I/P Hamas Is Feeling The Heat

Community (This content is not subject to review by Daily Kos staff prior to publication.)

Monday January 11, 2010 · 9:58 AM PST

2010/01/11 · 09:58

So it's been reported that 20 mortars have been fired from Gaza into Israel over the past week. Israel responded yesterday, killing three members of Islamic Jihad. And recent reports had Hamas test firing a long range missile which could hit Tel Aviv.

An underground wall which will severely limit the capacity to smuggle Iranian supplied weapons into Gaza through tunnels is currently under construction. Of course you have to think there's a way around the wall, unless Egypt builds it along the entire length of the border. Otherwise what's the point? Nonetheless, life could soon become at least somewhat more difficult for Hamas.

RAFAH, Gaza Strip (AP) -- A jackhammer pounded large steel beams side by side into the sandy soil on the Egyptian side of Gaza's border, putting in place an underground wall that could shift the balance of power in this volatile area.

Once completed, the steel barrier would cut off blockaded Gaza's last lifeline and -- by slicing through hundreds of smuggling tunnels under the nine-mile (14-kilometer) Gaza-Egypt border -- could increase pressure on the territory's Hamas rulers to moderate.

Keith Moon

Community (This content is not subject to review by Daily Kos staff prior to publication.)

Saturday January 02, 2010 · 7:12 PM PST

2010/01/02 · 19:12

Roger Cohen, NY Times columnist who has covered Iran extensively has written an excellent piece which winds up concluding that it's time for the Iranian Republic to emerge - note what's been left off of that descriptor, Islamic. Yes it's time to dump this theocratic thugocracy, time to dump this emerging military police state cloaked in a transparently fake, cracking veneer of religion, in favor of a true secular republic.

It has come to this: The Islamic Republic of Iran killing the sons and daughters of the revolution during Ashura, adding martyrdom to martyrdom at one of the holiest moments in the Shiite calendar.

Nothing could better symbolize Iran's 30-year-old regime at the limit of its contradictions. A supreme leader imagined as the Prophet's representative on earth - Ayatollah Ruhollah Khomeini's central revolutionary idea - now heads a militarized coterie bent, in the name of money and power, on the bludgeoning of the Iranian people. A false theocracy confronts a society that has seen through it.

The emperor has no clothes.

Keith Moon

Community (This content is not subject to review by Daily Kos staff prior to publication.)

Saturday December 26, 2009 · 8:43 PM PST

2009/12/26 · 20:43

"Even if a bullet goes through my heart, it's not important," said Soltan, whose last moments were captured on video and spread worldwide. "What we're fighting for is more important. When it comes to taking our stolen rights back we should not hesitate. Everyone is responsible. Each person leaves a footprint in this world."

http://www.upi.com/...

Keith Moon

Community (This content is not subject to review by Daily Kos staff prior to publication.)

Thursday December 17, 2009 · 9:30 AM PST

2009/12/17 · 09:30

So last week's huge protests in Iran saw many calling for an end to theocratic rule there. Protesters waved flags without the Islamic symbol on them and burned pictures of Ayatollah Khomenei. A video of this brave act has been shown on IRIB - state run TV.

The two prominent opposition figures, Mousavi and Karroubi, have denounced it and accused the state broadcaster, IRIB, of fabricating the desecration of Khomenei's image to discredit their supporters. They're afraid of a harsh crackdown - as if there hasn't already been one. These two reformists are part of the system. They are trying to change it as much as they can, which ain't much, from within while preserving it's Islamic nature. Good luck with that.

Many younger Iranians, and Iranian students, have no such allegiance to Khomenei, have no loyalty to the Islamic system and want the entire corrupt, fanatical, Islamic Republic overthrown. Good on them I say.

As noted in this piece, this growing segment of the population, this group of 'radical" protesters, who are really the liberals among them, are calling "Islamic democracy" an oxymoron.

Keith Moon

Community (This content is not subject to review by Daily Kos staff prior to publication.)

Tuesday December 15, 2009 · 7:33 PM PST

2009/12/15 · 19:33

Is Hamas an obstacle to peace? Can there be any doubt after this latest pronouncement by Haniya?

GAZA CITY — Hamas Prime Minister Ismail Haniya on Monday told tens of thousands of Hamas supporters his group remains committed to the elimination of Israel, on the 22nd anniversary of its founding.

"We will never give up on Palestine from the river to the sea," Haniya told the crowd, referring to the pre-1948 borders of the British Palestine Mandate between the Mediterranean Sea and the Jordan River.

"It is not enough for Hamas to liberate Gaza, nor to establish an emirate in Gaza, nor a state, nor an independent entity... Hamas strives to liberate all of Palestine."

Keith Moon

Community (This content is not subject to review by Daily Kos staff prior to publication.)

Monday December 14, 2009 · 8:31 AM PST

2009/12/14 · 08:31

The big news in Iran at the moment are the images being broadcast on state media which show protesters burning pictures of Ayatollah Khomenei, the father of the Islamic Revolution. Who is behind this? Was it staged? Why were these images broadcast on state TV? My opinion is that there's a schism within the opposition movement. Some have broken with Moussavi, who is merely calling for window dressing changes in the system, and they are now calling for the overthrow of the entire Islamic Republic. They want Khamenei gone. They want separation of religion and state. These protesters have been called 'more radical" but of course they are entirely liberal!

But why were these images broadcast on TV? Was that a smart move by the state? Mightn't the showing of the desecration of Iran's holiest dude spread that kind of thinking throughout the masses. I assume it was broadcast to try to discredit these liberal protesters, but as the syaing goes, "any publicity is good publicity", and perhaps the state has just ignited a spark!

Keith Moon

Community (This content is not subject to review by Daily Kos staff prior to publication.)

Friday December 11, 2009 · 8:07 AM PST

2009/12/11 · 08:07

So on the heels of large demonstrations this week in Iran which saw protesters calling for an end to Theocratic Rule where hundreds were arrested and beaten, Amnesty International has called on Iran's Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei to allow United Nations human rights experts to visit the country to help carry out an investigation of what it claims are the worst human rights abuses there in the last 20 years. Sure right. Don't hold your breath AI.

This latest AI report holds the highest levels of political and religious power in Iran responsible for gross human rights violations. These include torture, rape, imprisonment and show trials of prominent opposition leaders. And AI accuses the Iranian regime of covering up these grave abuses rather than investigating them. Well naturally, if they're being ordered from the top it's a given that there will be no investigations. I mean unless there are fake investigations and a few lower echelon players get thrown to the wolves while upper level players get exonerated or conveniently overlooked.

Keith Moon

Community (This content is not subject to review by Daily Kos staff prior to publication.)

Wednesday December 09, 2009 · 7:54 AM PST

2009/12/09 · 07:54

So following Monday's huge protests - which saw many calling for an end to theocratic rule in Iran, which saw flags being waved with the Islamic Republic symbol removed, which saw protesters chanting, Khamenei knows his time is up ,and which saw pictures of the father of the Islamic Revolution, Ayatollah Khomenei, being burned - Tues. saw them continuing on the University of Tehran campus where a bloody clash ensued. The brutal Basij goons, outnumbering students 5000 to 800, according to reports, stormed in wielding lethal force.

Armed with steel clubs, electric batons, pepper spray and tear gas, members of the Basij paramilitary organization attacked several hundred students on the campus of the University of Tehran. Witnesses said the student protesters fought back, in some cases injuring members of the Basij, who fall under the command of Iran's elite Revolutionary Guard Corps

Keith Moon

Community (This content is not subject to review by Daily Kos staff prior to publication.)

Tuesday December 08, 2009 · 9:31 AM PST

2009/12/08 · 09:31

Their spirit won't die and it can't be suppressed. In fact the more the Iranian gov't tries to suppress the Iranian freedom movement the more determined they seem to get. And many in the movement are now publically and vociferously calling for the end of Theocratic rule in Iran!

BEIRUT, Lebanon — Iran’s broadest and most violent protest in months spilled over into a second day on Tuesday, as bloody clashes broke out on university campuses between students chanting antigovernment slogans and the police and Basij militia members.

//

Monday’s protests marked a striking escalation in direct attacks on the country’s theocratic foundation and not just on the June presidential elections, which the opposition has attacked as fraudulent. Protesters burned pictures of Ayatollah Khamenei, and even the father of the 1979 revolution, Ayatollah Ruhollah Khomeini. They held up flags from which the "Allah" emblem, added after the revolution, had been removed.

wow

Keith Moon

Community (This content is not subject to review by Daily Kos staff prior to publication.)

Friday December 04, 2009 · 9:11 AM PST

2009/12/04 · 09:11

So after the IAEA Board voted 25-3 to censor Iran over it's nuclear program and after Iran has threatened to bar IAEA inspectors from it's soil, A Jad has upped the ante by stating his country will enrich uranium to 20%. What does that mean exactly? Well, if successful, they will be one short step away from having weapons grade uranium.

The Iranian president, Mahmoud Ahmadinejad, said Wednesday that his nation would produce a higher grade of nuclear fuel on its own, escalating its war of words with the international community over its disputed nuclear program.

Iran's Nuclear ProgramHis declaration continued a daily drumbeat of defiant proclamations from the Iranian leadership, which has vowed to expand its nuclear plants and hone its capability to enrich uranium despite strong warnings from the United Nations and Western powers that its program violates its commitments under the Nuclear Nonproliferation Treaty.

Keith Moon

Community (This content is not subject to review by Daily Kos staff prior to publication.)

Tuesday December 01, 2009 · 7:15 AM PST

2009/12/01 · 07:15

First you had the three Americans arrested by Iran after inadvertantly crossing into it's territory in a remote hiking area, now you have the arrest of five British sailors who inadvertantly sailed into Iranian waters.

-- Iran confirmed the arrest Tuesday of five British sailors who were on a racing yacht, with one official saying they could be dealt with " severely", the country's semi-official Fars News Agency reported.

"We shall deal severely with the five arrested UK citizens, if it is proven that they had ill intentions," Esfandiar Rahim-Mashaie, the president's head of staff said according to the news agency.

Their vessel, a racing yacht called the Kingdom of Bahrain, was on its way from Bahrain to Dubai for a race when it was stopped by Iranian navy ships on November 25, the British Foreign Office confirmed.

The boat "may have strayed inadvertently into Iranian waters" when it was intercepted, a Foreign Office statement said.

http://www.cnn.com/...

Keith Moon

Community (This content is not subject to review by Daily Kos staff prior to publication.)

Friday November 27, 2009 · 7:56 AM PST

2009/11/27 · 07:56

So there it is. The IAEA has censured Iran for the first time in four years over it's stalling, secretiveness and lack of tranparency regarding its nuclear program. They have in fact, caught Iran in an outright lie. Iran has claimed that construction on the Qom enrichment site began in 2007 but the IAEA has satellite evidence showing that it began much earlier, in 2002.

This new resolution demands that Iran immediately mothball the newly-revealed nuclear enrichment facility, which experts agree has not been built for civilian, peaceful purposes. It's been built to house approximately 3000 centrifuges designed to produce about a ton of enriched uranium a year.

....that would be enough for a nuclear warhead but too little for Iran's civilian reactors that have yet to come online, including the still unfinished plant at the southern port of Bushehr.

Newer
Older

RSS

I/P Hamas Is Feeling The Heat

Time For The (Secular) Iranian Republic

Times of London Names Iranian Martyr Neda Person of The Year

Iran: Controversial Video of Khomenei Photo Getting Burned

"Hamas Strives to Liberate All of Palestine"

Iran: Photos of Khomenei Burned By Protesters

Amnesty International: Iran Human Rights Worst in 20 Years

Iran Cracks Down Hard on Student Protesters

Protesters Call For An End to Iranian Theocracy

Iran Says It Will Enrich Uranium To 20%

Iran Detains Five British Yachtsmen

IAEA Censures Iran