More "revenge-vowing meetings" in North Korea

They're into hate-rallies in North Korea. On June 23 Korean News reported on a "A revenge-vowing meeting of school youth and children." Taking place on a date evidently associated with the Korean War, the article states "the departed souls of many people mercilessly killed by the Yankee wolves are still furiously crying out for a thousand-fold revenge upon the Yankees." The next day a headline read "Agricultural Workers Vow to Take Revenge upon Enemy." The next day a headline read "Korean Women Vow to Take Revenge upon American Murderers." The latest example: "Korean People Vow Vengeance on U.S. Imperialists." Let's sample this sucker:

The Korean people are hardening their mind to take revenge upon the U.S. imperialist aggressors, the sworn enemy, a thousandfold on the occasion of the "June 25, the day of the struggle against U.S. imperialism."

This year lots of servicepersons, working people, school youth and children have visited the Central House of Class Education, a place for indicting the crimes of the U.S. imperialists and a center for class education.

Listening to the explanation of the brutal atrocities committed by the U.S. imperialists while invading Korea century after century since the intrusion of the aggression ship "General Sherman", the visitors firmly vowed to take revenge on the enemies without fail.

At the Sinchon Museum where more than 4,000 pieces of data, remains and lethal weapons are on display, the visitors keenly realized once again that the U.S. imperialists are the only horde of brutes in the world.

Looking round the place where the ghouls machine-gunned and threw hand-grenades at people and burnt their bodies to ashes right before their fleeing, the torture room, the slaughter-site and others at the House of Class Education in Susan-ri, Kangso County, the visitors expressed their resolution to wipe out to the last one the pernicious murderers, wolves in human shape, if they pounce upon the Korean people again. [...]

Whew! After that, an article entitled "DPRK Lauded as Invincible Country" is almost a let-down:

The U.S. should be well aware that the DPRK is an invincible country with the powerful military deterrent and that no force on earth can break the single-minded unity of the Korean army and people closely rallied around their great brilliant commander, which is stronger than nuclear weapons.

The DPRK will always emerge victorious and strikingly demonstrate its dignity as an invincible socialist power in the future, too, as there are the Songun leadership of Kim Jong Il and the revolutionary army and people strong in mental power.

Another day, another reference to North Korean "mental power."

Crossposted on Soccer Dad

Gadaffi "the savior who rescue them from state of oppression they are living in"

Isn't that Obama? Guess what country's news agency this is:

Italian Minister of Equal Opportunity, "Mara Carfagna" expressed her appreciation of the leader's analysis of the status of women in the world and in Africa in particular .

In her article published by "A" weekly magazine, she highlighted the leader's stress during his meeting with Italian Women's activists on 12 / 6 that the world is in need of women's revolution based on cultural revolution and that African woman should get all her rights.

She said: "The leader, "Muammar al-Gathafi" reminded of the suffering of African women .. declaring the draft law he presented to the African Union in order to respect the family and marriage in Africa and to consider marriage relations as sacred that must not be disgraced".

"Africans who were unable to defend themselves from oppression have found now that the leader, "Muammar al-Gathafi" is a strong ally to reassure their freedom and the savior who rescue them from state of oppression they are living in", the Italian minister added

Great news! "Ahmadinejad orders probe into Neda's 'suspicious' death"

Look at the compassion on that face! His government would never murder Neda, no never--it's all a plot of the World Arrogance:

Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad has asked the Judiciary chief to conduct a through investigation into the death of Neda Aqa-Soltan, an Iranian woman who was shot dead in Tehran's post-vote protests.

In a letter to Iran's Judiciary chief Ayatollah Mahmoud Hashemi-Shahroudi on Monday, Ahmadinejad called for a serious probe into the "suspicious" death of Neda and recognizing elements behind her killing.

"Neda Aqa-Soltan was shot dead in one of Tehran's streets on June 20 by unknown elements in a completely suspicious way," said the president.

"Amid vast propaganda by foreign media and many other evidence about the heartfelt event, it seems definite that opponents of the Iranian nation interfere (in Iran's internal affairs) for their political misuse," he added.

Neda, 26, became a symbol of post-election street rallies in Iran and an international icon in recent days after graphic videos of her death grabbed the attention of world media outlets.

Her death first became suspicious after revelations that she was killed by a small caliber pistol -- a weapon that is not used by Iranian security forces.

A small caliber pistol! Everybody knows that's a World Arrogance weapon. Will Mahmoud ever look like this again?

Stay tuned!

Crossposted on Soccer Dad

Iran implements Obama Doctrine

What might be called the "Obama Doctrine" has emerged from Obama's recent statements on Iran: National sovereignty is sacrosanct and inviolable while human rights are negotiable. Expressing opinions about what is going in other countries and promoting one's own values is meddling. Therefore anyone who expresses opinions on what is going in Iran must be extremely circumscribed in his opinions; otherwise he crosses the line into meddling. This has obvious corollaries for news reporting and embassy staffs, and Iran has obviously taken it to heart. According to the BBC:

[...] Iranian media reported the detention of eight local staff at the UK mission over their alleged role in the unrest.

UK Foreign Secretary David Miliband dismissed the allegations as baseless.

Relations between the countries are strained since President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad accused the UK of stoking post-election protests, which London denies.

Iran has repeatedly accused foreign powers - especially Britain and the US - of meddling after the 12 June election, which officially handed him a decisive victory. [...]

At Iran's Press TV the release of some Embassy staff members is the headline:

Iran says certain members of the British Embassy staff in Tehran have been released after preliminary investigations but others will remain in custody.

"The British Embassy played a crucial role in the recent (post-election) unrest both through its local staff and via media," IRNA quoted Intelligence Minister Gholam-Hossein Mohseni-Eje'i as saying on Sunday.

"We have photos and videos of certain local employees of the British Embassy, who collected news about the protests," he added.

"The Embassy sent its local staff to rallies and inculcated ideas into the protestors and the society," said the minister. [...]

Ideas! How meddlesome!

Crossposted on Soccer Dad

JANA (Libya): "Newlywed Italian couple who were congratulated by Leader of the Revolution . . . express overwhelming delight"

Gadaffi, we learn, "was very suave":

The newlywed Italian couple who were congratulated by Leader of the Revolution, as he was passing a Rome square during his first historic to Italy, expressed overwhelming delight for the congratulation on their wedding day in Rome.

The Italian groom Leonardo Di Silvio, described the leader's gesture during his wedding day a great one, which they were not expecting.

The Italian groom, Director of Radio Mania, in Velletri the outskirts of Rome, said:
(Me and my wife were overwhelmed by the surprise which we were not expecting, we only thought we could see him from a distance, but what had happened was a very joyful incident that coincided with our first wedding day and we thank him for it).

"It is difficult to describe seeing him up close for the first time, it's the fascination and admiration of Leader Gathafi, it's difficult to describe that moment, the leader was very suave," the groom added while receiving a copy of the photos that were taken during the incident from JANA office in Rome.

For her part, the bride expressed honor to the leader's congratulation on her wedding day.

"We sensed great compassion in the leader Gathafi's words, his congratulation made our wedding day even more joyful. When we approached him and shook hands, we felt assured and we wished that moment wouldn't end.

Ah, to have been there! Short of receiving wedding greetings from the Leader of the Revolution, the surest route to expressions of overwhelming delight is the latest Haveil Havalim.

Ahmadinejad: "June 12 polls was end of liberal democracy"

I think Ahmadinejad means that "liberal democracy" is done for in the world at large. He is given to those sorts of pronouncements. "Liberal thoughts" are also kaput:

President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad said on Saturday that the June 12 presidential election in Iran which has promoted and strengthened the government was the end of liberal democracy and liberal thoughts.

Addressing a national gathering of judicial officials, the President said, “the Iranian nation favors dialogue and wisdom as well as constructive and cultural interaction.”

Referring to the recent interference in Iran's internal affairs and insulting comments of certain Western states on Iran’s dealing with rioters after the 10th presidential election in the country, President Ahmadinejad said, “From now on, we will bring you to justice at any international meeting.”

“How is it possible that those whose hands were stained with the blood of innocent people, are now talking about human rights and believe that they could damage Iran’s Islamic system and establishment with their hollow and satanic statements and with their propaganda against Iran’s clean and humane system?”

President Ahmadinejad made the remarks commenting on the recent statements of US President Barack Obama about Iran’s riots following the country’s presidential election.

President Obama had said on Friday that the way that Tehran has dealt with those involved in recent riots in the country was “outrageous.”

President Ahmadinejad noted that IRI does not expect a few European countries (Germany, Britain and France) to follow a logical way but it expects US President Barak Obama to be more logical.

"Americans say they wish to talk with Iran but then show such a conduct. They have no more thing to hide from other nations. They showed to the world that they have yet to change," the President said, alluding to Obama's main solgan of change.

Stressing that Iran’s electoral system was one of the most popular, safest and cleanest in the world, the President termed the remarks made by his US counterpart as “far from international rules and norms and also impolite.”

The president advised Western states to stop addressing the Iranian nation with impolite literature and correct their behavior.

Another IRIB article features "First Vice-President Parviz Davoodi" with the headline "Riots nerve centers located in West." Iran has developed a super-weapon which turns Western intellectuals into palm trees:

He added that the global arrogance is scared and terrified by the fact that their scholars and thinkers have grown frond of Iran’s religious democracy.

The horror . . .

Meanwhile, at Press TV we learn that Ahmadinejad has added threats of retaliation to the meddling-accusations that Obama's meddling-denials evidently inspired:

Ahmadinejad downplayed Obama's slogan of change, saying his actions are at odds with his statements and went on to ask the White House to "change its tone and approach."

"If you continue your meddlesome stance, the Iranian nation's response will be crushing and regret-inducing," warned Ahmadinejad.

Oh well, Obama's good at regret.

Crossposted on Soccer Dad

Thomas Friedman: How to "help Iranians"? $1 "freedom tax" on gas!

The money excerpt:

Mr. Obama has already started some excellent energy-saving initiatives. But we need more. Imposing an immediate "Freedom Tax" of $1 a gallon on gasoline — with rebates to the poor and elderly — would be a triple positive: It would stimulate more investment in renewable energy now; it would stimulate more consumer demand for the energy-efficient vehicles that the reborn General Motors and Chrysler are supposed to make; and, it would reduce our oil imports in a way that would surely affect the global price and weaken every petro-dictator.

That is how — as Bill Maher likes to say — we make the bad guys “fight all of us.”

Sure, it would take time to influence the regime, but, unlike words alone, it will have an impact. I believe in “The First Law of Petro-Politics,” which stipulates that the price of oil and the pace of freedom in petrolist states — states totally dependent on oil exports to run their economies — operate in an inverse correlation. As the price of oil goes down, the pace of freedom goes up because leaders have to educate and unleash their people to innovate and trade. As the price of oil goes up, the pace of freedom goes down because leaders just have to stick a pipe in the ground to stay in power.

Some dictatorships don't seem to be too motivated by improved economic prospects, Iran already mismanages its oil industry, and we could develop our own oil. The whole justification for massive, hit-or-miss stimulus spending is that our economic situation is dire, right? So why would our economy be able to withstand the blow of artificially inflated energy prices? World Arrogance economic health also hurts the Mullahs.

Crossposted on Soccer Dad

(North) Korean News: "Revenge-vowing Meeting of Young People Held"

Guess who they want to get revenge against:

A revenge-vowing meeting of school youth and children was held in Sinchon County, South Hwanghae Province of the DPRK on June 22 on the occasion of "June 25 the day of the struggle against U.S. imperialism."

Reporter and speakers at the meeting recalled that after provoking a war of aggression on the DPRK the U.S. imperialists had massacred people without distinction of age or sex in the most brutal way that would make even beasts blush with shame.

They, on behalf of all the school youth and children, bitterly denounced the U.S. imperialists, sworn enemy of the Korean people, saying that every part of the country, including Sinchon County, is permeated with the Korean people's resentment toward the U.S. imperialists and the departed souls of many people mercilessly killed by the Yankee wolves are still furiously crying out for a thousand-fold revenge upon the Yankees.

More than half a century has passed since the ceasefire of the war, but U.S. imperialism remains unchanged in its aggressive nature, they said, noting that the U.S. imperialists persisting in the hostile policy towards the DPRK cooked up the UNSC's "resolution on sanctions," thus leading the situation of the Korean Peninsula to the brink of war.

They warned that the aggressors would only face merciless punishment as long as there are the invincible revolutionary armed forces guided by Kim Jong Il, the great brilliant commander of Songun, and equipped with strong nuclear deterrent and the school youth and children and people with burning hatred against the enemies.

Another headline referring to the Korean War proclaims "U.S. Imperialists, Most Hideous Homicide in World":

More than half a century has passed since Korea suffered the ravages of war started by the U.S. imperialists.

But historical evidences indicting the U.S. imperialists as the most devilish homicide in the world are being unearthed in different parts of the country, making people grind their teeth with indignation.

Many remains and belongings of those who were slaughtered by the U.S. imperialists and class foes have been excavated in Susan-ri, Kangso County, South Phyongan Province these years. Recently, remains of five bodies were unearthed, the skulls, backbones, limb bones and ribs of which were all damaged.

For 40-odd days when they occupied Susan area temporarily during the Korean war (June 25, 1950-July 27, 1953), the U.S. imperialists and the class foes slew over 1,050 people, one third of the population by every conceivable cold-blooded and barbarous method.

The U.S. imperialists massacred brutally the bare-handed peaceful people for the reason that they did not give up their system and ideology. The enemies committed similar crimes everywhere in the country where they set foot.

Millions of people were killed cruelly by the U.S. imperialists in the period of the Korean war.

The U.S. imperialists butchered more than 120,000 innocent people in Hwanghae Province (then) and over 35 300 patriots and inhabitants in Sinchon County during the temporary strategic retreat.

Not content with shooting people to death, the U.S. imperialists resorted to all cruel methods to kill people, which far surpassed those of the Hitler fascists. They buried them alive, picked them to death, hammered a nail into skull, sawed off the neck, hung them upside-down on tree branch to set fire on the head, gouged out eyeballs, skinned people, raped girls and women before cutting off their breasts.[...]

I wonder if the North Korean people realize this stuff is just as true as the blather about building a great powerful prosperous nation with the might of Songun.

Ahmadinejad delivers ultimate threat to U.S. and U.K.: "definitely you won’t be placed inside Iranians circle of friendship with such hasty comments"

Interested in satirizing the English mannerisms of the Iranian press? Use the words "stance" and "stances" alot:

Iran’s President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad recommended western countries on Sunday to keep away from the country’s domestic issues.

Addressing the US President and British Prime Minister over their stances towards Iran June 12 presidential elections Ahmadinejad noted,” definitely you won’t be placed inside Iranians circle of friendship with such hasty comments thus I recommend you to rectify your interventionist stances.”

Yet the enemies are not aware that 70 million people of Iran are against interference of foreigners and against the arrogance, he added.

Ahmadinejad: "the role model of democracy . . . in Iran was unprecedented and exclusive such that it challenged the democracies in Western countries"

IRIB Radio seems to be the one Iranian news agency which always gives Ahmadinejad the title "Doctor."

Iran's President, Dr. Mahmoud Ahmadinejad emphasized that Islamic Republic of Iran is a forerunner in democracy and global management. According to IRIB, addressing Iran Armed Forces Industrial Research Festival on Sunday, President Ahmadinejad underlined that currently Islamic Iran pioneers the scientific scenes, democracy, and global management and that the recent presidential poll is the beginning of the end of World Arrogance domination over the world.

President considered 10th presidential poll as a source of major development in international relations and underscored: "In this election, the role model of democracy that was displayed in Iran was unprecedented and exclusive such that it challenged the democracies in Western countries."

President noted: "In Western countries, democracy is 100% controlled and people's role is ceremonial. But, what happened in Islamic Iran was the true manifestation of the nation's resolve and determination."

He added: "Following Iran's election, the US and British leaders became concerned about their own existence and launched a sinister effort to defend the oppressive system that they have imposed on the world."

President Ahmadinejad stressed: "Today, the enemies are upset because a nation has understood its capacity and is turning into a role model for the international community."

Press TV reports "Iran to release box-by-box vote count." That will give them a fair number of figures to make up:

Amid claims of a 'rigged-election' by certain defeated Iranian presidential candidates, a top election official says the box-by-box details of the vote will be released.

"During previous elections in the Islamic Republic, statistics concerning individual ballot boxes were considered confidential information … this kind of information was only available to certain officials," deputy head of the Interior Ministry's election headquarters Ali-Asghar Sharifi-Rad said Sunday.

According to Sharifi-Rad, the Ministry had, however, decided to publish the results "box by box," to resolve ambiguities about the disputed election in which incumbent President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad won a landslide victory, ILNA reported.

His comments came after the country's highest electoral authority, the Guardian Council, said, "Votes collected in 50 cities surpass the number of people eligible to cast ballots in those areas.”

A spokesman for the Council, however, said that the additional votes did not change the outcome of the election, as they were not enough to reverse the reelection of President Ahmadinejad.

The extra votes amount to roughly three million ballots.

Following the victory of President Ahmadinejad on June 12, the country has become the scene of illegal rallies with defeated presidential hopefuls Mir-Hossein Mousavi and Mehdi Karroubi rejecting the result as fraudulent and demanding a re-run.[...]

Why not? "The beginning of the end of World Arrogance domination" is worth repeating! Press TV also has an article about the current doings of Iran's ally North Korea:

"As long as our country has become a proud nuclear power, the US should take a correct look at whom it is dealing with," North Korea's newspaper main Rodong Sinmun said in a commentary on Monday.

The link still works to the Press TV article wherein Ahmadinejad states "All relations and equations will change in our favor once Iran is stabilized as a nuclear nation." The reporting about North Korea is probably true. Not so this: "Police 'did not shoot' street protestors":

Iranian security officials say they did not open fire on protestors during the post-election violence that killed over a dozen people in the country.

Tehran Police Chief Azizallah Rajabzadeh said Monday that his department had no role in the shoot-out that has become the focus of most media outlets in the West.

"Policemen are not authorized to use weapons against people," said Rajabzadeh. "They are tained to only use anti-riot tools to keep the people out of harms way," said Rajabzadeh.

Saturday saw some of the worst violence since the election after, according to officilas, some 'terrorist elements' infiltrated the rallies. [...]

I mean, the police can only do so much . . .

Crossposted on Soccer Dad

Apartheid couscous business brisk

While the Khomeinist entity was firing on protesters a few days ago, a bunch of progressives were trying to intervene in the commerce of the Zionist entity by de-shelving couscous and other Israeli products from Trader Joe's shelves. However, Imperialist running dog Zionist lackeys who were actually removing the products in order to buy them got there first. The, ahem, money-quote from Cleveland Indy Media:

A store in Rockridge California reported a half dozen protesters out front giving out leaflets. They were largely ignored by customers. Inside the store however, as well as in most California trader Joes, Israeli products were sold out.

Yasher koach, lackeys! Three Jews, Four Opinions has the story while Divest This! has helpful suggestions for "What to do with all that couscous." One answer, by the way, to the what-to-do-with-couscous question is anything you would do with other pasta.

Iranian election miraculous after all--over 100% turn-out!

This is an interesting development. Is some face-saving nullification of the election coming?

Iran's Guardian Council has suggested that the number of votes collected in 50 cities surpass the number of people eligible to cast ballot in those areas.

The council's Spokesman Abbas-Ali Kadkhodaei, who was speaking on the Islamic Republic of Iran Broadcasting (IRIB) Channel 2 on Sunday, made the remarks in response to complaints filed by Mohsen Rezaei -- a defeated candidate in the June 12 Presidential election.

"Statistics provided by the candidates, who claim more than 100% of those eligible have cast their ballot in 80-170 cities are not accurate -- the incident has happened in only 50 cities," Kadkhodaei said.

The spokesman, however, said that although the vote tally affected by such an irregularity could be over 3 million and the council could, at the request of the candidates, re-count the affected ballot boxes, "it has yet to be determined whether the possible change in the tally is decisive in the election results," reported Khabaronline.

Three of the four candidates contesting in last Friday's presidential election cried foul, once the Interior Ministry announced the results - according to which incumbent President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad was declared the winner with almost two-thirds of the vote.

Rezaei, along with Mir-Hossein Mousavi and Mehdi Karroubi, reported more than 646 'irregularities' in the electoral process and submitted their complaints to the body responsible for overseeing the election -- the Guardian Council.

Mousavi and Karroubi have called on the council to nullify Friday's vote and hold the election anew. This is while President Ahmadinejad and his Interior Minister Sadeq Mahsouli have rejected any possibility of fraud, saying that the election was free and fair.

Meanwhile, Chavez "urges 'respect'" for the election. He's 110% behind the regime:

Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez says that the world must respect Iran and the "triumph" of its incumbent president, Mahmoud Ahmadinejad in the election.

"We call on the world to respect Iran because there are attempts to undermine the strength of the Iranian revolution," said Chavez on Sunday in his weekly radio and television address.

"Ahmadinejad's triumph was a triumph all the way. They are trying to stain Ahmadinejad's triumph and through that weaken the government and the Islamic revolution. I know they will not succeed," Chavez said.

The Venezuelan Foreign Ministry also issued a statement blasting "the fierce and unfounded campaign from outside [of Iran] to discredit" Iran's president.

Press TV also reports that Faezeh is free. Just to end with some news from the World Arrogance, you'll be 110% pleased at the latest Haveil Havalim.

Iran foiling enemy plots right and left, "flag of glory" hoisted

The usual rhetoric about "foiling enemy plots" and appreciating the Leader's latest remarks in the Iranian press sound a bit desperate these days. Iranian propaganda always sounds exactly like this. It is hard to believe that it only just occurred to the Iranian people to be skeptical about it. Roger Cohen's formulation is "A Supreme Leader Loses His Aura," but perhaps a better way to put it would be "Supreme Leader's Aura becomes unbearably foul" (sub-headlines in the original):

In a letter sent to the Supreme Leader of the Islamic Revolution Ayatollah Seyyed Ali Khamenei on Sunday, members of the parliament expressed their gratitude to the Leader for his "timely and illuminating" remarks at the Friday prayers.

Addressing hundreds of thousands of people at the most recent Friday prayers in Tehran, Ayatollah Khamenei urged all groupings to end their street protests and to pursue their complaints through legal channels.

Ayatollah Khamenei said the time for rivalry is over and everyone should unite behind the president-elect.

The MPs also urged the Guardian Council to accurately examine the complaints about the presidential election results.

The statement denounced the interfering remarks of foreigners about Iran’s internal matters.

GC is doing its duty properly

Ayatollah Mohammad Yazdi, a cleric member of the Guardian Council and Qom Seminary Teachers Society director, stated on Sunday that the council is performing its duties properly.

"Currently, the Interior Ministry has publicized its data and the Guardian Council is properly doing its duties," Yazdi told reporters on Sunday.

Ayatollah Yazdi also asked the candidates to pursue their complaints through legal channels.

"The individuals should pursue their complaints and protests through legal channels. No problem will be resolved by creating chaos and insecurity, and taking to the streets."

Leader’s guidelines foiled enemies’ plots

Tabriz Friday prayers’ leader Ayatollah Mohsen Mojtahed Shabestari released a statement on Sunday insisted that the Leader’s remarks has foiled the enemies’ plots.

"The comprehensive remarks of the Supreme Leader at the Friday prayers in Tehran foiled all of their (enemies’) plots… and clearly showed the way for all groupings," part of the statement said.

Ayatollah Shabestari also urged all candidates and their supporters to follow the Leader’s guidelines.

Leader’s guidelines resolve many issues

Gilan Province Governor Rouhallah Qahramani stated on Sunday that the Leader’s guidelines will resolve many of the problems.

A headline at Press TV reports "Five Hashemi-Rafsanjani relatives arrested." According to another headline: "Four Rafsanjani relatives released" (except his daughter). In another article "Ahmadinejad thanks Leader for support":

"I sincerely extend my gratitude to the Leader of the Islamic Revolution Ayatollah Seyyed Ali Khamenei over his historic and epoch-making presence as well as helpful remarks at Tehran's Friday prayers," the letter read.

It added, "Doubtless you have hoisted the Iranian nation's flag of glory and awareness before the arrogant powers. National accord, unity and esteem, are of paramount significance to national interests ... unconditional exercise of justice, reciprocal nation-government trust and collective determination aimed at resolving obstacles to the country's progress are all public demands that were crystallized in your constructive comments."

The accompanying picture of Ahmadinejad is just as nauseating:



IRIB quotes Majlis Speaker Larijani that a statement on Iran from the U.S. Senate is "disgraceful":

Larijani said the American Senate's move was very disgraceful and had no effect but awareness of the people.

The Iranian top parliamentarian further said the relations of the Iranian people are strong and religion has linked their hearts so that no foreigner and no velvet revolution could break the unity.

The English IRNA and Fars News sites are still unavailable.

Crossposted on Soccer Dad

PressTV: Iran "foils" Israeli plot to bomb mosques on election day

Foiled!

Iranian intelligence authorities have uncovered plots by "several terrorist groups" to bomb crowded places in Iran during the June 12 presidential poll.

The terrorist suspects have reportedly confessed to "having connections with elements of the intelligence service" of Israel, IRIB quoted the Intelligence Ministry as saying in a statement on Thursday.

According to the statement, one of the terror groups had planned to blow up prominent Hosseiniyeh-Ershad and al-Nabi mosques in Tehran on election day.

The report comes as Iran faces a range of post-election protests over the results of its presidential election.

North Korea: Bad U.S. "interfered in the elections in other countries"

Hmm, "elections in other countries." I wonder what that's a reference to:

The reality requires more urgently than ever before to frustrate the U.S. moves for interference in the internal affairs of other countries, defend the sovereignty of the country and nation and guarantee the sound and smooth development of the international relations, says Rodong Sinmun Thursday in a signed article. It goes on:

The interference in the internal affairs of other countries and nations precisely means an infringement upon their sovereign rights. What political mode each country chooses and by what method it develops its economy is an issue pertaining to its own sovereign right. Therefore, no one is mandated to interfere in it and instruct those countries to do this or that.

But such practices have become all the more pronounced in the international arena nowadays.

Citing facts to prove that the U.S. interfered in the elections in other countries in an undisguised manner in recent years, the article goes on;

The said move of the U.S. is not limited to the elections only. It is being persistently perpetrated in various fabrics of social life including politics, economy, culture and military affairs.

It is an important task directly related to the destiny of each country and nation to frustrate the U.S. moves for interference in internal affairs, ensure political stability and defend the sovereignty of the country and nation. The destiny of each country and nation depends upon the struggle for defending its sovereignty. A single-step concession to the U.S. interference in internal affairs made by a certain country and nation would force it to make tens and hundreds steps backward and this will eventually lead to a serious consequence of having its sovereignty infringed upon.

The mighty way of smashing the U.S. moves for interference in internal affairs is to bolster up the national defence capability. [...]

That explains this. In other "news," the Korean News site presents the following nauseating sycophancy. Yuck:

We cannot live away from the bosom of General Secretary Kim Jong Il who takes care of our destiny and future.

This ardent effusion is a wholehearted profession of the army and people of Korea with regard to Kim Jong Il.

It is his creed that the revolution is needed for the people, one should pluck stars in the sky and bring flowers in bloom on a stone and should not stint even fabulous wealth if it is for the interests of the people.

Over the last 45 years since the historic day when he started his work at the Central Committee of the Workers' Party of Korea, respect and love for man have turned into reality itself, not remaining mere idea or theory.

He has covered centuries and decades, months and days for the happiness of the people, true to President Kim Il Sung's idea of "believing in people as in heaven."

"He has covered centuries"?

When a local area was hit by flood, he commanded the relief campaign through sleepless nights, saying there must not be a single victim. And, hearing news that triplets were born in a mountain village far off from Pyongyang, he saved the mother and new-born babies by letting a helicopter fly.

Under his loving care, many common workers, peasants and intellectuals regained their lives across the deadline and a schoolchildren's palace made appearance at the foot of Mt. Paektu. [...]

The holy mountain of revolution!

Crossposted on Soccer Dad

IRIB: "Iranian Jews condemn recent riots"

"Jews community" appears from time to time in the Iranian press, usually in the form of some statement supporting Palestinians, condemning the Zionist entity, and expressing general satisfaction with Khomeinism. It is interesting that the Jews' alleged support for the regime is being paraded out here since the election is not a particularly Jewish issue:

Jews community in the Islamic Republic of Iran on Thursday in a statement condemned the recent riots in Iran and announced their hatred against them.

"Such a behavior is far from the Iranian dignity and we condemn it," The statement added.

"Considering the recent guidelines by the Leader of the Islamic Revolution for establishment of unity and solidarity and avoiding discord among people, we condemn such riots by opportunist persons who try to destroy the public properties and target the tranquility and unity among Iranian people," it said.

Covering a doubtless more sincere expression of support, a Mehr headline reads "Hezbollah lauds Iranians for huge voter turnout":

Lebanon’s Hezbollah leader Seyyed Hassan Nasrallah has praised Iranians for their massive turnout in Friday’s presidential election.

“In what part of the world 85 percent of eligible voters cast ballots, but this happened in Iran,” Al-Manar TV quoted Nasrallah as saying on Wednesday.

The Hezbollah secretary general also told the Lebanese March 14 group that it should not pin its hopes on protests in Iran because as Iran’s Supreme Leader has said the violent protestors are not connected to the defeated presidential candidates.

That should settle it.

Ahmadinejad: "Iran's election challenged Western democracy"

Where has the boastful, over-the-top Ahmadinejad we've come to know and love been for the last few days? He's back now--the Iranian election was such a glorious triumph that it put to shame the paltry elections of the World Arrogance:

President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad says the Iranian nation's massive turnout in the recent presidential elections has challenged Western democracy.

"The recent election in Iran posed a great challenge to the West's democracy," Mehr news agency quoted Ahmadinejad as saying in a cabinet meeting on Wednesday.

He noted that the presidential election was a referendum in which some 40 million Iranians voted for the principles of the Islamic Republic in Iran.

"The ideals of the Islamic Revolution were the winners of the election," Ahmadinejad added.

He also noted that the results of the election show that 25 million people [who have voted for Ahmadinejad] have approved his way of management of the country.

In another article Nasrallah proclaims "Iran can pass through any crisis." Crisis? I thought the election "challenged Western democracy."

"Now yes, some of our friends in Iran have caused a problem because of the dispute over vote counting. There have always been disputes of this kind in Iran but with the presence of Wileyet el Fakih, the Supreme Leader Khamenei, and the maturity and presence of mind of the Iranians, Iran will pass through this crisis easily," Nasrallah stated.

"Wileyet el Fakih" refers, I believe, to the Iranian system as it relates to the authority of the Supreme Leader. (Does anyone have a good glossary entry?) Another article based on Nasrallah pronouncements declares "Israel hatching new plot in ME."

"What is happening in the region is a US-Israeli plan. There is a scheme with a clear division of roles between the US and Israel to divide the Arab region," Nasrallah said on Wednesday.

"We should defend our country against what is being plotted for the region ... which includes a possible relocation of the 1948 Palestinians to Lebanon," the Hezbollah leader added.

According to an IRIB Radio article, "Iran's Foreign Ministry issued a statement on Wednesday censuring interventionist and brazen remarks and stance taken by certain foreign countries about the 10th Presidential elections in Iran . . ." This one has North Korean cadences:

. . .a few countries in an unconsidered, hasty and brazen move rushed to announce their support for some illegal gatherings and disorders brought about by a series of opportunists and acted against the principles and norms of an internationally accepted democracy turning into spokespersons for rioters and hooligans; a move aimed at creating tensions within Iran.

The statement underlined that the foreigners have in fact targeted the shining example of the Islamic Republic of Iran.

The Iranian Foreign Ministry statement said these (foreign) countries' approach is cheap and contemptible since these same countries have a dark record of supporting terrorism, a colonialist and imperialist past, a record of exploiting oppressed nations, and spreading and supporting despotism and despotic rulers, as well as stirring violence and equipping others around the world with weapons of mass destruction.

The statement, which was issued by Iran's Foreign Ministry on Wednesday, said that Tehran believes that those foreigners could not bring into question the recent glorious and democratic elections in Iran.

It further advised the foreigners change their wrong attitude toward the developments in Iran since the planners of the game chess are closely examining their moves so that they will 'check and mate' the enemies of the national unity in Iran in the future relations.

"Checkmate" comes from a Persian phrase "Shah mat," meaning "The Shah has Jimmy Carter for an ally."

Crossposted on Soccer Dad

Ezzedeen Al Qassam Brigades Information Office on the Jimmy visit

Hamas isn't reporting this much differently than the news agencies, but I wanted to quote one sentence:

"I feel partially responsible for this as must all Americans and Zionist entityis," Carter said.

Bolivarian speaks out for Khomeinists

The title of this IRIB Radio article is "Venezuela condemns efforts to destabilize Iran." I wonder what efforts those would be? He can't mean Obama, who has implemented the new Obama Doctrine: Expressions of disapproval are not meddlesome as long as they are halting and awkward. What is "destabilizing" Iran at the moment is that the people are enraged that their votes didn't count for anything and making sure the Mullahs know about their displeasure. So perhaps the title of this article should be "Chavez condemns people of Iran":

The Venezuelan government denounced the efforts and propaganda of some countries to destabilize Islamic Republic of Iran. According to IRIB, Venezuelan Foreign Ministry in a statement released on Tuesday termed Iran as its friend and brother, calling foe the immediate end of theses countries' measures for terrorizing Iran.

The statement said the Venezuelan government also congratulates the Iranian nation on the recent presidential elections which resulted in the victory of the incumbent president, Dr. Mahmoud Ahmadinejad.

Meanwhile IRNA and Fars News have been unavailable for a few days. I thought that perhaps they went down in the general turmoil, but according to current reports, they have been under cyber-attack. PressTV, which was also reported to be under cyber-attack, but which seems to been working most of the time, reports that "Iran warns foreign media over coverage":

Tehran says foreign media outlets are fanning the flames of the post-election unrest with their politically-motivated coverage of Iran's internal affairs.

"The presence of hundreds of foreign media (personnel) during Friday's historic elections verifies the sheer transparency of the process," said Iran's Foreign Minister Hassan Qashqavi on Wednesday.

He urged media outlets to change their outlook towards political developments occurring in Iran.

Qashqavi's remarks came a day after Iran revoked all foreign media accreditations. "No journalist has permission to report, film or take pictures in the city [of Tehran]," the Culture Ministry announced on Tuesday. [...]

PressTV also reports "'Main agents' behind Tehran unrest arrested'":

Iran's Intelligence Ministry says that it has arrested a number of 'main agents', who masterminded the recent post-election violence in Tehran.

"The Intelligence Ministry has identified and arrested a number of the main agents and elements behind acts of vandalism in recent days in Tehran," said Intelligence Minister Gholam-Hossein Mohseni Eje'i. [...]

IRIB has an article about a supposedly "amicable" meeting between the Supreme Leader and "Representatives of the four Iranian presidential candidates." The title is "40 million votes cast for Islamic System." I think the voters also had a certain interest in which candidates they were voting for. Here's the picture of the "amicable" meeting:


See, everything's fine.

Crossposted on Soccer Dad

Your dailyJuche-ness

What does the North Korean corner of the Axis of Evil have to say for itself today? (North) Korean News currently has a long, detailed account of why the two Korean-American Journalists were sentenced to 12 years in a Stalin-style Gulag:

[...] The preliminary investigation proved that they had a confab on producing and broadcasting a documentary slandering the DPRK with Mitch Koss, executive producer of programming of the Current TV, David Neuman, president of programming, and David Harleston, head of the Legal Department of Current TV, and other men in Los Angeles, U.S. in January.

A trial of the accused was held at the Pyongyang City Court from June 4 to 8.

At the trial the accused admitted that what they did were criminal acts committed, prompted by the political motive to isolate and stifle the socialist system of the DPRK by faking up moving images aimed at falsifying its human rights performance and hurling slanders and calumnies at it.

In the name of the DPRK the Central Court determined ten years of hard labor according to Provision 69 of the Criminal Code and four years of hard labor according to Provision 233 of the Criminal Code for the accused Laura Ling and Seung-Un Lee and sentenced them to 12 years of hard labor according to Provision 44 of the Criminal Code.

The prison term is counted from March 22, 2009, when the accused were detained and it was pronounced that the judgment is unappealable.

The criminals admitted and accepted the judgment.

In other articles, various things were blasted, slammed, and flayed. One article tells of how the Dear Leader instituted anti-flood measures in the middle of a drought:

Some officials may ask why we should be worried about rains when the sky is blue, he said, adding: But it is woefully wrong to think that way and we should set about a campaign to prevent flood damage without delay.

The official was moved to the depths of his being.

It was a marvelous thing unknown in history to take measures against damage from heavy rains, not measures to tide over drought when a long dry spell hit the country.

Sure enough, there were torrential rains. The article concludes "Kim Jong Il is, indeed, a great man with clairvoyant wisdom." And those journalists wanted to "hurl slanders and calumnies"!

North Korean army "will deal telling blows at the vital parts of the U.S. and wipe out all its imperialist aggressor troops no matter where they are"

The tone of the articles at (North) Korean News is slightly more bellicose than usual:

A Pyongyang city rally was held at Kim Il Sung Square Monday to denounce the United Nations Security Council's "resolution on sanctions" cooked up at the instigation of the U.S. imperialists.

Attending the rally were senior party, army and state officials, the chairman of a friendly party, leading officials of the party, armed forces and power organs, working people's organizations, ministries and national institutions, servicepersons, youth and students and people from all walks of life, more than 100,000 in all.

Kim Ki Nam, secretary of the Central Committee of the Workers' Party of Korea, in a speech said that the UNSC finally adopted an anti-DPRK "resolution on sanctions" at the instigation of the U.S. over the DPRK's second nuclear test, another grave provocation. This is, in essence, a wicked pressure offensive launched by the U.S. imperialists to disarm the DPRK, strangle its economy and undermine its ideology and system, he held, adding:

The UNSC's "resolution on sanctions" is an intolerable mockery of the dignity of the Korean people and an arrogant criminal act of wantonly violating its sovereignty.

The DPRK has so far done what it should do despite the ceaseless "sanctions" on the part of the imperialist allied forces. These "sanctions" prompted it to augment its national power, far from "weakening" it. This clearly proves that no enemy's anti-DPRK "sanctions" racket is workable and it is ridiculous and foolish for the U.S. to try to bring down the DPRK through "sanctions."

The hostile forces will sustain a bitterer setback and defeat if they persist in the moves for putting sanctions upon the DPRK and stifling it, misjudging the tough stand taken by the army and the people of the DPRK as "brinkmanship."

No matter how desperately the U.S. imperialists and other hostile forces may work to isolate and blockade the DPRK, a full-fledged nuclear weapons state, it will remain unfazed. In case the enemies foolishly attempt to blockade the DPRK it will respond to it with resolute and deadly blows, considering it as a war action.

The DPRK will steadily advance along the path of independence chosen by itself and will win a final victory in the confrontation with the U.S. whether it has flanks or not and whether it receives international aid or not.

Pak Jae Gyong, vice-minister of the People's Armed Forces who spoke on behalf of the Korean People's Army, vehemently denounced the UNSC "resolution" as a serious provocation, a wanton violation of the sovereignty and dignity of the DPRK and its people.

He warned that the KPA will mercilessly frustrate any attempt to check, inspect, examine and blockade any ship and object for which the sovereignty of the DPRK is exercised with powerful military retaliatory blows.

Under the present situation where the KPA is technically at war with the U.S. imperialists as the Armistice Agreement has lost its legal binding force the KPA will promptly exercise the right to preemptive strike to beat back the enemies' slightest provocation. It will deal telling blows at the vital parts of the U.S. and wipe out all its imperialist aggressor troops no matter where they are in the world.

The Japanese militarists and the Lee Myung Bak group of traitors and other lackeys of the U.S. imperialists should stop running wild, well aware that they will never be able to escape a stern punishment by the revolutionary armed forces of the DPRK if they keep going reckless. [...]

I'd say that's a clenched fist.

Crossposted on Soccer Dad

IRIB (Iran): Islamic Jihad calls for "Arab peace plan withdrawal" and "stand against extremism"

The two just go together naturally:

Palestinian Islamic Jihad movement on Sunday called on Arab states to withdraw the Arab Peace Initiative in response to the Zionist regime's Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu's speech.

"The misleading Netanyahu speech should motivate the Arab regimes to cancel their initiative and stop being subjected to compromise," the movement said in a statement.

"We can not accept occupation being present on any span of Palestinian land," the statement added.

The movement called on all national and Islamic groups to stand against extremism and the Zionist enemy and defend their principles.

Netanyahu in a speech said he would accept a demilitarized Palestinian statehood only when the Palestinians recognize the Zionist regime.

Netanyahu also said Israel will not completely halt Zionist settlement in the West Bank and the Palestinian refugees can not return back to their homeland in the occupied Palestine.

The Arab Peace Initiative was first declared in 2002 by Saudi Arabia during an Arab League summit in Beirut, which called for making peace between the Zionist regime and the Arab countries if the regime ends the occupation of Palestinian, Syrian and Lebanese territories.

While Islamic Jihad worries about "extremism," we also learn at IRIB that Hamas is worried about "racism":

Hamas movement has criticized hawkish Zionist regime prime minister's policy address, saying it reflects a 'racist and extremist ideology'.

Hamas spokesman Fawzi Barhum described Benjamin Netanyahu's Sunday night speech as a "slap in the face" of all moderate supporters of negotiations with the regime.

The speech is a repeat of the policy of the Israeli government, "which aims at transforming the Palestinian people into a tool to protect the occupation," he said. [...]

Works for me.

Crossposted on Soccer Dad

Fox investigating recent disturbance in henhouse

According to the Telegraph, leaked election results are confirming that the election was stolen. According to the Washington Post, however, their super-objective-scientific poll shows that Ahamdinejad actually had the sort of support that the official figures suggest. Not to worry, the Guardian Council will sort it all out:

Guardian Council spokesman Abbas Ali Kadkhodaie stated that the council has begun investigating the validity of election results.

“The Guardian Council invites the protester candidates of the tenth presidential election to (attend) a meeting in the council and utter their views,” he told ISNA on Monday.

He also added the council will explain the verification process to the candidates.

Also, Guardian Council Secretary Ayatollah Ahmad Jannati issued a statement on Monday and asked the candidates to send their protests to the council.

Supreme Leader of the Islamic Revolution Ayatollah Seyyed Ali Khamanei has previously asked the council to carefully examine the protests.

The Washington Post poll is interesting, but I am guessing that the truth of the election-fraud allegations will emerge eventually. After all, Juan Cole is never wrong.

Crossposted on Soccer Dad

Hezbollah and Venezuela helping to suppress Democratic yearnings in Iran?

A lot of the latest stories which are garnering the most blog-attention lately seem to be about clarifications. Jeremiah Wright clarified that he meant to attack "Zionists" rather than Jews. David Letterman clarified that his joke was really about Bristol and not Willow. Netanyahu clarified that a Palestinian state would actually be OK. The Iranian people, finally, are alleged to have clarified that they really wanted Ahmadinejad to continue as president of Iran. There seems to be less clarity forthcoming from that last clarification than all the previous ones. Iran may be getting interesting outside help in achieving clarity, however. According to Michael Ledeen:

Foreign reporters beaten and detained. One Belgian reporter, two others (unidentified as yet).

Reports that some of the thugs doing the “crowd control” are foreigners, who speak Arabic, not Farsi. These seem to be Hezbollah people, from both Lebanon and Syria.

Rumors that Venezuelan security personnel are also participating, although this is unconfirmed.

The Hezbollah part is also being reported at the Huffington Post. Speaking of Venezuela and Hezbollah, both Chavez and Nasrallah currently appear on the main page of the IRNA site "felicitating" or "congratulating" Ahmadinejad on his victory. You've probably also heard that the Supreme Leader called the election a "divine miracle":

Ayatollah Khamenei noted that the Iranian nation by high turnout in elections proved that it gives importance to national dignity and is honored to continue standing firmly against the arrogant powers. The nation insisted on the issue through such elections (the tenth presidential elections).

Pointing to the enemies' propaganda war to disappoint the people, the IR Leader said really, the recent elections supported by a divine might because 10 million more people participated in the elections.

The latest Haveil Havalim is also honored to continue standing firmly against the arrogant powers.

Assad, Muslim Brotherhood, Islamic Jihad, Hezbollah, and Hamas congratulate Ahmadinejad

IRIB Radio is often everything a World Arrogance blogger could want. Ahmadinejad has, we are told, achieved a "landslide victory." Hey, wait a minute, didn't you think the election was close? Here, under the title "Congratulation Messages Pour In," we get a list of "Syrian, Egyptian, Palestinian and Lebanese leaders" that includes terrorist group leaders for three out of five:

Following President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad's landslide victory in the 10th Presidential Elections, Syrian, Egyptian, Palestinian and Lebanese leaders and officials cabled messages of congratulation on Saturday on his re-election. Syrian President Bashar al-Assad, Leader of Egyptian Ikhwan al-Muslemin Mohammad-Mehdi Akef, Palestinian Islamic Resistance Movement (Hamas), and Palestinian Islamic Jihad Movement and the Lebanese Movement, Hezbollah, in separate messages congratulated President Ahmadinejad on his victory.

They wished him success and prosperity.

President Ahmadinejad gained 24,527,516 or 62.63 percent of the total 39,165,191 votes cast, and stood winner of the 10th Presidential Elections held nationwide on Friday June 12.

Also at IRIB Radio, we get a concise version of the Supreme Leader blather about how wonderful the election was:

The Supreme Leader of Islamic Revolution Ayatollah Seyyed Ali Khamenei has said the talented and great Iranian nation's powerful and calm presence and participation in the epic 10th presidential elections on Friday 12 June was a blessing and mercy from God Almighty, and an unparalleled and unique event in Iran's history. In a message to the Iranian nation on Saturday, the Supreme Leader stressed that the Iranian people's epic participation in Friday's presidential election was a startling and unique event, without precedent, which showed the political awareness and maturity of the Iranian people, their resolute determination as well as revolutionary stance, displaying a wonderful spectacle to the world.

In his message Ayatollah Seyyed Ali Khamenei emphasized that the (democratic) power which the Iranian people displayed with such calm and dignity, and which has now been recorded in Iranian history, is such an extraordinary and important event that conventional words fail to do it justice. [...]

Meanwhile, Al-Jazeera coverage of the election aftermath currently features this picture:

Juan Cole is not buying the election results, but MPAC-UK is:

Mahmoud Ahmadinjead has won the Iranian presidential vote. Again.

One thing we can be sure of is that the Zionists must be kicking themselves. Regardless of what excuses anyone makes about "oh, why is the margin so big?" they should understand how democracy works:

More votes = that candidate is more popular.

MPACUK congratulates President Ahmadinejad. [...]

I'm not kicking myself. I'm sitting back to watch the fun.

Crossposted on Soccer Dad

Scheme to bankrupt parents now targets Jews

I've got a pain in my wallet:

Dana Witkin holds her brand new Rebecca Rubin doll up to her face, and the resemblance is hard to ignore. Both the 7-year-old Orange County resident and Rebecca Rubin – the first Jewish doll in American Girl’s historical character line – have softly curled light brown hair with amber highlights, olive skin, and striking hazel eyes. [...]

Each year, American Girl introduces a new character to its line of historical dolls. The dolls are all set in pivotal time periods. Collections include a series of books and sometimes videos about the girl’s experience, as well as accessories ranging from pets to clothing to furniture. The dolls cost just under $100 each, and the accessories add up pretty quickly. [...]

Not if you shun the whole American Girl racket to begin with.

Beverage denial in the news

If you are an employee or retired employee of Molson's, your free beer is being phased out:

Molson retirees in the province of Newfoundland will see their monthly allotment of beer fall from six dozen a month to zero over the next five years.

Current workers will see their allotment drop from 72 dozen bottles a year to 52 dozen.

In related news, Venezuelans are being told that Democracy Zero and Coke Zero don't mix:

The Venezuelan government of U.S.-critic President Hugo Chavez on Wednesday ordered Coca-Cola Co (KO.N) to withdraw its Coke Zero beverage from the South American nation, citing unspecified dangers to health.

There is still an amber stream of hope on tap, however, thanks to Alabama:

Alabama has a new law allowing stronger beer to be sold in the state, which means previously banned specialty and imported beers can soon begin appearing in restaurants, bars and some retail stores.

Maan: "Mysterious explosion"--mystery cleared up rapidly

It seems that their initial impulse was to blame Israel, but wouldn't covering up a work-accident constitute nakba-denial?

One Palestinian was killed and another was injured when an explosive device detonated in a farmer’s field in the Ash-Shahayda neighborhood in eastern Khan Younis on Saturday.

Initial sources said the explosion was caused by unexploded ordinances left behind by the Israeli army during the war on Gaza over the winter. Later statements by Spokesperson of the de facto government interior ministry Eyhab Al-Ghussein, however, indicated the explosion may have been an accident.

Muawieyah Hasaneen, head of Emergency and Ambulance Services in the Ministry of Health, identified the slain as 50-year-old farmer Samer Faraj Ad-Dughmah, and the injured as 50-year-old Ahmad Abu Duqa who was transferred to the local European Hospital for treatment.

Korean KGB Wives regale General

Notice that these are units of "Korean People's Security Forces" and that they "dedicate themselves to accomplishing the revolutionary cause of Juche together with their husbands." So they're KGB wives, essentially:

General Secretary Kim Jong Il enjoyed together with KPA servicepersons a performance given by the art groups of families of servicemen of KPA Unit 583 and Unit 3154 of the Korean People's Security Forces who took part in the second round of the second-term contest among art groups of families of KPA servicemen.

They put on the stage Kayagum ensemble "The Hearts Longing for the General", dialogic poem "We Will Meet Our Father General in Huichon", story telling and small chorus "Let Us Meet at the Front" and other colorful numbers of various genres.

Through the performance they enthusiastically sang of their worthwhile life they are leading under the care of the great brilliant commander and strikingly demonstrated the unshakable faith and will and revolutionary stamina and indomitable spirit of the families of the servicemen to devotedly safeguard the headquarters of the revolution and dedicate themselves to accomplishing the revolutionary cause of Juche together with their husbands.

Kim Jong Il highly appreciated the successful performance given by the members of the art groups of families of servicemen and extended thanks to them, expressing great satisfaction over the fact that they staged a splendid performance by making leaping progress on the basis of the ideological and artistic successes made in the past.

Admirable, indeed, are the spiritual world, working traits and lifestyle of the families of the servicemen as they are leading a militant life full of conviction and optimism about future, he said.

Noting that the second round of the second-term contest among art groups of families of servicemen held amid the great expectation and concern of the army and people strikingly demonstrated the validity and vitality of the WPK's literary and art policy on popularizing arts and the laudable feature of the new culture created in the Songun era, he extended high appreciation and warm salute to all of them who greatly contributed to making the revolutionary spirit prevail throughout the society by participating in the contest with extraordinary enthusiasm.

He put forward important tasks which would serve as guidelines for further developing the popular and mass-based performing activities, saying that the contest among art groups of families of servicemen that came into being in the Songun era has served as a powerful engine greatly encouraging the servicepersons and people in the drive for building a great prosperous and powerful nation for its great vitality. [...]

Another item at Korean News calls for a "Full Display of Revolutionary Soldier Spirit." For example:

Hero Kil Yong Jo unhesitatingly chose to blow himself up for the safety of the headquarters of the revolution and heroic soldiers laid down their lives to protect the revolutionary slogans written on the barked trees on Mujae Peak from raging flames. These feats clearly bespeak that the revolutionary soldier spirit of the KPA has turned the whole army into the elite ranks devotedly defending the leader.

I never miss an opportunity to blog about people who fling themselves into fire to defend slogan-bearing trees. Also, recent blog carnivals will earn your high appreciation and warm salute.

Obama's Palestinian ambitions, or Abu Hussein and the 800-lb Al-Buraq

Obama has now reached out, as the BBC put it, to the Muslims in Cairo. As many commentators have already pointed out, he did quite a bit of pandering and distorting. But didn't we all know that he would? If Obama can use flattery to get the Muslim world to do World Arrogance bidding, more power to him. One of the several 800-lb Al-Buraqs in the room, however, is the question of whether the speech will end up being inconsequential in the long run.

Obama would obviously like to succeed with the Israelis and Palestinians where his predecessor in the last progressive White House failed. Palestinian nationalism, however, is a perverse and dysfunctional thing. The Palestinian rejection of the Camp David offer of over 90 percent of the West Bank and all of Gaza is hard to explain from either a state-seeking or irredentist standpoint. The left attempted to defend the Palestinians from a state-seeking standpoint, of course, but the does anyone really believe Arafat righteously turned down the Bantustans proffered by the evil, Apartheid-mongering Bill Clinton and Dennis Ross?

From an irredentist standpoint, that rejection is worse still. The Zionist tumor offered to shrink itself and all Arafat had to do was sign on the bottom line. If he had then formally renounced the peace-part, say, a year later, the essays in the Guardian explaining the moral rightness of his actions would have appeared faster than you can say "Itbach Al-Yahud!"

One interesting feature of Obama's speech was his profession of a rather lachrymose Zionism: "The aspiration for a Jewish homeland is rooted in a tragic history that cannot be denied," he asserted. How about pointing out that a Cairo-dweller named Maimonides wrote "Great sages would kiss the borders of Eretz Yisrael, kiss its stones, and roll in its dust . . . the sins of one who dwells in Eretz Yisrael are forgiven . . ."? Maimonies made an unsuccessful attempt to live in Israel but the land was, among other things, too Crusade-ravaged. His famous defender Nachmanides, born a mere 60 years later, succeeded in settling on the other side of the Israel-Egypt border, and I've seen him referred to as the "first Zionist." Jews have accomplished great things in Eretz Yisroel in all ages. The late date at which the Masoretes were still doing their scholarly work in Tiberias will knock your socks off. Look it up.

The Jews have a state now because they always had a homeland and they single-mindedly worked to create a modern nation-state in those very borders. The Palestinians have a Nakba. The "Nakba," surely derived from a root having to do with shooting oneself in the foot, is properly translated as the great Arab blunder of 1948. Joseph Massad is correct that the Nakba is ongoing, and, in fact, the Nakba Express is once-again leaving the station with Hamas in the boiler-room. Can Obama, now that he is Abu Hussein, convince the Palestinians that turning down peace-deals with generous amounts of that dust mentioned by Maimonides attached is tres nakba? Probably not. The 800-lb Al-Buraqs are meaner these days.

(More on the Maimonidean angle here.)

Crossposted on Soccer Dad

The Peace Process so far

Recent coverage of the Israeli-Palestinin conflict creates the strange impression that a peace-agreement is something essentially to be worked out between Netanyahu and Obama. We are seeing all sorts of speculation on the positions that the two will eventually take, but where do some other interested parties stand?

Saudis: Two state solution, both states for the Palestinians

Hamas: Peace Zero, with Hudna . . . All the land concessions, none of the peace . . .

Fatah: Further rejections of peace offers not forthcoming without Israeli concesions

PFLP: Property is theft, Workers control the means of production, Itbach Al-Yahud!

DFLP: Closed for lunch, for matters requiring immediate attention contact Syrian embassy

Islamic Jihad: Same as the PFLP, without the means of production part

PRC: Pass the rockets

Ahmadinejad: "Liberalism runs counter to justice" . . . "the bullying powers will impose a new satanic system of government"

Note to the "they don't hate us for our freedom" crowd: Ahmadinejad just called the West "satanic" in the context of discussing liberal democracy:

President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad said on Wednesday that liberalism which is stuck in a stalemate runs counter to justice.
The president made the remarks in a meeting with foreign guests who are in Iran to take part in ceremonies to mark the 20th anniversary of the demise of Imam Khomeini. the late father of the Islamic Revolution.

"Should we make any negligent moves, the bullying powers will impose a new satanic system of government decorated in an eye-catching package," he said.

There is no doubt that the movement initiated by the late Imam Khomeini was inspired by God and is continuation of the path of holy prophets seeking to push forward the human society to attain the peaks of success and dignity, he said.

Imam's movement was beyond ethnical and political factionalism and away from geographic boundaries, he said.

When disappointments had engulfed the globe and human dignity was trampled on by liberal democracy, capitalism and Marxism, the late Imam Khomeini came to the scene and hoisted the flag of human dignity, he said. [...]

Meanwhile, at Fars, we learn that "Reformist presidential candidate Mir-Hossein Mousavi hailed the strong resistance of the Iranian nation as an impediment to a US invasion of the country." He also wants "more comprehensive relations" with Hezbollah:

Elsewhere, he viewed Iran's present relations with such groups as the Lebanese Hezbollah as "very positive", but meantime asked for more comprehensive relations between Tehran and such groups.

At PressTV, we learn that Ahmadinejad evidently sees all that hope and change (and July 4th invitations?) as resulting from Iran's military might:

President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad says Iran's might has made it impossible for its enemies to launch an attack on the country.

"Those countries that threatened Iran in the past are sending letters and messages to Iran today," Ahmadinejad said at a gathering of women in Tehran on Tuesday.

Also at PressTV, "Chavez talks of CIA assassination plot":

The Venezuelan leader stated that the country's intelligence services hold "very precise information" that incriminates the CIA of the alleged plot.

He went on to say that an infamous Cuban rebel and ex-CIA agent, Luis Posada Carriles, sought to launch a rocket attack on the presidential plane -- the Cubana de Aviacion.

Cool name.

Crossposted on Soccer Dad

Vos iz Neias: "almost every Israeli has a complete set of Gemaras"

That's what it says, but it doesn't seem to be true. According to Arutz Sheva,

The survey, carried out by the Panels Institute, shows that almost every Israeli has a complete set of the Bible texts, a Jewish prayer book, or Five Books of Moses in their home.

Oddly, Vos iz Neias calls the "Bible texts" (probably meaning a set of Tanach) "Gemaras":

The survey, carried out by the Panels Institute, shows that almost every Israeli has a complete set of Gemaras (the Bible texts), a Sidur (Jewish prayer book), or Chimushim (Five Books of Moses) in their home.

Neias indeed!

Juan points out that Obama just has to use his ruby slippers

One of the hallmarks of worthwhile analysis of the Israeli-Palestinian conflict is that the word "Hamas" comes up every so often. The "H" word isn't used in Juan Cole's latest:

President Barack Obama says he will be more honest than past presidents with Israel. Israel, a great friend of the United States and a country we like and admire on its merits, has nevertheless dug itself into a very deep hole with its determination to colonize the West Bank and to keep the Palestinians stateless. These policies are what is wrong, not anything essential about Israel or the Palestinians. [...]

See there, everybody's essence is sound. How does that relate to the fact that Palestinian leaders reject land-for-peace either on a categorical basis or on a case-by-case basis? Time to move on to Juan's Modest Proposal Pavillion! First, however, let us pause for a moment at the Grand Metaphor exhibit:

Not only is Israel hurting itself with this reckless drive to colonize others' land and so rob them, but it is deeply harming US interests in the Muslim World. Why would a friend do that to us--harm itself and harm us? Israeli settlement policy is the Amy Winehouse of foreign affairs. [...]

Cute, Juan. As Lenin would put it, what is to be done?

. . . I think Obama should make it clear that by 2011 he will simply recognize as the Palestinian state the government of the Palestine Authority that is elected next January. That would be an excellent way of forcing all the parties to make sure those elections are not handled carelessly. And it will put everyone into over-drive in making sure the transition goes well. I have been saying for some time what Ahmed Qurei recently did, that if the Israeli settlers want to stay in the West Bank, they must accept Palestinian citizenship. A government of Palestine that has Jewish constituents might anyway be a good thing.

Obama has an opportunity, through making sound and wise policy on this issue, to resolve 80 or 90% of the problems the US has with the Middle East. It looks as though he is going to give it his best shot.

Doubleplusgood!

Crossposted on Soccer Dad

PressTV (Iran): "Alien sacrifice saved earth"

Well, Joe lost control, went into a skid
And gave his life to save that bunch-a kids
And there at that crossroads, was the end of the line
For Big Joe and phantom 309

Sometimes you don't know what you are going to find in the Iranian Press. To be fair, I only quoted part of the headline, which read in full, "Russian scientist: Alien sacrifice saved earth":

A Russian scientist is claiming that aliens downed Tunguska meteorite in 1908, causing a massive explosion in Siberia to protect the earth from destruction.

Dr. Yuriy Lavbin, president of the Tunguska Spatial Phenomenon Foundation, insists that if an alien spacecraft had failed to place itself between our planet and the gigantic meteorite a century ago, the full force of collision above Siberia would have been disastrous.

He provided 10 recovered quartz crystals collected from the crash site as proof. Several of the crystals have holes in between, so they can be united in a chain.

"We don't have any technologies that can print such kind of drawings on crystals," Labvin told the Macedonian International News Agency.

"We also found ferrum silicate that can not be produced anywhere, except in space," added the scientist.

Labvin thinks the marked quartz slabs are remnants of an alien control panel, which fell to the ground after the UFO slammed into the giant rock. [...]

Elsewhere at PressTV we learn that the "World's Strongest Man gives Ahmadinejad a lift":

The strongest weightlifter in history has come out in support of the incumbent President Ahmadinejad in the upcoming elections.

The hugely popular Hossein Rezazadeh, who is the current world record-holder for the heaviest lifts in history, and the head coach of Iran's national weightlifting squad, has declared his support for Ahmadinejad.

“Due to my heartfelt affections for Dr. Ahmadinejad, I am ready to run his campaign's sports outfit as a volunteer, and in some way repay him for all he has done for the (country's) sports,” he told the national Iran TV station yesterday, according to the Tabnak News Agency. [...]

The story is accompanied by a great picture:


Honey, I shrunk the President! Meanwhile, Fars reports that "Iran Dismisses Reports on Plot for Bombing Israeli Embassy as 'Fake'":

An informed Iranian source denied media reports on an alleged plot by Iran and the Lebanese Hezbollah to bomb Israeli embassy in Azerbaijan, stressing that Tehran would never embark on impairing its good neighborly relations with Baku.

I mean, isn't as if they are Argentina or anything.

An unnamed informed source told the Iranian students news agency on Monday that such news was "fabricated" and "baseless". [...]

Glad that's cleared up.

Crossposted on Soccer Dad