Irancove @ July 30, 2007 # One Comment
In a recent article in the Washington Post, Robin Wright, author of several books on Iran, describes a new Cold War forming between the United States and its allies against the ascendant Shiite, Persian Iran. Wright cites the removal of Iran’s long time rivals, The Baath Party in Iraq and Taliban in Afghanistan; support […]
Irancove @ July 30, 2007 # No Comment Yet
The National Iranian-American Council reports on a new bill introduced by Representative Mark Udall (D-CO), which attempts to restore balance to the president’s unchecked war-making ability. Currently, the president would not require congressional approval to declare war on Iran.
The bill states that “no funds appropriated or otherwise made available by any act…may be […]
Irancove @ July 27, 2007 # No Comment Yet
Ilan Berman, vice president of The American Foreign Policy Council, a conservative Washington-based think tank, appeared on the Glenn Beck Program recently to discuss the possibility of President Bush bombing Iran before the end of his term. Berman is the author of Tehran Rising: Iran’s Challenge to the United States and the director of […]
Irancove @ July 22, 2007 # No Comment Yet
In the following clip, CNN’s Glenn Beck reports on “Rescue the Nuke Scientist,” a new Iranian video game, which the game’s developers describe as a response to “Assault on Iran,” developed by US game developer Kuma War. According to their website, “Assault on Iran” is part of a “series of playable recreations […]
Irancove @ July 21, 2007 # No Comment Yet
According to the following report by CNN’s Anderson Cooper and Baghdad correspondent Michael Ware, the US is supporting Sunni militias as “a balance against the very government America created and has lost influence over.” Ware’s report suggests the possibility of a protracted proxy war between the US and Sunni Arab allies versus the elected […]
Irancove @ July 19, 2007 # No Comment Yet
David Miliband, Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs and Member of the British Parliament, was interviewed by the Financial Times in this article published July 8, 2007. Miliband confirms there is no evidence of Iranian involvement in attacks on British soldiers in Basra.
FT: What do you think of Iran’s complicity in […]
Irancove @ July 19, 2007 # No Comment Yet
The unclassified portion of The National Intelligence Estimate, a coordinated assessment of 16 US intelligence agencies, was released this week. In the report of approximately 770 words, Iran appears only once in the following sentence:
We assess Lebanese Hizballah, which has conducted anti-US attacks outside the United States in the past, may be more likely […]
Irancove @ July 18, 2007 # No Comment Yet
Farideh Farhi, adjunct professor of political science at the University of Hawaii-Manoa recently published a series of revealing articles in the Informed Comment Global Affairs website.
In Yet Another Election Kickoff in Iran Farhi comments on the preparations for the upcoming March 15 parliamentary elections in Iran:
Given the power of non-elective institutions – office of the […]
Irancove @ July 15, 2007 # No Comment Yet
On a July 10 press release on his website, Republican presidential hopeful Rudy Giuliani announced his foreign policy team members. Mentioned in the release are S. Enders Wimbush and Norman Podhoretz.
In this op-ed titled The End of Deterrence published by the Weekly Standard, Wimbush, a senior fellow at Hudson Institute and director of its […]
Irancove @ July 13, 2007 # No Comment Yet
According to recent press reports, Abu Omar al-Baghdadi, the leader of an al-Qaeda umbrella group in Iraq threatened war against Iran unless it stops supporting Shiites in Iraq.
Abu Omar al-Baghdadi, who leads the group Islamic State in Iraq, said his Sunni fighters have been preparing for four years to wage a battle against Shiite-dominated Iran.“We […]
Irancove @ July 12, 2007 # No Comment Yet
Fatemeh Keshavarz, professor of Persian Language and comparative literature and chair of the department of Asian and Near Eastern Languages and Literatures at Washington University, wrote the following critique on what she describes as the “literature of New Orientalism.”
Alluding to Edward Said’s influential work, Orientalism, Keshavarz surveys contemporary literary perspectives examining the established discourse on […]
Irancove @ July 11, 2007 # No Comment Yet
After three years of covering Iran, Frances Harrison the BBC correspondent in Tehran, is moving on. She reflects on her observations of Iranian politics and Persian culture in this BBC column.
But let me tell you about the subtle ways in which Iranians articulate their opposition.
This is not a culture where anyone says anything directly […]
Irancove @ July 10, 2007 # No Comment Yet
Michael Hirsh, former Foreign Editor and chief diplomatic correspondent for Newsweek, reflects on his recent 10-day visit to Iran with Joshua Hammer via blogginheads.tv. Hirsh describes a “gulf of misunderstanding” between perceptions of Iran and his observations hinting that part of this gap is due to the prolonged lack of diplomacy between the […]
Irancove @ July 9, 2007 # No Comment Yet
Fox and Friends, a show on FOX News reported on PressTV, the new 24-hour English language news network from Iran. Brian Kilmeade introduced Ghazal Omid, described as “a former Iranian” and author of Living in Hell to discuss PressTV.
Ghazal Omid: “You guys are not giving them the right chance to speak to whatever […]
Irancove @ July 7, 2007 # One Comment
Spencer Akerman at the TPM Muckraker reports on the opening of a new Iran Regime-Change Think Tank in Washington DC.
Meet Mahtaub “Mattie” Hojjati. A well-connected government and business consultant Hojjati is about to embark on a new career: revolutionary provocateur. She has two missions: to hasten the overthrow of the Iranian regime, and to convince […]
Irancove @ July 6, 2007 # No Comment Yet
Fox News reports on Iran’s possible involvement in the January raid on an American compound in Karbala. According to General Kevin Bergner, Iran’s Quds force cooperated with Hezbollah to train Iraqi Shiite militias outside of Tehran. Fox’s Jennifer Griffin reports Fox news obtained exclusive photos of the Iranian training camps from […]
Irancove @ July 5, 2007 # No Comment Yet
Michael Gordon reports on Iran’s alleged role in Iraq, including connecting Iran to a January raid on an American base in Karbala killing 5 American servicemen. Gordon coauthored, with Judy Miller, several discredited articles leading up to the war in Iraq including the influential September 2002 article on “WMD and aluminum tubes” which was […]
Irancove @ July 5, 2007 # No Comment Yet
PressTV, “the first international Iran-based news network to broadcast in English on a round-the-clock schedule” launched recently.
CNN reports that the “goal” of PressTV’s” is to “break the global media stranglehold of western outlets”. The PressTV website also lists the following as part of their vision:
• “To bridge cultural divisions pragmatically.”
• “To highlight the versatility […]
Irancove @ July 2, 2007 # No Comment Yet
This article by Farideh Farhi offers perspective to the decision to ration gasoline in Iran.
Proponents of economic sanctions against Iran immediately seized on the events as either a sign of sanctions working or a clue about Iran’s vulnerabilities that can be seized upon in order to pressure Iran further over its nuclear program. Both […]
Irancove @ July 2, 2007 # No Comment Yet
The following excerpt from TPMCafe’s Book Club contains analysis of Iran’s relationship with the United States including the exaggerated significance of Ahmadinejad in the Iranian power spectrum versus the belittling of former presidents like Khatami during his push for detente with the U.S.
Writing in National Review in 2003, Amir Taheri, the neoconservatives’ favorite Iran […]
Irancove @ July 2, 2007 # No Comment Yet
The article “U.S. sees Iran-Hezbolla link in Iraq” discusses Iran, and by extension, Hezbollah’s alleged role in Iraq with examples like the capture in Basra of Ali Musa Daqduq, who is reported as a Hezbollah operative.
However 6-7 paragraphs down, the article makes an abrupt leap from the subject of Iran and Hezbollah to U.S. […]