The present-day furor over Iran’s uranium enrichment program has provided cover for the Jewish state’s own illicit nuclear weapons program, which predates the Islamic republic, former top Iranian diplomat and scholar Seyed Hossein Mousavian told RT.‘Israel prevents Obama from negotiating with Iran’RT: Now that US President Barack Obama is staying for a second term in office, do you expect Iran to attract as much attention or will Mr Obama focus on more pressing issues, like dealing with the US economy?Hossein Mousavian: Iran has been a top foreign policy issue for all the US administrations since 1979. If not topic number one, definitely Iran has been always in the top three foreign policy issues for the US. That is why I believe that even in the second term of President Obama, Iran would be if not the first, then among the three top issues.RT: Definitely, President Obama is now less constrained than before the elections. Do you think that could mean that he is more likely to get involved in something like a war with Iran?HM: I believe Obama came to office with an engagement policy and he himself was sincere and he had good intentions. He failed to deliver an engagement with Iran due to pressures from the Congress, AIPAC, Israeli Prime Minister [Benjamin Netanyahu] and the very tough policies of the Europeans. Because during President Bush, Europeans had the engagement policy, but unfortunately during the engagement policy of President Obama, Europeans – they had hawkish policies.I agree with you, President Obama should feel less constraint in the second term and therefore we can be a little bit more optimistic, [though] we should not be too much optimistic, because the pressures would remain, domestically and from Israel. But he (Obama) would have a little bit free of hand to go forward with Iran. Hopefully, he will be successful.RT: It’s good you’ve mentioned Israel because Israeli PM [Benjamin Netanyahu] has been saying that the US will assist Israel if it strikes Iran. What does this mean now after the election?HM: I believe Americans do not want to be engaged into a third war in the Middle East. Americans have had good lessons from invading Iraq and Afghanistan. They have lost trillions of dollars, thousands of lives and they are leaving Iraq and Afghanistan in a mess. They have no achievement. Stability in Afghanistan and Iraq has much worsened in Afghanistan and Iraq after the American invasion. They understand the consequences of attacking Iran would be tenfold compared to Iraq and Afghanistan. Iran is completely different. That’s why I believe there is a consensus.Both the Republicans and Democrats should not drag the US to a third war.‘Netanyahu’s plan was crippling sanctions from the beginning’RT: Benjamin Netanyahu’s own political future is very uncertain since his party is preparing to participate in the upcoming elections in Israel. How do you tell what is the pre-election rhetoric and what are real intentions [of Tel-Aviv]?HM: I believe [Israeli PM Benjamin] Netanyahu has been bluffing from
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the very beginning. He first put pressure on the American president to make a credible threat against Iran. What did he mean by a credible threat? He wanted the American president to put a red line not on a nuclear bomb, but on [uranium] enrichment, which is a legitimate right of every [UN] member.When they could not push Obama to this point – he [Netanyahu] decided to make a credible threat himself in order to push the US and the EU in a position to choose between crippling sanctions or war.He [Netanyahu] was confident: Europe and the US will be supporting sanctions. The main target of Netanyahu from the beginning was crippling sanctions, not war. He dismissed the US and Europe – and he was successful.‘Israel’s nuclear bomb has nothing to do with Iran’RT: Is Israel’s plausible nuclear stockpile a threat to Iran?HM: I really do believe that neither Israel is an existential threat to Iran nor Iran is an existential threat to Israel. We’ve just had the Global Zero Summit [nuclear non-proliferation] conference. I told the conference that even today Israelis are always using the Iran issue to justify their nuclear bomb, saying that Iran is an existential threat for Israel. But in fact it is Israel that produced a nuclear bomb before the Islamic revolution [in Iran] when the Shah of Iran was the ally of Israel.An Israeli nuclear bomb has nothing to do with Iran, because it was mastered and produced before the [Islamic] revolution [in Iran]. Now they are using the Islamic Revolution to justify [their nuclear bomb], but I would not buy this argument.RT: Iran has been really stigmatized in the public domain in the past few years. What can Tehran do to persuade the west that it is not building a nuclear bomb?HM: I believe Iran was ready for cooperation with the IAEA to remove the ambiguities. From 2003 to 2005 we implemented an additional protocol, the subsidiary code 3.1, we even suspended [uranium] enrichment, we gave the IAEA access beyond the additional protocol. We opened military sites to the IAEA. But the EU was not able to recognize the legitimate rights of Iran because the EU’s position was zero enrichment. That’s why negotiations during all time failed despite the fact we were ready for full transparency we had proved practically.…Russia proposed in 2011 a step by step plan. The Russian step by step plan consisted of all major requirements of the IAEA, the UN atomic energy agency, and the UN Security Council’s resolution – and even beyond that.Iranian officials welcomed the Russian initiative as a base for negotiations. It was the US and Europe which declined the Russian proposal.Therefore I believe even today the Russian proposal can be a good basis for the negotiations.‘IAEA demanded Iran to make unprecedented concessions’RT: You personally worked with the IAEA monitor in Iran for several years. The international observers are known to have accused Iran of not letting them see everything they want. Tehran has been saying it cannot satisfy all of their demands. Who is right?HM: It depends. They were asking Iran to implement an additional protocol. Implementation of an additional protocol is not mandatory for nations. Today 70 nations do not implement an additional protocol. Therefore this would be a gesture of good will from Iran to implement that protocol. But the IAEA was even requesting Iran to give access beyond the additional protocol. No nation in this world has given the IAEA access beyond the additional protocol.I believe Iran is ready. If they (the west) recognize two issues: Iran’s right for the [uranium] enrichment and if they’re prepared to gradually leave the sanctions, to leave all sanctions at
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the later stage, I believe Iran will show good will to accept the additional protocol, to cooperate with the IAEA on possible military dimension issues, which would give the IAEA the [desired] access beyond the additional protocol.‘We can sacrifice oil exports’RT: The EU has not been buying the Iranian oil for months now. Has Iran been able to find new markets?HM: I believe Iranian oil’s export decreased 50-60 per cent. But believe me, even if Iranians cannot export even one drop of oil – they would not give up their rights. It really does not matter how much oil it can export or not.During the war, the 1980 to 1988 invasion of Iraq, we had a much worse situation.‘Iran would be the last to be affected by war spreading from Syria’RT: Let’s move on to Syria. How do you think the conflict in Syria may affect the situation in Iran?HM: It would affect more the region and the US allies. If they continue like this, Syria would go to sectarian civil war, spreading to Iraq, Saudi Arabia, Jordan, Lebanon and even Turkey. Iran would be the last to be affected by this spread of war.Of course Iran may lose one friend, a partner like [Syrian President] Bashar Assad. But it does not mean the radical Muslims that would come to power, that they will be friends of Israel or America.The Muslim Brotherhood – if they are in power – they would be much more [ideological]. And their base would be Muslim ideology, [while President Bashar] Assad is secular. That’s the difference.‘US risks losing last allies in the Middle East’RT: What is the biggest threat to the US in the region?HM: The biggest threat for the US is coming out of the Arab Spring with Salafis, the Taliban, Al-Qaeda and extreme Sunni radicals capturing Muslim countries…This is the real threat to the US.RT: How do you see the situation developing with the Arab Spring spreading to other countries?HM: Nobody knows. But as far as I can see, Islamists are coming to power through the whole Middle East. And this would affect the remaining US allies in the region. … Read More
Iran hysteria a cover for Israeli bomb – ex-Iranian diplomat
Cutting through the Controversy about Indefinite Detention and the NDAA
On Tuesday, the Senate passed [1] the National Defense Authorization Act, or NDAA, a yearly military spending bill. Last year, … Read More
Why is Hef getting hitched?
It looks like those two crazy kids are going to settle down at last. In a relationship marked by more fits and starts than Carrie and Big’s nuptials, 86-year-old media magnate Hugh Hefner and his 26-year-old lady friend Crystal Harris have spent the past few days making some very public noises that they’re back together. Is this yet another attention-getting stunt from the rapidly becoming obsolete Playboy brand, or is this what love conquering all looks like?It’s an unusual twist: The two ended their engagement in 2011, when Harris got cold feet a mere five days before the scheduled nuptials. A Playboy cover featuring “Mrs. Crystal Hefner” had to be hastily slapped with a “Runaway Bride” label. Last summer, however, she moved back into the mansion and confirmed she and Hef were “back together.”Continue Reading… … Read More
On His Way Out the Door, Mexico’s President Says Maybe That War on Drugs Was Not Such a Good Idea
In a recent
interview with The Economist, outgoing Mexican
President Felipe Calderón, whose a crackdown on drug cartels was
followed by a surge in prohibition-related violence that has
claimed 50,000 or so lives so far, said shutting down the illegal
drug trade is “impossible.” Unless Americans are ready to stop
using drugs, he added, they have a moral obligation to consider
“market mechanisms” that would cut the cartels out of the
business:
Either the United States and its society, its government and its
Congress decide to drastically reduce their consumption of drugs,
or if they are ;not going to reduce it they at least have the
moral responsibility to reduce the flow of money towards Mexico,
which goes into the hands of criminals. They have to explore even
market mechanisms to see if that can allow the flow of money to
reduce.
If they want to take all the drugs they want, as far as I’m
concerned let them take them. I don’t agree with it but it’s their
decision, as consumers and as a society. What I do not accept is
that they continue passing their money to the hands of killers.
Calderon made similar
remarks last year. But this time around, combined with last
month’s marijuana legalization votes in Colorado and Washington,
his allusion to repealing drug prohibition seems to have made more
of an impression on the Dallas Morning News, which last
week editorialized in favor of “a third-way drug policy”:
Momentum seems to be building around the idea of decriminalizing
consumption to remove mega-profits from illicit trade….
This newspaper supports certain medical uses of marijuana, but
reserves judgment on whether broader decriminalization is the right
approach….
This much is certain: The war against drugs isn’t working—here
or abroad. Congress and the White House owe it to Americans and our
drug-fighting allies to devise more realistic marijuana
policies.
I am glad to see
another big-city paper (especially one published in the town
where I live) question the war on drugs. But the “third way”
favored by this editorial is morally incoherent and cannot
accomplish its ostensible goal. If consuming drugs should not be
crime, neither should facilitating consumption. And
“decriminalizing consumption” cannot “remove mega-profits from
illicit trade”; only decriminalizing the supply can do that.
Finally, as critics of marijuana legalization are quick to point
out, cannabis is only part of the black market. Although legalizing
production and sale of marijuana will take a bite out of the
cartels’ revenue, prohibition will continue to enrich murderous
thugs as long as drugs such as cocaine, heroin, and methamphetamine
remain illegal.
Last week Mike Riggs
noted that our outgoing secretary of state, unlike Mexico’s
outgoing president, sees no merit in legalization as a response to
prohibition-related violence. Whereas last year she said
we can’t legalize the drug business because “there is just too much
money in it” (which some might count as an argument in favor of
repealing prohibition), on Thursday she said the problem is that
criminals will always find something else to do. “They’ll do
kidnapping,” she said. “They’ll do extortion.” ;So as long as
kidnapping and extortion are viable ways for them to make money,
why not give them other revenue streams as well?
[Thanks to Richard Cowan for the tip.]
Jim Washburn Fired: Philadelphia Eagles Let Go Of Defensive Line Coach
PHILADELPHIA (AP) — The foundering Philadelphia Eagles fired defensive line coach Jim Washburn Monday, as they try to fix a broken pass defense amid an eight-game losing streak.
Eagles coach Andy Reid on Monday announced former defensive line coach Tommy Brasher will replace Washburn, as the team begins preparations for Sunday’s date vs. Tampa Bay (6-6).
The Eagles (3-9) hired Washburn before last season, expecting his wide-nine defensive line alignment to produce plenty of pressure on opposing quarterbacks. The scheme helped the Eagles tie for the league lead with 50 sacks last season but has resulted in only 20 so far this year.
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Carbon Emissions Reach New Record
Global carbon dioxide pollution reached a record high last year as it increased by 3 percent, making it virtually impossible that the international goal of limiting global warming to 3.6 degrees Fahrenheit will become a reality. Last year, all the countries in the world pumped almost 38.2 billion tons of carbon dioxide into the atmosphere, according to… … Read More
Keeping Score: Also For Your Hall Of Fame Consideration, Scott Boras
When Marvin Miller, the groundbreaking leader of the Major League Baseball Players Association, died last week, it led to renewed calls for his election to the Hall of Fame, an honor that was denied him in five votes over the last decade.But in consideration of his case for Cooperstown, another name also comes to mind: Scott Boras.Hear me out.Read More…
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