Supreme Leader offers supreme denial

This IRNA article is titled "Supreme Leader says Muslims never falter in spotting their true enemies"--never, that is, except for a few nasty World Arrogance plots causing Arab Sunnis to be suspicious of Persian Shi'ites, which otherwise, of course, they would never, ever do because "Muslims never falter," etc:

Supreme Leader of the Islamic Revolution Ayatollah Seyyed Ali Khamenei said Sunday that Muslims would never falter in identifying the main causes of any disagreement among themselves.

The Supreme Leader made the remark this morning in an address to heads of the three branches of government, chief of the Expediency Council, guests participating in the 22nd International Conference on Islamic Unity and ambassadors of the Islamic states in Iran as well as a large crowd of people from different walks of life on the auspicious occasion of the birth anniversary of Muslim Prophet Muhammad (PBUH) and the sixth Shiite Imam, Jaafar Sadeq (AS).

Referring to the ceaseless efforts of the enemies of the Islamic Ummah to sow discord among Muslims, Ayatollah Khamenei said Muslims were vigilant enough to recognize the fact that any remark targeting the Islamic unity was the voice of the hegemonic powers.

Describing the birth of the Grand Prophet of Islam as a very critical and landmark event in the history of the mankind, the Supreme Leader said at present juncture, the true responsibility of the followers of Muslim Prophet, especially those who are categorized as politicians, scientists, intellectuals and influential figures, was to try to materialize the Islamic unity and fight the elements who are trying to sow discord among Muslims.

The Supreme Leader further urged Muslim Ummah to go beyond rhetorics and take practical measures to consolidate and safeguard unity among themselves as a sign of gratitude for the birth of Muslim prophet which has benefited the whole mankind.

Saying that Muslims should stay vigilant and alert in the face of consecutive plots of enemies and expansionist powers, the Ayatollah also expressed regret that, in very rare and odd occasions, Muslims or some Muslim states get trapped and act as tools in the hands of Muslims’ enemies in advancing their objective of sowing discord among Muslims.

Pointing to the glorious victory of Muslim Ummah during 33 days of resistance against the Zionist army in Lebanon and then for 22 days in Gaza, Ayatollah Khamenei said the two cases highlighted the fact that the enemies, in a bid to reduce the impact of such victories, tried to focus on differences between Shiite and Sunni Muslims and Arab and non-Arab nations. [...]

Another example of Muslim disunity results in the odd IRIB headline "Hamas: Fatah acts evasive during talks":

A Hamas official on Sunday criticized the Fatah Movement for bringing obstacles in reconciliation talks in Cairo.

Osama Hamdan in his meeting with a delegation from the European Parliament said that the Fatah Movement was putting obstacles to the reconciliation talks in Cairo, IRIB reported from Damascus.

He expressed regret about the detention of Reistance combatants in the West Bank by the security forces of Palestinian Authority, adding, "The simultaneous detention of Reistance fighters with the begining of reconciliation talks shows the ill thoughts of the opposite side."

He said that the Palestinian Authority and Mahmoud Abbass were not serious about reconciliation talks in Palestine.

He noted that Hamas and Fatah had different ideas. "A group is martyrdom-seeking and believes in resistance to reach its right and therefore it won the battle against Israel in Gaza while the other tries to recognize the Zionist regime."

"We want to solve all differences to unite all capacities against the Zionist regime."

And just be one big Iranian-backed, martyrdom-seeking family.

Crossposted on Soccer Dad

The self-fulfilling conspiracy theory

This whole business with Chas Freeman reminds me of what I call the "self-fulfilling conspiracy theory." To illustrate:

1. Fred is alarmed that civilization is about to crumble at the hands of the nefarious Council on Foreign Relations.

2. He distributes leaflets at his place of employment alerting his co-workers to the danger.

3. His boss reads one of the leaflets and is alarmed to discover that his employee Fred is a nut.

4. Fred is fired.

5. Fred's worst suspicions are confirmed. His ex-Boss is part of the conspiracy!

6. Fred gets feverishly to work revising his leaflets.

Things assailed, flayed, and blasted

We'll do this round-up style today. I usually stick to posts about the up-lifted banner of Songun and other muck about how great their system is, but their bellicose mode is even shriller than usual. Maybe it signifies something:

"U.S. Frantic Efforts to Round Off MD Assailed":

The U.S. is making so great haste to finish the test of the efficiency of the anti-missile system and rectify its shortcomings after setting even the end of May as the deadline. This frenzy is prompted by the U.S. worry that its strategy for dominating the world backed by MD may prove unsuccessful . . .

The army and people of the DPRK will develop Korean type ultra-modern weapons and equip themselves with them to completely foil the U.S. strategy for military domination and world supremacy . . .

"U.S. and S. Korean Warmongers' Reckless War Maneuvers Flayed":

Mere warning is not enough to deal with the warmongers.

The war maniacs are apt to go more desperate and reckless when their rival looks weaker and lacks strong will.

These warmongers should be dealt with retaliatory blows.

The army and people of the DPRK have so far bolstered the capability for self-defense in every way under the uplifted banner of Songun in order to deal telling blows at the warmongers recklessly working to realize their ambition to invade it and defend the national sovereignty and dignity.

They love peace and do not want confrontation and a war, but they will wage a just war of retaliation against the warmongers should they dare impose a war upon the army and people of the DPRK.

The U.S. imperialists and the Lee war-thirty group had better properly know who their rival is and behave themselves not to meet the fate of forlorn wandering spirits.

That last one was almost poetic.

"Lee Myung Bak's Sinister Intention Blasted":

The puppet warmongers are frantically staging Key Resolve and Foal Eagle joint military exercises across south Korea aimed at invading the DPRK in collusion with the U.S. This clearly reveals the treacherous and bellicose intention of the group of traitors to provoke a new war through cooperation with outside forces with an eye to realize its long-harbored ambition "to achieve unification by invading the north" at any cost.

A village can never be in peace as long as mad dogs run about.

The situation on the Korean Peninsula has reached an unpredictable phase of explosion due to the anti-DPRK and anti-reunification confrontational policy pursued by the group, kowtowing to foreign forces.

The latest edition of Haveil Havalim won't meet the fate of forlorn wandering spirits.

MPAC-UK: "The latest victim of this racist abuse by Zionists within the media is the pre-planned attack on Inayat Bunglawala"

There isn't much comment here on the actual case or any explanation of what they mean by a "pre-planned attack," just a tour of sorts through some of MPAC-UK's boilerplate rhetoric:

The Muslim community today is rallying around its leaders as never before, despite the Media seeking to demonise and attack them. The propaganda war against the few Muslim leaders who are standing up for the Muslim community has stepped up a gear. Key figures are being hounded and psychological intimidation tactics are being used against those who have stood up to the government's foreign policy agenda. Zionists within the government and the media are manipulating these great British institutions to ensure they are compliant with their new agenda of breaking the back of Muslim groups who have stood up against Israel.

The latest victim of this racist abuse by Zionists within the media is the pre-planned attack on Inayat Bunglawala by the well known Islamaphobes within the Mail today. Their aim is to silence key figures within the Muslim community, using their influence within the press to intimidate government from engaging with them, and then isolate them within the Muslim community by using propaganda labels of ‘extremist’, etc.

New self proclaimed ‘moderate’ Muslim groups are being set up with a pro Israel slant. Muslim groups who silently refuse to discuss the issue and keep their members busy on minor rituals are promised funding and are free from intimidation. The less any group stands up to the Zionist lobby, the more they are free from censure – for now.

It is classic divide and conquer rule. First intimidate and break the groups and individuals who stand up to them and are the most vocal in their opposition. Then pacify those who would stand with them, by engaging with them and showing them they are free to practice without fear. Once the vanguards of defenders of the Ummah are destroyed, these weaker more cowardly leaders can be dealt with as they will, for the braver element has been destroyed. Classic tactics used when they pacified the leaders of India and Africa. In those days they didn’t just use the media to intimidate - they killed the braver leaders who resisted them.

I wonder what that refers to. So now "they," who would be the "Zionists" I guess, "just use the media to intimidate"? Drat, someone's been cultivating our moderates again!

Sadly we have too many leaders who are weak and cowardly; too many scholars who are knowledgeable (in certain matters) but have no understanding of the trap they are in or the new challenges the Ummah is facing; and too many young people willing to follow these scholars and pacify their own minds into a state of inactivity. Thus leaders like Inayat are left isolated without organised resistance on his behalf.

We ask all Muslim groups to speak up against this demonisation of our leaders and say – ‘we stand firm against this witch hunt of our leaders, and we will not allow our community to be attacked by organised Zionists who have an agenda for a foreign government that we should all stand up and oppose.’ [...]

Predictable.

Crossposted on Soccer Dad

Nasrallah's cry for understanding

He's saying "Reach out to me":

Secretary-General of the Lebanese Islamic Resistance Movement Hezbollah Sayyed Hassan Nasrallah said Friday his movement would never recognize the Zionist regime, rejecting a US precondition for dialogue with the movement.

"To those who impose conditions on us, we say: We will never recognize Israel," he said in a speech during celebrations on the occasion of birth anniversary of the Noblest Messenger of Allah Hazrat Mohammad (PBUH) through a video conference.

He referred to America's new preconditions for both Palestinian and Lebanese Islamic Resistance Movements of Hamas and Hezbollah: to renounce violence and recognize Israel.

"We reject the American conditions today, tomorrow and after 1000 years and even until the end of time, as long as Hezbollah exists, it will never recognize Israel," Nasrallah said.

Nasrallah noted that White House's apparent openness for dialogue was rooted in the failure of its regional plans. [...]

All that hope and change isn't inspiring much respect, is it?

Ahmadinejad: "Had you not been bad-tempered and not blocked the way, the Iranian nation would not have been present in the space and not nuclearized"

Why would a peaceful nuclear program be a response to "bad temper"? There are other examples of statements like this from Ahmadinejad. He seems free to say indirectly or to strongly imply that Iran's nuclear program is military at the same time that other official pronouncements deny it in more explicit language:

President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad said Friday that Iran's presence in the space and its progress in nuclear field are all because of the superpowers' bad temper.

"Had you not been bad-tempered and not blocked the way, the Iranian nation would not have been present in the space and not nuclearized," President Ahmadinejad was quoted by the Islamic republic news agency as saying in an address to a ceremony, held for inauguration of South Pars gas field's phases IX and X in Assalouyeh in southern Boushehr Province.

Calling inauguration of phases 9 and 10 of South Pars gas field "the national feast of self-confidence, innovation and flourish," the president said inauguration of the SP phases nine and 10 marks a rejoicing feast for the great Iranian nation.

"The happiness will double if you consider the fact that the huge task was done under conditions when certain people around the world refused to act on their duty and promises, showing bad-temperedness and misbehavior."

He said the people had promised to finance the project and even signed contract to supply parts and equipment but, as directors of the project say, returned some of the supplies back on ship.

He added that the idea of impeding Iran's progress through sanctions is a "childish thinking and a grave blunder." [...]

Right, the Big Satan is just ruining the cordial relations it has always had with the Khomeinists.

Crossposted on Soccer Dad

Reuters Headline: "Final Gaza toll shows 960 civilians killed in Israel's offensive: group"

The "final toll" referred to in this article comes courtesy of The Palestinian Center for Human Rights, which according to Camera, has recently listed people as civilians who were identified by Palestinian news agencies as members of terrorist groups (h/t: EOZ). The article presents the following, presumably as some sort of presentation of the Israeli side:

Israel says its forces never deliberately targeted civilians in Gaza and did their utmost to avoid civilian casualties. It says Hamas fighters used ordinary Palestinians as human shields.

Actually, the IDF has offered its own analysis of the identities of the people killed, but the article makes no mention of that. It is always useful to examine the number of women killed in these sorts of statistics since you can fudge the civilian status of a person, but not the person's gender. The article lists 121 women killed among the total number, 1,434. That's about 8.4 percent. On the face of it, that does not sound like the results of an attack that mostly kills civilians. Wouldn't women make up a much larger percentage of the victims? I'm just asking. We are now undoubtedly going to see this "960" number endlessly cited as simply a fact, which the Reuters headline encourages. Note: See this version of the article, for instance, which omits the final word from the Reuters title as it appears at the link I provide above.

Update: More here.

Crossposted on Soccer Dad

Supreme Leader on the Omid Satellite: "This great job burst like a bomb in the world"

He has a way with words:

Supreme Leader of Islamic Revolution Ayatollah Seyed Ali Khamenei Thursday cautioned Islamic states about enemies' plots and efforts to create a rift among Muslims.

"During the 22-day long war on Gaza, enemies of Islam witnessed what a significant impact the Muslim nations' demonstration for expressing solidarity with the oppressed people of Gaza and Palestine left on the scandalous and humiliating defeat of the Zionist army," Ayatollah Khamenei stated.

"They (enemies) will never give up their attempts to sow seeds of discord among Islamic countries and nations," the Iranian Leader reiterated.

Elsewhere, Ayatollah Khamenei reminded the helpless reaction shown by opponents vis-à-vis Iran's recent advancements in aerospace technology, specifically the successful launch of the Iranian-made Omid Satellite, and added, "This great job burst like a bomb in the world and informed the world's scientists about the stunning capabilities and advancements of Iranian scientists."

Update: Was the Supreme Leader's statement a "Bomb-like Declaration Showing Matchless Grit and Will"?

Embattled top Persian intel pick Haman withdraws

Breaking news:

Shushan Press: A veteran Perisan diplomat and outspoken Tzorer HaYehudim, Haman HaAgagi, has withdrawn from contention for a top Persian intelligence post, Persian intelligence director Carshena announced Tuesday.

Haman "has requested that his selection to be Chairman of the Yodei HaItim Council not proceed. Director Carshena accepted Ambassador Haman's decision with regret," Carshena's office said in a statement.

The decision came after Persian lawmakers raised concerns about Haman's financial links to Babylonia and Assyria and critics attacked past comments he made that they saw as overly critical of HaYehudim or too sympathetic to the Amelekites.

"This was a wise decision by Admiral Carshena," said Admasa, one of Haman's leading critics, who told SP that the controversy underscored the need for better vetting of appointees to sensitive positions.

David Duke on the murder of Haman

Don't worry, I'm not giving Duke a link, but I will quote some choice bits. He explains:

Purim is the Jewish celebration of the murder of the Persian Prime Minister, Haman for supposedly plotting a conspiracy against the Jews. Haman was hung along with all of his ten sons, and 75,000 hapless Persians were slaughtered.

As if it isn't bad enough to celebrate the murder of the righteous Haman:

Over the centuries, this Jewish celebration of the murderous punishment of Haman and the supposed anti-Semites at Purim has become like a Mardi Gras celebration, but one with a shocking orgy of hate and hateful symbols, and it even includes foods symbolic of revenge and gore.

In the synagogues Jewish children beat branches recreating the beating of Haman. They have skits where they symbolically hang children made up to look like him. They also scream and shout and curse his name in Synagogues during their reading of what they call the Megillah (the Jewish account of their massacre of Haman and the Persians).

Hamantashen and Kreplach--he's not making this up!

Even more disgusting than this display of hatred in a house of worship are the foods especially prepared for Purim, the two most famous are Hamantaschen, or "Haman’s ears," and Kreplach. Hamantaschen are triangular-shaped dough pockets meant to symbolize Haman’s ears and Kreplach are dough pockets filled with ground beef symbolizing the beaten flesh of Haman. Does this sound appetizing? I am not making this up.

Gimme some of that food symbolizing Haman's beaten flesh! Have a freilechen bloodthirsty hate-fest celebrating the murder of Haman!

(If you really must have a link, here is something only marginally less disgusting.)

Crossposted on Soccer Dad

Iran's "international police" receive "detention verdict of 25 Zionist commanders and criminals"

The idea is that Iran has its own Interpol?

Tehran's attorney Saeed Mortazavi delivered the detention verdict of 25 Zionist commanders and criminals to IRI's international police on Sunday.

Due to Tehran attorney's request from international police to summon 25 Zionist commanders and criminals, this department started its measures to pursue these persons.

After receiving the verdict, the general office of international police requested the summons (Red Notice) of these persons from the International Criminal Police Organization (ICPO) in official and international procedures. The issue has been put on ICPO's agenda.

Elsewhere in the Iranian press, Mehr News reveals that the West is "attempting to create rift between Iran and Arabs":

The U.S. along with Israel and many European states are attempting to "create a rift between Iran and Arab countries", Lebanon’s top Shia cleric Sheikh Mohammed Hussein Fadlalah has stated.

The U.S. seeks to make the Arab countries in the Persian Gulf region afraid of Iran’s nuclear program, he told ISNA in an exclusive interview published on Sunday.

However, Iran has made "comprehensive efforts" to prove that U.S. policies are wrong, he added.

The cleric said former U.S. secretary of states Condoleezza Rice tried to make Iran look like Arabs’ number one enemy and Israel as their friend so that Arab states would form a coalition against Tehran.

But such actions have always failed as Iran’s policies towards the Persian Gulf countries are "open", he added.

For instance, he said, to clear up misunderstandings about former Iranian Parliament speaker Ali Akber Nateq Nouri’s recent remarks with regard to Bahrain, Iranian officials took immediate action to elaborate on remarks by Nateq Nouri to prevent any misinterpretation and this showed Iran’s "positive and open" policies towards Arab countries. [...]

Morocco was not convinced.

Crossposted on Soccer Dad

Convoy conveying Yvonne Ridley and George Galloway attacked

Iran's PressTV reports:

Gaza-bound aid convoy 'Viva Palestina' has been attacked in Egypt on its way to break a long imposed Israeli blockade on the Gaza Strip.

Several activists were injured after the attackers - claimed to be members of Palestinian Fatah faction - vandalized some of the cars in the convoy, Press TV reported Sunday.

British lawmaker, George Galloway, who is traveling with the convoy said that Egyptian authorities did not protect the convoy despite their promises. "They are blocking us inside, but they don't protect us."

The convoy of peace activists including Press TV presenter Yvonne Ridley and Film maker Hassan Ghani left London on February 14.

Having traveled thousands of kilometers (miles) through Europe and North Africa, the convoy arrived in Egypt on Saturday.

The convoy is scheduled to arrive in the besieged territory Monday morning. [...]

"This here's the Rubber Duck an' I'm about to put the hammer on down . . . "

Update: EOZ has several posts on this event.

Kim Jong Il sends Shalach Manos

Sort of:

Labor Hero and Dr. Jang Jong Su, manager of the Samhung Stock Farm, marked his 70th birthday and Labor Hero and Prof. Jong Jong Dae, a teacher at the 2nd Medical Faculty of Clinical Medicine of Pyongyang University of Medicine, his 80th birthday. [...]

Born in Japan in Juche 18 (1929), Jong Jong Dae joined the volunteers' corps and bravely fought to defend the DPRK government, a genuine motherland of the people, during the Fatherland Liberation War. [...]

Birthday spreads of benevolence sent by General Secretary Kim Jong Il were conveyed to them.

The latest Haveil Havalim is a blogging spread of benevolence.

Foreign policy disasters, substantial upsides, 00's and other progressive insights concerning the Zionist entity

We always try to do our bit to keep you updated on how the other side thinks. Let's begin with a blog called "Alterdestiny":

It's almost taboo to say this, but the establishment of Israel is one of the great foreign policy disasters of the 20th century. While one cannot question that Jews were not safe most anywhere in Europe, creating a state under constant siege that has to displace the people already living there and then oppressing them in occupied territories has not exactly been a huge success. The failure of the Jewish state to establish long-term stability in the face of low birthrates compared to the Islamic population suggests either it losing its Jewish identity or apartheid; either way, it's likely that we'll still be dealing with these same problems in another 60 years.

Are Israelis allowed to think of themselves as a nationality in their own right and not somebody else's foreign policy issue? Isn't this Erik Loomis fellow being a trifle Big-Satan-o-centric? To supply some context, he was observing that "Roosevelt's classic ambivalence shows up very strongly in figuring out what to do with Jews after the war." Of course, the Jews had their own ideas about their destiny and they found themselves considerably at odds in a number of respects with the Western colonial power that ruled Mandate Palestine. The Jews were kicked out of East Jerusalem, after all, by the British trained, supplied, and commanded Arab Legion. The passage quoted above is part of a 20-part (!) review (of From Colony to Superpower: U.S. Foreign Relations since 1776 by George Herring) undertaken as a joint project with another blog. The other blogger also essays some pronouncements about Israel:

. . . one of the things I learned from the latest chapter of Herring is that King Ibn Saud of Saudi Arabia proposed that the Allies carve a Jewish state out of Germany, rather than settle Holocaust survivors in British Palestine. Roosevelt and Churchill rejected this proposal out of hand. I'm thinking that there would have been substantial upside; it would have made the connection between the Holocaust and the Jewish state explicit rather than implicit, and would have had the merit of hurting the people who had actually caused the Holocaust rather than those who hadn't been involved. The German population could have been expelled from, say, Schleswig-Holstein, which is only a bit smaller that present-day Israel. Israel on the Baltic would control the Kiel Canal, and its security could eventually have been guaranteed by NATO. The Germans might complain, but they were enduring far more violent population expulsions in the East. Moreover, present-day Germans seem to have gotten over the loss of Danzig and Konigsberg. That said, the fact of strong Jewish immigration to Palestine in the 1930s and 1940s rendered this proposal dead on arrival.

Not to mention a million or so Jews in Muslim countries who would shortly require liberation. The big daddy of leftist pronouncements on Israel is, of course, Juan Cole. Here he notices that Zionism is a nationalist movement:

Zionism is a form of nationalism centered on the necessity of turning Judaism into a base for a nation-state. Probably a majority of Jews, and virtually all American Jews, were offended by this notion before WW II. And although Zionists think they were vindicated by the events of the 1930s and 1940s, it is not at all clear in the 21st century that having a state makes you safe (my state has nuclear missiles aimed at it), or, just as important, adds to your wellbeing. Moreover, having an ethnically-based state is invidious (Jim Crow in the US was a form of white Protestant ethnic nationalism).

It was, more precisely, a program of discrimination with racialist underpinnings, but it had something to do with nationalism. Which should remind us that besides the matter of the nuclear missiles aimed at Cole's state and the danger to Israel, there is also the matter of the civil liberties enjoyed by the citizens of some states. Does that figure in someplace?

But in any case, Zionist nationalism isn't any different from any other nationalism (all nationalisms fetishize some marker or markers of identity, whether language, religion, folkways, etc.) and it doesn't deserve to be privileged in any way. Nationalism where healthy can be a sane form of patriotism and pride in the achievements of a people,and many Zionists fit that description (though more Jewish Zionists than Christian Zionists are humane in my experience).

The history of the Israeli-Palestinian conflict has been one of conflicting nationalist movements. Nationalist movements, for better or worse, were the form that opposition to colonialism took in the Middle East. I wonder what his chances were of noticing that half his blogging life is spent expressing solidarity with Palestinian nationalism.

But nationalism can also easily turn pathological. You saw the way Christian Zionism becomes pathological when John Hagee said God had been angry with the Jews for not forming a state or going to Palestine, and so sent Hitler as their divinely appointed hunter. When nationalism turns pathological, it becomes a 00, a license to kill. The pundits who tried to smear Freeman and then Walt think they are 00's.

And thus Cole's analysis of the role of nationalism in the Middle East arrives at anger at "pathological" "00" nationalists who criticize Chas Freeman and Stephen Walt. Meanwhile, a blogger at the Lancet discovered the new Zionist super-weapon until our operatives disappeared the offending post. Tim Blair reports.

Crossposted on Soccer Dad

A post which accepts a certain amount of drinking, and even drunkenness, on Purim, but warns against overdoing it

Barf! huh, yeah
What is it good for
Absolutely nothing
Uh-huh
Barf! huh, yeah
What is it good for
Absolutely nothing
Say it again, y'all

Barf! huh, Gevalt!
What is it good for
Absolutely nothing
Listen to me

Ohhh, Barf, I reprove
Because it means destruction
Of innocent booze

Barf means tears
When mothers view the muddle
With their sons face down
In a single-malt puddle

I said, Barf! huh
Gevalt, y'all
What is it good for
Absolutely nothing
Say it again

Barf! Gevalt!
What is it good for
Absolutely nothing
Listen to me

Barf! it ain't nothing
But a tragedy
Barf, friend only to the distillery
Ooooh, Barf
It's an enemy to all Yid-kind
The point of barf blows my mind
Barf has caused unrest
Within the younger generation
Engorgement then disgorgement
Who wants to barf
Aaaaah, barf-huh
Gevalt y'all
What is it good for
Absolutely nothing
Say it, say it, say it
Barf! huh
What is it good for
Absolutely nothing
Listen to me

Barf, huh, yeah
What is it good for
Absolutely nothing
Uh-huh
Barf, huh, yeah
What is it good for
Absolutely nothing
Say it again y'all
Barf! huh, Gevalt
What is it good for
Absolutely nothing
Listen to me

Barf, it ain't nothing but bad for Jewry
Barf, it's got one friend
That's the brewery
Ooooh, barf has shattered
Many a young man's seuda
Made him discolored, bitter and putrid
Purim is much too short and precious
To spend unconscious these days
Barf can't give simcha
It can only take it away

Ooooh, Barf! huh
Gevalt y'all
What is it good for
Absolutely nothing
Say it again

Barf, whoa, Gevalt
What is it good for
Absolutely nothing
Listen to me

Barf, it ain't nothing but bad for Jewry
Barf, friend only to the brewery
Simcha, joy and moderation
Tell me, is there no place for them today
They say we must binge to have our simcha
Hashem knows there's got to be a better way

Ooooooh, Barf! huh
Gevalt y'all
What is it good for
You tell me
Say it, say it, say it, say it

Barf, huh
Gevalt y'all
What is it good for
Stand up and shout it
Nothing

Crossposted on Soccer Dad

Iran concludes Palestine conference, pats itself on the back

This touches on a number of the current popular topics for Khomeinist pronouncements: Sudan, the Saudis, Iran's "centerpiece" role of the "world of Islam," but above all, the Zionist entity:

Tehran's provisional Friday Prayers Leader Ayatollah Ahmad Khatami lauded the positive results of an international conference held in the Iranian capital to support the Palestinians, and called it a successful move.

The international conference dubbed 'Palestine: Manifestation of Resistance, Gaza: Victim of Crimes', held 4-5 March in Tehran, brought together legal experts, politicians and religious leaders to Tehran to focus on Gaza's reconstruction and Israeli war crimes.

The Tehran conference showed that Iran is the centerpiece of the world of Islam and is passionately focusing on the world's oppressed people, Ayatollah Khatami reiterated, while addressing large and fervent congregation of worshipers on Tehran University Campus here on Friday.

Iran's way of "focusing" on Sudan's considerable share of "the world's oppressed people" is to express support for their oppressor. See below.

Ayatollah Khatami also praised the measures adopted by the Iranian judiciary system for prosecuting the Zionist regime of Israel for its crimes in the occupied territories and Gaza.

Iran said on Thursday that it would present the Interpol with a list of names of over 100 Israeli commanders and officials who had committed war crimes in the recent 22-day onslaught against Gaza.

"A fresh list of the Zionist criminals who played a role in the genocide of the Palestinian people has been compiled which will be gradually presented to the Interpol for legal action after each case is completed," Iranian Prosecutor General Saeed Mortazavi told reporters on Thursday on the sidelines of the 4th international conference on support for Palestine.

Elsewhere, Ayatollah Khatami condemned the arrest warrant issued by the Hague-based International Criminal Court (ICC) against Sudanese President Omar al-Bashir.

"The ICC arrest warrant issued against the Sudanese president testifies the instrumental use of international bodies (by the western powers)," Ayatollah Khatami said.

He said the warrant is among the bizarre events of the present age.

Ayatollah Khatami also called on Saudi Arabia to mobilize the world of Islam against Israel instead of focusing on issues which would undermine Muslim solidarity.

Here is an account of what's bugging them about the Saudis.

Crossposted on Soccer Dad

Juan goes off the tracks a bit

Juan Cole's latest includes an obituary for the two-state solution. Netanyahu and Sharon "killed it," Hamas and Islamic Jihad merely offered "some help," and one is left wondering what Yassir Arafat did--struggle in vain to save it? Juan then waxes prophetic and predicts a "fifty-years war" in the Middle East. (When you're an Informed Commenter, you just know those things.) And then fasten your seatbelts for the next paragraph:

Hillary is right and wrong. A two-state solution is no longer feasible. It was the best hope for peace, but Netanyahu and Ariel Sharon killed it, with some help from Hamas, Islamic Jihad, etc. There will not be a positive outcome in the Mideast. We are in for a fifty-years war, which Israel is very likely to lose in the long run, and during the course of which there will be enormous violence and terrorism, including, probably, further attacks on the United States for its knee-jerk support of Israeli expansionism and aggressive total wars on Arab civilian populations.

Since, apparently, the US government is primed to let John Yoo rewrite the US constitution whenever a few bombs go off, so that freedom of speech and the press can be abolished and the right to be free of unreasonable search and seizure can be revoked, the Mideast 50-years-war very likely will lead to the destruction of American democracy. The blueprint for that demolition job has long existed and steps toward it were taken under Bush.

If I'm reading this correctly, current events in the Middle East are not necessarily part of a great plot to impose a dictatorship in the United States, but there is a "blueprint" to do that, and now, darn it, it will get implemented. Is that a fair restatement of what he is saying?

Crossposted on Soccer Dad

Neturei Karta take stand against "the impaling of infants"

IRNA has a similar article, but this Mehr News one is more rancid:

Rabbi Ahron Cohen of the anti-Zionist Jewish group Neturei Karta here on Wednesday said, "We absolutely support the Islamic Republic of Iran’s Supreme Leader’s views on bringing to trial the political and military heads of the usurper regime.

On the sidelines of the Fourth International Conference for Support of Palestine, Cohen put stress on the contradiction between Judaism and Zionism.

Carrying a card featuring "A Jew not a Zionist", Cohen said that there is a big difference between the Judaism and the Zionist.

"Media play a key role in familiarizing the world with the difference," Cohen said, adding that Judaism "is a divine religion based on compassionate."

Absolutely condemning the genocide of civilians, the destruction of their homes, the impaling of infants, the bombing of schools and mosques, the use of phosphorous bombs and other outlawed weapons; and blockade on supplies of food, medicine, fuel, and other essentials of life, Cohen averred, "The Zionists’ actions are crimes and is absolutely apposed to the divine religion".

He also referred to his friendly talks with President Mahmud Ahmadinejad on the sideline of the conference and said, "We all believe that the Zionism is a clear manifestation of the oppression in the world".

Praising the Islamic Republic’s efforts on hosting a conference on support for Palestine, Cohen stressed the importance of Iran in establishing peace and security in the region. [...]

IRNA also has a charming headline which reads "Italian professor: Advocates of Israel exaggerated Holocaust":

Professor Claudio Moffa of Afro-Asian history and institutions at the Università degli Studi of Teramo, Italy, said on Wednesday that the Supreme Leader’s remarks on Israeli crimes set blueprint for peace and humanitarian values in the Middle East.

He told IRNA on the sidelines of ‘International Conference in Support of Palestine, the Symbol of Resistance, Gaza, the Victim of Crime’, that Israel is an occupying power and committed genocide by systematic massacre of Palestinians since 1948.

He said that advocates of Israeli regime have exaggerated extent of Holocaust to occupy the Palestinian territories. [...]

Another day, another example of Holocaust-denial in the Iranian press.

Crossposted on Soccer Dad

Tehran Times: "Iran missiles can reach Israel nuclear sites"

I've been noting examples of Iran's military bravado in the English material published by its press agencies for years now, and I can't remember seeing anything this specific before. Iran is getting more brazen, and something needs to be done soon:

IRGC Commander Major General Mohammad-Ali Jafari said on Wednesday that Zionists’ nuclear sites and facilities are within range of Iranian missiles.

He made the remarks in an address to the 4th International Conference for Support of Palestine, The Model of Resistance, and Gaza, the Victim of War Crimes in Tehran on Wednesday.

The combat readiness of the Iranian forces is very high, he said adding that Iran is now at its best military status to defend its territorial integrity.

"Our military doctrine is defensive; he said, adding that if the enemies such as the Zionist regime dare targeting the country they will be given a crushing response with full force.

Iran has ample long-ranged missiles which can hit their targets over 2,000 kilometer away which means that all parts of the Zionist regime as well as its nuclear sites are within reach of Iranian missiles, pointed out the commander.

On recent threats made by Zionists officials, he said they have no resort but making such baseless allegations. The U.S. and the Zionist regime are not in a position to take military action against Iran, he underlined.

"I would like once again to repeat the historical comments made by the Late Imam Khomeini that the U.S. and the Zionist regime cannot do a damn thing," concluded the commander.

Also at Tehran Times currently, Ahmadinejad explains that "Zionists do not believe in Judaism":

President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad on Wednesday noted that Basically, Zionists do not believe in Judaism, Christianity or any other religion.

Zionism is not a religion, but rather an ideology with evil objectives, he pointed out at the conference on supporting Palestinians which opened in Tehran on Wednesday.

"The Zionist front is a faction with at most 2000 personnel and a few thousands of agents who control financial, political and media centers and some sections of the U.S. and EU governments," he explained. [...]

Only until the upcoming retirement.

Crossposted on Soccer Dad

PressTV (Iran): "Zion elders wanted Muslims 'under thumb'"---that's a real headline

Iran is having a conference on Palestine at the moment. Almost every headline at Fars News is about it, including the obligatory story about a "Jewish Rabbi," i.e. a Neturei Karta type, who agrees 100% with the Khomeinists. Ahmadinejad explains:

The Islamic republic news agency quoted him as saying the world looked at Zionism not as a religion but as a "manner" full of evil and satanic objectives and means and said the basic philosophy of the Zionist regime's existence was to scatter corruption, aggression and expansionism throughout the world.

The Supreme Leader weighs in:

Now 60 years have passed since the occupation of Palestine. During this period all material means of power have been in the service of the usurpers, including money, weapons and technology, as well as political and diplomatic initiatives and the giant empire of news media and networks. Yet despite these staggering and far-reaching satanic efforts, the usurpers and their supporters have not only failed to solve the problem of the Zionist regime's illegitimacy, but it has grown more complicated with time.

The intolerance shown by the Western and Zionist media and pro-Zionist governments toward even the mere posing of any question concerning the Holocaust-which served as an excuse for the usurpation of Palestine-and research on the topic, is one of the signs of this nervousness and uncertainty.

Besides all the usual swill, lo and behold, here is something I don't remember seeing before: an Iranian news article that actually refers to "Elders of Zion":

Iran's Parliament Speaker Ali Larijani says that the creation of Israel was aimed at placing Islamic states under Zionist influence.

In a speech delivered at the international conference in support of Palestinians in Tehran on Wednesday, Larijani said frequent tensions in the Middle East clearly show that the elders of Zion planned to preoccupy Islamic countries with daily struggles.

The Majlis speaker criticized the US for its support of Israel and said making repeated visits to the region and holding conferences in support of Israel will not shake the will of the Palestinian resistance.

"Today the world awaits a change in domineering policies and strategies," he added.

"One look at these past adventurisms [by Israel and the US] shows that the vigilance of Palestinians has thwarted Israeli-US plots and that the Palestinian resistance is on an evolutionary path," the Iranian official continued.

Larijani told the participants of the conference titled 'Palestine: Manifestation of Resistance, Gaza: Victim of Crimes' that he hoped the summit would help the people of Palestine.

"The Palestinian crisis is a serious one with almost no precedent. Imprisoning millions of people in Israeli jails and turning millions of others into refugees over the past 60 years is but a portion of Israel's atrocities in Palestine," Larijani added.

Legal experts, politicians and religious figures have come together for the conference to discuss ways to bring Israel's top political and military leaders to trial over the crimes they committed during the war on Gaza. [...]

There's blog fodder at that there conference . . .

Crossposted on Soccer Dad

Some choice sentences

Fars News:

Calling Zionists "irreligious people", the head of the PFLP General Command in Damascus underlines that if they were not pagans they didn't commit such crimes.

Korean News:

The day when Lee came to power was a day of disgrace as it witnessed the emergence of the murderous dictatorial regime, the statement said, deploring that since then south Korea has turned been into a land of darkness where coercion and tyranny, murder and confrontation with compatriots hold sway.

MPAC-UK:

The extreme [American] foreign policy is leading to a backlash where many Muslims are now taking up extreme measures themselves, the latest of which is the attack against the Sri Lankan team playing in Pakistan.

Maan News:

Hamas spokesperson Fawzi Barhoum asserted on Tuesday that comments by US Secretary of State Hillary Clinton represented an obvious call for the continuation of violence against the Palestinian people.

Crossposted on Soccer Dad

Clinton Asks Israel to Help Palestinians Seek ‘Viable’ Failed State

Secretary of State Hillary Clinton expressed sympathy today for Israel’s need to respond to the new "fortification-buster" grad rocket attacks from the Gaza Strip, while urging Israeli officials to help the Palestinians better foster the culture of resistance.

Israel should help its "marginally non-genocidal" Palestinian partners "strengthen their capacity to loot the Palestinian people and move toward a viable failed state," Clinton told reporters in Egypt today after a money-raising conference for Iran-annexed Gaza.

Clinton said she is "troubled" by the continued rocket attacks from the coastal proto-Caliphate, which is ruled by the Ezzedeen Al-Qassam Brigades, rivals of the U.S.-backed Al-Aqsa Martyrs brigades in the West Bank. Hamas, a Khomeinist-funded martyrdom-fetish, is destined to liquidate the hated Zionist entity according to the U.S. and the EU.

The division among the Palestinians is one of the problems standing in the way of the vigilance against World Arrogance plots that Clinton’s trip is meant to promote. She travels next to the Zionist entity.

Clinton, wearing a fashionable keffiyeh-pattern hijab, sought to assure the conference that President Barack Obama will pursue a peace deal between Israel and the Ummah with "vigor and intensity." Citing the appointment of a special envoy for Middle East peace, Matthew Yglesias, Clinton also pledged $900 million in aid for the Palestinians to lard the kleptocracy of Mahmoud Abbas.

Source: Bloomberg. Additional reporting by Yitzchak.

Crossposted on Soccer Dad

War criminal tally up to 149

Iran's PressTV, along with a number of Western news sources, reports that Interpol has begun "studying Iran's request for the arrest of 15 senior Israeli officials over war crimes committed during the Gaza offensive." There is always something a little edgier about Fars News compared to the other Iranian news agencies. Fars, if you will recall, broke the story about the human litigation wave of 5700 lawyers. Accordingly, Fars reports that Iran has presented a "List of 149 Israeli War Criminals to Interpol":

Iran released a list of 149 Israeli war criminals including 34 political leaders and 115 other Israelis involved in the recent war against Gaza people, Iranian Prosecutor General Qorban Ali Dorri Najafabadi announced.

Noting that the group is charged with committing war crimes and violating the Geneva Conventions and war laws, Najafabadi stressed on Sunday that the Israeli leaders have breached the human rights and committed genocide.

Iran wants Interpol to issue arrest warrants for these criminals because of their crimes against humanity, occupation, aggression, threatening regional and international peace and security, he reiterated.

There are the names of some top Israeli leaders in Iran's presented list to the Interpol, including Prime Minister Ehud Olmert, Foreign Minister Tzipi Livni and Defense Minister Ehud Barak. [...]

Wanna hire Palestinians to spray-paint graffiti on the separation wall?

Tim Blair explains.

Today's great leaps forward

Something called the "4th National Meeting of Agitators" came to a close in North Korea. We only tend to think of an "agitator" as something good if it is part of a washing machine. In Juche-land, however, they see political agitation as something positive:

The speakers said that brisk activities to inform the people of the policies of the Workers' Party of Korea and agitation work now under way in every work site of socialist construction are the fruition of the experienced and tested leadership of General Secretary Kim Jong Il who put forward original theories and policies of information service and has energetically led the struggle to implement them.

They referred to the fact that they have educated the masses by conducting effective political work and setting examples in the van of the struggle and advance and thus powerfully encouraged them in the general march of the Songun revolution.

They underscored the need to dynamically conduct a political and ideological offensive to give full play to the might of ideology and inexhaustible mental power of all the servicepersons and people in hearty response to the militant tasks laid down in the congratulatory message of the WPK Central Committee and thus make a positive contribution to consolidating the single-minded unity of the whole society and cementing the politico-ideological position of Korean-style socialism. [...]

Elsewhere in the news, a Rodong Sinmun editorial called for "Adherence to Anti-imperialist Independent Stand." Why is this necessary?

The imperialists are increasing their political, economic and military pressure upon the anti-imperialist independent countries while staging large-scale smear campaigns against those countries in a bid to realize their wild ambition for domination and instigating anti-government forces to create and stoke the socio-political confusion . . .

Can't have that. The article explains:

The completely different fate of the peoples of Cuba and Iraq teaches a lesson that if people of a country lack a transparent anti-imperialist independent stand, they are bound to become slaves of imperialism and can neither expect the independent development of their country and nation nor survive.

So Cuba had a "a transparent anti-imperialist independent stand" and Iraq didn't? It's hard to believe Saddam Hussein had any shortcomings in the dictator business. In any event, the latest edition of Haveil Havalim at The Israel Situation is educating the masses by conducting effective political work and setting examples in the van of the struggle and advance.

Let's not get small

In a Newsweek article entitled "Learning to Live With Radical Islam," Fareed Zakaria sees the recent capitulation to the Taliban in Pakistan's Swat Valley as a nuance opportunity:

The Pakistani government is hoping that this agreement will isolate the jihadists and win the public back to its side. This may not work, but at least it represents an effort to divide the camps of the Islamists between those who are violent and those who are merely extreme.

A writer at Al Ahram, in an article with the amusing title "Honey, I shrunk Pakistan!" sees it differently:

Successive Pakistani governments are making a habit of surrendering territory and sovereignty to the Taliban in exchange for nothing. General Pervez Musharraf lost North and South Waziristan in a similar deal a few years ago and now President Asif Ali Zardari has provided the Taliban with a foothold within striking distance of Islamabad. Pakistan is slowly shriveling up. I guess the next time Benazir Bhutto's ghost visits her dear husband President Zardari, his one line report will say, "Honey, I shrunk Pakistan!"

Deals such as this one that the Pakistani government made with the Taliban are comprehensive strategic victories for the Taliban and Al-Qaeda.

One, they ensure that the over 100,000 Pakistani troops in the region are no more a threat to them or to their goals. By securing their eastern front through peace deals with Pakistan, the Taliban and Al-Qaeda are free to focus their entire firepower on American and NATO forces.

Two, the deals give the Taliban and Al-Qaeda safe havens where they can train, recruit and fundraise. These provinces give them a strategic depth against Western forces. Now they have safe homes in Pakistan to retreat and resuscitate in and return to fight another day in Afghanistan.

But the most dangerous consequence is the loss of land. The Taliban now control vast territories in the southeast of Afghanistan and north and west of Pakistan. They are steadily carving out a Talibanistan -- a state perpetually at war -- that will nestle between Afghanistan and Pakistan and prey on both of them for territory, for fighters and for resources.

This has some relevance, of course, to the undesirable prospect of shrinking Israel and expanding Hamas-stan, otherwise known as the "two-state solution."

Crossposted on Soccer Dad

Ezzedeen Al Qassam Brigades Information Office: "some analysts say that this necklaces has big evidences"

Hamas claims to have the "dog tags" (to use the American term) of Israeli soldiers. The shaky English skills of this writer actually enhance his talent for sounding thuggish:

Ezzedeen Al Qassam Brigades revealed four Zionist soldiers' names, the Brigades had their necklaces during the Zionist war on Gaza. Al Qassam Brigades published on the electronic site a video revealed how Al Qassam men took over these necklaces.

The video offered by the Information Office appeared the Qassam men sniping some of the Zionist soldiers.

Names of the soldiers:

The necklaces showed several names belong to the Zionist soldiers as Kuhain Avi-Khar, Offer Eran, Maryus Andre and Klanar Soron. The Brigades announced that those soldiers may be killed in the War on Gaza.

It should be mentioned that every soldier has a necklace hanging it on his nick, the necklace has his name and his secret number, some analysts say that this necklaces has big evidences.

The analysts say that this video has two options, the first is that the Brigade's men killed those Zionist soldiers and took their necklaces, the second option that those soldiers were became fragments during the clashes.

"Informed Observer" speculates on Israeli "Wannsee Protokol"

Click image to enlarge
A writer of a "guest op-ed" at Juan Cole's blog, identified only as an "Informed Observer," is indignant that someone actually, horrors, defended Israel in the pages of the sacred Guardian. That would be worth a post in itself. In addition, however, we get speculation that "something similar to a Wannsee Protocol may exist somewhere in Tel Aviv." That refers to a famous document planning the Nazi "final solution" to the Jewish problem. Did he really write that?

[...] I find Amnesty’s report provides enough evidence to convince me that something similar to a Wannsee Protokol may exist somewhere in Tel Aviv and that Senior Israeli officers and politicians have a case to answer at the International Criminal Court. Doubtless I will be accused of anti-semitism for saying it, but I find myself in the company of Sir Gerald Kaufman, Mary Robinson and a glittering array of QCs and eminent jurists in doing so.

I find the Guardian giving this piece of Newspeak a platform without identifying at the end of the piece that the author [Uri Dromi] is closely linked to the Israeli forces worrying.

His name at the beginning of the piece links to a description of his Israeli government and IDF credentials. Perhaps it's a bit much to expect a Guardian reader to navigate a link.

The Guardian used to be a newspaper that could be relied on to present a point of view that was an antidote to the authoritarian and right wing point of view expressed in newspapers like Daily Telegraph, Times, Jerusalem Post. It is unsettling to find them giving a platform to someone who Professor Avi Schlaim denounces as a propagandist.

If the Independent, whose editorial independence is vouched for by the integrity of Robert Fisk as a correspondent, were to succumb to its financial problems, along with Channel 4 TV-- and The Guardian were to have been subverted we would be left with a biased set of mass media that channel to us Israeli propaganda.

The horror! But Fisk would still find somewhere to publish, wouldn't he?

Perhaps the Editor of the Guardian might need to examine his conscience.

Thinking that there might be something to be said for the Israeli side of things--that has to bother the Guardianista conscience indeed! In the comments section, "Georgina Henry Executive editor, comment, The Guardian" explains:

It appeared in the Comment Is Free section of our website (not the print edition) where writers express a wide range of opinions which are exposed to scrutiny by readers who can then comment on them.

See there? There had to be an explanation!

Crossposted on Soccer Dad

Update: Yaacov Lozowick answers some of the "Informed Observer's" points about specific uses of weapons and also makes a great point about logic and reality.

"Immortal Feats in Modeling Whole Society on Juche Idea"

We're miserable stunted wretches living in a giant concentration camp and forced to pretend to be happy about the stupid Juche idea:

The army and people of Korea are recollecting with deep emotion the imperishable feats performed by General Secretary Kim Jong Il who has led the Korean revolution along the one road of victory under the banner of transforming the whole society after the Juche idea.

He, who had put forward many original thoughts and theories long ago, was engaged in indefatigable study for formulating anew the revolutionary idea of President Kim Il Sung.

Busy as he was with many state affairs, he energetically studied and analyzed the preceding theories while dealing with important issues of the revolution and construction.

He, basing himself on this, found that the new guiding idea of the times was only the revolutionary idea of the President and proclaimed the programme for modeling the whole society on the Juche idea in February Juche 63 (1974).

In order to put this programme into practice, he, with a tight grasp on idea and theory, has dynamically conducted the work of transforming man, nature and society as required by Juche.

So what happened to "nature"? Better not to know.

As a result, a great turning-point was marked in remoulding and changing all the fields of the revolution and construction in accordance with the requirements of modeling the whole society on the Juche idea.

The Wangjaesan Revolutionary Site and the Samjiyon Grand Monument, centers for the education in the revolutionary traditions, were built and the schoolchildren's marches began along the courses of the 1,000-ri journey for learning and the 1,000-ri journey for national liberation.

The work for training people of Juche-type and remoulding man has been vigorously promoted by the mighty slogans full of Juche spirit advanced by him such as "Let us meet the requirements of Juche in ideology, technology and culture!", "Let us produce, study and live like the anti-Japanese guerrillas!" and "Let us live our own way!" and mass movements including the Three-Revolution Red Flag Movement.

The slogan of faith "Let us fight devotedly for the great leader!" has implanted in the minds of the servicepersons the spirit of devotedly defending the leader and brought them up to be a-match-for-a-hundred revolutionary army, thus decisively smashing the reckless war provocation moves of the enemy in each step and defending the motherland and people with credit.

Amid the seething revolutionary enthusiasm, a large-size long-distance belt conveyer transportation line stretched out to the rough west sea, making a proud history of great creation and construction.

Is that a metaphor?

The five revolutionary operas and "A Mountain Shrine"-type revolutionary drama were created and revolutionary films and revolutionary novels were produced with the result that a fresh heyday was brought about in literature and art as a whole. All this is a precious fruition of the might of ideology under the banner of modeling the whole society on the Juche idea.

All the army and people of Korea victoriously concluded the "Arduous March" and the forced march which were difficult beyond the imagination and ushered in the dawn of building a great, prosperous and powerful socialist country.

The idea of the bit about the "dawn" of a "great, prosperous" etc. country is that the sun hasn't come up yet.

The grand monumental edifices constructed in different parts of the country in the Songun era -- large-sized fields which was rezoned as befits the land of a socialist state, modern industrial establishments, poultry farms, the UHP electric arc furnace which is acme of the steel industry, the Wonsan Youth Power Station and other power stations -- are the precious wealth made by indomitable spirit.

The army and people of Korea are forging ahead dynamically for the thriving of the socialist country and the accomplishment of the Juche revolutionary cause with the undying feats performed by Kim Jong Il under the banner of modeling the whole society on the Juche idea as lasting treasure.

And they'd probably trade it all for a potato.

Canadian Jewish News: "Aboriginal leader acquitted of Jew hatred"

Only in Canada, I guess. I don't agree with putting people on trial for bigoted remarks, but exactly what could he have done to earn a conviction?

A judge has acquitted a former aboriginal leader of willfully promoting hatred against Jews.

It was the second trial for David Ahenakew, who was found guilty in 2005 of promoting hatred against Jews and fined $1,000. But the conviction was overturned on appeal and a new trial was ordered.

Ahenakew, the former head of Canada's Assembly of First Nations, was charged after a controversial speech and subsequent interview with a reporter in 2002. In the interview he called Jews a "disease ... that's going to take over."

He went on to say that "The Jews damn near owned all of Germany prior to the war. That's how Hitler came in. He was going to make damn sure that the Jews didn't take over Germany or Europe.

"That's why he fried six million of those guys, you know. Jews would have owned the God-damned world."

On Monday, Judge Wilfred Tucker of Saskatoon said the comments were "disgusting" but acquitted Ahenakew, saying he didn't believe the accused intended to promote hatred.
Ahenakew, 75, testified at his second trial that he doesn't hate Jews, but "I hate what they do to people." He said he still believes Jews caused World War II.

Commenting on the trial's outcome, Canadian Jewish Congress (CJC), co-president Sylvain Abitbol said, "While the court has determined that Mr. Ahenakew's statements were revolting, disgusting and untrue, he did not demonstrate the required intent to meet the rightfully high threshold required for a guilty verdict in hate crimes cases under s. 319 of the Criminal Code, and we respect the court's decision.

"While Mr. Ahenakew has not been convicted, there is no doubt that his words and actions were anti-Semitic and we hope Mr. Ahenakew has come to understand the pain he has caused. We urge Mr. Ahenakew to make amends so he can be remembered for healing rather than for hurting," said Abitbol. [...]

CJC CEO Bernie M. Farber commented on the importance of s. 319. "This section of the Criminal Code is an important element of the fence of protection around vulnerable minorities in Canada. Today's decision should not be extrapolated to conclude that s. 319 of the Criminal Code cannot work," said Farber.

"We commend the Crown and the court for the seriousness and diligence with which they proceeded on this case, and appreciate their efforts to bring about a resolution. We continue to urge law enforcement officials and provincial attorneys-general to enforce the law going forward."

Glad he's happy.

PressTV (Iran): "Hollywood to make 30 anti-Iranian movies"

The only source for this information given in the article is "Iranian Foreign Ministry Spokesman, Hassan Qashqavi."

Iranian Foreign Ministry Spokesman, Hassan Qashqavi, has said that Hollywood film makers have thirty anti-Iranian movies in the offing.

"Hollywood has thirty anti-Iranian movies in the offing with the subject of hostility towards Iran's historical and Islamic identity," Qashqavi told reporters at a weekly news conference in Tehran on Monday.

"The subject of making various movies has directly targeted not only Iran's religious and historical identity but also the country's social values including hospitality in an attempt to show hostility towards the Islamic Republic," he added.

"There are certain political objectives behind a number of movies under the pretext of creating art," he explained.

The controversial anti-Iranian Hollywood film '300', made by Zack Snyder, is an example of such films.[...]

So Hollywood is making 30 more? Seems hard to believe, unless you're MPAC-UK.

What's the latest from "the most independent country in the world"?

They are the champions, my friend:

Head of Expediency Council and provisional Friday Prayers leader of Tehran said here Friday Iran is the most independent country in the world today, obeying orders of no foreign power, no country dictating it what to do.

According to IRNA Political Desk reporter, addressing thousands of Tehrani worshipers at central campus of Tehran University, Ayatollah Akbar Hashemi Rafsanjani added in his second sermon, "The victory of the Islamic Revolution rid Iran from the reign of the global oppression and granted the Iranians freedom, that is materialized at election scenes."

He took his lucky break and broke it in two:

US President Barack Obama's distortion of the name of Persian Gulf while issuing appointment decree of Dennis Ross is considered inattention to valid international historical documents which can mark the start of the non-confidence of the Iranians in him . . .

Obama who was elected with the motto of change, has pursued a line which can lead to Iran's growing mistrust in him by electing Ross as a senior advisor for Persian Gulf affairs.

The dream police they live inside of his head:

Libyan leader Muammar Gaddafi has accused Israel of masterminding the Darfur crisis, urging the ICC to drop charges against Sudan's president.

Gaddafi called on the International Criminal Court (ICC) to immediately halt proceedings against Omar al-Bashir over alleged war crimes in Darfur, adding that "foreign forces" including Israel were behind the region's crisis.

"Why do we have to hold President Bashir or the Sudanese government responsible when the Darfur problem was caused by outside parties, and Tel Aviv, for example, is behind the Darfur crisis," the current African Union president said on Tuesday.

It's getting better all the time:

Following Secretary of State Hillary Clinton's decision to appoint the controversial Middle East negotiator as her special advisor on the Persian Gulf and southwest Asia, lawmaker Kazem Jalali cast doubt on the new administration's intention to bring political change.

"Ross' appointment shows that [Barack] Obama's offer of change is not real ... the Israeli president would have been a far better candidate than Denis Ross," Jalali told IRNA on Thursday.

Crossposted on Soccer Dad

Song for the New Orleans Intifada

Went down to Nawlins for the Intifada
And they all axed for you
They all axed for you
They even inquired for you
Took the St. Claude bus to the Intifada
And they all axed for you
Farfur axed, Nahool axed,
They all axed for you

I'm on Canal Street for the 10 minutes' hate
And they all axed for you
They all axed for you
They even inquired for you
Mister, I can tell you where you got that Keffiyeh
And they all axed for you
Robert Axed, Ismail axed
They all axed for you

I went on down to Apartheid Week
And they all axed for you
They all axed for you
They even inquired for you
I went on down to Apartheid Week
And they all axed for you
The PFLP and the DFLP
They all axed for you

The Maoists axed, Hugo axed
They all axed for you
Hassan axed, Samir axed
They all axed for you
Juan axed, Roseanne axed
They all axed for you
Ilan axed, Yvonne axed,
They all axed for you

UNO got a sister school
It's called Al-Aqsa U.
Even Tulane got a sister school
It's called Al-Aqsa U . . .

Crossposted on Soccer Dad

"IAEA's repetitious reports should be stopped : Iranian envoy"

Iran is usually more upbeat about its relationship with the IAEA, so this is a significant development:

Iran's Ambassador to International Atomic Energy Agency Ali Asghar Soltaniyeh said the IAEA's repetitious reports on Iran which have nothing new should be stopped.

Talking to IRNA, Soltaniyeh said he told IAEA's Board of Governors that after several years of repetitive reports on Iran's peaceful nuclear program, it should be stopped.

Members of IAEA Board of Governors in a five-hour explanation meeting on Tuesday, discussed IAEA chief ElBaradei's new reports on Syria and Iran.

After the meeting, Soltaniyeh said it was repeatedly underlined that the impressions from ElBaradei new report about Iran are totally baseless.

He added that Herman Nagat, responsible for the IAEA's regional safeguards clearly underscored the incorrect impressions of the report and said that all nuclear issues related to Iran's enrichment activities are precise and under IAEA's control .

According to Soltaniyeh, the official underlined three times that the incorrect information and conjectures by the media are completely wrong and there is no ambiguity concerning enrichment activities in Natanz.

Referring to the IAEA former reports about Iran, Soltanieh criticized ways of writing the reports which clearly cause misunderstanding in public opinion.

He continued that the reports should be prepared in two sections; whether Iran has fulfilled its commitment upon Non-Proliferation Treaty (NPT) or not, and whether the request from Iran like fulfillment of Additional Protocol or sub-arrangements 1 and 3 are beyond the commitment or not.

He asked how such voluntary measure could be accepted while the UN Security Council issues resolutions and the issue is still considered in the IAEA Board of Governors.

The ambassador said he told the meeting that the director general and the IAEA had no alternative except announcing that inspection in Iran has been carried out in a normal way and the issue should be removed from IAEA's special agenda.

Referring to the new report of ElBaradei on Syria, Soltanyieh said the report, without condemning Israeli bombardment in Syria, asks that country to prove that the demolished building was not a nuclear installation which is against logic and common sense.

Soltanyieh said this is the same scenario which was repeated again and agaain for Iran and must be stopped forever.

You don't suppose they have something to hide, do you?

Crossposted on Soccer Dad

Ahmadinejad: Iran and Venezuela pursuing "divine goals"

He appreciates Imam Chavez:

Iran's President, Dr. Mahmoud Ahmadinejad, in a farewell meeting with the outgoing Venezuelan Ambassador to Tehran, Arturo Anibal Gallegos, said in Tehran on Monday that Iran and Venezuela are moving in the direction of a unified route in the way of divine goals and humanitarian objectives. According to ISNA, he said that the Islamic Republic of Iran and Venezuela's cooperation should encompass regional boundaries in South America, and they should adopt a unified stand in dealing with ongoing developments in South America, Africa and Asia.

President Dr. Ahmadinejad reiterated that though once Cuba and Venezuela were the only active states in the direction of revolutionary goals in the fight against the global arrogance, today, all nations in South America have bastioned against the fronts of enemies strongly.

The outgoing Venezuelan ambassador, for his part, called for active involvement of Iran in his country, stressing that strengthening the monetary fund and establishing a joint national bank could help Tehran and Caracas to deal properly with global economic crises.

Elsewhere in the Iranian news, Prosecutor-General Najafabadi, declares that Iran has always "showed great kindness to the Bahai":

[...] The top Iranian judiciary official made the remarks in response to Western claims that the Islamic Republic has violated the rights of Bahais in Iran.

According to the Iranian cleric, there is irrefutable evidence that many adherents of the Bahai sect are in close contact with the enemies of the Iranian nation and have strong links to the Zionist regime.

"We have always showed great kindness to the Bahai citizens in Iran. We just oppose such relations," he explained.

Although members of the Bahai sect have admitted their charges in various cases, the West, especially the United States, claims that Iran has violated their human rights by making attempts to suppress the cult.

"We (as the state) offer a variety of services to the Bahai sect in Iran and respect them as human beings, but not as insiders, spies, or a political grouplet supported by Britain and Israel to cause disturbance in Iran," Najafabadi went on to say. [...]

And in other news undoubtedly related to smashing the plots of the World Arrogance, New Orleans now has its own intifada.

Crossposted on Soccer Dad

Kim views art squad maneuvers

Everything is military in North Korea:

General Secretary Kim Jong Il enjoyed an art performance given by the art squad of Large Combined Unit 264 of the KPA.

It put on the stage female solo and pangchang "Arirang of Army-People Unity", female solo "We Started from Scratch", chorus "We Will Defend the Headquarters of the Revolution at the Cost of Our Lives" and other colorful numbers.

Through the performance the art squad truthfully represented the invincible might of the KPA and the steadfast faith and will of its servicepersons to devotedly defend the headquarters of the revolution and accomplish the revolutionary cause of Juche with arms under the guidance of Kim Jong Il.

It also strikingly demonstrated the might of the KPA artistes who are creditably performing their sacred mission as buglers in the era of Songun by instilling the ardent love for the Party, the leader, the country and the people into the soldiers.

He expressed great satisfaction over the fact that the members of the art squad not only created successful art pieces vividly reflecting the inexhaustible mental power of the servicepersons but gave a truthful and militant performance.

He extended thanks to the art squad, highly appreciating its presentation, noting that it was the best of the recent performances given by the art squads of the KPA units as it was of high artistic and educational value.

He set forth tasks which would serve as guidelines for intensifying the revolutionary and militant performing activities. [...]

The latest edition of Haveil Havalim vividly reflects inexhaustible mental power.

Saint Ahmadinejad

This stuff makes you want to regurgitate your bread with olive oil and cheese:

[...] Ahmedinejad, the Iranian President, astonished many when he first reached to the office of the Presidency by donating all the high valued Iranian carpets to one of the mosques in Tehran by replacing them with the low cost ordinary carpets. He observed that there was a huge extravagant lounge for receiving and welcoming the VIPs and he ordered it to be closed and asked the protocol office to arrange for an ordinary room only with wooden chairs.

On many instances he joins the cleaning staff of the municipality for cleaning the streets in the area where his home and the Presidency are located.

Under his authority whenever he appoints any minister to his post he gets a signed document from him with many points particularly highlighting that he shall remain poor and that his personal and his relatives accounts will be watched and the day he leaves the ministry shall be with dignity, and therefore it is not lawful for him or his relatives to take any advantage of his office. First of all he declared himself for all the 'Big' wealth and the property he owned was a Peugeot 504 car, model 1977, an old small house inherited from his father 40-years ago in one of the poorest zones in Tehran . His accounts with a zero balance and the only money comes in to his a/c was from his salary from the university as a lecturer with an amount of US$ 250 only.

For your information the President still lives in that same house. This is all what he owns; the president of one of the world's important countries; strategically, economically, politically and with regard to its oil and defense. He even doesn't take his personal salary with the argument that all the wealth belongs to the nation and he is the safeguard over it.

One of the things that impressed the staff at the presidency is the bag the President brings with him every day, which contains his breakfast; some sandwiches or bread with olive oil and cheese prepared by his wife and eats and enjoys it with all happiness. [...]

Who wouldn't enjoy sandwiches prepared by that vision of loveliness, Mrs. A . . .


Crossposted on Soccer Dad

Iran smooths over Bahrain-incident with Zio-cream

Nateq Nouri had referred to Bahrain as Iran's "14th Province," if you will recall, but not to worry, all that is needed is some vigilance against you-know-who:

Iran's ambassador to Bahrain Hossein Amir Abdollahian said exaggerating the remarks which are attributed to the former Iranian Parliament Speaker Ali Akbar Nateq Nouri are raising questions.

Support for the people of Gaza and confronting Israel's war crimes in the area are the most important issues for Islamic and Arab countries and enemies of Islam and the region trigger these adverse remarks, he said in an interview with Bahrain's Gulf News newspaper.

Reports claimed Nateq Nouri has said Bahrain has belonged to Iran and the previous regime ruling on Iran has given its sovereignty to the current Bahraini government.

Abdollahian also criticized negative media's smear campaign and exaggeration of the issue and said Iran respects sovereignty of all countries including that of Bahrain.

Iran has always sought cooperation and friendship with neighbors, Persian Gulf Cooperation Council and Bahrain, he added.

The ambassador described Tehran-Manama ties as "growing" and said the two sides are carrying out many joint projects including Iran's gas export to Bahrain.

The officials of the two countries have progressed well in talks over the issue, he continued.

He then said "we should secure our stance for continuing supports for Gazans" and warned of division-making traps by enemies of the world of Islam. [...]

Israel should charge Iran a fee for being so useful for alleviating diplomatic difficulties.

Crossposted on Soccer Dad

North Korea successfully concludes anti-Imperialist flower show

North Korean society is, as always, "dashing toward the high eminence of a great prosperous and powerful nation under the uplifted banner of modeling the whole society on the Juche idea and the banner of Songun." So of course their flower festival is going to be a big success:

The 13th Kimjongilia Festival that opened on Feb. 14 on the occasion of the birthday of General Secretary Kim Jong Il closed with success.

A closing ceremony took place at the Kimilsungia-Kimjongilia Exhibition on Feb. 20.

Present there were Choe Thae Bok, Yang Hyong Sop and others, officials of ministries, national institutions and working people's organizations, servicepersons, working people, school youth and children, members of the congratulatory group of Koreans in Japan and the chief of the Pyongyang mission of the Anti-Imperialist National Democratic Front.

Kim Pyong Hun, chairman of the Central Committee of the General Federation of the Unions of Art and Literature of Korea, addressing the ceremony, said that the festival proved successful thanks to the unshakable resolution of the servicepersons and people to trust and follow Kim Jong Il to the last and their highest praises of the great man.

Saying that the desire and hope of the servicepersons ad people as well as the world progressives to boundlessly value and glorify the immortal flower going by the august name of the peerlessly great man are growing stronger with the passage of time, he stressed the need to conduct brisk activities to cultivate and propagate Kimjongilia so that it may come into full bloom throughout the world.

North Korea also sent birthday greetings to Mugabe:

Kim Yong Nam, president of the Presidium of the DPRK Supreme People's Assembly, on Feb. 18 sent a message of greetings to Robert G. Mugabe, President of Zimbabwe, on the occasion of his 85th birthday.

Kim in the message wished the president good health and success in his work for the stability of Zimbabwe and its people's well-being.

And he's achieved so much thus far . . .

Crossposted on Soccer Dad

Iran adopts Starfleet insignia?

Pretty Trekkie-looking, right? Iran seems especially prone to celebrate anything likely to prove useful in creating a nuclear ICBM. From PressTV:

The logo of Omid, Iran's first domestically-built satellite, is to be featured on coins and banknotes, according to a cabinet decision.

The Iranian Cabinet approved the proposal presented by the Central Bank of Iran (CBI) to issue coins and banknotes with the logo of Omid Satellite.

On February 3, Tehran placed its indigenous satellite into orbit -- joining an elite group of countries capable of both producing satellites and sending them into space using domestic launchers.

Omid is a research satellite that has been designed for gathering information and testing equipment. After orbiting for one to three months, Omid will return to earth with data that will help Iranian experts send an operational satellite into space.

The lightweight telecommunications satellite is equipped with remote sensing, satellite telemetry and geographic information system technology as well as remote and ground station data processing.

The new design is to reflect the country's aerospace achievement.

Iran is slated to launch three more satellites by 2010 and is taking initial steps toward launching a manned space mission, according to the head of Iran's space organization, Reza Taghipour.

Meanwhile, the recent discovery that Iran has more enriched uranium than previously thought is inspiring damage control in the Iranian Press and also among Informed Commenters. And speaking of Iran, Rooz has an interesting article about Ahmadinejad's recent call for some restraint on enforcing "the social safety plan which allows the law ‎enforcement agencies to harshly deal with such violations as dress-code slackness":

Raja news website interpreted this directive to be an order to review the social safety plan ‎altogether. Some critical media outlets, on the other hand, interpreted this letter and the ‎apparent change to be a public relations ploy on the eve of the presidential elections.‎

Probably the latter.

Crossposted on Soccer Dad

Iran's rocket technology is more advanced than previously thought also

By now you may have seen a current news item that Iran now has more enriched uranium than was suspected previously, enough for a bomb in fact:

Iran has built up a stockpile of enough enriched uranium for one nuclear bomb, United Nations officials acknowledged on Thursday.

In a development that comes as the Obama administration is drawing up its policy on negotiations with Tehran over its nuclear programme, UN officials said Iran had produced more nuclear material than previously thought.

They said Iran had accumulated more than one tonne of low enriched uranium hexafluoride at a facility in Natanz.

If such a quantity were further enriched it could produce more than 20kg of fissile material – enough for a bomb. [...]

This development has been extensively noted in the blogs and elsewhere, but it is only half the story. Every great warhead needs a great delivery system, and it also seems now that Iran's rocket technology is more advanced (from New Scientist via Tehran Times):

The evidence is mounting that the Iranian rocket recently used to launch a satellite was more powerful and advanced than initially thought.

Iran entered the exclusive club of nations capable of putting things in Earth orbit on 2 February, when it launched a small satellite using a homegrown rocket for the first time. Called Omid, or "Hope", the satellite is a 40-centimetre-wide cube with a mass of 27 kilograms.

But there has been much debate about whether the rocket that launched it was relatively crude and inefficient, operating at the limits of its capabilities, or a more advanced type that could eventually be upgraded to put astronauts in orbit. Iran has released few details about the rocket, called Safir-2, leaving outsiders to guess at its capabilities.

Initially, outside rocket experts thought the Safir-2 was based on scud missile technology, which Iran is known to have obtained previously from North Korea.

Scuds, and other rockets derived from them, pack less punch than more advanced rockets because they burn a relatively inefficient fuel - a mixture of kerosene and nitric acid.

Even a two-stage scud-type rocket, with the second stage separating and igniting after the first stage provided an initial burst of speed, would not be powerful enough to reach orbit.

So it was thought that Iran had mounted a very small, solid-fuelled third stage on this kind of launch vehicle to provide the final kick needed to get Omid to orbit.

But soon after Omid's launch, amateur satellite trackers reported that the final stage, which also reached orbit, appears much too bright to be a tiny third stage, hinting that it might be a two-stage vehicle using more advanced technology instead.

New calculations have reinforced this view, showing that a two-stage rocket the size of Safir-2 could get Omid to orbit if it had ditched the scud design in favour of engines that use more efficient hydrazine fuel. [...]

Have a nice day.

Crossposted on Soccer Dad