Last Straw » Iran

What is Tony Blair’s excuse for invading Iraq now?

Christiaan — Sun, 24 Oct 2010 14:07:15 +0000

In 1980 Iraq invaded Iran. In response the United States, Britain, France, Germany and the Soviet Union provided Hussein the means to build a chemical, biological and nuclear weapons programme. In 1986 the United States with Britain blocked all Security Council resolutions condemning Iraq’s use of chemical weapons, and on 21 March the United States…

Obama perpetuates “wiped off the earth” lie

Christiaan — Sat, 25 Sep 2010 15:51:45 +0000

Barack Obama:

Understandably, Israel is very concerned when the president of a country, a large country near them, states that they should be wiped off the face of the earth.

Which is simply a lie. Is it any wonder Americans are so brainwashed?

70% of Americans still the most gullible on the planet

Christiaan — Sun, 21 Feb 2010 20:01:19 +0000

Back in 2003 and 2004 over 70% of American's polled were telling pollsters not only that they believed Saddam Hussein had WMDs but that he was personally involved in the attack on the World Trade Centre.

Now they're at it again, with over 70% telling pollsters that they think Iran has nuclear weapons.

Should this country really be allowed to deal in international politics?

Former Director of Public Prosecutions: Blair is a deceitful sycophant

Christiaan — Mon, 14 Dec 2009 19:43:40 +0000

Ken MacDonald, Director of Public Prosecutions between 2003-2008, writing for the Times:

The degree of deceit involved in our decision to go to war on Iraq becomes steadily clearer. This was a foreign policy disgrace of epic proportions and playing footsie on Sunday morning television does nothing to repair the damage. It is now very difficult to avoid the conclusion that Tony Blair engaged in an alarming subterfuge with his partner George Bush and went on to mislead and cajole the British people into a deadly war they had made perfectly clear they didn’t want, and on a basis that it’s increasingly hard to believe even he found truly credible.

Hindsight is a great temptress. But we needn’t trouble her on the way to a confident conclusion that Mr Blair’s fundamental flaw was his sycophancy towards power.

Since those sorry days we have frequently heard him repeating the self-regarding mantra that “hand on heart, I only did what I thought was right”. But this is a narcissist’s defence and self-belief is no answer to misjudgment: it is certainly no answer to death.

Actually Obama, America did seek war in Afghanistan

Christiaan — Fri, 11 Dec 2009 09:34:33 +0000

Obama accepting his Nobel prize:

… perhaps the most profound issue surrounding my receipt of this prize is the fact that I am the Commander-in-Chief of a nation in the midst of two wars. One of these wars is winding down. The other is a conflict that America did not seek …

Except that America did seek armed conflict with Afghanistan.

In October of 2001 the Taliban publicly offered to hand Osama bin Laden over to a third country, provided the U.S. halted the illegal bombing of Afghanistan and produced the necessary evidence about involvement of bin Laden or any of his associates in the 11 September attacks. Bush rejected this, putting an end to any possibility of a potentially peaceful, legal resolution to the events of 11 September 2001, and opened up the way for the invasion and occupation of Afghanistan, Iraq and the threat of invasion of Iran, along with the millions who have lost their lives or had them destroyed as a result.

Iran should tell the West to fuck off

Christiaan — Mon, 02 Nov 2009 18:37:32 +0000

As part of negotiations with Iran over nuclear fuel Mohamed ElBaradei of the International Atomic Energy Agency recently proposed that Iran transfer about 70 percent of its low-enriched uranium to Russia for further enrichment by the end of this year, then to France for conversion into fuel plates for medical use, effectively negating its use in alleged…

‘We invaded Iraq and all we get is this lousy t-shirt’

Christiaan — Sat, 24 Oct 2009 10:40:44 +0000

They invade and lay waste another country, destroy the lives of millions of Iraqis for generations to come, all on some trumped up drivel about “weapons of mass destruction.” Now they’re arguing over the real reason. Oil. It’s not enough that control of Iraq’s crude is being divvied up amongst the capitalists of the world.…

Top Things you Think You Know about Iran that are not True

Christiaan — Fri, 02 Oct 2009 05:19:27 +0000

With current events this is a must read for any Westerner.

‘No credible evidence’ of Iranian nuclear weapons

Christiaan — Wed, 30 Sep 2009 18:50:22 +0000

‘No credible evidence’ of Iranian nuclear weapons, says UN inspector: The UN’s chief weapons inspector, Mohamed ElBaradei, said today he had seen “no credible evidence” that Iran is developing nuclear weapons, rejecting British intelligence allegations that a weapons programme has been going on for at least four years. Anyone surprised by this is just a…

Neda’s death used selectively as a propaganda tool

Christiaan — Thu, 25 Jun 2009 07:36:12 +0000

Neda Agha-Soltan is a young women from Iran who was shot dead while protesting against repression in Iran. She has a page on Wikipedia. Photos and video and of her death have been widely broadcast by the Western media, with copious amounts of faux sympathy. She deserves our sympathy because she appears to be a…

Another theory on Iran’s presidential election

Christiaan — Sun, 21 Jun 2009 18:08:55 +0000

I was surprised today to find one of my favourite technology commentators, John Gruber of Daring Fireball, declaring that no doubt remains as to whether the election was fraudulent. Really, because a theocratic government is cracking down on dissidents? If there’s one thing I’ve learnt from my experiences in the Middle East it is that all is not…

Iran may not want the bomb

Christiaan — Sun, 24 May 2009 20:25:48 +0000

Fareed Zakaria writing for Newsweek: … over the last five years, senior Iranian officials at every level have repeatedly asserted that they do not intend to build nuclear weapons. President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad has quoted the regime’s founding father, Ayatollah Ruhollah Khomeini, who asserted that such weapons were “un-Islamic.” The country’s Supreme Leader, Ayatollah Ali Khamenei,…

I can’t believe he said that

Christiaan — Wed, 22 Apr 2009 19:40:07 +0000

Groups of people all over the world calling themselves “news organisations,” such as The Times, continue to spread myths about Mahmoud Ahmadinejad, such as that he called for Israel to be “wiped off the map” or that he denies the Nazi Holocaust. In the mean time the Israeli Deputy Prime Minister has been quoted as…

Good news: UK turns to Keynesian economics

Christiaan — Sun, 19 Oct 2008 20:08:56 +0000

With New Labour’s neo-liberal agenda and long record of socialising costs and privatising profits it comes as a surprise to me that Alistair Darling has turned to Keynes in the face of recession. I had assumed until now that they’d use this recession and the recent handout to bankers as an opportunity to cut back on…

Bush regime drops preconditions to talks with Iran

Christiaan — Thu, 17 Jul 2008 09:29:24 +0000

It appears as if someone sensible finally has Bush’s ear. Maybe Tom Engelhardt is right.

Why the U.S. won’t attack Iran

Christiaan — Thu, 10 Jul 2008 22:01:30 +0000

The prospect of an attack on Iran has been on my mind since the attack on Iraq, not in the least because it would probably precipitate a great depression and turn much of the world into a fireball. Tom Engelhardt has a thoughtful piece on why he thinks the U.S./Israel won’t attack Iran, despite some of the nutters…

Iran is not the belligerent party

Christiaan — Wed, 02 Jul 2008 07:08:59 +0000

The media in the West has a lot of blood on its hands already. Is it going to have more blood on its hands in Iran? Iran is not the belligerent party: When it comes to demonising Iran, the US, Israel and Britain have a unified message and a compliant media, which has learned nothing from…

Chomsky on U.S. policy toward Iran

Christiaan — Mon, 26 Nov 2007 08:40:26 +0000

Paul Jay interviews Noam Chomksy on U.S. policy toward Iran: Suppose it was true that Iran is helping insurgents in Iraq. I mean, wasnâ€™t the United States helping insurgents when the Russians invaded Afghanistan? Did we think there was anything wrong with that? I mean, Iraq’s a country that was invaded and is under military…

The propaganda war against Iran

Christiaan — Sun, 12 Mar 2006 23:12:46 +0000

A few points to keep in mind if you're bothering to follow the current propaganda campaign being waged against Iran.

Armchair tough talk

Christiaan — Thu, 06 Oct 2005 23:22:09 +0000

Statements from your favourite armchair war criminals.

The U.S. invasion of Iran has already begun

Christiaan — Mon, 20 Jun 2005 12:21:04 +0000

Scott Ritter, former UN Chief Weapons Inspector in Iraq, writing for Aljazeera, argues that the invasion of Iran has already begun, much the same way as the invasion of Iraq begun in the summer of 2002.

How long before we forget Iraq?

Christiaan — Wed, 09 Apr 2003 18:17:27 +0000

Since the Second World War the United States Government has bombed 21 countries. None of these bombing campaigns led to the establishment of humane democracies in the countries involved. What most of them did lead to was the crushing of any semblance of a challenge to North American dominance and capitalism, and democracy in most cases.