Die Geschäfte laufen weiter…

und Berlin schickt ein „Zwischenbericht“ nach New York:

„it would not make sense in terms of the world community to ban“ trade with Iran.“!

J’lem: Send Iranian smuggling case to UN

JP. by Benjamin Weinthal — BERLIN – After US Marines seized seven shipping containers filled with 7.62-mm. bullets on an Iranian-chartered German ship earlier this month, allegedly bound for either the Syrian army or Hizbullah, Israeli officials have asked the German government to submit the case to the UN for a review of sanctions violations, according to German media reports.

A German Foreign Ministry spokeswoman confirmed to The Jerusalem Post by e-mail that „Germany notified the sanctions committee of the United Nations promptly and confidentially“ regarding the seizure of the ammunition.

The „decisive lead [on the shipment] came from Israeli intelligence agencies.“

The cartridges can be used for Kalashnikov rifles, the Der Spiegel newsweekly reported.

More here…

Die Deutschen schiffen mit acht illegalen Waffen-Pistazien-Container übers Meer in die Richtung Mullahs…

Exportlawblog — German Container Ship Caught Violating U.N. Sanctions on Iran.

Hier geht es weiter zu Waffen-Pistazien-Geschäfte…

Customs foil Rp 102 billion drug smuggling plot at Jakarta airport

JP — Customs and Excise officers thwarted a plot to smuggle a total of 26.8 kilograms and 22.8 liters crystal and liquid methamphetamine worth Rp 102 billion (US$10.8 million) at the Soekarno-Hatta International Airport, a top official said Wednesday.

“This is our biggest ‘catch’,” said Anwar Suorijadi, Director General of Customs and Excise, said as quoted by tempointeraktif.com.

Anton said that the drugs were carried by ten Iranians in separate flights on Monday and Tuesday.

The suspects and the evidence have been handed to the National Police.

According to Customs and Excise office records, 18 smuggling attempts were foiled up until October this year, compared to 15 cases recorded last year.

Wi(e)der Balabalabala aus der Mir Hossein Mussawis Marktniche!

Mousavi in the head office of his official newspaper (Kalemeye Sabz): While one path is closed, a hundred will open…

Weiter zum Mussawis Balabalabala…

We Have Met the Enemy

Pflichtlektüre für alle Appeaser: Michael Ledeen beschreibt im Weekly Standard zunächst – was jeder weiß, aber kaum jemand ausspricht, schon gar nicht die amtierende US-Regierung -, dass sich die Islamische Republik längst im Krieg mit den Vereinigten Staaten und der freien Welt befindet. Dies betrifft vor allem, aber gewiss nicht nur Afghanistan und den Irak, weshalb gilt:

Therefore, in Afghanistan as in Iraq, no matter how well we do, no matter how many high-level targets we eliminate, no matter how many cities, towns, and villages we secure, unless we defeat Iran we will always be designing yet another counterinsurgency strategy in yet another place. We are in a big war, and Iran is at the heart of the enemy army. Alas, no American president since the Islamic Revolution has been willing to face the consequences of Iran’s war against America. Most of the time, our leaders have refused to accept the fact that Iran will do everything possible to dominate or destroy us. Instead of trying to defeat the mullahs, every president has sought rapprochement, just as Obama is doing now.

Eine Handlungsempfehlung gibt Ledeen auch:

Most of the needed support is political: calls by top American officials for the release of political prisoners, equal rights for women (for which Mousavi’s wife has been a charismatic advocate), and freedom of speech, press, and assembly. The president could earn his Nobel Peace Prize by condemning the regime’s slaughter of its own people, by instructing the timorous broadcasters at VOA’s Farsi Service to report more vigorously on Iranian actions, by helping the independent Iranian-American and European radio and TV stations beat the regime’s jamming, and by supporting software to evade the mullahs’ „filtering“ of the Internet and cellular phone calls. Finally, Obama could suggest to his friends in the labor movement that it is long past time to build a strike fund for Iranian workers. None of this is very hard, and it’s a lot easier than trying to talk the mullahs out of their nukes or facing a nuclear Iran when we fail. It’s strategically sound and morally right. And it will change the world for the better.

Tehran should love the U.S. offer on enrichment

Im Wall Street Journal wird der Nagel hinsichtlich der jüngsten und neusten diplomatischen Kniefälle vor der Islamischen Republik Iran auf den Kopf getroffen:

Iran insists it won’t stop enriching uranium on its own, in violation of Security Council resolutions. Aside from rewarding Iran for past misbehavior by letting it use illegally enriched uranium, this deal fails to solve the problem it is intended to solve. That’s because as long as the Natanz facility continues to enrich uranium at its current rate of about 132 pounds a month, Iran will produce enough low-enriched uranium within the year for a bomb. Make Natanz more efficient and the time could be cut in half.

Claims by Western officials that Iran can’t convert the uranium enriched abroad for military use are less than reassuring. Though encased in a fuel rod in France, the more highly-enriched uranium returned to Iran would be simple to extract, using something as basic as a tin snipper to force open the fuel cladding, and enrich further.

„With 19.75 enriched feed“—as opposed to the 3.5% that Iran now manages—“the level of effort or time Iran would need to make weapons grade uranium would drop very significantly,“ from roughly five months today „down to something slightly less than four weeks,“ says Henry Sokolski of the Nonproliferation Policy Education Center.

Iran may also welcome the Russian-enriched uranium because its own technology is less advanced. The October 8 edition of the trade journal Nucleonics Week reports that Iran’s low-enriched uranium appears to have „impurities“ that „could cause centrifuges to fail“ if Iran itself tried to enrich uranium to weapons-grade—which would mean above 20% and ideally up to 90%. In this scenario, the West would be decontaminating the uranium for Iran. Along the way, Iranian scientists may also pick up clues on how to do better themselves.

The mullahs know that President Obama is eager to show diplomatic gains from his engagement strategy, and they are going to exploit that eagerness to get every possible concession. The one thing Iran has shown no desire to bargain over is its intention to become a nuclear power.

Denying the Green Revolution

David Feith und Bari Weiss von Foreign Affairs erläutern, wie die Obama-Regierung alles tut, um der iranischen Opposition den Wind aus den Segeln zu nehmen:

To pursue engagement, President Obama needs his Iranian interlocutors to be durable leaders, not frauds on the brink. Iranian dissidents challenging the regime’s legitimacy are thus being treated as obstacles to statecraft.

The Boston Globe reported this month that the Connecticut-based Iran Human Rights Documentation Center recently lost its State Department funding. The Center—a nonpartisan group that documents Iran’s human-rights abuses—had received $3 million over the past five years. It will shut down in May, said Executive Director Renee Redman, unless private donors save it.

Less widely known is that Freedom House, the nonpartisan watchdog group founded in 1941, also lost State Department funding. It applied in April for significant funds to support initiatives including Gozaar, its Farsi-English online journal of democracy and human rights, and was turned down in July. Since 2006, Freedom House had received over $2 million from the U.S. and European governments for Iran-related efforts. „We might have to close Gozaar if we run out of money,“ deputy executive director Thomas O. Melia told us this week. [Weiterlesen...]

„Will Iran nuke deal bury chances of Israeli attack?“

It’s no surprise the agreement emerging between Iran and the international community is being greeted in Jerusalem with a grain of salt. It is not easy to be weaned off 15 years of suspicions. Not only does Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad not inspire much confidence, the entire Iranian regime has earned a reputation of deceptiveness. It will take a long time for Israel’s intelligence community and decision makers to accept an assessment that in Vienna, the Jewish state was saved.

According to assessments – or perhaps rumors – from Washington this week, an official agreement will be signed this year by U.S. President Barack Obama, or at least Secretary of State Hillary Clinton, and Ahmadinejad, scaling back Tehran’s nuclear plans. The International Atomic Energy Agency’s announcement Wednesday that the parties had drafted an agreement sparked a wave of enthusiastic reactions. The Iranians’ final response to the draft is expected Friday. Judging by the past, the Iranians might try to dilute the red lines into pink: A few more minor requests here and there, right before signing, in order to squeeze a slightly more convenient agreement for Tehran.

More

„Wie westliche Experten lernen, die iranische Bombe zu lieben“

Gideon Böss in der Welt

Warum liegt es so vielen Nahost-Experten eigentlich am Herzen, den Iran in Schutz zu nehmen? Diese Frauen steinigende, Schwule hängende und die Freiheit unterdrückende Diktatur. Ob es etwas mit dem Gegner zu tun hat, den sich die Mullahs ausgesucht haben? Gegen Juden und Israel zu sein, ist eigentlich nie verkehrt. Aufmerksamkeit ist garantiert, Unterstützung im Zweifelsfall auch. Neustes Beispiel für das Wohlwollen, das dem Iran entgegengebracht wird, ist Alastair Crooke.

Die Verbrechen des iranischen Regimes

Wahied Wahdat-Hadgh für die WELT:

Menschenrechtsorganisationen, die Berichte über die massiven Menschenrechtsverletzungen im Iran liefern, sind ein wichtiger Hebel zur Unterstützung der iranischen Zivilgesellschaft. Eine vergleichbare historische Erfahrung ist aus der Unterstützung der demokratisch orientierten Zivilgesellschaft in ehemaligen sozialistischen Ländern durch Westeuropa bekannt.

Bevor ein Überblick über die Verbrechen gegen die Menschlichkeit des iranischen Regimes geliefert wird, soll Frau Rene Redman, Geschäftsführerin des Iran Human Rights Documentation Center zu Wort kommen. In einem Interview klärte sie am 22.10.2009 über die Gefahr der Schließung des Menschenrechtszentrums auf:

„Seit der Gründung des Zentrums hat das US-State-Department rund 3 Millionen Dollar zur Unterstützung der Arbeit des Zentrums zur Verfügung gestellt. Im Juli 2009 hat das State Department einen weiteren Antrag des Zentrums abgelehnt. Es war nicht das erste Mal, dass das State Department einen Antrag des Zentrums abgelehnt hat. Aber wir waren überrascht, als unser Antrag im Juli abgelehnt wurde, als die Welt zuschaute, wie die iranische Regierung jede abweichende Meinung brutal unterdrückte. Die IHRDC ist eine unabhängige und überparteiische Organisation, die mitnichten vom State Department abhängig ist. Wir werden weiterhin vehement nach anderen Finanzierungsmöglichkeiten suchen, so dass wir auch in Zukunft die Menschenrechtsverletzungen im Iran dokumentieren können. Leider werden wir im Juni 2010 schließen müssen, falls wir keine weiteren Finanzierungsmöglichkeiten bekommen.“

Der 112-seitige Bericht ist die Geschichte vom organisierten Verbrechen, von systematischen Folterungen und Hinrichtungen von Tausenden von politischen Gefangenen in iranischen Gefängnissen. [Weiterlesen...]

Das Spielchen geht weiter

Rußland, Frankreich, die USA haben zugestimmt. Es sieht jedoch so aus, als würde der Iran dem Urananreicherungsdeal heute nicht unterschreiben. Die Rede ist nun von einem eigenen Vorschlag, der vermutlich darauf hinauslaufen wird, das für einen Forschungsreaktor benötigte angereicherte Uran auf einem Silberteller präsentiert  zu bekommen, ohne daß das eigene schwach angereicherte Uran das Land verläßt. Und dann wird man vermutlich darüber verhandeln wollen, daß das eigene Uran nur in kleinen Portionen nach Rußland geliefert wird, und nicht als eine große Ladung bis zum Ende des Jahres. Und dann…

Endlich schreibt einer mal die Wahrheit!

Und endlich mal wieder was zum Schmunzeln. J.Elsaesser, Arbeiterfotografie, Süddeutsche Zeitung. Was für eine Würdigung. Die neueste Topmeldung der staatlichen iranischen Nachrichtenagentur Fars News:

New german book to uncover western propaganda about Iran.

Titled ‘Iran- Facts Against Western Propaganda’, the 105-page book is to be unveiled by Elsaesser in Berlin on Tuesday, the Islamic republic news agency reported.

The latest literary work by Elsaesser is to take an in-depth look at western anti-Iranian propaganda over the past years, specifically aspects of wrong translations of speeches made by Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad which had been attributed to him in the media.

Eine notwendige Erinnerung

Heute müssen alle Parteien dem bisher viel gepriesenen Vertragsentwurf zur Urananreicherung  zustimmen. Ein Entwurf, dessen entscheidende Details  bisher nicht öfffentlich sind, und bei dem es sicherlich noch Wege geben wird,  die Frist für eine schwammige Halb-oder Dreiviertelzustimmung Irans zu verlängern. Wobei eigentlich auch schon klar ist, daß der Iran, sollte er zustimmen,  sowieso etwas ganz anderes in dem Abkommen sehen wird, als die Vetragspartner aus dem Westen.

Aus diesem Anlaß sei auf einen offenen Brief von hundert iranischen Akademikern, die im Ausland studieren, verwiesen, der Anfang Oktober  vom Moussavi-Lager veröffentlicht worden ist. Er erinnert die Welt und den amerikanischen Präsidenten an etwas.

Recent news indicates the US administration’s intention to negotiate with the Iranian government.  While maintaining an active venue of negotiation is necessary for resolving the conflict between the two countries, a constructive dialogue with Iran must address the Iranian regime’s recent brutalities.  Neglecting such atrocities by any country, particularly in this crucial period, would have a severe negative effect on the Iranian public.  As people with deep connections to their Iranian homeland, and who have studied and worked at universities across the world, the signers of this letter are concerned about the neglect of human rights violations in Iran by the rest of the world. As the current regime faces an internal crisis of legitimacy, it is obvious that the goal of the Iranian government is not the resolution of its international conflicts.  Rather, they seek a false victory for their confrontational policies, which could be used as justification for escalating the violent crackdown against domestic political opposition.

„Iran’s Biggest Worry: Growing Ethnic Conflict“

The Iranian regime has a problem, and it’s not a velvet revolution or Israel’s threat to bomb its nuclear facilities. No, what really keeps the mullahs up at night is the specter of ethnic and sectarian conflict — more attacks like the bombing on Oct. 18 in the remote southeastern province of Sistan-Baluchistan, which killed 42 people, including five senior officers of the Revolutionary Guards Corps. The country’s leaders cannot help but worry that the same divisions ripping apart Afghanistan and Pakistan are about to visit them.

More

Danger of Arbitrary Executions in the Baluchestan Province

IPN — Following today’s bomb explosion in the Iranian Baluchestan province that led to killing of several high ranking revolutionary guard commanders, Iran Human Rights expresses strong concern regarding danger of new arbitrary executions in this province. Mahmood Amiry-Moghaddam, the spokesperson of Iran Human Rights said: “ We have previously received several reports about arbitrary or even random executions in this province, after similar incidents.“ He added: „Following a bomb explosion in a mosque in Zahedan (capital of the Bluchestan province) in may 2009, which Jondollah (a militant sunni group) claimed responsibility of, three people identified as Zabihollah Naroui, Haji Noti Zahi and Gholam Rasoul Shahi were hanged in public convicted of involvement in the explosion. The execution took place less than 3 days after the explosion. Several reports indicate that none of these individuals were involved in the bombing, and two of them had no connection what so ever with the Jondollah movement.“

Five People Were Executed in Tehran

IPN — According to reliable sources in Iran, Soheila Ghadiri (woman) and four men were executed in Tehran’s Evin prison early this morning. According to the same sources, execution of the minor offender Safar Angooti was postponed for one month. Soheila Ghadiri (30) was convicted of killing her new born baby (5 days old), three years ago. In the court she had said said: „I escaped from home and got married to the boy I loved, at the age of 16. He died in an accident and after that I started with prostitution and drug addiction. I got HIV and hepatitis. When my baby was born, I killed her because I didn’t want he to have the same destiny as mine“.

Why A’Jad can’t show his face

Keine Feier zum 30. Jahrestag der Okkupation der US-Botschaftsbesetzung am 4. November, benannt als Tag des Antiimperialismus?  

NYPost, by Amir Taheri — His allegedly fraudulent re-election last June triggered a crisis that has shaken the Islamic Republic, forcing the authorities to cancel dozens of events that the opposition might have used as cover for mass protests.

Among those are the Asian Games, the 20th anniversary of Ayatollah Khomeini’s death and the start of the second decade of Ali Khamenei’s reign as the „supreme guide,“ the International Jamboree of Islamic Girl Guides and virtually all of Ahmadinejad’s trademark visits to the provinces. Even major soccer matches have been canceled or, for contests against foreign teams, transferred to other countries.

Read more…

Briefmarken von iranischer Freiheitsbewegung

Niederlande dokumentieren die Freiheitsbewegung mit Briefmarken

How ‘human rights’ have turned into inhuman wrongs

Spectator, by Melanie Philips – Is the ‘human rights’ worm finally beginning to turn?

One of the principal sources of gross smears and distortions about Israel is the prominent NGO Human Rights Watch. It has always swatted away any such charge as an example of pro-Israel special pleading. But now it has been denounced by someone it will find less easy to dismiss in this way – its very own founder. In the New York Times Robert Bernstein, who founded HRW and chaired it for more than 20 years, delivers the devastating verdict that through its reporting of Israel it has lost sight of its founding mission to ‘to pry open closed societies, advocate basic freedoms and support dissenters’:

More here…

Schlusslicht

Auf der gestern von Reporter ohne Grenzen veröffentlichten „Rangliste der Pressefreiheit 2009“ liegt Iran auf Platz 172 von 175 Plätzen. Warum vielen iranischen Journalisten nur die Flucht bleibt demonstriert dieser Blog von Reporters sans Frontières eindrucksvoll.

Time to act – Konferenz in Berlin

Die Konferenz des Mideast Freedom Forum Berlin wird am 28. (abends) und 29. November (ganztägig) in Berlin stattfinden. Die Konferenz ist die Folgeveranstaltung der internationalen Iran-Konferenz “Business as usual? Das iranische Regime, der Heilige Krieg gegen Israel und den Westen und die deutsche Reaktion” vom Mai 2008.

ReferentInnen: Die vorläufige Liste der ReferentInnen finden Sie hier (u.a. Ilan Berman, Matthias Küntzel, Gerald Steinberg).

Anmeldung: Eine Anmeldung ist erforderlich, es gibt nur eine begrenzte Anzahl an Plätzen. Bitte melden Sie sich frühzeitig an mit einer Email mit Ihrem Namen und Ihrer Telefonnummer an konferenz@mideastfreedomforum.org

Konferenzbeitrag: 15 € (Förderpreis 40 €, ermäßigt 10 €)
Der Konferenzbeitrag enthält Teilnahme, Übersetzung, Essen und Getränke.

Weitere Informationen folgen bald.

„Iran Will Provide a Nuclear Umbrella for Terrorism

Dore Gold über das iranische Atomprogramm.

Drahtzieher entlarven …

Kaum hatte, ein paar Stunden nach dem Anschlag, die iranische Regierung die Hintermänner entlarvt (England, die USA und Pakistan), eilen die Freunde der Islamischen Republik an die Tastatur, um ebenfalls zu enthüllen. Umgehend zur Stelle waren neben, wen wundert’s, der Jungen Welt auch Hintergrund.de.

Die Westen holen die Bestätigung vom Ex-Spion Alastair Crooke!

In einem Interview rät der Ex-Spion Alastair Crooke; „Israel soll sich mit dem Führungsanspruch Teherans abfinden“. Somit wird die Vernichtung Israels FRIEDLICH garantiert sein, solange man sich an Ex-Spionen und Nahost-Experten wie A.C. orientiert…

SPON – „Der Westen darf Iran nicht bremsen“

Ob Iran irgendwann die Atombombe hat, ist für den Westen unwichtig, sagt Nahost-Experte Alastair Crooke. Viel wichtiger sei, ob Israel mit dem Führungsanspruch Teherans leben könne. Sonst drohe ein blutiger Machtkampf in der Region, warnt der Ex-Spion im Interview mit SPIEGEL ONLINE…

Kleiner Rachefeldzug

Das hat bisher irgendwie noch gefehlt. Wieso denn auch immer nur inkognito über die Grenzen gehen, um Krieg in der Region anzuzetteln, wieso nicht gleich eine ordentliche kleine Invasion?

Commander of the Islamic Revolution Guards Corps (IRGC) Ground Force Brigadier General Mohammad Pakpour urged Iranian officials to issue the required orders for his troops to attack the Jundollah terrorist group in Pakistan.

Besonders poetisch erscheint im selben Zusammenhang der Satz:

Meantime, the commander pointed out that such acts of terrorism cannot stir sensations and feelings of the IRGC members hard enough to drive the IRGC out of the path of rationality.