Archive for December, 2008
Crime against humanity
As the well-to-do in the West put away their holiday trimmings after Boxing Day and rushed to exchange unwanted gifts at the mall, the Isralis launched their most massive aerial attack ever on the unhappy residents of the Gaza ghetto. Earlier asssaults were bad enough, but the indiscriminate character of these raids apparently even have [...]
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Gareth Porter
Instead of watching Its a Wonderful Life on the telly for the 97th time, you may find it worth your while to see this intelligent interview of Gareth Porter discussing US-Iran relations and Obama on The Real News. The video is here.
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Domestic disturbances
Progressives dealing with the poor state of US-Iran relations, particular over the nuclear issue, have to also confront the complex and dispiriting state of domestic Iran. It would certainly be helpful to those of us opposing sanctions or an armed confrontation with Iran if the Iranian government and its ruling elites were not so damned [...]
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Russia’s view
Of all of the existing nuclear states, Russia has the most unfettered access to Iran based upon its continuing assistance in building Iran’s nuclear power plants, and filling the vacuum left by the decision by the German company Siemens years ago to pull the rug out from its nuclear technology contracts. Russian commentary on Iran’s [...]
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The shoe fits
This is more about Iraq than Iran, but I couldn’t help a little thrill of affirmation upon seeing the courageous journalist Muntadar al-Zaidi heave two shoes at George Bush at a press conference in Iraq. Yes, this probably blew past those nonviolence guidelines we are sworn to apply and protect, but (a) he missed [...]
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The nuclear breakout myth
Several days ago I criticized the latest Brookings Institute report on engaging Iran as fundamentally flawed, based upon its baseline assumption of Iran’s mala fides development of a weapons program despite IAEA reports to the contrary. Since I am just another country solicitor, this observation no doubt had the impact of a hummingbird striking the [...]
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Money woes
In the 1970s, the Shah’s massive public works and military buildup were buffeted by collapsing oil prices following the blowback from the embargo. The economic dislocation that resulted in Iran led to public unrest and helped fuel a revolution, particularly when President Ford refused to support the Shah’s request for an artificial floor on OPEC [...]
Filed under: Sanctions | Leave a Comment
The mainstream press is falling over itself in fulsome praise of President-elect Obama’s foreign policy team, headed by Secretary of State Hillary Clinton. At this point, with foreign dignitaries refusing even to shake Bush’s hand, the Obama teams are for all practical purposes a shadow government not seen in the US for decades, if [...]
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