Imposing idiot sanctions on Iran is a direct route to war

Simon Jenkins, The Guardian, Tuesday 1st December
What is the difference between Iraq, Afghanistan and Iran? The answer, future historians may relate, is none. At the dawn of the 21st century, all three states were ruled by nasty undemocratic regimes to which America and its allies took exception. Antagonism began with hectoring ostracism. This led to [...]

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The 2009 Uprising in Iran: The Need to Dispel Prevailing Misconceptions

Source:  Centre for Development Policy and Research, SOAS Number 39, Oct 2009
Elaheh Rostami-Povey,  London Middle East Institute and Centre for Gender Studies,  SOAS

The recent uprising in Iran, which started in the summer of 2009, has raised a number of major issues for debate in the international media and among politicians, academics and activists. This [...]

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It’s not just about Iran

Hans Blix
9th Oct Guardian
The possibility that Iran is seeking to develop a nuclear weapon and the reality that it is building a capability for enriching uranium continue to raise tensions in the Middle East and could push other countries in the region to move in the same direction. In my view the issue of nuclear [...]

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Top Things you Think You Know about Iran that are not True

Juan Cole     Oct 1st      Informed Comment
Belief: Iran is aggressive and has threatened to attack Israel, its neighbors or the US
Reality: Iran has not launched an aggressive war modern history (unlike the US or Israel), and its leaders have a doctrine of “no first strike.” This is true of Supreme Leader Ali Khamenei, as well as [...]

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Threat of further sanctions on Iran

Naz Massoumi / 28th Sept 2009
Anticipation in the upcoming Geneva talks on Oct 1st (where Iran will meet the six world powers) turned slightly sour last week when Iran was found to have been in breach of its nuclear obligations by the building of a new “secret” nuclear facility in Qom. Out came the headlines: Obama [...]

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Wheels fall off the sanctions bandwagon

Simon Tisdall / 29 Sept 09 / Guardian
Despite strong words from Barack Obama and Gordon Brown, there is no sign of a consensus on what additional sanctions should or could be imposed by the international community if Iran continues to ignore concerns about its suspect nuclear programmes. Tehran is meanwhile busy taking pre-emptive measures to mitigate any [...]

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Don’t Israel’s nuclear weapons count?

Monday, 28 September 2009
Yasmin Alibhai-Brown    Independent
On Thursday the US, China, Britain, France, Russia and Germany meet in Geneva and, by that time, Iran will be expected to submit to international scrutiny. As a supporter of the now crushed and broken reformers in Iran, I back the ultimatum to the fanatic and bellicose Iranian President, Mahmoud [...]

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Fisk lashes out at West in Middle East

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Protecting the Iranian Civil Society

source: CASMII
Human beings are members of a whole,
In creation of one essence and soul.
If one member is afflicted with pain,
Other members uneasy will remain.
If you have no sympathy for human pain,
The name of human you cannot retain.
–A poem by the Persian poet Sa’adi (1210 – 1290)
gracing the entrance of the Hall of Nations
   of the [...]

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Huge risks in Iran sanctions

By Hamid Dabashi         5th August
(CNN) – In a recent congressional hearing, House Foreign Affairs Committee Chairman Howard Berman called the Iran Refined Petroleum Sanctions Act “a sword of Damocles over the Iranians” that will soon come down if President Obama’s diplomatic overture did not show signs of success by the fall.
That sword is [...]

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