By Tony Cartalucci Global Research, July 14, 2015 Land Destroyer Report
'Originally posted in November of 2013, the article, “Nuclear Deal With Iran Prelude to War, Not “Breakthrough,”” warned of a premeditated, documented conspiracy to use a monumental “deal” with Iran as a pretext not for peace, but in fact, for war and regime change.
Hysteria now sweeps the headlines across the Western media regarding a “historical nuclear deal” that “Obama made” that vindicates the Nobel Peace Prize he was “prematurely awarded” so many years ago. For those aware of the ruse at play, such sentiments are to be inevitably and completely betrayed by what is sure to follow.
The global public must remember there is currently a war raging in Syria on Iran’s doorstep. The sole purpose of this war, organized and directed by the West, fueled by billions in cash, weapons, and flooded with fighters organized and trafficked from across the globe by NATO and its allies, is to destroy Iran’s chief regional ally before inevitably destroying Iran itself. If the war in Syria is still raging, then one can be assured that the proxy war in turn being waged against Iran is still raging.
The “nuclear deal,” as it was planned to be all along, is a ruse. The 2013 article, “Nuclear Deal With Iran Prelude to War, Not “Breakthrough,”” in its entirety, explains:
“…any military operation against Iran will likely be very unpopular around the world and require the proper international context—both to ensure the logistical support the operation would require and to minimize the blowback from it. The best way to minimize international opprobrium and maximize support (however, grudging or covert) is to strike only when there is a widespread conviction that the Iranians were given but then rejected a superb offer—one so good that only a regime determined to acquire nuclear weapons and acquire them for the wrong reasons would turn it down. Under those circumstances, the United States (or Israel) could portray its operations as taken in sorrow, not anger, and at least some in the international community would conclude that the Iranians “brought it on themselves” by refusing a very good deal.”.........'
Just like Obomba's 'cosying up' to Cuba, and the West's 'cosying up' to Qaddafi. Israel playing the 'bad cop', Obomba posing as the 'good cop'.
Now, if Russia was to make a 'Defence Pact' with Iran and China, and Iran agreed to Russian and Chinese military bases in Iran, that could be a 'game changer'. Both Russia and China would be at a much bigger disadvantage if NATO controlled Iran, both financially and militarily. Both, I suspect, that they will be targeted for takeover, and it would be better to present a united, unified front than to be picked off one by one.
Iran would have no reason to even consider a nuclear weapons program, with nuclear armed Russia and China standing shoulder to shoulder, and profiting from Iran's vast oil, gas and other raw materials.
Israel would then be limited to threatening BDS with nuclear annihilation! _________________ 'And he (the devil) said to him: To thee will I give all this power, and the glory of them; for to me they are delivered, and to whom I will, I give them'. Luke IV 5-7.
Joined: 30 Jul 2006 Posts: 6060 Location: East London
Posted: Mon Jul 20, 2015 5:03 am Post subject:
Just received this email from 'Code Pink':
URGENT: Just a few moments ago, we got an email from a contact at a pro-diplomacy Senator's office -- and he told us that his office is hearing 10-1 from OPPONENTS of the Iran nuclear deal. We need you to do two very important things right now:
•Call the Senate and urge them to defend the nuclear deal! Use this number and it will automatically connect you to the most important offices to reach out to: (415) 234-1515.
•Sign this petition that already has over 100,000 signatures and urge your Representative and Senators to support the deal!
http://www.stopwarwithiran.com/?source=codepink
Unfortunately, the US Congress now has 60 days to sabotage the deal, putting us back on the path to confrontation with Iran. But the nuclear agreement is a great victory for peace-loving people around the world. We saw what happened when the US invaded Iraq and Afghanistan: devastated and impoverished communities; hundreds of thousands dead; our country economically bled; and the spread of ever more extremist groups like ISIL. That’s why the American people are so supportive of this Iran deal!
Over the next two months, Congress will review and likely vote on this deal, and already hard-liners in Congress are threatening to kill the agreement and a handful of billionaires are funding multimillion-dollar ad campaigns against the deal.
These next two months are crucial, and we need all hands on deck. Join us to call on our congressional representatives to represent the interests and desires of the American people by supporting this historic deal-- sign the petition now!
In peace,
Alli, Chelsea, Janet, Jodie, Lia, Medea, Michelle, Mike, Nancy, Tighe, and Sergei
Obviously, AIPAC is using it's 'Rent-a-Lobby' email list to swamp Congress with anti-Iran deal emails; a Russia/China/Iran pact would seriously up the anti for the Warmongers, and could be the one thing that saves the world from catastrophe, at least for a while..... _________________ 'And he (the devil) said to him: To thee will I give all this power, and the glory of them; for to me they are delivered, and to whom I will, I give them'. Luke IV 5-7.
Joined: 25 Jul 2005 Posts: 18335 Location: St. Pauls, Bristol, England
Posted: Tue Aug 18, 2015 8:34 pm Post subject:
Smaller nations have to make alliances with Russia & China or face being obliterated by NATO Israeli alliance
Yours truly on Press TV discussing the latest in this conflict today
Joined: 30 Jul 2006 Posts: 6060 Location: East London
Posted: Fri Aug 21, 2015 7:44 am Post subject:
I just received this newsletter from Codepink; though we in the UK won't be able to 'call our Senators', it is useful to keep up with AIPAC machinations Stateside re Iran:
'Have you seen the shameful position taken by Senators Schumer and Menendez giving into AIPAC's lobbying against the nuclear deal with Iran? We have to make sure that other Democratic Senators don’t join them (since ALL the Republican Senators plan to reject the deal!). Can you help by making a few calls?
As young people who have grown up with war all our lives, we are determined to move our government on another path. Will you help us save our future from the devastation of another war by supporting the Iran deal?
Call these undecided Democratic Senators and tell them not to follow the likes of Democratic Senators Menendez and Schumer. Urge them to defend diplomacy and vote in favor of the deal! Call the Congressional switchboard now: (202) 224-3121.
Sen. Michael Bennet (D-CO)
Sen. Cory Booker (D-NJ)
Sen. Maria Cantwell (D-WA)
Sen. Ben Cardin (D-MD)
Sen. Bob Casey, Jr. (D-PA)
Sen. Chris Coons (D-DE)
Sen. Heidi Heitkamp (D-ND)
Sen. Barbara Mikulski (D-MD)
Sen. Patty Murray (D-WA)
Sen. Gary Peters (D-MI)
Sen. Debbie Stabenow (D-MI)
Sen. Mark Warner (D-VA)
Sen. Ron Wyden (D-OR)
Sen. Jack Reed (D-RI)
Sen. Richard Blumenthal (D-CT)
Sen. Joe Manchin (D-WV)
Sen. Jeff Merkley (D-OR)
Sen. Harry Reid (D-NV)
We, the youth of the CODEPINK staff, have written a statement expressing our support for the Iran deal. If you are a young person under 35, please sign it and share it with your friends, or if you’re older, pass it on to young folks you know.
The Iran nuclear deal will be top on the agenda when Congress returns from August recess on September 8. AIPAC is flying hundreds of people to DC to greet Congress with the message: VOTE DOWN THE IRAN DEAL. Will you join us to counter their message?
We’re launching a peace insurrection outside Congress from September 8 until the final vote (which must happen by September 17). We’ll kick it off with a “Hands Around the Capitol” action at noon on September 8, where we’ll join hands and surround the Capitol Building to show support for the Iran Peace Deal! Please come and invite your friends.
After “Hands Around the Capitol,” we encourage folks to stay in DC for the peace insurrection encampment, where we will lobby Congress as well as be outside to show visible support for the deal. The encampment will stay erected until September 17, when Congress is required to finish voting on the Iran deal.
Housing board request for people in DC area: We will be having folks joining from all over the country, and they need places to stay. Can you host one or more activist from out of town? Do you need housing? If so, please email Mike@codepink.org and let him know how many people you can host for how many days, if you have pets (for allergy purposes), and if your house is handicap accessible. Save the date for the vigil and RSVP on Facebook now!
Please take the time to call these undecided Senators. Your voice and their vote could mean the difference between war and peace.
For a peaceful future,
Alli, Mike, Michaela, Chelsea, Michelle '
On a similar note, from Jewish Voice for Peace:
'Don't let the opponents of the Iran Deal get the upper hand -- send a message of peace from around the world.
Netanyahu wants war.
If you want peace add your name now.
Take Action!
The Jewish Federation of Detroit? Opposed to the Iran Deal.
The Jewish Federation of Miami? Opposed to the Iran Deal.
The Jewish Federation of Orange County? They find it “Extremely troublesome.”
AIPAC? Don’t get me started.
When these major Jewish communal organizations oppose the Iran deal, they’re not speaking up for their members: most Jews in the U.S. support the Iran Deal. They’re not speaking for security experts and foreign-policy analysts: hundreds are on record for the deal. They’re speaking for their donors, and for the old guard of Jewish institutional gatekeepers.
In the last couple of weeks, two prominent Senators - New Jersey's Bob Menendez and New York’s Chuck Schumer - have announced they'll oppose the deal. That means there are now two senior Senators who’ve said they’d rather march into another horrific, pointless war like Iraq than stand up to Netanyahu -- and they could bring others with them. We need to work harder than ever to convince Congress to support the deal.
JVP is fighting back, and we need you standing with us. U.S. policymakers do listen to international opinion -- they might not say it, but we know they feel the pressure. That's why we need to send a loud and clear message -- we support Diplomacy, not War.
Add your name now. We're going to show that millions of people around the world support the deal with Iran -- people like you.
We can’t let them win -- not with so much at stake. Several Senators are still on the fence, so we need to make sure they hear our message: As Jews and allies, as Americans and others, we stand strong for peace.
We’ve already sent over 50,000 messages to Congress, urging Senators and Representatives to support the Iran Deal. But that’s nowhere near enough. AIPAC is dumping millions of dollars into slick campaigns to bully elected officials into voting their way. We don’t have Sheldon Adelson’s big bucks, but we do have you. And your voice matters.
This deal can stand - it has to stand. And we’re the ones who have to make it happen.
Onward,
Rebecca
Rebecca Vilkomerson
Executive Director
Donate Now!
Contact Info:
Jewish Voice for Peace
1611 Telegraph Ave, Suite 1020
Oakland, CA 94612
510.465.1777
info@jewishvoiceforpeace.org
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Become a 2015 JVP Member | Facebook | Twitter | Flickr | Forward _________________ 'And he (the devil) said to him: To thee will I give all this power, and the glory of them; for to me they are delivered, and to whom I will, I give them'. Luke IV 5-7.
'The American Israel Public Affairs Committee (AIPAC) is throwing mountains of money around in an attempt to derail the Iran nuclear deal. Mondoweiss reported in early August that AIPAC’s education wing was taking all but three freshmen House Representatives on a visit to Israel in hopes of sabotaging the US government’s negotiations with Iran. A few days later, the New York Times picked up the story. It reported that 58 congresspeople—including 22 Democrats and 36 Republicans—in total would be traveling to Israel in August. The Times also revealed just how much money AIPAC is hemorrhaging in hopes of stymieing the international diplomacy between the P5+1 (the US, the UK, France, China, and Russia, as well as Germany) and Iran. In the first half of 2015, AIPAC spent approximately $1.7 million lobbying Congress to oppose the deal. Yet this is mere chump change compared to what it has since funneled into advertisements and lobbying. AIPAC created a new tax-exempt lobbying group in July called Citizens for a Nuclear Free Iran. The sole purpose of the organization is to oppose the Iran deal—which, in spite of the name of the group, will in fact prevent Iran from developing nuclear weapons (weapons the Iranian government denies ever even seeking in the first place, and for which there is not a shred of evidence) in return for an end to Western sanctions on the country. Citizens for a Nuclear Free Iran is spending up to $40 million to place anti-Iran deal ads in 35 states, according to the Times, up from a previous estimate of $20 million. This figure may increase even more as the 60-day period in which Congress can review the deal draws to a close....' _________________ 'And he (the devil) said to him: To thee will I give all this power, and the glory of them; for to me they are delivered, and to whom I will, I give them'. Luke IV 5-7.
'Today, The New York Times ran a piece by David E. Sanger and Michael R. Gordon calling attention to the alleged weaknesses in the Obama administration’s case for the Iranian nuclear accord. While, editorially at least, the Times has come out strongly for the deal, today’s report mostly consists of the latest neoconservative talking points, and is featured on page A1, repackaged as “News Analysis.”
Readers are informed that President Obama’s problem is that “most of the significant constraints on Tehran’s program lapse after 15 years—and, after that, Iran is free to produce uranium on an industrial scale”
The piece purports to poke holes in the administration’s case by relying on statements from the likes of Democratic Congressman Adam Schiff of California, who claims he will support the deal, because he believes that the “deal is in the best interest of Israel, as well as the best interest of the United States.”
According to Schiff, in 15 years, Iran “will have a highly modern and internationally legitimized enrichment capability…and that is a bitter pill to swallow.” Schiff, a seven-term congressman and ranking member of the House Intelligence Committee, is surely aware that Iran, as signatory to the Nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty since 1968, has had a “legitimized enrichment capacity” for close to half a century.
That the Iranians would pursue a nuclear weapon at the risk of a war with both Israel and the US strains credulity.
Dennis Ross, who during the late Clinton years earned a reputation as “Israel’s lawyer,” also spoke to Sanger and Gordon. Regurgitating claims he’s already made to The Washington Post, Politico, and Time in July, Ross insists that he sees “vulnerabilities” that “must be addressed. The gap between threshold and weapons status after year 15 is small.”
Perhaps. But not nearly as small as the threshold would be if Iran were allowed to continue with its pre-deal program, where it possessed around 19,000 centrifuges (which the deal cuts to roughly 6,000) and a stockpile of 12 tons of enriched uranium (which the deal cuts to 660 pounds). Ross, much like his interlocutors at the Times, also seems to assume that Iran, 15 years hence, will forthwith turn its attention to producing a nuclear weapon, thereby putting at grave risk any economic progress it may have achieved during those years. To take it as “for granted” that the Iranians will pursue a nuclear weapon at the risk of a war in which it would possibly be facing both Israel and the United States strains credulity.
Sanger and Gordon also turn their attention to the so-called 24-day delay, writing, correctly, that it is “the issue that has garnered the most attention” in the debate so far. Yet Sanger and Gordon, relying on unnamed “experts,” paint a bleak picture of the 24-day period, warning that the delay may allow Iran to “cover up…work on the specialized high-explosives that might serve as a trigger in a nuclear bomb.”
Of course, Sanger and Gordon fail to mention that, regardless of the much-touted 24-day delay, the International Atomic Energy Agency can request access to any suspicious site within 24 hours. The 24 days is the limit which Iran can delay, and without it, Iran could conceivably push off inspections indefinitely.....'
'.....The campaign for the Iraq war of 2003, the purest example of their handiwork, began with a strategy memorandum in 1996, so it is fair to say that they (Cheney and Addington) have been pitching to break up the Middle East for a full two decades. But fortune played them a nasty trick with the signing of the nuclear agreement between the P5+1 powers and Iran. War and the prospect of war have been the source of their undeniable importance. If the Iran nuclear deal attains legitimacy, much of their power will slip through their fingers. The imperialist idealism that drives their ventures from day to day will be cheated of the enemy it cannot live without....'
'.....Because the Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has scorned the nuclear deal without any attention to detail, the president felt compelled in his speech to recognize candidly the difference of national interest that exists between Israel and the United States. Though we are allies, he said, we are two different countries, and he left his listeners to draw the necessary inference: it is not possible for two countries (any more than two persons) to be at once different and the same. Obama went on to connect the nations in question to this premise of international politics:
“I believe [the terms of the agreement] are in America’s interest and Israel’s interest. And as president of the United States, it would be an abrogation of my constitutional duty to act against my best judgment simply because it causes temporary friction with a dear friend and ally.”
The last affirmation is critical. A president takes an oath to “preserve, protect, and defend the constitution of the United States”—that is, to attend to the interest of his own country and not another.
The danger of playing favorites in the world of nations, with a partiality that knows no limits, was a main topic of George Washington’s great Farewell Address. “Permanent, inveterate antipathies against particular nations, and passionate attachments for others, should be excluded,” said Washington, because “a passionate attachment of one nation for another produces a variety of evils. Sympathy for the favorite nation, facilitating the illusion of an imaginary common interest in cases where no real common interest exists, and infusing into one the enmities of the other, betrays the former into a participation in the quarrels and wars of the latter without adequate inducement or justification.”
There are Americans today who submit to a ruling passion that favors uniquely the interests of Israel, and the president had them in mind when he invoked his duties under the Constitution toward the only country whose framework of laws and institutions he had sworn to uphold. Genuine respect for another democracy formed part of his thinking here. Not only was Obama not elected to support Netanyahu’s idea of America’s interest, he was also not elected by Israelis to support his own idea of Israel’s interest.....' _________________ 'And he (the devil) said to him: To thee will I give all this power, and the glory of them; for to me they are delivered, and to whom I will, I give them'. Luke IV 5-7.
Saudi prince al-Waleed bin Talal: In case of outbreak of Palestinian uprising I'll side with Israel, Saudi Arabia reached a political maturity to constitute durable alliance with Jewish nation
Quote:
The Saudi Arabia has reached this political maturity to constitute a durable alliance with the Jewish nation in order to lay the ground for a peaceful and prosperous Middle-East
Kuwait City — According to Kuwaiti Al Qabas daily, the flamboyant Saudi Prince and entrepreneur, al-Waleed bin Talal posited that his country must reconsider its regional commitments and devise a new strategy to combat Iran's increasing influence in Gulf States by forging a Defense pact with Tel Aviv to deter any possible Iranian moves in the light of unfolding developments in the Syria and Moscow's military intervention.
"The whole Middle-East dispute is tantamount to matter of life and death for the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia from my vantage point ,and I know that Iranians seek to unseat the Saudi regime by playing the Palestinian card , hence to foil their plots Saudi Arabia and Israel must bolster their relations and form a united front to stymie Tehran's ambitious agenda," Kuwaiti News Agency (KUNA) quoted Prince al-Waleed as saying on Tuesday , adding, Riyadh and Tel Aviv must achieve a modus vivendi , for Saudi policy in regard to Arab-Israeli crisis is no longer tenable.
Iran seeks to buttress its presence in the Mediterranean by supporting Assad regime in Syria, added Prince al-Waleed, but to the chagrin of Riyadh and its sister Gulf sheikhdoms , Putin's Russia has become a real co-belligerent force in Syrian 4-year-old civil war by attacking CIA-trained Islamist rebels. Here surfaces the paramount importance of Saudi-Israeli nexus to frustrate Russia-Iran-Hezbollah axis.
" I will side with the Jewish nation and its democratic aspirations in case of outbreak of a Palestinian Intifada( uprising) and i shall exert all my influence to break any ominous Arab initiatives set to condemn Tel Aviv , because I deem the Arab-Israeli entente and future friendship necessary to impede the Iranian dangerous encroachment," Al Qabas cited the Saudi media tycoon as he is in a regional tour, visiting the other Gulf Arab littoral states--Kuwait, Bahrain, Qatar, the United Arab Emirates and Oman--to muster support for Saudi-backed Islamist rebels in Syria.
No longer able to justify its illegal military presence in Bahrain – a tiny Arabian Gulf Kingdom, occupied by Saudi forces to stifle the 2011 pro-deaconry movement–, some high-profile Saudi officials, namely Prince al-Waleed bin Talal, voiced their willingness to annex Bahrain. These flagrant statements drew wide condemnation from nearly every quarter of the Arab world.
"…you know the union with Bahrain doesn't explicitly mean to annex our dear neighbors, but in fact we are wary about the future of Bahrain, its people security and well-being. Bahrain is the home to U.S. fifth fleet which its presence is of vital interest for Saudi Arabia, thus we can not permit Iran to wreak havoc in our back yard," said the Saudi Prince, vindicating his previous brash comments regarding the annexation of Bahrain.
Worrying words indeed in light of this next article :-
A new position paper by human rights organization Yesh Din looks at steps being taken by the Israeli government toward the de facto annexation of the West Bank.
By Yesh Din, written by Yossi Gurvitz
Israeli settlers attempt to establish a new outpost in response to the killing of two settlers the night before, near the settlement of Itamar, West Bank, October 2, 2015. (photo: Yotam Ronen/Activestills.org)
Last week Yesh Din published its position paper, “From Occupation to Annexation,” which deals with the way the Israeli government is implementing the conclusions of the Levy Commission Report without any public debate or even an official government decision — a process which is dragging Israel into de facto annexation of the West Bank, without granting the annexed people their rights.
Related stories
Israel demolishes 313 Palestinian structures in six weeks By Natasha Roth | February 22, 2016
The end of normalcy for Israeli settlements? By Michael Schaeffer Omer-Man | January 29, 2016
Nobody is coming to end the occupation By Michael Schaeffer Omer-Man | November 29, 2015
Illegal settlements aren't rogue, they're government policy By +972 Blog | November 24, 2015
First, we must distinguish between annexation and occupation. International law recognizes the legitimacy of an occupation, i.e. a state in which one power occupies a territory where a local population lives. But the assumption of international law is that occupation is a temporary affair; the occupier is considered to be a trustee who maintains what he has conquered until the conflict is over. Furthermore, the occupier is not allowed to make long-term changes in the region. Annexation is a unilateral takeover by a state of a territory by use of force or threats of it, and is impermissible under international law — a result of lessons from the Second World War on which so much of international law is built.
The new position paper does not deal with the Levy Report itself (to which we dedicated a whole report of its own) but rather with its implementation. Nevertheless, we must say a word about the report itself: it is nothing less than a revolution in the how the State of Israel has come to regard the occupied Palestinian territories. According to the report, the state’s legal position is that the occupied Palestinian territories are not occupied, since they were promised to the Jewish people by the British Mandate.
The Israeli government never officially adopted the Levy Report. Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu appointed Levy (former minister Silvan Shalom noted the prime minister knew precisely why he was appointing him) but never dared to officially adopt his document. Why? To begin with, the present situation of occupation is actually good for Israel. It confers partial legal legitimacy to its military presence (not its civilian presence) in the West Bank. If the West Bank is not occupied, then the situation looks suspiciously like annexation. And as we noted earlier, annexation is prohibited.
Secondly, no one in the world would accept the legitimacy of Israeli control that leaves Palestinians devoid of rights. Officially adopting the Levy Report would be a hasbara catastrophe; no one in the world would accept the Israeli claim that nearly 50 years of military control does not constitute occupation.
But even though the government never officially adopted the report, it effectively began implementing it. On the legal front, the Foreign Ministry published a document in late 2015 that adopts the spirit of the Levy Report. According to the document, Israel has a right to build settlements, based on the British Mandate charter. This claim became part of the Foreign Office Cadet Training Program and was distributed to every Israeli delegation in the world, accompanied by a directive saying this is the Israeli position and that it should be translated and published on the website of every delegation.
The Justice Ministry also adopted the spirit of the Levy Report and its position vis-à-vis the legality of illegal construction in the settlements and outposts, particularly when it relates to the possibility of future legalization.
At the same time, on the more practical (if long-term) side, the Justice Ministry began carrying out one of the report’s recommendations: it began creating a new court to deal exclusively with issues related to land in the West Bank. This court will only include Israeli judges, as it will likely be a military court. The meaning for a Palestinian who wants to protect his property will be clear: don’t waste your time. Palestinian trust in the Israeli military courts is already low and is in decline.
But the more immediate aspect of the Levy Report, which was also noted by Justice Minister Ayelet Shaked, is the retroactive legalization (in Hebrew, “kosherization” — turning something impure into something kosher) of the illegal outposts in the West Bank. Some 80 out of around 100 outposts are built, at least partially, on private Palestinian land. As such they are illegal intruders, and in addition most of the buildings have been served with demolition orders due to illegal construction. Until recent years the government did not bother to enforce its own orders, telling the courts that the buildings are in fact illegal and that they would be demolished at some future date, and according to its own preferences. This happened only in the relatively few cases in which an appeal was filed against the illegal construction. As for illegal construction that did not make it to the courts? The government had no plan of doing anything about it.
The government has changed its position since the report was published: now it tells the courts, time and again, that those same outposts are intended for legalization. True, even in the past the government delayed the evacuation until the arrival of the messiah, but at least it stated its intent to evacuate them. Not any more.
In order to legalize the outposts, the Netanyahu government has taken two main steps. In July 2015, Netanyahu ordered the creation of a “re-organizing committee” — a governmental team whose goal is the purification of the impure through “re-organizing” the legal situation vis-à-vis land, thus granting a legal cover for the outposts. This team is supposed to finish its work in the coming weeks. Needless to say, changing the rules in order to create settlements in the West Bank is a violation of international law. But international law is for the gentiles — we have the Balfour Declaration.
The second tool used by the Netanyahu government is the “re-ordering law.” This law is supposed to force the Palestinian owners of land to accept compensation for giving up their legal rights to the land they own, so as to prevent the evacuation of outposts and illegal structures. The Netanyahu government believes in private property, unless the person in question is Palestinian. The “re-organizing” law is an attempt to turn the Levy Report into legislation. The bill, as presented by MK Yoav Kish, specifically names four settlements and outposts whose evacuation or partial evacuation was ordered by the High Court of Justice. Such a law, were it to pass, would lead to land confiscation not intended for pressing military needs — an act prohibited by international law. In addition, the law itself is a declaration by the Knesset that it has the right to pass legislation regarding the West Bank — a sign of annexation. It is an acceptance of the Levy Report’s position that the laws of occupation are invalid in the West Bank, and that the territory is under the sovereignty of the Knesset.
Beyond all these tricks, the purpose of which is to prevent the evacuation of Israeli land invaders, the government is busily working on enlarging the pool of state land, in a way that will permit the enlargement and legalization of outposts. This is done under the so-called “blue line team” – a team whose duty is to examine and fine-tune the boundaries of land that had previously been turned into “state land.” Between 2012 and 2015, state land in the West Bank grew by 63,771 dunams; state land is not allocated to the Palestinian communities in the occupied territory, as might be expected of an occupying force that obeys its legal obligations. Instead, most of it goes to the settlements and outposts. According to the data supplied by the government, the Civil Administration allocated only 7 percent of state land for Palestinian use.
And these are only a few of the examples presented in our position paper. When it comes to dispossessing Palestinians of their land, the Netanyahu government and its jurists are showing impressive creativity. The final result of all these processes is the creeping, de-facto annexation of large swaths of the West Bank. Beyond the fact that this is in direct contravention of international law, it is all happening without any public debate. After all, it’s taking place behind closed doors by committees whose work is anything but transparent, let alone open to public criticism. Most of the time we only hear of it after they have made their decision.
Contrary to what is often said, the Netanyahu government does have a policy in the West Bank. It simply prefers you don’t hear of it. So here it is.
For additional original analysis and breaking news, visit +972 Magazine's Facebook page or follow us on Twitter. Our newsletter features a comprehensive round-up of the week's events. Sign up here.
_________________ 'Come and see the violence inherent in the system.
Help, help, I'm being repressed!'
“The more you tighten your grip, the more Star Systems will slip through your fingers.”
The hand of Henry Kissinger suggests US foreign policy will use a ‘divide and rule’ strategy with Beijing, Moscow and Tehran. But this could backfire, spectacularly ...
BY PEPE ESCOBAR 22 JAN 2017
A Chinese military vehicle carrying a “carrier killerRA Chinese military vehicle carrying a “carrier killer” DF-21D missile. The missiles are one reason the US cannot afford a war in the South China Sea. Photo: AFP
China, Russia and Iran are the three key players in what promises to be the Eurasian Century.
Donald Trump may be The Joker; The Fool; The Ace of Spades; the ultimate trickster. What nobody can tell for sure is how this shifty chameleon will seduce, cajole, divide and threaten these three countries in his bid to “Make America Great Again”.
Considering the composition of his cabinet, as well as his motormouth twittering, the world according to Trump sees radical Islam as the No 1 threat, followed by Iran, China and Russia.
The strategy of Henry Kissinger, Trump’s unofficial foreign policy guru, is a mix of “balance of power” and “divide and rule”. It will consist of seducing Russia away from its strategic partner China; keeping China constantly on a sort of red alert; and targeting Islamic State while continuing to harass Iran.
WATCH: Trump versus China: winners and losers
All this has the potential to backfire splendidly. Even a real “reset” with Russia, of the non-Hillary Clinton kind, is not exactly assured.
Is a Trump-Putin bromance enough for a miracle in US-Russia ties?
Trump’s pick for secretary of state, Rex Tillerson, may in fact be a cipher, a privileged ExxonMobil dealmaker, or a Trojan Horse for Kissinger’s views. Tillerson is a trustee of the hardline Centre for Strategic and International Studies think tank, along with Kissinger.
Trump’s Secretary of State Rex Tillerson, a former Exxon Mobil executive. Photo: AFP
So let’s see how Kissinger’s shadowplay might develop on the new geopolitical chessboard.
Trump starts out already pitted against America’s vast and powerful intelligence apparatus. The American “deep state” – the military-industrial complex that survives regardless of what political party is in power – requires an existential threat to operate. And that threat, according to the Pentagon, is Russia.
The ever-shifting “war on terror” is dead. The new normal, as demonstrated by the Obama administration, is the second cold war.
Why China’s ‘Trump fever’ has cooled so quickly
It all hinges on how – and if – Trump will be able to inflict pain on the US deep state, and how this might affect its “humanitarian” imperialist leanings.
Kissinger’s strategy implies having closer relations with Russia, whilst cajoling Moscow to betray its Eurasian ally Iran. Moscow is unlikely to betray Iran, and pursuing that strategy will only exacerbate Trump’s conflict with the deep state.
A Russian soldier talks with Syrians in al-Qaryatain, a town in the province of Homs in central Syria. Photo: AFP
A Trumpian trade-off though is already on the cards; no more US sanctions on Russia if Moscow and Washington manage a common mechanism to smash Islamic State, as well as a new framework on nuclear disarmament.
There’s guarded optimism in Moscow that Trump’s business acumen will eventually lead him to discard counterproductive containment of Russia, freeing it to profit from the real deal across Eurasia: economic integration, via the Beijing-backed One Belt, One Road trade initiative to link economies into a China-centred trading network, and the Eurasian Economic Union.
Sensing a credible opening, Moscow has invited the Trump administration – represented by national security adviser Michael Flynn – to join the Syrian peace talks in Astana, Kazakhstan, alongside Iran, Turkey and the regime of Bashar al-Assad, due to start on Monday, only three days after Trump’s inauguration.
Trump’s national security adviser Michael Flynn has been invited by Moscow to join the Syrian peace talks in Astana. Photo: AFP
Russia and Iran are working as one in Syria. Russia has actively campaigned to bring Iran into the Shanghai Cooperation Organisation, the regional security group. Bilateral trade – from energy to railways, mining and agriculture – is booming. Russia and Iran are set to ditch the US dollar and use rials and rubles for trade. This means bypassing the usual US weapon of choice: sanctions. Thus, betraying Tehran is out of the question for Moscow.
A peek into the Chinese factory that makes a fortune from Donald Trump masks
Trump, for all his rhetoric, cannot renegotiate the Iran nuclear deal signed by the members of the UN Security Council plus Germany in 2015. Tehran has met all its obligations. Trump also cannot fulfil his campaign promise to smash Islamic State, without Iran. Instead of his army of Iranophobic generals, he would do better to listen to the National Iranian American Council in Washington, which really understands Tehran’s stakes in Syria, Iraq, Afghanistan and the volatile Iran-Saudi cold war.
And Trump “getting tough” on China will hit a BRICS wall. The next summit between those five leading emerging market economies (Brazil, Russia, India, China, South Africa) is in Xiamen ( ), southeast China, next autumn, and the hosts will press for further integration.
A Chinese military vehicle carrying a “carrier killer” DF-21D missile. The missiles are one reason the US cannot afford a war in the South China Sea. Photo: AFP
Trump’s generals will also have to inform him that America cannot afford a war in the South China Sea or the western Pacific, wars it would have no guarantee of winning.
Trump’s advisers – even the Sinophobes – must have told him that Taiwan and the South China Sea are Beijing’s top priorities.
As Beijing’s foreign ministry put it: “The one-China principle… is non-negotiable.”
WATCH: Xi Jinping’s master class at Davos
Then there’s the 45 per cent tariff that might be slapped on Chinese products, and possible import quotas. Chinese scholars have concluded it is the United States that has most to lose in a trade war.
Iran has been accused of "destabilizing activity" after it test-fired a nuclear ballistic missile over the weekend.
The US claims the missile launch was in defiance of a UN Security Council resolution that called on Iran not to undertake any activity designed to be capable of delivering nuclear weapons.
Now Washington has lashed out at President Hassan Rouhani and his country, blasting them for totally disregarding the deal.
President Donald Trump's national security adviser Michael Flyn told a White House briefing: "As of today, we are officially putting Iran on notice."
He also said the firing demonstrated that it is "emboldened" by the controversial nuclear agreement, rather than "thankful" for the deal.
The retired US Army lieutenant general added the Trump administration was taking a stand over the launch "that puts American lives at risk."
But it is unknown what the miitary boss means by the term "on notice".
White House press secretary Sean Spicer later added that the administration "wanted to make very clear that we felt that [Iran's] actions are both provocative and in violation [of the nuclear deal] and make sure they knew that were not going to sit by and do nothing.
Who has Nuclear Weapons?
Tue, January 3, 2017
These are the countries in the world's nuclear weapons club.
Russia is estimated to have around 7,300 nuclear warheads. Of these, an estimated 1,790 are strategically deployed.
Both Trump and Flynn have been vocal opponents of an international deal that saw Iran curb its nuclear programme in return for sanctions relief.
In his first public remarks since taking office, National Security Adviser Michael Flynn accused former president Barack Obama's administration of having "failed to respond adequately to Tehran's malign actions".
A US official confirmed the deadly missile exploded 630 miles away from where it was fired, claiming the Iranians were "testing Trump".
The test took place at a test site near Semnan, according to the official who would only speak on condition of anonymity.
Iran is banned from any activity designed to be capable of delivering nuclear weapons
A US official confirmed the deadly missile exploded 630 miles away
Instead of being thankful to the United States for these agreements, Iran is now feeling emboldened
Trump's national security adviser Michael Flyn
The last time this missile was launched was July 2016, meaning this latest detonation could well be in response to Trump's executive order slamming shut the borders to anyone coming from Syria, Iran, Iraq, Yemen, Somalia, Sudan and Libya.
Earlier, Iranian defence minister Hossein Dehghan confirmed a medium-range ballistic missile was launched and exploded after travelling 630 miles.
However, he said the test did not violate a UN Security Council resolution that bans Iran from developing missiles.
He added: "We will not allow foreigners to interfere in our defence affairs".
Mr Flynn said Tehran had defied the resolution and hit out at Iran's "destabilising behaviour across the Middle East".
He said: "President Trump has severely criticised the various agreements reached between Iran and the Obama Administration, as well as the United Nations - as being weak and ineffective.
"Instead of being thankful to the United States for these agreements, Iran is now feeling emboldened."
While the new US ambassador to the United Nations Nikki Haley called the test "unacceptable".
Being President Trump: Key Moments
Tue, January 31, 2017
Inside Donald Trump's first week in the White House.
PLAY SLIDESHOW
US President Donald J. Trump attends a meeting on cyber security, in the Roosevelt Room of the White House, in Washington, DC, USA, 31 January 2017 EPA
1 of 13
US President Donald J. Trump attends a meeting on cyber security, in the Roosevelt Room of the White House, in Washington, DC, USA, 31 January 2017
US President Donald J. Trump attends a meeting on cyber security, in the Roosevelt Room of the White House, in Washington, DC, USA, 31 January 2017
Trump speaks briefly to reporters as he arrives aboard Air Force One at Joint Base Andrews
US President Donald Trump signs an executive order to start the Mexico border wall project at the Department of Homeland Security facility
President Donald Trump (R) and Vice President Mike Pence return to the White House after visiting the Department of Homeland Security
US President Donald Trump delivers remarks after signing five executive orders related to the oil pipeline industry in the oval office of the White House in Washington, DC, USA
US President Donald Trump signs one of five executive orders related to the oil pipeline industry in the oval office of the White House in Washington, DC, USA
US President Donald Trump signs one of five executive orders related to the oil pipeline industry in the oval office of the White House in Washington, DC, USA
The row comes amid a 90-day US ban on visas for migrants or visitors from Iran, as well as six other Muslim-majority countries.
Tehran said it will take "proportionate legal, consular and political action" while President Rouhani warned Mr Trump "will cost the US a lot until he learns what is happening in the world".
Iran’s Foreign Ministry spokesman dismisses U.S. and Israeli allegations against the country’s nuclear program as baseless. Bahram Qassemi says the Israeli regime’s nuclear weapons arsenal is the biggest threat to the peace and security of the region and the world.
The comments come after the US president and the Israeli prime minister renewed their criticism of Iran nuclear program and the nuclear deal at a joint presser in Washington. Qassemi noted that the International Atomic Energy Agency has repeatedly confirmed the peaceful nature of Iran’s nuclear program. He said that Israel accuses Iran while it does not abide by international law and regulations as it keeps hundreds of nuclear warheads in its arsenals.
Tony Gosling
Investigative Journalist _________________ --
'Suppression of truth, human spirit and the holy chord of justice never works long-term. Something the suppressors never get.' David Southwell
http://aangirfan.blogspot.com http://aanirfan.blogspot.com
Martin Van Creveld: Let me quote General Moshe Dayan: "Israel must be like a mad dog, too dangerous to bother."
Martin Van Creveld: I'll quote Henry Kissinger: "In campaigns like this the antiterror forces lose, because they don't win, and the rebels win by not losing."
'The Chinese Navy fleet, which docked at the southern Iranian port city of Bandar Abbas on Thursday, will take part in the joint exercises in waters of the Islamic Republic on Sunday.
The Iranian and Chinese naval forces will display their military capabilities and share experience during the drill.
China’s Navy fleet, comprising of guided-missile destroyer Chang Chung, replenishment ship Chao Hu and guided-missile frigate Jin Zhou as well as a helicopter, is in Iran to boost relations and marine interaction between the two countries’ naval forces.
In recent years, Iran has made major breakthroughs in its defense sector and attained self-sufficiency in the production of important military equipment and systems.
The country has also conducted major military drills to enhance the defense capabilities of its Armed Forces and to test modern military tactics and state-of-the-art equipment.
The Islamic Republic maintains that its military might poses no threat to other countries, and that its defense doctrine is merely based on deterrence.' _________________ 'And he (the devil) said to him: To thee will I give all this power, and the glory of them; for to me they are delivered, and to whom I will, I give them'. Luke IV 5-7.
Sputnik Iran discussed the issue with Hassan Beheshtipour, Iranian political observer, an expert on nuclear issues and foreign policy contributor for PRESS TV Network, who called the accusations absurd.
"From the ideological point of view, the 181-page report could be regarded as a new attempt of the Israeli and American intelligence services and the Zionist lobby to discredit Iran with the help of Germany. It looks like a new scenario for the implementation of their schemes which they plotted back in 2001 and which they later modified into the anti-Iranian dossier on the nuclear program. However they failed," Hassan Beheshtipour told Sputnik.
First of all, Iran was one of the first countries to sharply condemn and oppose the spread of weapons of mass destruction. It actively cooperates with the Organization for the Prohibition of Chemical Weapons (OPCW). It has also stepped up its cooperation with the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) on the various stages of control and inspection, especially after the signing of the nuclear deal. Iran strictly fulfils all the protocols with regards to Non-Proliferation Treaty (NPT) under the full control of IAEA. No doubts have been left with regards to its nuclear program. And there are no doubts that Iran makes no attempts to develop a weapon of mass destruction.
The country's missile program, he said, falls within the so-called conventional weapons. Iran has condemned any productions of the chemical weapons at the highest level. This decree of Supreme Leader of Iran, Ayatollah Khamenei has been protocoled in UN. It has been repeatedly referred to during the negotiations on Iran's nuclear program. Thus Iran, apart from nuclear and chemical weapons, has no other restrictions for its defense industry.
Since then Iran has reached high success in this area, it now possesses its own developments and technologies. Thus it simply does not need any know-hows of German or Chinese companies, especially bypassing the sanctions, which are still partially in place.
Thus, the expert said, all the accusations of Iran, put forward in this report, are absolutely absurd. Iran is developing missiles of various ranges purely for its defensive purposes in case of an external attack. Iranian missile program is of defensive and not of offensive character. It is a mean of containment, and not of aggression, Hassan Beheshtipour finally stated. _________________ --
'Suppression of truth, human spirit and the holy chord of justice never works long-term. Something the suppressors never get.' David Southwell
http://aangirfan.blogspot.com http://aanirfan.blogspot.com
Martin Van Creveld: Let me quote General Moshe Dayan: "Israel must be like a mad dog, too dangerous to bother."
Martin Van Creveld: I'll quote Henry Kissinger: "In campaigns like this the antiterror forces lose, because they don't win, and the rebels win by not losing."
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Wo1c-5_6KW0 _________________ --
'Suppression of truth, human spirit and the holy chord of justice never works long-term. Something the suppressors never get.' David Southwell
http://aangirfan.blogspot.com http://aanirfan.blogspot.com
Martin Van Creveld: Let me quote General Moshe Dayan: "Israel must be like a mad dog, too dangerous to bother."
Martin Van Creveld: I'll quote Henry Kissinger: "In campaigns like this the antiterror forces lose, because they don't win, and the rebels win by not losing."
Joined: 25 Jul 2005 Posts: 18335 Location: St. Pauls, Bristol, England
Posted: Wed Aug 02, 2017 10:14 am Post subject:
Rouhani, Xi & Putin. Now stop faffing about & put out an official global warning to humanity about the looming WWIII
Read the signs
WW3 is coming
a Zionist crusader war with Russia for Israel, in which China will support Putin/Assad
An Iranian committee monitoring the implementation of the nuclear deal has stressed Tehran’s powerful response to recent US sanctions.
During a meeting on Monday, the committee chaired by President Hassan Rouhani discussed Washington’s recent actions against Tehran. The committee noted that the US sanctions clearly violate Washington’s obligation under the 2015 landmark nuclear deal. It stressed the necessity of a strong, appropriate and intelligent response to the measure. The committee also made some decisions in reaction to US provocative measures, which will be handed over to Iran’s foreign ministry and the International Atomic Energy Agency. Last week, the US Congress approved fresh sanctions against Iran over its missile program.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Wo1c-...
General John Kelly oversaw the Guantanamo Bay prison.
As head of Southern Command, Kelly’s area of responsibility included the prison in Guantanamo Bay, Cuba, where he facilitated the prisoner swap for U.S. Army Sgt. Bowe Bergdahl, according to Defense One, a move he called “unusual.”
He has swatted away criticism about inhumane treatment of prisoners, the New York Times reported. Force-feeding prisoners on hunger strike, for instance, was a humane approach, according to Kelly.
He also insisted that one of the arguments for closing the prison — that it serves as a recruitment or propaganda tool for terror groups — is a nonsense argument.
“Bombing the living * out of ISIS in Iraq and Afghanistan, Syria, that would maybe irritate them more than the fact we have Guantanamo open,” he told Defense One.
Before becoming Chief of Staff, he would have likely been responsible for building Trump’s promised wall.
The job of planning and building Trump’s wall between the U.S. and Mexican will likely fall on Homeland Security, according to the Washington Post. And Kelly seems to share Trump’s view of border security — something he would’ve had a unique view of during his time heading up Southern Command.
In a 2014 interview with Defense One, he described illegal drug trade and the flow of undocumented immigrants into the U.S. as an existential threat to the nation.
And, in congressional testimony in 2015, he suggested smugglers could be bringing terrorists into the country. “Despite the heroic efforts of our law enforcement colleagues, criminal organizations are constantly adapting their methods for trafficking across our borders,” Kelly told the Senate Armed Services Committee. “While there is not yet any indication that the criminal networks involved in human and drug trafficking are interested in supporting the efforts of terrorist groups, these networks could unwittingly, or even wittingly, facilitate the movement of terrorist operatives or weapons of mass destruction toward our borders.’’
During a 2014 hearing, he told the Senate Armed Services Committee that he didn't have the ships or surveillance assets to get more than 20 percent of the drugs leaving Colombia for the U.S. He said he often had "very good clarity" on the drug traffickers, but much of the time, "I simply sit and watch it go by."
At his confirmation hearing, he indicated that a wall alone wouldn't be enough to defend the southern border. “It has to be a layered defense,” he said. “If you build a wall, you would still have to back that wall up with patrolling by human beings, by sensors, by observation devices.”
Some White House insiders are reportedly already concerned about his new job.
Reporting the news of Priebus's exit, The New York Times notes some of President Trump's advisors "oppose that idea [of Kelly's move], arguing that Mr. Trump needs someone more in tune with the nationalist political movement that helped propel him to the White House."
Iran's President Rouhani said his country could quit its deal curbing nuclear work "within hours" if the U.S. imposes new sanctions
The U.S. Treasury imposed sanctions on six Iranian firms in late July over a ballistic missile program after Tehran launched a rocket capable of putting a satellite into orbit
Published 10:03 PM ET Tue, 15 Aug 2017
Reuters
CNBC.com
Iran could abandon its nuclear agreement with world powers "within hours" if the United States imposes any more new sanctions, Iranian President Hassan Rouhani said on Tuesday.
"If America wants to go back to the experience (of imposing sanctions), Iran would certainly return in a short time - not a week or a month but within hours - to conditions more advanced than before the start of negotiations," Rouhani told a session of parliament broadcast live on state television.
Iran says new U.S. sanctions breach the agreement it reached in 2015 with the United States, Russia, China and three European powers in which it agreed to curb its nuclear work in return for the lifting of most sanctions.
U.S. Ambassador to the United Nations Nikki Haley said the new U.S. sanctions were unrelated to the Iran nuclear deal and that Iran must be held responsible for "its missile launches, support for terrorism, disregard for human rights, and violations of U.N. Security Council resolutions."
"Iran cannot be allowed to use the nuclear deal to hold the world hostage ... The nuclear deal must not become 'too big to fail'," Haley said in a statement on Tuesday, responding to Rouhani.
Haley will travel to Vienna next week to discuss Iran's nuclear activities with U.N. atomic watchdog officials as part of Washington's review of Tehran's compliance with the 2015 nuclear deal.
U.N. Secretary-General Antonio Guterres "considers the (Iran nuclear deal) to be one of the utmost diplomatic achievements in our collective search for peace and security," U.N. spokesman Stephane Dujarric told reporters.
"We need to do whatever we can to preserve it," Dujarric said.
Gas flare on an oil production platform in the Soroush oil fields is seen alongside an Iranian flag in the Gulf.
Raheb Homavandi | Reuters
Gas flare on an oil production platform in the Soroush oil fields is seen alongside an Iranian flag in the Gulf.
The U.S. Treasury imposed sanctions on six Iranian firms in late July for their role in the development of a ballistic missile program after Tehran launched a rocket capable of putting a satellite into orbit.
In early August, U.S. President Donald Trump signed into law new sanctions on Iran, Russia and North Korea passed by the U.S. Congress. The sanctions in that bill also target Iran's missile programs as well as human rights abuses.
The United States imposed unilateral sanctions after saying Iran's ballistic missile tests violated a U.N. resolution, which endorsed the nuclear deal and called upon Tehran not to undertake activities related to ballistic missiles capable of delivering nuclear weapons, including launches using such technology.
It stopped short of explicitly barring such activity.
Iran denies its missile development breaches the resolution, saying its missiles are not designed to carry nuclear weapons.
"The world has clearly seen that under Trump, America has ignored international agreements and, in addition to undermining the (nuclear deal), has broken its word on the Paris agreement and the Cuba accord ... and that the United States is not a good partner or a reliable negotiator," Rouhani said.
Why don't they join BRICS? _________________ 'And he (the devil) said to him: To thee will I give all this power, and the glory of them; for to me they are delivered, and to whom I will, I give them'. Luke IV 5-7.
Saudi Arabia King to step down and 32 year old son to take over: Israel and Saudi Arabia see Iran as an enemy; war with Iran. UN: Yemen Blockade Must End or 1000s Will Die. Israeli Military Chief Gives Unprecedented Interview to Saudi Media: 'Ready to Share Intel on Iran'. Briton’s returning from ISIS territory ‘DO NOT justify prosecution’ says terror watchdog. EXPLOSIVE: BBC admits US “coalition” working with ISIS, providing safe passage to terrorist fighters. Iraq's Kurds beef up, move back defence line around oil-rich Kirkuk. Lebanon PM accepts invite to France. Russia makes 9 media channels, connected to Radio Free Europe, foreign agents - in retaliation to US doing the same to RT America. Theresa May talking about Russia interfering with elections. On Monday, Theresa May said Vladimir Putin’s government was trying to “undermine free societies” and was “planting fake stories” to “sow discord in the West”. Although on Wednesday, the Prime Minister appeared to soften her language. She told parliament: “if [Labour MPs] cared to look at the speech I gave on Monday they will see that the examples I gave of Russian interference were not in the United Kingdom.” – West intervening in elections with 'The National Endowment for Democracy'. Another False Flag Terror Admission: Snipers in the 2014 Kiev Maidan “Protests”. US Commander in Japan: North Korea Diplomacy Requires 'Military Power'. BBC journalist deletes tweet about UK’s ‘corrupt’ relationship with Israel.
Martin Summers, Tony Gosling
www.thisweek.org.uk - BCfm 93.2 - Friday 17th November 2017 _________________ www.lawyerscommitteefor9-11inquiry.org www.rethink911.org www.patriotsquestion911.com www.actorsandartistsfor911truth.org www.mediafor911truth.org www.pilotsfor911truth.org www.mp911truth.org www.ae911truth.org www.rl911truth.org www.stj911.org www.v911t.org www.thisweek.org.uk www.abolishwar.org.uk www.elementary.org.uk www.radio4all.net/index.php/contributor/2149 http://utangente.free.fr/2003/media2003.pdf
"The maintenance of secrets acts like a psychic poison which alienates the possessor from the community" Carl Jung
https://37.220.108.147/members/www.bilderberg.org/phpBB2/
US President Donald J. Trump’s recognition of Jerusalem potentially sets the stage for a controversial American effort to resolve the Israeli-Palestinian conflict backed by Saudi Arabia and the United Arab Emirates.
The United States and the two Gulf states see a US peace plan-in-the-making as a way of paving the way for more overt cooperation with Israel in confronting Iran, whom they accuse of destabilising the Middle East.
At the core of the US draft plan is reportedly the controversial suggestion that Abu Dis, a Palestinian village bordering on Jerusalem, rather than East Jerusalem, would be the capital of a future Palestinian state.
In doing so, the United States, Saudi Arabia and the UAE are navigating a minefield. Protests against Mr Trump’s move have so far underplayed the link between the fight against Iran and apparent Saudi and UAE willingness to compromise on minimal Palestinian demands for peace that include East Jerusalem as the capital of a future Palestinian state.
That could change as US plans for an Israeli-Palestinian peace crystalise and the link to the Saudi-Iranian rivalry manifests itself. At the core of the US draft plan is reportedly the controversial suggestion that Abu Dis, a Palestinian village bordering on Jerusalem, rather than East Jerusalem, would be the capital of a future Palestinian state.
Perceived Saudi and UAE backing for the proposal that is reportedly being drafted by Mr Trump’s aide and son-in-law, Jared Kushner, would bring anger at alleged Arab complicity to the forefront, fuel the persistent anti-US and anti-Israel protests, and complicate the campaign by the US and the two Gulf states against Iran.
The notion that Abu Dis could replace East Jerusalem has been around for almost two decades. It failed to garner support during the 2000 Camp David Israeli-Palestinian peace talks because Arab and Palestinian leaders rejected it. Saudi and UAE eagerness to work with Israel coupled with Mr Trump’s seemingly unqualified support for the Jewish state has given the proposal a new lease on life.
Saudi Arabia and the UAE, despite their official condemnation of Mr Trump’s recognition of Jerusalem, have signalled a willingness to be more flexible by continuing to support Mr Kushner’s effort and playing a low-key, if not dampening, role in Arab and Muslim rejection of the president’s move.
Ironically, differences among Arab leaders about how to respond to Mr Trump’s Jerusalem decision may have temporarily prevented Saudi Crown Prince Muhammad bin Salman from adding Palestine to a string of failed foreign policy moves aimed at escalating the kingdom’s proxy war with Iran. Prince Muhammad’s devastating military intervention in Yemen, botched effort to force Lebanese Prime Minister Saad Hariri to resign, and hamstrung boycott of Qatar have backfired and only strengthened Iran’s regional influence.
Inadvertently, Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas and Jordanian King Abdullah did Prince Muhammad a favour when they reportedly rejected pressure by Prince Muhammad not to participate in this week’s summit of Islamic countries in Istanbul. Saudi Arabia was represented by a lower level Cabinet official. Mr Abbas may have further shielded the Saudi leader when his refusal to further accept the United States as a mediator was adopted by the summit.
The two leaders’ stand coupled with the Islamic summit’s rejection of Mr Trump’s move make it more difficult for Saudi Arabia and the UAE to endorse any resolution of the Israeli-Palestinian conflict that does not recognise East Jerusalem as the capital of Palestine. The problem is that Prince Muhammad and his UAE counterpart, Prince Muhammad bin Zayed, run the risk of misreading or underestimating public anger and frustration in significant parts of the Arab and Muslim world.
The link between Israeli-Palestinian peace making and Iran is likely to become undeniable when Mr Trump next month must decide whether to uphold the 2015 international agreement with Iran that put severe restrictions on its nuclear program in exchange for the lifting of sanctions.
Under US law, Mr Trump has to certify Iranian compliance every three months. In October, Mr Trump refused to do so. He threatened to pull out of the agreement if Congress failed to address the agreement’s perceived shortcomings within 60 days. Congress has so far refrained from acting on Mr Trump’s demand. Mr Trump wants Congress to ensure that Iranian compliance involves accepting restrictions on its ballistic missile programme and support of regional proxies.
Mr Trump and his Gulf allies are walking a tightrope by fuelling suspicion that they are willing to compromise on minimal Palestinian demands for peace in a bid to cater to Israel, a natural ally in the fight against Iran.
It is anybody’s guess what Mr Trump will do. At first glance, US ambassador to the United Nations Nikki Haley’s presentation of Iranian missile parts as evidence of Tehran’s support for Houthi rebels in Yemen and Iranian destabilisation of the Middle East would suggest that Mr Trump is preparing to decertify Iran and possibly withdraw from the agreement.
It could, however, also be an effort to project a tougher US stance towards Iran while cooler heads in the administration prevail on Mr Trump to keep the agreement in place.
In either case, Mr Trump and his Gulf allies are walking a tightrope by fuelling suspicion that they are willing to compromise on minimal Palestinian demands for peace in a bid to cater to Israel, a natural ally in the fight against Iran.
In doing so, Mr Trump and the Saudi and UAE crown princes risk misreading not only the public mood but also Iranian influence and intentions, particularly regarding the Islamic republic’s ability to control the Houthi rebels. Ms Haley’s evidence that was supplied by Saudi Arabia and the UAE failed to convince many in the international community.
Ms Haley’s missile parts display was prompted by the Iranian-backed Houthis’s firing of a ballistic missile at Riyadh on 4 November. It remains unclear whether that missile was supplied by Iran, or possibly North Korea, and when it was given to the Houthis – key questions that need to be answered to determine possible Iranian culpability.
The Houthis, a fiercely independent actor who have repeatedly demonstrated that they do not take orders from Tehran and at times ignore its advice, could throw a monkey wrench into the fragile Middle East mix if they make good on a threat to target not only Saudi, but also Emirati cities. A missile strike would no doubt provoke a harsh response, possibly involving a joint US-Saudi-UAE strike against Iran rather than against the Houthis in Yemen.
Anger already aroused by Mr Trump’s decision on Jerusalem potentially could then turn against Arab leaders who would be seen to be cooperating with the United States and willing to sacrifice Palestinian rights to work with Israel.
Yesterday and today saw some small protests in Iran. They are probably the first stage of a large "regime change" operation run by the U.S. and Israel with the help of Iranian terrorist group.
Earlier this month the White House and the Zionist prepared for a new assault on Iran:
A delegation led by Israel's National Security Adviser met with senior American officials in the White House earlier this month for a joint discussion on strategy to counter Iran's aggression in the Middle East, a senior U.S. official confirmed to Haaretz.
Another report about the meeting quotes Israeli officials on the result:
"[T]he U.S. and Israel see eye to eye the different developments in the region and especially those that are connected to Iran. We reached at understandings regarding the strategy and the policy needed to counter Iran. Our understandings deal with the overall strategy but also with concrete goals, way of action and the means which need to be used to get obtain those goals."
This is probably a result of the above meeting:
Hundreds took to the streets of Iran’s second largest city of Mashad on Thursday to protest over high prices, shouting slogans against the government.
Videos posted on social media showed demonstrators in Mashad in northwest Iran, one of the holiest places in Shia Islam, chanting “death to (President Hassan) Rouhani” and “death to the dictator”.
The semi-official ILNA news agency and social media reported demonstrations in other cities in Razavi Khorasan Province, including Neyshabour and Kashmar.
A video of that protest in Mashad showed some 50 people chanting slogans with more bystander just milling around.
Protests against the (neo-)liberal economic policies of the Rohani government in Iran are justified. Official unemployment in Iran is above 12% and there is hardly any economic growth. The people in the streets are not the only ones who are dissatisfied with this:
Iran’s Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, who has repeatedly criticized the government’s economic record, said on Wednesday that the nation was struggling with “high prices, inflation and recession”, and asked officials to resolve the problems with determination.
On Thursday and today the slogans of some protesters turned the call for economic relief into a call for regime change.
My hunch is that the usual suspects are behind these protests. Note that these started in several cities at the same time. This was not some spontaneous local uproar in one city but had some form of coordination.
Then there is this:
Carl Bildt @carlbildt - 9:38 PM - 28 Dec 2017 from Rome, Lazio
Reports of signals of international satellite TV networks jammed in large cities of Iran. Would be sign of regime fear of today’s protests spreading.
A search in various languages finds exactly zero such "reports". Carl Bildt is a former Swedish prime minister. He was recruited in 1973 as a CIA informant and has since grown into a full blown U.S. asset. He was involved in the Ukraine coup and tried to personally profit from it.
The only response to Bildt's tweet was from one Riyad Swed - @SwedRiyad who posted several videos of protests with one of them showing burning police cars.
I am not sure the video is genuine. The account has some unusual attributes (active since September 2016, 655 tweets but only 32 followers?).
Just yesterday one lecture at the CCC "hacker" congress was about the British GHCQ Secret Service and its sock-puppet accounts on Twitter and Facebook. These are used for acquiring human intelligence and for running "regime change" operations. Page 14-18 of the slides (11:20 min) cite from obtained GCHQ papers which lists Iran as one of the targets. The speaker specifically notes a GCHQ account "@2009Iranfree" which was used in generating the protests in Iran after the reelection of then President Ahmedinejad.
Today, Friday and the weekly day off in Iran, several more protest took place in other cities. A Reuters report from today:
About 300 demonstrators gathered in Kermanshah after what Fars called a “call by the anti-revolution” and shouted “Political prisoners should be freed” and “Freedom or death”, while destroying some public property. Fars did not name any opposition groups.
...
Footage, which could not be verified, showed protests in other cities including Sari and Rasht in the north, Qom south of Tehran, and Hamadan in the west.
Mohsen Nasj Hamadani, deputy security chief in Tehran province, said about 50 people had rallied in a Tehran square and most left after being asked by police, but a few who refused were “temporarily detained”, the ILNA news agency reported.
Some of these protests have genuine economic reasons but get hijacked by other interests:
In the central city of Isfahan, a resident said protesters joined a rally held by factory workers demanding back wages.
“The slogans quickly changed from the economy to those against (President Hassan) Rouhani and the Supreme Leader (Ayatollah Ali Khamenei),” the resident said by telephone.
...
Purely political protests are rare in Iran [...] but demonstrations are often held by workers over layoffs or non-payment of salaries and people who hold deposits in non-regulated, bankrupt financial institutions.
...
Alamolhoda, the representative of Ayatollah Khamenei in northeastern Mashhad, said a few people had taken advantage of Thursday’s protests against rising prices to chant slogans against Iran’s role in regional conflicts.
...
“Some people had came to express their demands, but suddenly, in a crowd of hundreds, a small group that did not exceed 50 shouted deviant and horrendous slogans such as ‘Let go of Palestine’, ‘Not Gaza, not Lebanon, I’d give my life (only) for Iran’,” Alamolhoda said.
Two videos posted by BBC Persian and others I have seen show only small active protest groups with a dozen or so people while many more are just standing by or film the people who are chanting slogans.
Videos published by the terrorist group Mujahedin-e Khalq [MEK], 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, also show mostly small protests despite the MEK's claim of Tens of thousands of people chant “death to dictator". The MEK, or its "civilian" organization National Council of Resistance of Iran , seem to be most involved in the current protests. Its website is currently filled with the protest issue with a total of ten reports and its head figure issued a supportive statement:
Mrs. Maryam Rajavi, President-elect of the Iranian Resistance, saluted the heroic people of Kermanshah and other cities who rose up today chanting “death or freedom”, “death to Rouhani”, “death to the dictator”, and “political prisoners must be freed”, and protested against high prices, poverty and corruption.
She said, “Yesterday Mashhad, today Kermanshah, and tomorrow throughout Iran; this uprising has tolled the death knell for the overthrow of the totally corrupt dictatorship of the mullahs, and is the rise of democracy, justice and popular sovereignty.
This very early engagement of the MEK -its first report was published yesterday at 10:26 am- is extremely suspicious.
In 2012 it was reported that Israel had used the MEK terrorist organization to assassinate nuclear scientists in Iran:
On Thursday, U.S. officials speaking to NBC news claimed that Mossad agents were training members of the dissident terror group People’s Mujahedin of Iran in order assassinate Iranian nuclear scientists, adding that the administration of U.S. President Barack Obama was aware of the operation, but had no direct link to them.
The U.S. officials reportedly confirmed the link between Israel and the People’s Mujahedin of Iran (MEK), with one official saying: "All your inclinations are correct.”
In October a CATO Institute paper analyzed (and rejected) several options for U.S. handling Iran. Under Option Three: “Regime Change from Within” it noted:
In this approach, the United States would pressure the Iranian regime and simultaneously back groups that oppose it-whether the exiled extremist National Council of Resistance of Iran (NCRI), pro-democracy Green Revolution factions, or ethnic minorities within Iran-a strategy advocates often compare to Reagan’s support for civil society groups in the Soviet Union.
...
[A] proponent of “coerced democratization,” the Foundation for Defense of Democracies’ Mark Dubowitz, urged President Trump to “go on the offensive against the Iranian regime” by “weakening the Iranian regime’s finances” through “massive economic sanctions,” while also “undermin[ing] Iran’s rulers by strengthening pro-democracy forces” inside Iran. This option appears to be gaining traction in the Trump administration’s ongoing Iran policy review and has received public support from Tillerson. CIA Director Mike Pompeo also favored such an approach during his time in Congress.
The MEK/NCRI noted that Senator Tom Cotton, who will likely replace CIA chief Pompeo when Pompeo moves to the State Department, issued a supportive statement for the protests.
The White House and the Netanyahoo regime agreed on a strategy towards Iran. Major members of the Trump administration are in favor of "regime change" by "pro-democracy forces" in Iran. A few weeks after an agreement was found, coordinated economic protests start in Iran which are soon hijacked by small groups of very active regime changers. A group of Iranian exile terrorists, well known for deadly collaboration with Israeli spies as well as for having operation cells in Iran, is highly engaged in the protest from very early on.
If this the "regime change" operation I presume, the protests will soon get bigger. When the people need money a few thousand dollars are enough to create a large crowd. Small groups will riot while hiding within the larger protests of maybe genuinely concerned people. The "western" media will engage with their usual pseudo liberal humanism and concern trolling. When the police in Iran tries to arrest those rioters who are raising havoc the media will scream "brutality". Some "martyr" will be created and iconified. Rumors of censorship and suppression will be raised (see Carl Bildt above), fake news will come from everywhere and hundreds of sock puppet Twitter and Facebook accounts will suddenly be "Iranian" and breathlessly report "from the scene" of their Langley offices.
For the Iranian politicians and police the issue is tricky. Economic protests are clearly justified with even Khameni voicing support for the issue. But rioting in the streets must be suppressed before it further escalates and becomes uncontrollable. Weapons on the protesters site firing in all directions may soon become a problem. The Mossad and the MEK are not shy of killing random people.
But the Islamic Republic in Iran has genuine support in large parts of the society. There are big civil organizations that support the government - not on every issue but in its general framework. Most Iranian's are proud nationalists and will be difficult to divide. If this is indeed the "regime change" attempt I suspect, I predict that it will fail.
Posted by b on December 29, 2017 at 02:45 PM | Permalink
Comments
Thanks for the Iran analysis b
I saw the reports of unrest in Iran and know that the pot is being stirred externally.
Trump needs his war to be a real US president, Netanyahoo needs cover for his crimes and SA needs cover for its war crimes.
The carousel keeps spinning faster and faster. How many will die when it crashes? Sad.....and hard to watch
Posted by: psychohistorian | Dec 29, 2017 2:56:15 PM | 1
thanks for this b... i agree with your 3rd to last paragraph and the line in the 2nd to last one "Mossad and the MEK are not shy of killing random people." it seems these paid stooges - carl bildt and etc, are quite happy to try another regime change/ green revolution on iran.. everything has been headed in this direction for some time.. usa/israel saber rattling towards iran 24/7, financial sanctions and etc. etc. it never stops.. these neo-con regime change artists get extremely tiring and predictable..
Posted by: james | Dec 29, 2017 3:19:45 PM | 2
When the Anglo-American axis was rejecting 'unsuitable' candidates for the 1953 coup in Iran
Posted by: nhs | Dec 29, 2017 3:25:53 PM | 3
Aggressive war on Iran via Regime Change has as much chance of success as the same being done to Russia or China, although I'm not saying it won't be tried. The Saker has a thought-provoking article about the chances of war occurring in 2018 and where; regarding Iran, reneging the nuclear deal remains a Trump priority, but that would likely further isolate the Outlaw US Empire from its EU vassals. As for Iran's economy, it will soon begin feeling the effects of its ties to the BRI; and after the decades of sanctions, it's mostly removed from the Empire controlled financial architecture. Plus, numerous Iranian construction companies will benefit from the rebuilding required in Syria and Iraq which will begin to ramp-up now that most of the Empire's proxies are defeated.
And it's the events in Syria and Iraq that will doom any attempt at Regime Change in Iran to failure as the Iranian people are too savvy to be duped as they've seen that strategy tried against everyone of its presidential administrations since 1979.
Posted by: karlof1 | Dec 29, 2017 3:52:21 PM | 4
It appears the initial attempt was to be made in Jordan:
"King of #Jordan dismisses his 3 brothers; Faisal, Ali and Talal from Jordanian army command after evidence of them contacting #Saudi leaders Mohammad bin Salman and Mohammad bin Zayed to formulate a coup against him. All 3 brothers are now under house arrest." [A correction says Talal is a cousin; so, 2 brothers and cousin arrested.]
MbS must have been a Keystone Kop in a previous life.
Posted by: karlof1 | Dec 29, 2017 4:20:10 PM | 5
you say:
"Protests against the (neo-)liberal economic policies of the Rohani government in Iran are justified. Official unemployment in Iran is above 12% and there is hardly any economic growth"
The IMF disagrees with you B.
"Real gross domestic product growth is projected to reach 4.2 percent in 2017-18 and is expected to be sustained or even rise toward 4.5 percent over the medium-term if financial sector reform takes hold."
https://www.upi.com/Irans-GDP-reaches-42-percent/9161513600500/
After struggling for years under sanctions, Iran’s economy picked up in 2016 after most restrictions were removed under a deal with world powers on its nuclear program. Gross domestic product grew 12.5 percent last year, according to the International Monetary Fund.
https://www.reuters.com/article/us-iran-budget/irans-rouhani-submits-c onservative-2018-budget-as-u-s-tensions-overshadow-economy-idUSKBN1E40 I3
Posted by: mauisurfer | Dec 29, 2017 4:33:28 PM | 6
i just let the links here.
The networks of "democratic" interference: http://www.voltairenet.org/article30022.html
« Color revolution » fails in Iran: http://www.voltairenet.org/article160764.html
The CIA and the Iranian experiment: http://www.voltairenet.org/article160670.html
NED, the Legal Window of the CIA: http://www.voltairenet.org/article192992.html
the Iranian mek, another imperial tool? http://www.voltairenet.org/article193553.html
Posted by: la Cariatide | Dec 29, 2017 4:56:38 PM | 7
There was some mention of Soros’s twitter account not being active the last month.
Maybe now we know what he’s been up to.
Posted by: NotBob | Dec 29, 2017 4:58:22 PM | 8
Has anyone seen the Nuland woman lately?
Posted by: Bart Hansen | Dec 29, 2017 5:12:09 PM | 9
Iran, Syria and NK - the last countries without a Rothschild central fraud bank.
Posted by: Boyo | Dec 29, 2017 5:23:14 PM | 10
b, while I was much interested by the analysis in your piece, a factor I think you ignore is the class aspect of conflict in Iran. The current Iranian religious regime can be described as 'populist', in that it appeals to the lower classes, the poorer classes, in order to stay in power. The old Iranian upper class have an enormous sense of entitlement, entitlement to power, which goes back to Sasanian times (226-637AD), when the lords didn't pay taxes, only the serfs did. Islam was the first popular revolution, but the elite wormed its way back into power as administrators for the Turkish and Mongol Sultans. They had their success with the Shah's regime, but were of course outed with the Islamic Revolution of 1979, and most went into exile. The 2009 movement was an attempt to put the upper classes back into power, which failed of course because they are not popularly the majority.
Today, if I understand correctly, most of that class who remain in Iran have havered, and adapted to the new reality, the revolution being 38 years ago now. Things have moved on, but the exiles haven't. No doubt the Iranian advisors to Washington want to restore the Shah's regime.
The question will be: are the new demonstrations genuinely a manifestation of popular revolt? or a repeat of 2009, where the minority rebelled?
Posted by: Laguerre | Dec 29, 2017 5:28:18 PM | 11
Protesters are said to have chanted against the "Islamic Republic Regime"
https://twitter.com/Raman_Ghavami/status/946838811203588096
Posted by: Andrea | Dec 29, 2017 5:41:34 PM | 12
Twitter is basically swamped with MEK accounts talking up regime change. Here's my personal favorite exchange:
@vida_861 - 3 hours ago, Replying to @A_Tabatabai
It's indeed the beginning of a revolutionary movement!!! it's the smell of a change which the oppressed people of #Iran were fighting for so long✌️We the iranian comunity we don't this regime #No2Rouhani #FreeIran
@GeromanAT - 3 hours ago
who should lead Iran then? Is there a special new leader you have in mind?
@vida_861 - 3 hours ago
The only alternative to this regime are the MEK, they are the only existing opposition group in and outside of #Iran
Posted by: Guest77 | Dec 29, 2017 5:48:44 PM | 13
It was funny to see the chants "Long live Reza Shah" and "Death to Rouhani" in the stories I caught on my cellphone today. I knew these had to be isolated incidents before the basij, police, or Guard kick in.
I was 10 when we lived there in the early 70s. The Shah/SAVAK had the power and it was an interesting learning experience. My barber's was moreso as he was there as a boy in the early 50s during the overthrow. He has a pic of his father with the Shah (who is in a uniform) and others at some kind of club. His father had an Iranian passport and uniform so definitely CIA or something related. My father once claimed to be CIA (to his last spouse) but he was more of a tech supporting the communications set up that relayed info from the listening posts on the border with Russia.
b. Good point about sock-puppet twitter and facebook accounts being used to push a non-Arabic spring. Obama's recent negative comments about social media leave out the fact that they like to use it like they did in Egypt. It's a hypocrisy like using Stuxnet against Iran but squealing about similar used against the US.
Posted by: Curtis | Dec 29, 2017 5:49:51 PM | 14
Looks like the focus has shifted from China/North Korea to Iran now. I agree that fostering division inside Iran will be next to impossible, especially now. Iranians are a smart bunch of people, and have prepared themselves for the coming attacks from the AAZ Empire.
Posted by: Ian | Dec 29, 2017 5:54:48 PM | 15
US occupied sections of Iraq and Syria seem likely to be part prepostioning for the Trump admin assault on Iran. Social unrest, terrorist attacks ect, and perhaps a US airstrike or two.
Gives free movement of jihadists through north east Syria and Iraq to the Iran border. Any attack on US bases or personnel in Syria will be blamed on Iran and used as an excuse to ramp things up, airstrikes, drum up a 'coalition' or whatever.
Posted by: Peter AU 1 | Dec 29, 2017 5:56:43 PM | 16
Trump has repeated the meme, on numerous occasions, 'Iran was on the brink of collapse because of sanctions when Obama through them a lifeline'. BTW I think he actually believes this.
So here is a thought, perhaps the protests are being done by MEK, the Saudis, Israel, etc, but without U.S. involvement to convince Trump that now is the time to kill the JCPOA and go for Iran's juggler. I know that this makes the U.S. sound stupid and easy to play but that is just because we are stupid and easy to play.
Posted by: Christian Chuba | Dec 29, 2017 5:57:33 PM | 17
No one in Iran cares about Paul Ryan, Cotton, few even about Trump. These protests are mostly legitimate and almost no one involved wants Iran to be a US puppet state.
Posted by: purple | Dec 29, 2017 6:05:28 PM | 18
@purple, fair enough. A better way for me to phrase it would be the 'perception management' of the protests.
For example, the 2009 election protests were legitimate but in the U.S. a myth developed that the Iranian 'regime' was on the verge of dissolution and had Obama merely supported the protesters Iran would have become a totally different country. I would not discount the possibility of operatives being in Iran but quite frankly that would be a dangerous occupation given Iran's penchant for arrests and liberal use of the death penalty.
Posted by: Christian Chuba | Dec 29, 2017 6:13:59 PM | 19
CC @20--
The "myth" was yet another Big Lie meant for domestic consumption. Sure did dupe the dotard and many of his ilk. MEK and kin represent an existential threat to Iran and will be treated as such.
Posted by: karlof1 | Dec 29, 2017 6:30:03 PM | 20
You'll notice massive "media" coverage of the non-events occurring in Iran while totally ignoring the very real Days of Rage protests happening in the West Bank, with the former getting coated by Western government diarrhea while mute on latter.
Posted by: karlof1 | Dec 29, 2017 6:52:37 PM | 21
These are the four points the US and Israel agreed on at recent meetings...
1/ Covert and diplomatic action to block Iran’s path to nuclear weapons – according to the U.S. official this working group will deal with diplomatic steps that can be taken as part of the Iran nuclear deal to further monitor and verify that Iran is not violating the deal. It also includes diplomatic steps outside of the nuclear deal to put more pressure on Iran. The working group will deal with possible covert steps against the Iranian nuclear program.
2/ Countering Iranian activity in the region, especially the Iranian entrenchment efforts in Syria and the Iranian support for Hezbollah and other terror groups. This working group will also deal with drafting U.S.-Israeli policy regarding the “day after” in the Syrian civil war.
3/ Countering Iranian ballistic missiles development and the Iranian “precision project” aimed at manufacturing precision guided missiles in Syria and Lebanon for Hezbollah to be used against Israel in a future war.
4/ Joint U.S.-Israeli preparation for different escalation scenarios in the region concerning Iran, Syria, Hezbollah in Lebanon and Hamas in Gaza.
In my opinion number 3 is what Israel is concerned with, 100,000 Hezbollah missiles [which they claim to have] with precision guidance could reduce Tel Aviv to rubble, 5,000 could do the job.
Posted by: harrylaw | Dec 29, 2017 6:59:51 PM | 22
The US state dept have just called on other nations to protest the arrest pf peaceful demonstrators in Iran. A minor detail here, in the UK.. "By law you must tell the police in writing 6 days before a public march if you're the organiser. Tell the police the: date and time of the march; route; the names and addresses of the organisers. Otherwise the protests are unlawful.
Posted by: harrylaw | Dec 29, 2017 7:17:21 PM | 23
b, your analysis has an important missing element.
The orchestrated protests were planned and initiated by some of the hardliner political factions who lost the last presidential election to the centrist Rouhani, who is an extremely capable conservative+liberal politician, has the support of the highly popular reformists & significant parts of the powerful conservatives, therefore has a potential to become the next supreme leader. These protests were supposed to be used as a leverage to "burn" Rouhani and also further close-down the socio-political arena for the reformists and centrists.
But, these planned protests backfired, because (1) they turned into genuine protests and (3) were hijacked by the US-EU backed Iranian opposition groups.
Note:
"Hardliners had plans to organize massive protests against Rouhani on Saturday. They tested it earlier in some cities, but it was hijacked by Pahlavists backed by VOA, Manoto, and some Telegram channels. Now same hardliners have to defend state against Pahlavists."
https://twitter.com/h0d3r_fa/status/946881431841792000
Posted by: bamdadi | Dec 29, 2017 7:23:29 PM | 24
It remains to be see if "popular protests" were hijacked by anti-government groups (government = hardliners + "softliners"), or it was the activity of smallish groups joining at the periphery that could make some so-so videos but with small lasting impact. After all, smallish groups can be mopped up, and "genuine demands" can be addressed, in short term at least, by throwing a bit of cash -- e.g. some big foundation can take over a bankrupt factory.
A good example of that was in Armenia, where "electric springs" consisted of protest against a rise in electricity prices (Russian power company) plus some violence by nationalist extremists (a hostage crisis), Russian company rolled back the increase, extremists were eventually arrested, and Armenia got some arms contract with Russia with very good credit terms (Armenia actually has a serious need for arms and allies, and the West can provide none of them). Iran is a big country, so problems cannot be patched as easily, but it is also not as easy to shake the government.
Posted by: Piotr Berman | Dec 29, 2017 8:00:19 PM | 25
Re: Laguerre | Dec 29, 2017 5:28:18 PM | 11
It seems that wherever you look, it is the oligarchs that keep humanity submerged in endless warfare, which misdirects the resources that could be used to eliminate human suffering. The compradors are always available to work against social justice, as long as they are allowed to keep their fortunes and power.
Posted by: Perimetr | Dec 29, 2017 8:06:53 PM | 26
It doesn’t take much to hijack protests. A small number of agent provocateurs will do either in the crowd or amongst the police. Thus every protest is suspect.
Posted by: Alaric | Dec 29, 2017 8:29:37 PM | 27
The more moronic US politicians talk the greater the chance these protests fizzle. Too bad, because Iran needs nationalist Left politicians. It does make one realize how delusional the Paul Ryans of the world are, which bodes ill for the North Korean stand off. The US ruling class might be so delusional to think they can win a ground war in Asia. My god.
Posted by: purple | Dec 29, 2017 9:44:07 PM | 28
Carl Bildt is a nasty man who played a key roll in moving Sweden into the neoliberal NATO/Atlanticist orbit. He is a fully bought and paid for evangelist for the global (neo)liberal establishment. If he is promoting these "spontaneous" protests on Twitter there is a good chance his involvement goes deeper than that.
When Iraq attacked Iran in 1980 even Iranians who had no love for Ayatollah Khomeini and his government put aside their differences with the theocratic regime and stood as one with all Iranians to defend their nation from foreign aggressors. If the US, Israel and the sycophant chumps who support them think Iranian dissatisfaction with their government means they are on side with a foreign attack or invasion...they have another thing coming.
Posted by: Temporarily Sane | Dec 29, 2017 9:57:53 PM | 29
Same script different country.In an economy that is deficient, sow the seeds of discontent with a little cash, and hire some assassins, bingo, regime change down the road. Time will tell whether or not the usual suspects succeed.
Posted by: ben | Dec 29, 2017 10:02:38 PM | 30
Oh well that explains why the detestable englander pol Boris Johnson * off for a few days in Iran just before Xmas. He needed to pretend he cared now before the Zaghari traitor is convicted and sentenced for all her crimes.
The englander public have been fed a load of tosh about what Iranian quisling Nazanin Zaghari(-Ratcliffe) was locked up for.
This has enabled propaganda outlet the BBC to push the current beat up of riots in the streets of Iran with a straight face.
You see and Nazanin Zaghari has been charged with offences she committed during while an employee of the BBC 'Persian' service.
Some may remember that well known proponent of democracy and liberty, Hillary Clinton (we came we saw - he died tee hee hee) was amerikan secretary of state back then and she as many readers will recall got Congress to allocate $20 million to support so called, way back then 'new tech' initiatives to aid the Iranian opposition.
Setting aside the reality that whatever opposition there was was an entirely amerikan construct and that for the space of several weeks the two submarine and one landline which connected Iran to the rest of the world were mysteriously hit with accidents (a trawler dragging up the cable etc) which would have eaten up a good deal of the 20 mill, enough dosh was left over to fund a little known adjunct of the BBC, the BBC World Service Trust international charitable project. According to wikipedia Zaghari provided training courses to Iranian journalists, some of whom were convicted for participating in the 2008 foreign training course much later, in 2014.
Some of those rotten traitors 'sang' once arrested (what else would you expect from middle class 'its all about me' types - honour?), and confronted by the depth of their betrayal, they provided sufficient evidence against Zaghari who, it should be known was entirely Iranian in 2009 at the time she turned against her homeland, betraying her compatriots at the behest of their enemies. In fact Zaghari was fresh outta grad school, the tab for which had been picked up by the nation she so readily betrayed. After all, girl has a right to get ahead.
I agree with Laguerre that bourgeoisie and associated comprador opportunists have totally penetrated the Iranian political structure and that a purge is badly needed.
I can understand why the clerics favoured these types over the far more realistic and well grounded Ahmadinejad, since the crooked, duplicitous amerikan empire would never have cut a deal with Ahmadinejad - he wouldn't have gone along with the current 'loopholes' in the sanctions deal/nuclear agreement which keep eurocorps rich while preventing ordinary Iranians from eating, but now the deal has been done the Rouhani crew need be shown the door - fast.
Perhaps that is what this current round of useful idiot provoked by bourgeois opportunists, 10 person 'protests' are about.
It is simply an attempt to create some type of confrontation which can be deemed a 'warcrime' by agent orange in the event of a more people oriented government taking control of Iran.
Posted by: Debsisdead | Dec 29, 2017 10:04:19 PM | 31
One reason that the current protests in Mashhad and other cities around Iran are likely to fail as a tactic is that constant repetition over several countries can only work so much. Tehran will only be too aware of how the de facto US war against Syria began and the Iranians may well have followed how the so-called Electric Revolution started and sputtered out in Yerevan in 2015. Ukraine is not all that far away either. A number of Central Asian countries also experienced "color revolutions". So wherever Iran looks around its neighbourhood, it sees the same patterns and tactics of regime change occurring over and over again.
The one possible weak link is the snipers who take over the initial protests and use them to fire on both protesters and police, and to burn cars and buildings, as was done in Dar'aa (Syria) in 2011 and in Kiev in 2014. These snipers are likely to be foreign mercenaries/jihadis. Iran needs to monitor who is coming through its borders at the present time and to keep a close eye on any armaments coming in as well.
Posted by: Jen | Dec 29, 2017 10:11:17 PM | 32
Somehow I doubt we'll be seeing many Iranian based websites or even Iranian sourced twits as Zaghari's chief task last time was teaching known anti Iranian government old school print journos how to build websites and the best ways to make tweets go 'viral' by using compliant amerikan tech firms.
The trouble is it seems she didn't bother to tell her marks that everything on the net is traceable. It took Iran longer than it would take the 'every bit shall be stored' NSA to track down the culprits, but they did find them all eventually which natch enough makes finding new marks somewhat 'problematic' for the empire.
So it will be rather distracting to discern how the troublemakers intend to resolve that issue this time around.
Posted by: Debsisdead | Dec 29, 2017 10:47:18 PM | 33
This sounds extremely theatrical.
If the US/Israel meeting took place AFTER Dec 6, when Trump declared Jerusalem to be the capital of the * Little Country, then its sole purpose was to get the Palestinian Holocaust out of the headlines.
They only replaced it with the "Iran!" threat because they've got no imagination and believe too much of their own bs. No-one is going to attack Iran, especially not the gutless AmeriKKKan racist-supremacists or their suffering/simpering "Israeli" counterparts.
Bibi is sufficiently stupid to believe that Trump did "Israel" a favour by pretending he had the Authority to unilaterally 'recognise' Jerusalem.
Fortunately, the meeting came too late and now twice as many people know the facts behind the "Piece" Process than were previously aware of it.
"Israel" is so-o f****d.
Where will the next Jewish social-engineering experiment be located?
Will it be called Israel?
Posted by: Hoarsewhisperer | Dec 29, 2017 11:00:48 PM | 34
It was recently announced Iran woukd be joining the Eurasian Economic Union . Last country that planned to do so was Ukraine in 2014 and shortly after the US led coup took care of that. History repeats. Only question is will they succeed as they did in Ukraine or need to take futher measures
Posted by: Pft | Dec 29, 2017 11:30:53 PM | 35
I think the goal is to give Russia an excuse to turn on Iran
Posted by: paul | Dec 30, 2017 12:40:00 AM | 36
Pft | Dec 29, 2017 11:30:53 PM | 38
Actually the EEU didn't exist in 2014; it came into force on January 1, 2015 and Ukraine had nothing to do with it.
The coup was to ensure Ukraine didn't have a trade deal with Russia; just the EU.
Iran is a natural/logical member of the EAEU and far too strong for the U.S. to stop it's induction into that trade group/union.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Eurasian_Economic_Union
Posted by: V. Arnold | Dec 30, 2017 12:54:22 AM | 37
paul | Dec 30, 2017 12:40:00 AM | 39
Sorry, that's ridiculous; kindly do your homework.
Posted by: V. Arnold | Dec 30, 2017 12:56:05 AM | 38
@6 Aggressive war on Iran via Regime Change not likely to succeed. @ 16 chaos inside Iran unlikely . @14 Twitter swamped with regime change champs @11 Iranian advisors to Washington want to restore the Shah's regime. @22 massive "media" coverage of the non-events occurring in Iran while totally ignoring the very real Days of Rage protests happening in the West Bank, @26 extremely revealing note "Hardliners planed to organize massive protests against Rouhani on Saturday... but was hijacked by Pahlavists backed by VOA, Manoto, and some Telegram channels. Now same hardliners have to defend state against Pahlavists. https://twitter.com/h0d3r_fa/status/946881431841792000”
then we have
@18 MEK, Saudis, Israel, etc, turmoil designed to force Trump to kill the JCPOA and go for Iran's juggler. . @23.. US/Israel counter Iran objectives: block Iran path to nuclear weapons, ballistic and precision guided missiles and social entrenchment in regions generally under Saudi-Israeli control,
Next is the confusion over explaining the two Brothers and cousin of the King of Jordan recently disposed seeming from an attempt to over throw the King.. could this be another a part of this Kushner, MBS, Netyanyohu/SISI/ plan? Apparently Hariri would not go along and neither would Saleh in Yemen (i think assassinated last week)
@24 unlicensed demonstrations in US found in
D. C. Riot Statute: he who “willfully associates” with some other person [“assemblage”] that ends up threatening to cause tumult or some how gets involved in violence, is a rioter , and can therefore be criminally prosecuted (see US v. Mathews). Guilty if you “merely agree” ←that’s all it takes--> to be incarcerated for 50 years. USSC ruling, I reported elsewhere, distinguishes riot from legitimate protest. https://theintercept.com/2017/12/17/j20-inauguration-protest-trump-rio t-first-amendment/ but has effect of criminalizing association if defendant identified to a group or person that engages or merely threatens tumult or violence). Judge not interested to hear 1st amendment pleas, seeks only facts that associate>? IANAL
@30 The US ruling class might be so delusional to think they can win a ground war in Asia. There is no US ruling class it the Wall street licensed Corporate establishment..
@33 “Ahmadinejad - he wouldn't have gone along with the current 'loopholes' in the sanctions deal/nuclear agreement which keep eurocorps rich while preventing ordinary Iranians from eating, but now the deal has been done the Rouhani crew need be shown the door – fast.”
CAN YOU PLEASE ELABORATE ON THIS . and how did that keep the corporations rich.. I have been wondering why the EU continues to support the agreement.
@? its sole purpose was to get the Palestinian Holocaust out of the headlines.
I DONT THINK SO, IT PURPOSE Seems to be in the SANCTUARY PROGROM.. invented by Whitehouse, Netanyohu, MBS , Sisi Move the Palestinians out of Israel into the Sinai to a Jordan controlled new nation state where all Palestinian Towns and villages can be surrounded by Israeli Settlements..”
Posted by: smellyoilandgas.com | Dec 30, 2017 1:23:37 AM | 39
@bambdadi @24
I had read the claim that conservatives started these protests. I have seen ZERO evidence for it. None of the slogans I the videos points to that nor anything else.
Posted by: b | Dec 30, 2017 1:59:16 AM | 40
@Laguerre @10 - In 2009 the northern part of Tehran protested. Rich kids mostly. This seems very different. Young people most of them but from the look of them way more working class than 2009. Also protest in may cities but not (yet)in Tehran.
I am wondering why this was started in Mashad. It is near the Afghan border. How relevant is that?
Posted by: b | Dec 30, 2017 2:03:12 AM | 41
karlof1 @ 5
On the ground, the dismissal of the 3 princes is not a big deal. 2 of the 3 no longer had any military duties at all. Not even figuratively. Only in the case of the 3rd one does it appear to be an attempt at cleaning house on a number of levels.
Locally it is thought that the overarching rationale is that they were removed to make way for career soldiers who could not be promoted higher than the princes' ranks.
Overall, no big deal and no talk of coup
Posted by: guidoamm | Dec 30, 2017 3:30:40 AM | 42
DW Deutche Welle has a story on it, undramatic and quite unbiased. They report it mainly as the result of rising prices, youth unemployment, ect. Could have been Greece....
Posted by: Den Lille Abe | Dec 30, 2017 4:18:43 AM | 43
Posted by: karlof1 | Dec 29, 2017 3:52:21 PM | 4
And it's the events in Syria and Iraq that will doom any attempt at Regime Change in Iran to failure as the Iranian people are too savvy to be duped as they've seen that strategy tried against everyone of its presidential administrations since 1979.
Agree. And let us not forget the chaos in Libya, where it all also began with "protests". And of course Ukraine, which is today an impoverished hell-hole.
So, how many "color revolutions" which end up with destroyed countries does Langley think it can get away with before the people in the next targeted countries perk up and turn against the protesters ?
Posted by: Lea | Dec 30, 2017 5:41:28 AM | 44
Posted by: smellyoilandgas.com | Dec 30, 2017 1:23:37 AM | 39
There is nothing arcane about what has happened to Iran since the deal. European petrocorps are buying natural gas most of the returns for which are 'sticking' to the Iranian corporate and technocrats, at the same time there has been a massive influx of inexpensive manufacturing goods - chiefly sourced from China.
What has happened is exactly the same as what many other welfare state economies suffered once neolibs took control. There was probably one factory in Iran which made toilet brushes for example - maybe it wasn't as 'efficient' as any of the 57 different brands of a la mode style toilet brushes now available at a quarter the price, but it worked plus more importantly making their own toilet brushes provided employment for Iranians.
Now all the manufactured goods which Iran had previously manufactured for themselves have to compete with slave labour/robotic mega mass produced alternatives, so the Iranian manufacturing sector is laying off workers while the 'new economy' offers few if any employment alternatives. Sound familiar?
Ahmadinejad who came from the humanist faction of islamic political thought, garnered most of his support from urban working people and small scale rural workers.
Rouhani is very much a neoliberal which means he didn't baulk at the structural deficiencies in the 'nuclear' agreement which at its heart was just another dodgy 'free' trade agreement.
Ahmadinejad wouldn't have signed the deal without protections for Iranian working people. Ordinary Iranians unfortunately got sucked into the headlines without studying the fine print - a common feature of neoliberal 'deals' everywhere.
amerika (apart from the apartheid state who bought amerikan politicians) is the only nation who doesn't support the deal wholeheartedly. Outside amerikan mind control most ordinary people are happy that an alleged nuclear threat has been halted and most nations' corporate sectors are pleased that another market has been made available.
In fact if you consider the amerikan debate you will find it was really only the energy sector which came out against the deal because they were concerned about their ability to replace russian energy in europe should russian sanctions properly bite, if Iran was going to be allowed to enter the euro market. Other amerikan corporations, particularly the tech sector welcomed the lifting of sanctions.
Posted by: Debsisdead | Dec 30, 2017 6:17:38 AM | 45
@40
b, this point (that the origin of these protests were orchestrated by parts of conservative political groups, rival to Rouhani) is all over the place in "Persian" official, semi-official, and social-media. In addition, many political figures here and there have openly spoken about it. The situation is complex, because the establishment cannot openly reject/approve the protests. So, what we see is lot of confused responses.
Here, the VP (Mr. Jahangiri) have spoken about this:
http://www.eghtesadnews.com/%D8%A8%D8%AE%D8%B4-%D8%B3%D8%A7%DB%8C%D8%B 1-%D8%B1%D8%B3%D8%A7%D9%86%D9%87-%D9%87%D8%A7-61/195958-%D9%87%D8%B4%D 8%AF%D8%A7%D8%B1-%D8%AC%D9%87%D8%A7%D9%86%DA%AF%DB%8C%D8%B1%DB%8C-%D9% 86%D9%87-%D9%85%D9%84%DB%8C-%D8%A8%D9%87-%D9%81%D8%B1%D8%A7%D8%AE%D9%8 8%D8%A7%D9%86-%D9%87%D8%A7%DB%8C-%D9%85%D8%B4%DA%A9%D9%88%DA%A9
There are many many more. This is just an example.
And about the slogans.
Again, this can be due to some kind of limited or selective reporting. There are many videos shared among millions of Iranian (on Telegram) that shows slogans against Rouhani. These are mainly related to the original plan which as I said were supposed to use poor economic conditions as a weapon against Rouhani. But the slogans quickly widened and went beyond the original intention (against Rouhani's government). This was partly due to participation of ordinary people, but also to a large part due to foreign influence.
This video is one of the "early" demonstrations in Tehran. The slogan says: "down with Rouhani".
https://twitter.com/ARahaei/status/946678788766818305
The political spectrum in Iran can be very complex, diffused, and opaque. The lines are not clear at all, and people who compete in one arena, can be very aligned or organically linked on other arena. Therefore, I recommend a bit "humbler" approach in analyzing it.
Posted by: bamdadi | Dec 30, 2017 6:40:14 AM | 46
And as usual the stupid, typical exile iranians support the neocons attacks against their own blasted country!
Just read the comments below on this:
https://twitter.com/statedeptspox/status/946886912446488583
Posted by: Anon | Dec 30, 2017 7:40:24 AM | 47
I have not time right now to analyze this issue in deep, nor have read all the comments so far, but take into account that Mashhad, as a Holy City for Shi´a Islam is a kinda "open-city" pemanently crowded by foreigners, especially coming from the neighbor UAE....That´s what I witnessed during my two days visit just some few years ago ( when I decided to visit the country after increasing claims by Israel to attack it, so that be able to watch its marvels before all is reduced to ashes, as happened in Syria, another ME jewel I could visit before IS thugs arrived and where people seemed to have a lively and prosperous way of life...). So not difficult for all those Israeli agents with Arab or Persian appearance and impecable Arab or Farsi accent to travel there with fake passports to start uprising, the same way they infiltrate the lines of Palestinians protesters until they take out their pistols and reagroup to detain the Palestinian activists....
Add to this that Mashhad, located in the NorthEast Iranian border with Afghanistan ( and also bordering Turkmenistán ), could well be a prefect point for infiltrating takfiri jihadists recently moved to Afghanistán by US led coalition....
My impression during my visit, was that there was a quiet and good environment for working, studying and making business, not without the presence of obvioulsy well off people in the main cities, being the most poor those crowding the sanctuaries. Overall, I found a highly educated, open and polite country where a not despicable sector of the youth population seemed to have university education, speak foreign languages, especially English, and walk over there with their IT devices, very similar to what happens in the West , except for the mandatory scarves, which, in spite of being an annoyance ( at least for me in the heatest of the Iranian summer ) women wear there in very different styles, sometimes only in a very ingenious way insinuating a slight coverage of the back side of the hair while leaving almost all the hairdo in sight...These were the most modern I could see...
For what I could witness, life was running in a peaceful and very familiar way, with great respect for traditions and historical and cultural heritage ( they love their poets, and their mausoleums are so crowded, if not more, than those of their religious saints... ). People used to meet in huge familiar groups at sunset in squares, gardens, or under the bridges, where they bring baskets with something to eat and drink, offering always an open and honest smile and a bit of conversation to the foreigner amazed by the spectacle...The only complains I heard were coming from the daughter of a former Shah´s member of the army who told me that "singing and dancing was forbbiden" and spoke the hell about Khomeini, adding that "in the sleeves of the clerics they are the British"......With respect to this point, the offer on TV was quite scarce, being possibly the origin of those street meetings by families, with religious talkings and chants as almost the unique plate at every Iranian channel ( at least during the scarce time I passed at my room, just central hours of midday and late at night ) although you had always at your disposition foreign channels like BBC and so on...But women can go out freely with friends and can drive, and you can find couples where the man do not mind travelling as copilot while his wife is at the wheel...
In summary, Iran seemed to me a very open country with a good environment for business and interchange, whenever you go there respecting Iranians´choice and way of life. We meet some Spanish people travelling there for business who were amazed by the excellent reception, the same we were ( they talked about "being received like ambassadors", and that was also my impression, especially at Imam Reza Mausoleum in Mashhad...being we only tourists...), in front of the really somber and scary expectatives coming from all their relatives and friends they had before travelling there. We meet some of these business people at a our really charming hotel in Yazd and then at the very modern Armenian neighborhood in Isfahan, at one of its charming cafes.....
My impression is that both, the US and Israel, want to waste the current lively environment for business in Iran, a crosspoint as well in the Chinese OBOR initiative, where they have no opportunity to particpate because of their warmongerism and extremism, and this way achieving wasting any opportunities for business for the EU there, in another effort by the US to mantain the EU always under its boots without opportunity to prosper, as a way to say "if we do not play, we break the toy"....The thing is that nobody has left them out of playing, but it has been their sttuborn fantastic claims against Iran as patron of terrorism in the ME on behalf of its client regime in Israel which mantain them out...
Posted by: elsi | Dec 30, 2017 8:18:03 AM | 48
41
Khorasan province is ethnically mixed including Kurds. I agree that there is a Western plan for regime change in Iran, Western reaction in support of demonstrators show it. They cannot do it by religion, so they would try ethnic.
BBC has an interesting map - and account - of the protests.
Notice the closed borders to Kurdistan that cause economic problems for the population there.
Inflation in Iran has shrunk overall since 2013. It is likely that protests have to do with subsidy cuts - ie Iran trying to switch from a war economy to a market economy. _________________ --
'Suppression of truth, human spirit and the holy chord of justice never works long-term. Something the suppressors never get.' David Southwell
http://aangirfan.blogspot.com http://aanirfan.blogspot.com
Martin Van Creveld: Let me quote General Moshe Dayan: "Israel must be like a mad dog, too dangerous to bother."
Martin Van Creveld: I'll quote Henry Kissinger: "In campaigns like this the antiterror forces lose, because they don't win, and the rebels win by not losing."
The Commander is too efficient in killing US and Isr*eli proxy terrorists.
Both of the ‘Luciferian Blood Brother’ regimes aren’t afraid to show their true colours, after all, the MSM is ‘taken care of’.
They don’t give a toss if some marginalised folk who get their news from the alternative media hear about it, as long as it’s not plastered all over the MSM. _________________ 'And he (the devil) said to him: To thee will I give all this power, and the glory of them; for to me they are delivered, and to whom I will, I give them'. Luke IV 5-7.
'Excellently put by Mehrdad Shahabi who lives in Iran:
This is the real phenomenon behind the ongoing combustion in Iran.
There are, no doubt, severe economic and social problems. It is also every citizen’s right to protest. However the initial rightful protests against the rising price of a couple of food items such as eggs and chicken (caused by birds’ flu)and severe rates of unemployment have been sabotaged by the Monarchists/CIA/Zionists agents and the Saudi Arabian slaves/puppets. For the last few days, we witnessed acts hooliganism, sabotage, destruction of public property (damage to buses, ambulances, fire trucks, banks, mosques, public buildings, etc) and murder of innocent people by these thugs. They have hijacked fire trucks and run over innocent people. They have shot into the crowds from distance and killed people, making it seem that it is shooting by the police. So far, the police and the security forces have been very peaceful. They have not attacked the protests. They have only intervened when there have been acts of sabotage.
Another futile attempt for regime change jointly directed by Washington, Tel Aviv, Britain and financed by Saudi Dollars. They have been calling for stoppage of Iranian support for Palestine and Lebanon. They have been shouting in support of the US-installed ex-Shah of Iran, his father and his son.
We are not afraid and will easily overcome.
The authorities have been extremely tolerant.
There have huge counter-demonstrations. But the foreign news media show the photos as belonging to the rioters.
AND, by the way, who is the main culprit behind the economic problems? The US imperialism with its sanctions, trying to do what they did with Chile under the late Dr Salvador Allende: “We will make their economy scream" (the preamble to the CIA coup). This is, of course. not to deny the mismanagement by the government. They are also to blame with their neoliberal economic policies.'
Even down to the 'unknown snipers'! The MO of the Luciferian US and it's cronies' 'Regime Change' recipe!
AND - bird flu! I hadn't heard about that. So now they're using Biological Warfare against Iran (and I suspect Weather Warfare/Artificially Created HAARP earthquakes). _________________ 'And he (the devil) said to him: To thee will I give all this power, and the glory of them; for to me they are delivered, and to whom I will, I give them'. Luke IV 5-7.
'...The French president said that it is important to maintain “permanent dialog” with Tehran to keep the balance in relations with the Islamic Republic while seeking ways to “increase international pressure” on Iran. By refusing to speak to Tehran, the US and its allies risk engaging in a “conflict of extreme brutality,” he warned, adding, “otherwise, we end up surreptitiously rebuilding an ‘axis of evil’.”....'
Let's hope he maintains the same stance in the Emergency UN Security Council meeting:
'Breaking: UN Security Council to hold emergency meeting on Iran':
https://www.almasdarnews.com/article/breaking-un-security-council-hold -emergency-meeting-iran/ _________________ 'And he (the devil) said to him: To thee will I give all this power, and the glory of them; for to me they are delivered, and to whom I will, I give them'. Luke IV 5-7.
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