"2nd 'Hollywoodism and Cinema' Conference Kicks Off Work in Tehran" (Fars News-Iran)

They like holding conferences in Iran. One of the subjects of this one will be "Hollywood and Holocaust":

The 2nd international conference on 'Hollywoodism and Cinema' started work in a ceremony attended by Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad in Tehran on Thursday.

Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad, the Minister of Culture and Islamic Guidance Mohammad Hosseini and his deputy in cinematic affairs Javad Shamaghdari will attend the opening ceremony along with a number of cinematic scholars and officials on February 2.

About 48 foreign scholars from France, the US, Canada, Belgium, Greece, Spain, Tunisia, Italy, Egypt, Russia, Lebanon, Azerbaijan, Palestine and the UK will take part in the event.

The conference is scheduled to be held as a sideline program of the 2012 Fajr International Film Festival.

The event will discuss five principle topics namely 'Narration in Hollywood,' 'Role of Cinema in the World Awakening,' 'The Role of Hollywoodism and Human Decadence,' 'Portrait of Future in Hollywood' and 'Hollywoodism and Zionism.'

Considering the anti-capitalist movements in the US and Europe, a number of other related subjects will also be explored during the conference.

Since the recent uprisings in US and European cities and their impressive messages can be adapted into films, the conference will review other related subjects such as 'Hollywood and Holocaust,' 'Palestine on the Line of Fire,' 'Hollywood and Apocalypse,' 'Hollywood,' and 'Darwinism and Liberalism.'

The Occupy Wallstreet people should appreciate that.

The re-arrest of someone released in the Shalit deal and Angy Arab's reaction

The post is entitled "The folly of signing agreements--any agreements--with the Zionist entity" and here is the text, starting with a quote from a Ha'aretz article:

"The Israel Defense Forces arrested Mamun Ismyail Salame Stut, a Palestinian man who was released from Israeli prison in October as part of the Gilad Shalit prisoner exchange deal. Stut’s arrest makes him the first released prisoner to be recaptured since the prisoner swap. According to an IDF spokesperson, Stut was arrested for being a security threat in the area of Dura near Hebron by the Golani Brigade." For the life of me, I can't see how anyone can really sign an agreement on any matter with the lying Zionist entity? Of course, the Zionist usurping entity is not scared of Hamas but would not dare pull this violation of the agreement with Hizbullah. And this is not an arrest: it is a kidnapping and should be treated as such, when the other side decides to respond.

What does AA mean by "violation of the agreement"--just re-arresting someone? Hamas achieved the release of over 1000 prisoners in exchange for Shalit. The re-arrest of one Hamasnik--or even a number of them--is hardly a "ha, ha--fooled you" moment.

"Ahmadinejad: Democracy, freedom in US nothing but a big lie" (IRNA-Iran)

What's the proof? The two-party system. We also learn that the "era of Marxism and humanism is over." From IRNA:

President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad said on Monday that democracy and freedom in the United States are nothing but a big lie.

President Ahmadinejad made the remark in a meeting with members of Ten Day Dawn headquarters in Tehran on Monday.

It is over one hundred year that two political parties are governing the US, he said adding that the two political wings pursue similar goals but through different political arrangements.

There is also one group behind the stage that keep people busy in order to mislead them, the President said.

The era of Marxism and humanism is over and they have nothing new to offer to the world, he said.

Days for those resorting to bombs or suppression are now numbered, Ahmadinejad said.

Hmmm, the era of Marxism is over. I don't think North Korean News is going to pick up this story.

What the world needs is more vigilance

Increasing the old vigilance always seems to be the call of the hour in dictatorships. We are agreed that the "D" word is a good description of North Korea, right? Here is an article called "Rodong Sinmun Calls for Heightening Vigilance against Imperialists' Deceptive Artifice":

The imperialists pretend to be "peace champions," becoming more talkative about "peace" and stability" than ever before. But this is nothing but a crafty and sinister artifice to benumb the vigilance of the world people and cover up their aggressive and predatory aims.

Rodong Sinmun Sunday says this in a bylined article.

The prevailing situation requires the world people not to be taken in by the imperialists' crafty deceptive ruse, the article notes, and goes on:

It is necessary, first of all, to be vigilant against the imperialists talking about "freedom" and "democracy" while pretending not to seek any aggressive aim.

The "freedom" and "democracy" touted by the U.S. are part of its moves for "globalization" and its immediate goal is to do harm to and bring down the political system in the anti-U.S. independent countries and nations by sending them the wind of freedom.

It is also necessary to guard against the imperialists' behavior of styling themselves as "mediators" and "guarantors" in settling disputes.

It is the trite method of the imperialists to fish in troubled waters by sowing the seeds of discord and antagonism among other countries and nations and stoke them.

It is particularly important to be vigilant against the imperialists' trumpeting about "peace."

They still keep military bases and troops for aggression in different countries and regions and stage ceaseless and reckless war maneuvers, while giving lip-service to "peace."

It is the scenario of the U.S. imperialists to carry out their strategy for world domination by force of arms. Its main thrust is to bring Northeast Asia under their control and its core is to ignite another Korean war with south Korea as a base.

One should not harbor any illusion about the imperialists. It is essential to unite close with a firm revolutionary stand against them and intensify the struggle against them. What is more important is to firmly maintain the principle of independence against imperialism and direct the spearhead of attack to it, not regarding its crafty deceptive ruse as a change in its intrinsic nature.

A recent CS Monitor article explains that "Iran isn't the religious dictatorship that the West imagines" although it admits "A democracy? Hardly." My modest little contribution to this question is to note that Iran's Supreme Leader for Life is certainly into that vigilance thing: "Leader Urges Youths' Vigilance against Enemy's Plot to Hijack Uprisings":

Supreme Leader of the Islamic Revolution Ayatollah Seyed Ali Khamenei voiced confidence about the Muslim nations' growing power, but at the same time urged the Islamic nations to keep vigilant against the attempts made by the enemies to hijack the Muslim uprisings.

Addressing a meeting with participants at the 'International Conference on Islamic Awakening and the Youths' here in Tehran on Monday, Ayatollah Khamenei stated that enemies are trying to make up for the damages they have sustained due to popular uprisings in Egypt, Tunisia, Libya and other Islamic countries.

"The enemies are busy with designing plots and conspiracies and Islamic nations, specially the youths of the Muslim Ummah (community) who are the engine of the Islamic Awakening, should not allow the global network of tyranny to hijack their revolutions and derail the current and future paths through full vigilance and use of others' experiences," the Leader added. [...]

If you are holding out for Iran to still not be a "religious dictatorship" in some sense, it doesn't look good. Let's put it that way.

MPAC-UK on "Britain's War on Free Speech"

It has been a while since we dropped in on MPAC-UK. They are currently upset about the denial of a broadcasting license to Iran's PressTV:

[...] With the pressure of hostilities being ramped up against Iran on a daily basis, we are of the view that this is simply a ploy to silence any dissenting opinion against the manufacturing of war consent. If you deny Iran the ability of expressing what is really happening in its country and the motives behind the forces who are preparing to attack it, then you kill any opposing opinion to the pro war hawks. [...]

How's that for solidarity with the Khomeinists? There is no sense here whatsoever that PressTV serves up propaganda. The rest is in the same vein.

"Six americans . . . barred from leaving Egypt"

From Reuters:

Six Americans working for publicly funded U.S. organizations promoting democracy in Egypt have been barred from leaving the country, provoking angry demands in Washington that Cairo's new military rulers stop "endangering American lives".

Among those hit by travel bans - one of those targeted called it "de facto detention" - is a son of U.S. Transportation Secretary Ray LaHood, as well as other foreign staffers of the International Republican Institute and National Democratic Institute, officials at the two organizations said.

The United States said Egypt should reverse them: "We are urging the government of Egypt to lift these restrictions immediately and allow these folks to come home as soon as possible," State Department spokeswoman Victoria Nuland said. [...]

Sound familiar?

"British expert says EU sanctions doomed to fail" (PressTV-Iran)

That "British expert" is Yvonne Ridley!

British broadcaster and journalist Yvonne Ridley said western countries should take a lesson from their past sanctions against Iran and do not repeat their mistakes.

How much more do I need to quote?

"Lee Myung Bak's Appointment of Confrontation Maniac to Important Post at Chongwadae under Fire"

"Diehard confrontation maniac"--hmmm, sounds like disapproval:

Traitor Lee Myung Bak recently appointed Kim Thae Hyo, diehard confrontation maniac as chief for Foreign Strategy Planning in Chongwadae.

Rodong Sinmun Monday observes in a bylined commentary in this regard: This is not for dialogue but a desperate effort of those obsessed with confrontation with fellow countrymen.

Kim Thae Hyo is a traitor without an equal as he took the lead in stoking confrontation with fellow countrymen as a confidant of Lee Myung Bak under the present conservative regime, the commentary says, and continues:

From the time when he was a secretary for Foreign Strategy in Chongwadae he frequently visited the U.S. to earnestly beg it to strongly pressurize the DPRK without having dialogue with it, saying that "there is nothing to benefit from dialogue with it."

It was none other than Kim Thae Hyo who gave a shot in the arm of Lee and advised him implicitly, uttering "it does not matter if his tenure of office expires without any dialogue with the north" and "he needs not to worry as he will be appreciated for having adhered to the principle". Kim is still blustering "south Korea should settle accounts with the north without fail," persistently talking about the warship "Cheonan" sinking case and Yonphyong Island shelling.

What matters is the sinister aim sought by the Lee group in repeatedly crying out for hypocritical "dialogue." The "dialogue" oft-repeated by the conservative group is aimed at creating the impression that it is interested in the improvement of the relations and shifting the responsibility for the escalated tension onto the DPRK at any cost.

With no rhetoric can the Lee group cover up its wicked intention to escalate the confrontation with compatriots. It is an intolerable insult and mockery of the DPRK to talk about "dialogue" with the dagger in his belt, far from making any apology for the crimes committed by the group during the mourning over the big loss to the nation.

The Lee group can never be a dialogue partner of the DPRK as these traitors can no longer be entitled to live with them under the same sky.

They would be well advised to stop talking about "dialogue" which will work on no one.