Press TV reports that Iran’s Majlis (parliament) speaker says an Iraq-US security pact would have dire consequences for the Iraqi nation and regional states. Under the proposed security agreement, American troops will be able to legally stay in Iraq for three more years after a UN mandate allowing their military presence on Iraqi soil expires on December 31. The Iraqi parliament is scheduled to vote on the controversial treaty on
Amazing article in Ha’aretz today. Check this one out (my comments added in blue): Defense establishment paper: Golan for Syria peace, plan for Iran strike By Barak Ravid A defense establishment paper recommends making contingency plans to attack Iran, reaching an agreement with Syria that includes leaving the Golan Heights and preventing new elections in the Palestinian Authority, even if this means a confrontation with the United States. The paper
First, let me point you to some other analyses about the SOFA: Juan Cole,Robert Dreyfuss, Stratfor and Pepe Escobar. Reading through these analyses I amazed that nobody seems to be very concerned about the fact that the final text has still not been leaked. It will, probably before the end of the week, but for the time being everybody is commenting mostly on the basis of what can only be
Press TV reports: The President of Iraq’s Kurdistan local government has warned of a ‘civil war’ if Baghdad refuses to sign a security agreement with the US. “If the pact is not signed, the situation in the country may deteriorate to the point of a civil war,” Voices of Iraq news agency quoted Masoud Barzani as saying at a press conference on Wednesday. Barzani had earlier said his region will
It is with great joy that I am publishing the first article in a series on a topic which is practically *never* seen anywhere: the Shia point of view on the events in the larger Middle-East. This is something of a pet project of mine every since I got involved, more than a decade ago already and quite by chance (the Middle-East never was my formal area of expertise), in
There are increasing signs that the USraelian Empire is trying to negotiate some kind of deal with the Taliban including their chief, Mullah Omar. Some are rejoicing at this development seeing it as a way to finally get the US out of Afghanistan. I would agree with such optimistic hopes if the issue was only getting the US out of Afghanistan, but there is far more at stake here than
Press TV reports: The Russian Foreign Minister, Sergei Lavrov, has defended the formation of an organization of gas-exporting countries similar to OPEC. Iranian Oil Minister Gholam-Hossein Nozari, his Qatari counterpart Abdulla Bin Hamad al-Attiya and the head of Russia’s Gazprom, Alexei Miller, had a Tuesday meeting in Tehran in which the three countries vowed to seriously pursue the formation of an OPEC-like gas group. Lavrov told journalists on Wednesday that
Press TV reports: The US has granted citizenship to 16 leading members of the blacklisted Mujahedin Khalq Organization (MKO), an Iraqi security official says. The official told Fars news agency that the MKO members who were given US citizenship were directly engaged in acts of terror against Iranians and the Iraqi people. According to the security official, the terrorists, who had earlier exited Camp Ashraf, were reportedly transferred to a
by Gilad Atzmon for Palestine Think Tank Truth must be said, I do admire fierce President Ahmadinejad almost as much as I despise war criminal Shimon Peres. However reading the rant Peres gave Wednesday during the UN’s General Assembly is a rather amusing experience. The man who has more blood on his hands than any living Israeli politician was rather daring. “The Iranian people are not our enemies,” declares Peres.
Thanks to Information Clearing House even somebody like me, who does not even own a TV, can sometimes watch a TV show of some interest. This was the case today when I sat down and watched the interview of Iranian President Ahmadinejad on Larry King Live. I must admit that I had high expectations. After all “Larry King” (his real name is: Lawrence Harvey Zeiger) is a very intelligent and
By Kaveh L Afrasiabi for the Asia Times Bolivian President Evo Morales is in Tehran this week, ushering in a new chapter in his country’s economic and strategic cooperation with the Islamic Republic of Iran, which has promised a hefty investment in Bolivia’s energy sector and other joint ventures, some involving other Latin and Central American countries, such as Venezuela and Nicaragua, not to overlook Cuba. In a joint communique,
Press TV reports: Bolivia’s President Evo Morales says his official visit to Iran aims at raising Tehran-La Paz political relations to a much higher level. In a meeting with Iran’s President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad, Bolivia’s visiting president pointed to the two countries’ opposing stance against imperialism and said that his visit is ‘a symbol of unity and solidarity among Iranian and Bolivian nations.’ “In addition to promoting political relations, this visit
Press TV reports: Iran’s President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad has said the Georgian crisis can be solved by the regional countries without any foreign interference. “The regional countries are able to resolve the issue if countries from outside the region do not interfere in the case,” Ahmadinejad said in a press conference in Dushanbe, Tajikistan on Thursday. “The Islamic Republic enjoys a friendly relation with all the regional nations and has deep
Dave Kaiser AHN Two additional U.S. Navy aircraft carriers are on their way to the Gulf and the Red Sea, according to Kuwait Times. Kuwait began finalizing its “emergency war plan” on being told the vessels were bound for the region. The U.S. Navy will neither confirm nor deny that carriers are currently en route. U.S. Fifth Fleet Combined Maritime Command located in Bahrain said it could not comment because
Note: I usually do not post materials from the corporate press on this blog, much less so one coming from, of all things, from the Time/CNN cesspool. Still, this article was mailed to be my a friend (thanks M.!) and it is interesting. Take a look (my comments are italicized): The Mystery Behind a Syrian Murder By Nicholas Blanford / Beirut Syria on Wednesday broke its silence over the recent
(thanks to Alex P. for this story) A Think Progress Exclusive 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 most recent article, he reports that this meeting occurred in the wake
by Philip Giraldi for the American Conservative The Benny Morris op-ed in the NYT last Friday should provide convincing evidence that Israel really really really wants an attack against Iran sooner rather than later. Morris is close to the Israeli government and his case that Iran must be bombed soon and with maximum conventional weaponry to avoid using nukes later was clearly intended to push the United States to do
by Scott Ritter for Truthdig There can no longer be any doubt about the consequences of any U.S. and/or Israeli military action against Iran. Armchair warriors, pundits and blustering politicians alike have been advocating a pre-emptive military strike against Iran for the purpose of neutralizing its nuclear-related infrastructure, as well as retarding Iran’s ability to train and equip “terrorist” forces on Iranian soil before dispatching them to Iraq or parts
Check out there interview here: http://antiwar.com/radio/2008/07/12/scott-ritter-5/ (download sound file here: http://dissentradio.com/radio/08_07_11_ritter.mp3 ) An absolute must listen!
Press TV reports that Iran says its Armed Forces would target the heart of Israel and 32 US bases before the dust settles from an attack on the country. “If the enemy was confident that it would emerge victorious from an attack on Iran, they would not put it off for even another day,” an aide to the Leader of the Islamic Revolution, Mojtaba Zolnoor said on Saturday. Today, through
