Showing posts with label sanctions. Show all posts
Showing posts with label sanctions. Show all posts

Saturday, April 14, 2007

Americans for Peace Now opposes new legislation toughening Iran sanctions

Related
:: Americans for Peace Now ::
---

Americans for Peace Now opposes new legislation toughening Iran sanctions.

"APN supports the imposition of targeted U.S. economic sanctions against Iran, but believes strongly that such sanctions should be part of a comprehensive strategy that includes both carrots and sticks," said a letter sent Friday to all Congress members. "Experience in the region demonstrates that sanctions alone are not likely to do the job; what is necessary for an effective policy is to combine sanctions with diplomacy."

Recently proposed legislation in the U.S. House of Representatives and the Senate "would target not only Iran but all those members of the international community who do not share the U.S. sanctions-only approach," said the letter. "Not only would such a policy likely fail to sway Iran, but it would likely complicate and seriously strain relations with those very nations whose cooperation the U.S. needs in order to craft a comprehensive policy toward Iran policy that can deliver success (e.g., the Europeans, Russia, Japan)."

The American Israel Public Affairs Committee strongly backs both packages, and urged its activists this week to lobby their lawmakers to push through the sanctions. The international community is isolating Iran until it allows greater nuclear transparency.

Wednesday, April 4, 2007

Iran sanctions boost civil nuclear disaster risk, report says

Another Chernobyl anyone? Do Americans know winds carry dust from Iran over the US?
---
By Harvey Morris

Published: April 2 2007 03:00 | Last updated: April 2 2007 03:00

International sanctions to starve Iran's nuclear programme have heightened the risk of a radiological disaster that could spread across the Gulf, according to a new British report.

John Large of Large and Associates, UK nuclear consultants, writes that once the Bushehr civilian reactor in southern Iran goes into operation this year, a safety failure - a radioactive leak - could threaten Gulf shipping lanes and Arab Gulf states.

"The United Nations Security Council sanctions are aimed at halting, or at least impeding, the transfer of knowledge, information and equipment relating to Iran's uranium enrichment and heavy water related undertakings," the report, commissioned by the United Arab Emirates' Centre for Strategic Studies and Research, states.

"The irony here is that perhaps the culture essential to maintaining nuclear safety for Iran's separate civil nuclear power programme will be left wanting."

The Bushehr civilian power plant, nearing start-up with Russian assistance, was excluded from United Nations sanctions imposed last December and strengthened this week in an attempt to halt a nuclear programme that experts believe is geared to producing a bomb.

Although Russia would be responsible for overseeing safety and taking charge of spent fuel at the Bushehr plant, Mr Large expressed concern that Iran's isolation from the international nuclear science community would compromise safety at it and other plants.

The report leaves little doubt that the Iran's overall programme would provide it with dual civilian-military capabilities.

The plant at Bushehr "would not, on its own, provide sufficient demand to commercially justify the sheer scale of Iran's ventures into the uranium enrichment and nuclear fuel manufacturing fields."

But Mr Large believes the Iranians have run into problems in perfecting centrifuge uranium enrichment technology at a plant at Natanz and have therefore boosted a heavy water project to produce plutonium at Arak in eastern Iran.

"Reading between the lines suggests that Iran has encountered considerable technical and logistical difficulties and setbacks in its endeavours to establish itself as a nuclear power in the region," the report says.

However, the Arak project "would enable Iran to venture along the route of acquiring a plutonium-cored nuclear weapons arsenal, like North Korea."

Assessing the radiological risks of accident or military strike against Iran's widely dispersed nuclear facilities, Mr Large says little or no contamination would spread from Arak until the plant was up and running.

The Arak facilities would be safe at least until the start-up of the plutonium breeding reactor. Damage to underground facilities at Natanz would pose a radiological threat but it would be confined to the workforce and local population.

However, "the radiological aftermath of an extreme radioactive release at Bushehr, either as a result of a military strike or a severely damaging accident . . . could require rapid implementation of population protection measures," Mr Large writes.

A radioactive plume would potentially contaminate the southern Gulf, including the territory of the UAE.

The report says a punitive strike on Bushehr would have little significance to an Iranian military programme. But after it went into operation, accidental or deliberate damage "might result in an untoward release of radioactivity accompanied by intolerable health and economic impacts across the region."

Saturday, March 31, 2007

Jerusalem church leaders call for support to end embargo

30 March 2007 | 07-0263 |

Jerusalem (ENI). Leaders of churches in Jerusalem in an Easter message have urged Christians around the world to work to end an international financial boycott of the Palestinian government imposed after the Islamist Hamas movement came to power in 2006.

Palestinian hope held hostage

Economic sanctions are keeping Palestinians from building a life.

By Salam Fayyad, SALAM FAYYAD is the minister of finance in the Palestinian unity government.

March 31, 2007

TWO WEEKS AGO, I became the minster of finance for a people whose economy has all but collapsed. It was the start of business for the new Palestinian unity government, born after months of tricky on-again, off-again negotiations and amid economic sanctions, bloodshed and misery.

The government came together after a bad year for the struggling Palestinian Authority. Our economic difficulties grew much worse during that period, in the aftermath of a free and fair election that brought Hamas to power. Because Hamas' political platform did not conform to key elements of the peace process, including Palestinian recognition of Israel's right to exist and a commitment to renounce violence, the international community imposed sanctions on the Palestinian Authority.

Although much of the discussion leading to the formation of the unity government has focused on these two commitments, their validity should not have been much in question. After all, these commitments were made by the Palestine Liberation Organization, the legitimate representative of the Palestinian people, in a crystal-clear and binding agreement in 1993, and no Palestinian government has the authority to revoke them. In fact, the unity government's platform explicitly states that it will honor all PLO agreements, which, to be sure, include these two commitments.

As someone who has long worked for peace and reconciliation with Israel — a peace based on mutual recognition of each people's rights — I have always subscribed to the PLO's political program and all the commitments it embodies, including the recognition of Israel's right to exist and the renunciation of violence. I still do. My top priority is to lead the effort to end the economic sanctions and to restore the integrity of our public finance system.

A harsh and painful year after the onset of the sanctions, staggering poverty and unemployment rates prevail. Today, almost two-thirds of the Palestinian population lives in poverty, with per-capita income at 60% of its level in 1999. But as Thomas Jefferson said: "If we are to dream, the flatteries of hope are as cheap, and pleasanter, than the gloom of despair." As a Palestinian, I have a duty to hope and to work tirelessly to make the dreams of my people a reality.

We Palestinians dream of living normal lives. We dream of an end to the days when Palestinian farmers in the West Bank watch their crops destroyed to make way for Israeli-only roads, an end to the days when Palestinian children must brave Israeli military checkpoints to get to school and an end to the days when Gaza's 1.4 million Palestinians are sealed inside their territory, cut off from the rest of the world. Like all people, we deserve freedom in our own land. We deserve democratic, transparent and accountable institutions. And we deserve to live in peace and economic cooperation with all our neighbors, including Israel.

Over the years, the international community has encouraged and supported Palestinians in building democratic institutions to serve as the foundation of our future state. Donor assistance helped pay for the building of schools, hospitals and roads in addition to supporting good governance and providing the know-how to create a functioning administration.

In my previous term as finance minister, from June 2002 to December 2005, I played a leading role in establishing transparency and accountability in government finances through the introduction of a series of deep, wide-ranging reforms that helped bring our public finance system up to international standards. These included the consolidation of all government revenues in the Ministry of Finance, the elimination of extra-budgetary spending and the regular publication of detailed financial statements.

Since the international sanctions were imposed, aid has continued to flow, which has helped prevent starvation. But by channeling funds so that they bypass the Ministry of Finance, donors have unintentionally contributed to reversing these institution-building gains. The money coming in can no longer be traced, and we cannot ensure that it is not being misappropriated.

Also, our dependence on foreign-aid handouts is increasing while our economic development is stifled. In 2005, for example, only 16% of European Union aid to Palestine was classified as humanitarian. Last year, that figure rose to 56%.

We do not aspire to be a beggar nation, dependent on the world to feed our people. We have the capacity, education and talent to build a thriving economy and a strong democracy. But we cannot do so while Israel seals our borders and withholds tax revenue it owes us, or while U.S. banking regulations prevent banks from handling government business.

In order that we may begin again to develop the institutions and systems that will make us self-reliant and that will buttress the foundation of our future state, the sanctions must be lifted.

The U.S. has long acknowledged — as has the entire world community — that the formation of a viable, independent Palestinian state on the West Bank (including East Jerusalem) and the Gaza Strip is the way out of this nearly 60-year-old conflict. But until the international community demonstrates the political will to help bring about a comprehensive settlement — one that will grant Palestinians the freedom to build our own economy and institutions in our own land — we will all continue to pay the price. Despair will continue to erode hope. And, lest we forget the words of Jefferson, hope is indeed "as cheap, and pleasanter."

Monday, March 26, 2007

Security Council resolution on Iran a grave threat to international peace and security

"This resolution by establishing sanctions is punishing a country that according to the IAEA [International Atomic Energy Agency] has never diverted its nuclear program ... with all its nuclear facilities under the monitoring of the IAEA's inspectors and their cameras," Mottaki said. He added that Iran has "fulfilled all its commitments to the IAEA and the NPT and demands nothing more than its inalienable rights under the NPT. Is there any better way to undermine an important multilateral instrument that deals directly with international peace and security? Isn't this action by the Security Council in and of itself a grave threat to international peace and security?"

Iran: A mountain that doesn't move
Despite another round of UN sanctions, Iran will not suspend its uranium-enrichment activities, a stance that is gaining support in the international community. Indeed, by seizing 15 British sailors, Tehran has shown that those who inflict pain will pay a price, even if it means a new spiral of proxy attacks and hostage-taking leading to bigger and deadlier showdowns. - Kaveh L Afrasiabi
(Mar 26, 2007

Kaveh L Afrasiabi, PhD, is the author of After Khomeini: New Directions in Iran's Foreign Policy (Westview Press) and co-author of "Negotiating Iran's Nuclear Populism", Brown Journal of World Affairs, Volume XII, Issue 2, Summer 2005, with Mustafa Kibaroglu. He also wrote "Keeping Iran's nuclear potential latent", Harvard International Review, and is author of Iran's Nuclear Program: Debating Facts Versus Fiction.

Wednesday, March 21, 2007

Russia nixes 'excessive' Iran sanctions w/ comment

Russia has to nix, otherwise it's increasing influence in Central Asia and the Middle East are at risk and more. They know the score. You may have heard there was a 'spat' with Iran over non-payment for nuclear plant work. Bogus. A spat over a measely 13 million dollars, with a country that makes 100's of millions in oil sales a week. Surrre. Russia needed the excuse to pull it's thousands of Russian workers from the plants. Yep. they are gone know. Guess why.
---
Russia nixes 'excessive' Iran sanctions

By VLADIMIR ISACHENKOV, Associated Press Writer 59 minutes ago

Russia's foreign minister said Wednesday that it will not support "excessive" sanctions against its economic partner Iran, as the U.N. Security Council drew closer to a vote on a new, harsher set of measures intended to push Tehran to freeze its nuclear program.

Ambassadors from the 15 Security Council nations held informal discussions at Britain's U.N. Mission in New York on Tuesday ahead of a meeting Wednesday afternoon to discuss possible changes to the draft resolution.

Germany and the five veto-wielding permanent council nations — the United States, Russia, China, Britain and France — agreed on the modest package of new sanctions Thursday to step up pressure on Iran to suspend uranium enrichment, which can be used to produce nuclear energy or nuclear weapons.

Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov said Wednesday that Moscow "will not support excessive sanctions against Iran," and added that the draft resolution has been softened at Moscow's behest.

The proposed new sanctions in the draft resolution would ban Iranian arms exports and freeze the assets of 28 additional individuals and organizations involved in the country's nuclear and missile programs — about a third linked to Iran's Revolutionary Guard, an elite military corps.

The package also calls for voluntary restrictions on travel by the individuals subject to sanctions, on arms sales to Iran, and on new financial assistance or loans to the Iranian government.

On Wednesday, Lavrov also denied allegations that Moscow has told Iran it would not deliver nuclear fuel for the Russian-built Bushehr nuclear plant unless Tehran complies with the U.N. demands.

"There is no link whatsoever between the U.N. resolution ... and the implementation of the Bushehr project," Lavrov told lawmakers in the lower parliament house.

European and U.S. officials who spoke on condition of anonymity because of the sensitivity of the talks said Tuesday that Moscow had bluntly told Tehran it would not ship fuel for Bushehr until Tehran freezes its uranium enrichment program, as demanded by the U.N. Security Council.

Lavrov dismissed the claims as an "unscrupulous trick."

"It's not the first time that we are seeing such an unscrupulous approach aimed at driving a wedge between us and Iran," he said.

Russia has said fuel for Bushehr would not be supplied this month, as had been planned earlier, because of alleged Iranian payment delays that prompted Moscow to indefinitely postpone the Bushehr reactor's launch, which had been set for September. Russian officials also said that the number of workers at Bushehr had dwindled due to the funding shortage.

Iran angrily denied falling behind in payments and accused Russia of caving in to U.S. pressure to take a tougher line on Tehran. Iranian state television on Tuesday described Russia as an "unreliable partner," adding: "It is clear that Russia has stopped construction of this plant under pressure and for political reasons."

Monday, February 26, 2007

Will Surge Hurt US More Than Sanctions Hurt Iran?

POLITICS:

Analysis by Trita Parsi*

WASHINGTON, Feb 26 (IPS) - The winds of fortune in the Iranian nuclear stand-off seem to have shifted, judging by the U.S.'s new confidence. But in Washington's apparent quest to get an upper hand, misreading the causes of the backlash against President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad in Iran may cause the U.S. to lose rather than gain leverage.

Over the past few months, Iran's hard-line president has suffered several political defeats at home. The most important of these were the Dec. 15 municipal elections last year where candidates allied with the president fared miserably, while centrist conservatives close to former President Hashemi Rafsanjani -- a key rival of Ahmadinejad -- made significant gains.

Ahmadinejad's defeat, coupled with increased criticism against him at home over his economic policies and his failure to evade U.N. Security Council Sanctions, have left Washington with the impression that its efforts to squeeze Iran's access to international finance has borne fruit at a surprising rate.

Washington's euphoria over this perceived success has been used as an argument with its European allies that the pressure is working and that if only Europe joins the U.S., Iran will eventually be brought down to its knees.

This argument is likely to be repeated today when the U.S., Britain, France, Russia, China and Germany meet to discuss how to respond to Iran's refusal to suspend its uranium enrichment activities, as requested by U.N. Security Council Resolution 1737.

But Washington's reading of developments in Iran is severely flawed. Most importantly, there is likely no significant causality between the U.S.'s recently imposed unilateral financial sanctions and Ahmadinejad's dwindling popularity.

The George W. Bush administration seems to be confusing its sanctions policies with Ahmadinejad's incompetent economic policies. The push-back against Ahmadinejad has, according to observers of Iran's domestic political scene, far more to do with his failed economic policies and his populist promises, which have created exaggerated expectations among the Iranian populace, than with Tehran's nuclear posturing or Washington's financial sanctions.

A key trigger of the anti-Ahmadinejad sentiments has been rising inflation, which has been caused by an influx of liquidity into the Iranian economy rather than a shortage of it.

Still, Washington is right in pointing out that Tehran has been thrown off course and that divisions within the Iranian government regarding the nuclear file are growing. But the impetus for this rift is likely the psychological shock Tehran suffered when the U.N. Security Council passed Resolution 1737 in December of last year rather than any economic pain resulting from Washington's pressure.

Tehran seemed to have thought that it could evade sanctions throughout 2006, and then face a potentially more lenient Council in 2007 with the entrance of states such as South Africa into the U.N.'s highest body.

The problem for the West, though, is that Tehran will recuperate from a psychological shock much faster than it would had the shock been economic in nature. As a result, the West's perceived advantage over Iran may prove transitory and short-lived.

If the Bush administration is really seeking negotiations, that is, if its policy of seizing and releasing Iranian diplomats in Iraq and its military build-up in the Persian Gulf are geared towards gaining leverage over Iran to be used in a future negotiation rather than to produce a pretext to start a war with Tehran, then Washington would be wise to start those negotiations sooner rather than later.

Furthermore, whatever difficulties Iran may find itself in currently, and whatever pain additional economic and financial sanctions may incur on Tehran, these costs must be measured against Washington's intensifying predicament in Iraq once the Bush administration's surge strategy has run it course.

The White House is virtually alone in believing that the surge will change Iraq for the better. Tehran is in agreement with the U.S. Congress and Washington's European allies in predicting that the Bush administration cannot reverse the negative trends in Iraq through a moderate increase in U.S. troop levels, while refusing to engage Iran diplomatically or pressure the Saudi government to clamp down on elements within its territory who are supporting the Iraqi insurgency with funds and arms.

Still, the State Department is pressing on with its twin policy of surging troop levels in Iraq and reducing diplomatic activity with Iran. The idea of punishing Iran by imposing new and stricter sanctions is also attractive to hawkish Democratic members of Congress who feel a political need to differentiate themselves from the Bush administration and its perceived war plans, while at the same time remaining tough and hostile towards Iran.

By late summer 2007, however, the U.S. public's patience with the surge policy will likely dry up. Public and Congressional opposition to the Bush administration's Iraq policy will cross a new threshold and the White House will be pressed to either show positive results or accept a significant shift in its Middle East policy.

This is where the underlying flaws with Washington's faulty reading of internal developments in Iran in which causalities are seen where none exist may become devastating to the U.S.

If no success in Iraq has been produced by this summer, Iran will likely be in a stronger position vis-à-vis the West than it is now, even if Washington succeeds in imposing robust sanctions on Tehran. However stringent the next round of U.N. sanctions on Iran may be, they will likely not impose enough damage on Iran to offset the damage the failure of the surge will do to the U.S.'s position.

As a result, in a bid to find leverage against Iran by increasing pressure but without boosting diplomacy, Washington -- and its European fellow-travelers -- may end up squandering the little leverage they have left.

*Dr. Trita Parsi is the author of "Treacherous Alliances -- The Secret Dealings of Israel, Iran and the United States" (Yale University Press, 2007). He is also president of the National Iranian American Council (http://www.niacouncil.org/).

Thursday, February 8, 2007

The Iran Option That Isn't on the Table

By Vali Nasr and Ray Takeyh

Thursday, February 8, 2007; A21

As Iran crosses successive nuclear demarcations and mischievously intervenes in Iraq, the question of how to address the Islamic republic is once more preoccupying Washington. Economic sanctions, international ostracism, military strikes and even support for hopeless exiles are all contemplated with vigor and seriousness. One option, however, is rarely assessed: engagement as a means of achieving a more pluralistic and responsible government in Tehran.

The all-encompassing nuclear debate comes as Iran's political landscape is changing once again. As America became reconciled to a monolithic Iran, represented by President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad and his brand of rambunctious politics, the results from December's local elections suggest Iranians were doing otherwise. Ahmadinejad's defiant rhetoric and populist posturing did not impress the Iranians who turned out in large numbers to elect city councils and members of the Assembly of Experts. Voters favored pragmatic conservatives and reformers who oppose their president's policies abroad and his economic programs at home. Despite this show of dissent, though, it would be a mistake to assume that Iran's regime is about to fall or that a democratic spring is looming.

Iran has long appeared ready for democracy. It has a literate, youthful population that is immersed in world culture, is at home on the Internet, is keen to engage the West and is above the anti-American anger that dominates the Arab street. No other Middle Eastern country has as much civic activism or a population that has voted as often in elections at various levels. But positive social and cultural indices have so far not translated into a political opening. Iranian society may be ready to embrace democracy, but Iranian politics is not ready to accommodate it.

Iran does not have an organized pro-democracy movement. The reformers who were swept to power in 1997 never coalesced around a coherent platform, nor did they produce a political party. Their movement inspired activism and student protests, and it changed the style and language of politics, but its lack of organization ultimately cost it the presidency in 2005. Reformism was popular but politically ineffective.

The clerical regime has also proved to be enterprising in facing demands for reform, particularly by using elections to manage opposition within the bounds of the Islamic republic. Economic isolation, supported by international sanctions, has kept the private sector weak, which has in turn denied supporters of change levers they could use to pry open the regime. The public sector accounts for more than 80 percent of the Iranian economy, and the constitution gives the clerical leadership most of the power. The problem facing democracy is not so much the state's theocratic nature as it is the enormous domination it enjoys over the economy, society and politics. For democracy to succeed, the state's domination of the economy and society must be reduced.

For too long, Washington has thought that a policy of coercion and sanctions applied to Iran would eventually yield a responsible and representative regime. Events in the Soviet Union and Eastern Europe suggest that containment eventually generates sufficient pressure to force autocratic elites to accommodate both international mandates and the aspirations of their restless constituents. Ironically, though, U.S. policy has buttressed the Iranian regime, which has justified its monopoly of power as a means of fending off external enemies and managing an economy under international duress.

More than sanctions or threats of military retribution, Iran's integration into the global economy would impose standards and discipline on the recalcitrant theocracy. International investors and institutions such as the World Trade Organization are far more subversive, as they would demand the prerequisites of a democratic society -- transparency, the rule of law and decentralization -- as a price for their commerce.

Paradoxically, to liberalize the theocratic state, the United States would do better to shelve its containment strategy and embark on a policy of unconditional dialogue and sanctions relief. A reduced American threat would deprive the hard-liners of the conflict they need to justify their concentration of power. In the meantime, as Iran became assimilated into the global economy, the regime's influence would inevitably yield to the private sector, with its demands for accountability and reform.

It is important to appreciate that Iran has a political system without precedent or parallel in modern history. The struggle there is not just between reactionaries and reformers, conservatives and liberals, but fundamentally between the state and society. A subtle means of diminishing the state and empowering the society is, in the end, the best manner of promoting not only democracy but also nuclear disarmament.

Vali Nasr is a professor at the Naval Postgraduate School and the author of "The Shia Revival: How Conflicts Within Islam Will Shape the Future." Ray Takeyh is a senior fellow at the Council on Foreign Relations and the author of "Hidden Iran: Paradox and Power in the Islamic Republic."

Monday, February 5, 2007

Sanctions Against Iran: Key Issues

Sanctions Against Iran: Key Issues
In the newest report from The Century Foundation's Iran White Papers series, Bruce Jentleson, Professor of Political Science and Public Policy Studies at Duke University, provides a framework for assessing economic sanctions as part of the international community’s non-proliferation strategy. His analysis, informed by key aspects of the Iran case and sanctions strategy more generally, presents the principal sanctions options and assesses their relative merits and risks. Download the PDF file here.

Click here to view the complete Iran White Papers series.

Wednesday, January 31, 2007

Don’t Flirt with the Occupation - February 10th Mass Demonstration Against Carmel-Agrexco in London

January 31st, 2007

Agrexco is Israel’s largest exporter of fresh agricultural produce. The company is 50% owned by the Israeli state. Agrexco accounts for 70% ofIsraeli fresh produce sold abroad with annual sales of $750 million in 2006. Agrexco boast of being able to get produce to European markets within 24 hours.

The Valentines Day period is one of Agrexco UK’s busiest times as the company deals with large amounts of fresh flowers from Israel and the settlements.

The Boycott Israeli Goods campaign is planning a mass picket of the depot on Saturday February 10th in opposition to the sale of Israeli goods and in support of Palestinian farmers who are not able to market their goods internationally

In the UK Agrexco is known under the Carmel, Coral and Jaffa brands. The UK is the most important foreign market for Israeli fresh produce. Agrexco exports a wide range of produce to the UK including peppers, tomatoes, strawberries, herbs, spices, flowers and avocados.

Agrexco is the largest exporter of settlement produce for sale overseas. Much of this produce comes from colonies in the Jordan Valley. Carmel Agrexco hgave had dealings with the colonies of Tomer, Mehola, Hamra, Ro’i, Massua, Patzael, Mekhora, Netiv Ha-Gdud and Bet Ha-Arava.

Palestinian workers in the settlements suffer much worse working conditions and receive half the pay of Israelis.

Carmel-Agrexco’s UK depot has been blockaded 3 times by Palestinian solidarity activists.

Palestinians are calling for the solidarity movement to take action against Carmel Agrexco. 180 Palestinian organisations and unions, in response to the Israeli onslaught, have called for a campaign of Boycott, Divestment and Sanctions against Apartheid Israel.

Meet at 11am, (Bridge Place, Behind Victoria Station, Opposite UK Passport Office, outside the Hisperia Hotel) Central London, for transport to Agrexco’s depot in Middlesex.

Meet at Carmel, Swallowfield Way, Hayes at 1pm (see map) if you are making your own way there. Email boycott@palestinecampaign.org to let us know you are coming.

Posted in Press Releases, International Actions, Boycott & sanctions

*******************************

Click here for YNet report on Israeli flower exports.

by Boycott Israeli Goods

Monday, January 29, 2007

Young Iranians Warn Pressure Could Strengthen Hardliners

By SALLY BUZBEE, Associated Press Writer Sat Jan 27, 2:33 PM ET

Shahryar Eivazzadeh runs a small software startup in Tehran, spends his spare time blogging and feels little affection for Iran's current regime. But when tensions with the U.S. are mentioned, he comes to his country's defense.

The West has a wrong image of Iran, he says — "It's a very black-and-white, a very simplistic view," the 31-year-old said Saturday.

He and other young Iranians warned at the World Economic Forum in Switzerland that the growing U.S.-Iranian standoff and fears of U.S. military strikes could strengthen the hard-liners who now control their government.

Almost all made clear their discomfort with hardline President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad, and said average Iranians crave more openness with the West. But they also stressed the strong role that national pride, and desire for Western respect, play in Iran.

For that reason, Western pressure will not create impetus for change as the U.S. administration may hope, but instead could coalesce support around continued hardline policies, they warned.

"Even the prospect of an attack on Iran can unite the most radical reformists" with the hardline government, said Mohammedreza Jalaeipour, an Iranian student at Oxford University in Britain.

The U.S. has accused the Islamic regime of seeking a nuclear bomb, and the tense standoff over the nuclear program led the U.N. Security Council to impose targeted sanctions last year. Iran says its program is for energy only.

The rising tensions also have been fueled by Ahmadinejad's harsh rhetoric, especially his questioning of the Holocaust and attacks on Israel's right to exist.

But Vali Nasr, a scholar at the Council on Foreign Relations in the United States, said most Iranians do not hold such views. Ahmadinejad won the presidency because of a populist backlash against domestic economic woes, not support for his hardline politics, he said.

Many of those here said they felt that the key issue was for the United States and Iran to talk directly — something they have rarely done since breaking diplomatic relations after the 1979 Islamic Revolution and the U.S. hostage crisis.

The U.S. and Iran made overtures during the years when reformist former President Mohammad Khatami was in power in the late 1990s, but they came to nothing.

Jalaeipour expressed the frustration many Iranians now feel, telling one U.S. official here that the United States "helped create Ahmadinejad, by not honoring Khatami."

Khatami, now a frequent Western speaker, lamented the "wall" between the U.S. and Iran during separate talks at the Davos session. But he also pointed to the issue of pride, saying his country can only agree to "just, equal talks" without preconditions. The U.S. wants Iran to suspend uranium enrichment before any talks.

The nuclear issue is inextricably tied up with national pride, many speakers here said — a symbol of the country's rising scientific and technological know-how.

But they stressed that their country is more complex than the West believes, more diverse politically and more democratic.

Sixty-five percent of Iranians are younger than 25 and thus were born after the Islamic revolution, noted Mohammad Hossein Adeli, a former Khatami adviser and ambassador who now heads a think tank.

"You're facing a new generation that would like to engage with the world," he said.

Friday, January 19, 2007

Israeli NGO vows Amazon boycott over Carter review

Related
Carter's book is long overdue
---
The Jerusalem Post Internet Edition

LONDON - The Israeli Committee against House Demolitions (ICAHD) has opened a campaign to censor on-line retailer Amazon.com following the posting of a critical review of former US president Jimmy Carter's book Palestine: Peace Not Apartheid.

The group said the article, written by a customer, was "hostile" to Carter's viewpoint and had been placed in the wrong section of the Web page on the book.

In an e-mail, ICAHD said it was "deeply disturbed" by the treatment of Carter's "important new book" and had issued an ultimatum demanding Amazon move the negative review and "restore a semblance of balance" by giving "comparable space and prominence to a more positive evaluation" of the book.

The group is asking people to write to Jeff Bezos, Amazon's CEO, and to boycott the company. The e-mail says: "You insist on running the complete, 20-paragraph, 1,636-word text of a review unabashedly hostile to Carter's viewpoint.

"You have refused to add information shoppers should have in evaluating this review: the fact that the reviewer, Jeffrey Goldberg, is a citizen of Israel as well as the US, and that he volunteered to serve in the Israeli Defense Forces, for which he worked as a guard at a prison for Palestinian detainees.

"And you have refused to balance his negative review by giving comparable space to a favorable assessment of the book, even though positive reviews by qualified experts have appeared in many reputable publications."

The ICAHD said it was "not interested in supporting a corporation that uses its power in the marketplace in such a biased and unconstructive way on such an important issue."

An ultimatum is then delivered: "If you do not, by January 22, remove the Goldberg review, move it to the more appropriate 'See all Editorial Reviews' page, or restore a semblance of balance by giving comparable space and prominence to a more positive evaluation of Palestine: Peace Not Apartheid, we... pledge to stop shopping at Amazon... and encourage our friends, family and associates to do likewise."

In a March 2005 brief, NGO Monitor, part of the Jerusalem Center for Public Affairs, described the Committee against House Demolitions as "a well-funded, blatantly political and ideological one-man NGO, which couches its radical anti-Israel agenda and demonization in the rhetoric of human rights."

The brief continues: ICAHD coordinator Jeff "Halper routinely uses terms such as 'apartheid' and 'war crimes' to refer to Israeli policy against Palestinian terror, supports a 'one state solution,' and advocates sanctions and boycotts."

Tuesday, January 9, 2007

The Silent Holocaust

Wednesday, January 03, 2007

Felicity Arbuthnot

This speech was given by Felicity to "The Silent Holocaust" National conference, which was hosted and sponsered by the Fire Brigade Union in 1998.

“I will start by giving you one example which illustrates the problems that the people are suffering and the parsimony of some of the organisations that are supposed to be helping alleviate the suffering.

At one time the European Union supplied Iraq with a large consignment of powered milk which is absolutely vital in Iraq because most Iraqi women are too undernourished to breast feed their babies. When the powdered milk was tested, it was revealed to be highly radioactive and not fit for consumption.

“Before the Gulf War, Iraq imported 70 per cent of all her needs. This extended to pharmaceuticals and the supply and servicing of items such as incubators, X-ray machines etc.

Iraq was dependent on imports to maintain its livestock industry; poultry production dropped after the war to 18% of its previous levels. Before the war the access to clean water was 93% and the access to high quality health care was about 92%.

UNESCO even said that Iraq was one of the only countries in the world where, even if you were born in absolute poverty with illiterate parents you could come out of the education system either a brain surgeon, archaeologist or whatever you wished to become. So it is important to bear in mind that this was a very developed country. The embargo has resulted in the collapse of the health service.

Shortages in medical supplies have resulted in patients who either do not wake up from an anaesthetic for about two and a half days or come-to during the operation. This has been going on for about two and a half years.

“I want to say something about the effects from the huge amount of radio activity that was released into the country from the shells and missiles during the war.

The radio activity came from the depleted uranium that was used to coat the missiles and shells. It was released in the form of dust after firing. The UK Atomic Energy Authority told me that if there were 50 tons of this dust left in the country it would result in 500,000 extra cancer deaths by the end of the century.

The UKAEA told the government about this in 1990. It is now estimated that there are between 700 and 900 tons of this material in Iraq. The results are that Iraqi hospitals are over-flowing with children with cancer and this dust will remain active for 4,500 million years.

You can now go into any hospital in Iraq and see people with the most appalling cancers and, of course, there is nothing to treat these people with. When I was in Iraq doctors told me that just ten months after the war they were reporting the appearance of birth defects that they had only previously seen in text books of examples taken from the pacific islands after the nuclear tests that took place there in the 1950s. They said that increases in hydrocephalus, cleft palate, deformed or missing limbs, webbed fingers and webbed toes had all been noted.

All these symptoms can be seen in those cases of Gulf War syndrome. If governments were prepared to put proper money into funding an independent scientific survey they would see that this is really the unique nightmare of the vanquished and the victor being equally effected.

“One of the most pernicious things is that, under the ‘dual-use’ heading, anti-cancer drugs are banned from being imported into Iraq. The logic being that medicines for radio therapy, because they have minute amounts of radioactive properties, may have a military application. The theory is that Iraq will somehow obtain millions of these pills and devise a way of making a nuclear weapon - which is technologically impossible.

In the same way, even pencils cannot be imported by Iraq, as they contain graphite. So far no one has been able to find out the military application of other banned products such as lipstick, deodorant, sanitary towels, shroud material and medical gauze, i.e. bandages.

“One thing that any visitor to Iraq notes is the way ‘black’ souvenirs in the form of expended shell, bomb or rocket parts are collected. They are everywhere. They litter the towns and countryside. Children in particular collect them and play with them. Of course, this is a prime route for children to become exposed to radiation. When I latched onto this risk, early in 1993 I arranged to see someone very senior in the ministry of health [in Iraq] to voice my concerns.

I explained to this man the risks that Iraqi children were putting themselves to. This very autocratic man, who had seemingly got intimidation down to a fine art; suddenly, all his bombasticness went, he dropped his eyes and said to me, ‘We are very, very afraid’. Sometime after that I went to a ward in a hospital. There I saw young cancer patients of 3 and 5 unable to move as any movement would cause excruciating pain.

The smallest, who’s eyes were full of tears and who was making murmuring noises and who had taught himself not to cry as he knew that the shaking of his crying would rock his body further and cause even greater paid. As I walked out of the ward, unable to stand up due to the shame, I stopped by the bed of the 5 year old who was in exactly the same condition.

I put my hand towards him and he immediately grabbed my hand seeing that perhaps I was someone slightly different. He looked at me in the universal way children look trying to see a look of affection. In that moment I decided that somehow I would try and make the difference and perhaps, in my own small way, help remove the sanctions.

“Not only are the children of Iraq very sick but psychologists report that the children are the most traumatised they have ever come across. They have not only been bombed three times but they have no toys to play with and their schools are empty of even the most basic learning materials. Frequently children will faint at school and it will be discovered that it is because the children will not be eating that week as families, to survive, eat in rotation.

One third of Iraqi children are characterised as having stunted growth. Some of the materials denied children are ping-pong balls and children's bicycles and adults are having to have operations such as amputations and caesarean sections without anaesthetics.

I also want to say something about the situation in Britain and the political brain-washing that has been done to the press. This was illustrated by the cynical way the press treated George Galloway when he brought the young Iraqi girl with leukaemia here for treatment.

He had raised the money for her treatment himself and he was very proud that he had been able to show the world that sick Iraqi children are just like sick children anywhere in the world. The vitriol, the wall to wall, solid vitriol, the lack of compassion was extended even to the children, even at five year olds.

I want to finish by telling you about another child I who became a friend. His name was Jassim and his main wish was to be a poet. The first time I met Jassim he was lying on a bed in a hospital ward without any sheets or bedding, just lying, staring with his beautiful dark eyes, as he did not have the energy to move. He had left school and had been selling cigarettes in the street to support his parents.

When I entered the ward he suddenly came alive and sat up after hearing this different language being spoken. Jassim had several writings and poems by his bed and he showed me one called the ‘Identity Card'. He had got the idea from a poem of the same name by a famous poet called Darlish.

But Jassims poem was different. It talked about the struggle to survive on the streets in Iraq. I told him I worked as a journalist, that I would get the poem published outside Iraq and, when I returned, I would bring a newspaper with it in for him to see.

Several months later a friend of mine took back a newspaper with Jasims poem printed in it. When my friend came back from Iraq I asked if Jassim was pleased to see his poem printed. Unfortunately he had died three days prior to the person arriving in Iraq.

Sunday, December 24, 2006

U.S. says U.N. Iran resolution not enough

Reuters

WASHINGTON - The United States cheered the U.N. Security Council's adoption of sanctions on Saturday aimed at pressuring Iran to halt uranium enrichment work, but called on Russia, China and others to take tougher measures on their own.

In a statement, Secretary of State Condoleeza Rice urged Iran to "suspend its sensitive nuclear activities and accept the negotiations path that the United States and its Security Council partners offered six months ago."

All nations should "take immediate action" to comply with the sanctions resolution, Rice said.

Earlier in the day, Undersecretary Nicholas Burns said the Bush administration will try to persuade Russia, China, Japan and the European Union to take more vigorous action, including cutting off lending to Iran.

"We don't think this resolution is enough in itself. And we're certainly not going to put all our eggs in a U.N. basket," said Burns in a teleconference with reporters.

"We'd like to see countries stop doing business as usual with Iran."

Burns said the idea was to drive up Iran's costs so long as it continues research on uranium enrichment, which can produce fuel for nuclear power plants as well as bombs, and research and development that might lead to the production or delivery of atomic weapons.

Saturday, December 23, 2006

Security Council Approves Iran Sanctions

Saturday December 23, 2006 5:01 PM

AP Photo UNFF101

UNITED NATIONS (AP) - The U.N. Security Council unanimously approved a resolution Saturday imposing sanctions against Iran for refusing to suspend uranium enrichment, culminating two months of negotiations aimed at pressuring Tehran to clarify its nuclear ambitions.

The resolution orders all countries to ban the supply of specified materials and technology that could contribute to Iran's nuclear and missile programs. It also imposes an asset freeze on key companies and people in the country's nuclear and missile programs named on a U.N. list.

If Iran refuses to comply, the resolution warns Iran that the council will adopt further nonmilitary sanctions.

U.N. Postpones Vote on Penalties for Iran

December 23, 2006

By ELISSA GOOTMAN
UNITED NATIONS, Dec. 22 — The Security Council postponed voting Friday on a resolution aimed at halting Iran’s nuclear program, after Russia objected that the document restricted legitimate business activities.

--MORE--

Friday, December 22, 2006

UN poised to pass sanctions despite Irans' threat to immediately shut off 20% of world's oil

UN poised to pass Iran sanctions despite threat

· Ahmadinejad warns of immediate retaliation
· US and Britain step up naval presence in Gulf


Ewen MacAskill and Richard Norton-Taylor
Friday December 22, 2006
The Guardian

Iran's president, Mahmoud Ahmadinejad, has been dismissive about the impact of sanctions.


The United Nations security council is finally expected to pass a resolution today to impose international sanctions on Iran for the first time since the 1979 revolution, a punitive move that will heighten diplomatic tensions and risks a military confrontation in the Gulf.

Iran has threatened immediate retaliation, even though the proposed sanctions have been significantly watered down this week. Tehran's options include withdrawal from the International Atomic Energy Agency, the UN nuclear watchdog, which would mean Iran would conduct its nuclear programme free from international monitoring, and possible closure of the Strait of Hormuz, the channel for 20% of the world's oil supplies.

Western diplomats think that the Iranian president, Mahmoud Ahmadinejad, and his colleagues are bluffing but, just in case, the US announced this week it is reinforcing its fleet in the Gulf.
The British government is also increasing its naval presence. Two minehunters arrived in Bahrain on Tuesday but the Ministry of Defence said their deployment was mainly for training with Gulf states and "not to counter any increased threat". Tony Blair, on a visit to the Middle East this week, portrayed Iran as a major threat.

The resolution will impose extremely limited restrictions on international travel on Iranians associated with the nuclear programme, a freeze on their overseas assets and a ban on nuclear-related exports. Western officials yesterday predicted that a draft resolutionwould be voted on today in New York, bringing to an end six months of negotiations.

Ali Larijani, secretary of Iran's Supreme National Security Council, who is responsible for nuclear negotiations, was quoted by an Iranian news agency yesterday as saying that Iran would not be deflected by the sanctions. "The nature of this resolution is not capable of pressuring Iran, and Iran will give an appropriate response to it," Mr Larijani said, adding: "This behaviour will just create more problems." He said that Iran would review its cooperation with the IAEA and look at other political, economic and cultural options.

Closure of the Strait of Hormuz would push up oil prices and increase chances of a military clash, but the Iranians might decide such an option is too dangerous. Mr Ahmadinejad was also dismissive about the impact of sanctions. "America and some European countries know well that they are incapable of doing anything against the Iranian nation," he said.

The security council has been deadlocked over an Iran resolution since it was first proposed before the summer. The US has been seeking tough measures while Russia and China, both of which have close economic ties with Iran, have been arguing in favour of the weakest possible measures. Britain and France have been occupying the middle ground, trying to achieve a consensus, and are the co-authors of the resolution.

Diplomats said yesterday that Washington was unhappy with the outcome, feeling the Europeans had conceded too much ground to Russia, which squeezed compromises out of London and Paris on Wednesday. Instead of an outright travel ban on senior Iranians working at nuclear plants, Russia secured a compromise in which each country would retain discretion over who should be banned.

Items to be banned include all that relate to uranium-enrichment, which is a step on the way to achieving a nuclear weapons capability, or ballistic missiles. Again, Russia obtained a compromise leaving this to the discretion of each country, though exports will have to be reported to the UN sanctions committee. Funds and financial assets owned overseas by organisations working on thenuclear programme are to be frozen.

Tuesday, December 19, 2006

Only an end to sanctions can halt Palestine's crisis

Azzam Tamimi Tuesday December 19, 2006
The Guardian

As Hamas and Fatah supporters took to the streets to protest at or support Mahmoud Abbas's decision to call for early presidential elections, congratulatory gestures landed at Abbas's door from the three major international players that have imposed the sanctions regime against the Palestinians. The White House, Tony Blair and the Israeli government urged the world community to support Abbas in his latest bid to rid them of a Hamas-led government. These three carry the burden of Palestinian blood shed as a result of the crisis.

Despite months of sanctions, the grip of the "international community" could not prevent Hamas from bringing in enough money to maintain basic health and educational services. The hardship did little to convince Palestinians that Hamas was responsible; polls conducted in the West Bank and Gaza pointed to a rise in the popularity of Hamas, countered by an erosion of respect for Fatah.

So what does the global community think it can achieve? A resolution, as Blair naively believes? A resumption of negotiations on Israeli terms as Olmert arrogantly expects? An end to all Palestinian struggles for justice as the neocon-led US administration ignorantly hopes? Or an end to rivalry from an Islamic resistance movement that is loyal to the Palestinian dream, as Abbas wishes? There is only one way out of the crisis, and that is for the sanctions to be lifted. The immediate consequence would be the formation of a national unity government without dictation from any outside power. As for the Israelis, their only guarantee of peace would be to recognise the legitimate rights of the Palestinians and enter into negotiations for a long-term truce.

· Dr Azzam Tamimi is director of the Institute of Islamic Political Thought
commentisfree.co.uk/azzam_tamimi

Monday, December 18, 2006

Supporters Call for the Recall of South African Ambassador From Tel Aviv and Sanctions Against Israel

Monday, December 18, 2006

Palestine Solidarity Committee (South Africa) and Supporters Call for the Recall of South African Ambassador From Tel Aviv and Sanctions Against Israel

At a press conference held today in South Africa the Palestine Solidarity Committee, COSATU (the Congress of South African Trade Unions representing 1.2 million workers) and the South African Council of Churches called on the South African government to recall the ambassador to Israel and to implement sanctions against Israel.

Speakers at the conference included Willie Madisha (president of COSATU) Eddie Makue (general secretary of the South African Council of Churches), Ali Halimeh (Palestinian Ambassador to South Africa), Virginia Tilley (academic and author), Na’eem Jeenah (chair), Salim Vally (Palestine Solidarity Committee and Patrick Craven (spokesperson for COSATU).

They released the following joint statement:

We, delegates of organisations and movements that represent and have the support of the majority of South Africans, oppose and condemn the Israeli atrocities in Palestine and we make the following call:

  • We call on the South African government to immediately recall the South African ambassador from Tel Aviv and to begin the process of ending diplomatic relations with Israel.
  • We call on all South Africans to establish a strong, forceful and determined boycott and sanctions campaign against the Israeli apartheid state until the end of the occupation.
  • We call on South Africans to identify a national day of action in solidarity with the Palestinian people and to observe it with rolling mass action around the country.
  • We call on the South African government to ensure that no South African serves – in any capacity – in the Israeli Occupation Forces and that any South African citizen doing so will be prosecuted under the Regulation of Foreign Military Assistance Act.
  • We demand that Israel immediately withdraws all Israeli Occupation Forces from Gaza and ends the occupation of Palestinian lands.
  • We demand that Israel abides by the provisions of international humanitarian law and human rights law, and refrains from imposing collective punishment on Palestinian civilians (as per the UN Human Rights Council declaration issued on 6 July 2006).
  • Call on Israel to release all detained Palestinian ministers and legislators and to release all political prisoners – including hundreds of women and children.
  • We call on the EU to stop the severe sanctions imposed by Europe on the Palestinian Authority as a penalty for exercising their democratic right and electing a government of their choice. This by itself is a brutal intervention on behalf of the occupation.
  • We call on the United Nations to implement the advisory opinion of the International Court of Justice on Israel’s Apartheid wall.
  • We call on the United Nations to ensure that Israel fulfils its obligations in terms of international law.

WHERE NOT TO SHOP FOR CHRISTMAS

The Peace and War News

Box 40052, 75 King St. S., Waterloo Ont. N2J 4V1 peacenews at sgci.com (insert the @)

For a Canadian foreign policy of peace, justice, and national sovereignty

Nov-Dec 2006: WHERE NOT TO SHOP:

A Follow-up Issue on Boycott – Divestment – Sanctions