iran

Iran’s police chief has announced that Google is a tool for spying. And not only that, but the Iranian government is also using that and other concerns to form a “national internet” under state control.

Esmail Ahmadi Moghaddam made his comments this week to the Iranian Labour News Agency, and the story — as you can imagine — has been picked up by a number of other media outlets. As Israel’s Arutz Sheva reports, Moghaddam says a state-controlled internet will help protect Iran from its enemies:

Establishing a ‘halal’ Internet based on Islamic law will allow the Ahmadinejad regime to make sure unwanted material does not appear on social network services, which were instrumental in the protests against the allegedly rigged reelection of Ahmadinejad more than two years ago.

The official Iranian news agency IRNA announced on Sunday that the country’s own Internet network will solve problems with costs, security and bandwidth. The new network is to become operational in a few weeks and will not need international bandwidth for domestic connection.

There’s a little bit of history here beyond the use of the internet and social networks as a protest tool in Iran (and elsewhere). Earlier this year, Google finally began allowing web users in Iran to download apps such as Google Earth, Picasa and Chrome. Last year, some in Iran were angered when they discovered a Star of David atop the Iran Air headquarters on Google Maps and Google Earth.

Former Iranian president Akbar Hashemi Rafsanjani has stated his support of talks with the United States. 

Tehran and Washington have not had diplomatic relations since 1979. 

Rafsanjani, who is a bitter opponent of current president Mahmoud Ahmadinejad, said that Ahmadinejad had already "broken the taboo of negotiations with the United States" by "sending letters to American officials (Bush and Obama) that remain unanswered." 

The former President added that he had attempted to initiate dialogue with the U.S. during his time in office but his efforts were vetoed by Supreme Leader Ali Khamenei. 

Commander of the IRGC, Mohammad Ali Jafari, has said if Iran is threatened the regime will consider closing the Strait of Hormuz. 

Learn more about the potential consequences the closing of the Strait of Hormuz could have here: 

The Iranian Revolutionary Guards Corps (IRGC) has reportedly transferred new weapons to its allies in Iraq and Afghanistan in an attempt to speed up the U.S. withdrawals from these countries. 

Defense officials have said that weapons smuggled into Iraq by the Iranian regime have already resulted in the deaths of American troops. In June, 15 servicemen were killed in Iraq. The U.S. attributed all the attacks to militias trained by the IRGC. 

Iranian officials have denied the role of the IRGC in arming militants in Iraq and Afghanistan, and have claimed the U.S. concocted these stories to justify maintaining an American military presence in the region. 

News from Iran: the Iranian Revolutionary Guards will be test firing different range ballistic missiles starting today. A Guards commander said these exercises are “a message of peace and friendship to the countries of the area.”

The government of Iran has previously claimed to have a wide range of missiles, some capable to hitting targets inside Israel, and U.S. bases in the Middle East.

Sure sounds peaceful and friendly…

Iranian authorities, who outspokenly supported the revolution in Egypt, refused to grant permission for yesterday’s rally in Tehran, which was scheduled to show solidarity with the Egyptian people.

The rally turned quickly into an antigovernment demonstration, and Iranian officials responded to protesters with violence. 

One person was killed as police worked to break up the antigovernment protests. 

The protesters chanted “Death to the dictator" and "Mubarak, Ben Ali, now it's Seyed Ali's Turn," referring to Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei.  

An Imam in D.C. called Iran’s Supreme Leader Ayatollah Khamenei, “the best leader in the world”.   

He probably also thinks we should start stoning and oppressing citizens with differing views, non-Muslims, and women.

Kind of scary that this guy is an influential community leader.

Read more here.

The Marriot Hotel in Hamburg, Germany, agreed to host the Iran Business Forum that will help promote Iran-German business relations. The event explores, "“investment possibilities in the northwestern provinces of Iran,” undermining international economic sanctions leveled against Iran for their aggressive nuclear ambitions.

The event's keynote speaker is Iran's German ambassador, Sheikh Attar, who "represents a criminal regime that flouts international law in developing an illegal nuclear weapon, brutally represses its own people and is the world's leading state sponsor of terrorism." Iranian Kurds and human right supporters said that Ambassador Attar supported a massacre against Kurds when he was governor of Kurdish and Azerbaijani provinces.

The group, United Against Nuclear Iran, wrote a letter to the Marriott executives and threatened, "UANI will take action against the Marriot hotel chain worldwide.  UANI will call on its activists to peacefully protest your properties, and will call for a general public boycott of all Marriot properties."

Should the Marriott chain be held responsible for pursuing their own business interests over international concerns? 

UNESCO decided yesterday to cancel World Philosophy Day which was scheduled to be held in Iran in less than 2 weeks.

World Philosophy Day was started to promote an international philosophical discourse about respect for human dignity, equality, and cultural diversity. Additionally, it is an event which “shapes the possibility of world peace”.

Following Iran’s disputed elections in 2009, the subsequent arrests and deportations of notable Iranian academics, and reports that Iranian authorities planned on using the event for political purposes, academics vowed to boycott the Day, and both American and European nations urged UNESCO’s Director-General Irina Bokova to cancel the event.

The question is: What took UNESCO so long to realize that the repressive Iranian regime was not the ideal locale for such an event, and what was their frame of mind when they decided to celebrate World Philosophy Day, a day which venerates freedom of thought, in Iran in the first place?

For full story see: http://www.nytimes.com/2010/11/10/world/10unesco.html

"Iran's Defense Minister Ahmad Vahidi has described the spread of the Stuxnet virus in the country as 'computer terrorism,' carried out by the domineering powers. "

Provided that Stuxnet was really created to infect and set back the Bushehr's nuclear power plant, Iran's defense minister certainly has a sense of humor. The world is suffering from an Iranian regime that breeds radicalism and sponsors terrorism and who now seek more terrible powers with possesion of nukes... BUT it is Stuxnet that is branded "terrorism"!
How effective and clever do you think Stuxnet was? Any other ways of stopping Iran without a full military or nuclear confrontation?