Doc's Talk: Iran Early Bird-Thrsday

Thursday, November 13, 2008

Iran Early Bird-Thrsday

1. According to Iran's intelligence minister, Western intelligence services have spent the last two months focusing "locating and identifying conflicts among Iran's domestic factions." The minister stressed the need for extra caution and a concerted effort to unite the country's groups and factions.

2. Sadeq Ziba Kalam, a political science lecturer at Tehran University, has welcomed the victory of Barack Obama, commenting, "I have no doubt this will lead to a change in U.S. policy towards Iran. But the question is: Will Iran also be willing to make a change in its policies vis-à-vis the United States? We must forget the slogan, ‘the great Satan,’ and examine if we have the maturity required to offer an olive branch to Obama."

3. In the same context as above, Dr. Yousef Molaei, an international relations lecturer at Tehran University, has analyzed the congratulatory letter sent by Iranian President Ahmadi-Nejad to Obama, commenting that the coming months could very well see significant developments in the relations between Iran and the United States.

4. According to a New York Times report, Turkey's prime minister has expressed willingness to mediate between Iran and the United States and believes both sides need to take advantage of the window of opportunity that has opened up in the wake of Ahmadi-Nejad's letter to Obama.

5. Speaking at an IRGC naval convention on the island of Siri, Conservative daily Kayhan’s editor-in-chief, Hosseyn Shariatmadari, said that Bush and Obama were two sides of the same coin and that Iran should not expect any change in Washington’s imperialist policies in the wake of Obama’s victory.

6. Iranian students have demonstrated outside the Saudi Arabian Embassy against what they termed as "the normalization of relations between Saudi Arabia and the Zionist regime." Click here for pictures from the demonstration.

7. In a meeting with senior North Korean officials, Iranian Foreign Minister Manouchehr Motaki stressed Tehran's desire to further develop relations with Pyongyang, particularly in the fields of commerce and economics.

8. Majlis Speaker Ali Larijani met secretly this morning with Ayatollah Makarem Shirazi, a senior religious figure from Qom. According to Iranian websites, the two met for an hour without any journalists present.

9. The spokesman for the Supreme Expediency Discernment Council has denied reports published yesterday about a meeting between Council Chairman Hashemi Rafsanjani and former president Mohammad Khatami. According to the reports, Khatami agreed during the meeting to run for office in next year's presidential election.

1. "Security and stability in the Persian Gulf region cannot be achieved without taking into consideration Iran's central status and role," says General Safavi, Iranian Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei's advisor on the armed forces. Iran, Safavi added, wanted to promote prosperity among the countries along the shores of the Persian Gulf, without the presence of foreign and occupying states.

2. The editor-in-chief of the Conservative-affiliated Kayhan daily has expressed support for the decision by Iran's Internal Security Forces to install closed-circuit cameras at crowded location – despite an explicit order from Ahmadi-Nejad not to install the cameras. Tehran's prosecutor general has also voiced support for the cameras – for the purpose, he said, of "preventing crime." Meanwhile, in a poll on the BBC's Farsi-language website, readers have questioned the real motive behind the desire to install the cameras, commenting that if the decision is implemented, they hope it will lead to a fall-off in the presence of security forces in the street.

3. Iran's economic attaché at the country's consulate in Peshawar, Pakistan, was abducted this morning by unidentified armed assailants.

4. Iranian Intelligence Ministry officials have moved Abdollhamid Rigi, the brother of the leader of the Sunni Jondalllah organization, to Zahedan. According to "leaks from the Intelligence Ministry," Rigi is still being subjected to severe torture and has suffered grave bodily harm.

5. Iranian Chief of Staff Hassan Firouz-Abadi will be awarded the "Independence" medal of honor for bravery, the government approved this morning.

1.

1. Inflation in Iran in October reached 24.3 percent – an increase of 1.6 percent in relation to the previous month, according to an announcement from the Iranian Central Bank.

2. The committee responsible for overseeing implementation of the Iranian government's economic policy has reviewed the effects the expected fall in oil revenues may have on the state budget and the country's foreign currency reserves. The committee, which is a part of the Supreme Expediency Discernment Council, will submit its findings and recommendations to the Council for discussion and approval. They will then go on to Khamenei for his stamp of approval.

3. Ahmadi-Nejad's first deputy has announced that implementation of the project to develop the country's oil refineries will allow Iran to increase fuel production to 80 million liters a day. Such a quantity, he said, would provide 25 percent of the country's fuel needs.

4. Iranian websites are reporting that Russia has backtracked on its decision to set up a gas cartel with Iran and Qatar. The Russian change of heart, the websites say, stems from concern among the West and pressure that Moscow has come under from European states in this regard.

5. The Majlis has given the Central Bank to go-ahead, when necessary, to distribute government bonds in an effort to contain the amount of money in the economy.

6. According to the director-general of the Chabahar free-trade zone, the entity's administration is offering massive and earnest support to private-sector foreign and local investors in the area. The director-general noted that under a directive from Ahmadi-Nejad, the zone's administration would be taking the necessary steps to increase the area's capabilities and further develop infrastructure for the purpose of encouraging investors.

7. Iran's deputy communications minister has announced that over the past seven months, 30 percent of the Iranian National Communications Company have been sold off into private hands. The deputy minister also commented on the tender for Iran's third cellular provider, noting that a number of companies have purchased the documents and that the results of the tender would soon be known.

8. High demand has led to a rise in imports of 4X4 vehicles in Iran. Iran's economics website is reporting that there has been a marked increase in the number of all-terrain vehicles on the country's roads and that the fuel allocation system has had no impact on the demand for jeeps

1. The traditional bakeries in the city of Qazvin will soon be setting up on-site libraries so that customers waiting in the long lines to buy bread will be able to pass the time looking through and reading books. The initiative comes from the city's Mosques Organization, and is being termed "Warm Bread – Warm Book."

2. The president of Sharif University has denied reports of a "brain drain" from among the institute's graduates. According to the reports, more than 90 percent of the university's graduates have left Iran. The president said that just 197 of this year's 1,600 graduates had left the country, adding that only 1,000 Iranian students in total had left Iran in the past year.

3. The deputy governor of the Khuzestan Province believes that "pre-marriage" studies should become compulsory courses for female students at high schools and pre-university educational institutions. Elsewhere, in the framework of efforts to encourage marriage, the Tehran Province will provide couples with a decorated car for the night of their wedding to help them cut costs.

4. The Iranian Writers' Fund has declared December 3 as the day of struggle against censorship in the country. The Fund has called on all journalists, writers, bloggers and intellectuals to voice their grievances regarding the lack of freedom of expression in the country.

5. Two more Sunni minorities were executed yesterday at the Zahedan Prison. The two were convicted of drug trafficking.

6. Within a month, residents of Tehran will be able to receive reports on traffic jams in the city directly on the monitors of their car stereo systems. The director-general of Tehran Traffic Control Company said that the service would operate on the RDS system and was designed to alleviate the city's severe traffic problems.

7. The Yazd Provice will mark three days of mourning in the wake of the death of Ayatollah Modaresi, one of the province's most senior religious figures.

8. In keeping with a request from the international volleyball federation, FIVB, Iran will host the second stage of the qualifying tournament for the 2010 World Volleyball Cup in Italy. Iran has agreed to host the second qualifying stage provided it is allowed to host the third and final stage of the competition too.

9. The Chinese film, "Red Cliff," and Jean-Claude van Damme's film, "The Shepherd: Border Control," are among the movies that will be screened this weekend on Iranian television

No comments:

The IDF’s Minorities in Numbers and Pictures

In honor of IDF Diversity Week, we present diversity through numbers and pictures. Each year, more and more Muslims, Christians, Druze, Bedouin and immigrants from around the world take on the responsibility of defending Israel.

MUSLIMS:

Muslim Arab Israelis are not required to draft in the IDF, but there are many who volunteer. In 2013, there were over 200 Muslims serving in the IDF and over 300 in the reserves.

Bedouins:

Bedouins are nomadic Muslims who were in Israel when modern borders were set in place and are now considered Israeli citizens. They are not required to draft but a growing number choose to enlist. In 2012, there were over 1,400 Bedouin Muslim soldiers doing regular IDF service and almost 1,500 in the reserves.

Read more:http://www.idfblog.com/2014/02/27/truth-idf-numbers-pictures/#more-34027

Are you aware that in 2013, Middle class taxes go up-significantly?

In January of next year, the federal income tax rate for middle-class taxpayers is scheduled to rise from 25 percent to 28 percent, and the payroll tax is scheduled to rise from 13.3 percent to 15.3 percent… This drives the marginal tax rate based on the aforementioned three taxes to 48.12 percent. Add in state and local property, corporate, excise, and other state and local taxes, and the percentage of each additional dollar that is taxed hovers around 50 percent… When half of each additional dollar earned is taxed away, taxpayers experience a disincentive to start businesses or expand existing ones. This leads to fewer jobs being created.

Why is HAMAS Inside Tampa Schools?

Clare Lopez

Kelly Miliziano, who teaches history classes at Steinbrenner High School in the Tampa, Florida area apparently thinks it’s perfectly OK to invite a senior official of a HAMAS-affiliated organization into her classroom to discuss Islam with her students. According to local media reports, not only has this been going on for years, but in spite of the civil and criminal proceedings that could result from such reckless negligence, the Hillsborough County school superintendent, Mary Ellen Elia, and the chairman of the school board, Candy Olson, also expressed approval for students under their responsibility to be exposed repeatedly to guest speaker, Hassan Shibly, who is the Executive Director for the Council on American-Islamic Relations (CAIR) in the Tampa area.
More...

Did You Know... Ignoring the Call to Islam will Bring Jihad

‘Conquest through Da’wa [proselytizing] that is what we hope for. We will conquer Europe, we will conquer America! Not through sword but through Da’wa.’
-- Yousef al-Qaradawi , Muslim Brotherhood spiritual leader The Arabic word ‘Da’wa’ means the “call to Islam.” But do not think that Da’wa is the same thing as an invitation to an optional holiday event. The classical Islamic doctrine of jihad mandates that enemies must be given the opportunity to convert to Islam or pay the jizya tax before it is permissible to attack them.
Clare M. Lopez

Who is being discriminated-facts tell the truth

Religious bias

Hate crimes motivated by religious bias accounted for 1,409 offenses reported by law enforcement. A breakdown of the bias motivation of religious-bias offenses showed:

65.4 percent were anti-Jewish.
13.2 percent were anti-Islamic.
9.5 percent were anti-other religion, i.e., those not specified.
4.3 percent were anti-Catholic.
3.8 percent were anti-multiple religions, group.
3.3 percent were anti-Protestant.
0.5 percent were anti-Atheism/Agnosticism/etc.

http://www.fbi.gov/about-us/cjis/ucr/hate-crime/2010/narratives/hate-crime-2010-incidents-and-offenses.

On March 31, 1977, the Dutch newspaper Trouw published an interview

with PLO executive committee member Zahir Muhsein. Here's what he said:

"The Palestinian people does not exist. The creation of a Palestinian state is only a means for continuing our struggle against the state of Israel for our Arab unity. In reality today there is no difference between Jordanians, Palestinians, Syrians and Lebanese. Only for political and tactical reasons do we speak today about the existence of a Palestinian people, since Arab national interests demand that we posit the existence of a distinct "Palestinian people" to oppose Zionism.

For tactical reasons, Jordan, which is a sovereign state with defined borders, cannot raise claims to Haifa and Jaffa, while as a Palestinian, I can undoubtedly demand Haifa, Jaffa, Beer-Sheva and Jerusalem. However, the moment we reclaim our right to all of Palestine, we will not wait even a minute to unite Palestine and Jordan."

In March 1977, Zahir Muhsein, a PLO executive, said:

"The Palestinian people does not exist. The creation of a Palestinian state is only a means for continuing our struggle against the state of Israel for our Arab unity. In reality today there is no difference between Jordanians, Palestinians, Syrians and Lebanese. Only for political and tactical reasons do we speak today about the existence of a Palestinian people, since Arab national interests demand that we posit the existence of a distinct Palestinian people to oppose Zionism."

"For tactical reasons, Jordan, which is a sovereign state with defined borders, cannot raise claims to Haifa and Jaffa, while as a Palestinian, I can undoubtedly demand Haifa, Jaffa, Beer-Sheva and Jerusalem. However, the moment we reclaim our right to all of Palestine, we will not wait even a minute to unite Palestine and Jordan."

The Arab Apartheid

Ben-Dror Yemini
In 1948, the Arab countries refused to accept the UN partition proposal and they launched a war of annihilation against the State of Israel which had barely been established. All precedents in this matter showed that the party that starts the war - and with a declaration of annihilation, yet - pays a price for it. Between 550,000 and 710,000 Arabs fled because of the war and a larger number of 850,000 Jews were expelled or fled from Arab countries (the "Jewish nakba").
Population exchanges and expulsions were the norm at that time, occurring in dozens of other conflict points and affecting about 52 million people. In all the population exchange precedents that occurred during or at the end of an armed conflict, there was no return of refugees to the previous region, which had turned into a new national state.
Only the Arab states acted completely differently from the rest of the world. Instead of assimilating the refugees, they crushed them despite the fact that they were their coreligionists and members of the Arab nation - instituting a regime of apartheid. So the "nakba" was not caused by the actual dispossession, which had also been experienced by tens of millions of others. The "nakba" is the story of the apartheid, oppression, abuse and denial of rights suffered by the Arab refugees at the hands of the Arab countries. (Maariv)

International Law and Military Operations in Practice - Col. Richard Kemp

"Islamist fighting groups study the international laws of armed conflict carefully and they understand it well. They know that a British or Israeli commander and his men are bound by international law and the rules of engagement that flow from it. They then do their utmost to exploit what they view as one of their enemy's main weaknesses. Their very modus operandi is built on the correct assumption that Western armies will normally abide by the rules, while these insurgents employ a deliberate policy of operating consistently outside international law. "

Lost Historical Moments

What Rabin’s last Knesset speech really said:repudiation of a Palestinian state

Rabin ruled out a fully sovereign Palestinian state :

“We view the permanent solution in the framework of State of Israel which will include most of the area of the Land of Israel as it was under the rule of the British Mandate, and alongside it a Palestinian entity which will be a home to most of the Palestinian residents living in the Gaza Strip and the West Bank. We would like this to be an entity which is less than a state, and which will independently run the lives of the Palestinians under its authority.”

Rabin ruled out a total withdrawal from Judea and Samaria and thus a return to the pre-June 1967 borders :

“The borders of the State of Israel, during the permanent solution, will be beyond the lines which existed before the Six Day War. We will not return to the 4 June 1967 lines.”

Rabin ruled out withdrawing form the Jordan Valley:

“The security border of the State of Israel will be located in the Jordan Valley, in the broadest meaning of that term.”

Rabin ruled out uprooting settlement blocs, like the Gush Katif bloc in Gaza (which was subsequently uprooted by former Prime Minister Ariel Sharon):

“The establishment of blocs of settlements in Judea and Samaria, like the one in Gush Katif.

AND

Rabin ruled out removing any settlement before coming to a full peace agreement with the Palestinians:

“I want to remind you: we committed ourselves, that is, we came to an agreement, and committed ourselves before the Knesset, not to uproot a single settlement in the framework of the interim agreement, and not to hinder building for natural growth.”

Rabin insisted on Israel retaining full security control of the borders with Egypt and Jordan, contrary to Israel’s relinquishment of the Philadelphia Corridor on the border with Egypt:

“The responsibility for external security along the borders with Egypt and Jordan, as well as control over the airspace above all of the territories and Gaza Strip maritime zone, remains in our hands.”

Correcting Oslo Myths-Part 2

3) Kuttab laments that the post-1993 Oslo process resulted in a Palestinian Authority "whose ministers and legislators are not guaranteed passage between Gaza and the West Bank ...."

Before free passage or other perquisites, PA leaders were obligated, among other things, to eliminate the terrorist infrastructure in the West Bank and Gaza Strip, end anti-Israeli, antisemitic incitement in schools, mosques, and communications media, and resolve all outstanding issues through peaceful negotiations. They met none of these commitments, sometimes bolstering terrorism and greatly increasing incitement.

4) Kuttab complains that under Oslo the PA got "lightly armed police ---- but no real sovereignty over the land or contiguity between our communities in Gaza and the West Bank."

Oslo agreements repeatedly were revised, regardless of Palestinian non-compliance, until the authorized number of police grew from 8,000 to 40,000. Though they were to be the only armed forces in the territories, Israeli estimates early in the second intifada put the number of gunmen - police, "security services," terrorists, and armed gangs - at 85,000. Their armament reportedly included not only heavy machine guns and rocket-propelled grenades, but also anti-tank and anti-aircraft missiles.

Sovereignty was to be negotiated in the envisioned 1998 "final status" talks - after a five-year period of confidence-building. Palestinian leadership chronically undermined the process. Palestinian terrorism made the 1993 - 1998 Oslo period more deadly for Israelis than the 15 years preceding it.

The United States doesn't have contiguity between the lower 48 states and Alaska and Hawaii; territorial contiguity between the West Bank and Gaza Strip - that is, through the 20 miles of Israeli territory between them - was never promised and would destroy Israeli contiguity.

5) "Palestinians have been made to endure hundreds of checkpoints in the West Bank, an eight-foot wall deep in our territories, and tight Israeli control over borders."

The security barrier is not "deep in Palestinian territories," but rather encompasses less than 8 percent of Judea and Samaria, and is mostly a fence, rarely a wall; the land in question is not "our [Palestinian] territories" but disputed territory to which, according to the authors of U.N. Security Council Resolution 242, Jews as well as Arabs have claims; and there are no international borders, only the 1949 armistice lines with Jordan. Under 242, borders remain to be negotiated. As for checkpoints - like the security barrier and "tight Israeli control" - Palestinian Arabs precipitated these measures themselves. No terrorism and there would be no fence or tight Israeli control and few checkpoints - like before the first intifada.

Correcting Some Oslo Myths

1) In Oslo "Israeli, Palestinian and other world leaders promised that ... Palestinian sovereignty would be solidified."

No, they didn't. The 1993 Declaration of Principles and subsequent Oslo agreements outlined a process by which final status negotiations about the West Bank and Gaza Strip would be reached. The process required an end to anti-Israel terrorism and incitement and a commitment to peaceful negotiations. The PA, Fatah, Hamas, Islamic Jihad, the Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine, and other terrorist groups, sabotaged the process from the start.

2) "The reality is that, in defiance of U.N. Security Council Resolution 242, which states that it is inadmissible to occupy land by force, Palestinian territories are still under foreign military occupation."
Wrong again. Resolution 242 (1967) does note "the inadmissibility of the acquisition of territory by war." It also affirms the right of every state in the area "to live in peace with secure and recognized boundaries free from threats or acts of force." There were no "Palestinian territories." Jordan occupied the West Bank, Egypt controlled Gaza. Israel did not have "secure and recognized boundaries," so retention of some of those territories was possible under 242. Israel is not a "foreign" military occupier in the West Bank but, pending final negotiations, the lawful military administrator as a result of a successful war of self-defense.

Doc's Talk