„Western Liberal Elites Have Made an Iranian Bomb a Reality“

Leon de Winter zeigt schonungslos, wie und warum die Diplomatie im Umgang mit der Islamischen Republik Iran versagt hat:

The Europeans could have confronted the mullahs, but after two devastating world wars they have lost the ability to actively defend their interests. They cannot absorb the prospect of the ultimate sacrifice of their sons. And since the Vietnam War, America’s room to operate is regulated by the liberal media, which is deeply influenced by European cultural relativism and secular pacifism. As a result, players who are aware of these characteristics of modern Western societies (i.e., Vladimir Putin, the Arab dictators, and the mullahs in Tehran) calculate their steps in sync with the limitations of Western modi operandi.

The project of the Shiite bomb has spread over so many sites that only a devastating attack by American forces could make an end of it, with terrible collateral damage. The Israelis can only execute some tactical destruction, in the hope that it will delay the project.

The Europeans were never serious in stopping the mullahs. They only have “soft power” in their arsenal, because the liberal European ideology has no chapter about European exceptionalism, European idealism, European ability to bleed, sweat, and suffer for its own sacred values and traditions. The Europeans, concerned about oil imports, commercial interests in Iran, and the loss of influence in Tehran to Moscow and Beijing, fear Israeli action more than an Iranian bomb. President Obama, who would have been an excellent editorial writer for the Guardian, is even more European than the Europeans.

Well, they got what they were looking for.

Die Schlussfolgerung ist eindeutig:

It has never made sense to talk to the mullahs. It is their core business to confuse and mislead, create chaos, kill opponents, torture students, organize terrorism, and weaken Western resolve. They do what they do because they are defined by it. If they were to stop what they are doing, they would give up their identity and the soul of the Shiite revolution. The mullahs are close to fulfilling the central dream of Imam Khomeini’s revolution: a weapon that can destroy Israel and undermine Western nations.

It’s too late. The mullahs won. Only the desperate and heroic people in the streets of Iran can turn the tide.

 

Spionierte Siemens-Mann für Ahmadinedschad?

Die Welt, von Elisalex Henckel — Erst wurde der frühere Wiener Verfassungsschützer Sicherheitschef des Siemens-Konzerns. Dann soll Gert-René Polli ein streng geheimes Dossier des Bundesnachrichtendienstes (BND) an iranische Behörden weitergegeben haben. Die Wiener Staatsanwaltschaft ermittelt wegen Geheimnisverrats.

Als oberster Verfassungsschützer Österreichs hat Gert-René Polli schon vor fast zwei Jahren abgedankt, aber die Welt der Geheimdienste hat er offenbar nie richtig hinter sich gelassen. Seine Vergangenheit dürfte nicht nur dazu geführt haben, dass er 2008 Sicherheitschef des Siemens-Konzerns in München wurde – sondern auch, dass er diesen Posten ein knappes Jahr später wieder los war. Die Frage ist bloß: Sind ihm zu gute Beziehung zum Iran zum Verhängnis geworden oder, wie er selbst jetzt behauptet, zu schlechte zur CIA?  […]

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„Tod für niemanden!“

Am 4. November, dem 30. Jahrestag der Besetzung der US-Botschaft in Teheran, standen alle wie befohlen an ihrem Platz, die »Massen« verbrannten Flaggen und schrien abwechselnd den Tod Amerikas und Israels herbei – nur hat niemand mehr hingesehen. Denn auch an diesem Tag gehörten die Bilder in den Medien den anderen. Und die anderen sind meist jung, selten bärtig und auffallend oft weiblich. Die anderen riefen an diesem Tag wieder ihre eigenen Parolen: »Tod dem Diktator!«, »Tod für Russland!« – als höhnische Travestie des staatlich verordneten Antiamerikanismus –, aber als jüngste sympathische Neuerung auch: »Tod für niemanden!«

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Finance & Stock Market News

LSE, by Matthew Goldstein — […] The questions about controls at HSBC comes as the bank appears to be a victim in a separate dubious scheme. Federal prosecutors in New York say that HSBC is one of three giant banks defrauded by financier Hassan Nemazee in an apparent $293 million Ponzi scheme.

Nemazee, a major donor to Democratic political candidates like President Obama, has been indicted on charges that he defrauded HSBC, Citigroup and Bank of America into providing his company with hundreds of millions of dollars in bank loans.

Prosecutors contend that in August, Nemazee drew down $75 million from a $100 million line of credit he had gotten from HSBC to pay off a loan his company had gotten from Citigroup. […]

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US moves to seize 4 Iran-linked sites

JPost – In what could be one of the biggest counterterrorism seizures in US history, federal prosecutors sought to take over four US mosques and a New York City skyscraper owned by a Muslim organization suspected of being controlled by the Iranian government.

Prosecutors on Thursday filed a civil complaint in federal court against the Alavi Foundation, seeking the forfeiture of more than $500 million in assets.

The assets include bank accounts; Islamic centers consisting of schools and mosques in New York, Maryland, California and Houston; more than 100 acres (40 hectares) in Virginia; and a 36-story Manhattan office tower. Confiscating the properties would be a sharp blow against Iran, which the US government has accused of bankrolling terrorism and trying to build a nuclear bomb.

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US to seize mosques, skyscraper of Iran-linked group

NEW YORK — US federal prosecutors said they were moving to seize four mosques and a 36-story New York skyscraper from a non-profit Muslim group suspected of being under the Iranian government’s control.

The Alavi Foundation has been illegally funneling funds to the Iranian government, according to the office of US Attorney for the Southern District of New York Preet Bharara.

Bharara filed a civil complaint with a New York federal court to forfeit bank accounts owned by the group and a suspected front company, as well as the office tower, property in Virginia and Islamic centers in New York city and the states of Maryland, Texas and California.

Naivität kennt keine Grenzen: Obama und seine Schurkenberater…

Iran advocacy group said to skirt lobby rules

WT,  by Eli Lake – Shortly before Barack Obama took office, leaders of a prominent Iranian-American group in Washington began to fret.

If the new president were to tap former Middle East envoy Dennis Ross to oversee the nation’s Iran policy, they feared their long-running effort to persuade American officials to lift sanctions could wind up in tatters. Patrick Disney, acting policy director of National Iranian American Council (NIAC), summed up the strategy: „Create a media controversy“ concerning Mr. Ross, whose support for a tough line on Iran was well known.

„Those groups that feel comfortable being more aggressive in opposing Ross publicly (possibly Voters for Peace, [Friends Committee on National Legislation] , Physicians for Social Responsibility, others) will do so,“ Mr. Disney wrote in an e-mail obtained by The Washington Times, „while others who may have less latitude on the matter will declare their preference for a more agreeable envoy.“

Mr. Ross was appointed anyway and wound up on the National Security Council. But the episode highlights NIAC’s emergence as a major player in Washington and leading voice for engaging Iran and ultimately lifting U.S. sanctions.

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Qom nuclear plant is 7 years old

JPost – Iran’s recently revealed uranium enrichment facility is a highly fortified underground space that appears too small to house a civilian nuclear program, but large enough to serve for military activities, diplomats told The Associated Press on Thursday.

Iran began building the facility near the holy city of Qom seven years ago, and after bouts of fitful construction could finish the project in a year, the diplomats said.

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Iranische Stiftung, Tarnfirmen und „Bank Melli“ in den USA!

Feds move to seize N.Y. skyscraper, 4 mosques

Prosecutors say building owners illegally funneled money to Iran

Msnbc – NEW YORK – Federal prosecutors Thursday took steps to seize four U.S. mosques and a Fifth Avenue skyscraper owned by a nonprofit Muslim organization long suspected of being secretly controlled by the Iranian government.

In what could prove to be one of the biggest counterterrorism seizures in U.S. history, prosecutors filed a civil complaint in federal court seeking the forfeiture of more than $500 million in assets of the Alavi Foundation and an alleged front company.

The assets include Islamic centers in New York City, Maryland, California and Houston, more than 100 acres in Virginia, and a 36-story office tower in New York.

Read more here…

Stichwort Einmischung: Iran und der Jemen

Amir Taheri erläutert in der New York Post, wie die Islamische Republik Iran ihren Einfluss im Jemen ausbaut, um Saudi-Arabien in einen asyemmetrischen Krieg zu verwickeln:

On the Yemeni side of the border, Iran has been trying to create a branch of the pan-Shiite Hezbollah movement. The aim is to control a chunk of territory along the Saudi border and use it to destabilize the kingdom while exerting pressure on the Yemeni government.

This would echo Iran’s 1982 creation of the Lebanese Hezbollah, which controls an enclave on the Israeli border, using it as a base for periodical attacks on Israel and continued political pressure on the Lebanese government in Beirut.

The Iran-inspired rebellion in Yemen started in 2007 under a tribal leader named Abdul-Malik al-Houthi.

Al-Houthi, from a small tribe in Yemen’s northern highlands, spent eight years learning „Islamic jurisprudence“ in the Iranian „holy“ city of Qom. His critics claim that he really studied asymmetric warfare, not theology. He denies any ties with Iran but says that he admires the Iranian leadership’s „brave stance against Crusaders and Zionists.“

Over the last decade, scores of Yemenis have received military training in Iran or Hezbollah-controlled parts of Lebanon. The Houthis have also gotten weapons, either directly from Iran or via Lebanon. Last month, Yemen captured an Iranian ship near the port of Haja carrying weapons for the Houthis. [Weiterlesen...]

Das Wandern ist des Mullahs Lust

Die Königin-Luise-Stiftung steht weiter zu ihrem Wort. Eine “Deutsch-Iranische Lehrerkonferenz” soll es sein, gemeinsam mit dem iranischen Botschafter Attar, auf dessen Konto nach Angaben iranischer Oppositioneller unzählige Morde und andere Verbrechen gehen.

Nachdem die Schule jüngst einige kritische Zuschriften zu ihrem Vorhaben erhalten hat, heisst es nunmehr etwas kryptisch “Der Veranstaltungsort ist nicht die Königin-Luise-Stiftung.”

Da stellen sich Fragen.

Zieht man sich nun gleich ins “terroristische Zentrum” nach schräg gegenüber zurück und vertraut angesichts möglicher Proteste auf die bewährte Schlagkraft der Revolutionsgarden?

Aber warum findet dann “Aufgrund der Dt.-Iranischen Lehrerkonferenz [..] am Montag 16.11.2009 für die 1. bis 4. Klassen kurzfristig ein Wandertag statt“, und warum sollen “alle Schüler ab der 5. Klasse Zuhause bleiben”?

Die Schüler/innen sollten offensichtlich für dumm verkauft werden. Ihnen ist ebenfalls erzählt worden, dass die Konferenz anderenorts stattfinden werde, dass sie aber zu Hause bleiben müssten, weil – am Montag gewalttätige Demonstrationen von Chaoten und Steineschmeißern zu erwarten seien, die einen Schulbesuch unverantwortlich machten!

Dieser Aufwand ist nun doch beachtlich. Da werden Schüler/innen einer ganzen Schule einen ganzen Tag lang unter fadenscheinigen Vorwänden vom Unterricht befreit, damit sich einige Repräsentant/inn/en unserer wunderschönen deutschen “Zivilgesellschaft” in aller Ruhe mit dem kriminellen Repräsentanten eines Mörderregimes auf einer scheinbar lapidaren Konferenz gemeinmachen können. Nebenbei: Was ist das eigentlich für eine Schule??

Die Konferenz soll jedenfalls aus irgendeinem Grunde unbedingt wie geplant stattfinden. Aber wer möchte im Ernst glauben, dass man dort die Frage “Religiöses Denken und Nachhaltigkeitswissenschaften – ein Widerspruch?” vielleicht anhand der laufenden Vorbereitungen des iranischen Regimes zum Völkermord an den Bahai erörtern wollte? Nein, das kann es wohl nicht sein. Warum ist diese Konferenz also derart wichtig für die Königin-Luise-Stiftung?

Mahmud (O) bama ….

Quelle IPN…

„bama“ =  “Mit Uns!“

Obama’s Iran Diplomcay Isn’t Working

Warum, erklärt Con Coughlin im Wall Street Journal:

Five months after the first street protests against the sham re-election of Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad rocked the regime to its core, it’s time to assess the Obama Administration’s „outstretched hand“ policy. From the stalled nuclear talks to the Islamic Republic’s deteriorating human-rights situation, it seems the mullahs have tightened, not unclenched, their fists.

No doubt, the conservative hard-liners are under pressure. Mounting international criticism of the regime’s controversial nuclear program and the refusal of the pro-reform movement to submit to the repression have led to an increase in tension among the ruling elite. But rather than compromising, Tehran has resorted to the kind of repression and coercion that have helped turn Iran into an international pariah during the three decades since the Islamic revolution brought the ayatollahs to power. [Weiterlesen...]

Von der iranisch-afghnischen Grenze

Afghans Fear Insurgent Infiltration Across Iran Border

Offener Brief an die Kollaborateure

Ein offener Brief an die Königin-Luise-Stiftung von Jonathan Weckerle, Mitglied des Mideast Freedom Forum Berlin:

Sehr geehrte Damen und Herren,

Sie wollen am kommenden Montag eine Veranstaltung mit dem Botschafter der „Islamischen Republik“ Iran, Ali Reza Sheikh Attar, durchführen.

Ist Ihnen bekannt, dass gestern, am 11. November der kurdische Aktivist Ehsan Fattahian vom iranischen Regime, dessen Vertreter bei Ihnen sprechen soll, ermordet wurde? Ist Ihnen bekannt, dass laut eines Berichts der New York Times mindestens 13 weitere Kurdinnen und Kurden in den Todeszellen der iranischen Foltergefängnisse sitzen? Ist Ihnen bekannt, dass Ihr Gast am Montag selbst für die Ermordung vieler Menschen im Iran, besonders in den kurdischen Gebieten, in denen er nach der Revolution ein Schreckensregiment errichtete, verantwortlich ist? Haben Sie Zweifel an den unwidersprochenen Berichten aus exil-iranischen Quellen über die Verbrechen Attars, durch die er sich für die Funktion qualifiziert hat, in der er bei Ihnen geladen ist? Ich darf hier aus einem von mir verfassten Artikel zitieren:

Konterrevolutionäre Umtriebe

Nir Boms und Shayan Arya analysieren in einem Gastkommentar in der Jerusalem Post den langen Atem der Opposition in Iran und die zunehmende Angst der Mullahs vor „ihrem“ Volk. Die immer gleichen antiamerikanischen und antizionistischen Parolen ziehen nicht mehr. Die Menschen wollen Freiheit statt Islamofaschismus.

In their outrage, the hard-liners unintentionally admitted something they had always tried to deny. For the first time, high-ranking officials were forced to admit that millions of Iranians have nothing in common with the Islamic revolution’s ideology and are determined to challenge its authority.

Iran verärgert über Neda-Stipendium

CNN – Iran has complained to Britain’s Oxford University over a scholarship program in memory of Neda Agha-Soltan, the young woman whose on-camera death during a protests earlier this year made her a global icon of Iranian opposition.

In a letter to the head of the prestigious university’s Queen’s College, the Iranian embassy in London attacked the philosophy scholarship as „politically motivated,“ linking it to claims that Britain was behind violence in Iran.

Hier gehts weiter.

Warum Obama den Friedensnobelpreis nicht verdient hat?

“Iran is both ‘extreme’ and ‘irrational’”

‘We must brace for rocket onslaught’

JPost, by REBECCA ANNA STOIL — Israel must prepare itself for the fact that in a coming war, the IDF will not be able to block all incoming rockets from hitting civilian areas, despite the anticipated deployment of the Iron Dome system in 2010, IDF Chief of General Staff Lt.-Gen. Gabi Ashkenazi told the Knesset Foreign Affairs and Defense Committee on Tuesday morning. […]

Read more here…

BBC Newsnight report on 13 Aban protests…

Was ist Kapitalismus? Capitalist excesses are un-Islamic, so Ahmadinejad

JPost –  Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad said Monday that capitalist excesses caused the global economic meltdown and are un-Islamic, as leaders at a Muslim forum touted their religion’s banking system a way to revive battered economies.

Ahmadinejad was among heads of state in Istanbul for a one-day meeting of the Organization of The Islamic Conference, a 57-state bloc of Muslim countries that promotes religious solidarity in economic and other matters. […]

Read more here…

Ehsan Fattahian Executed!

Planet Iran – […] 27-year-old Kurdish activist Ehsan Fattahian was hung this morning in Sanandadj prison. Ehsan, whose execution was widely protested by human rights activists and organizations inside and outside Iran went on dry hunger strike on Sunday. […]

Read more here…

What Obama Does Not Grasp

Marty Peretz über Obama und den Iran:

Can you imagine the fall of the ayatollahs? I can, and so can learned Abbas Milani, professor of Iranian studies at Stanford, whose writings you can read here, with an additional important article in both the print and on-line New Republic next week.

But can President Obama imagine an Iran freed from the iron grip of the mullahs’ madness? There is nothing in his behavior to suggest that he can or, for that matter, that he would be pleased if he could. His first visit to a Muslim country was for two days in Turkey in April. He and his aides, reported Tom Raum in the Huffington Post, were ecstatic about the results. As far as I can tell, there were none, at least none that were good. Turkey has continued its drift towards an Islamic foreign and domestic policy. The Organization of the Islamic Conference is already meeting in Istanbul, and Dr. A’jad will arrive there on Sunday. Believe me, he will be royally welcomed … and raise tremors among the declining moderate populace.

As with the meanings he conveyed to the Turks, Obama is to be judged with reference to the Iranians on what messages he has sent them. To the people in the streets, to the middle class and to the students–the only hope for Iran–he has shown them, frankly, his behind. Not a statement of solidarity. Certainly not material support. He is still apologizing for the overthrow by the C.I.A. of Iran’s prime minister, Dr. Mohammed Mossadegh, in 1953. That was 56 years ago, for God’s sake. Still, his apologies have gotten him nowhere and will get him nowhere.

It is possible still that the democrats and moderate Muslims of Iran will win, not this year or even next year. One thing we know is that the American president has set them back aplenty. And that is a result of his curious empathy for Islam not simply as a religion but as a way of politics in the world.

The Starfish Revolution?

Michael Ledeen über die Bewegung im Iran:

Several thoughtful people have commented on an unusual element in the Iranian revolutionary movement, aka “The Green Path of Hope.”  Although there is a troika (Mousavi, Karroubi and Khatami) that inspires many of the movement’s participants, there seems to be a lack of top-down leadership.  Indeed, Mousavi has been at pains to say that the people are the true leaders, that he is not creating a political movement but a “social network,” and that the strength of the Green Path derives from the spontaneous and creative actions of millions of Iranians.

Ein paar Worte für Chef-Appeaser Obama hat Ledeen auch noch übrig:

Funny world, isn’t it?  The Islamic Republic teeters on the edge of history’s garbage dump, a fascinating revolutionary movement bids to change the world, and peace prizes are given to an accomplice to evil–Mohammed al Baradei–and an American president who won’t throw his moral weight behind tens of millions of Iranians who are risking their lives to be able to have a government like ours.

Mr. Obama, entweder ICH oder ISRAIL!

Ahmadinejad tells US: ditch Israel and fulfil your promises

Gurardian – Iran’s president, Mahmoud Ahmadinejad, effectively spurned Barack Obama’s offer of renewed ties between Washington and Tehran last night by making it conditional on the US abandoning support for Israel. He told a press conference in Istanbul that Obama had failed to deliver his promise of change in US foreign policy and said he had to choose between Israel and relations with Iran. Ahmadinejad’s comments came hours after Tehran’s prosecutor announced spying charges against three Americans in a move that threatened to plunge US-Iranian relations to a fresh low.

Read more here…