Mojahedin MKO MEK now a legalised terror group

[karlos]

In 2001 the MKO which is largely based in Paris but financed from the UK was declared a Terrorist organisation by the UK government.
The MKO carries out terror attacks in Iran and engages in people trafficking.
Now shockingly, we have declared the MKO's activities legal.

http://www2.irna.ir/en/news/view/line-22/0805083292010946.htm

Iranian Foreign Ministry Spokesman condemned London Appeal Court's verdict to remove MKO from the list of terrorist groups and called the verdict politically motivated without legal basis and a sign of double standards of the UK government on the issue of terrorism.

According to Foreign Ministry Media Department on Wednesday, the spokesman, by referring to the former stances of UK senior officials on terrorist nature of the MKO, said, "The London judicial officials should respond to British and world public opinion, especially Iranians, about the reason of issuing such a verdict."
Mohammad Ali Hosseini added, "Vast terrorist acts of the Mojahedin Khalq Organization( MKO) against Iran's people and officials are clear and the UK by removing their name from the list of terrorist groups is helping promotion of terrorism and violence."

http://www.rawstory.com/news/mochila/Iran_says_to_sue_U_S_Britain_over _m_05122008.html

Iran says to sue U.S., Britain over mosque blast

REUTERS
Reuters US Online Report Top News

May 12, 2008 12:36 EST

TEHRAN (Reuters) - Iran's judiciary said on Monday it would file international lawsuits against the United States and Britain, accusing them of providing financial support to those behind a blast in a mosque that killed 14 people.

Iran's intelligence minister last week said Iran had arrested five or six members of a terrorist group with links to Britain and the United States who he said were involved in the explosion that also wounded 200 in the southern city of Shiraz.

Iranian officials had previously said the April 12 blast, during an evening prayer sermon by a prominent local cleric, was caused by explosives left over from an exhibition commemorating the 1980-88 Iran-Iraq war.

Judiciary spokesman Ali-Reza Jamshidi told state television the terrorists behind the bombing were agents of the U.S. and British governments in Iran.

"The relationship of those who planted the bombs in Shiraz with the U.S. and Britain was identified and they were being financially supported and in fact they acted as foreign agents in Iran," he said.

"In view of the documents obtained the judiciary in cooperation with the government and the Foreign Ministry will file lawsuits with international authorities against their supporters, who on the one hand claim to fight terrorists and on the other hand provide them with equipment," he said.

He was clearly referring to Britain and the United States, but did not give details on how Tehran would take legal action against them.

Iran has in the past accused the two countries of trying to destabilize the Islamic Republic by supporting rebels, mainly those in sensitive border areas.

Tehran's accusations over the mosque blast echo allegations U.S. officials have made about Iranian support for militias in Iraq that have fought U.S. and U.S.-backed government forces there, accusations Tehran denies.

Iran and the United States are also at odds over Tehran's nuclear program, which Washington suspects is aimed at making bombs. Iran says its program is for producing electricity.

Security is normally tight in Iran and bomb attacks have been rare in recent years. Several people were killed in 2005 and 2006 in blasts in a southwestern province.

Shiraz is a southern city with more than one million inhabitants and is a popular tourist destination.

[karlos]

http://en.rian.ru/russia/20080515/107445632.html

Russia takes measures to protect its facilities and citizens in Iran

MOSCOW, May 15 (RIA Novosti) - Russia is taking steps to ensure the safety of its facilities and citizens in Iran following reports of a planned terrorist attack on the Russian consulate in Rasht, the Foreign Ministry said on Thursday.

Iran said on Wednesday it had arrested a terrorist group that planned to blow up the Russian consulate building in the town of Rasht near the Caspian Sea.

"The Russian Foreign Ministry and the Russian Embassy in Tehran, in cooperation with the Iranian authorities, are taking additional security measures to ensure the safety of Russian citizens and facilities in Iran," the ministry said in a statement.

"This terrorist network, with links to the U.S., planned an explosion at the Russian consulate in Rasht, aiming to create a rift between Iran and its neighbors," Qolam Hosein Mohseni-Ejei was quoted by Fars news agency as saying on Wednesday.

The minister, speaking at a session of Iranian prosecutors, did not provide any details of the operation, but Russia's charge d'affaires in Iran, Alexei Dedov, told RIA Novosti that according to local authorities at least 20 people linked to the foiled attack had been arrested.

Moscow and Tehran enjoy warm relations amid the pressure from the West on Iran over its controversial nuclear program. Russia is a key economic partner of Iran, and is building the country's first nuclear power plant in Bushehr.

Shortly before leaving office, Putin signed a decree implementing UN Security Council Resolution 1803 imposing new sanctions against Iran over its refusal to halt uranium enrichment. However, the three rounds of sanctions so far imposed against Iran have been relatively mild, due to Russia and China's refusal to accept harsh reprisals against the Islamic Republic.

Looks like the CIA/Mossad are stepping up the insurgency campaign. By killling Russians in Iran the plan would be to create a rift between the allies. Much in the same way they have done in Lebanon, Iraq and elsewhere.

[karlos]

Link

[karlos]

http://www.mkowatch.com/

In 2002 Britain froze the UK assets of the MKO

http://www.payvand.com/news/02/jan/1116.html

London, Jan 29, IRNA -- The UK government has put in place measures to freeze the funds of 34 groups, including the Mujahedin e-Khalq Organisation (MKO), suspected of involvement in financing of terrorism, Treasury Minister Ruth Kelly has confirmed.
"The government are committed to the fight against terrorism and since the events of September 11 have led by example in issuing asset freeze lists against individuals and organisations," Kelly told parliament on Monday.

UN Resolution 1373, issued on September 28 last year, calls on states to freeze the funds and financial assets of persons or entities involved in terrorism.

The Treasury Minister said that the UK was implementing the resolution against its list, which included the MKO, where there were "reasonable grounds to suspect that an organisation is involved in the financing of terrorism."

"The government will not hesitate to meet their international obligations by freezing their assets," she said.

Last December, Britain's Charity Commission reported that after a two year investigation it was unable to trace some £5 million a year of funds collected by Iran Aid, a charity suspected of links with the MKO terrorist group.

The investigation came after Iran Aid was dissolved following a two year siege of its offices, that were illegally occupied in north London.

The MKO, which has carried out frequent terrorist attacks in Iran for two decades from its base in Iraq, was proscribed by the UK as a terrorist group early last year.

http://www.presstv.com/detail.aspx?id=61204&sectionid=351020601

However, now it looks like the funds have been released.

Dont forget in 2002

[Mark Gobell]

From the Iran Policy Committee's mission statement:

[TonyGosling]

Kissinger fascists' MKO still up to their dirty tricks
Subject: Habilian Association - Weekly Newsletter (January 24, 2016)
http://www.habilian.ir/en/

Sunday, 24 Jan 2016,

In this report:

* ˜US needs help to disentangle from Syrian misadventures"
* Habilian SG meets with FM spokesperson
* The terrorism dialectic and control of the public mind
* Victims of MEK terror; from Iran to Iraq
* MKO member assassinates teacher, IRGC member in Qazvin
* MKO kills 150 Iranians in one single month
* Iranians are almost uniformly dismissive of MKO
* Habilian exhibition at Ayatollah Hasheminejad university of Mashhad
* Exhibition on the sidelines of Birjand’s Friday prayers
* Exhibition at the Islamic Azad University of Bojnourd
* Martyr Mohammad-Bagher Hosseini-Lavasani
==========================================================> â€
˜US needs help to disentangle from Syrian misadventures’

A Beirut-based commentator and analyst covering Middle East geopolitics says Saudi Arabia and Israel were desperate to strike a blow at Iran’s further international 'rehabilitation'.

==========================================================

> Habilian SG meets with FM spokesperson
Iranian Foreign Ministry spokesperson acknowledged Habilian Association’s measures in acquainting the world with Iran as one of the great victims of terrorism in the world.

==========================================================

> The terrorism dialectic and control of the public mind

For twelve years now the United States government paradoxically employs terrorism to justify its global “war on terror” before the domestic population...

==========================================================

> Victims of MEK terror; from Iran to Iraq

Mujahedin e-Khalq organization (MEK, MKO, NCRI) is beilieved to be responsible for assassination of more than 12000 Iranian civilians. As well as its eastern neighbor, Iraq is also a victim of MEK’s countless crimes...==========================================================

> MKO member assassinates teacher, IRGC member in Qazvin

The Mujahedin-e Khalq terrorist group has claimed responsibility for the assassination of a teacher and an IRGC member by one of its members during two weeks in September 1981 in the city of Qazvin. The MKO terrorist group made the confession in...

==========================================================>
MKO killed 150 Iranians in one single month

The Mujahedin-e Khalq terrorist group has claimed responsibility for the murder of 150 Iranian people during December 1981 in Tehran...
==========================================================
> Habilian exhibition at Ayatollah Hasheminejad university of Mashhad

The 2 week-long exhibition was organized by Habilian Association and hosted by Ayatollah Hasjheminejad University of Mashhad.
==========================================================>
Exhibition on the sidelines of Birjand’s Friday prayers
Habilian Association organized another one of its exhibitions this time on the sidelines of South Eastern city of Birjand’s Friday prayers.
==========================================================>
Exhibition at the Islamic Azad University of Bojnourd Aimed to enlighten the young generation of Iranian people on the deviated groups with enmity against the Islamic Republic of Iran, an exhibition was set up by Habilian Association at the Islamic Azad University of Bojnourd, located in the Northern Khorasan province of Iran.==========================================================>
Martyr Mohammad-Bagher Hosseini-LavasaniMohammad Bagher Hosseini Lavasani was born in a religious family in Tehran on February 12, 1944 and went to school until he got his Diploma from Darolfonoon high school.
==========================================================

[Whitehall_Bin_Men]

New Cold War: Simultaneously, Russia and America Conduct Major War Games
By Michel Chossudovsky
Global Research, October 16, 2007
http://internationalnews.over-blog.com/categorie-10199595.html

There has been a virtual media blackout on the conduct of major military exercises by both Russia and the US. .

Reminiscent of the Cold War, Russia and America are conducting major war games simultaneously.

The Russian Air Force will be conducting major military exercises over a large part of its territory from the 16th to the 30th of October.

These Russian exercises coincide chronologically with the conduct of major US sponsored war games under Vigilant Shield 08, which are slated to take place from the 15th to the 20th of October.

VS-08 was preceded by major naval exercises under Pacific Shield 07 hosted by Japan, involving the participation of Australia, France, New Zealand, Singapore, the UK, and the US.

President Vladimir Putin announced in August that Russia would be resuming long-range bomber flights over the Pacific, Atlantic and Arctic oceans for the first time since the breakup of the Soviet Union. (Associated Press, October 1, 2007). Moscow's resolve was in response to US-NATO threats directed against Russia including the militarization of Eastern Europe and the Balkans.

The US exercise code named Vigilant Shield 2008 (VS-08 is casually presented as an "anti-terrorist drill". While under the joint auspices of the Pentagon and the Department of Defense, US Northern Command in liaison with NORAD is in charge of the operation.

VS-08 includes a massive deployment of the US Air Force and Canada's Air Force. It resembles a war-time scenario with the deployment of bombers and fighter jets over the entire North American continent extending into the Arctic.

Meanwhile in the Pacific, military exercises are being held in Guam under the VS-08 imitative. Parallel US-Philippines sponsored war games are slated to commence in the Philippines archipelago on the 16th of October, "involving nearly 3,500 troops from specialized forces from the two countries."

In what visibly appears to be a confrontational scenario, the Russian war games commence one day after the launching of the US sponsored VS-08.

Russian strategic bombers Tu-160, Tu-95 and Tu-22M3, and Il-78 aerial tankers "will conduct flights over the Arctic region, the Atlantic and the Pacific oceans, and the Black Sea, with simulated bombing raids and firing of cruise missiles at testing grounds in northern and southern Russia," Colonel Alexander Drobyshevsky said." (RIA Novosti).

Part of these Russian war games will be conducted in the Arctic, within proximity of US and Canadian territory (Alaska and Canada's Arctic).

"Moscow announced in mid-August that regular patrol flights by strategic bombers had been resumed, and would continue on a permanent basis, with patrol areas including commercial shipping and economic production zones.

The U.S. administration expressed concern about the resumption of patrol flights by Russian strategic bombers.

"I think the rapid growth in Russian military spending definitely bears watching," U.S. Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice said in an interview with ABC News on October 14.

"And frankly, some of the efforts - for instance, Bear flights in areas that we haven't seen for a while - are really not helpful to security." (RIA Novosti)

Over the last several months, Russia has been conducting warplane exercises around Alaska. In the course of last Summer, Russian bombers staged a number of exercises in what is described as "a buffer zone outside U.S. air space", within proximity of Alaska. According to a NORAd spokesman,

"U.S. and Canadian fighter jets, including F-15s, were dispatched each time to escort the Russian planes in the exercises, which ranged from two to six aircraft,...

VS-8 is based on a scenario of confrontation with Russia and China.

In August, under the auspices of the Shanghai Cooperation Organization (SCO), Russia and China joined hands in the conduct of major war games. Code-named "Peace-Mission 2007", the exercises were held in the Volga region of Russia as well as in the Urumqi region of Western China.

The url address of this article is:
www.globalresearch.ca/PrintArticle.php?articleId=7098
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PostPosted: Sat Nov 17, 2007 12:15 am Post subject: The Sino-Russian Alliance Reply with quote Edit/Delete this post Delete this post View IP address of poster
The Sino-Russian Alliance: Challenging America's Ambitions in Eurasia
by Mahdi Darius Nazemroaya
http://www.globalresearch.ca/index.php?context=va&aid=6688

Global Research, September 23, 2007
- 2007-08-26

“But if the middle space [Russia and the former Soviet Union] rebuffs the West [the European Union and America], becomes an assertive single entity, and either gains control over the South [Middle East] or forms an alliance with the major Eastern actor [China], then America’s primacy in Eurasia shrinks dramatically. The same would be the case if the two major Eastern players were somehow to unite. Finally, any ejection of America by its Western partners [the Franco-German entente] from its perch on the western periphery [Europe] would automatically spell the end of America’s participation in the game on the Eurasian chessboard, even though that would probably also mean the eventual subordination of the western extremity to a revived player occupying the middle space [e.g. Russia].”

-Zbigniew Brzezinski (The Grand Chessboard: American Primacy and Its Geostrategic Imperatives, 1997)

Sir Isaac Newton’s Third Law of Motion states that “for every action there is an equal and opposite reaction.” These precepts of physics can also be used in the social sciences, specifically with reference to social relations and geo-politics.

America and Britain, the Anglo-American alliance, have engaged in an ambitious project to control global energy resources. Their actions have resulted in a series of complicated reactions, which have established a Eurasian-based coalition which is preparing to challenge the Anglo-American axis.

Encircling Russia and China: Anglo-American Global Ambitions Backfire

“Today we are witnessing an almost uncontained hyper use of force — military force — in international relations, force that is plunging the world into an abyss of permanent conflicts. As a result we do not have sufficient strength to find a comprehensive solution to any one of these conflicts. Finding a political settlement also becomes impossible. We are seeing a greater and greater disdain for the basic principles of international law. And independent legal norms are, as a matter of fact, coming increasingly closer to one state’s legal system. One state and, of course, first and foremost the United States, has overstepped its national borders in every way.”

-Vladimir Putin at the Munich Conference on Security Policy in Germany (February 11, 2007)

What American leaders and officials called the “New World Order” is what the Chinese and Russians consider a “Unipolar World.” This is the vision or hallucination, depending on perspective, that has bridged the Sino-Russian divide between Beijing and Moscow.

China and Russia are well aware of the fact that they are targets of the Anglo-American alliance. Their mutual fears of encirclement have brought them together. It is no accident that in the same year that NATO bombarded Yugoslavia, President Jiang Zemin of China and President Boris Yeltsin of Russia made an anticipated joint declaration at a historic summit in December of 1999 that revealed that China and the Russian Federation would join hands to resist the “New World Order.” The seeds for this Sino-Russian declaration were in fact laid in 1996 when both sides declared that they opposed the global imposition of single-state hegemony.

Both Jiang Zemin and Boris Yeltsin stated that all nation-states should be treated equally, enjoy security, respect each other’s sovereignty, and most importantly not interfere in the internal affairs of other nation-states. These statements were directed at the U.S. government and its partners.

The Chinese and Russians also called for the establishment of a more equitable economic and political global order. Both nations also indicated that America was behind separatist movements in their respective countries. They also underscored American-led amibitions to balkanize and finlandize the nation-states of Eurasia. Influential Americans such as Zbigniew Brzezinski had already advocated for de-centralizing and eventually dividing up the Russian Federation.

Both the Chinese and Russians issued a statement warning that the creation of an international missile shield and the contravention of the Anti-Ballistic Missile Treaty (ABM Treaty) would destabilize the international environment and polarize the globe. In 1999, the Chinese and Russians were aware of what was to come and the direction that America was headed towards. In June 2002, less than a year before the onslaught of the “Global War on Terror,” George W. Bush Jr. announced that the U.S. was withdrawing from the ABM Treaty.

On July 24, 2001, less than two months before September 11, 2001, China and Russia signed the Treaty of Good-Neighbourliness and Friendly Cooperation. The latter is a softly worded mutual defence pact against the U.S., NATO, and the U.S. sponsored Asian military network which was surrounding China. [1]

The military pact of the Shanghai Treaty Organization (SCO) also follows the same softly worded format. It is also worth noting that Article 12 of the 2001 Sino-Russian bilateral treaty stipulates that China and Russia will work together to maintain the global strategic balance, “observation of the basic agreements relevant to the safeguard and maintenance of strategic stability,” and “promote the process of nuclear disarmament.” [2] This seems to be an insinuation about a nuclear threat posed from the United States.

Standing in the Way of America and Britain: A “Chinese-Russian-Iranian Coalition”

As a result of the Anglo-American drive to encircle and ultimately dismantle China and Russia, Moscow and Beijing have joined ranks and the SCO has slowly evolved and emerged in the heart of Eurasia as a powerful international body.

The main objectives of the SCO are defensive in nature. The economic objectives of the SCO are to integrate and unite Eurasian economies against the economic and financial onslaught and manipulation from the “Trilateral” of North America, Western Europe, and Japan, which controls significant portions of the global economy.

The SCO charter was also created, using Western national security jargon, to combat “terrorism, separatism, and extremism.” Terrorist activities, separatist movements, and extremist movements in Russia, China, and Central Asia are all forces traditionally nurtured, funded, armed, and covertly supported by the British and the U.S. governments. Several separatist and extremist groups that have destabilized SCO members even have offices in London.


SCO

Iran, India, Pakistan, and Mongolia are all SCO observer members. The observer status of Iran in the SCO is misleading. Iran is a de facto member. The observer status is intended to hide the nature of trilateral cooperation between Iran, Russia, and China so that the SCO cannot be labeled and demonized as an anti-American or anti-Western military grouping.

The stated interests of China and Russia are to ensure the continuity of a “Multi-Polar World.” Zbigniew Brzezinski prefigured in his 1997 book The Grand Chessboard: American Primacy and the Geostrategic Imperatives and warned against the creation or “emergence of a hostile [Eurasian-based] coalition that could eventually seek to challenge America’s primacy.” [3] He also called this potential Eurasian coalition an “‘antihegemonic’ alliance” that would be formed from a “Chinese-Russian-Iranian coalition” with China as its linchpin. [4] This is the SCO and several Eurasian groups that are connected to the SCO.

In 1993, Brzezinski wrote “In assessing China’s future options, one has to consider also the possibility that an economically successful and politically self-confident China — but one which feels excluded from the global system and which decides to become both the advocate and the leader of the deprived states of the world — may decide to pose not only an articulate doctrinal but also a powerful geopolitical challenge to the dominant trilateral world [a reference to the economic front formed by North America, Western Europe, and Japan].” [5]

Brzezinski warns that Beijing’s answer to challenging the global status quo would be the creation of a Chinese-Russian-Iranian coalition: “For Chinese strategists, confronting the trilateral coalition of America and Europe and Japan, the most effective geopolitical counter might well be to try and fashion a triple alliance of its own, linking China with Iran in the Persian Gulf/Middle East region and with Russia in the area of the former Soviet Union [and Eastern Europe].” [6] Brzezinski goes on to say that the Chinese-Russian-Iranian coalition, which he moreover calls an “antiestablishmentarian [anti-establishmentarian] coalition,” could be a potent magnet for other states [e.g., Venezuela] dissatisfied with the [global] status quo.” [7]

Furthermore, Brzezinski warned in 1997 that “The most immediate task [for the U.S.] is to make certain that no state or combination of states gains the capacity to expel the United States from Eurasia or even to diminish significantly its decisive arbitration role.” [8] It may be that his warnings were forgotten, because the U.S. has been repealed from Central Asia and U.S. forces have been evicted from Uzbekistan and Tajikistan.

“Velvet Revolutions” Backfire in Central Asia

Central Asia was the scene of several British-sponsored and American-sponsored attempts at regime change. The latter were characterised by velvet revolutions similar to the Orange Revolution in Ukraine and the Rose Revolution in Georgia.

These velvet revolutions financed by the U.S. failed in Central Asia, aside from Kyrgyzstan where there had been partial success with the so-called Tulip Revolution.

As a result the U.S. government has suffered major geo-strategic setbacks in Central Asia. All of Central Asia’s leaders have distanced themselves from America.

Russia and Iran have also secured energy deals in the region. America’s efforts, over several decades, to exert a hegemonic role in Central Asia seem to have been reversed overnight. The U.S. sponsored velvet revolutions have backfired. Relations between Uzbekistan and the U.S. were especially hard hit.

Uzbekistan is under the authoritarian rule of President Islam Karamov. Starting in the second half of the 1990s President Karamov was enticed into bringing Uzbekistan into the fold of the Anglo-American alliance and NATO. When there was an attempt on President Karamov’s life, he suspected the Kremlin because of his independent policy stance. This is what led Uzbekistan to leave CSTO. But Islam Karamov, years later, changed his mind as to who was attempting to get rid of him.

According to Zbigniew Brzezinski, Uzbekistan represented a major obstacle to any renewed Russian control of Central Asia and was virtually invulnerable to Russian pressure; this is why it was important to secure Uzbekistan as an American protectorate in Central Asia.

Uzbekistan also has the largest military force in Central Asia. In 1998, Uzbekistan held war games with NATO troops in Uzbekistan. Uzbekistan was becoming heavily militarized in the same manner as Georgia was in the Caucasus. The U.S. gave Uzbekistan huge amounts of financial aid to challenge the Kremlin in Central Asia and also provided training to Uzbek forces.

With the launching of the “Global War on Terror,” in 2001, Uzbekistan, an Anglo-American ally, immediately offered bases and military facilities to the U.S. in Karshi-Khanabad.

The leadership of Uzbekistan already knew the direction the “Global War on Terror” would take. To the irritation of the Bush Jr. Administration, the Uzbek President formulated a policy of self-reliance. The honeymoon between Uzbekistan and the Anglo-American alliance ended when Washington, D.C. and London contemplated removing Islam Karamov from power. He was a little too independent for their comfort and taste. Their attempts at removing the Uzbek President failed, leading eventually to a shift in geo-political alliances.

The tragic events of Andijan on May 13, 2005 were the breaking point between Uzbekistan and the Anglo-American alliance. The people of Andijan were incited into confronting the Uzbek authorities, which resulted in a heavy security clampdown on the protesters and a loss of lives.

Armed groups were reported to have been involved. In the U.S., Britain, and the E.U., the media reports focused narrowly on human rights violations without mentioning the covert role of the Anglo-American alliance. Uzbekistan held Britain and the U.S. responsible accusing them of inciting rebellion.

M. K. Bhadrakumar, the former Indian ambassador to Uzbekistan (1995-1998), revealed that the Hezbut Tahrir (HT) was one of the parties blamed for stirring the crowd in Andijan by the Uzbek government. [9] The group was already destabilizing Uzbekistan and using violent tactics. The headquarters of this group happens to be in London and they enjoy the support of the British government. London is a hub for many similar organizations that further Anglo-American interests in various countries, including Iran and Sudan, through destabilization campaigns. Uzbekistan even started clamping down on foreign non-governmental organizations (NGOs) because of the tragic events of Andijan.

The Anglo-American alliance had played its cards wrong in Central Asia. Uzbekistan officially left the GUUAM Group, a NATO-U.S. sponsored anti-Russian body. GUUAM once again became the GUAM (Georgia, Ukraine, Azerbaijan and Moldava) Group on May 24, 2005.

On July 29, 2005 the U.S. military was ordered to leave Uzbekistan within a six-month period. [10] Literally, the Americans were told they were no longer welcome in Uzbekistan and Central Asia.

Russia, China, and the SCO added their voices to the demands. The U.S. cleared its airbase in Uzbekistan by November, 2005.

Uzbekistan rejoined the CSTO alliance on June 26, 2006 and realigned itself, once again, with Moscow. The Uzbek President also became a vocal advocate, along with Iran, for pushing the U.S. totally out of Central Asia. [11] Unlike Uzbekistan, Kyrgyzstan continued to allow the U.S. to use Manas Air Base, but with restrictions and in an uncertain atmosphere. The Kyrgyz government also would make it clear that no U.S. operations could target Iran from Kyrgyzstan.


CSTO

Major Geo-Strategic Error

It appears that a strategic rapprochement between Iran and America was in the works from 2001 to 2002. At the outset of the global war on terrorism, Hezbollah and Hamas, two Arab organizations supported by Iran and Syria, were kept off the U.S. State Department’s list of terrorist organizations. Iran and Syria were also loosely portrayed as potential partners in the “Global War on Terror.”

Following the 2003 invasion of Iraq, Iran expressed its support for the post-Saddam Hussein Iraqi government. During the invasion of Iraq, the American military even attacked the Iraqi-based Iranian opposition militia, the Mujahedin-e Khalq Organization (MEK/MOK/MKO). Iranian jets also attacked the Iraqi bases of the MEK in approximately the same window of time.

Iran, Britain, and the U.S. also worked together against the Taliban in Afghanistan. It is worth mentioning that the Taliban were never allies of Iran. Up until 2000, the Taliban had been supported by the U.S. and Britain, working hand in glove with the Pakistani military and intelligence.

The Taliban were shocked and bewildered at what they saw as an American and British betrayal in 2001 — this is in light of the fact that in October, 2001 they had stated that they would hand over Osama bin Laden to the U.S. upon the presentation of evidence of his alleged involvement in the 9/11 attacks.

Zbigniew Brzezinski warned years before 2001 that “a coalition allying Russia with both China and Iran can develop only if the United States is shortsighted enough to antagonize China and Iran simultaneously.” [12] The arrogance of the Bush Jr. Administration has resulted in this shortsighted policy.

According to The Washington Post, “Just after the lightning takeover of Baghdad by U.S. forces three years ago [in 2003], an unusual two-page document spewed out of a fax machine at the Near East bureau of the State Department. It was a proposal from Iran for a broad dialogue with the United States, and the fax suggested everything was on the table — including full cooperation on nuclear programs, acceptance of Israel and the termination of Iranian support for Palestinian militant groups.” [13]

The White House impressed by what they believe were “grand victories” in Iraq and Afghanistan merely ignored the letter sent through diplomatic channels by the Swiss government on behalf of Tehran.

However, it was not because of what was wrongly perceived as a quick victory in Iraq that the Bush Jr. Administration pushed Iran aside. On January 29, 2002, in a major address, President Bush Jr. confirmed that the U.S. would also target Iran, which had been added to the so-called “Axis of Evil” together with Iraq and North Korea. The U.S. and Britain intended to attack Iran, Syria, and Lebanon after the 2003 invasion of Iraq. In fact immediately following the invasion, in July 2003, the Pentagon formulated an initial war scenario entitled “Theater Iran Near Term (TIRANNT).”

Starting in 2002, the Bush Jr. Administration had deviated from their original geo-strategic script. France and Germany were also excluded from sharing the spoils of war in Iraq.

The intention was to act against Iran and Syria just as America and Britain had used and betrayed their Taliban allies in Afghanistan. The U.S. was also set on targeting Hezbollah and Hamas. In January of 2001, according to Daniel Sobelman, a correspondent for Haaretz, the U.S. government warned Lebanon that the U.S. would go after Hezbollah. These threats directed at Lebanon were made at the start of the presidential term of George W. Bush Jr., eight months before the events of September 11, 2001.

The conflict at the United Nations Security Council between the Anglo-American alliance and the Franco-German entente, supported by Russia and China, was a pictogram of this deviation.

American geo-strategists for years after the Cold War had scheduled the Franco-German entente to be partners in their plans for global primacy. In this regard, Zbigniew Brzezinski had acknowledged that the Franco-German entente would eventually have to be elevated in status and that the spoils of war would have to be divided with Washington’s European allies.

By the end of 2004, the Anglo-American alliance had started to correct its posture towards France and Germany. Washington had returned to its original geo-strategic script with NATO playing an expanded role in the Eastern Mediterranean. In turn, France was granted oil concessions in Iraq.

The 2006 war plans for Lebanon and the Eastern Mediterranean also point to a major shift in direction, a partnership role for the Franco-German entente, with France and Germany playing a major military role in the region.

It is worth noting that a major shift occurred in early 2007 with regard to Iran. Following U.S. setbacks in Iraq and Afghanistan (as well as in Lebanon, Palestine, Somalia, and former Soviet Central Asia), the White House entered into secret negotiatiations with Iran and Syria. However, the dye has been cast and it would appear that America will be unable to break an evolving military alliance which includes Russia, Iran, and China as its nucleus.

The Baker-Hamilton Commission: Covert Anglo-American Cooperation with Iran and Syria?

[Whitehall_Bin_Men]

The US and NATO Are Establishing Terrorist Bases in Europe
NATO and the United States, which, together, claim to be fighting some sort of amorphous “global war on terrorism,” have enabled a terrorist group to establish bases in two NATO member states.

by Wayne Madsen
https://www.mintpressnews.com/nato-terrorist-bases-in-europe/243959/

June 14th, 2018 By Wayne Madsen
NATO and the United States, which, together, claim to be fighting some sort of amorphous “global war on terrorism,” have enabled a terrorist group to establish bases in two NATO member states – France and Albania – and one NATO protectorate, Kosovo. After evacuating forces of the anti-Iranian terrorist group Mojahedin-e-Khalq from their former bases in Iraq, the United States and NATO facilitated the group’s establishment of a well-guarded military base in Manez, Albania, near Tirana. In addition to hosting MEK members, NATO has convinced Albania to accept members of the Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant (ISIL), who surrendered to Western special forces in Syria and Iraq.

The MEK was founded in 1965 and it has the unusual distinction of taking action to overthrow both the former government of the Shah of Iran and the Islamic Republic of Iran by relying on terrorist actions. In the early 1970s, the MEK embarked on a program of assassinating Iranian officials and U.S. personnel in Iran. The Iranian Revolution of 1979 saw the MEK’s program of bombings and shootings increase in intensity. The MEK is led by the husband-wife team of Massoud and Maryam Rajavi, who opponents and ex-members of the MEK describe as leaders of what has become known as the “Rajavi Cult.” The Rajavis abhor criticism and have been known to silence former MEK members-turned-critics by having them constantly harassed or worse, assassinated.

The MEK’s most notable terrorist actions included:

the attempted kidnapping in 1970 of the U.S. ambassador to Iran, Douglas MacArthur II, the nephew of the famed World War II general.
the attempted assassination in 1972 of U.S. Air Force Brigadier General Harold Price with an improvised explosive device (IED).
the assassination in 1973 of U.S. Army officer Louis Lee Hawkins in Tehran. That same year, the MEK assassinated U.S. Air Force officers Col. Paul Shaffer and Lt. Col. Jack Turner.
the 1973 bombings of Pan-American World Airlines and Shell Oil offices in Tehran.
the assassination in Tehran in 1976 of three American employees of Rockwell International — William Cottrell, Donald Smith, and Robert Krongard. U.S. President Gerald Ford said he hoped that “the murderers will be brought to justice.” Instead, they are treated as heroes and the future government of Iran by bi-partisan leaders in Washington.
MEK threats to kill Presidents Richard Nixon and Jimmy Carter during their respective May 1972 and December 1977 visits to Iran.
the 1978 assassination of Texaco oil executive Paul Grimm in Ahwaz, Iran.
assisting in the 1979 takeover by Iranian militants of the U.S. embassy in Tehran.
the 1979 bombing in Tehran that killed the democratically-elected Iranian President, Mohammad Ali-Rajai, and Prime Minister, Mohammad Javad Bahonar.
During the Iran-Iraq war of the 1980s, Iraqi leader Saddam Hussein permitted the MEK, also known as the “People’s Mojahedin,” to establish bases inside Iraq. Saddam armed the MEK and provided them with financial and logistical support to carry out terrorist attacks inside Iran. In 1988, the MEK, with Saddam’s assistance, launched a ground invasion of Iran.

In Operation Mersad, Iranian forces defeated the MEK, which had hoped to establish control over Iranian territory to establish a rival Iranian government. Had the MEK succeeded, the Middle East would have seen its first genuine terrorist state. Establishment of a terrorist state would have to wait until the Syrian civil war, when ISIL proclaimed an independent caliphate in occupied territory in Syria and Iraq.

After the United States ousted Saddam in the 2003 invasion and occupation of Iraq, the MEK forces were confined to U.S.-protected compounds in Iraq, the most prominent being Camp Ashraf, the former U.S. military’s Camp Liberty. The new Iraqi government demanded the MEK forces leave Iraq. Acceding to Iraqi demands, the United States re-located 3,000 MEK members to the Manez base in Albania, which the MEK calls “Ashraf 3.” The MEK, which reportedly receives support from Israel’s Mossad, is said to be involved in money laundering and sex trafficking through the intensive use of crypto-currencies like Bitcoin.

Not surprisingly, MEK forces joined with ISIL forces in battling against Syrian and Iraqi government forces. The MEK saw ISIL as a natural ally in fighting pro-Iranian governments in Baghdad and Damascus. It was well-known to Western intelligence agencies that the MEK and ISIL had established an alliance, but, nevertheless, the Barack Obama administration removed the MEK from the U.S. State Department’s terrorist list in 2012. From 1997 to 2012, the United States officially designated the MEK as a foreign terrorist organization.

After ISIL forces were routed in Syria and Iraq, the United States pressured Albania to allow the Islamist terrorists to join their MEK allies in Albania. ISIL terrorists and their families have reportedly been housed in buildings in Tirana that were formerly occupied by MEK members prior to their transfer to the Manez base. From their Albanian base, MEK operatives have easily entered Kosovo, the location of another major NATO military base at Camp Bondsteel, near Ferizaj in eastern Kosovo. MEK terrorists, allied with sympathizers in Albania and Kosovo, have targeted Shi’a and Sufi Islamic institutions. It is also believed by some Albanian journalists, who have been intimidated by the Albanian government and MEK, that Ashraf 3 and Camp Bondsteel are being used to train MEK and other Middle Eastern mercenaries for a war against Iran to effect a NATO-led regime change operation.

The Albanian and Kosovo governments enjoy top-level access to the Trump administration. Albanian Prime Minister Edi Rama and Kosovo President Hashim Thaci, himself a one-time terrorist leader of the Kosovo Liberation Army, are represented in Washington by Brian Ballard, a former Trump presidential campaign official who runs Ballard Partners, a lobbying firm based in Tallahassee, Florida.

Thanks to the political influence of the Rajavis, Rama, and Thaci, an unholy troika of the MEK, Albania, and Kosovo has blossomed under NATO’s nose in the Balkans. This troika’s tentacles extend throughout the Balkans and into Western Europe, particularly France, Italy, and Germany.

In June 2003, the Rajavi-operated MEK compound in the Paris suburb of Auvers-sur-Oise was raided by French police on the orders of anti-terrorist magistrate Jean-Louis Bruguière. Maryam Rajavi was arrested, along with over 100 other MEK members. Intense political pressure from Republicans and Democrats in the U.S. Congress resulted in criminal charges, including those involving money laundering, being dropped by the French government.

The Office for the Protection of the German Constitution (DPA) has accused the MEK of not only money laundering but receiving charitable donations in return for “assisting” refugees. The Germans charges that the MEK’s charitable donations were spent on terrorist operations.

In 2004, a U.S. Federal Bureau of Investigation report stated that the MEK financed its operations “through a complex international money laundering operation that uses accounts in Turkey, Germany, France, Belgium, Norway, Sweden, Jordan, and the United Arab Emirates.”

The MEK enjoys widespread support in the Trump White House, as well as in the U.S. Congress. One of the MEK’s biggest boosters is Trump’s National Security Adviser John Bolton. On April 1, 2017, Bolton addressed an MEK Nowruz (Persian New Year) conference in Albania and declared that the MEK would be celebrating taking power in Tehran before 2019. Bolton added, “I have believed for over a decade now that the declared policy of the United States should be regime change in Iran. And the sooner the better, for the sake of international peace and security.” Over many years, Bolton has repeatedly spoken at MEK events in Paris and New York and has reportedly accepted a total of $180,000 in speaker’s fees from the organization. The MEK primarily receives financial backing from Saudi Arabia and Israel. Some of the funds are funneled to Western politicians as honoraria in return for their speeches at MEK events in venues like Paris, Tirana, and New York.

In addition to Bolton, a frequent recipient of MEK speakers’ honoraria is former New York Mayor and Trump’s personal lawyer, Rudolph Giuliani, a person who is so corrupt, the Italian mafia wanted to have him “eliminated.” Two former CIA directors, James Woolsey and Porter Goss, have spoken at MEK events, along with one former FBI director, Louis Freeh, Jr.

The MEK is represented in Washington by the law firm of Joseph diGenova and his wife, Victoria Toensing. DiGenova almost became Trump’s personal attorney. However, diGenova took his name out of consideration due to conflicts of interest and Giuliani accepted the job.

In June 2017, the MEK and ISIL coordinated a terrorist attack on the Iranian parliament in Tehran and the mausoleum of Ayatollah Ruhollah Khomeini. The terrorists were armed with AK-47s, hand grenades, and explosive-laden suicide vests. At least 12 people were killed in the attacks. The Trump White House defended the MEK/ISIL attack in stating, “We underscore that states that sponsor terrorism risk falling victim to the evil they promote.” Iranian Foreign Minister Mohammad Javad Zarif called the White House statement “repugnant.”

The Trump administration’s neocons, notably Bolton and Giuliani, are hell-bent on regime change in Iran. They are ramping up their terrorist army in the Balkans for such a future war.

Top Image | Maryam Rajavi, former leader of the MEK and current leader of the National Council of Resistance of Iran, waves to the audience as she addresses thousands of exiled Iranians in Villepinte, north of Paris, Friday June 27, 2014.

[Whitehall_Bin_Men]

That Time Hillary Clinton Removed John Bolton’s Favorite Terror Cult From The Terrorist List
JULY 3, 2018
https://caitlinjohnstone.com/2018/07/03/that-time-hillary-clinton-remo ved-john-boltons-favorite-terror-cult-from-the-terrorist-list/

I just wanted to give everyone a quick reminder of the fact that the MEK, an Iranian cult of highly suspicious funding which is beloved by Trump insiders like John Bolton and Rudolph Giuliani for its extremely vocal pro-regime change agenda, was removed from the US State Department’s list of designated terrorist organizations by none other than Hillary Rodham Clinton.

I point this out because I’ve been butting heads with the pro-Trump faction of my readership quite a bit lately about this administration’s dangerous escalations against Iran, including starvation sanctions explicitly geared toward provoking unrest following America’s withdrawal from the Iran deal, as well as escalated CIA covert ops. There is no legitimate reason to believe that this administration can simultaneously (A) deliberately stir up chaos in Iran while also (B) maintaining so much control of the situation that it can keep things from getting out of hand, while also (C) making sure control of the situation remains in the hands of the Iranian people, as many faithful Trump supporters have confidently assured me. These are nonsensical, intrinsically contradictory beliefs, and I figure my best shot at getting people’s skepticism up to a sane level is to throw a monkey wrench in their partisan loyalties by pointing out that Hillary Clinton helped advance the same agendas.

So here it is. In 2012, despite its having actually killed Americans in acts of terrorism along with thousands of Kurds and Iranians, the bloodthirsty Mujahideen-e Khalq (MEK) were removed from the list of terrorist groups by then Secretary of State Hillary Clinton following the recommendation of stalwart deep state lackeys like ex-CIA directors James Woolsey and Porter J Goss, former FBI director Louis J Freeh, former Democratic presidential candidate Howard Dean, Obama National Security Advisor James L Jones, and George W Bush’s homeland security secretary Tom Ridge, as well as current Trump administration employees John Bolton and Rudolph Giuliani.

Funny how #QAnon followers have never been instructed to investigate this particular rabbit hole, by the way. #psyop https://t.co/Dusa23NsVb
— Caitlin Johnstone (@caitoz) July 2, 2018
Whenever I say that the pro-Trump, pro-regime change 8chan phenomenon known as QAnon is an establishment psyop designed to herd the populist right into supporting neoconservative establishment agendas, Q enthusiasts always come at me telling me it’s a purely beneficial and healthy thing.

“How can Q be bad, Caitlin?” they ask. “All he does is ask questions and encourage us to do our own research to expose the deep state for ourselves!”

Well, normally doing your own research and asking questions is a good thing, and there’s nothing inherently wrong with digging up information about the corrupt financial ties of Democrats and Never-Trumpers. But that’s all the anonymous 8chan user ever directs followers to look into: Trump’s political enemies and targets. If they were legitimately interested in exposing the mechanics of the unelected power alliance known as the deep state, it would be an entirely bipartisan ordeal since the deep state controls both parties. And the Trump administration’s ties to the MEK are just the sort of rabbit hole Q enthusiasts would be exploring.

But they don’t. The only rabbit holes they ever explore are ones which strengthen their conviction that all of Trump’s warmongering and his coziness with deep state swamp monsters like John Bolton are actually brilliant strategic maneuvering against the deep state. I’ve been sincerely informed many times by Trusting Q enthusiasts that Julian Assange is no longer at the Ecuadorian embassy, that Trump’s illegal Syria strikes actually took out a secret Iranian nuclear facility, that the deep state controls Iran currently, and that it used to control North Korea and Saudi Arabia as well until Trump liberated them.

Meanwhile, in the real world, Trump is advancing longstanding deep state agendas using longstanding deep state tactics. If I still have any readers left who are QAnon enthusiasts, I challenge you to put the MEK in your research crosshairs for a while and see what you find.

#QAnon posted last night JOHN BOLTON is cleaning out of WH all Deep State loyal to HRC + Obama (ultimate targets of treason investigations) to STOP LEAKS. Q assures us WH will be safe for @realDonaldTrump IMPORTANT to plan revealed in KILLING THE DEEP STATE – counterattack begins pic.twitter.com/aNpIhjXRDg
— Jerome Corsi (@jerome_corsi) April 3, 2018


One year ago, the actual, literal psychopath who would soon be named Trump’s National Security Advisor appeared at an MEK rally and declared that the cult was a “a viable opposition to the rule of the ayatollahs.”

“I had said for over 10 years since coming to these events, that the declared policy of the United States of America should be the overthrow of the mullahs’ regime in Tehran,” Bolton proclaimed. “The behavior and the objectives of the regime are not going to change, and therefore the only solution is to change the regime itself. And that’s why, before 2019, we here will celebrate in Tehran!”

These sentiments were echoed with remarkable similarity this past weekend by Trump’s lawyer Rudolph Giuliani at another MEK event in Paris.

“The mullahs must go, the ayatollah must go, and they must be replaced by a democratic government which Madam Rajavi represents,” Giuliani said in reference to MEK cult leader Maryam Rajavi, adding, “Freedom is right around the corner … Next year I want to have this convention in Tehran!”

On the latest protests in Iran, his comments got even creepier:

“Those protests are not happening spontaneously,” Giuliani said. “They are happening because of many of our people in Albania and many of our people here and throughout out the world.”

Again, the lawyer for the President of the United States was addressing the MEK terror cult when he said this, and that terror cult has a training compound in Albania. If it had come out in a WikiLeaks document that this sort of thing had been said by an Obama lawyer to an audience of Al Nusra fighters in Syria, Trump supporters would have shaken the earth about it. But it was said out in the open by the lawyer for the current sitting president, and is going mostly ignored for purely partisan reasons.





In a 12-minute presentation titled “Meet the MEK: Washington’s Favorite Terror Cult”, the phenomenally lucid conspiracy analyst James Corbett said the following:

“Since the US occupation of Iraq in 2003, the strategic value of an Iranian group willing and capable of performing attacks and destabilization efforts has been seen as strategically important to the West, which has been desperate to curb Iran’s quest for Middle Eastern predominance in the post-Saddam power vacuum.”

That about sums it up right there.

As I’ve been saying all year, Plan A for the US-centralized empire is not to do to Iran what was done to Iraq; Plan A is to do to Iran what was done to Libya and Syria. It’s important to be clear on this so we know what to watch for. The modern approach to destroying a noncompliant government is to use sanctions, propaganda, covert ops and alliances with extremist factions to plunge the disobedient nation into chaos, all of which this administration is currently doing. This is far more efficient and media-friendly than a full-scale ground invasion and the regular deliveries of flag-draped coffins which necessarily come with it. The antiwar movement needs to adapt skillfully to opposing a form of warfare which relies more on drones and CIA ops than the traditional forms of conventional warfare, because they are just as deadly and devastating, as a swift glance at Libya and Syria makes evident.

You’d think for all their perfectly justified hatred of Obama’s warmongering, the populist right would do a better job of spotting those exact same patterns re-emerging in the current administration, especially when some of those patterns involve a group Hillary Clinton herself took off the US terrorist list.

What’s up with that, my MAGA brothers and sisters? You guys love Hillary all of a sudden? Is she “based” now?

Let’s get real. The two-headed one-party system has found yet another way to undermine humanity, and Trump is just as much a part of it as his predecessors. Look at the whole truth, so you can fight the whole machine. Half-truths are the same as lies.



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