezbollah is a blatant violation of Clause 15
in Security Council Resolution 1701, calling upon all countries to take the
necessary measures to prevent the use of their territory or their ships and
planes to provide arms, ammunition, and military equipment to unauthorized
parties in Lebanon.
Comparison of several clauses from Security
Council Resolution 1701 with excerpts from Hassan Nasrallah’s
speech
If the United States were to attack Iran, the
country would respond by striking US interests
all over the world, Iranian supreme leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei said
Thursday.
Speaking to a gathering of Iranian air force commanders, Khamenei said: "The
enemy knows well that any invasion would be followed by a comprehensive reaction
to the invaders and their interests all over the world."
Iranian leaders often speak of a crushing response to any attack. While the
remarks are seen as an attempt to drum up national support, Iran's position on
Iraq and its nuclear program has provoked more than usual international pressure
in recent months.
US President George W. Bush has ordered American troops to act against
Iranians suspected of being involved in the Iraqi insurgency and has deployed a
second aircraft carrier to the Gulf area as a warning to Iran. The UN Security
Council has imposed sanctions because of Iran's refusal to cease uranium
enrichment, and is due to consider strengthening later this month.
"Some people say that the US president is not prone to calculating the
consequences of his actions," Khamenei said in remarks broadcast on state
television, "but it is possible to bring this kind of person to wisdom."
(CBS)
