Harsh sanctions may strengthen Iranian regime

just like sanctions strengthened Saddam, Chomsky argues:

'The sanctions against Iran may have the same effect as their predecessors against Iraq, which were condemned as “genocidal” by the respected U.N. diplomats who administered them before finally resigning in protest.

The Iraq sanctions devastated the population and strengthened Saddam Hussein, probably saving him from the fate of a rogues’ gallery of other tyrants supported by the U.S.-U.K. – tyrants who prospered virtually to the day when various internal revolts overthrew them.'

Democrats & Republicans agree: "containment" is not an option with Iran

Today I watched last night's episode of Real Time With Bill Maher. Bill asked the Israeli ambassador to the US if there is any difference between Obama's view on Iran and the Republicans' view. Bill said he doesn't see a difference, and the ambassador seemed to agree. That means the US policy is to seek end to the Supreme Leader's regime. There might be a difference in how they would like to achieve this goal.

He also asked the Israeli ambassador about settlements in the West Bank. Bill asked if he supports Israel, does he have to support Likud? Does an Israel supporter have to support settlements? The ambassador said no, and that Israel supports peace.

I was impressed by Bill's comments on settlements. The Israeli ambassador, who is also American, made a case to overthrow the dangerous regime in Iran. I too would like to see the end of the backward regime in Iran, but I would rather not see a war like the wars with Iraq. There are other ways to overthrow despots. Obama seems to have the right policy. Having said that, it would be nice to see the end of the Ayatollahs' power.

I'm hoping to see the end of Islamic stupidity and injustice in Baghdad too. Yesterday it was revealed that 'At least 90 Iraqi teenagers with "emo" appearances have been stoned to death by religious extremists in Baghdad in the past month after an inflammatory interior ministry statement dubbed it "devil worshiping" ' (thanks Aton for the link). The Iraqi government, which is filled with backward Shiite fundamentalists, is complicit in the murders.

Also during the show Bill said that he "got crap from the left and the right this week". He defended his defense of Rush Limbaugh. I thought that was a bad idea just a couple days ago, but Bill made some good points: Rush Limbaugh is not like Bill Maher, which a few conservatives have asserted. Sarah Palin called it hypocrisy, but it really isn't hypocrisy. Bill said Limbaugh didn't even make a joke. He said Limbaugh is "a stupid fat fuck who's not funny" but we should not push him off the air just because he was offensive. It's true that Rush has the freedom to be offensive, and of course freedom of speech is one of our most important rights, but Limbaugh's sponsors also have the freedom to pull their ads from his show, just like ABC had the freedom to fire Bill Maher a decade a ago.

There is one thing Rush Limbaugh and Bill Maher probably agree on: the US must help Israel against Iranian threats of annihilation.

Iranian Canadian sentenced to death in Iran for "desecrating Islam"

Amnesty International: 'Saeed Malekpour, a Canadian resident, was sentenced to death for "insulting and desecrating Islam" after a program he developed for uploading photos online had been used to post pornographic images without his knowledge.

Iran's 2009 law on “cyber crimes” allows the use of the death penalty. Malekpour, accused of being part of “a network of decadence on the Internet,” could be executed at any time.

Saeed Malekpour was arrested in 2008 when he went to Iran to visit his family. He was held in solitary confinement for a year, brutally tortured, and forced to make a “confession” which was aired on Iranian television. He was sentenced to death in October 2010 after a trial in a Revolutionary Court that lasted about 15 minutes; his death sentence was upheld in January 2012.'

Iran is not all Persian

An interesting interview with Ali Soufan, who reminds us that Iran is not all Persian. Iran's neighbors Azerbaijan, Turkey, and Armenia have influence in Iran because of the high numbers of Turkic peoples in Iran. 51% of Iran is Persian, smaller than I thought. The rest are Turkic, Arab, and others.

The Daily Show with Jon Stewart
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PS: I just read the very interesting Wiki entry on Ali Soufan. His experience is the reason we know now that torture does not work, and at least in one case torture stopped the flow of information.

Iraq would be hurt if Iran closes Hormuz

"Iraq will lose the capacity to export 1.7 million barrels of crude a day if Iran blocks the Strait of Hormuz, the transit point for about two thirds of its production, an Oil Ministry spokesman said."

Obama on Syria's Assad: Human Dignity Cannot Be Denied

Obama just said that in his state of the union speech. He also said the US is determined in preventing Iran from obtaining a nuclear weapon.

Would Iraqi Arabs fight Sunni Arab dominated states?

"The whole region is going to pay the price of the chaos that may occur in Iraq" if the political crisis continues and al-Maliki retains power, al-Mutlaq said. "Maybe what Iran wants to do is have the Arabs in Iraq fight (other Sunni-dominated Arab states) on behalf of their regime."

Is that what Iran wants? Would that be like the 8 year war that Iraqi Arabs fought against Iran on behalf of the Sunni Arab states?

16 bombings in 13 Baghdad neighborhoods kill 69 civilians

"A string of explosions ripped through the Iraqi capital on Thursday, killing at least 60 people and injuring nearly 200 just days after the last U.S. troops left the country, police and health officials said.

The attacks came in the midst of a political standoff between the country’s main Shiite and Sunni Muslim factions, heightening fears of a return to the sectarian bloodletting that devastated the country a few years ago.

...There was no immediate claim of responsibility. But the seemingly coordinated attacks bore the hallmarks of Sunni insurgents linked to Al Qaeda, who regularly target Shiites and have previously sought to capitalize on political tension to ignite sectarian strife."


12 of the 13 areas bombed are Shia neighborhoods. One of my co-workers is an Iranian American who hates the mullahs. He's convinced Iran had something to do with the bombings. I hate the mullahs too, but it doesn't make sense to me that Iran would bomb Shia neighborhoods in Iraq. My co-worker said that Iran wants to control Iraq. By bombing Iraqi Shia? I don't get it. It is interesting that my Iranian American co-worker is a Republican.

Iranian & Arab extremists did not want democracy in Iraq

"Iran, the Arab dictators and, most of all, Al Qaeda did not want a democracy in the heart of the Arab world, and they tried everything they could — in Al Qaeda’s case, hundreds of suicide bombers financed by Arab oil money — to sow enough fear and sectarian discord to make this democracy project fail." -Thomas Friedman

Iraqi Shia and Irani relationship is complicated

Liz Sly, WP: "When a senior Iranian cleric announced last month that he was planning to move to this holy Shiite city to open an office, the furor that erupted offered a glimpse into the future of a complicated relationship.

As American troops leave Iraq, Iran certainly ranks high among the beneficiaries of their eight-year presence. As a Shiite power that suffered enormously during its own eight-year war with a Sunni-dominated Iraq in the 1980s, Iran now can generally count on closer ties with a friendly Shiite government next door.

But the biggest winners of all have been Iraqi Shiites, whose ascent to power reversed nearly 1,400 years of sometimes brutal Sunni domination. And while Iraqi Shiites broadly welcome the departure of Americans, they seem in no mood to substitute one form of foreign domination for another — and least of all, they say, from Iran."

Bahraini police think Bahraini protesters are paid by Iran

Nicholas Kristof: 'The royal family in this U.S. ally of Bahrain deserves credit for turning a desert island in the Persian Gulf into a modern banking center. The rulers have educated Bahrainis, built a large English-speaking middle class, empowered women and fostered such moderation that the ambassador to Washington is a woman from Bahrain's tiny Jewish community.

Yet our pals here also represent a brutal, family-run dictatorship, and few countries crushed the Arab Spring so decisively as Bahrain. The regime helpfully displayed this darker side a few days ago when riot police attacked the video journalist accompanying me and detained both of us.

...The police promptly detained me. They wedged me in the back seat of a different police car but treated me courteously. The detention turned out to be a fascinating "embed," because the police freely shared their venomous hatred of the protesters and their delusional view that they are all paid by Iran.'

Did Gene Sharp start revolutions?

I'm watching "How to Start a Revolution" on CURRENT TV. WOW. I learned about Gene Sharp through the Angry Arab, who didn't have great things to say about Sharp, but until recently I did not know who Gene Sharp is. The Angry Arab does not believe Gene Sharp deserves so much attention. He wrote "All Arab uprisings have had violence in them."

The documentary portrays Sharp as influential in the revolutions of eastern Europe and of the Middle East this year. Many revolutionaries were interviewed and they acknowledge Gene Sharp's influence. The documentary mentioned that the Egyptian Muslim Brotherhood published Gene Sharp's writings on their web site. An American influenced the Muslim Brotherhood! That is impressive.

The Iranian regime does not like Gene Sharp and think he is a CIA agent! It's funny. I can relate, as I have also been accused of working for the CIA!

Embarrassing to see Shia defending al Assad

It is embarrassing to see Shia defending Bashar al Assad's regime. Hasan Nasrallah defended the dictator. Iran of course is defending him. Even one of my own relatives says the footage out of Syria is fake. Fake!?? Watch Barbara Walters' interview with Bashar al Assad and tell me the video is fake, 3ammu.

We Shia should be supporting democracy in Syria, even if many Syrians did not support democracy in Iraq.

Why is Iran jailing its students?

A few days ago I received emails from Amnesty International regarding the detention of students in Iran:

'Did you know you could be arrested in Iran for "insulting the president?"

That is what happened to Behareh Hedayat, a student leader, in 2009 -- and she is still in prison.

Since Iran's 2009 election, thousands of students and other peaceful protesters have been arrested by a repressive government with little tolerance for dissent. Individuals demanding political reform and human rights protections have been jailed and sometimes even tortured for their beliefs.'

and:

In Iran, students continue to face egregious forms of repression and human rights abuses, as the Iranian authorities attempt to exert control over students opposed to their policies. Those who dare speak out do so at great risk and with devastating consequences.

Majid Tavakkoli and Behareh Hedayat are two student leaders who were arrested after they participated in demonstrations calling for social and political reforms.

Can't convert to Christianity in Iran

"Government officials in Iran are trying to convince a jailed pastor to return to Islam as he waits for the nation’s supreme leader to decide whether he should be executed for converting to Christianity, sources close to the case told FoxNews.com."

Most sophisticated IEDs designed in Iran

"Electronic parts made in Minnesota were smuggled through Singapore to Iran, and some of them ended up in the remote controls of makeshift bombs seized by American forces in Iraq, the Justice Department said on Tuesday.

The parts are normally used in commonplace devices like routers that wirelessly connect computers and printers in a typical office network. The Justice Department said in an indictment that the ones smuggled to Iran had been put to use in sophisticated improvised explosive devices, or I.E.D.’s, that could be triggered from miles away.

...About 60 percent of all American casualties in Iraq have been caused by makeshift bombs, and the American military has long reported finding evidence that the most sophisticated and deadly of them were designed or fabricated in Iran.

By implicating Iran, at least circumstantially, in insurgent attacks on American soldiers in Iraq, the charges add to the ever worsening tensions between the countries. Two weeks ago, the United States accused Iran of complicity in a foiled plot to assassinate the Saudi Arabian ambassador to Washington."

Iraq calls for Assad to step down

NYT: 'After months of striking a far friendlier tone toward the government of President Bashar al-Assad of Syria, the Iraqi government has joined a chorus of other nations calling on him to step down.

An adviser to the Iraqi prime minister, Nuri Kamal al-Maliki, said in an interview on Tuesday that the Iraqi government had sent messages to Mr. Assad that said he should resign.

“We believe that the Syrian people should have more freedom and have the right to experience democracy,” said the adviser, Ali al-Moussawi. “We are against the one-party rule and the dictatorship that hasn’t allowed for the freedom of expression.” '

Iran releases American hikers

Good news!

"Iranian state-run media said Wednesday that two Americans arrested two years ago while hiking along the Iran-Iraq frontier and imprisoned on espionage charges had been released."

Sabra & Shatila

I just watched Waltz With Bashir on YouTube. The animated documentary was chosen as one of the "50 Documentaries To See Before You Die" on Current TV. I wanted to watch the film on Netflix, but I couldn't find it there. So I went to YouTube and found it there. It wasn't until half way through the film that I realized the massacre the characters referred to was Sabra & Shatila. I have read a lot about this massacre. This is the first time I have seen a documentary about it, and in this clip there is some gruesome footage that I've never seen before:



"Wain al 3arab" (where are the Arabs?), screams one woman. It's a scream that was no doubt repeated by many Palestinians in the last 60 years. The Arabs were fighting Iran, it turns out.

PS: I just read this in Robert Fisk's "Pity the Nation":

"Pregnant women will give birth to terrorists; the children when they grow up will be terrorists."
--Phalangist involved in the Sabra and Chatila massacre, when questioned by an Israeli tank crew, west Beirut 17 September 1982

"We know, it's not to our liking, and don't interfere."
--Message from an Israeli army battalion commander to his men, on learning that Palestinians were being massacred 17 September 1982

Iraq is very different from Libya

Iraq is surrounded by assholes. Excellent writing by Fouad Ajami, as usual:

"The Iraqis should be envious. Their new order, midwifed by the Americans, had been delivered into a hostile environment. The neighborhood was treacherous. To the east bulked Iran, presumably a Shiite sister republic of the new Iraq but in truth a spoiler determined to thwart the American project there. Those in the know understood that the Shiite faith could never bridge the Arab-Persian divide, and that Iran would be a burden on post-Saddam Iraq and its leaders.

To the West, there was the Syrian regime. There but for the grace of God go we, the Syrian rulers thought. Syria presented an exquisite illustration of political cynicism—an Alawite tyranny providing a conduit into Iraq for Sunni jihadists from all Arab lands drawn by the thrill of battling and killing American soldiers and Iraqi Shiites. To divert attention from itself at a time of its own panic and vulnerability, Syria's regime did all it could to set Iraq ablaze.

Everywhere Iraqis looked there was trouble. The Turks had schemes of their own and proxies in Iraq (the Turkomen community), and they were keen to monitor and limit the aspirations of the Kurds. Jordan was hostile. Saddam had long been a hero in that country, and the Sunni pan-Arab doctrines had long held sway among Jordanians and Palestinians alike in that binational state.

Nor were the two most influential Arab states, Egypt and Saudi Arabia, favorably disposed toward the new Iraq. To the rulers in Cairo and Riyadh, the jumbled mix of freedom and tumult, and the defeat of the Iraqi Sunnis, were heralds of trouble. Iran was pushing ever deeper into Arab affairs, the balance of power in the region was being altered. There had been uncontested Sunni primacy in Arab lands, but Baghdad—a city of great meaning and consequence in Arab-Islamic history—had fallen to the Shiite stepchildren, and the Americans had brought it all about.

Libya is blissfully free of the poison of that primitive Sunni-Shiite schism."