Posts From The Saker
Al-Manar TV reports: The Supreme Leader of the Islamic Revolution Ayatollah Sayyed Ali Khamenei on Friday called on Muslim heads of state to join hands to break the Israeli occupation siege of Gaza. “Muslim governments should break siege of Gaza and the Egyptian government and nation have a heavy duty in that concern. All Muslim nations should help the Egyptian government and nations fulfill the duty,” said Ayatollah Khamenei in
By Dr Gideon Polya (Source: Countercurrents via Informationclearinghouse) The United States invaded Afghanistan in October 2001 with the ostensible excuse of the Afghan Government’s “protection” of the asserted Al Qaeda culprits of the 9/11 atrocity that killed 3,000 people. In the light of as many as 6.6 million post-invasion excess deaths in Occupied Afghanistan as of February 2008 (see below), it is important to consider the major problems with this
The Cleveland Jewish Weekly reports: U.S. heading to war in Iran, says former inspector BY: MARILYN H. KARFELD Senior Staff Reporter The former chief United Nations weapons inspector and a retired Middle East diplomat recently warned that America was heading straight toward imminent war with Iran. And while both talked about wrong-headed U.S. policy in Iraq and Iran, they also criticized Israel for its role. Scott Ritter, UN weapons inspector
Some Western observers have recently speculated that recent NIE notwithstanding, a US attack on Iran was still possible. The Deputy Head of Iran’s Armed Forces General Headquarters, Gholam-Ali Rashid, has even reportedly stated that such an attack before the end of 2008 was “probable”. So how likely is such an attack? There can be no doubt that the publication of the NIE has resulted in a dramatic loss of momentum
Al Manar TV reports that Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad has accepted an invitation from Cairo to visit Egypt sometime over the next month. This mark the first time an Iranian president will visit Egypt since the 1979 Islamic Revolution. The invitation was extended to Ahmadinejad through the Iranian speaker of parliament, Gholam Ali Haddad-Adel, who held talks in Cairo over the weekend with Egyptian President Hosni Mubarak. The Iranian student
From Khalid Amayreh in the West Bank Neturei Karta, an international society representing non-Zionist Orthodox Jews, has blasted recent remarks by Yoni Metzger, Israel’s Ashkenazi Chief Rabbi, in which the rabbi called for the deportation of the people of Gaza to the Egyptian Sinai desert. In a statement circulated to the press earlier this week, Neturei Karta called Metzger’s remarks “vicious and provocative.” “Yona Metger is not an authentic rabbi,
Iran Daily reports that on Monday Iran launched a research rocket and unveiled its first major space center, in the presence of President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad. The president said the launch of the first space research center would be a great step toward serving mankind and mark Iran’s progress, IRNA reported. “We witness today that Iran has taken its first step in space very firmly, precisely and with awareness. We need
PRESS TV reports that the US military forces in Iraq had been authorized to cross into Iranian and Syrian borders ‘in pursuit of gunmen’, a report reveals. A classified 2005 document which has been made public by an independent website said the US forces had been given permission to chase what it called terrorists and former members of Saddam Hussein’s government into Iran and Syria. According to Wikileaks, US officials
Al-Manar TV reports: Egyptian and Hamas security forces closed the border between Gaza and Egypt on Sunday, nearly two weeks after resistance fighters blew open the frontier amid as Israeli occupation blockade, a security source and witnesses said. “Security forces have starting closing the border,” an Egyptian security source said. “No more Palestinians are being allowed in.” One gate remained open to allow Palestinians to return to Gaza and Egyptians
by SAREE MAKDISI The people of Gaza were able to enjoy a few days of freedom last week, after demolition charges brought down the iron wall separating the impoverished Palestinian territory from Egypt, allowing hundreds of thousands to burst out of the virtual prison into which Gaza has been transformed over the past few years–the terminal stage of four decades of Israeli occupation–and to shop for desperately needed supplies in
by Uri Avnery FOR SOME days, the country looked like the Place de la Concorde in 1793. The entire public sat expectantly facing the guillotine, waiting for the tumbril to bring the marquis, for the marquis to lie down, for the blade to fall on his neck and for a soldier to hold up the bloody, severed head for the amusement of the spectators. All eyes were fixed on the
Bishop Artemije issued the statement prior to his visit to Washington (source: PRNewswire-USNewswire) Following today’s publication of a Washington Times commentary written by former Secretary of State Lawrence Eagleburger, former UN Ambassador John Bolton and former Assistant Secretary of Defense Peter Rodman urging the Bush Administration to withhold recognition of a unilateral declaration of Kosovo independence, His Grace, Bishop Artemije of Ras and Prizren issued the following statement prior to
By Joel Hirschhorn (see his interview with the Saker here)www.delusionaldemocracy.comwww.foavc.org Perhaps a global political apocalypse has already arrived. Activists and dissidents should understand that evil forces and tyrannical governments have evolved. Just as human knowledge and science expand, so do the strategies and instruments used by rulers, elites and plutocrats. By learning from history and using new technology they have smarter tools of tyranny. The best ones prevent uprisings, revolutions
(Note: I think that there is an American saying which says that even a broken watch is correct once every 12 hours. So please spare us the ad hominems about the authors of this piece – what matters is not who they are/were but what they say; or, if you prefer, that even they are saying what they say. In other words, recognizing Kosovo is something which even a patented
Tom Dispatch ‘s Tomgram: Chalmers Johnson, How to Sink America Within the next month, the Pentagon will submit its 2009 budget to Congress and it’s a fair bet that it will be even larger than the staggering 2008 one. Like the Army and the Marines, the Pentagon itself is overstretched and under strain — and like the two services, which are expected to add 92,000 new troops over the next
Press TV reports: Pakistan’s United Council of Action has criticized President Pervez Musharraf for meeting Israeli war minister Ehud Barak in France. In a statement issued on Tuesday, Senator Khurshid Ahmed, the council’s parliamentary leader, termed the meeting a violation of Pakistan’s principled position and said it tarnished the country’s image in the Arab and Islamic world. It is deplorable that President Musharraf invited Israeli minister to his hotel room
By QASSIM ABDUL-ZAHRA for AP news Influential members of Muqtada al-Sadr’s movement have urged the anti-U.S. Shiite cleric not to extend a cease-fire when it expires next month, officials said Monday, a move that could jeopardize recent security gains. The Iraqi Red Crescent Organization, meanwhile, gave a higher death toll than Iraqi officials from last week’s devastating house explosion in the northern city of Mosul. The relief organization said more
Sibel Edmonds on Marc Grossman by Gary Leupp for Dissident Voice I am not one to easily embrace conspiracy theories, and in particular have found the idea that 9-11 was somehow an inside job too incredible for serious consideration. On the other hand, there are some very fishy aspects to some officials’ behavior pertaining to the attacks. Justin Raimondo has made a very good case for the fact that Mossad
(The following was sent to me by a reader to whom I am most grateful. VS)——- The assassination of the leftist investigative journalist and columnist Ugur Mumcu in 1993 was seen by Turkey’s secular establishment, media and armed forces as an opportunity to galvanize anti-Islamic feelings in general and anti-Iranian feelings in particular. The assassination was blamed on Iran, who allegedly used the (Turkish) Hizbullah as a pawn. In reality,
(The following was sent to me by a reader to whom I am most grateful. VS) source: http://www.turkishdailynews.com.tr/article.php?enewsid=94893 “Turkey, US to discuss anti-PKK work, defense ties” by Umit Enginsoy, Turkish Daily News, 29 January 2008 [emphasis added] A top Turkish general will meet with his U.S. counterparts in Washington this week to review the military cooperation against the outlawed Kurdistan Workers’ Party (PKK) and to discuss bilateral defense matters. Gen.
