What does the future hold for US-Iranian relations?

jackanada — Fri, 30 Jan 2009 18:21:18 +0000

January 30 – The letter to Iran

How long will Obama’s self-declared new mutual understanding between the U.S. and the Muslim world last?

Almost three months after Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad’s congratulatory letter to Barack Obama, the new administration in Washington is set to respond with its own ‘symbolic gesture’ designed to usher in a new era of détente. Pepe Escobar, political commentator for The Real News, asks whether reiterating Republican rhetoric that accuses Iran of ‘sponsoring terrorism’ will jeopardize the opportunity for progress in relations between the two countries. Iran, Escobar states, may counter demands that Iran cease or change its behavior with similar requests of its own, as has been the status quo for many decades.
As ever, actions will speak louder than words, and the presumed appointment of Dennis Ross as one of the new Middle East envoys should worry the Iranians considerably. Ross is the co-founder and chairman of an organization called ‘United Against Nuclear Iran’, whose website offers pre-emptive congratulations to Ross on his recent appointment to the Department of State, even before any such news was announced officially. In addition, Ross is a ‘counselor and distinguished fellow’ of the Washington Institute for Near East Policy, described by scholars John Mearsheimer and Stephen Walt as ‘the crucial think tank of the Israel lobby.’
The next presidential elections in Iran are scheduled for June, and Escobar contends that Ahmadinejad retains a ‘good chance of winning’, despite the diplomatic and economic blunders of his term so far, because the specific apologies he has demanded from the US are popular with the Iranian people: Firstly for the CIA-financed coup of 1953 that placed the Shah in power, and secondly for the shooting down of Iranian Air Flight 655 in 1988, a disaster which claimed the lives of 290 civilians. Meanwhile, Joint Chiefs of Staff chairman Mike Mullen has recently told the Jerusalem Post that the use of force against Iran is still an option, albeit a ‘last resort.’ In both Washington and Tehran, moderates and radicals are fighting for leverage in the policy-making process, and the stakes remain extremely high in these first tentative steps towards improved relations and diplomacy.

http://therealnews.com/t/index.php?option=com_content&task=view&id=31&Itemid=74&jumival=3218&updaterx=2009-01-30+08%3A03%3A14

Israeli intelligence targets protesters

jackanada — Fri, 09 Jan 2009 19:36:11 +0000

As mass protests have been taking place across Israel in opposition to the continued offensive on the Gaza Strip, Israel’s internal intelligence agency Shabak has stepped up its own offensive on dissenters in both the Arab and Jewish communities. Jesse Rosenfeld, a freelance journalist in Israel and the West Bank, told the Real News how the authorities had attempted to stop one such demonstration in Tel Aviv by refusing a permit on the grounds that they “couldn’t control crowds” if Palestinian flags were being waved. Indeed, there have been reports of violent clashes with the Likud-organized, pro-war rallies that are simultaneously taking place.
Meanwhile, “shock and outrage” grips those Palestinians geographically isolated from Gaza in the West Bank, and daily protests on a much larger scale than those in Israel proper have being targeted by the security forces. Rosenfeld reports that ten activists were arrested before a demonstration they were organizing was due to take place last week and “interrogated by the Shabak”, likewise Palestinian community leaders and political party officials on both sides of the Wall have been threatened by the Shabak that they will be “held responsible” for the actions of protesters.
Asked how the current anti-war movement compares to that seen in 2006 during the war with Hezbollah, Rosenfeld tells us that as the scale of resistance increases, so the “backlash is far fiercer… Palestinians in Israel are facing a vast increase in racist attacks from the public, while the police do nothing about it and exercise their own forms of repression when they politically try and express themselves.” Watch the full story at: http://therealnews.com/t/index.php?option=com_content&task=view&id=31&Itemid=74&jumival=3065&updaterx=2009-01-09+10%3A21%3A40

Inside Greece’s Insurrection

jackanada — Mon, 05 Jan 2009 18:50:51 +0000

Almost one month on from the murder of Alexandros Grigoropoulos, civil unrest in Greece shows little sign of abating. Tensions flared up again yesterday when gunmen opened fire on a police unit guarding the culture ministry in Exarchia, Athens, not far from where Grigoropoulos was killed. The Real News’ Jesse Freeston examines the wider context behind recent events, and the myriad causes of youth dissatisfaction in the country today.

“Some of the demonstrations,” freelance journalist Dionisis Granas told The Real News, “were co-organized with the main workers’ union of Greece because there is a big economic crisis,” signaling that a fusion of grievances from across society is finding a common outlet through protest. Both working hours and unemployment rates are higher in Greece than almost anywhere else in Europe, and as the situation deteriorates a wider spectrum of people are being moved to demonstrate. Much has been made in the mainstream media of the influence of the anarchist bloc, but a source who chose to remain anonymous told The Real News “there are so many thousands of people…that differ from the figure of a leftist. They are just people who are sensitive to social issues. You could see grannies throwing pots at riot police from their windows.”
Although the death of Grigoropoulous was undoubtedly the straw that broke the camel’s back, Granas reminds us that these protests are the latest in a “wave of occupations of universities and schools” that began two years ago, fuelled by under-funding of the educational establishment and poor job prospects for recent graduates. Alienation has only been stoked further by ongoing political scandals involving the main parties, for which “nobody ended up in jail and nobody will”. Extortionate lending rates that haven’t been checked by the government have led to heightened levels of home repossession, which in turn has made the banks a key target of rioters dissatisfied with every facet of a system they feel is suffocating them, and without being organized into parties their reaction inevitably takes on an anarchist character. Tellingly, in a recent poll 60% of Greeks were found to believe that the current unrest was a “popular uprising”, and not the work of a radicalized minority. With the upcoming national day of action on January 9th mass demonstrations will return to the streets, and as long as the government’s reaction is to send in the riot police with tear gas a solution to the deeper problems that have fermented this situation seems a long way off.

How should the Greek authorities respond to rioting?

jackanada — Tue, 09 Dec 2008 04:11:39 +0000

For a third day, rioting has gripped several Greek cities. Tomorrow Alexandros Grigoropoulos, the 15-year old boy whose death at the hands of the police is the immediate cause behind the violence, will be buried. According to the BBC, it is ‘symbols of wealth and prestige’ that are being targeted, indicating that wider economic frustations are being vented. Greece has the second highest unemployment rate in the European Union (after Slovakia), and it is likely to get worse over the coming months as all the major western powers enter recession. At the same time, those with jobs work the longest hours of any EU country. It is these grievances that must be addressed for any long-term improvement in police-community relations to be achieved. Right now, what matters most is an in-depth enquiry into how and why he was shot dead, life imprisonment of the officer responsible, and the sacking of his superiors. But to only do this, and ignore the underlying issues contributing to the political situation, would be gravely erroneous. A limit to working hours such as they have in France might be a start. Massive, unprecedented public sector job-creation specifically for people under 25 would go a long way.

Would you pay to watch robothesps?

jackanada — Fri, 28 Nov 2008 18:51:37 +0000

With the rise of electronic music, differences of opinion over its relative merits compared to traditional ‘live’ music have been continuous and divisive. Traditionalists proudly proclaim the supremacy of musicianship that encompasses long years of learning how to play an instrument, whilst the synthesizer generation cite the appreciation not only of the music itself but the construction and programming of the technology used to create it as evidence of its validity in today’s computer-dominated world. Now, with any luck, the same battle may soon be under way in the theatrical world: Robothesps have arrived. Japanese playwright Ozira Hirata has recently premiered ‘Hataraku Watashi’, a play that not only features specially programmed robots amongst its cast but actively explores their role in the human world. This raises an interesting question: would a play that featured no humans at all still be theatre? Like house or techno music played from computers, there is little chance of live mishaps shaping a unique performance, but would robots still exercise that raw dramatic power over the audience in the same way electronic music still harnesses the undeniable power of rhythm?

http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/asia-pacific/7749932.stm

Will Iraq be an American free zone by 2011?

jackanada — Thu, 27 Nov 2008 22:19:11 +0000

With the Iraqi parliament having just voted in favor of the Status of Forces Agreement, several major issues arise. Is it simply a ‘smokescreen’, from behind which Washington can continue to work towards its goals? Michael Schwartz, Professor of Sociology at Stony Brook University, believes so. “One of the symptoms is that the Democratic leadership in the Senate has enunciated the idea that they will start confiscating Iraqi oil revenues unless they pass the Oil Law and make production sharing agreements with oil companies.” Another symptom is the continued role of Robert Gates as secretary of defense under Obama for up to one year – “which would clearly be a time horizon for stabilizing Iraq.”
Perhaps the most pertinent question is how the Sadrists will react. Muqtada al-Sadr has spoken before of a return to armed resistance, but backed off. Schwartz asks if the Sadrists are willing to “trigger the kind of violence the United States surely will use” if they take up arms once more. The answer depends somewhat on the role Iran chooses to play. Since the “chastening experience” of defeat in the Battles of Najaf, the Sadrists have become dependent upon Iranian support, and for over a year Muqtada al-Sadr himself has resided there. Schwartz explains how in the Battle of Basra earlier this year, “the Iranians intervened and convinced the Sadrists to back off from confrontation with the Iraqi military.” The degree of influence that Iran has over the Sadrists “has become a wildcard.”
This posting is the third segment of a three-part interview with Michael Schwartz. Watch the full story at: http://therealnews.com/t/index.php?option=com_content&task=view&id=31&Itemid=74&jumival=2844

Can Element Four solve the world water crisis?

jackanada — Tue, 25 Nov 2008 00:34:17 +0000

Early next year a new product is going to hit the shelves, one with revolutionary potential. The WaterMill, developed by Canada-based Element Four, condenses water vapour from the air into liquid form, at a rate of up to twelve litres a day according to the company’s website. However, it doesn’t all add up. Element Four have the audacity to mention the ‘poorest, thirstiest, most crowded’ nations in the world as those who would benefit most from widespread implementation of the WaterMill, yet according to an article in yesterday’s Observer, it will cost $1200. Once again, a case of those who can afford it being the least in need of it.

www.elementfour.com

Why hasn’t Bruce Parry come to Canada?

jackanada — Mon, 24 Nov 2008 20:42:14 +0000

Bruce Parry is the most significant anthropologist in the mainstream media – ‘Tribe’, or ‘Going Tribal’ as it was known in the USA, was hugely successful, and was followed up this year by ‘Amazon’, a similar show set entirely along the eponymous river. Parry had already devoted two out of a total of fifteen episodes of ‘Tribe’ to Brazil, the country with the largest section of the Amazon. Fact: Brazil’s indigenous population is roughly half a million people, or 0.4% of the population. Canada’s indigenous population is over one a half million, or nearly 4% of the population. Yet Parry has never done an episode on any of the First Nations people. Why? Might it have something to do with the perceived dullness of the Arctic, or the lack of obscure drugs above the tree-line? The other great Northern nation with a massive indigenous population, Russia, warranted one episode of ‘Tribe’. This equatorial bias clearly stems from the profitability of the exotic, the biodiverse. One of the major selling points of ‘Tribe’ was always the ritualistic aspect, where Parry would be ‘initiated’ into whichever tribe he happened to be making a living off of that week by taking their psychoactive substance of choice. I’m not denying it makes good television, but is it good journalism, if indeed that is what Parry practices?

Will Obama talk to Hamas?

jackanada — Sat, 22 Nov 2008 19:38:30 +0000

The only two countries in the world with population densities higher than the Gaza Strip are Monaco and Singapore, both extremely affluent city-states. For over a year, the Strip has been under the control of Hamas, and marginalised not only by Israel but the rival Palestinian government led by Mahmoud Abbas from Ramallah. Although it is geographically tiny in comparison to the West Bank, Gaza comprises over one third of the total Palestinian population, and the Fatah government has absolutely no control over the area. Two weeks ago, Israel enforced a blockade of the Strip, and another humanitarian crisis has ensued. The people of Gaza are in desperate need of aid, and their woes must be alleviated before an end to military action against Israel can be imagined. President-Elect Barack Obama has said in the past “Hamas is not a state, Hamas is a terrorist organisation.” This is not the right attitude. Hamas rule Gaza – any progress in the peace process has to include them.

What happened to that boatload of tanks?

jackanada — Tue, 18 Nov 2008 23:15:35 +0000

It’s been over a month now and I have heard no conclusion to the epic maritime drama which was the hijacking of the MV Faina. Search the internet for yourself, try and find a news article more recent than the first week of October regarding the boat. Has some sort of Metal Gear Solid operation gone down and a worldwide media blackout been successfully enacted?

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/MV_Faina