If you think that Alberta’s new drunk driving laws are tough, consider Iran. Two Iranians, their names not released by authorities, have been sentenced to death for persistent consumption of alcohol. Not that they weren’t warned. They had been convicted twice before and subjected to 160 lashes each time, but
Continue readingTag: Iran
The Scott Ross: Syria Isn’t About Syria
Bahrain and Syria both have repressive governments and both had uprisings in 2011, the United States and Saudi Arabia stopped one but are continuing the other, showing democracy and humanitarian concerns don’t shape foreign policy, national self-interest does. In February 2011 protesters took to the streets in Bahrain calling for
Continue readingCuriosityCat: Israeli strike against Iran nuclear plants takes a giant leap forward
Having announced an early election to take place in September, Israel’s PM has suddenly announced a coalition government which cements his majority in the Knesset, and in my view substantially increases the probability of an Israeli strike against Iran within three months: For hours, Israel’s legislature, democracy’s abode, turned, unwittingly
Continue readingLeDaro: Bob Kerrey, Fmr. Nebraska Governor on Iran
“I think invading Iran will make Iraq and Afghanistan look like a cakewalk. There are 80 million people living in Iran. If we were undersized with 250,000 men and women going into Iraq, it’s going to take a million to go to war with Iran. That’s a mistake we just
Continue readingDeSmogBlog: Rendell and Ridge: From "Militant" Labelers to Terrorist Enablers
Ed Rendell MEK.jpg A new chapter has been added to the shale gas industry's eco-terrorism, counterinsurgency and psychological operations saga. In March, NBC News investigative reporter Michael Isikoff revealed that many prominent U.S. public officials are on the payroll of the People's Mujahedin of Iran (MEK), a group labeled by the U.S. State Department as a
Continue readingCANADIAN PROGRESSIVE WORLD: For Iran, A Generic U.S. Drone
Apparently, Iranian engineers have successfully decoded America’s captured reconnaissance drone and now Tehran intends to build a copy. The Islamic Republic’s military captured the US RQ-170 Sentinel reconnaisance aircraft last December. Dick Chenney is not going to like this. According … Continue reading →
Continue readingArt Threat: Sonic solidarity for Ziba Kazemi – An interview with Iranian artist Shahrzad Arshadi
Portrait of artist Shahrzad Arshadi by Thien V (Montreal, March 2012). It Is Only Sound That Remains is a sound theatre performance by artist Shahrzad Arshadi, meditating on the life and death of Ziba Kazemi, also known as Zahra Kazemi. The story of Kazemi’s 2003 death in Iran, the ensuing
Continue readingProgressive Proselytizing: Lessons from Iran for North Korea
North Korea became the biggest international story of last week when it decided to launch a satellite into space (ostensibly a weather satellite) that ultimately broke down shortly after being launched. This episode puts into peril the nascent moves towards genuine talks regarding food aid in exchange for abandoning nuclear
Continue readingImpolitical: Canada’s lack of consistency on death penalty policy getting attention
“Tories criticized for vastly divergent reactions to Canadians on death row.” As well they should be. The Canadian government’s urgent appeal to stop Iran from executing a Canadian citizen imprisoned there may be blunted by its “grudging” support for another condemned Canadian — Montana death-row inmate Ronald Smith — says
Continue readingLeDaro: North Korea: Nuclear Proliferation
NBC Nightly News had an interesting piece on North Korea and policies of developing more and more potent nuclear arsenal which also has worldwide reach. This is indeed madness. Visit msnbc.com for breaking news, world news, and news about the economy I agree that both North Korea and Iran must
Continue readingThe Disaffected Lib: First the Bad News, Then the Bad News
Apparently Israel’s air force is not capable of taking out Iran’s nuclear installations. That narrows Israel’s options to long-range missile strikes or sending Israeli special forces into Iran to attack the sites. Those are the conclusions of the authoritative Jane’s Defence Weekly which finds even a commando attack would face
Continue readingAccidental Deliberations: Guest Post: Mulcair vs. the Chickenhawks
Dan Tan weighs in on Thomas Mulcair’s principled position on Iran – which may come as a pleasant surprise to anybody concerned that he’d be more interested in appealing to the Very Serious People than thinking carefully about whether military intervention is justified: North American & European capitals are inundated
Continue readingHellberta: The speculation about speculators speculating about oil price
It’s becoming a recurring theme to blame the high oil price on “speculators”. This of course implies some sort of clear distinction between someone legitimately purchasing oil contracts or someone purchasing or selling them purely for profit. There is of course a difference. You might call the first one a
Continue readingThe Disaffected Lib: Israel Risks Plunging Middle East Into Regional War
This must be music to the ears of those who dream of Armageddon and impatiently await The Rapture. The Americans recently ran a war game simulation of what would follow an Israeli air attack on Iranian nuclear facilities. Apparently they were rocked by the predicted results – a regional war
Continue readingAmericans primed for Iran attack
According to recent surveys, Americans are in a dovish mood on Syria and Afghanistan, but that mood is tempered by a hawkish attitude toward Iran. Two-thirds say the United States does not have a responsibility to interfere in the Syrian conflict. There is also strong opposition to bombing the Syrian
Continue readingPolitics and its Discontents: Crass Manipulation About Iran’s Nuclear Intentions
Those who believe that the public is being as crassly manipulated about Iran as it was by the lies that served as prologue to the Iraqi invasion will find two recent articles of interest. The first, entitled No defensible reasons to attack Iran, by Gwynne Dyer, pierces many of the
Continue readingThe Scott Ross: North Korea is no Iran
Iran has an elected President. Iran allows for protests against the government. Iran does not have nuclear weapons and is years away from having the capability to build them.Iran has not declared war with any country. North Korea has a dictator who doesn’t hold elections. North Korea does not allow
Continue readingThe Scott Ross: Iran’s 2nd Amendment Right To Nuclear Weapons
If countries are like people and people, regardless of intelligence, have the right to bear arms, even though they can and have killed others, why can’t every country bear nuclear weapons? Either every individual actor, be they person or country, has the right to bear arms or they don’t. Guns
Continue readingDrive-by Planet: Meir Dagan: Iran ‘a very rational regime’
The increasingly strident calls for military action against Iran evokes the hyped-up threat rhetoric prior to the invasion of Iraq. As we now know, despite all the “expert” opinion, the alleged threat posed by Iraqi WMD turned out to be a crock. A chimera. Fear mongering about Iranian nukes is
Continue readingSong of the Watermelon: Nuclear Weapons, Iran, and War
With an all-too-familiar rhythm, the drums of war are sounding. The target? An authoritarian Middle Eastern regime set on acquiring exceptionally destructive weapons. Stop me if you’ve heard this one before. This time around the country is Iran, and the weapons allegedly being developed are nuclear. The Israeli government (although
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