Irancove @ August 19, 2008 # No Comment Yet
Dedrick Muhammad and Farrah Hassen on the Christians United for Israel conference headed by John Hagee.
Even worse, according to the Congressman, “We find Iranians making inroads in South America with Bolivia and Venezuela. Iranians have no business in the Western Hemisphere.” The paranoia around Iran is so great that relatively small trade […]
Irancove @ August 19, 2008 # No Comment Yet
Gareth Porter on Pamela Hess’ “propaganda blast in the guise of an intelligence briefing” derived exclusively from a “senior intelligence offer” about Iranian hit-squad training:
Hess’ hit-squad training story should be assigned to journalism classes for the next generation to open a discussion about what went wrong with American journalism […]
Irancove @ August 18, 2008 # No Comment Yet
Speaking to FOX’s Chris Wallace about why McCain is a better choice for president, Senator Lindsey Graham equated Iran and al Qaeda.
GRAHAM: If you’d lost an Iraq, the biggest winner would’ve been Iran, the topic we’re talking about. They were ready to fill the vacuum of a failed state in Iraq, al Qaeda would’ve […]
Irancove @ August 17, 2008 # No Comment Yet
Report by the International Center for Journalists:
Iran is complex by anyone’s standards. Even journalists who have spent decades reporting on it struggle to understand it fully. Yet many Westerners think they know a lot about Iran because it shows up in the headlines so often.
The words and names people see—Ahmadinejad, nuclear, oil, veil, mullah—have become synonymous […]
Irancove @ August 16, 2008 # No Comment Yet
With no sense of irony, Swoop reports on the comments of a US administration official regarding Russia’s incursion into Georgia:
So long as Moscow now moderates its ambitions, our contacts suggest that Washington wants an early resolution of this episode. This will include forcefully persuading Georgia to accept a residual Russian presence in Georgia. Should Moscow […]
Irancove @ August 16, 2008 # No Comment Yet
Letter to Colin Powell from Ray McGovern.
Irancove @ August 16, 2008 # No Comment Yet
By Nader Bagherzadeh at Information Clearing House
16/08/08 “ICH” – — It is clear from recent articles in the Christian Science Monitor and the Los Angeles Times [1, 2] that the heated discussion during the five hours of the July 19th Geneva conference between Iran and P5+1 may have had a lot […]
Irancove @ August 16, 2008 # No Comment Yet
Mother Jones has the story:
And yet, while AEI’s in house team of foreign policy hands (Frederick Kagan, Danielle Pletka, etc.) has noticeably restrained itself from as aggressively publicly promoting a military option on Iran as might be expected, still it is home to those such as former US ambassador to the UN John Bolton who […]
Irancove @ August 16, 2008 # No Comment Yet
Media Matters on Jerome Corsi:
While the recent anti-Obama book by Jerome Corsi, The Obama Nation: Leftist Politics and the Cult of Personality (Threshold Editions), will debut atop the New York Times bestseller list, many in the media are challenging the book, noting its numerous falsehoods as well as its author’s track record, which includes a […]
Irancove @ August 16, 2008 # No Comment Yet
Retired Army Colonel and International Relations expert, Colonel Andrew J. Bacevich talking to Bill Moyers on the imperial presidency and national security state.
Irancove @ August 16, 2008 # One Comment
What is the value of an article full of ominous (but routine) charges thrown at Iran by a “senior US military intelligence officer” speaking on “condition of anonymity?” As a news item, can there be any substance or veracity to something so vague that it is impossible to prove, but ideologically consistent with the talking […]
Irancove @ August 15, 2008 # No Comment Yet
Mike Wallace wallows in self-congratulatory praise after receiving an Emmy for an interview he did with Ahmadinejad. The video was significantly cut to fit the ridiculously shallow and tired “crazy Iran” frame, which has now become so ubiquitous.
Watch:
Irancove @ August 15, 2008 # No Comment Yet
Comments by Fatemeh Keshavarz from Counter Punch:
Discussing the rising U.S. exports of cigarettes to Iran recently, Senator McCain joked, “Maybe that’s a way of killing them.” We have seen the unfortunate impact that Iran has on the Senator’s sense of humor before (the famous “Bomb, bomb, bomb” song). But this essay is not about Mr. […]
Irancove @ August 15, 2008 # No Comment Yet
Andrew Bacevich asks “is perpetual war our future?” at Tom Dispatch.
Bacevich will also be on PBS tonight to speak with Bill Moyers on American empire, militarism and its challenge to American democracy.
Andrew Bacevich, professor of history and international relations at Boston University, retired from the U.S. Army with the rank of colonel.
Irancove @ August 15, 2008 # No Comment Yet
Josh Marshall says:
John McCain says: “My friends, we have reached a crisis, the first probably serious crisis internationally since the end of the Cold War. This is an act of aggression.”
Let’s run-down the list. Iraqi invasion of Kuwait, followed by the US expulsion of Iraq from Kuwait. Collapse of Yugoslavia and subsequent wars of aggression […]
Irancove @ August 15, 2008 # No Comment Yet
by Dan Froomkin via Nieman Watchdog
The legendary newswoman is recovering from illness. But if she were in the White House briefing room, these are the questions she says she would be putting to spokeswoman Dana Perino.
The White House briefing room just isn’t the same without Helen Thomas, the ailing 88-year-old Hearst Newspapers columnist and Bush […]
Irancove @ August 14, 2008 # No Comment Yet
Via Eteraz…
Irancove @ August 14, 2008 # No Comment Yet
Fox and Friends on nuclear weapons, cocaine and proper apparel when addressing the UN:
Irancove @ August 13, 2008 # No Comment Yet
Stop War on Iran and Payvand:
As we write, the arrival of new U.S. warships will mark the largest build-up of Naval forces in the Gulf since the 1991 Gulf War.
The aircraft carriers USS Theodore Roosevelt and the USS Ronald Reagan, along with the USS Iwo Jima, an Amphibious Assault Ship are sailing toward the […]
Irancove @ August 13, 2008 # No Comment Yet
More on Afshin Molavi’s “Star Students of the Islamic Republic” in Newsweek:
Sharif’s reputation highlights how while Iran makes headlines for President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad’s incendiary remarks and its nuclear showdown with the United States, Iranian students are developing an international reputation as science superstars. Stanford’s administrators aren’t the only ones to notice. Universities across Canada and […]
Irancove @ August 13, 2008 # No Comment Yet
Peter Hirschberg on the complications of Israeli arms sales to Georgia:
Israel’s relations with Georgia have been close, partly because there is a large Georgian Jewish community in Israel. In recent years, ties have also taken on a military dimension, with military industries in Israel supplying Georgia with some US$200 million worth […]
Irancove @ August 12, 2008 # No Comment Yet
IRNA:
One of the best universities of the world is in Iran, the Newsweek weekly said in its latest edition, referring to Iran’s Sharif University of Science and Technology.
“Forget Harvard _ one of the world’s best undergraduate colleges is in Iran,” said the news weekly in an article appeared in its August 9 edition.
It said that […]
Irancove @ August 12, 2008 # No Comment Yet
Matt Yglesias responds to Reuel Marc Gerecht’s argument for bombing Iran. Gerecht says:
Although Iran’s growing democratic culture is unlikely to be stopped, and it’s pro-American disposition is unlikely to change unless Washington goes Scowcroftian and seeks to placate Tehran, a militant, dictatorial Islam remains strong among the country’s ruling elite. Unless the unexpected happens—some […]
Irancove @ August 11, 2008 # No Comment Yet
Condoleeza Rice according to the Jerusalem Post:
We don’t say yes or no to Israeli military operations. Israel is a sovereign country,” she said in response to a question from The Politico Web site as to whether she was concerned that America would be blamed in the case of an IDF attack on the Islamic Republic. […]
Irancove @ August 10, 2008 # No Comment Yet
A great article by Sadegh Kabeer of Eteraz Online at Antiwar:
The continuing frailty of US-Iran relations and the possibility of war
Last week Iran responded to the latest European proposal regarding its controversial nuclear program. The so-called Iran Six, however, were neither amused nor heartened by the proposal’s apparent […]
Irancove @ August 9, 2008 # No Comment Yet
Via NPR Watch:
Yesterday on ATC, Eric Westervelt’s piece on Iran might have well have been written by Dick Cheney or the Israeli Defense Forces. Consider these statements that formed the substance of the report:
Melissa Block: “….some Iranian leaders have called for Israel’s destruction….and Israel is within the reach of some Iranian missiles.”
Deputy Prime Minister Shaul […]
Irancove @ August 9, 2008 # No Comment Yet
The decision by Israeli Prime Minister Ehud Olmert to step down amid corruption allegations has left many questions in Israel and in the region. There are two main contenders to replace Olmert as leader of the Kadima party. The front-runner Tzipi Livni, is a former Mossad operative and current foreign minister. She was a protégé […]
Irancove @ August 9, 2008 # No Comment Yet
Bolton thinks that Israel can drop bombs on Iran’s nuclear facilities in Isfahan (population of about 2 million people), but Iran should think “very hard” about retaliating because that risks an Israeli “escalation.” American News Project attends a panel attended by neoconservative, Israeli linked warmongers like Bill Kristol asking about the potential catastrophic consequences […]
Irancove @ August 9, 2008 # No Comment Yet
Jim Lobe:
A military attack on Iran’s major nuclear facilities by the United States or Israel would likely result only in a delay – and not a particularly significant one at that – in Tehran’s ability to produce the fuel necessary to build a nuclear weapon, according to a report [.pdf] released Friday […]
Irancove @ August 9, 2008 # No Comment Yet
WaPo:
A military strike against Iran’s nuclear facilities would probably only delay the country’s progress toward nuclear-weapons capability, according to a study that concludes that such an attack could backfire by strengthening Tehran’s resolve to acquire the bomb.
The analysis by the Washington-based Institute for Science and International Security found that Iran’s uranium facilities are too widely […]
Irancove @ August 8, 2008 # No Comment Yet
Read John Pilger’s comments published in the Guardian below. Helen Cobban has more at Just World News.
The lies of Hiroshima live on, props in the war crimes of the 20th century
When I first went to Hiroshima in 1967, the shadow on the steps was still there. It was an almost perfect impression of a human […]
Irancove @ August 7, 2008 # No Comment Yet
A short documentary on the fate of Sadeq Hedayat’s personal belongings after his suicide is available here.
Preserving the Heritage of Sadeq Hedayat:
Sadeq Hedayat is considered to be one of the most original and creative Iranian writers of the twentieth century. His unusual imagination and penetrating criticism of society endeared him to many in Iran and […]
Irancove @ August 7, 2008 # No Comment Yet
Policy analyst Sarah Ong responds to a letter by Rep. Schakowsky and her continued support for the much criticized Resolution 362:
Representative Schakowsky’s position on H.Con.Res. 362 highlights an important point that is really missing from the discourse on this resolution. While many have focused their critique of the resolution on Clause 3, demanding that the […]
Irancove @ August 7, 2008 # No Comment Yet
Available here.
Near the steps of the Capitol building in Washington, American citizens and U.S. Congressional representatives took part in a special event using a row of 60’s-era red “hotline” telephones to talk directly to ordinary Iranians in Tehran, including a 60-year-old petroleum engineer, a software designer, a French literature professor and a high school student. […]
Irancove @ August 6, 2008 # No Comment Yet
Via Scoop:
Wednesday, 6 August 2008, 11:46 am
Press Release: Ad Hoc Group Against Israeli Attack on Iran
Press Release
Ad Hoc Group Against Israeli Attack on Iran
More than 100 hundred Israeli academicians and peace activists have signed the following declaration:
There is no military, political or moral justification to initiate war with Iran
A constant […]
Irancove @ August 6, 2008 # No Comment Yet
McCain’s bad council on Iraq and policy of war advocacy via The Real News:
Irancove @ August 5, 2008 # No Comment Yet
Nahid Siamdoust writes in Time:
When U.S. officials appeal to the Iranian people over the heads of its regime, they like to assume that Tehran’s defiance on the nuclear issue reflects only the extremist position of an unrepresentative revolutionary leadership. Plainly, they haven’t met Dr. Akbar Etemad, who ran the nuclear program of the Shah’s regime, […]
Irancove @ August 5, 2008 # No Comment Yet
By Farideh Farhi at the ICGA site:
What a strange pandemonium the confirmation hearings for Ahmadinejad’s three proposed candidates for the ministries of interior, economy and finance, and transportation turned out to be. Despite vociferous opposition to two of the candidates, all three were finally confirmed in a session publicly described by one deputy as “Isfahan’s […]
Irancove @ August 5, 2008 # No Comment Yet
Via Asia Times:
Iran heartened by India’s nuclear vote
By Kaveh L Afrasiabi
The United States-India civilian nuclear cooperation agreement has now been officially endorsed by the United Nations’ nuclear watchdog, the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA), which paves the way for its approval by the Nuclear Suppliers Group (NSG) - a […]
Irancove @ August 5, 2008 # No Comment Yet
New Book by Mohammad Gholi Majd: Great Britain and Reza Shah: The Plunder of Iran, 1921-1941
Using recently declassified U.S. State Department archives, Mohammad Gholi Majd describes the rampant tyranny and destruction of Iran in the decades between the two world wars in a sensational yet thoroughly scholarly study that will rewrite the political and economic […]
Irancove @ August 5, 2008 # No Comment Yet
The Daily News has the story on how the Bush Administration pressed FBI officials to blame the anthrax attacks on Saddam Hussein or al Qaeda despite all the evidence to the contrary.
After the Oct. 5, 2001, death from anthrax exposure of Sun photo editor Robert Stevens, Mueller was “beaten up” during President Bush’s morning intelligence […]
Irancove @ August 4, 2008 # No Comment Yet
A testament to the shoddy standards of Fox News via TPM:
Last week Fox News ran a story about how things were going so well in Fallujah that they’ve opened their first KFC franchise to keep the locals hooked up with quality Fried Chicken. They even got ret. Gen. Tommy Franks to comment on the great […]
Irancove @ August 4, 2008 # No Comment Yet
See Jim Lobe’s post.
See Pat Lang’s Post.
Irancove @ August 4, 2008 # No Comment Yet
Think Progress on manufacturing an incident to provoke Iran war:
Speaking at the Campus Progress journalism conference earlier this month, Seymour Hersh — a Pulitzer-Prize winning journalist for The New Yorker — revealed that Bush administration officials held a meeting recently in the Vice President’s office to discuss ways to provoke a war with Iran.
In Hersh’s […]
Irancove @ August 4, 2008 # No Comment Yet
Via WaPo:
Analysts speculate about the danger of a U.S. or Israeli military attack on Iran before the Bush administration departs office next January. But if you read the tea leaves carefully, the evidence is actually pointing in the opposite direction.
One sign that the diplomatic track is dominant for now is that the administration plans to […]
Irancove @ August 3, 2008 # No Comment Yet
Via Payvand:
Despite the expectation of easy passage, AIPAC’s controversial resolution is stalled in committee. The efforts of antiwar groups who mobilized messages of protest proved fruitful, but the debate over the use of military force in Iran is just beginning.
Ordinarily, the American Israel Policy Action Committee (AIPAC) has an influence on U.S. foreign policy way […]
Irancove @ August 3, 2008 # No Comment Yet
An interesting profile on Fox’s 24 and its conservative co-creator and executive producer Joel Surnow who considers the show “patriotic”—Excerpt:
“24,” which last year won an Emmy Award for Outstanding Drama Series, packs an improbable amount of intrigue into twenty-four hours, and its outlandishness marks it clearly as a fantasy, an heir to the baroque potboilers […]
Irancove @ August 2, 2008 # No Comment Yet
From Mehr News:
TEHRAN, 29 July (MNA)–”The US avoids negotiations and diplomacy” Influential American philosopher and author Noam Chomsky in an interview with Mehr News Agency said. There are some speculations on prospects of Iran-U.S. relations. Washington sent its senior diplomat William Burns to Geneva talks on July 19 to join European Union foreign […]
Irancove @ August 1, 2008 # No Comment Yet
by Spencer Ackerman at The Washington Independent:
In a roundtable Tuesday, Adm. William “Fox” Fallon, the former commander of U.S. forces in the Middle East ousted for dissenting from the Bush administration’s bellicose posture toward Iran, gave a rare public elaboration of his view of multilateral cooperation for security in the region. In one […]
Irancove @ August 1, 2008 # No Comment Yet
The recent squabble between notable neoconservatives publications and Time Magazine’s Joe Klein who recently spoke out against Jewish neoconservatives who helped promote the Iraq war and are now pushing an Iran agenda has been gathering momentum. Daniel Levy writes:
The Klein thesis shared by a great many commentators and analysts (this writer included) goes something like […]
Irancove @ July 31, 2008 # No Comment Yet
Via: NDTV
More than 100 non-aligned nations on Wednesday backed Iran’s right to peaceful uses of nuclear power - an endorsement that is key to Tehran in its standoff with the United Nations Security Council over its refusal to freeze uranium enrichment.
Support was expressed in a three-page declaration that drew heavily in phrasing on similar past […]
Irancove @ July 31, 2008 # No Comment Yet
Source: CASMII/PressTV
The following is Press TV’s exclusive interview with Iran’s envoy to the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) Ali-Asghar Soltaniyeh.
Mr. Soltaniyeh believes Western media mislead the international community over the issues surrounding Iran’s nuclear activities.
Press TV: Following a meeting on Thursday between the head of Iran’s Atomic Energy Organization and the IAEA chief, some […]
Irancove @ July 31, 2008 # No Comment Yet
by Scott Ritter
Scott Ritter is a former U.N. weapons inspector and Marine intelligence officer who has written extensively about Iran.
The war between the United States and Iran is on. American taxpayer dollars are being used, with the permission of Congress, to fund activities that result in Iranians being killed and wounded, and […]
Irancove @ July 31, 2008 # No Comment Yet
Courtesy of The Real News: Video of the annual Christians United for Israel (CUFI) meeting in Washington. “Brother Joseph” attends:
Irancove @ July 30, 2008 # No Comment Yet
Exceprt from George Monbiot at the Guardian:
Those who maintain that Iran’s purposes are peaceful clutch at the National Intelligence Estimate published by the US government in November. While it judged that Iran had halted its nuclear weapons programme in 2003, it saw the country’s civilian uranium programme as a means of developing “technical capabilities that […]
Irancove @ July 30, 2008 # No Comment Yet
Kenneth Timmerman, the Executive Director of the deceitfully named “Foundation for Democracy in Iran” published an article in the unreliable Newsmax, citing the remarks of William Graham (a key missile defense lobbyist) on the threat of a nuclear strike on the US by Iran. The article starts:
Iran has carried out missile tests for what […]
Irancove @ July 29, 2008 # One Comment
Ezra Klein reflects on the Neoconservatives who started the Iraq war and are now trying to start an Iran war:
I have now been called antisemitic and intellectually unstable and a whole bunch of other silly things by the folks over at the Commentary blog. They want Time Magazine to fire or silence me. This is […]
Irancove @ July 28, 2008 # No Comment Yet
Source: CASMII
On July 25, the Associated Press published a report by journalist George Jahn titled “Iran ends cooperation with UN nuclear arms probe”. [1] The story claimed to be based on comments by Gholamreza Aghazadeh, the head of Iran’s Atomic Energy Organisation in a press conference after meeting with the Director General of the IAEA, […]
Irancove @ July 28, 2008 # No Comment Yet
Anatol Lieven and Trita Parsi in the IHT:
Monday, July 28, 2008
The Bush administration’s decision to open direct contacts with Iran is to be welcomed, but precisely because it marks such a break with previous U.S. policy, it also carries a great danger. This is that hard-liners in the American and Israeli governments will treat […]
Irancove @ July 27, 2008 # No Comment Yet
Writing on the NPT, Bennett Ramberg implicitly promotes an Israeli strike on Iran for it’s nuclear energy program (according to US intelligence estimates and the IAEA, Iran does not have a nuclear weapons program). While there is no proof of an Iranian nuclear weapons program, Israel has an estimated stockpile of around 200 […]
Irancove @ July 27, 2008 # No Comment Yet
An American lawyer has offered to represent Iran in an international lawsuit against Israel and his own government in an effort to stop Washington and Tel Aviv from initiating further sanctions against Tehran.
Francis A. Boyle says following Washington’s latest ultimatum to Tehran to freeze uranium enrichment within two weeks or face further isolation, Iran needs […]
Irancove @ July 27, 2008 # No Comment Yet
Via Haaretz:
Former Mossad Chief Ephraim Halevy told Time magazine in an interview published Thursday that an Israeli attack on Iran “could have an impact on us for the next 100 years” and should only be considered as a last resort.
Irancove @ July 27, 2008 # No Comment Yet
Bolton’s rationale for helping Israel start a war with Iran:
“We will be blamed for the strike anyway, and certainly feel whatever negative consequences result, so there is compelling logic to make it as successful as possible.”
Irancove @ July 27, 2008 # No Comment Yet
Via Payvand:
Democratic candidate Barack Obama held a private session with Iranian-American donors before he started his Mideast tour, a report says.
The Obama campaign has held a fundraising forum - which was not on the Democrat’s public schedule and was closed to the press, ABC News reported Friday.
During his 15 minute speech on July 13, Senator […]
Irancove @ July 26, 2008 # No Comment Yet
Marguerite Del Giudice has an excellent, comprehensive article on Iran at National Geographic. I have reprinted the entire article below, but I highly suggest visiting the National Geographic site to see the pictures and take the Iranian Culture Quiz.
Persia: Ancient Soul of Iran
A glorious past inspires a conflicted nation
by Marguerite Del Giudice
What’s so striking […]
Irancove @ July 26, 2008 # No Comment Yet
According to Swoop:
The Administration’s decision to send Assistant Secretary of State William Burns to participate in the July 19th P5+1 meeting with Iran’s nuclear negotiator Saeed Jalili in Geneva signals Washington’s commitment to further diplomatic maneuvering. The decision is controversial inside the Administration. A National Security Council official told us: “Secretary Rice’s swift negative dismissal […]
Irancove @ July 26, 2008 # No Comment Yet
Source Payvand/Press TV:
A group of influential Democratic senators led by John Kerry has called for a ‘limited diplomatic presence’ of the United States in Iran.
In a letter to President George W. Bush, leading Democratic senators backed the idea of opening of a US interests section in Iran.
“A limited diplomatic presence in Iran would improve our […]
Irancove @ July 26, 2008 # No Comment Yet
Courtesy of Iran Times:
Levey to twist arms again: Stuart Levey is the under secretary of the Treasury who has spent much of the last two years trying to strong-arm foreign bankers into ceasing their business with Iran. Levey is off on another arm-twisting tour starting last Tuesday. Many analysts think Levey’s efforts, which started in […]