Obama/Rouhani: Iranian dètante from Spike1138 on Vimeo.
Iranian President Rouhani Delivers an Historic Speech at the United Nations from Spike1138 on Vimeo.
"Nuclear weapons and other weapons of mass destruction have no place in Iran's security and defence doctrine."
Iran's Second and probably last ever Supreme Leader will likely die within the next few years.
Khameni is not Khomeni.
There is a rare window of opportunity now.
October Surprise: Honegger from Spike1138 on Vimeo.
"Ronald Reagan's Number One Fear is a Soviet Invasion of Iran - It's That Simple."
Jinkies! Former Reagan White House staffer and truthteller Barbara Honegger vs. The Casey Family
Though the 24 September session failed to produce a much-anticipated unofficial meeting between the two leaders, observers expressed confidence in the possibility of future dialogue, even as conservatives remained sceptical of America's intentions toward the Islamic republic.
"Perhaps another time," read the front-page headline of the reformist newspaper Shargh, which printed a second edition on the morning of 25 September due to high sales.
The newspaper noted that Rouhani chose to skip a UN lunch where a chance meeting with Obama would have been possible, adding that Obama was absent from the hall during Rouhani's speech. However, it added that "both sides were weighing the pros and cons" and inching towards an appropriate structure for bilateral talks.
Ali, a 29-year-old teacher from north Tehran, said he saw this as an appropriate strategy given the existence of conservative groups in both countries.
"[Rouhani and Obama] won't go that fast because the reaction would be radical, both here and there. The existence of these groups is based on the animosity. Now we have two intelligent people who know that if they move too fast, the reaction from these two groups is going to be destructive. Their strategy is to take things slow, moderate the tone so as not to anger these elements too much."
Ali also noted that Rouhani's speech lacked the cryptic allusions that typify the UN addresses of Iranian leaders.
"The first segment was in keeping with the framework all Iranian presidents must work with, but the second part was amazing," he said. "When he said that peace was reachable, it was a very direct message to America: if you want to have peace, now is the time."
The impression of a historic opportunity for a thaw in Iran-US relations was further bolstered by the statements of Obama, whose speech included an unprecedented recognition of Iran's right to a peaceful nuclear programme, local media noted.
"Individuals play a large role in the course of international relations," said a Tehran University academic specialising in foreign affairs. "There is a big difference between the pessimistic views of George W Bush and Mahmoud Ahmadinejad, and the approaches of Mr Rouhani and Mr Obama."
The contrast between the past strategies of Ahmadinejad and the new administration was also evident in Rouhani's comments on the Israeli-Palestinian conflict, in which he focused on human rights.
"You can be the same as Ahmadinejad and deny the Holocaust, creating more enemies, or you can be Rouhani and mention the suffering of Palestinians," said Astareh, a 31-year-old Green Movement activist. "You are still accusing a certain nation, but in a more constructive way."
Though commending Rouhani for his strong, straightforward approach, Iranians here also noted his tacit willingness to backpedal on key tenets of Iranian foreign policy.
Hamid, 40, who runs a juice stand in Tehran, said he stayed up until the early hours of the morning to watch Rouhani's speech live on TV.
"It's obvious he's backed off. His speech seemed to say: 'Why don't you take a step back and we'll also take a step back,'" he said. "There's no choice but for the United States and Iran to go at it directly face-to-face."
This moderated approach does not sit well with Iran's hardline factions, who remain sceptical of the United States's willingness to negotiate with Iran on an equal footing. Kayhan, the conservative daily newspaper associated with the supreme leader, ran a front-page article outlining "Obama's empty threats against Iran".
"Some people, for all their ignorance, believe that problems can be solved by writing letters to the nation's enemies," Hojattol-eslam Mohammad Zaar Foumani, head of the rightwing political grouping Jebhe Mardomi-e-Eslaahat told the state-run news agency Fars, as quoted by Kayhan.
Calling the current strategy a delusion, Foumani claimed that the west's animosity towards Islam and Islamic democracy were deep-rooted, concluding that "asking too much of the enemy will not help [Iran]".
But observers also noted that, 34 years after the Iranian revolution, the hardliners' idea of America's inherent hostility towards the Islamic republic was becoming outdated in the eyes of many Iranians.
"Instead of worrying about dialogue with America and Rouhani's chance of success, conservatives should be concerned that society no longer believes in the idea of American animosity," the leading Tehran intellectual Sadegh Zibakalam wrote in a Shargh editorial. "These are the values of a new generation of Iranians." "
"An exchange of letters between Barack Obama and the Iranian president, Hassan Rouhani, has set the stage for a possible meeting between the two men at the UN next week in what would be the first face-to-face encounter between a US and Iranian leader since Iran's 1979 revolution.
Britain's foreign secretary, William Hague, is also due to meet his Iranian counterpart, Mohammad Javad Zarif, at the UN general assembly meeting in New York, adding to guarded optimism that the June election of Rouhani, a Glasgow-educated moderate, and his appointment of a largely pragmatic cabinet, has opened the door to a diplomatic solution to the 11-year international standoff over Iran's nuclear programme.
Tehran took the Foreign Office by surprise, tweeting on Rouhani's English-language feed that the president would also be prepared to meet Hague, something the UK had not even requested.
"Tehran has responded positively to UK's request. President Rouhani's meeting w/William J Hague on the sidelines of UNGA has been confirmed," the tweet said.
"We would be happy to meet," a Foreign Office spokeswoman said, "but we have had nothing formal from Tehran about it."
Diplomats said that the tweet reflected the new Iranian government's eagerness to make diplomatic headway on the nuclear issue, which has been at an impasse for several years. A Hague meeting with either Rouhani or Zarif could clear the way to restoring full diplomatic ties, which have not existed since the British embassy in Tehran was ransacked by a mob in November 2011.
In a television interview aired on Sunday, Obama made clear that there was a diplomatic opening with Iran, not only over the nuclear question but also over Syria. He confirmed earlier reports that he and Rouhani had "reached out" to each other, exchanging letters.
US officials were sceptical about a Rouhani meeting, but some observers said the Geneva deal on Syria's chemical weapons has opened new space for global diplomacy.
Trita Parsi, head of the National Iranian American Council and an expert on US-Iran diplomacy, said "I think there is a chance [of a meeting]. It would be a strong political push for movement. If Obama got involved, it would be the infusion of political will needed to reach an agreement.
"Tehran is already claiming some of the credit for the Syria deal. Rouhani needs to show that through his diplomatic efforts he has already avoided a war. He is desperate in his first six months to show his approach has paid more dividends than the hardline approach of his predecessor."
Parsi added that if Obama was to meet Rouhani it was likely to be an orchestrated encounter in a corridor, rather than a sit-down talk, "to give both sides deniability". The last encounter between an American and Iranian leader was when Jimmy Carter met the Shah, Mohammad Reza Pahlavi, in 1977.
Speaking on ABC's This Week, Obama raised the prospect of Iran getting involved in broader talks on Syria if Tehran recognised "that what's happening there is a train wreck that hurts not just Syrians but is destabilising the entire region". He said the Geneva deal could pave the way for more general talks involving Russia and Iran aimed at "some sort of political settlement that would deal with the underlying terrible conflict".
In the same interview, Obama also urged Iran's leadership not to draw the wrong lessons from his decision to draw back from air strikes on Syria in pursuit of a diplomatic solution to the chemical weapons crisis. He said it showed that it was possible to resolve the standoff over Iran's nuclear aspirations peacefully, but insisted it did not indicate a weakening of US resolve to stop the proliferation of weapons of mass destruction.
"I think what the Iranians understand is that the nuclear issue is a far larger issue for us than the chemical weapons issue, that the threat against … Israel that a nuclear Iran poses is much closer to our core interests. That a nuclear arms race in the region is something that would be profoundly destabilising," Obama said in the ABC interview, which was recorded on Friday, before a final Syria deal with Russia was struck in Geneva.
"My suspicion is that the Iranians recognise they shouldn't draw a lesson that [because] we haven't struck to think we won't strike Iran," Obama said, in remarks that may also have been intended as a reassurance to Israel that US deterrence against any Iranian attempt to build nuclear weapons had not been weakened.
After meeting John Kerry, US secretary of state, the Israeli prime minister, Binyamin Netanyahu, stressed the same point. "The determination the international community shows regarding Syria will have a direct impact on the Syrian regime's patron – Iran," Netanyahu said. "Iran must understand the consequences of its continued defiance of the international community by its pursuit toward nuclear weapons," he added.
Following the National Intelligence Estimate of 2007, Bush/Cheney fraudulently requested (and got) $400Billion for cross-border Special Operations under JSOC (Joint Special Operations Command) and covert operations to destabilise the Iranian leadership, society and the Iranian Nuclear program - which the NIE made clear has been dormant since 2003.
Iran has not attacked another country in over 200 years.
And the US was waging offensive war via covert operations against them for years.
They have not retaliated.
US B-52 in nuclear cargo blunder
The US Air Force has launched an investigation after a B-52 bomber flew across the US last week mistakenly loaded with nuclear-armed missiles.
It follows reports in the Army Times that five missiles were unaccounted for during the three-hour flight from North Dakota to Louisiana.
The air force said the cruise missiles were safe at all times.
Army Times said the missiles were to be decommissioned but were mistakenly mounted on the bomber's wings.
The W80-1 warhead has a yield of five to 150 kilotons, the paper said.
The flight took place on 30 August, from the Minot Air Force Base in North Dakota to the Barksdale Air Force Base, near Bossier City, in Louisiana.
Air force spokesman Lt Col Ed Thomas said although this was an "isolated incident", Air Combat Command had directed a "command-wide stand down to review process at all of our bases".
Col Thomas said a general had been appointed to investigate the incident and would report by 14 September.
"At no time was there a threat to public safety. It is important to note that munitions were safe, secure and under military control at all times," Col Thomas said.
"The air force takes its mission to safeguard weapons seriously. No effort will be spared to ensure that the matter is thoroughly and completely investigated."
Army Times quoted the colonel as saying the loading crew involved had been temporarily "decertified" pending retraining and the investigation.
A military official told AFP news agency that President George W Bush had been informed of the mix-up.
"There are procedures in place and they kicked in and worked," the official said.
The BBC's Adam Brookes in Washington says experts have made it clear that if the plane had crashed there would not have been a nuclear explosion but there could have been a threat from plutonium leakage.
The 2007 United States Air Force nuclear weapons incident occurred at Minot Air Force Base and Barksdale Air Force Base on August 29–30, 2007. Six AGM-129 ACM cruise missiles, each loaded with a W80-1 variable yield nuclear warhead, were mistakenly loaded on a United States Air Force (USAF) B-52H heavy bomber at Minot and transported to Barksdale.
The nuclear warheads in the missiles were supposed to have been removed before taking the missiles from their storage bunker. The missiles with the nuclear warheads were not reported missing and remained mounted to the aircraft at both Minot and Barksdale for a period of 36 hours. During this period, the warheads were not protected by the various mandatory security precautions required for nuclear weapons.
The incident was reported to the top levels of the United States military and referred to by observers as a Bent Spear incident, which indicates a nuclear weapon incident that is of significant concern but does not involve the immediate threat of nuclear war. The USAF has yet to officially classify the incident.
In response to the incident, the United States Department of Defense (DoD) and USAF conducted an investigation, the results of which were released on October 19, 2007.
The investigation concluded that nuclear weapons handling standards and procedures had not been followed by numerous USAF personnel involved in the incident. As a result, four USAF commanders were relieved of their commands, numerous other USAF personnel were disciplined and/or decertified to perform certain types of sensitive duties, and further cruise missile transport missions from and nuclear weapons operations at Minot Air Force Base were suspended. In addition, the USAF issued new nuclear weapons handling instructions and procedures.
Separate investigations by the United States Defense Science Board and a USAF "Blue Ribbon" panel reported that concerns existed on the procedures and processes for handling nuclear weapons within the Department of Defense but did not find any failures with the security of United States nuclear weapons.
Based on this and other incidents, on June 5, 2008, Secretary of the Air Force Michael Wynne and Chief of Staff of the Air Force General T. Michael Moseley, were asked for their resignations, which were given.
In October 2008, in response to recommendations by a review committee, the USAF announced the creation of Air Force Global Strike Command to control all USAF nuclear bombers, missiles, and personnel.
The AGM-129 was fielded in 1987 as a stealthy cruise missile platform to deliver the W80-1 variable yield nuclear warhead.
Although originally designed to equip the B-1 bomber, it was later decided that the AGM-129 would only be carried by the B-52, mounted on external pylons on the wings [Note: This STRONGLY infers that modification or recalibration of the outside of the B-52 was neccessary on the part of the ground crew in order to recalibrate or reconfirgure the outside of the plane to carry the missiles externally. The would be a proactive labour, not an act of negligence] or internally in the bomb bay. [One, maybe - it's highly unlikely all four of them could be accomodated on the plan's interior]
In March 2007, the USAF decided to retire its AGM-129 complement in order to help comply with international arms-control treaties and to replace them with AGM-86 missiles..
When coming to power in 1979, Ayatollah Khomeni proclaimed "Nuclear facilities are the work of the Devil, and we shall close them down."
And he did.
It was only in 1984, after 4 years of entrenched warfare with the US-endorsed armies of Saddam Hussain and under chemical and biological assault, Khomeni was persuaded to remove the seals and restart the Persian centrifuges....
"Well, you can't just go swilling booze right there in front of the Mullahs, but..."
It may be true that Islam is the official State Religion of Iran - but Christianity, specifically Anglicanism is the official State Religion of the United Kingdom, and there, as here, there are guarantees of religious liberty and a (somewhat) functional representative system government..
Unlike in the State of Isreal, gerrymandering cannot occur and religious and ethnic minorities (in this case, 25,000 Jews) are guaranteed a seat at the table in the Assembly.
General James Cartwright., USMC (Ret.) Under Investigation for Iranain Cyberwar Policy National Security Leak from Spike1138 on Vimeo.
Take this story on face value, first:
If these charges are true, as they appear to be, Cartwright ordered the clandestine execution of the first known Cyber Attack on the infrastructure of a soverign nation with whom the United States is not at war, committing large scale sabotage and property damage in the process in a secret axis alliance with a third country (the State of Israel).
This was technically an act of war, initiated by an unelected, political appointee to Vice Chairmanship of the Joint Chiefs of Staff under the Bush Administration, authorised by President Bush and executed during the Obama Administration, with no indication of consultation with or informing of the Congress to seek their approval or oversight.
And then he leaks the information about his own Secret War to the press when he leaves the Pentagon, revealing America's hidden hand in the process - presumably knowing full well the US Government would shoulder the blame, the same government that both he and the President who appointed him were now no longer a part of.
Again: if this is true, this is an act of seditious treason.
"Edward Snowden" is currently under indictment for:
1.) Theft of Government Property
2.) Unauthorised Communication of National Defense Information
3.) Willful Communication of Classified Communication Intelligence Information to an Unauthorized Person.
This is worse, and "Snowden" was never bound (as we are told) by the Uniform Code of Military Justicee, which the Vice Chairman of George W. Bush's Joint Chiefs of Staff and a 4 Star United States Marine Corps General most assuredly was, and is.
October Surprise/Iran-Contra "Secret Government? That's Just a Conspiracy Theory..." from Spike1138 on Vimeo.
Err.... No, it isn't...
An Election Held Hostage - October Surprise Victims Press Conference, June 13th, 1991 from Spike1138 on Vimeo.
Former National Security Advisor Prof. Gary Sick, Principal Presidential Assistant for Iran, (1975-1981)
and former hostages give one of the most important Press Conferences in Washington DC since 1963.
Daniel Sheehan of the Christic Institute can be seen and heard right at the end of the presser asking an excellent and insightful question.
Which brings me to...
Lecture overview by Daniel Sheehan of the Christic Institute, 1987
"The only US President who never fired a shot was Jimmy Carter - and I still give him credit for that"
--Bill Maher
Presidents Bartlett, Ford, Carter, Leon Panetta, Henry Kissinger and David Gergen weigh in on the issue of Presidential moral compasses.
Notes:
Bruce Langdon was NOT the US Ambassador to Iran on November 4th 1979 - there WAS NO US AMBASSADOR TO IRAN - Carter had fired the previous Ambassador William Sullivan in April for "serial insubordination" and not replaced him.
(Sullivan was a veteran of the CIA Narco-War in Laos as the Ambassdor to Pnong Phen with Ambassador Adolph "Spike" Dubs, the last pre-9/11 US Ambassador to Afghanistan, killed under strange and suspicious circumstances in Kabul on 28th Feburary 1979, the same day the initial, failed attempt to storm the US Embassy in Tehran was easily repelled by the Embassy Marine Guard.
Bruce Langdon was the US Charge du faire and CIA Chief of Station for Tehran.
Langdon does not believe the October Surprise "Conspiracy Theories" and finds them "offensive".
The remarks about Cyrus Vance's contribution and his clashes with Zbiniew Brzinski (which were very real) betray only part of the story.
Brzynski was also openly fueding with CIA Director Stansfield Turner on a number of matters, both large and small, all derrived from fundamental differences in Cold War doctrine, and the relationship was toxic.
Brzynski has since boasted of the ability of a well-motivated and alert National Security Advisor (in the mode of himself and Kissinger) to block and restrict access, specifically to the State Dept, Defence Secretary and other high officials.
It is also a fact that not only did Vance oppose a military solution to the hostage crisis, Brzynski arraged for Delta to place their call to Carter to report "We're ready" to the President on a Week when Vance was scheduled to be out of the country and so his input was not available in the decision to proceed, which Carter authorised, having received the task force commander's assurance that he felt personally succeess was likely.
It's worth noting in the political climate of Spring-Summer 1980, only Sadat's Egypt would permit the Task Force to make use of it's air bases for the extraction landing site - Begin's Israel seemingly would not.
(Later events shed much light on this later - Begin was selling arms and spare parts to Kohmeni at this time, or just about to begin clandestine deliveries. Sadat, meanwhile, despised Kohmeni's interpretation of Islam and publicly condemned it as a disgrace and perversion following a visit to Tehran in this year - he was assassinated very shortly afterward.)
An early and excellent example of NOINTELPRO - the Conspiracy to say that there are no conspiracies, in plain defiance of the facts, and of history.
From the Bush-Clinton transition, January 1993.
Liars.
