police, basij impostors arrested

Police, Basij ‘impostors’ arrested in Iran
Press TV, Jun 29 2009

Iranian police officials have reportedly arrested the armed impostors who posed as security forces during post-election violence in the country. Iran’s Basij commander, Hossein Taeb, said Monday that the impostors had worn police and Basij uniforms to infiltrate the rallies and create havoc. Taeb added that the recent anti-government riots have killed eight members of the Basij and wounded 300 others. Iranian security officials, and in particularly the Basij volunteer forces, have been accused of killing and injuring protestors who took to the streets to protest the outcome of the Jun 12 election. Taeb asserted that armed groups are the main culprit behind the killings, stating:

Basij forces are not authorized to carry weapons.

Tehran Police Chief Azizallah Rajabzadeh has also insisted that his department had no role in the shoot-out that has become the focus of most media outlets in the West, stating:

Policemen are not authorized to use weapons against people. They are trained to only use anti-riot tools to keep the people out of harm’s way.

Last week saw some of the worst violence since the election after some ‘terrorist elements’ infiltrated the rallies on Saturday, according to Iranian officials. The insurgents set fire to a mosque, two gas stations and a military post in Western Tehran, leaving scores of people dead and wounded.

some quotes you won’t see in the western press

Obama faces a Persian rebuff (extracts)
M K Bhadrakumar, Asia Times, Jul 1 2009

The Iranian regime shows every sign of closing ranks and pulling its act together in the face of what it assessed to be an existential threat to the vilayat-e faqih. Khamenei in a veiled warning said:

Some European and American officials with their idiotic remarks about Iran are speaking as if their own problems have all been resolved and Iran remains the only issue for them.

He added that the ground on which European and American officials stood inevitably gets “soiled.” The “red line” for Tehran through the past three decades has always been any foreign attempt at forcing regime change. That line has been breached. The Iranian security establishment has begun digging deeper and deeper into what really happened. Gholam Hossein Nohseni Ejei, the powerful Intelligence Minister, has alleged from available data that there has been a concerted attempt to stir up unrest by world powers that were “upset about a stable and secure Iran,” and plots to assassinate Iranian leaders. Uncomfortable questions will arise in the coming days and weeks. Doubts arise already about the mysterious death of Neda Aqa-Soltan. Again, the dead included eight trained Basiji militiamen. Who killed them? Indeed, who led the charge of the light brigade? It is a little-known slice of history that in the countdown to the Anglo-American coup in Tehran against Mohammed Mosaddeq in 1953, the CIA lost its nerve just as the Tehran street protests were about to be staged, but the British intelligence outpost in Cyprus which coordinated the entire operation held firm, forced the pace and ultimately created a fait accompli for Washington. Tehran is going after Britain, “the most treacherous of foreign powers,” to use Khamenei’s words. Marching orders have been given to two British diplomats posted in Tehran, and four local employees working in the British Embassy remain under detention for questioning.

If the rumor was that the intriguing silence of former president Akbar Hashemi Rafsanjani meant he was plotting in the holy city of Qom and challenging Khamenei’s writ, it was not to be so. On Sunday, Rafsanjani openly came out with a statement endorsing Khamenei. We see the unmistakable contours of an understanding:

The developments following the presidential vote were a complex conspiracy plotted by suspicious elements with the aim of creating a rift between the people and the Islamic establishment and causing them to lose their trust in the system. Such plots have always been neutralized whenever the people have entered the scene with vigilance.

He lauded Khamenei for endorsing the Guardian Council’s move to extend the deadline by five days to review issues pertaining to the election and removing ambiguities:

This valuable move by the leader to restore the people’s confidence in the election process was very effective.

In a separate meeting with a delegation of majlis members on Thursday, Rafsanjani said his attachment to Khamenei is “endless” and that he enjoys a close relationship with the supreme leader and he fully complies with velayat-e faqih. On Saturday, the Expediency Council, which is headed by Rafsanjani, called on defeated candidates to “observe the law and resolve conflicts and disputes through legal channels.” Mohsen Rezai, the opposition candidate and former head of the Iranian Revolutionary Guards Corps, and former majlis speaker Nateq-Nouri, the leading pillar in Iranian politics, have also reconciled. Thus, Mousavi stands isolated. The Guardian Council ordered a partial recount of 10% of random ballot boxes across the country in front of state television cameras, which confirmed late on Monday evening the result of the Jun 12 poll and advised the Interior Ministry:

The Guardian Council after studying the issues dismisses all the complaints received, and approves the accuracy of the 10th presidential election.

If the prognosis was that the speaker of the majlis Ali Larijani was showing promise as a potential dissident leader, it also has been debunked. On Monday, while addressing the executive committee meeting of the Organization of Islamic Conference at Algiers, Larijani lashed out at the US policy of “interfering” in the internal affairs of Middle East countries. He advised Obama to abandon such policy:

This change will be beneficial both to the region and to the US itself.

Sustained criticism and pressure mounted by networks of anti-Iranian groups and powerful lobbies ensconced within the US Congress and the political class, and quarters within the security establishment which have an old score to settle with Tehran, have forced Obama to harden his stance. Softening the hard stance will be difficult. Nitpickings such as the denial of a visa for the Iranian Vice President Parviz Davoudi to visit New York to attend the UN conference on the world economic crisis do not help. Nor will the US’s likely decision to pursue the sanctions route towards Iran at the forthcoming G8 summit in Trieste on Jul 8-10. In May, Iran surpassed Saudi Arabia as the top oil exporter from the Persian Gulf to China. The regional milieu can only work to Iran’s advantage. Iraq remains dangerously poised. US prospects in Afghanistan range from possible defeat to mere avoidance of defeat. Turkey has distanced itself from the European stance regarding the recent developments in Iran. Azerbaijan, Turkmenistan, Afghanistan and Pakistan have greeted Ahmadinejad’s victory. Moscow eventually concluded the regime wasn’t threatened. China emerges as the absolute “winner” in correctly assessing from day one the undercurrents of Iran’s obscure revolutionary politics. Beijing has never before expressed so openly such staunch solidarity with the Iranian regime in warding off Western pressure. Neither Syria nor Hezbollah in Lebanon and Hamas in Gaza showed any inclination to disengage from Iran. True, Syria’s ties with Saudi Arabia have improved in the past six months, and Damascus welcomes the Obama administration’s recent overtures. But far from adopting the Saudi or US agenda toward Tehran, Syrian Foreign Minister Walid al-Moallem questioned the legitimacy of the street protests in Tehran. He warned last Sunday, when Tehran streets were witnessing unrest:

Anyone betting on the fall of the Iranian regime will be a loser. The Islamic revolution is a reality, deeply rooted in Iran, and the international community must live with that.

Moallem called for the “establishment of a dialogue between Iran and the United States based on mutual respect and non-interference in Iran’s affairs.” Equally, success for Saad Hariri as the newly elected prime minister of Lebanon, and the country’s overall stability, will hinge on his reconciliation with rivals allied to Syria and Iran. The Obama administration will now deal with a Khamenei who is at the peak of his political power in all his past two decades as supreme leader. As for Ahmadinejad, he will now negotiate from a position of unprecedented strength. Ahmadinejad left hardly anything to interpretation when he stated in Tehran on Saturday:

Without doubt, Iran’s new government will have a more decisive and firmer approach towards the West. This time the Iranian nation’s reply will be harsh and more decisive.

He added that it will aim at making the West regret its “meddlesome stance.”

ahmadinejad thinks it’s a bipolarity?

Ahmadinejad vows to break ‘global monopoly’
Press TV, Jun 30 2009

President Ahmadinejad says Tehran is ready to cooperate with all countries and end the ‘global monopoly’ in all areas. He said on Tuesday:

We want to cooperate with the world using an approach of change and we must use all our capabilities to break the monopoly of global powers.

It should be the ultimate aim of the world to break the global bipolarity in politics, science and all other areas, Ahmadinejad said in his first public comments after the Iran’s electoral watchdog, the Guardian Council, confirmed the Jun 12 vote result. The Guardian Council announced late Monday that the recount of 10% of the ballot boxes had shown no irregularities and declared the file on the presidential election closed. Ahmadinejad described the election as ‘the victory of the Iranian nation,’ and said:

Despite the enemies’ both hidden and obvious plots to overthrow the system with velvet revolutions, they were defeated and did not achieve their objective.

the tedium of everyday life…

IDF Navy intercepts Gaza-bound ship
JPost, Jun 29 2009

An IDF Navy unit took over a ship that was en route to breaking the naval closure on the Gaza Strip, the IDF said in a statement Tuesday afternoon. Overnight, Navy troops spotted a vessel with a Greek flag, which had embarked on a journey from the port of Larnaca in Cyprus towards the Gaza Strip. After the Navy contacted the ship, named Arion, and confirmed it was headed to Gaza, Navy troops mounted the ship and navigated it to the Ashdod port. The Arion’s crew and passengers, among whom are ex-US Congresswoman Cynthia McKinney and Irish Nobel Peace Prizewinner Mairead McGuire, will be transferred over to relevant authorities, the military statement said.

Iranian Embassy comes under attack in Bern
Press TV, Jun 29 2009

Iran says its Embassy in the Swiss capital of Bern has been attacked by an unidentified assailant while people were protesting the result of the Jun 12 presidential election outside the building. Swiss police said protesters were staging a demonstration outside the Iranian Embassy in Bern on Monday when an unidentified assailant threw a hand-made Molotov cocktail into the building. The police have begun investigating the incident. On Friday, there was a similar attack on the Iranian Embassy in Sweden. According to Swedish police, one of the Embassy personnel sustained serious injuries in the attack.

Activists say Israel Navy intercepted Gaza aid boat
Reuters via Haaretz, Jun 30 2009

The Israel navy intercepted activists sailing to Gaza with aid on Tuesday, surrounding their boat and telling them to turn back, activists said. The vessel with 21 people on board was in international waters when it was told to turn back, members of the US-based Free Gaza Movement on the boat and in Cyprus told Reuters. The IDF declined to comment. Derek Graham, an Irish activist, said:

There are patrol boats around us and we were told that if we did not turn back they would open fire. We are continuing our course to Gaza.

He was speaking via satellite telephone from a small ferry boat which had departed from Cyprus on Monday. Among the activists were an Irish Nobel peace laureate and a former US Congresswoman. In Cyprus, the group also said it had communication from the boat that unless it turned back it would be fired upon.

something for all you tel aviv trendies

Noisemass is back and this time in two rooms!
Noise room : Noise & PE by the best local acts
and sektion b (germany)!
Techno \ Hardcore room : by some of the best underground djs tel aviv can offer (see the names on the flier)
July 16 – Ravnitzky 7, tel aviv 21:30
Be There !!

honduras: the rundown

Coup d’Etat underway in Honduras
Eva Golinger, Chavez Code, Jun 28 2009

On Sunday morning President Zelaya of Honduras was kidnapped by soldiers at gunpoint and a coup took place. This was bad news for the millions of Hondurans who were preparing to vote that day for the first time on a consultative referendum concerning the future convening of a constitutional assembly to reform the constitution. Supposedly at the center of the controversary is the scheduled referendum, which is not a binding vote but merely an opinion poll to determine whether or not a majority of Hondurans desire to eventually enter into a process to modify their constitution. Such an initiative has never taken place in the Central American nation, which has a very limited constitution that allows minimal participation by the people of Honduras in their political processes. The current constitution, written in 1982 during the height of the Reagan Administration’s dirty war in Central America, was designed to ensure those in power, both economic and political, would retain it with little interference from the people. Zelaya, elected in Nov 2005 on the platform of Honduras’ Liberal Party, had proposed the opinion poll be conducted to determine if a majority of citizens agreed that constitutional reform was necessary. He was backed by a majority of labor unions and social movements in the country. If the poll had occurred, depending on the results, a referendum would have been conducted during the upcoming elections in November to vote on convening a constitutional assembly. Nevertheless, today’s scheduled poll was not binding by law.

Several days before the poll was to occur, Honduras’ Supreme Court ruled it illegal, upon request by the Congress, both of which are led by anti-Zelaya majorities and members of the ultra-conservative party, National Party of Honduras. This move led to massive protests in the streets in favor of Zelaya. On Jun 24, the president fired the head of the high military command, Gen. Vásquez, after he refused to allow the military to distribute the electoral material for Sunday’s elections. Gen. Vásquez held the material under tight military control, refusing to release it even to the president’s followers, stating that the scheduled referendum had been determined illegal by the Supreme Court and therefore he could not comply with the president’s order. As in the US, the president of Honduras is Commander in Chief and has the final say on the military’s actions, and so he ordered the General’s removal. Minister of Defense Orellana also resigned in response to this increasingly tense situation.

But the following day, Honduras’ Supreme Court reinstated Gen. Vásquez to the high military command, ruling his firing as “unconstitutional’. Thousands poured into the streets of Honduras’ capital, Tegucigalpa, showing support for Zelaya and evidencing their determination to ensure Sunday’s non-binding referendum would take place. On Friday, the president and a group of hundreds of supporters marched to the nearby air base to collect the electoral material that had been previously held by the military. That evening, Zelaya gave a national press conference along with a group of politicians from different political parties and social movements, calling for unity and peace in the country. On Saturday, the situation in Honduras was reported as calm. But early Sunday morning, a group of approximately 60 armed soldiers entered the presidential residence and took Zelaya hostage. After several hours of confusion, reports surfaced claiming the president had been taken to a nearby air force base and flown to neighboring Costa Rica. Zelaya’s wife said that in early hours of Sunday morning, soldiers stormed their residence, firing shots throughout the house, beating and then taking the president. Reports coming out of Honduras have said that the public television channel has been shut down by the coup forces. Telesur announced that the military in Honduras is shutting down all electricity throughout the country. Those television and radio stations still transmitting on Sunday were not reporting the coup d’etat or the kidnapping of Zelaya.

On Friday, US Assistant Secretary of State Phillip J. Crowley refused to clarify the US government’s position in reference to the potential coup against Zelaya, and instead issued a more ambiguous statement that implied Washington’s support for the opposition to the Honduran president. The US spokesman stated the following:

We are concerned about the breakdown in the political dialogue among Honduran politicians over the proposed June 28 poll on constitutional reform. We urge all sides to seek a consensual democratic resolution in the current political impasse that adheres to the Honduran constitution and to Honduran laws consistent with the principles of the Inter-American Democratic Charter.

The US economy ensures one of Honduras’ top sources of income, the monies sent from Hondurans working in the US under the “temporary protected status” program that was implemented during Washington’s dirty war in the 1980s as a result of massive immigration to US territory to escape the war zone. Another major source of funding in Honduras is USAID, providing over $50m/yr for “democracy promotion” programs, which generally supports NGOs and political parties favorable to US interests. The Pentagon also maintains a military base in Honduras in Soto Cano, equipped with approximately 500 troops and numerous air force combat planes and helicopters.

Foreign Minister Rodas has stated that she has repeatedly tried to make contact with the US Ambassador in Honduras, Hugo Llorens, who has not responded to any of her calls thus far. The modus operandi of the coup makes clear that Washington is involved. Neither the Honduran military, which is majority trained by US forces, nor the political and economic elite, would act to oust a democratically elected president without the backing and support of the US government. The last major US government intervention in Honduras occurred during the 1980s, when the Reagan Administration funded death squads and paramilitaries to eliminate any potential “communist threats” in Central America. At the time, John Negroponte was the US Ambassador in Honduras, and was responsible for directly funding and training Honduran death squads that were responsible for thousands of disappeared and assassinated throughout the region.

honduras: guess who

Key leaders of Honduras military coup trained in US
Chris Kromm, Southern Studies, Jun 28 2009

At least two leaders of the coup launched in Honduras today were apparently trained at a controversial Department of Defense school based at Fort Benning, Georgia infamous for producing graduates linked to torture, death squads and other human rights abuses. Leftist President Manuel Zelaya was kidnapped and transported to Costa Rica this morning after a growing controversy over a vote concerning term limits. Over the last week, Zelaya clashed with and eventually dismissed General Romeo Vasquez — who is now reportedly in charge of the armed forces that abducted the Honduran president. According to the watchdog group School of Americas Watch, Gen. Vasquez trained at the Western Hemisphere Institute for Security Cooperation at least twice — in 1976 and 1984 — when it was still called School of the Americas. The Georgia-based US military school is infamous for training over 60,000 Latin American soldiers, including infamous dictators, “death squad” leaders and others charged with torture and other human rights abuses. SOA Watch’s annual protest to shut down the Fort Benning training site draws thousands. According to SOA Watch, the US Army school has a particularly checkered record in Honduras, with over 50 graduates who have been intimately involved in human rights abuses. In 1975, SOA Graduate General Juan Melgar Castro became the military dictator of Honduras. From 1980-1982 the dictatorial Honduran regime was headed by yet another SOA graduate, Policarpo Paz Garcia, who intensified repression and murder by Battalion 3-16, one of the most feared death squads in all of Latin America (founded by Honduran SOA graduates with the help of Argentine SOA graduates). General Vasquez isn’t the only leader in the Honduras coup linked to the US training facility. As Kristin Bricker points out:

The head of the Air Force, Gen. Luis Javier Prince Suazo, studied in the School of the Americas in 1996. The Air Force has been a central protagonist in the Honduran crisis. When the military refused to distribute the ballot boxes for the opinion poll, the ballot boxes were stored on an Air Force base until citizens accompanied by Zelaya rescued them. Zelaya reports that after soldiers kidnapped him, they took him to an Air Force base, where he was put on a plane and sent to Costa Rica.

For previous Facing South coverage of controversy surrounding the School of Americas/Western Hemisphere Center, see here.

i never knew goldstone was former gov of hebrew u

Victims of Israel’s Gaza invasion give evidence to UN mission
Donald Macintyre, Independent, Jun 29 2009

Harrowing testimony by bereaved victims of Israel’s military onslaught on Gaza was heard yesterday in the first public session in Gaza City of a UN factfinding mission led by a prominent South African judge. Israel has refused to co-operate with the enquiry, and Judge Richard Goldstone’s team was obliged to enter Gaza through the Egyptian border post in Rafah. It had also hoped to travel to southern Israel to hear testimony from Israeli victims of rocket attacks from Gaza but says it will now do so in Geneva next month. Israeli witnesses may be flown to Geneva to give evidence at UN expense as the team is barred from Israel. Judge Goldstone, a Jew and an eminent lawyer on the board of Human Rights Watch, is also a former governor of Hebrew University in Jerusalem. He said:

The purpose of the public hearings in Gaza and Geneva is to show the faces and broadcast the voices of victims – all of the victims.

He told witnesses at the start of the hearing that the judges knew “it is not easy, and how painful it is” to tell their stories. Moteeh Silawi, an imam from Jablaya, graphically described leading his blind father, aged 91, across scattered body parts after 17 worshippers were killed by flying shrapnel from an explosion just outside its door during evening prayers on 3 Jan. Silawi, who lost three brothers and two nephews, including a four year old, said:

I saw bloodshed in the mosque. Can you imagine such a shock? I never thought it would be possible, a house of God, a house of worship, to be targeted by missiles.

The team heard evidence from the Deeb family, which lost 11 of its members, including five children, in the same series of mortar rounds that killed up to 40 people on 6 Jan near al-Fakhoura UN School in Jabalya, which was being used as a shelter. They also heard from Wael Samouni, who survived an attack that killed 29 of his extended family on 5 Jan after they had taken shelter in his warehouse in Zeitoun.

yet another mendacious, misleading headline

Hariri supporters clash with Hizbullah
Herb Keinon, JPost, Jun 28 2009

Supporters of Lebanon’s Prime Minister-designate Saad Hariri clashed with Hizbullah gunmen in the streets of Beirut on Sunday. One woman was killed and at least three people were wounded, including a Lebanese soldier. Automatic rifle fire and three explosions were heard in the brief gunbattle. Lebanese troops cordoned off the Aisha Bakkar neighborhood in the capital’s Muslim sector and deployed in force to restore calm Sunday evening. The dead victim was a 30-year-old woman shot outside her home. The fighting was between supporters of Hariri, and rival followers of the Hizbullah-allied Shiite parliament speaker Nabih Berri. In May 2008, heavy clashes erupted between the same rival factions. Hizbullah along with Berri’s Amal movement later swept through Sunni neighborhoods to briefly seize control.

what shall we call this? apartheid? slavery?

(Notice the insulting assumption that food surplus to personal needs is intended for sale, not for humanitarian purposes – RB)

Privately run checkpoint stops Palestinians with too much food
Amira Hass, Haaretz, Jun 29 2009

A West Bank checkpoint managed by a private security company is not allowing Palestinians to pass through with large water bottles and some food items, Haaretz has learned. MachsomWatch discovered the policy, which Palestinian workers confirmed to Haaretz. The Defense Ministry stated in response that non-commercial quantities of food were not being limited. It made no reference to the issue of water. The checkpoint, Sha’ar Efraim, is south of Tul Karm, and is managed for the Defense Ministry by the private security company Modi’in Ezrahi. The company stops Palestinian workers from passing through the checkpoint with the following items: Large bottles of frozen water, large bottles of soft drinks, home-cooked food, coffee, tea and the spice zaatar. The security company also dictates the quantity of items allowed: Five pitas, one container of hummus and canned tuna, one small bottle or can of beverage, one or two slices of cheese, a few spoonfuls of sugar, and 5 to 10 olives. Workers are also not allowed to carry cooking utensils and work tools.

MachsomWatch told Haaretz that Sunday, a 32-year-old construction worker from Tul Karm, who is employed in Hadera, was not allowed to carry his lunch bag through the checkpoint. The bag contained six pitas, 2 cans of cream cheese, one kilogram of sugar in a plastic bag, and a salad, also in a plastic bag. The typical Palestinian laborer in Israel has a 12-hour workday, including travel time and checkpoint delays. Many leave home as early as 2am in order to wait in line at the checkpoint; tardiness to work often results in immediate dismissal. Workers return home around 5pm. The wait at the checkpoint can take one to two hours in each direction, if not longer. The food quantities allowed by Modi’in Ezrahi do not meet the daily dietary needs of the workers, and they prefer not to buy food at the considerably more expensive Israeli stores.

MachsomWatch informed the IDF about the new bans but received no response, the organization said. Modi’in Ezrahi issued a statement saying questions should be directed to the Defense Ministry’s crossings administration. MachsomWatch activists said a security guard on duty told them the food restrictions were imposed due to “security and health risks.” However, at the nearby Qalqilyah checkpoint, which is still run directly by the IDF, workers have been allowed to carry through all the food items banned at Sha’ar Efraim. However, responsibility for the Qalqilyah checkpoint is supposed to be transferred to a private company this week, and workers voiced concerns that similar restrictions might be imposed there. The IDF Spokesman’s office said in a statement:

There are no limits on food quantities. They may take through food necessary for personal consumption during a day’s work. When a worker arrives with a large quantity of goods intended for sale rather than for personal use, he is asked to pass through the goods crossing instead, where the goods are handled appropriately and with the appropriate customs checks. This crossing is intended for pedestrians and not for goods.