Yesterday, Flynt did an interview with the nationally-syndicated Antiwar Radio on the diplomacy surrounding the possibility of some sort of fuel “swap” arrangement for refueling the Tehran Research Reactor (TRR). You can listen to the interview here. Before the Obama Administration uncorked its accusations of Iranian government complicity in a purported plot to assassinate the Saudi Ambassador in Washington, both President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad and Foreign Minister Ali Akbar Salehi had said that Tehran remained interested in exploring whether such a deal could be negotiated, and even indicated that the Islamic Republic might be willing to stop enriching uranium to the near-20 percent level required to fabricate fuel for the TRR if it could obtain new fuel from international providers (as it originally requested more than 2 years ago). Of course, all of that has gotten swept aside in the frenzied attention to the Obama Administration’s charges. Nevertheless, the interview covers a lot of ground, and digs into the fundamental deficiencies in the Administration’s approach to nuclear diplomacy with Iran.
–Flynt Leverett and Hillary Mann Leverett
flynt and Hillary thank you so much for all you do to get accurate information about Iran and US negotiations and non negotiations. What a shame and how telling that the so called liberal MSM will not have you folks on their programs. Not Chris Matthews who was more than willing to have the Bill Kristols, Frank Gaffney’s, David “axis of evil” Frum before the invasion on over and over again. Not the so called liberal Rachel Maddow, Lawrence O Donnell, Ed etc etc. Not the Diane Rehm show, not Talk of the Nation or other NPR outlets. Who is blocking you folks from getting on these programs?
Unknown Unknowns,
Great, just what the universe needs, more pan-narcissists. It is comforting to know though that i can negate reality by pretending it is not there.
This reads better. Sorry… I was trippin’.
Help! I’m an egoic Tension between The Id and The Superego encapsulated in a bag of skin – an epiphenomenon floating on the fringes of the Big Bhang! Help!!
Help! I’m an egoic Tension encapsulated in a bag of skin between The Id and The Superego – an epiphenomenon floating on the fringes of the Big Bhang! Help!!
And talking about secular religions… you know how each religion has its share of weirdness? Like the Shi’a belief (my belief) that the 12th Imam did not die but went into an occult state? Or the Mormon belief that there are some underpants that will protect you from evil if you wear them? (No, they are not talking about chastity belts.) Anyway, one of the weird beliefs of one of the modern synthetic religions, Atheistic Materialism is (ready for it? see if you can wrap your mind around this one!) that your skull extends above the treetops, above the sky, and the stars even, ’cause all of these “phenomena” that you “see” are actually in your head and a result of chemical and neurological reactions, so that the size of your skull is not actually a constant, because all the galaxy clusters that are moving away from each other at incredible speeds and thus expanding the size of the “known” universe are doing so within the boundaries of your cranium, which therefore must itself be expanding at a (literally!) incredible speed. :D
It is interesting to note that time is linear in these modern religions, as in the Abrahamic ones, rather than cyclical as in, say, the Hindu and Buddhist ones, their cosmogony gathering at the asymptote or singularity affectionately known as The Big Bhang.
Humanist says:
October 20, 2011 at 4:33 pm
Yes, Humanist. The religion of Secular Humanism certainly has its ugly side, does it not?
Fior Jan says “holocaust denial is last week’s fish.”
How can you, of all people, think in those terms, when billions upon billions are paid to the zionist entity because of that Big Lie every year by the US and Germany in “reparations”. I would think that while the majority people are still lead down that path, the need to revise that skewed and erroneous history should be keenly felt. But that’s just me. To each his or her own, I guess.
And of course I agree with you whole-heartedly about the disgraceful treatment DAvid Irving was and continues to be subjected to. How else but “evil” can one characterize his adversaries, I wonder?
James:
You are right. Your gaydar is more finely tuned than mine. “Future of politics” is just another stupid Americanism. So gay.
Rd.,
I thought that Russian commentary you linked made a number of good points.
Hillary Clinton’s strategic thinking ability is very low. Next to nonexistent. But she does know how to pander to idiots in the US Congress.
Unknown Unknowns,
What kind of drivel is “future of politics” meant to mean? Fatuous.
Clint,
Kudos to Walter Pincus. Israe, one might note, is far and away the strongest military power in the Middle East, in offensive striking capability. Except, perhaps, for Turkey. But US Congress is controlled by Israel lobby.
Billary Clinton in Foreign Policy magazine: “The future of politics will be decided in Asia, not Afghanistan or Iraq.”
Can someone PLEASE clue Hillarious in that Afghanistan and Iraq are IN Asia? THANK you!
Moments ago I found this awesome eye-opening video about Libya . It is a ‘must watch’ for those who worry about incredible corruption in the Western Media who fabricate lies and HIDE the real News. It is also, indirectly, about the psychopathy and brazenness of the few who try to determine the slavish fate of the masses in ME, Africa and other developing countries.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RFvpfkUyBqE&feature=player_embedded
I wholeheartedly salute the courage of the Journalist who is revealing the facts in this video. I also feel deep sense of gratitude .for her empathy and humanity since, in these critical times, the world badly needs many of souls like her…..thanks…..
khurshid says: October 20, 2011 at 3:04 pm
Libya is at least a half-decade away from any form of political stability.
Libya will have no bearing on the war in Palestine or the situation in Levant, in the Persian Gulf, or in Pakistan.
khurshid says: October 20, 2011 at 3:04 pm
Libya is at least a half-decade away from any form of political stability.
Libya will have no bearing on the war in Palestine or the situation in Levant, in the Persian Gulf, or in Pakistan.
انا لله و انا الیه راجعون [We are from God and to God is our return.]
GADDAFI dead and Hiliary clinton is in Libya. What does this say of US future role in Libya? How will US use Libya to advance its middle east policy?
From a Russian commenter’s point of view;
“Conflict with Saudi Arabia: A parting U.S. gift for Iran“
Also hilly’s in Foreign Policy magazine entitled: “America’s Pacific Century.”
so with Erdogan rushing back from Arab street spring to look after the home front and with the zero problem with the neighbors, not, with Syria, some with Iran, perhaps with Iraq.. US troops posturing along af-pak border, for show.. and anticipating the 2014 withdraw… could have an interesting perceptive for the region and Iran as well..
http://en.rian.ru/analysis/20111019/167864719.html
follow the breadcrumbs; how US got to the point where it is “losing another opportunity for nuclear diplomacy” with IRI and EVERY nation in ME
The US Special Relationship with Israel: Is It Worth It?
Alaeddin Boroujerdi, of the Iranian parliament, calls for strengthening the relationship of Iran’s parliament with the French parliament. This would be in best interests of both countries. And the US even though Israel lobby would object.
Rehmat,
Interesting bit about Manucher Ghorbanifar and the planted story in US media that Libyan hit squad was out to get Ronald Reagan. Has anyone seen the figures for what Ghorbanifar was paid, for arranging arms sales to Iran during the war with Iraq?
yemi,
ISRAEL LOBBY does not want a resolution of the nuclear dispute with Iran, because their object is to “protect” Israel – – meaning, to enable continuation of insane illegal colonisation of the West Bank and Golan Heights.
Obama equates Jews with janitors
http://rehmat2.wordpress.com/2011/10/20/obama-equates-jews-with-janitors/
UU —
for another version of Dr. Shakir’s thesis, that it’s always about the chosen people, check this out. Ms. Bronstein suffered “emotional distress” and “shame” “as a Jew” because her non-Jewish companions, who expressed “Such identification and acknowledgment of [everything Jews have been through in Europe and] the Holocaust!” were stripped naked, groped, and kept under intense surveillance until they boarded their ElAl flight from Prague airport.
Ms. Bronstein asked for forgiveness from those two mistreated young Arabs.
I wonder if she is equally embarrassed and ashamed, and suffers equal “emotional distress” that an historian of the calibre of David Irving was imprisoned in a neighbor country to Prague, for the crime of publishing factual information that is not precisely aligned with the narrative of “Jewish suffering in Europe and the Holocaust” that Ms. Bronstein apparently endorses and which her Arab friends acknowledged. How far is Ms. Bronstein willing to travel to redress injustice and acknowledge truth?
Unknown Unknowns il mio amici,
straightforward conversation; thanks for the link
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xuBbHE0laTs
re Mr. Felton, I did not wish to throw the spade out with the bathwater; Felton does good and courageous work. Perhaps the problem is that in my perspective, holocaust denial is last week’s fish, and Felton misstated facts about the Jewish boycott of Germany.
Parts I, II, and III , posted in the previous thread, outlined one [of many] angles of the massacre of Iranian pilgrims in Mecca in 1366 (1987). Iran will decidedly use all soft and hard power at her disposal to defend the land of Iran if attacked. However, that Iran did not engage in any retaliatory plot against the Saudis either overtly or covertly could be used as another appropriate example that supports Iran’s pattern of behavior that she has chosen culture and words, rather than terrorism, as her weapons of choice. My purpose in summarizing that event with details, however, was something entirely different.
Specific details began to emerge, even before the revelation of the concocted plot making allegations against Iran, that the Saudis intend to re-create the 1366 massacre during this year’s hajj. It is perceived that currently there is an internal struggle within the Al-Saud family that would ultimately shape the path the Saudis will take in the region and with respect to Iran. It appears that the younger and more hawkish elements of the regime are working very closely with Mossad and CIA and they want to escalate the tension between the Saud family and Iran. The older companions of the king, it appears, seem to be favoring a more prudent, cautious, and realistic approach.
The plot concocted in Terrorestan would have and still might provide a convenient prelude to a repeat of 1366 massacre but in a much larger and significant scale. Exploring the details of this year’s hajj, I think, would be useful in gaining a more global understanding of the current events:
1. The actual Hajj rituals are from Nov. 4th through Nov. 9th this year (depending on when the new moon for Zi-Hajjah is observed).
2. Currently 97,000 Iranian pilgrims have registered and are being transported to Mecca. There are 588 caravans and a total of 274 flights [1]. Zi-Hajjah (the month of Hajj) begins next week
3. In previous years, Iranian pilgrims were flying with Iranian Airlines. Mahan Air and Homa are two Iranian airlines that have been in charge of transporting pilgrims to Mecca in the past few years and were scheduled to do the same again this year.
4. On October 12, 2011, Bloomberg announced [2] that the US treasury department had added Mahan Air on the sanction list. This is right before the flights to Saudi for this year’s hajj began. ISNA [3] quoted the Managing Director of Iranian Mahan Airline, Hamid Arabnejad, that he rejected reports on the airlines’ flight ban to Europe and Saudi Arabia, saying the flights are underway. Arabnejad said, “Discussions on sanction against Iran’s Mahan Airline are true about International Air Transport Association (IATA) and Clearing House System imposed and the issue has nothing to do with the flights….no change has occurred in Mahan Airline’s system and flights are underway as they used to be….Foreign sources have said that the US has imposed sanctions on Iranian Mahan Airline’s flights through which many flights to Saudi Arabia transferring pilgrims faced problems.”
5. In an event of another plot to create a massacre in Mecca this year, it seems it would be nearly impossible to evacuate the 97,000 Iranian pilgrims.
6. Four days ago, according to Zawya [4], Prince Khaled al-Faisal, governor of Mecca province, warned that “We will not allow anything that would disrupt the peace of the hajj pilgrimage and disturb the pilgrims. That is why we shall not tolerate any damage, riots or chaos during the season of hajj or out of it.” It is not clear why the governor found himself compelled to specifically point to “riots” and “chaos”.
7. On Oct. 15, a large-scale Middle East exercise began that involves “41 giant transports of the 22nd Airlift Squadron….The US Transport Command and its Air Forces Transportation will be testing its ability to provide a rapid strategic airlift response to major crises and contingencies…. Transports will practice landings in Israel and Saudi Arabia. After completing the exercise on October 21, US air contingents will remain “in Middle East skies ready to land at any moment” for any purpose, according to MWC news [5].
Sources:
[1] “Hajj & Ziarat Agency” Online at: ;http://tehran.haj.ir/Public/News.aspx?ID=MTg0
[2] “U.S. Imposes Terrorism Sanctions on Iran’s Mahan Air” Online at: ;http://www.bloomberg.com/news/2011-10-12/u-s-treasury-imposes-terrorism-sanctions-on-iran-s-mahan-air.html
[3] “Iran dismisses sanctions on Mahan Air” Online at: ;http://www.isna.ir/ISNA/NewsView.aspx?ID=News-1869707&Lang=E
[4] “Saudi warns it will not tolerate riots during hajj” Online at: ;http://www.zawya.com/story.cfm/sidANA20111015T175648ZMRS63
[5] S. Lendman, “Obama’s Imperial Arrogance” Online at: ;http://mwcnews.net/focus/politics/14244-imperial-arrogance.html
Some of the readers may not have heard the hoax of Libyan Hit Squad, which made front page of the Washington Post for three weeks soon after Ronald Reagan moved into the White House in 1981. It was story of how Qaddafi’s hired hitmen from Middle East had reached Canada via Europe and were about to cross into United States. Washington got so scared of this ‘highly reliable’ information – it built heavy concrete barriers around the White House, Capitol Hill and State Department – some of which are still there. However, the hoax started to crumble when someone realized the names of the ‘hitmen’ reported by the Washington Post happened to be Shia names, who could not have agreed to collaborate with anti-Shia Qaddafi.
Suddenly the hit squads disappeared from The Post, never to return. Five years later, a two-line item in The Post told the truth. The item appeared in a story, not about the hit squads, but about the Iran-Contra scandal, the worst foreign policy scandal in U.S. history.
Manucher Ghorbanifar, a small-time Iranian exile working in Washington for Mossad, Israel’s secret intelligence service, confessed in 1986 that he had dreamed up the hit squads. Why? “To hurt Libya, an enemy of Israel.”
http://rehmat1.wordpress.com/2011/10/20/hillary-clinton-us-wants-qaddafi-dead/
Washington Post’s Walter Pincus….on US aid to Israel and US generated arms race:
http://www.washingtonpost.com/world/national-security/united-states-needs-to-reevaluate-its-assistance-to-israel/2011/10/15/gIQAK5XksL_print.html
“….The formula has an obvious problem. Because some neighboring countries, such as Saudi Arabia and Egypt, are U.S. allies but also considered threats by Israel, arms provided to them automatically mean that better weapons must go to Israel. The result is a U.S.-generated arms race.”
“Another military program, called U.S. War Reserves Stocks for Allies, begun in the 1980s, allows the United States to store arms and equipment on Israeli bases for use in wartime. In the 1990s, the arrangement was expanded to allow Israel to use the weapons, but only with U.S. permission. During the 2006 war against Hezbollah in Lebanon, the United States gave permission for Israel to use stored cluster artillery shells to counter rocket attacks. The use drew international complaints because the rockets struck civilian rather than military areas.
The initial limit was $100 million worth of stored missiles, armored vehicles and artillery munitions, but that has increased over time. It reached $800 million in 2010, $1 billion this year and by 2012, it is expected to grow to $1.2 billion.”
“Since the mid-1990s, the United States and Israel have been co-developing missile defense systems designed to meet threats from short-range rockets as well as longer-range ballistic missiles. All of the systems involved have gained support from Congress, which frequently earmarks additional funding for Israeli weaponry.
For example, the House and the Senate added $129.6 million to the $106.1 million the Obama administration had in the fiscal 2012 budget for these programs. In the 2011 bill, Congress added $205 million for the Iron Dome system, which defends against short-range rockets and mortars. That was on top of $200 million the administration sought for the U.S. contribution to other cooperative missile-defense systems.
Among reductions now being discussed in Israel is a delay in purchasing more Iron Dome systems beyond those to be paid for by the United States’ $205 million. In addition, the Israeli military may freeze its spending on other missile defense systems, the very ones for which Congress approved additional funding this year.
The question for the Obama administration, Congress and, in the end, perhaps the American public, is: Given present economic problems, should the United States supply the money to make up for reductions the Israelis are making in their own defense budget?”
Ayatollah Khamenei 4-5 days ago in Kermanshah:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BchxFNnlAtg&feature=feedu
Because, i guessed , the US does not want easy solution to Iran nuclear impasse, but using force as being dictated by the Zionist establishment.
Fior Jan:
A little before minute 3 it becomes evident that this fellow, like us, likes to call a spade a spade.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xuBbHE0laTs
Can Flynt please tell Matthew Duss of Thinkprogress.org that Obama lied!? Because he is obviously living in another reality according to this CrossTalk Debate:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QRIxSKqBv1U
Jew protesters: ‘Occupy Boston – Not Palestine’
http://rehmat1.wordpress.com/2011/10/20/jew-protesters-occupy-boston-not-palestine/
CIA-Mossad created the Iranian assassination scam to provide an excuse for Ben-Obama to miss the golden opportunity provided by Tehran to save American interests in the Muslim East.
http://rehmat1.wordpress.com/2011/10/14/the-iranian-plot-please-dont-laugh/
Israelis, Saudis’ behind Iran terror plot
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BroW3Cwm4b4
You’ve probably seen this before but it does not hurt to re-post.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mo8mNqIiJYg
Ron,
I think you means that when Iran makes an offer to the US, to negotiate on the nuclear programme, the Americans intentionally scr*w things up?
Ron,
I think the key element in the gigantic scam that set up the illegal invasion of Iraq, is that G W Bush was in fact duped, knowingly, by the Office of Special Plans in the Pentagon (run by Jewish neocons whose primary objective was to use American power to protect Israel, even if this required deceiving the American public). I think Bush is embarassed to have been duped, so he keeps quiet about it.
Nothing new, US on behalf of israeli interest have ALWAYS backed down when Iran meet their demands and the reason is very simple, they dont want to solve the crisis they want to use it as a pretext to destruct the Islamic Republic of Iran. Just like WMD lies was used as a pretext for Iraqi-invasion. Simply, if you dont have a justification, manufacture one and make the world belive through propaganda that you are right.
US have absolutley no interest in solving this conflict, congress and the ignorant masses are on a colision course and have been that for atleast 20 years.
Just like Israel use this technique with palestinians, as then called according to Finkelstein ‘ peace offensive ‘. Israel upheld the conflict and prolong it to justify occupation, annexation and so on.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZQic5TATuaU&feature=related
A debate on the “plot”:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QRIxSKqBv1U&feature=player_embedded#
Richard Steven Hack says:
October 19, 2011 at 1:56 pm
great minds, same channel.
Listening to Flynt now. Big problem I have with his exposition is that he mentions people like Dennis Ross who he believes are “genuinely” concerned about Iran’s nuclear program as a threat to Israel, and then he mentions the neocons who want for geopolitical reasons to overthrow the Iranian regime a la Iraq. This in response to Scott Horton’s question as to what is the end game of all this Iran hostility despite the KNOWN fact that Iran has no nuclear weapons program.
What he NEVER mentions is the massive military-industrial complex that stands to profit massively from a war with Iran and whose campaign contributions to the entire US elected body keep the US in an unending state of war, not just towards Iran, but virtually everywhere.
Why is that, Flynt? Do you not subscribe to the notion that money runs the US government? That the US Congress is the most corrupt institution since Hermann Goering? That the US economy runs on military adventurism and world hegemony?
Has Obama, once again, been “played” by his advisers? Who are ardent Israel “firsters”? And who in effect are stooges of rich and powerful Jews in the US who support the insane “Greater Israel” project?
Quite obviously, Iran’s offer to negotiate regarding its nuclear programme should have been taken up by the Obama administration. Did whores of the Israel lobby block it?
Ralph Schoenman of Berkeley, California sees a link between the so-called “plot” to kill the SA ambassador and recent events in Bahrain.
http://www.presstv.com/detail/205493.html
Bravo! And how very interesting there has been next to no coverage in US newspapers of the Iranian offer to cease production of 20% U and to buy supplies of that material from the US.
A relevant interview with ex-CIA Philip Giraldi on Antiwar Radio on the “plot”:
Philip Giraldi
:http://dissentradio.com/radio/11_10_18_giraldi.mp3
Heh, just mentioned this on the last thread simultaneously… :-)