Shops in Iran, including Grand Bazaar, close over protests

Jon Gambrell

November 15, 2022

UBAI, United Arab Emirates (AP) — Iranian shops in Tehran's historic Grand Bazaar and elsewhere across the country closed their doors Tuesday amid protests gripping the nation, as two prominent soccer stars also announced they would not be attending the upcoming World Cup over the demonstrations.

Young Filmmaker Joins the Movement To Promote Women's Rights In Iran

Rebecca Lee

November 14, 2022

Iran is a country of contradictions. It possesses intense natural beauty, deep cultural and historical roots, and a formidable people from a kaleidoscope of ethnic origins. For 43 years, Iran has been under theocratic rule, led by a supreme leader and a power structure that has instilled fear in the very people it governs and that has ostracised the country from the global community.

According to Melicka Jamshidabadi, a highly successful filmmaker and photographer, women have been denied freedom of dress, expression, and equal rights before a court of law, as well as the ability to hold senior decision-making authority in the government or judiciary. Despite this, young Iranian women are reported to have the highest literacy rate in the Middle East, with a high percentage of university graduates. They have one of the highest percentages of university graduates in science, technology, engineering, and mathematics when compared with other countries.

Iran’s revolutionary court issues first death sentence against protest detainee

Daniel Stewart

November 13, 2022

A revolutionary court in Tehran on Sunday sentenced to death a detainee for burning a government headquarters during the wave of protests against the death in custody of young Mahsa Amini on September 16, in the first sentence of this caliber since the start of the demonstrations.

The official IRNA news agency, which does not identify the convicted person, notes that the sentence was handed down in relation to charges of committing a crime against national security and "corruption in the land", the latter crime punishable by execution.

The verdict, however, can still be appealed.

The court also sentenced five people to between five and ten years' imprisonment for disturbing public order.

The verdict comes after the Iranian government denied a request by more than 200 members of parliament to impose stiffer punishments for the detained participants.

The NGO HRANA estimates that more than 15,000 people have been taken into police custody, temporarily or so far, since the outbreak of the protests, which have cost the lives of more than 330 people, including about 50 security personnel.

More than 2,000 people had already been charged, almost half of them in the capital, Tehran, since the demonstrations began, according to figures from the Iranian judiciary.

 

The Military-Industrial Complex Wins Again!

Bill Astore

November 9, 2022

With Veterans Day in mind, I was asked as a retired U.S. military officer for a comment on the 2022 election results, which produced this:

When both political parties pose as pro-military, when both are pro-war, when both are enablers of record-high Pentagon spending, when both act as if a new cold war with China and Russia is inevitable, do election results even matter?  No matter which party claims victory, the true victor remains the military-industrial-Congressional complex.

Angry Iranians protest 'Bloody Friday' massacre six months on

The New Arab Staff & Agencies

November 11, 2022

Hundreds of angry men protested after Friday prayers in Iran's Sistan-Baluchistan province, online videos showed, six weeks after rights groups say dozens were killed during a crackdown in the region.

درد دل حاج عباس

آپارتمانی که حاج عباس در آن زندگی‌ میکرد چهار طبقه بود. هر طبقه‌ای دو واحد داشت که درهایشان روبروی هم باز میشدند. بنابراین در این ساختمان هشت خانوار زندگی‌ میکردند. ساختمان در یکی‌ از محلات گران‌قیمت تهران قرار داشت. عشرت خانوم، همسر حاج عباس، با خانم‌های همسایه مقیم در آن مجموعه هر روز با هم و بصورت گروهی راه میرفتند. نزدیک منزلشان پارکی‌ بود که وسائل ورزشی داشت. خانمها قرار داشتند که هر روز ساعت چهار بعد از ظهر پیاده به پارک بروند و نرمش کنند، و سپس پیاده برگردند، که هم راه رفته باشند و هم نرمش کرده باشند.

Blame the Managers of Empire

"If there is a hot war between the U.S. and a major power, it will be the result of the U.S. choosing escalation over de-escalation, brinkmanship over detente — not just once but over and over again."

Caitlin Johnstone

November 9, 2022

The commander of the U.S. nuclear arsenal [Charles Richard] has stated unequivocally that the war in Ukraine is just a warmup exercise for a much larger conflict that’s already in the mail.

If You Wish the Iranian People Well, Stop Attacking Them with Sanctions

Daniel Larison

November 8, 2022

Walter Russell Mead jumps at the chance to push for regime change:

“But using all the diplomatic and economic tools at America’s disposal to help the Iranian people’s fight for freedom is both the right thing to do and the best way to advance U.S. interests at a critical time.

The time for action is now.”

Destroyers of US Democracy

Chris Hedges

November 7, 2022

The bipartisan project of dismantling U.S. democracy, which took place over the last few decades on behalf of corporations and the rich, has left only the outward shell of democracy.

The courts, legislative bodies, the executive branch and the media, including public broadcasting, are captive to corporate power. There is no institution left that can be considered authentically democratic. The corporate coup d’état is over. They won. Americans lost.

جهت و هدف خیزش جدید

در مورد جهت‌گیری این خیزش چندان سخن نمی‌توان گفت، چرا که این رژیم طولی از انقلاب نگذشته بود که چهرهٔ کریهٔ خود را نمایاند. انقلابیون، بجز عدهٔ معدودی، خمینی را به عنوان رهبری که دیدگاه‌های مختلف را در زیر یک چتر قرار داده بود می‌دیدند، و به دلیل پیروزی سریع این انقلاب، از دست پنهان غرب غافل شدند. همین باعث تسلط خمینی بر کلیه نهاد‌های رهبری کشور، و نابودی سایر نیروهائی که در انقلاب شرکت کرده بودند، بجز ارتجاع مذهبی‌ شد. شاه تصمیم گرفته بود که برای پیشبرد هدف‌هایش با کشور‌هائی که در جبههٔ غرب نبودند نیز روابط سیاسی و اقتصادی برقرار کند. از آنجائی که این یک نوع سرپیچی از خواسته‌های امپریالیسم غرب بود، رژیم شاه از حیطهٔ تابعیت بدون چون و چرا از این دول خارج شده بود. بنابر این جانشین کردنِ او با یک رژیم بدوی و سبُع لازم بود، بخصوص که اسلام جدیدترین حربهٔ امپریالیسم برای تحمیق و زیر سلطه نگاه داشتن خاور میانه بود.

جوانانی که هم اکنون در خیابان‌ها بر ضد این رژیم ارتجاعی شعار میدهند و در شعارهایشان کسانی‌ را که در سال ۵۷ انقلاب کردند مسئول این رژیم اسلامی میدانند، از آنچه که پشت پرده در آن انقلاب صورت گرفت آگاهی‌ ندارند. همین نا‌آگاهی‌ باعث آن خواهد شد که اگر این خیزش به سرنگونی این رژیم بی‌انجامد (که البته با قدرت نظامی و سبعیّت این رژیم احتمال آن بسیار کم است، مگر آنکه غرب دخالت کند) کشور ما تجزیه، و حداقل به چهار قسمت تقسیم خواهد شد، همان بلائی که در اواخر قرن پیش بر سر شوروی آمد. آذربایجان ایران به جمهوری آذربایجان و کردستان ایران به کردستان عراق خواهند پیوست، و جنوب و مرکز ایران به دو بخش مجزا تقسیم خواهند شد. این حداقل سرنوشت ایران در تجزیه و تکه پاره شدن آن خواهد بود.

Netanyahu Ally Says Israel Will Attack Iran Absent a ‘New Nuclear Deal’

Connor Freeman

November 4, 2022

Both the Pentagon’s recently released Nuclear Posture Review and National Defense Strategy say Tehran has no nuclear weapons. Washington believes Tehran "is not pursuing one."

If Washington does not secure a new nuclear deal or take military action itself, incoming Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu will attack Iran, according to Tzachi Hanegbi, a longtime member of Israel’s Likud party. The former settlement minister issued the warning while speaking with Channel 12 news on Friday.

JEFFREY SACHS PRESENTS EVIDENCE OF POSSIBLE LAB ORIGIN OF COVID-19

Sharon Lerner

November 4, 2022

An article in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences calls for an independent investigation of information held by U.S.-based institutions that could shed light on the origins of Covid

In an article published Thursday, economist Jeffrey Sachs called for an independent investigation of information held by U.S.-based institutions that could shed light on the origins of the Covid-19 pandemic. Writing in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, Sachs and his co-author, Neil Harrison, a Columbia University professor of molecular pharmacology and therapeutics, said that federal agencies and universities possess evidence that has not been adequately reviewed, including virus databases, biological samples, viral sequences, email communications, and laboratory notebooks. Sachs and Harrison also highlighted a tantalizing scientific detail that may be an indication that SARS-CoV-2, the coronavirus that causes Covid-19, originated in a laboratory: a sequence of eight amino acids on a critical part of the virus’s spike protein that is identical to an amino acid sequence found in cells that line human airways.

Iran’s leading Shiite cleric shot dead amid fresh protests in Zahedan

Daniel Stewart

November 4, 2022

Shiite cleric Sayad Shahraki has been shot dead by a group of armed men in the eastern Iranian city of Zahedan, one of the epicenters of the protests against the Iranian authorities that erupted almost two months ago over the death in custody of young Mahsa Amini, who was initially arrested for wearing the veil incorrectly.

The Other Russia-West War: Why Some African Countries are Abandoning Paris, Joining Moscow

Ramzy Baroud

October 19, 2022

The moment that Lieutenant-Colonel Paul-Henri Sandaogo Damiba was ousted by his own former military colleague, Captain Ibrahim Traore, pro-coup crowds filled the streets. Some burned French flags, and others carried Russian flags. This scene alone represents the current tussle underway throughout the African continent.

A few years ago, the discussion regarding the geopolitical shifts in Africa was not exactly concerned with France and Russia per se. It focused mostly on China’s growing economic role and political partnerships on the African continent. For example, Beijing’s decision to establish its first overseas military base in Djibouti in 2017 signaled China’s major geopolitical move, by translating its economic influence in the region to political influence, backed by military presence.

The Profoundly Stupid Narrative That Nuclear Brinkmanship Is Safety And De-Escalation Is Danger

 Caitlin Johnstone

Octobr 18, 2022

Of all the face-meltingly stupid narratives that have been circulated about the US proxy war in Ukraine, the dumbest so far has got to be the increasingly common claim that aggressively escalating nuclear brinkmanship is safety and de-escalation is danger.

We see a prime example of this self-evidently idiotic narrative in a new Business Insider article titled “Putin’s nuclear threats are pushing people like Trump and Elon Musk to press for a Ukraine peace deal. A nuclear expert warns that’s ‘dangerous.’”

How much longer can the U.S. continue to wage economic war on Europe, and much of the World, without a major blowback effect?

JeremyKuzmarov

October 16, 2022

On September 26, the world was put on edge when “blasts equivalent to the power of several kilograms of explosives,” according to a UN report, severely damaged Russia’s undersea Nord Stream 2 gas pipeline, an engineering marvel which had been scheduled to begin transporting natural gas from Russia to Germany before the Ukraine war broke out in February.

Iranian police deploy as protests persist four weeks after Mahsa Amini death

The New Arab Staff & Agencies

14 October, 2022

After activists called for protests in the predominantly Arab, oil-rich province of Khuzestan at the Iraqi border on Friday, police deployed heavily in the city of Dezful, a witness said.

Iranian police deployed heavily on Friday in a predominantly ethnic Arab city after activists called for protests, a witness said, as unrest showed no sign of abating four weeks since Mahsa Amini's death in custody ignited nationwide demonstrations.

Opinion: The Iranian protests are a battle between generations

 Bahman Baktiari

October 13, 2022

 

The death of a young Iranian woman in police custody has ignited a wave of extraordinary protests among young Iranians, including university students and schoolchildren. World leaders watch in awe as brave Iranian women publicly remove their hijabs and even burned them, knowing full well the possible consequences. Iranian youth, raised under the Islamic Republic, have shown remarkable resilience in opposing a brutal regime. Do they have the potential to spark another revolution in Iran?

Iran Intensifies Crackdown on Kurdish Areas as Protests Rage

 Rueters

October 13, 2022

DUBAI (Reuters) -Iranian security forces stepped up their crackdown on Kurdish regions of the country overnight, deploying militia troops, as authorities pursued their deadly suppression of nationwide protests sparked by Mahsa Amini's death in police custody.

Nearly four weeks after Amini, a 22-year-old Iranian Kurd, was detained in Tehran for "inappropriate attire", the protests show no sign of abating in a bold challenge to Iran's clerical rulers, even if the unrest does not seem close to toppling them.

No hope for the future: Economic struggles add fuel to Iran's protests

Lee Ying Shan

10/11/2022

 Anti-government uprisings are to remain a sticking point and increase in frequency in Iran's political landscape as dissatisfaction with other factors like the country's economic conditions surface, according to analysts.