He thought the special effects were cool, but he liked Titanic better.

Ok, this picture was actually taken while he touring a laser-technology exhibit in Tehran the other day. But I bet he really has seen Avatar. Even the Pope saw it.

One of the MANY posters calling for peaceful "Green" protests on Feb. 11th in Tehran and other major Iranian cities. Please see the posters throughout this post as well as the link at the end of this post for many more.

Dear All,
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Greetings from Washington University in St. Louis…after a long delay. As those of you in academia know well, spring semesters are notorious for being busy. To attend to my teaching and departmental duties, the windows (e-mails and the blog) had be put on the back burner for a while.  I am happy to be back with a plan: to make the windows shorter so I can sustain them.
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While you not have had a chance to follow the details, the Green Movement has sustained itself in the face of much brutality from the government.
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* About two days away from celebrating the 31st anniversary of the Iranian 1979 Revolution, and as the government of Mr. Ahmadinejad (in deep financial and political trouble)  has invited the western press to witness, and report, the celebrations, we hear from Reporters without Borders that 65 Iranian reporters are in jail. This figure is unprecedented. Over a dozen of these reporters, whose fault is that they wish to report the events in Iran freely, were arrested in the past two days in anticipation of the “celebrations.”

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One of the MANY posters calling for peaceful "Green" protests on Feb. 11th in Tehran and other major Iranian cities. Please see the posters throughout this post as well as the link at the end of this post for many more.

Mr. Mousavi’s Daring Interview
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* Last week, for the first time, in an interview with the online magazine “Kalameh-i Sabz,” Mr. Mousavi suggested that the goals of the 1979 revolution for democratization of Iran have not been achieved and therefore, the revolution is incomplete. Furthermore, he said that “Religious despotism” is the worst kind of dictatorship. A group of us have praised his courage and expressed support for his position in an open letter (available here: Open Letter In Support of the Greens), which will be publicized shortly.  If you are an academic of Iranian heritage and would like to add your voice to ours please e-mail your willingness, name, and position to: drahni@optonline.net and please do so a.s.a.p.
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Two New Warnings for the Supreme Leader
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* As green Iranians prepare for a massive rally on Thursday, Feb. 11, two major religious figures, Ayatollah Mousavi Ardebili, and Hojat al-Islam Hashemi Rafsanjani warned the supreme leader, Ayatollah Ali Khamenei of the consequences of his actions. Both these political and religious authorities asked for immediate, and unconditional, release of political prisoners and suggested that Mr. Khamenei distances himself from extremists.

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Recommendation to the Green Marchers

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*A large number of posters and guide lines have been distributed in Iran over the past few days concerning the Thursday rally. The main points are:
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One of the MANY posters calling for peaceful "Green" protests on Feb. 11th in Tehran and other major Iranian cities. Please see the posters throughout this post as well as the link to the left for many more.

* Come out in large numbers! The foreign press is present and you will be safe.
* Do not wear clothes that make you conspicuous.
* Instead of shouting your slogans and possibly being arrested, write them down in public places.
* Don’t use any form of violence, verbal, or physical.
* Take as many pictures as you can.
* Do not take your green signs out until you are in the Azadi Square …or close.
* When Mr. Ahmadinejad begins to speak, take your green signs out, stand up and turn your backs to him.
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To see a nice selection of the posters, please click here February 11, 2010 Posters to see the power point slide show that I have prepared. It is not even a third of what is being distributed. I just did not want to make the file too large.
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Have a great day.

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Best,

Fatemeh

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===================================
Fatemeh Keshavarz, Professor and Chair
Dept. of Asian and Near Eastern Languages and Literatures
Washington University in St. Louis
Honorary Co-Chair, Iranians For Peace
Tel: (314) 935-5156
Fax: (314) 935-4399
==================================

February 11th is on the horizon and the Prince of Persia is saber rattling again. The Spiritual leaders as well are making an uproar that the ‘West’ will soon know…exactly what we’re not sure. There is always a steady stream of threats coming from Persia and it’s sister Countries of hate (Libya, Turkey, Syria, etc.). So why exactly is this season of threats any different than the last?

Hezbollah and Hamas have been rearming themselves since the last war with Israel. The previous incursion left them decimated physically but Israel bore the brunt of attacks from the Global Community which led the badly defeated Islamic Jihadists screaming victory. And in a manner of speaking because the Global Community backs the terrorists actions by attacking a sovereign country like Israel for defending itself, in essence it is a ‘victory’ for psychopathic Jihadists everywhere.

Syria has a pact with Iran to defend their respective countries in response to an Israeli attack. Turkey’s ties have been nearly completely severed with Israel, lending credence to the prophesied war of Ezekiel in which Turkey joins Persia in an attack on Israel. Russia is continuing to stunt the peace process, again in line with prophesy should you agree that Gog of Magog is referring to the North of Turkey,ie. Russia.

The United States has been beefing up military, navy presence in the Gulf in the event of attacks on their interests of course. This further fans the flame of Iran/Persia’s leaders who claim that the West is on the offensive to change the regime in Iran.

Each time the fervor in the Middle East grows I continue to watch and yet remain grounded in my faith in the Word of G-d. I take solace in knowing that the Sovereign Hand of G-d is in control of all things and is constantly working together each and every person, place, and thing to Glorify HIS name. One thing when you read the Prophesy of Ezekiel in chapters 38 & 39 all is done to exemplify and bring to Glory the name of the LORD G-d of Israel. He alone is the One True God.

Ezekiel 39:7

“My holy name I will make known in the midst of My people Israel; and I will not let My holy name be profaned anymore And the nations will know that I am the LORD, the Holy One in Israel.”

It’s an opportunity for those (and you) who don’t know Him yet as their (your) Savior, Messiah, to cry out to HIM….

‘Baruch ha ba ‘Shem Adoni’

translation: Blessed is He who comes in the name of the L-RD

What’s taking place now in Persia is a Green Revolution. A group of people who are crying…they want freedom and democracy from their oppressors, pray that they receive Yeshua Ha Mashiach/ The Messiah Jesus Christ as their Freedom and their true Salvation…

**Editors Note** for information on the latest activities in Israel and the Threats by Iran visit:
http://www.debka.com

Another interesting article: Northeast Intelligence Network: Reports the Iranian Shuttle launch could be a bigger threat than we realize…

Iran Green Movement promising big February protests / The Christian Science Monitor – CSMonitor.com.

Huckabee “Absolutely” Backs Drive to Bomb Iran

Kurt Nimmo
Infowars.com
February 8, 2010

Mike Huckabee, former Arkansas governor and Republican presidential candidate and now the darling who plays guitar on Fox News, wants to engage in mass murder.

Is Mike Huckabee really a psychopath or is he simply sucking up to the neocons?

“The U.S. should support an Israeli military strike against Iranian nuclear installations if the Jewish state, fearing diplomacy has failed, ultimately takes that course of action, stated former Arkansas governor and Republican presidential candidate Mike Huckabee,” reports WorldNetDaily.

Asked whether the U.S. should support an Israeli strike, Huckabee replied, “Absolutely.”

“We’ve got to remember that for Iran, Israel is not the primary target. The United States is. They see [Israel] as certainly an enemy,” Huckabee said. Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad said Huckabee “has made clear that he would like to wipe them off the face of the earth.”

In fact, Ahmadinejad never said this. “Imam [Khomeini] said: This regime that is occupying Qods [Jerusalem] must be eliminated from the pages of history,” the Iranian leader said.

Not that it matters. The neocons — and Huckabee is a neocon — will repeat discredited lies and invent fabrications in order to attack Iran. Supposed Tea Party luminary Sarah Palin also supports the idea of slaughtering Iranian school children and grandmothers.

“True to form, she is, so far, the only politician willing to touch the hot potato of the political implications of bombing Iran,” writes the Muslim hater Daniel Pipes for the neocon house organ, the National Review Online, the web version of the magazine founded by CIA operative Bill Buckley (the “conservative” worked for the CIA’s covert Special Activities Division). The magazine is so popular it has lost $25 million over 50 years, according to Buckley.

It should be noted that Tea Party Sarah also writes for the National Review and NRO. She is apparently right at home with other contributors from the American Enterprise Institute, the criminal organization that played an instrumental role in the invasion of Iraq (current death toll over a million people).

Is Mike Huckabee really a psychopath or is he simply sucking up to the neocons?

I guess we will have wait for the war crimes trial after the U.S. attacks Iran to find out.

And while the world watched the Super Bowl (Go Saints) a couple of US Navy Cruisers entered the Persian Gulf. Apparently, two Israeli Cruisers are already dispatched. My intelligence is not that good, but they may be there already. Check out the article here.

The American presence is to supposedly stop an Israeli strike. Read this article by Jeremy Corbyn, a British Labour MP, in the Morning Star. Corbyn observes, among other things, ‘Obama’s decision to place patriot missiles in the United Arab Emirates, Qatar, Bahrain and Kuwait in addition to deploying two cruisers to the Persian Gulf is, we’re expected to believe, designed to discourage Israel from making a unilateral attack on Iran’.

Personally, I struggle with these additional bases being a way to discourage an attack. I’d be convinced if they were pointed at Israel. And no, I’m not saying the US should attack Israel. I simply can’t see where the leverage is in this line of thinking. ‘We’ll put all these additional missile bases in range of Iran to stop an attack on Iran by Israel’? That’s a big ‘What the Fuck?’ question for me.

It sounds to me more as if the US is ready to strike and use an excuse that they are protecting their friends. Very noble and pass the oil wells please.

Far greater minds than mine speculate on potential outcomes. Iran has plenty of oil and we know America loves a country with plenty of oil. Sometimes they love countries that have no oil, but that’s just a real estate decision. The oil pipe lines to the sea need to go somewhere, right? It’s where the biggest fight is happening at the moment. It’s the place where Obama is sending all the troops when he promised to bring them home.

Is it just me? Or does anyone else have the feeling that Osama Bin Laden is likely living in a presidential suite in some seven star Balinese resort? How many hundreds of thousands of people will die in the search to find him?

So, the outcomes? China rely heavily on Iranian Oil. Having a new supplier with a new pricing deal may not be what China is looking forward to. I know I get pissed off if we have an electricity blackout at home that lasts a minute. A petrol strike pisses off a lot of people… when they happen. But cutting off over a billion people from their major supply of oil? Well, we don’t need to worry about Chinese tanks running out of gas. My view is much worse.

I can always add 1 +1 and get three. So in the spirit of bad addition, is it possible that China’s race to the moon, that they are reportedly winning (reported on this morning’s today show), might more likely be a race to knock out communication satellites? What, no phones? No TV? No internet? What if we can’t even google when the bad guys are expected on our doorstep? Fuck, I won’t even be able to text the guy next door. I may be forced to talk with someone! Even shout… “here come the bad guys, one two three!”

Who will benefit most from a lack of communication? That’s easy. The bad guys! Who are the bad guys? We’ll that’s not so easy.

Russia would probably love nothing more than to be a bystander, watching China and the US go at it over a country that may already have become the world’s largest radio active car park. The Ruskies are broke and their life expectancy is declining. Picking up the scraps may give them something to live for. Stock up on the Vodka comrades, a party is brewing!

What about the neighbors? Well, the Iranian neighbors mostly have US bases in them already. Could they be getting some of the spoils? Who knows? I sure don’t! Maybe they are just getting the right to hang around a little longer. It’s a strange democracy.

106,000,000 American people watched the Super Bowl on Sunday. How many know about the cruisers in the Persian Gulf? Yep, I thought so. Break out the stars and stripes… are we about to be deluded … again?

Watch for an Iranian announcement by that Iranian President, Mahmoud Ahmadinejad, the guy who managed to do a gain an entry visa for tour of the USA a short while back. I get stopped and searched at every airport, once being physically man handled, but that’s because I’m a US citizen. I don’t count. Tick, tick, tick…. What price Gold and Silver on Feb 12th? And beyond?

Fat Bastard, Thinking there’s a shit fight brewing…- out!

Really? Who would have thought that? After all these long years, I mean.

It must have been those tricky Avatar 3D glasses that finally tipped the Germans off.

Westerwelle told Deutschlandfunk radio that Iran would be judged by its actions and not by its words, and that only a serious return to negotiations would prevent further measures such as sanctions being imposed on the Islamic Republic.

Defiant Iran set to begin higher enrichment of uranium.– Iran will begin enriching uranium to 20 percent from Tuesday, the Islamic republic’s atomic chief announced on Sunday just hours after being told to do so by hardline President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad.

The decision raises the stakes in a dispute with the West less than a week after Iran had appeared to accept a UN-drafted nuclear deal on the supply of fuel for a research nuclear reactor in Tehran.

Osama bin Laden

Although he’s been in the terrorist business for several decades, Osama bin Laden has been a household name only for the last decade. The events of 9/11 should ensure that he will be remembered as one of history’s great villains. Only nine months into the millennium (which started January 1, 2001, not 2000) he became the century’s first Bad Guy, scoring a respectable .62 on the Hitler Scale, the internationally recognized standard for rating bastards.

But, except for one unlucky day, he’s been largely a failure, receiving more attention than he deserves and far more credit than he deserves.

bin Laden heads up al Qaeda, the latest version of the Gang that Couldn’t Shoot Straight. He had one day (or what Andy Warhol would refer to as one’s “15 minutes of fame”) that was spectacular but the rest of his ‘mission’ has been pretty much a bust. On September 11, 2001 al Qaeda managed to kill just under 3000 people and injure 6000. But other than that one day, his successes (if measured by body counts) have been modest, paling in comparison to Chairman Mao, North Korea’s Kims, Pol Pot, Stalin and, of course, Hitler).

Some of the more famous body counts:

Stalin — 20-30 million
Hitler —15 million
Mao — 40 million
Pot —2 million (20% of Cambodia’s population)
Kims — millions (who knows?)

(The above figures are widely debated; the point is that even the minor players like the Kims and Pot make bin Laden look pretty lame).

bin Laden sort of took responsibility for the botched underwear bomber attack, a month after it happened. Apparently Abdulmutallab was trained at a bin Laden al Qaeda franchise operation in Yemen, albeit rather poorly. Like the inept shoe bomber, Richard Reid, Abdulmutallab scared the shit out of a lot of people but really didn’t do much damage. If Abdulmutallab is the best bin Laden can turn out these days, it’s time for him to retire before he jeopardizes his election into the Villains’ Hall of Fame.

Mahmoud Ahmadinejad

Let’s retire bin Laden. Take him off the top of the FBI’s 10-most-wanted list and quit putting up his picture every time we need a stock photo of a terrorist mastermind.

The guy to worry about these days is Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad. He’s working on building nuclear weapons; he working on long-range missiles; and, he’s fucking crazy. Now that’s a terrorist.

DO YOU REMEMBER HOW WE USED TO TALK ABOUT cancer? People were afraid to mention it out loud, as though by saying the word and recognizing its existence that somehow that would give it credence, or power allowing it to more fully enter our lives. I remember being with others and talking about an ill relative, and if what that person had was cancer, 1) you would likely not get a clear answer about that was wrong, or 2) if you got an answer the person providing it would whisper the word. “What is wrong with Uncle Joe?” “He has cancer” would be the reply, with the word cancer being supplied in barely audible tones. You almost never got any specifics, describing prostate cancer, or pancreatic cancer, or bowel cancer, and the reason was not TMI, as the term is often applied today, rather the reason was ignorance and fear. (For those of you of an older generation TMI means too much information, I checked with my daughter.)

People were and many still are terrified of cancer and perhaps rightfully so. At the time a diagnosis of cancer was almost an automatic death sentence, and while today there are still many forms of cancer that are often fatal, there is a great deal more that can be done to provide treatment and hope, possibly a cure or at least remission. The ignorance and fear surrounding cancer at the time did no one any good and it may have caused many deaths. By not openly dealing with the issues, and encouraging people to get examinations and screening many cancers went undiagnosed until they were in advanced stages. For instance, even today some will hesitate to talk about a colonoscopy, as though having a doctor shove a tube up your rear to check for cancer is inappropriate or embarrassing. I got news for you, if all I have to do to save my life is allow a doctor to shove a tube up my rear, …well where can I get in line?  

Ignorance and fear still surround us and this pattern of not dealing with uncomfortable or what is deemed as socially unacceptable topics shows up in the public discourse, in private conversations, not to mention in our workplaces and in other organizations to which we belong.

Don’t ask. Don’t Tell. The policy of discharging gays from the military if they disclose that they are gay immediately springs to mind, as though by not asking about it, and encouraging gays not to discuss it, to live a lie, that somehow they are not really there and the topic can simply be avoided. There have been gays in the military ever since there was a military, and this anachronistic policy changes nothing, only trying to hide what statistically has to have been true.

Each year in the Super Bowl there is a competition to see who can come up with the most attention grabbing advertising. Beer ads are plentiful, as are ads showing very attractive, scantily clad women, others show animals that try to steal your heart. This year an ad was deemed as pushing the envelope just too far. Two men were to be seen eating potato chips out of a bowl and when their hands touch they recognize how much they mean to each other. The ad was for a homosexual on-line dating service. CBS declined to run the ad that they felt stepped over the line (I have to wonder which line). Perhaps they don’t want people having to admit that homosexual men might be drawn to watch the most macho of sports – would that make the sport less attractive to heterosexuals? Or perhaps if the viewing audience sees that two men are attracted to each other that they run the risk of destroying family values of those watching the show, as though touting the benefits of beer drinking or how little clothing women should wear to make themselves attractive would not. Certainly seems a bit hypocritical to me.

All of this can be roughly compared to Ahmadinejad, when he says there are no gays in Iran, for whatever reason his twisted mind deems that necessary. Do we really want to be comparable to his logic that if we don’t admit a thing it is not true? That is like agreeing with him that Iran is pursuing nuclear capability for peaceful purposes only. Only if you define peaceful purposes as being able to intimidate or destroy your neighboring countries so you can do whatever you so choose peacefully, without anyone opposing you.           

Within organizations, sometimes those uncomfortable topics are financially related, with organizations viewing poor financial performance as something to be hidden, playing “hide the weenie” with employees, customers and investors. Perhaps thinking to buy a little more time, and allowing the financial issue to just work itself out. Product defects can be inappropriately handled as well by a failure to disclose or discuss. All you have to do is contrast Toyota’s handling its stuck accelerator issues with how Johnson & Johnson handled their Tylenol troubles. Other times the issue may deal with an individual manager who while having a lousy track record on the people side, may have a track record on the financial side of making the numbers, so let’s not deal with the people issues, regardless of the impact on individual’s lives. Transparency in organizational functioning, especially given today’s flows of information is one critical component of organizational success.  

There is an old story coming out of Spain, at the time of the inquisition, of a physician, who prior to leaving on a several week trip to see an ill patient, brings his newlywed bride out behind the barn.  Standing by the manure pile, she asks him not to go on the dangerous trip, for what would become of her if he was killed on the perilous journey. When he indicated that as a doctor he must go, she asks that she accompany him, so as not to separate themselves from each other for such an extended period of time. He indicates that the trip is just too dangerous and in order to demonstrate his love for her he shows her what is under the manure pile.

At the time, rarely did one count on institutions to provide any kind of personal or financial protection. Banks did not exist and the FDIC was not even a glimmer in someone’s eye. The safest place, thought this physician, for his family’s fortune was buried under the manure pile, a place where no one would look. In my head this story could have taken two distinct paths. One path was that as soon as the physician had left on his journey, a band of marauders, or perhaps those from the inquisition would come upon the house and upon seeing the lone female would ransack the place. Finding no treasure they would ask themselves where the most unlikely place that someone would hide their treasure, and it would not take too long before some said “I know, let’s look under the manure pile, for the physician would have thought that no one would look there”. Another possible ending was that the Physician would return safely and the couple could continue to leave their fortune buried under the manure pile safe and sound. Of course keeping your treasure buried under the manure pile doesn’t really do you much good does it?

Institutions, organizations, or people that simply keep their treasures buried under the manure pile never get to utilize those treasures to benefit their own organizations, lives or the lives of others. The gay translator in the military who is discharged, does not get to translate the message that could save hundreds perhaps thousands of lives. They gay soldier who leads a contingent that secures a neighborhood or saves his platoon from an ambush is simply not there. The gay football fan or player cannot enjoy life as openly as you or I do. Customers are left wondering about the safety of their automobiles and whether they should take the family out visiting friends, as they ponder the honesty and openness of the manufacturer and whether the problem will truly be fixed. Employees are sent a message that only the financial performance of the organization matters, and if their life is a living hell because of a supervisor, well that is just not that important to the organization’s senior management. They should bury their concerns if they really cared and are loyal to the organization. Is it any wonder why employee loyalty withers?  

Human nature makes it expedient to sometimes bury the uncomfortable, those things that some of us might find difficult to discuss or acknowledge and by not being forthright we sometimes buy a little time in not dealing with painful or personally embarrassing issues. But a question that consistently returns is what is lost by keeping your treasures buried under the manure pile?     

© 2010 by Jeffrey M. Saltzman. All rights reserved.

PBT Palestinian Bogus Terminology

PPT Palestinian Propaganda Terminology

The “Palestinian propaganda” greased by Arab oil & boosted up by terrorizing the west, has been “busy” for decades by producing bombastic phrases, terms in order to slur the democratic ‘Jewish’ state, ranging from plain ridiculous to simply outrageous lies.

The first more noticeable attempt (in the 1970’s) by the Arab Muslim infested anti-Jewish bigotry was to coin [instead of the outside world declaring the truth about this intolerant society, about: racism of Arabism or the bigotry of Islamism] the outrageous phrase: Zionism – racism. Using its oil & market power insinuating to other (mainly African & Asian) nations that “they better get along”, they have been poisoning the international atmosphere with “the new Anti-Semitism.”

With time, some PPT terms have become “acceptable” as in ‘Arab lobby money buying writers,’ enter: Carter… (Jimmy Carter and the Arab Lobby, How Arab money fuels Carter’s hate),‘example, what anti-Israel Apartheid Arab world has coined on democratic multi-racial, pluralistic Israel & its fight for survival as: “apartheid”, even though J. Carter admitted on CNN that Israel is really an equal free to all democracy (I recognize that Israel is a wonderful democracy with freedom of speech and equality of treatment under the law between Arab Israelis and Jewish Israelis.” [CNN, June 12, 2006]) and that his intention of using that radical language was ONLY to bring attention (I use the word provocative not in a negative sense, but just to provoke debate and to provoke discussion [CNN, June 11, 2006]), yet, the damage was done.

Ridiculous as it sounds, the “last” word in the baloon language is no less but: “genocide”, (heck yea, forget the real genocide today by racist Arabs in the Sudan, or the ongoing open declarations by Arab Muslim “resistance” leaders to wipe off Israel, but rather) every failed attack on Israeli civilians is considered a “massacre” and if it’s a few in one season it is conveniently called: “genocide”, the intent is clear, to shock! As the Arab Muslim backed dictator in Venezuela “does what he is told”, he (in the anti-terror op. in Gaza) accused Israel’s government of “genocide” when IDF was “fed up” with 8 years of Arab “Palestinian” Hamas attacking Israeli kindergartens with missiles while recently in Gaza using Arab women & children as human shields which –naturally– cause deaths (Synagogue attack stokes Jewish fears that Chavez is inspiring anti-Semitism in Venezuela, Venezuela’s Jews Fear More Attacks – ABC News ).

Or in the power grab by the Eurabia-immigrants, Arab Muslim militant “activists” getting a hold on Malmo Sweden – so strongly that in order to “have” their support the mayor of Mamlo had to say some really stupid things. (Malmö: Muslim antisemitism, Mayor of Malmo, Sweden: Zionism is Racism, Jews flee Malmö as anti-Semitism grows) as Arab racism & Islamic Anti-semitism burns in Sweden – causing ethnic cleansing of Jews

By Elijah Craig

Years of Warmongering

In recent weeks, the United States has undertaken a series of measures to once again reaffirm its hostile and antagonistic policies towards the Islamic Republic of Iran. Earlier in January, the US Senate approved further sanctions against Tehran, and in February, the United States deployed scores of offensive ballistic missiles to its bases in the Persian Gulf under the pretext of “defending” neighboring Arab states from an alleged Iranian missile strike.

These latest manifestations of US hostility towards the Islamic Republic should come as no surprise when taken in consideration of Washington’s aggressive stance towards Tehran for the last 30 years.

History of the Islamic Republic
Iran has long been the object of imperialist desires, namely due to its massive oil reserves. While once previously enjoying privileged access to Iran’s immense oil wealth, Western imperialist states have since been effectively cut off, the result of the events following the successful Islamic Revolution in 1979, bringing about the overthrow of the US-and-British-backed Pahlavi regime, and the establishment of the Islamic Republic of Iran.

The Islamic Revolution brought about a resurgence of Iranian nationalism which didn’t bode well for Western economic interests. In a short time, the Islamic Revolution resulted in sweeping reforms and reversals of the policies of the notorious Shah monarchy, such as the nationalization of key sectors and industries of the Iranian economy, including the immense petroleum industry.

Since then, little has changed in the imperialists’ approach towards the so-called “Iran Question,” which remains committed to bringing about “regime change” in Iran in order to facilitate the coming to power of a more complicit and staunchly pro-Western government.

But short of declaring an openly aggressive military confrontation with the Islamic Republic of Iran, the US warmongers, in collaboration with Great Britain, France, Germany and the Zionist regime in occupied Palestine, have sought alternative tactics in achieving their overall strategic objectives. These “soft war” tactics, as they’ve been termed on numerous occasions, rely chiefly on economic, psychological and diplomatic intrigue in order to undermine Iranian national sovereignty and independence.

Western Aggression Against Iran Yesterday & Today
The US has historically served as the chief antagonist of the Iranian nation in terms of the application of severe punitive sanctions against the Iranian economy. Since 1979, the United States has proposed, sponsored and lobbied for far-reaching sanctions within both the framework of the United States legislature as well as the United Nations Security Council. Some of the most notorious sanctions include the Iran and Libya Sanctions Act (ILSA) of 1996 (later changed to the ‘Iran Sanctions Act’ when it was renewed by the US Congress in 2006), which aimed to restrict US and non-US firms from making investments in Iran with contracts worth more than $20 million. This further develops the sweeping trade embargo restrictions in place since 1979.

In addition to its attempts to weaken Iran through economic isolation, the US and its imperialist allies have worked clandestinely and outside the frameworks of international law to provide critical support to enemies of the Islamic Revolution, including exiled terrorist organizations with Monarchist links, such as the Iran Royal Association, as well as degenerate elements of the so-called “opposition” inside Iran, led by defeated Presidential candidate, Mir Hossein Mousavi. In fact, under the administration of US President George W. Bush, the White House requested an astonishing $400 million from the US Congress in 2007 to expand anti-government covert operations inside Iran, the details of which were a closely guarded secret kept from the public by administration officials. The Obama administration has equally adopted a hostile and provocative approach to intervening in Iranian internal affairs, not at all dissimilar from his predecessors, despite the President’s previous remarks alleging a so-called desire for “change” in US-Iranian relations.

Man Behind the Curtain: the Iranian “Protests”
In the last year alone, the US has played a particularly malignant role in attempting to upset political stability in Iran, including instigating and providing key support to anti-government rioters following the re-election of Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad in June 2009. In the aftermath of the election, US officials came out publicly in support of the riots, consisting largely of petty-bourgeois students and the reformist-minded intelligentsia, and were involved in encouraging anti-government dissent to the point of promoting violence.

In an interview later, US Secretary of State Hilary Clinton confirmed that US operatives abroad had indeed supported the so-called “green revolutionaries,” but only after several leading figures involved in the riots were arrested and later found to have links to hostile enemy foreign intelligence services, including those of Britain, the United States, the Zionist regime and France. Likewise, Iranian security organs added that members of the British embassy had been directly involved in propagating rebellion and counter-revolutionary violence through secret meetings with leaders of the Mousavi-led opposition.
Similar evidence of the US’ direct role in instigating violence and political disarray in the Islamic Republic of Iran has surfaced on numerous occasions just in the last six months alone, including:

- The US-sponsored Jundullah organization, which has long maintained close links to the US’ Central Intelligence Agency, carried out a deadly bomb attack in southeastern Iran in October 2009, responsible for killing as many as 42 people.
- In January 2010, US and Zionist foreign intelligence services were reportedly involved in the assassination of a leading Iranian nuclear physicist, who was killed with an explosive device outside his home in the capital, Tehran.

- US and British foreign intelligence operatives, as well as German diplomatic officials, were implicated in instigating the blasphemous riots in Tehran during the occasion of the Ahsura Day mourning in January 2010.

- In 2009, US President Obama signed into law the so-called “Victims of Iranian Censorship Act,” (VOICE), which allocates millions of US tax-dollars to funding Persian-language anti-Iranian propaganda broadcasts in the Middle East.

Aggression is Stepped Up
But imperialist intrigues against the Islamic Republic have also manifested on the official diplomatic plane, too. Over the last several years, Washington, London and Tel Aviv have led a crusade to undermine Iran’s peaceful nuclear energy program, accusing Tehran of allegedly constructing a nuclear weapons program for which it intends to launch a nuclear missile against the Zionist regime in occupied Palestine. Such preposterous claims have been central to the international conspiracy to isolate and further weaken Iran in order to force it to subject itself to Western influence and domination.

At the heart of this deceitful propaganda is the object of creating conditions favorable for launching military aggression against Iran. In recent years, the coordinated efforts of the imperialist-Zionist lobby have worked diligently to manipulate the international community into believing the alleged “threat” posed by a nuclear-powered Iran, despite all evidence to the contrary. In fact, on more than a dozen occasions over the last three years, the leading international nuclear regulatory agency, the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA), has reported that Iran’s uranium enrichment program has been, and continues to be, at levels necessary for a nuclear energy program, and not those needed for the construction of a nuclear war-head.

Nonetheless, Washington and Tel Aviv, with the assistance of private lobbyist groups such as AIPAC (American Israel Public Affairs Committee) and the complicit bourgeois mass-media, continue to attempt to influence official bodies, national governments into adopting a hostile attitude towards the Islamic Republic, without a doubt in order to generate sympathy towards the eventual undertaking of aggressive military action in Iran by leading Western powers.

For the imperialist warmongers, the question of Iran is not rested on “if” hostility breaks out, but “when.” Short of achieving their objectives through other “soft” means, history has shown, and all available evidence confirms, that when the circumstances are favorable, the US and its allies will attempt to wage aggression against the peoples of the Islamic Republic of Iran. The only solution to this outstanding threat, is the necessary unity of the Iranian peoples in defending their sovereignty and independence against the imperialism and Zionism.

Mild character bashing of possibly the most powerful Latin American leader today.  Call him anything you like but don’t call him poor today. As a child, Chavez was so dirt poor to the extent of not having shoes to go to school. From his mediocre upbringing in the midst of hardcore poverty was sowed much of fearsome anxiety from which Chavez derives his strengths to overcome obstacles. As a former communist rebel who idolises Fidel Castro and Che Guevara, Chavez’s sees himself as the voice of Latin America. And indeed Chavez is long on talk and not short on singing too, as Barbara Walters would attest.

Early in his military service, Chavez honed his skills at gathering sympathy even from within the army for his beliefs, one of which was to thwart any American attempt to usurp Venezuelan resources. Many remembered him for his open support for the rebels who he was tasked to suppress; as an instructor he converted his own students into conspiring with him. His long and unwieldy road to overthrowing the corrupt ‘empire’ as he called it was due partly to the lack of respect given to him by senior officers who distrusted Chavez enough for him to be slowly promoted. Jailed in 1991 for leading a failed coup attempt against the government, Chavez emerged from detention in 1994 to be hailed by Venezuela’s poor masses as their saviour against systemic corruption that had oppressed them for decades. However, Chavez’s rule has not been immuned from criticisms of corruption and nepotism which Chavez blames on US manipulation.

Venezuela is second only to Saudi Arabia in oil reserves. Chavez boasts that he is presiding over a country with 300 billion barrels in reserve, though most of it is hard oil which requires much technology and investment. Chavez knows he has the upper hand in the Latin America hemisphere when it comes to oil though most of it is processed in the US. And that power he unabashedly wields amongst his OPEC counterparts, swaying together with any anti American Islamic sentiments when the call arises.

A master political strategist and expert spin doctor, Chavez has managed to successfully hoodwinked his opponents’ attempts to overturn him politically by seizing the moments in the media when it suited him and silencing it when necessary. Though born poor, Chavez is no scrooge when it comes to winning friends amongst the politically misaligned or misunderstood. No stranger to the power of money, Chavez knows money buys friendship which why he is a big benefactor to countries like Iran, Cuba, China, Bolivia, Russia, Nicaragua and maybe even North Korea if the connection fits. The only South American countries that have clearly fallen out of favour with Chavez are Colombia and Puerto Rico. But why make so many friends with policies that mostly irk his most powerful northern neighbour? One of the reasons is that Chavez is seeking to transform the USA economic and social demographics the best he can. And he has the comrades to show for it amongst well heeled politicians and Hollywood celebrities in the US.

For the moment, the US administration has been relatively quiet on Senor Chavez despite the authors’ strong warnings on the impending dangers of an new axis of evil encircling the USA comprising of Venezuela, Cuba and Russia.  Or unlike the Bush administration, the Obama administration knows too well that still oil runs very deep?  Por Ahora.

Additional articles and reports from the past week
“Much Traction from Measured Steps: The Iranian Opposition, the Nuclear Issue, and the West“ (Washington Institute for Near East Policy)
Patrick Clawson argues that Western leaders and Iran’s opposition Green Movement should take modest steps toward supporting one another’s interests in order to pressure Tehran on the nuclear issue and human rights.

“An Analysis of Multiple Polls of the Iranian Public“ (World Public Opinion)
World Public Opinion outlines their methodology and explains their conclusions that President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad’s reelection may have been legitimate and that the majority of Iranians, including the majority of supporters of Mir Hossein Mousavi, do not seek regime change. Their research indicates that support for dialogue and nuclear talks with the US was not limited to Mousavi supporters.

“Opposition hardens line in Iran”
Despite their conciliatory tone in recent weeks, Green Movement leaders issued harsh criticisms of the regime. Mousavi stated that the “roots of tyranny and dictatorship remain” (AFP, New York Times), while Mohammad Khatami called Supreme Leader Ali Khamenei’s support for a single political faction “a betrayal of Ayatollah Khomeini, the revolution and Islam” (Rooz).

“Quadrennial Defense Review“ and “Ballistic Missile Defense Review“ (US Department of Defense)
The US Department of Defense outlines their perceptions of the Iranian missile threat.