Iran Continues to be Attacked by Imperialist Powers of the West During G20

Armed with the disclosure of a secret Iranian nuclear facility, President Barack Obama and the leaders of France and Britain demanded Friday that Tehran fully disclose its nuclear ambitions “or be held accountable.”

(Ed Hale | Transcendence Diaries | 25 September 2009) - CNN the most rusted name in fake-news reported today that the United States, France and Britain have presented “detailed evidence” to the U.N.’s nuclear watchdog that “Iran has been building a covert uranium enrichment facility,” President Obama said Friday before the start of the G-20 economic summit here.”

What’s ironic of course about this sudden announcement is that those same three countries — in a covert CIA-led coup d’etat never reported by Western media but largely known about now after the fact — invaded and then ousted Iran’s democratically elected president, Mosaddeq, in 1953 after they became a democracy in the early nineteen-fifties. Those same three countries — United States, France, Great Britain — then installed ‘the Shah’ as a puppet leader against the people’s will and split Iran’s oil up three ways for themselves, paying the Iranians pennies a barrel for it for nearly thirty years; they called their new “company” British Petroleum, or BP – you might have heard of it. This led of course to the extreme ‘Islamic revolution’ of 1979. (Religious fervor as the powers that be would have dumbed-down TV guzzlers believe had nothing to do with the American Embassy hostage “crisis,” but rather thirty years of rage and frustration over imperialist domination and their oil being stolen from them.)

Next up came the eight year US-led Iran-Iraq war where the Reagan administration funded a young CIA operative named Saddam Hussein, giving him millions of dollars and chemical and biological weapons to use against the Iranian people, where over 20 million of them died. And then when Iraq proved unable to defeat the strongly proud and patriotic Iranians, Reagan decided to play both sides against the other in the infamous Iran-Contra Affair and started illegally selling weapons of mass destruction to Iran as well, thinking one assumes that if both countries destroy each other in the process with US money and weapons that the US and Britain could walk right in and grab at all the oil in the region. Of course the plan didn’t work. The United States added yet another fallen hero to its shelf of publicly shamed and sham presidents. Iran and Iraq eventually called a truce.

The Iranian people sit at a crossroads now. Read the rest of this entry »

Obama charts new world order

(Mike Hanna | Al Jazeera English | 23 September 2009) — US president, Barack Obama, outlined his vision of a new world order in which the US would participate fully – during his first address to the UN General Assembly meeting in New York. His vision was rooted on four basic principles: Non proliferation and disarmament, the promotion of peace and security, the preservation of the planet, and a global economy that advances opportunity for all people. Among the speakers that followed was the leader of Libya – Muammar Gaddafi, and the UN secretary-general, Ban Ki-Moon.

Al Jazeera’s Mike Hanna reports from New York on the days events.

Conditioning a U.S.-Iranian Dialogue

Talks between the United States, Iran, and world powers are scheduled for October 1, but analysts are deeply divided over whether gathering around the negotiating table will prove fruitful.

(Greg Bruno | Council on Foreign Relations | 15 September 2009) - President Barack Obama has confirmed a willingness to press ahead with negotiations to try to end the standoff over Tehran’s nuclear program. Talks between the United States, Iran, and world powers are scheduled for October 1, possibly in Turkey (Reuters). And while the Islamic Republic may not be interested (PDF) in dwelling on its nuclear activities, U.S. and other Western negotiators clearly are. “It will be part of that discussion,” White House spokesman Robert Gibbs promised this week. But analysts are deeply divided over whether gathering around the negotiating table will prove fruitful. Iran’s disputed presidential election changed the calculus, these observers say. Read the rest of this entry »

Rethinking our Iran strategy

The Islamic Republic’s revolution may be at a crossroads. It’s a possible opening for the U.S.

(Robin Wright and Robert Litwak | Los Angeles Times | 13 September 2009) - Three decades of assumptions about Iran — including the premises behind Washington’s recent outreach to Tehran — have been transformed by its stunning uprising. It’s time for a policy rethink. Read the rest of this entry »

Exclusive: Read Iran’s New Proposal for Nuclear Talks

(Dafna Linzer | ProPublica | 10 September 2009) - The Iranian government has told the Obama administration and its Western allies that it is ready to hold “comprehensive, all-encompassing and constructive” negotiations on a range of security issues, including global nuclear disarmament. Read the rest of this entry »

Iran’s new nuclear talks plan

Many observers see Iran’s new proposal package as a way to freeze the clock on further sanctions. Will Tehran in the end bow to growing international pressure? Would sanctions work? And will the proposal help end Iran’s isolation?

(Al Jazeera English | Inside Edition | 10 September 2009) - Manouchehr Mottakir, Iran’s foreign minister, has submitted his government’s latest proposals to the envoys of the six countries involved in nuclear talks. The proposal comes as Tehran has been threatened with harsher sanctions over its nuclear ambitions. Diplomats will be studying the Iranian message for signs that Tehran is really interested in taking up the offer of economic and political concessions in return for a halt to its uranium enrichment programme.  The proposal is not expected to lead to a breakthrough in the nuclear dispute.  Many observers see Iran’s new proposal package as a way to freeze the clock on further sanctions. Will Tehran in the end bow to growing international pressure? Would sanctions work? And will the proposal help end Iran’s isolation?

This episode of Inside Story airs from Thursday, September 10, 2009 at 1730GMT and 2230GMT, with repeats on Friday at 0430GMT and 1030GMT.

Iran ready to reopen nuclear talks

Is Iran’s latest action a genuine move towards reducing tensions over its nuclear programme – or simply a ploy to divert attention from its nuclear activities and buy time to avoid further sanctions?

Read the rest of this entry »

Iran’s Presidential Election Shifts Its National Politics

Hamid Dabashi, professor of Iranian Studies and Comparative Literature at Columbia University, talks with Steve Inskeep about the political shifts in Iran.

(NPR | Morning Edition | 27 August 2009) – Morning Edition has focused this week on Iran’s nuclear ambitions and what they mean for U.S. policy. Iran’s presidential election two and a half months ago threw the country into turmoil. The fallout could change how Iran proceeds with its nuclear program, and how it approaches negotiations with the West. Hamid Dabashi, professor of Iranian Studies and Comparative Literature at Columbia University, talks with Steve Inskeep about the political shifts in Iran.  (Listen to the program) Read the rest of this entry »

Iran Prompts Debate Over Mideast Defense Umbrella

Secretary of State Clinton implicitly acknowledged the possibility that the U.S. may not be able to prevent Iran from acquiring nuclear weapons.  She also suggested a potential response: the extension of the U.S. defense umbrella to friends and allies in the Middle East.

(Mike Shuster | NPR – Morning Edition | 26 August 2009) – Iran’s leaders say the country’s nuclear program exists only for the purpose of generating electricity. Western intelligence agencies say the Islamic republic aims to produce nuclear weapons and intimidate its neighbors. How close is Iran to getting the bomb? How might it be stopped? And what are the implications for the United States and the rest of the world if Iran succeeds? This week, NPR looks at Iran and its suspected nuclear weapons programs in a series. (Listen to the story | Read the transcript) Read the rest of this entry »

Could Deterrence Counter A Nuclear Iran?

(Mike Shuster| NPR – Morning Edition | 25 August 2009) - Iran’s leaders say the country’s nuclear program exists only for the purpose of generating electricity. Western intelligence agencies say the Islamic republic aims to produce nuclear weapons and intimidate its neighbors. How close is Iran to getting the bomb? How might it be stopped? And what are the implications for the United States and the rest of the world if Iran succeeds? This week, NPR looks at Iran and its suspected nuclear weapons programs in a series. For a full transcript, click here. Read the rest of this entry »