Middle East conflict formation

You have certainly not heard much about this in the West. And it didn’t get a fraction of the media attention (and none of the hundreds of millions of Euro pledges by the perversely rich) that the Notre Dame fire did. However, if disastrous floods had hit 28 out of 31 provinces and affected 10 million people in some European country or in the US, I believe you would have heard about it from Day One. But now it is Iran. Only the Iranians. The situation is disastrous but not so much because thousands have died. Rather, because floods of this magnitude are likely to have terrible long-term consequences for agricultural and other production, infrastructure, energy production, transport and daily lives (see pictures below and on the links). The basic facts about 3 weeks into the disaster are: 28 of 31 provinces affected, the area around Shiraz the most. 78...

April 4, 2019 By Medea Benjamin Trump’s economic strangulation is having devastating people on the Iranian people. On a recent delegation to Iran, we experienced first-hand the legendary Iranian hospitality. Iranians are particularly thrilled to meet Americans, but as we discovered, our government’s policies are hurting the very people who want to be our friends. As our 28-person delegation traveled through the country wearing messages on our jackets proclaiming “Peace with Iran” in English and Farsi, we were surrounded by people – from schoolchildren to storekeepers – who wanted to practice their English and talk to us. Their eyes lit up when they heard we were from America. We were constantly posing for photos and exchanging Instagram accounts. We were offered endless cups of sweet tea and showered with more gifts than we could fit in our suitcases. Originally published on March 11, 2019 by Common Dreams.org A frequent refrain...

His book, Manufacturing Crisis: The Untold Story of the Iran Nuclear Scare, is a classic and must-read for those who want to know in depth the history and the games played over decades by the U.S. and Israel against Iran. It is also relevant as a background to the negotiated JCPOA, or “nuclear deal” with Iran in 2015 (that the U.S. later withdrew from). This video is one part in a small series at The Real News Network – a network that will enlighten any student, researcher and concerned citizen. That will enable you to assess how the mainstream media – also in this case – have fed you all kinds of politically biased information and a uniform anti-Iranian perspective. It has been framing the issue in such a way that they have served well the elites who, as it seems, seek to harm Iran in a series of ways....

SIPRI latest analysis of the global arms trade is just out. When one reads the summary, one may ask: If not now, when is the time to criminalize the international arms trade? Weapons imported into warzones have – without exception – four major effects: a) those who buy or receive the weapons get emboldened to continue war rather than seek a negotiated solution; b) the wars last longer than they otherwise would had there been a moratorium by all external factors on these sales to conflicting paeties; c) human suffering and social costs increase because of a) and b); d) the arms trade economy and world is an integral part of global law-violating behaviour, mafiosi, terrorism, dirty money, corruption, death, drugs, trafficking – you name it. A murky community, indeed. In addition, arms trade is the most immoral of all: private and government dealers sell arms mainly to earn money....

On February 11, 2019, the Islamic Republic of Iran marks the fortieth anniversary of the victory of the Islamic Revolution. In his latest speech at a conference of the Mojahedin-e Khalq (MEK), for which he received huge fees, National Security Advisor John Bolton said: The outcome of the president’s policy review should be to determine that the Ayatollah Khomeini’s 1979 revolution will not last until its fortieth birthday. I have said for more than ten years since coming to these events that the declared policy of the United States of America should be the overthrow of the mullahs’ regime in Tehran…and that is why before 2019 we here will celebrate in Tehran. Even more ominously, late last year Bolton instructed the Pentagon to produce options for attacking Iran. Addressing the same conference on June 29, 2018, President Trump’s personal lawyer Rudy Giuliani also predicted: “Freedom is right around the corner...

Or just how unreasonable US policies against Iran are President Trump doesn’t accept the view of Iran and its behaviour that is stated in the report from the National Intelligence Office. He characterizes his intellligence people as “extremely passive and naive” and says – “Be careful of Iran. Perhaps Intelligence should go back to school!” here quoted from Newsweek: “The Intelligence people seem to be extremely passive and naive when it comes to the dangers of Iran. They are wrong!” So now you know it: Donald Trump has better intelligence than the rest of the US. Here Robert Kelley, former inspector at the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) in Vienna and Jan Oberg, TFF, discuss the general issues of inspections, sanctions and US foreign policy against Iran in spite of Iran’s 100% compliance with the 2015 JCPOA – Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action – which is one of the most...

After a long period of relative silence, Reza Pahlavi, the son of the deposed Iranian Shah who has lived in the United States for more than 40 years, recently made a rare public appearance, calling for a U.S.-backed regime change in Iran. Speaking at the pro-Israel Washington Institute for Near East Policy on Friday, December 14, he called for “non-Military actions” in support of Iranians to replace the Islamic Republic with a secular democracy. Since coming to office and even during the 2016 election campaign, President Donald Trump has adopted a very hostile attitude towards Iran and the landmark nuclear deal (the Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action or JCPOA) negotiated under President Barack Obama. Some of the more hawkish members of his team have received huge fees speaking at the annual meetings of the Mojahedin-e Khalq (MEK) that are held outside Paris, and have openly called for regime change in...

Photo: March 20, 2018. President Donald Trump and Saudi Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman in the White House in Washington. (Photo credit: voanews.com).   By Emile Nakhleh* November 30, 2018 The Middle East, like the rest of the world, is a “very dangerous place!” according to President Trump. The Saudis, with America’s tacit help, made it so. President Trump’s bizarre and strange recent statement giving Saudi Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman (MbS) a pass on his involvement in journalist Jamal Khashoggi’s murder raises a number of serious issues that Trump cavalierly dismisses or doesn’t know about in the first place. Beyond the half-truths and the lame rationale he has offered in defense of MbS, the president is in fact undermining America’s long-term interests in the region and putting the lives of American citizens – civilians, diplomats, and military – in that part of the world at risk. Originally published at lobelog.com To...

(Photo credit: Iran News) By Seyed Hossein Mousavian November 4, 2018 The next round of economic sanctions on Iran, which will start going into effect on Nov.4, will mainly target the country’s oil and gas industries. These sanctions were eased after the 2015 signing of the Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action (JCPOA), commonly known as the Iran nuclear deal, but are being phased back in following President Donald Trump’s decision to withdraw from the accord six months ago. Trump’s goal in reinstituting the sanctions is to kill the nuclear deal, to bring Iran’s economy to the point of total collapse, to contain Iran’s regional involvement in Syria, Iraq and Yemen, and, in spite of Washington’s denials, presumably to celebrate the collapse of Iran’s ruling regime. The White House’s official position is that, by increasing economic and political pressure, it aims to bring Iran back to the negotiating table in order...

Citizens of Isfahan enjoying life. It is their lives the US destroy – knowingly • Photo © Jan Oberg   Conversation with Iran’s PressTV about the sanctions on Iran, oil prices and President Trump’s speech at the UN General Assembly. And why the rest of the world should wake up.   https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=t6WQGgfyDYs      

Photo: James Jeffrey – Special Representative for Syria Engagement in the United States (Hudson Institute via Flickr)   By Paul R. Pillar September 19, 2018 Amid a week of attention-grabbing drama about the dysfunction of Donald Trump’s presidency, it almost escaped notice that his administration is putting U.S. troops in harm’s way in a foreign war for a new purpose—a purpose that does not entail countering a threat to the United States. Newly appointed special envoy for Syria, James Jeffrey stated that under a “new policy” on Syria, the United States is “no longer pulling out by the end of the year.” This policy goes against what Trump had been saying not only in the presidential campaign about wanting less U.S. involvement in Middle Eastern wars but also, more recently and more specifically, about wanting to withdraw the 2,200 U.S. soldiers now in Syria. Those troops have been in the...

  Utterly destructive, self-defeating and spelling the end of the U.S. Empire   By Farhang Jahanpour September 22, 2018 In view of the macro-historical perspective on the Middle East-West relations and the concrete cases referred to in this series – Afghanistan, Iraq, Libya and Syria – it is clear that the demonization of Middle Eastern leaders as a prelude to invasion and their downfall has a long history. Such rulers are often used to serve the economic and political interests of various Western countries, in the same way that the Saudi Crown Prince Mohammed Bin Salman and the United Arab Emirates’ Crown Prince Mohammad Bin Zayed are being used at the moment to make them purchase tens of billions of dollars’ worth of US, British and French weapons. When they have outlived their usefulness, they will probably meet the same fate as that of Qadhafi or Saddam Hussein. However, despite...