Larger Context of the Iranian Elections
Reza Fiyouzat, Revolutionary Flowerpot Society
… Now, it is of course true that imperialist mainstream media have their own agenda and will take advantage of the situation on the streets of Iran. But, what is new there? All manner of media will (as they always do) look at any situation in Iran and agitate their respective audiences in whichever direction they please. And we on the left also have to do our part in contextualizing the events. Just because the imperialist media are sc reaming foul, it does not mean that everything to do with the just-concluded ‘elections’ were A-OK. Also, the flip side is, I doubt very much that a large segment of the Iranian ruling theocrats are collaborating with the imperialists to overthrow themselves!…
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The International Court of Justice must investigate the Iraq war
The evidence is that war crimes have been committed
Christopher King
Gordon Brown’s inquiry into the Iraq war will:* Be in private, that is, secret * Be held by privy councillors * Not seek to apportion blame. None of this is in the public interest or the interests of the country. * The secrecy of the hearing is transparently to enable a cover up of the facts. * Privy councillors are core pillars of the establishment and share the interests of the wealthy rather then those of democracy and the country as a whole. * The Iraq war was a war of choice, a pre-emptive war and on all the evidence a war of aggression – a war crime. As such it would be in breach of the United Nations’ Nuremberg principles, falling under the jurisdiction of the International Court of Justice…
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Report: 300,000 Palestinians facing home demolitions
Ma’an News
Over 300,000 people are facing house demolitions in the occupied Palestinian territories, a report issued this week by the UK charity Save the Children says. “House demolitions in the OPT have escalated and thousands of families and in some cases entire villages remain under the threat of bulldozers arriving to destroy their homes and being displaced any day,” said Salam Kanaan, Save the Children Country Director in the occupied Palestinian territory (OPT) in a statement. The new report is titled “Broken Homes,” and was also authored by Palestinian Counseling Centre (PCC), and Welfare Association…
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Israel: Netanyahu rejects compromise with Palestinians
By Jean Shaoul
Israel’s premier, Benyamin Netanyahu, has made clear that his government is not interested in reaching any agreement with the Palestinians. Netanyahu’s speech was billed as his response to US President Barack Obama’s call in Cairo on June 4 for the creation of a Palestinian state and the end of new settlements on the West Bank. It was delivered before an invited audience at the Begin-Sadat Center for Strategic Studies at Bar Ilan University, near Tel Av iv, an academic stronghold of the religious right…
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Blair welcomes the speech of Netanyahu, demands Hamas to change its policies
Saed Bannoura – IMEMC
Quartet’s special envoy for the Middle East, Tony Blair, welcomed the speech of Israel’s Prime Minister, Benjamin Netanyahu and considered it a step forward. He also called on Hamas to change its policies but did not mention the ongoing Israel siege on Gaza. Blair added that the situation in Gaza is very difficult, and urged for further aid to ease the humanitarian crisis. He said that the reconstruction of Gaza should be st arted and that the international community should help in developing the economy in the impoverished coastal region…
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In response to Netanyahu’s speech
The Palestinian Return Centre
In a key policy speech coming at the back of seeming US pressure for a move towards peace in the Middle East, the right of return, a fundamental pillar for lasting peace in the Israeli/Palestinian conflict, is gravely threatened as the Israeli Prime Minister; Benjamin Netanyahu, lays out his vision of a Palestinian State. Stating for the first time that he would accept an independent Palestinian State, his overtures to peace, warmly greeted in the US, is full of conditions on the Palestinian side, with no substantial concessions on the Israeli side…
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Rivals groups rally in Tehran
Aljazeera.net
Tens of thousands of opposition and pro-government demonstrators have held rallies in the Iranian capital, raising fears of possible clashes. Thousands of people gathered at a government-organised rally in Tehran’s central Vali Asr square on Tuesday, while a similar-sized demonstration was held by opposition supporters in the city’s north. State television footage showed a crowd of thousands of flag-waving protesters at the pro-government rally, while the media was banned from f ilming the opposition protests…Pro-government demonstrators have demanded the government crack down on the opposition, while their anti-government rivals have protested that their votes were “stolen” in the presidential election, which saw Mahmoud Ahmadinejad, the incumbent, win a landslide victory over his rival Mir Hossein Mousavi…
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Iraqi prisoners protest at torture, rape
Reuters
Hundreds of Iraqi prisoners have launched a protest at dire prison conditions and systematic torture including rape, lawmakers said on Monday…Global human rights groups have urged the Iraqi government to clean up its prisons and ensure that people accused of crimes are brought swiftly to trial. They have also denounced widespread torture, which they say is encouraged by a judicial system that relies more on confessions for convictions than on evidence…
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Haniyeh to Carter: Hamas will accept state on ’67 borders
Ma’an News
De facto Palestinian Prime Minister Isma’il Haniyeh said on Tuesday he would support any real proposal to establish an independent and sovereign Palestinian state on the 1967 borders with Jerusalem as its capital. Haniyeh’s comments came during a joint press conference in Gaza City with former US president Jimmy Carter. “I will exert pressures towards realizing this dream,” said Haniyeh. Meanwhile, he said that his government in cooperation with other Pa lestinian factions to maintain ceasefire, yet border crossing should be opened to guarantee continuation of ceasefire…
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US Iran adviser to move from post
Aljazeera.net
A senior US state department adviser on Iran is being moved to the National Security Council, officials say, amid reports that Tehran was unwilling to engage with him because of his closeness to Israel. Dennis Ross, Hillary Clinton’s special adviser on Iran, had also written a book rejecting the Obama administration’s focus on the Israeli-Palestinian conflict as key to achieving peace in the Middle East…
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Carter: Grief and despair for Gaza
Aljazeera.net
Jimmy Carter has spoken of his “grief and despair” at seeing the destruction in the Gaza Strip carried out by Israel’s 22-day offensive on the territory. “This is holy land for us all and my hope is that we can have peace … all of us are children of Abraham,” the former US president said during a joint news conference with Ismail Haniya, the deposed Hamas Palestinian prime minister, in Gaza City. Following a tour of the area to see the effects of Israel’s offensive, Carte r said: “My primary feeling today is one of grief and despair and an element of anger when I see the destruction perpetrated against innocent people in January…
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A step backwards (UPDATED)
Marcy Newman, body on the line
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Carter is here in Palestine and heading for Gaza today. But yesterday he met with Zionist terrorist colonists and he told them that their colony in the west bank shall remain forever: Former U.S. president Jimmy Carter met with settler leaders from the Gush Etzion settlement bloc on Sunday and told them that he believed that their settlement is among the ones which should be able to remain under a final peace deal with the Palestinians. “This particular settl ement is not one that I envision ever being abandoned, or changed over into a Palestinian territory,” Carter said. “This is part of the close settlements to the 1967 line that I think will be here forever.” …
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Government supporters rally in Iran
Aljazeera.net
Thousands of pro-government demonstrators have gathered in Tehran in a show of support for the authorities’ crackdown on independent media and opposition protesters. The government mustered its supporters in Vali Asr Square on Tuesday, a day after seven people were killed in clashes on the fringes of a huge opposition rally a day earlier… Supporters of Mousavi had planned to gather for a second day in the square, but he urged them to stay away “to protect lives”…
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Obama calls for cuts in Medicare and Medicaid
Jerry White
Over the weekend, President Barack Obama called for cuts in funding for Medicare and Medicaid, the federal health insurance programs for the elderly and the poor, including the elimination of subsidies for hospitals that treat uninsured patients. This proposal, combined with plans to limit medical tests and treatments, underscores the reactionary, anti-working class character of Obama’s proposed “reform” of the health care system. It is becoming increasingly clear that the essence of the administration’s health care policy, under the guise of universal coverage, is a downgrading of care for the majority of the population so as to cut health care costs for business and the government…
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China, Russia congratulate Ahmadinejad
PressTV
China and Russia have congratulated Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad on his re-election as he attends a regional summit in Russia. “The heads of SCO [Shanghai Cooperation Organization] member states congratulated Ahmadinejad on his re-election,” Kremlin spokeswoman Natalya Timakova said. Ahmadinejad and his Chinese counterpart Hu Jintao also met and ‘exchanged views on bilateral relations and issues of common concern’, Xinhua reported…
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Hypocrisy and Hope: Western Coverage, Iranian Courage
Chris Floyd
…But while the Iranians continue to work out their own destiny, coverage of the events in the Western press has largely fallen into the expected — indeed, predestined — patterns. Western media have swiftly fitted the Iranian unrest into the now-standard “color revolution” template — seen in Serbia, Georgia, Lebanon, and other — where plucky, pro-Western (i.e., reliably pliable to American interests) forces rise up against their oppressors. The leaders of these forces are invariably depicted as “moderates” committed to installing Western-style governments and liberal, Western-style social orders, etc… Similarly, the Iranian opposition leader Mir Hussein Moussavi is universally depicted as a “moderate.” Yet when Moussavi was Iran’s prime minister under Ayatollah Khomeini, he “presided over a regime far more oppressive than Ahmadinajad’s.” … Of course, Moussavi — like some other politicians we could mention — has now become, for millions of people, an emblem for genuine changes and reforms that he probably has no desire or intention to enact, even if given the chance. Like Barack Obama, he is of the power structure, and would, in end, no doubt act for the power structure…
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Russia welcomes Ahmadinejad
AP
Russia welcomed Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad Tuesday on his first trip abroad since his bitterly disputed re-election, a show of support for a leader facing massive protests at home and questions from the West about the legitimacy of the vote count. Ahmadinejad arrived in the Ural Mountains city of Yekaterinburg and sat down for talks at a summit of the Shanghai Cooperation Organization, which includes Russia, China and four Central Asian nations. Iran has observer status in the gro uping, widely seen as a counterbalance to U.S. interest in the region…
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