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‘With Rouhani in office West will have to negotiate sanctions lift’
Rouhani, 64, has become Iran’s new president-elect with a 51 percent win that allowed him to avoid a run-off. The reformist-backed former secretary of the Supreme National Security Council and ex-nuclear negotiator will inherit a country with an economy hit by Western sanctions which are set against Tehran’s alleged nuclear weapons ambitions. Now that Rouhani is going to head the executive branch of power, “a lot of people inside and outside Iran believe that tensions will be eased and the situation will be calmer and Iran’s economy will flourish,” Emadi told RT. The cleric is believed to have moderate stance on issues like relations with the West and the ‘nuclear file’, he also used to be Iran’s top nuclear negotiator. The West is cautiously optimistic about Rouhani, but getting crippling sanctions imposed on Iran lifted will be a hard task, warns Emadi. “It is tough to convince the Western countries that they have made a big mistake by imposing sanctions against Iranian nation. I would call the sanctions genocidal for hurting ordinary Iranians,” he said. Negotiations between Iran and the West have been practically non-existent in recent years, insists Emadi, but the new president might rebuild the Iranian negotiating team to get to talks with the West in a better way. The latest round of talks on Iran’s nuclear program took place in Kazakhstan in April and brought no breakthrough. Negotiators went back to their capitals declaring “positions remain far apart.” On the other hand, Iran can hardly be expected to drop what it calls its lawful rights. “Iran wants its nuclear rights to be respected. The ball now is very much in the quarter of the Western countries, which have been accusing Mahmoud Ahmadinejad’s administration of being stubborn and being not very serious about the talks. Now that Hassan Rouhani will be in office, the West will have no more excuses, they will have to come to [the] negotiation table and talk to Iranians in a serious fashion to solve this problem [of sanctions] once and for all,” Emadi predicted. “But in every negotiation there is a very important element of trust. This element was non-existent in the past several years. Now we might have it in place. There is hope that negotiations will get somewhere at the end of the day,” Emadi concluded. Washington has already announced their willingness to directly negotiate with Iran on its nuclear program, while British and French officials welcomed Rouhani coming to office, because he is a well-known negotiator. On Sunday, despite the election of moderate Rouhani to the presidency in Iran, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu called on the international community to increase pressure on Tehran. “The more pressure increases on Iran so will the chance of ending Iran’s nuclear program, which remains the biggest threat to world peace,” Netanyahu said. … Read More
Moscow blasts UNHRC’s ‘Hezbollah-focused’ resolution on Syria
The council has denounced the Lebanese Hezbollah movement for supporting the government of Syrian President Bashar Assad, but stopped short of calling for a halt to the flow of weapons into the country. The text, which was passed Friday, had been presented by Britain, Kuwait, Saudi Arabia, Turkey, the United Arab Emirates, and the United States, which all back the opposition forces in the two-year conflict. “The resolution is biased and counterproductive,” Russia’s Foreign Ministry said in statement on Saturday. “It is directed against the government of Syria and ignores the crimes committed by the radical opposition.” “The document condemns the involvement of Hezbollah in the conflict. But its authors aren’t concerned that thousands of well-trained, armed and lavishly paid mercenary-terrorists from abroad are fighting in the war. The atrocities of jihadists are ignored, including those against religious minorities, women, and children.” The ministry stressed that an attempt “to legitimize the Syrian National Coalition” is made in the resolution, while many other moderate opposition groups, which pledged to respect human rights and expressed willingness to participate in the Geneva Conference on Syria, are left aside. There was no consensus over the document in the Human Rights Council itself, as Venezuela voted against the text and nine other nations abstained. The Russian statement also pointed out that several Arab states, which previously backed the resolution, in the end refused to become the co-authors of the document. Moscow sees it as direct evidence that “an increasing number of countries don’t intend to put their signatures under the confrontational endeavors of the HRC, which work against the political and diplomatic settlement in Syria and aren’t aimed at improving the situation with human rights in this country.” The UN Human Rights Council resolution was adopted a day after the US announced that it will arm rebels after having obtained what it said was proof the Syrian government using chemical weapons in the conflict. … Read More
Russia’s ‘Global Mind’ banking on $50 bln 2020 Expo glory
The Russian Expo Theme “the Global Mind” implies three major objectives: to create an opportunity for comprehensive discussion of modern realities so as to “synchronize our clocks with the global time”; to develop an efficient platform for promotion of innovations; to highlight the significance of multiculturalism and the importance of its preservation. In order to achieve these objectives the Theme is broken down in five sub-themes: Innovation, Economics, Society, Quality of Life, Culture. Russia has created a special Programme for Assistance to Developing Countries providing for a fully covered participation in the Expo of about 80 nations. The Bid Committee presented a draft of the complex, which will be built if the city wins the bid to host the exhibition. Implementation of the project will require urban infrastructure investments to the tune of $50 billion, half of which will be raised from private investors, including foreign companies. Today, Russia’s steady economic, technological and industrial development has allowed it to maintain a prominent position in the World Expo arena, and demonstrate the newest projects and achievements in all strategically important and innovative areas. In spite of Russia’s long tradition and experience in participating in World Expositions, it has not yet had the honor of hosting one. Home to approximately 1.4 million people and located 1,667 kilometers east of Moscow, Ekaterinburg is the administrative centre of the Sverdlovsk region and the main city of the Ural Federal District of the Russian Federation. As the fourth largest city in Russia, Ekaterinburg has served as a significant stopping point on what is known as the Siberian Route – the 8,000 kilometre passage from Moscow to China. Today, Ekaterinburg is a major transport hub for people and goods, serving as a junction along the Trans-Siberian railway, home to an ultra-modern international airport and an intersecting point of six federal highways. Today, Ekaterinburg is the beneficiary of a robust and diverse economy, consistently rated as an attractive place to do business. It has hosted major international conferences and conventions, and is home to representatives of more than 400 multinational companies. Ekaterinburg creating a strategic infrastructure for innovation-driving business, including investments of billions of dollars in technoparks, industrial parks, innovative technology centres and modern transportation and communications infrastructures. Manufacturing is the city’s leading economic sector with an annual turnover exceeding €3.7 billion. Goods manufactured in Ekaterinburg are exported to more than 100 countries around the world. An average of 20 foreign businesses are launched from Ekaterinburg each year and a total of 320 foreign businesses were registered in 2010 which only reinforces its position as a growing hub for international business and investment. Ekaterinburg is also notable for its role as a major centre for science, education and technology. Additionally, with its 20 academic research institutes, the city is a centre of research for science and technology, namely for advanced nanotechnologies. Home to 31 higher-education institutions and 45 regional affiliates of higher education institutions from cities such as Moscow and Saint-Petersburg, and more than 220,000 students, the city has emerged as an education hub. Indicative of its business-friendly environment, for the past four years Ekaterinburg has been included in the Top 10 list of Forbes Magazine as one of the best and most convenient cities for business in Russia. Largely renovated in 2009, Ekaterinburg’s international airport, Koltsovo, is served by more than 30 domestic and international airlines and connects to 80 cities around the world. It currently welcomes 3.5 million passengers per year and will be able to serve 8 million per year by 2020. In 2012, the Koltsovo Airport was named the best airport in the CIS countries by the World Routes Awards. To further strengthen its bid for the World Expo 2020, the city is building Ekaterinburg Expo into the area’s largest exhibition complex and the most advanced facility of its kind in Russia. In order to win Russia will need to convince more than 80 countries who have a voice in determining the host city of the Expo. We sincerely expect to receive the necessary support and strongly believe that World Expo 2020 in Ekaterinburg will be a huge success. … Read More
Middle East respiratory syndrome coronavirus (MERS-CoV) – update
World Health Organization Update On MERS … Read More
US to pursue Snowden ‘with a sledgehammer’ for NSA leak
RT: Tell us more about Edward Snowden’s position then – we know an investigation has been launched – is the US government simply going to throw the book at him? Michael Ratner: I think there’s no doubt about it – what it’s done with every whistleblower, every truth-teller, is tried to throw the book at them. The Bradley Manning trial – he is of course the young soldier who revealed all of the Iraq War logs, the Collateral Murder video – he’s facing life in prison. Even after pleading guilty to 20 years, they want to go for life. That trial is going on right now. My client, Julian Assange, I think it’s likely there’s an indictment. He is sitting in the Ecuador embassy, having been granted political asylum, afraid very much of eventually getting a one-way ticket to some prison in the United States. Jeremy Hammond, a young whistleblower, was forced to admit hacking into private intelligence company Stratford – otherwise he was facing life in prison. So now with Snowden, I don’t think there’s any question that this country will want to hit him with a sledgehammer. RT: Let me just ask – this prism surveillance program has caused fury across the Atlantic, with EU leaders demanding answers from President Obama. How justified is this anger? MR: Snowden has revealed what we have thought for a long time – that everything we do – from every phone call I make, to every time I use Google to the internet, every single thing is surveilled by this country under its very programs. And every time I make a call to a foreign program it’s surveilled. It’s interesting to see Europe getting slightly upset because of course their intelligence relationship is like hand in glove – it’s not like the US doesn’t share and work with the UK, other countries in Europe on this intelligence. So it’s a little bit like saying ‘well, let’s let the US deal with it – we’re going to try and step away a bit,’ when I don’t think they can step away very much. They’re deeply implicated, I think, in this whole program. RT: Despite an administration-led crackdown on whistleblowers, these leaks keep coming don’t they? – What’s behind this? MR: This shows you how bad the situation is, and how much courage these people have – after the US hit these people with sledgehammers – Manning, Assange, Hammond, you still get people like Edward Snowden coming out. So it indicates that there’s a tremendous amount of courage of young people to try and reveal the criminality and the surveillance and the state that we have here. The US – what it’s doing, is not working, and I expect there’s going to be more. They’ve hired thousands – tens of thousands of young people into this network of theirs – their surveillance network – and a lot of these young people have consciences. It still takes courage once you have conscience, but we’re seeing that happen now – this isn’t going to be stopped – it’s very important, because we don’t want to have a massive surveillance state, where everything we do –everything I do- is recorded. If I want to do a demonstration in the square next to me – I’ll call my friends; I’ll come out to the demonstration, the government right now will know everything I do, and will make its efforts to monitor or stop it – we don’t want that kind of concrete. – Snowdon, Manning, Assange, Hammond – they’re are all heroes. RT: Snowden has exposed information about programs that the authorities claim are legal and help protect the nation – don’t they have a point? MR: The legal part is no point at all – the legal part has to do with laws that this country passed post-9/11 in particular, courts that are essentially hand-picked and decide to uphold those, and a President who is willing apparently to approve this massive surveillance scheme. You can have unjust laws, and that’s what we have when it comes to surveillance. And the broader issue – does it really prevent anything? Well, I think they’re going to use that as an excuse. Terrorism is not the biggest problem in the United States. Of course, the uncontrolled use of guns in the US – many more people – I mean, ten times, a hundred times the number of people are killed by that than by terrorism. I think that terrorism is used as an excuse to be able to surveil – and keep tabs on every single American to prevent a change in government, to prevent really progressive government, progressive organizing and other people coming out onto the streets, and this is not about our safety, not at all. … Read More
Domestic Russian tax haven idea on back burner
“The idea is still very undeveloped, and the Finance Ministry does not understand how it can be done,” an anonymous ministry official told Vedomosti. Support by the Ministry of Finance has been cool over creating an offshore destination in Russia’s Far East, an alternative to more risky tax havens in Europe that would draw investment from abroad as well as keep Russian money in Russia. The new zone would in theory help return investment to Russia, as well as curb accusations of corruption among government officials for owning foreign securities, equities, making deposits, or operating foreign bank accounts. The State Duma has been mulling over the idea for the last 2 months, and more hastily since the government set a July 1st deadline for government officials to ‘de-offshore’ their wealth, or else be stripped of their official posts. If an offshore zone is to be created, it will be executed as a Special Vehicles Purpose-based bank, and if would operate via the International Investment Bank (IIB), a bank established in 1970 for socialist countries. IIB member states includes Russia, Bulgaria, Vietnam, Cuba, Mongolia, Romania, Slovakia and the Czech Republic. The bank is currently based in Moscow. Negotiations for the project are ongoing, but the IIB would be an the most obvious vehicle because presently its services are underutilized. Nikolay Kosov, Board Chairman of the IIB, first pitched the idea to Shuvalov, who instructed the Finance Ministry to consider the option. Existing tax havens, such as Cyprus or Monaco, would be used as a model to set the rates in the Far East Russian offshore. For example, if a Cypriot company made a loan at 10 percent, under this structure the Russian offshore would offer a slightly higher rate of 10.3 percent, Denis Shchekin, managing partner and Shchekin and Partners told Vedomosti. It is estimated Russians, before the Cyprus crisis, held roughly 15 billion euros in funds on the tiny Mediterranean island. The IIB is exempt from income tax, a benefit the bank could pass onto its high paying customers. As long as the money stays in the bank, the depositor won’t have to pay tax on the interest. This would appeal to companies looking to keep money in a ‘safer’ more legal offshore area. It is unlikely the Russian offshore project would be able to provide the same level of secrecy as other jurisdictions such as the Cayman Islands, Switzerland, and Austria, all of whom have long established banking secrecy laws. … Read More
