Report: Missing Iran general abducted by Mossad, being held in Israel
Haaretz, Nov 15 2009

A former Iranian defense official who disappeared in 2007 was kidnapped by forces collaborating with the Mossad and is currently being held in an Israeli prison, an investigative news website in Iran claimed on Sunday in a report picked up by Army Radio. Ali-Reza Asgari, a onetime commander of Iran’s Revolutionary Guard, went missing in Turkey in 2007. Some news reports at the time said he had defected to the West and was providing information about Iran’s nuclear program and Hezbollah, while other reports said he had been kidnapped by Western intelligence officials. On Sunday, the Iranian website Alef reported that German, British and Israeli intelligence agencies were responsible for Asgari’s disappearance. The report claims that Asgari was kidnapped in an effort to get information about Iran’s nuclear program and about missing Israel Air Force navigator Ron Arad. The report added that after his questioning, Asgari was secretly transferred to a prison facility in Israel, where he is currently being held. Israel and other countries have not commented on the case thus far.

Amanita Muscaria, also known as Fly Agaric, has been traditionally used by shamanic cultures for thousands of years and is well reported for its psychoactive properties. The fly agaric mushrooms are either consumed whole, chopped, placed in food or boiled into a tea. It is advised to eat lightly beforehand to reduce possible nausea, and to start with a low dose to familiarise yourself with the potency. My advice is to get some top quality Washington red caps, grind them to a soft powder in an electric coffee grinder, put about three heaped teaspoonfuls in one of those little Turkish-coffee-making things, or any other small pan you may have, and simmer them with water for 15 mins or so, then strain the result and drink it. You’ll get a nice, light, but unmistakable trip. I might try four heaped teaspoonfuls next time. Fly agaric mushrooms do not contain psilocybin, and the UK Home Office have confirmed they are not covered by the misuse of drugs act. For more information see the Erowid Amanita Vault.

In order for Islam to be a useful and practical tool for saving the planet and its inhabitants from their almost inevitable, imminent doom, it would need to follow three basic dogmas:
1. There is only one God, and he is completely omnipotent.
2. He has nevertheless chosen to give all of his creations complete freedom of thought and action, to whatever extent they are equipped for these (even inanimate objects strive to persist in being).
3. There is no principle of evil; however, there does exist a species of psychic parasite on earth, in relation to which man is at a cumulative disadvantage.

Now, as long as we stick to the Qur’an itself, these principles can remain more or less intact. The presentation of the djinn in the Qur’an is unique in its practicality, usefulness, and even optimism: it makes it clear that they are no more than psychic parasites, and that they have no real power except that which man gives them by over-estimating their importance.

However, I feel that the presentation of the Garden of Eden story in the Qur’an is slightly too vague. It can be read (and often is) as implying that mankind has suffered a radical fall in cosmic state or nature as a result of Hawwa’s seduction by Iblis. I would not accept this, since it leads to a variant of the fatuous and mischievous ‘fallen angel’ theory, this time with man as the fallen angel, rather than Iblis. I would prefer to say, as I did in point 3, that mankind is at a ‘cumulative disadvantage’ vis-a-vis the djinn, because some of the djinns’ schemes have been working to cumulative effect to demoralise and disorganise mankind for several thousand years: I refer to mankind’s religions, all of which are to a greater or lesser extent djinn-dominated.

There is, as far as I know, no form or variant of Islam in practice that accepts all three of my points, and this is why I say that Islam suffers from ‘general inadequacies’. Most if not all Sunni Muslims at least formally ascribe to al-Ash’ari’s theory that ‘the creatures do not create their own actions.’ This demolishes free will and leads to a species of fatalism. Most Muslims appear to believe that there is or are one or more fallen angels. This overestimates the djinn and leads to another species of fatalism. And among Shi’ites, who at least believe theoretically in human free will, there is a wild overestimation of the status of the Imam, which leads to yet a third species of fatalism. To illustrate this overestimation, let me quote from our recent Isma’ili visitor:

Iblis’ refusal to obey the command of the Imam lowered him to the rank of a jinn.

The Twelver Shi’ites are not much different. Janis Ešots offers this example: “As for the sayings of the Shi’ite Imams, the following one, attributed to Ja‘far al-Sādiq, is apparently Sadrā’s favourite one:

God created us (i.e., the Imams – J.E.) from the light of His Greatness and Majesty, then gave our creation a form from the clay [which was] hidden under the Throne, and made the light inhabit this form, and we were people of light; and He created the spirits of our followers from our clay.
(Sadrā, ’Arshiyya, 239)

One will notice the difference between the spirits of the Imams, which are created from the pure Divine Light, and those of their followers, which are created from the clay from the Imams’ bodies of light. Hence, only a second rate spirituality (that with the alloy of the clay of the Throne) can be ascribed to the latter, while that of the first rate (the pure essential spirituality, which is void of the alloy of the clay) is confined to the Prophet and Imams.”

UGOKIE-KO-RI-NO-TATEHIKI (1933)
(Moving-picture-fox and Asian racoon cheat each other)
Director: Ikuo Oishi

In the ruined temple, fox does the fight of magic with Asian racoon and his father disguised as a Samurai.

KUMO-TO-CHURIPPU (1943)
(Spider and Tulip)
Director: Kenzo Masaoka

The evil spider tries to capture the ladybird girl. However, she is given shelter by the tulip, and the spider is blown off by a sudden storm.

Official video for Audio Active’s track ‘Happy Shopper’. Audio Active is a Japanese trio, formed by Masa, 2DD and Nanao. They make a pumped-up rastified version of hip-hop, with heads bowed to dub wizard Lee ‘Scratch’ Perry. Audio Active recorded several records for the British dub label On-U Sound, owned by Adrian Sherwood. ‘Happy Shopper’ was one of them. The single was released in 1995.

Huge rise in birth defects in Falluja
Martin Chulov, Guardian, Nov 13 2009

Doctors in Falluja are dealing with up to 15 times as many chronic deformities in infants and a spike in early life cancers that may be linked to toxic materials left over from the fighting. The extraordinary rise in birth defects has crystallised over recent months as specialists working in Falluja’s over-stretched health system have started compiling detailed clinical records of all babies born. Neurologists and obstetricians in the city interviewed by the Guardian say the rise in birth defects, which include a baby born with two heads, babies with multiple tumours, and others with nervous system problems, are unprecedented and at present unexplainable. A group of Iraqi and British officials, including the former Iraqi minister for women’s affairs, Dr Nawal Majeed a-Sammarai, and the British doctors David Halpin and Chris Burns-Cox, have petitioned the UN general assembly to ask that an independent committee fully investigate the defects and help clean up toxic materials left over decades of war. Falluja general hospital’s director and senior specialist Dr Ayman Qais said:

We are seeing a very significant increase in central nervous system anomalies. Before 2003 I was seeing sporadic numbers of deformities in babies. Now the frequency of deformities has increased dramatically. The rise in frequency is from two admissions a fortnight a year ago to two a day now. Most are in the head and spinal cord, but there are also many deficiencies in lower limbs. There is also a very marked increase in the number of cases of less than two years with brain tumours. This is now a focus area of multiple tumours.

Previously all miscarried babies, including those with birth defects or infants who were not given ongoing care, were not listed as abnormal cases. Paediatrician Samira Abdul Ghani’s records over a three-week period reveal that 37 babies with anomalies, many of them neural tube defects, were born during that period at Falluja general hospital alone. Dr Bassam Allah, the head of the hospital’s children’s ward, this week urged international experts to take soil samples across Falluja and for scientists to mount an investigation into the causes of so many ailments, most of which he said had been “acquired” by mothers before or during pregnancy. Other health officials are also starting to focus on possible reasons, chief among them potential chemical or radiation poisonings. Abnormal clusters of infant tumours have also been repeatedly cited in Basra and Najaf, areas that have in the past also been intense battle zones where modern munitions have been heavily used.

The anomalies are evident all through Falluja’s newly opened general hospital and in centres for disabled people across the city. On Nov 2 alone, there were four cases of neuro-tube defects in the neo-natal ward and several more were in the intensive care ward and an outpatient clinic. Statistics on infant tumours are not considered as reliable as new data about nervous system anomalies, which are usually evident immediately after birth. Despite fully funding the construction of the new hospital, a well-equipped facility that opened in August, Iraq’s health ministry remains largely disfunctional and unable to co-ordinate a response to the city’s pressing needs. The government’s lack of capacity has led Falluja officials, who have historically been wary of foreign intervention, to ask for help from the international community. Dr Abdul Wahid Salah, a neurosurgeon, said:

With neuro-tube defects, their heads are often larger than normal, they can have deficiencies in hearts and eyes and their lower limbs are often listless. There has been no orderly registration here in the period after the war and we have suffered from that. But I can say with certainty that we have noticed a sharp rise in malignancy of the blood and this is not a congenital anomaly, it is an acquired disease. Even in the scientific field, there has been a reluctance to reach out to the exterior countries. But we have passed that point now. I am doing multiple surgeries every day. I have one assistant and I am obliged to do everything myself.

Russian Deal on Afghan Supply Route Not a Deal Yet
Peter Baker, NYT, Nov 13 2009

When he met Pres. Medvedev in April, Obama sought to open an important new supply corridor for Afghanistan by flying US troops and weapons through Russian airspace. Visiting Moscow in July, he sealed a deal for as many as 4,500 flights a year, in what he called a “substantial contribution” to the war and a sign of improving relations with Russia. Seven months after the idea was raised and four months after the agreement was signed, the number of US flights that have actually traversed Russian airspace? One. And that was for show. The failure so far to translate words into reality amid bureaucratic delays, including one involving a Russian agency insisting on charging air navigation fees that the Kremlin had said would be waived, underscores the challenges of Obama’s effort to transform ties between Washington and Moscow. The need to break through the logjam will soon take on fresh urgency if Obama decides to deploy tens of thousands of additional troops to Afghanistan. For eight years, the US military has struggled to find and maintain reliable supply routes into Afghanistan, but Obama may send more troops in a single order than at any point in the war, straining the system.

The problems with opening the air corridor as part of a so-called northern distribution network stem from a variety of technical issues that US officials are working to resolve, among them a dispute over who will pay. Under the pact that Obama and Medvedev sealed in July, the Russians agreed to waive air navigation fees typically charged for right of passage and air traffic control. US officials said the new route would save $133m a year in fuel, maintenance and other costs. But the Russian agency that collects the navigation fees has so far refused to exempt the US. The Obama administration is sending a technical team to Moscow to try to work out what standards should apply to the flights, and spokesmen for the two governments played down the problem. Pentagon press secretary Morrell said:

We are working through procedural delays on the Russian side and hope to begin regular flights soon.

Pres. Medvedev’s spokesman Aleksei Pavlov said the Kremlin had every intention of fulfilling the agreement:

We are eager to resolve this issue in the nearest future.

The idea of sending US forces through Russia to a war zone is fraught with a complicated history and mutual suspicion. For years, the idea was out of the question. Then in 2008, Russia agreed to open a land corridor, but only for nonlethal supplies. The latest transit agreement formally went into effect Sep 4. A week later, the Pentagon sent Moscow a general description of cargo and personnel that would be shipped under the agreement, as well as the regular destinations of the planes, according to an administration official. The Russians accepted the request, and the two sides arranged for a single test flight on Oct 8, just before Sec. State Clinton visited Moscow. But the dispute over the air transit fees has yet to be solved, complicated by whether the planes used will be US military craft or contracted civilian planes. Moreover, the US side is still working to amend its overflight agreements with Poland and Kazakhstan so the flights can traverse those countries as well. Administration officials said that they remained confident these issues could be worked out, and that they had requested a second test flight to try to advance the program. They said that they did not expect Obama and Medvedev to talk about the issue when the presidents meet in Singapore on the sidelines of the APEC summit meeting, but that they hoped to resolve it at lower levels.

Diplomats gauging security measures with ‘dummy bombs’
Tahir Niaz, Pakistan Daily News, Nov 13 2009

After a foreign diplomat’s car was found carrying a “dummy bomb” on board, the Interior Ministry has warned that vehicles of foreign missions carrying illegal weapons and suspicious material on board will be impounded in the future. After a Danish embassy official was found carrying weapons in his car in Islamabad, foreign diplomats seem to be conducting their own security checks in order to gauge the efficiency of law enforcement agencies. The Interior Ministry has written a letter to the Foreign Office to inform it about a recent incident involving a Danish embassy vehicle that had been fitted with a “dummy bomb”. The letter said the vehicle, bearing registration APC-718, with Danish embassy contractor Mehboob and the embassy’s Senior Security Adviser Chris John on board, was stopped for routine checking outside embassy premises. Security personnel found an “unidentified object” attached to the vehicle and engaged the Bomb Disposal Squad immediately to examine it. The letter said:

The object was checked and dismantled and declared a dummy bomb. On inquiry, Chris John told the police that it was a mock exercise to determine the efficiency and alertness of police officials deployed on duty. Mehboob told the police that he was totally unaware about the material attached with the vehicle.

The letter further quoted the Islamabad police as saying that diplomatic missions were fitting their vehicles with suspicious objects to check the enforced security measures and the alertness of Islamabad police. The letter said:

When the suspect objects are traced or recovered by the police from the diplomatic vehicles, they simply say this is a mock exercise. Such type of exercises without prior permission of Ministry of Interior are a threat to the security of diplomatic missions and a challenge for the Islamabad police, as the terrorists may also benefit from such type of mock exercises.

I should be really interested to see how the Chinese would react if Iran asked them for an S-300 system equivalent. My impression is that the Chinese will sell anything to anyone, no matter how the USA feels about it. It’s not state of the art, anyway: Russia itself uses the S-400 (‘Triumf’) system. There was recently talk of Russia seeling the S-400 system to Saudi Arabia, but as you can imagine, Israel stomped on that pretty hard, see here – RB

Russia still studying S-300 deliveries to Iran
Press TV, Nov 12 2009

A senior Russian military official says Moscow is still reviewing the possible delivery of the S-300 air defense systems which it signed a contract in Dec 2005 to deliver to Iran. RIA Novosti quoted Konstantin Biryulin, Russia’s Deputy Director of the Federal Service for Military-Technical Cooperation, as saying on Thursday:

The issue of S-300 deliveries is still under discussion. There are some technical and other problems. I do not understand why there is so much media frenzy over the deliveries of S-300 to this region. Russia has the right to decide on its own whether to deliver these systems to any country which is not under UN Security Council’s sanctions.

Iran’s Defense Minister Ahmad Vahidi said in a Wednesday interview with ILNA news agency that Moscow has a contractual obligation to deliver the advanced S-300 air defense systems to Tehran:

We have made a deal with the Kremlin to buy S-300 defense missiles. We don’t think Russian officials would want to be seen in the world as the ones who breach the contract.

Iran’s top general raps Russia over S-300
Press TV, Nov 13 2009

A top Iranian commander has criticized Russia for its procrastination over delivery to Iran of the sophisticated anti-aircraft system known as S-300. Chief of Staff of Iran’s Joint Armed Forces Hassan Firouzabadi said Tehran was upset about Moscow’s failure to supply Iran with the S-300 surface-to-air missile system. Firouzabadi, who is also a member of the Supreme National Security Council, warned that Moscow’s hesitance to deliver the system to Tehran could harm their own security, as Russia’s security was tied to Iran’s. Firouzabadi questioned Moscow’s motivation for the delay, adding that under a contract signed between the two countries, the Russian government was expected to supply Iran with the system aimed at boosting the country’s defensive capabilities. Urging Russia to expedite the process of delivery, the top commander asked:

Don’t Russian strategists realize Iran’s geopolitical importance to their security? The delivery is more than six months overdue.

I have skipped all MKB’s theories about Syria & Lebanon. I don’t believe a word anybody says about these any more. I have also skipped his claims that ‘al Qaeda’ has turned against the Saudis in Yemen, since I regard ‘al Qaeda’ simply as a label for a system of Saudi and CIA-controlled provocateurs. This is quite consistent with Saudi Arabia supporting ‘al Qaeda’ in Iraq, which I have highlighted  – RB

A witches’ cauldron brews in Yemen
M K Bhadrakumar, Asia Times, Nov 14 2009

In three different theaters, Afghanistan, Iraq and Yemen, the Saudis have moved in to challenge Iran’s growing regional influence. All indications are that Yemen is increasingly taking the form of a major regional crisis and Riyadh faces an existential threat here.

First, Afghanistan. To be sure, Saudi Arabia aspires to play a key role in any reconciliation process between the US and the Taliban in Afghanistan. Much of the funding for the Taliban has come from Saudi Arabia, including during the current phase of the war, and that has been evidently with a degree of connivance on the part of US intelligence. The heart of the matter is that Saudi influence over a staunchly Wahhabist movement in Afghanistan has been all along considered a strategic asset by the US, ever since the inception of the Taliban movement led by Mullah Omar in 1994. The thrust of the Saudi intervention in Afghanistan in the coming phase on the pretext of reconciling the intractable Taliban will also be principally aimed at sidelining Iran’s role in a future power structure in Kabul, and to that extent Riyadh will be acting in sync with US (and British and Pakistani) geopolitical objectives.

All signs are that Tehran is cognizant of the US-British-Saudi-Pakistani game plan. Tehran can be expected to safeguard its interests as it fears that if the Saudi drive succeeds, Afghanistan will tomorrow turn into a sanctuary for Jundallah, the Sunni terrorist group that is in league with the Taliban in spearheading subversion in Iran’s eastern region. Quite clearly, Iranian statements on Afghanistan have hardened lately. While reiterating Tehran’s support for Pres. Karzai’s government, Iranian statements have begun vociferously stressing the imperative need of a US withdrawal from Afghanistan. Any hint of Iran’s readiness to work with the US in stabilizing Afghanistan has receded, especially after last month’s massive terrorist strike by Jundallah in Iran, where Tehran sees concerted US, British, Saudi and Pakistani collusion. There is extreme wariness in Tehran about this condominium over Afghanistan.

Equally, Iraq is fast turning into a testing ground for a Saudi challenge to Iran’s influence. The Saudis seem determined to whittle down Iranian influence by supporting the forces of Arab nationalism. The speaker of the Iranian Majlis, Ali Larijani, paid a visit to Iraq last week and met with Grand Ayatollah Ali Sistani. Iraqi Prime Minister Nuri al-Maliki has openly criticized Saudi policies as unhelpful. According to Maliki, all efforts by his government to improve relations with Riyadh have reached an impasse. “All the signals confirm that the Saudi position is negative regarding Iraqi affairs,” he said, echoing Baghdad’s allegation that the Saudis are deepening sectarian divisions in Iraq by funding and supporting extremists and al-Qaeda insurgents. In August, a group of Iraqi legislators openly accused the Saudis of employing Ba’athists and al-Qaeda terrorists to root out the Shi’ite faith in Iraq. Indeed, many of the terrorists captured in Iraq are Saudi nationals who have embarked on jihad against the perceived domination by the “apostate” Shi’ites.

Whereas the Saudis are on the offensive in Afghanistan and Iraq, they are very much on the defensive in Yemen. The rebellion by the Shi’ite Houthi clan in mountainous northwest Yemen has made the Saudi Arabia-Yemen border highly volatile. To compound matters, there are Yemeni-Saudi border disputes waiting to be reopened. The Houthis lack modern weaponry, but they are strong in numbers, highly motivated, and reportedly skilled in the use of land mines. The Saudis see in the Houthi militia a potential Hezbollah-like movement based on egalitarian ideals of political justice and equity, with a highly disciplined and trained cadre that may come to inhabit Saudi borders. There is virtual paranoia in Riyadh as to how to deal with the rising specter of a Yemeni-style Hezbollah right on its borders. The Saudi fear is that the Houthi-dominated region of northern Yemen also borders Saudi Arabia’s restive eastern province, which is Shi’ite, oil-rich, and seething with resentment over Wahhabi intolerance. A 32-page report by Human Rights Watch in August documented that Saudi Arabia was passing through its sharpest sectarian tensions in years. To quote the HRW director for the Middle East, Sarah Leah Whitson:

All the Saudi Shi’ites want is for their government to respect their identity and treat them equally. Yet Saudi authorities routinely treat these people with scorn and suspicion. The Saudi government has long regarded its Shi’ite citizens through the prism of Wahhabi dogma or state stability, branding them as unbelievers or suspecting their national loyalties.

According to the HRW report, state discrimination against Saudi Shi’ites extends to realms other than religious freedom. It cites discrimination in education freedom, bias in the judiciary, with Sunni judges disqualifying Shi’ite witnesses on the basis of their religion, and exclusion from employment. Riyadh seems to have no clue on how to respond to the boiling Yemeni cauldron. Riyadh has used excessive force against the Houthis, who have claimed to be subject to phosphorous bombings by Saudi aircraft. The Saudis have a three-pronged plan: create a “buffer zone” in northern Yemen by bombing the Houthi communities that inhabit the border region to retreat; fence the 1,500km Saudi-Yemeni border to keep the impoverished Yemenis from infiltrating; and effect a naval blockade of northern Yemen so that the Houthis cannot source arms. The efficacy of the Saudi approach is highly doubtful and it may end up only in creating a “Yemeni Hezbollah” that sooner or later taps into the Shi’ite resentment in Saudi Arabia’s Eastern province.

A time bomb is ticking. In all probability, the hot-headed Saudi policies may only end up incrementally driving Yemen into a failed state resembling nearby Somalia. To cap it all, the US is gearing up to offer a new front in Yemen. Saudi commentators allege that Tehran is supporting the Houthis and is hoping for a Saudi quagmire. The allegation remains to be tested as the crisis evolves. Conceivably, Tehran will feel greatly relieved if a situation emerges whereby Riyadh has no time or energy to spare to mess around with Iraq and Afghanistan, or with Jundallah.