Archive for the ‘Iran’ Category
An attack on Iran remains a terrifying possibility, as a desperate flight forward by the Anglo-American coalition from an already hopeless situation in Iraq.
Posted by inthesenewtimes on August 14, 2010
M.K.Bhadrakumar
Asia Times
14th August, 2010
The range of interpretations given by the small group of journalists invited to United States President Barack Obama’s briefing on Iran last week is truly amazing. What comes to mind is Mona Lisa, the famous song sung in a soft baritone voice six decades ago, before Obama was born, by another African-American from Chicago, Nat King Cole:
Do you smile to tempt a lover, Mona Lisa,
Or is this your way to hide a broken heart?
Many dreams have been brought to your doorstep
They just lie there and they die there.
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Posted by inthesenewtimes on August 2, 2010
M.K.Bhadrakumar
Asia Times
31st July, 2010
The season of diplomacy on the Iran nuclear issue is once again approaching. Another harsh winter has passed. Rhetoric has touched a point of diminishing returns.
The logical conclusion of the sanctions packages of the United Nations Security Council, the United States and the European Union as well as the military buildup in the Persian Gulf ought to be the enforcement of sanctions through high-sea inspections of Iranian vessels. But that is a route fraught with dangerous consequences as Tehran will retaliate.
Meanwhile, Tehran has offered a ladder for the US to climb down from the high horse it mounted – in the nature of the announcement that it is willing to talk about a nuclear-fuel swap “without preconditions”. Washington has done the right thing to accept the Iranian overture and European powers are visibly relieved.
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Posted by smeddum on July 8, 2010
The Charge of the Media Brigade
By John Pilger
July 07, 2010 “Information Clearing House” - — The TV anchorwoman was conducting a split-screen interview with a journalist who had volunteered to be a witness at the execution of a man on death row in Utah for 25 years. “He had a choice,” said the journalist, “lethal injection or firing squad.” “Wow!” said the anchorwoman. Cue a blizzard of commercials for fast food, teeth whitener, stomach stapling, the new Cadillac. This was followed by the war in Afghanistan presented by a correspondent sweating in a flak jacket. “Hey, it’s hot,” he said on the split screen. “Take care,” said the anchorwoman. “Coming up” was a reality show in which the camera watched a man serving solitary confinement in a prison’s “hell hole.” Read the rest of this entry »
Posted in Afghanistan, Iran, Iraq | Tagged: John Pilger | Leave a Comment »
Posted by inthesenewtimes on June 19, 2010
A desperate attempt to tie Europe to Washington: the reality is that Israel is much more of a threat to Europe. Apparently, their missiles are already targeting Europe. Perhaps Russia’s proposed joint security arrangement with Europe is the answer.
Daily Mail
18th June, 2010
Iran could shower Europe with ‘scores or even hundreds’ of missiles in a single attack, America’s defence secretary warned today.
Robert Gates said U.S. intelligence units have reported a growing threat in Iran’s ballistic missile capability.
Today, Mr Gates said: ‘One of the elements of the intelligence that contributed to the decision on the phased adaptive array (approach) was the realisation that if Iran were actually to launch a missile attack on Europe, it wouldn’t be just one or two missiles, or a handful.
‘It would more likely be a salvo kind of attack, where you would be dealing potentially with scores or even hundreds of missiles.’
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Posted by inthesenewtimes on June 10, 2010
Kaveh Afrasiabi
Asia Times
11th June, 2010
The nuclear standoff on Iran is bound to deepen, aggravated by new United Nations sanctions on the Islamic republic and the United States digging in its heels against an alternative diplomatic plan that was designed to defuse tensions.
The United Nations resolution for a fourth round of sanctions, voted in by the Security Council on Wednesday, calls for the inspection of vessels suspected of carrying materials, setting the stage for military incidents at sea between Iran and the US Navy. With Brazil and Turkey, the architects of a nuclear-swap deal with Iran, voting against it, the resolution also removes any pretence of unified global support for coercive diplomacy on Iran.
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Posted by inthesenewtimes on June 8, 2010
Guardian
6th June, 2010
A bloodless coup to take control of an Arab Gulf state is being plotted by an unlikely alliance that includes a powerful firm of US lobbyists and a provincial English high-street solicitor.
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Posted in Iran | Tagged: Ras al-Khaimah (RAK) | Leave a Comment »
Posted by inthesenewtimes on June 5, 2010
Outside of Western diplomatic circles it is already widely appreciated that the May 17 agreement reveals the exciting reality of a new geopolitical landscape in which the countries of the global South are now beginning to act as subjects, and no longer content to be mere objects in scenarios devised in the North. At some point this reality might well be christened as the “real new world order”!
Richard Falk
Today’s Zaman
5th June, 2010
It may turn out that May 17, 2010, will be remembered as an important milestone on the road to a real new world order. Remember that the phrase “new world order” came to prominence in 1990 after Iraq’s invasion and annexation of Kuwait. It was used by George W. H. Bush, the elder of the two Bush presidents, to signify the possibility after the end of the Cold War to find a consensus within the UN Security Council enabling a unified response to aggressive war. The new world order turned out to be a mobilizing idea invoked for a particular situation. The United States did not want to create expectations that it would always be available to lead a coalition against would-be breakers of world peace. The whole undertaking of a “new world order” disappeared from diplomacy right after the First Gulf War of 1991. What one wonders now is whether the Brazilian/Turkish effort to resolve the Iran nuclear crisis with the West is not expressive of a new world, this time a “real new world order.”
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Posted by inthesenewtimes on May 27, 2010
Pepe Escobar
Asia Times
28th May, 2010
Turkish Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan was scheduled to meet Brazilian President Luis Inacio Lula da Silva this Thursday in Brasilia. As much as the Barack Obama administrationhas been moving mountains to undermine the Iranian nuclear fuel swap deal mediated by Brazil and Turkey, both leaders (and US allies) are far from dropping the ball.
They may have mountain ranges to climb, but their point has resonated across much of the world; were it not for the mediation of two emerging powers and honest brokers, Iran would have never accepted what was in fact a slightly modified United States proposal made in October 2009.
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Posted by inthesenewtimes on May 21, 2010
Most of all, what the developing world sees is the past – US,France, Britain, Germany – fighting against the advance of the future – China, India, Brazil, Turkey, Indonesia. The global security architecture – policed by a bunch of fearful, self-appointed Western guardians – is in a coma. The “Atlanticist” West is sinking Titanic-style.
Pepe Escobar
Asia Times
22nd May, 2010
Let’s face it: Hillary Clinton is one hell of a dominatrix.
At first the United States Secretary of State said the Brazil-Turkey mediation to get Iran to accept a nuclear fuel swap was destined to fail. Then the US State Department said it was the “last chance” for an agreement without sanctions. And finally, less than 24 hours after a successful agreement in Tehran, Hillary whips the UN Security Council into submission and triumphantly proclaims to the world a draft resolution for a fourth UN round of sanctions against Iran has been reached.
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Posted in Iran | Tagged: No sanctions against Iran! | Leave a Comment »
Posted by inthesenewtimes on May 20, 2010
Finian Cunningham
Dandelion Salad
19th May, 2010
In his inaugural speech in January 2009, US president Barack Obama promised a new beginning in foreign policy towards Iran, saying “we will extend a hand if you are willing to un-clench your fist”. He didn’t actually mention Iran by name then, but everyone knew he was saying that the Bush administration’s confrontational approach to the Islamic Republic was being replaced by a more reasonable policy based on mutual dialogue.
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Posted by inthesenewtimes on May 20, 2010
Sanctions that don’t work vs. diplomacy that does
The U.S. crusade for new UN sanctions against Iran has been underway for a long time. But the new intensity, the new scurrying around to make sure China and Russia are on board, and the new scramble for an immediate public announcement all reflect Washington’s frustration with the new agreement with Iran brokered by Turkey and Brazil. That agreement requires Iran to send about half of its low-enriched uranium to Turkey in return for somewhat higher-enriched prepared fuel rods for use in its medical reactor, which is pretty close to what the U.S. and its allies were demanding of Iran just months ago.
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Posted in Iran, Multipolar world | Tagged: No sanctions against Iran! | Leave a Comment »
