The image of the woman with no cover belongs to Susan Hejrat, another one of those super communists of “Workers communist Part of Iran”, now the question is who sent this image to Times, it would not be surprising that the people behind this coup are all connected to HKK (Hezbe Komoniste Kargari, the name of the party in Farsi as I knew them back in the 80s and 90s).

One correction on behalf of a a friend on FB: “SCE (Stop Child Executions)” is not affiliated or connected to the HKK in any way and I was wrong to say that they are. My apology to the people at SCE.

That’s all I know about him. Then yesterday I got an update on his Facebook page asking for translation of an article on his web site regarding the ‘fake story’ of Mrs. Ashtiani’s being punished to 99.  A facebook user beat me to the translation which you find later in this article.

The story got me mad, I had decided not to get involved in Iran’s politics and only concentrate on HR activities via international organizations, and that is why I have been following the case of Mrs. Ashtiani closely.

Since her case has become a case involving the world, many people are using her as an opportunity to gain credibility and support.

The organization behind this latest news is called “The International Committee Against Execution“, the group was created in a few months ago by the members of Iranian Workers Communist party, an extremist Marxist-Leninist group with a history of violence against Iranian dissidents in Sweden and Germany.  The main person behind the organization is Mina Ahadi, one of the main characters of the IWC who is now acting as a human rights activists but has never worked with any Iranian or international HR organization and her only line of activity has been to promote an ant-religious (read Anti-Islamic) and Albanian style communist ideology.

Looking at her web site who is acting as an HR group, you don’t find ANY links to any Human Rights group or any activities not sponsored by their party.Here is the list of the sites they link to (I have removed the links since I do not want to be associated with them and don’t want them to have a pingback from my blog).

• International Committee against Stoning
• Iran Solidarity
• Mission Free Iran
• Report- HR-Iran
• SCE (Stop Child Executions)
• Women Living Under Muslim Laws

It is also worth mentioning that almost all these sites are WP based and using the same template as well as the same ‘writing style’ so it would not be shocking if all of them are the work the same person or persons.

Now, back to the subject of the letters.

I tried to located the Farsi version of this so called letter all over the internet. Even the original sites who spread this has only the English version of it and I could not get anything about the original Farsi letter allegedly written by the son of Sakinne.

Then someone sent this letter on Facebook page of MR. Mostafai:

نامه سر گشاده سجاد باقر زاده -2

با سلام : اینجانب سجاد قادر زاده ؛ در خصوص آخرین وضعیت پرونده مادرم سکینه محمدی آشتیانی ؛ به عرض می رسانم :
1- در مراجعه وکیل اینجانبان به دیوان عالی کشور در مورخه 25 آگوست 2010 ، تحت اصرار وی ، ا…ز سوی شعبه 9 دیوان عالی کشور, پرونده های اصلی از تبریز ؛ تحت در خواست واقع شده بود . که اکنون جهت ارسال و ادامه دادرسی در شهر تهران ودیوان عالی کشور ؛ با اطاله دادرسی از سوی مقامات دادستانی تبریز مواجه شده است . چرا که از یک طرف معلوم نیست که چرا از طریق شعبه 9 دیوان عالی کشور؛ پرونده مربوط به قتل پدرم نیز مطالیه شده است ؟ و از طرف دیگر پرونده قتل پدرم از اجرای احکام شعبه 7 شهر تبریز وبدل آن از دایره جنائی پلیس شهر اسکو مفقود گشته است ؛ وهمین امر موجب اطاله دادرسی در ارسال پرونده های تحت در خواست دیوان محترم عالی کشور ؛ را فراهم آورده است . نهایتاً امید دارم مسئولین ومدافعین حقوق بشر هیشه پایدار بوده ودر انجام رسالت پاک ومقدسی که به عهده دارند ؛ خسته نباشند
2- در پی مصاحبه نشریه محترم تایم لندن ؛ با وکیل اینجانبان آقای جاوید هوتن کیان ؛ به تاریخ 20 آگوست 2010 ؛ مشارالیه عکس مادرم را که ، مربوط به زمان کار مادر مان در مهد کودک ارغوان شهر اسکو بوده ؛ برای آن نشریه ارسال می دارد . که فردای ان روز به علت عدم دسترسی کل ما ، گمان می کردیم که عکس مورد چاپ در نشریه تایم لندن ؛همان عکس مادر مان در مهد کودک ارغوان شهر اسکو می باشد . - بعداً معلوم نمی شود ؛ چرا نشریه تایم لندن ؛ عکس یک خانم دیگر را که بدون حجاب می باشد ؛ بجای عکس مادرم چاپ نموده است وچگونه ابن عکس به ان نشریه محترم ارسال شده است ؟ و واقعاً عکس متعلق به کدام بنده خدا می باشد ؟ که با توجه به اینکه مادرم از هنگام مصاحبه تلویزیونی ؛ با اینجانبان و وکیل خویش ( آقای جاوید هوتن کیان ) ممنوع الملاقات گشته است ؛ حسب اطلاع از افرادی که دیشب از زندان و از بند نسوان آزاد شده اند چاپ همین عکس ؛ دستمایه آزار مادرم را فراهم نموده و بهانه بدست آنها داده است ؛ چرا که مادرم را به نزذ قاضی …. رسیدگی کننده به تخلفات داخل زندان تبریز برده ؛ ومشارالیه مادر بیچا ره ام را ؛ بخاطر اتهام واهی اشاعه فساد وبدحجابی ؛ از طریق انداختن عکس بی حجاب وپخش شدن آن ….؛ به 99 ضربه شلاق محکوم نموده است!

- در پی مصاحبه وتماسی که برخی از صاحب نظران محترم خارج از کشور با بنده داشتند ؛ عنوان نمودند ، که عکس مزبور بجای عکس مادرم ؛ از سوی وکیل سابق مادرم ( آقای محمد مصطفائی) ؛ در اختیار نامبردگان قرار گرفته است . ضمن آرزوی اینکه امیدوارم این حرف وحدبث اشتباه بوده باشد ؛ دوباره ضمن تقدیر وتشکر از جناب آقای محمد مصطفائی ؛ از بابت زحماتی که کشیده اند ؛ عنوان می نمایم ؛ پس از آنکه وکلای تعیینی و فرمالیته دولت ودستگاه قضائی حاکم برای مادرمان (آقایان سهراب سمنگان و آقای زارع ) کاری از پیش نبردند و در حقیقت دوشا دوش عاملین تحکیم کننده حکم سنگسار بر مادرم ؛ موجب تائید این دادنامه ظالمانه گشتند ؛ آقای محمد مصطفئی ؛ موافق مدارک مسلم موجود وبا اخذ مبلغ سنگین بیست میلیون ریال واز طریق یک خانم وکیل - ونه مستقیماً خودشان - بصورت مجتمعاً ومنفرداً وکالت مادرم را قبول ؛ وچون هیچگونه اقدام حقوقی وقضائی در جهت نیل به نجات مادرم به طرق موجود در قانون و از طریق دیوان عالی کشور ننمودند ؛ موافق مدرکیه ارسالی ؛ از مورخه 30/3/1389 از سمت وکالت از جانب مادرم عزل گشته اند . و در این تاریخ متاسفانه برخی عملکرد و اظهاراتشان که به گوش حقیر وخانواده ام می رسد ؛ حاکی از همراهی ناخواسته وی با سفاکان درون رژیم می باشد ؛ که امیدوارم این شنیده ها اشتباه با شد . بنابراین دراین تاریخ ؛ به عرض کلیه مسئولین ودستندرکاران مدافع حقوق بشری ؛ در کل دنیا می رسانم که جناب آقای محمد مصطفائی ؛ تنها در پرونده مربوط به سنگسار مادرم وآنهم به مدت بسیار محدود واز طریق خانم وکیل دیگر ؛ دارای سمت وکالت بوده ؛ و این پرونده نیز جدا از پرونده قتل پدرم بوده ؛ وبنائاً اوراق ومحتویات وموضوع وتاریخ وشعبه رسیدگی کننده و…. یکی نبوده ؛ تا نامبرده بتواند ؛ در اینخصوص اطلاعاتی کسب و یا بتواند اظهار نظری بنماید .و ضمن تقدیر و تشکر دوباره ؛ از جناب آقای محمد مصطفائی؛ از وی ملتمسانه خواهش می کنیم ؛ که دیگر در خصوص پرونده مادرم و یا قتل پدرم ؛ بعلت نقصان اطلاعات مشارالیه ؛ در هیچ کجا وبا هیچ مقامی مصاحبه و اظهار نظر نفرمایند, که مورد تائید اینجانبان نمی باشد .- پاینده باشید .- سجاد قادر

The letter sound strange to me. There are a few things that I have highlighted in this letter:

• In Iran, no one calls the month of August for  آگوست but it is called  اوت (the same way the French call it)
• Nowhere in the letter, you see any date in Farsi, which means the person who wrote this text is not living in Iran but is a person living outside of the country
• The working of the text is not what a person would dare to write if he lives inside the country, calling the rulers of Iran for سفاکان درون رژیم will get anyone in trouble, especially a person with spotlights on them like the son of Sakineh.
• The logic of this whole thing is bizarre, first it says the picture with no head cover was not of his mother and it is fake, then he says that the mother was lashed 99 times for not wearing headscarf and promote impurity(بخاطر اتهام واهی اشاعه فساد وبدحجابی ؛ از طریق انداختن عکس بی حجاب وپخش شدن آن ). Ok, please help me here, the picture in times did not belong to her, but in Iran she was lashed 99 times for spreading ‘uncovered pictures of herself’? Does that make even sense to you?
• According to Mr. Mostafai, who is a well known lawyer in Iran, there are no rules that can be used to lash a person for not wearing ‘hejab’. I am sure he is right since I have read the Iranian penal law many times and I translated parts of it for Swedish and English speaking groups and organization as late as 1993 and the scanned images of the whole penal law of the Islamic Republic can be found on one of archived web sites from “Democracy Network of Iran” (group I was working with in the mid to late 90s).

Earlier today, I sent letter to the Swedish newspapers Aftonbladet.se and Dn.se to warn them about the problems with this story, but none of them would do anything about this story and kept the original story on their web sites.

It makes me sad that opportunists are using the life of this poor woman to gain fame and support. It is an unbelievable stupidity to play with the life of a woman who needs all the help she can get to fight the injustice of the Islamic Republic of Iran and the last thing she needs is a bunch of extremist-communist propagandist using her name to get their own 5 minutes of fame.

Shame on them all, they make me sick to stomach.

صدور 99 ضربه شلاق براي خانم سکينه به خاطر چاپ عکس کذب محض است

The news about 99 extra lashes denied by Iranian woman Sakineh’s lawyer, Mohammad Mostafai (Translation taken from FaceBook page of Tour Irani)

I didn’t want to say anything about a plagiarized letter published by a person named Mina Ahadi, a member of the workers communist party, who falsely claims to be a human rights defender. But because of the insistence of some of my friends I will say a few words about it:

Two weeks ago The Cinama Association for Peace in Berlin invited me to a press conference. I accepted and asked them to make preparations.  I then asked them for a list of participants in this conference. They replied that it was going to include a few members of their association and a member of the German foreign ministry plus Mrs. Mina Ahadi. I excused myself and told them that because I do not want to be used for political purposes I will not appear next to this person in the press conference. Then the director for the society called me and said that Mrs. Mina Ahadi will not participate and hast been crossed off the list. But this did not bode well with Mrs. Mina Ahadi. A day before the press conference she published a letter and claimed that this letter has been written by Mrs. Ashtiani’s son. In the letter it says that Mr. Mostafai does not represent their mother anymore, even though I am still officially her lawyer and she has never dropped me as the lawyer. Unfortunately Mrs. Ahadi distributed this letter to reporters but it was not taken seriously.

A few days ago someone contacted me from France and asked me to appear in a press conference. I accepted and the next day the list of participants in the conference was announced. Mrs. Mina Ahadi’s name who likes to make a name for herself using human rights issues as a tool was also among the participants. She does not have a good reputation outside Iran. I also announced that I have no interest to participate in this press conference. She held a grudge against me for this and contacted Sakineh Ashtiani’s children to prepare the ground work for another fake letter where she claimed that Mrs. Ashtiani has been sentenced to 99 lashes for publishing a picture with no head scarf.

I immediately contacted Tabriz judiciary and talked to a close friend who works at the judiciary and he vehemently denied this news. I knew that this news was not true.

First, Mrs. Ashtiani’s children do not even read inside papers let along Spiegel or Times. They do not even speak English.

Second, if Sajjad has not met his mother, then how does he know that she has been sentenced to 99 lashes?

Third, Sajjad sent me this picture along with another picture through an internet cafe and I chose to publish the picture with veil. The second picture that was published in Times publication resembles Mrs. Ashtiani and her picture with veil. Even though everything Sajjad does is under complete direction of Mrs. Ahadi.

Fourth, if the published picture does not really belong to Mrs. Sakineh Mohammadi Ashtiani then why has she been sentenced to 99 lashes?

Fifth, under what article of the law has she been sentenced to 99 lashes? There are no judicial articles pertaining to lashes for these cases.

At the end I need to point out that those who embark on such immoral actions must realize that lies and deception and intimidation can never win the hearts and minds of the Iranian people. For God’s sake and for human rights they better use honesty and in order to reach their ideological goals they should not take actions that defy conscious and morality.

Just as I was able to save the lives of tens of people with God’s help and the support of true human rights defenders while being a lawyer in Iran, I hope that I will be an effective person outside the country as well. I have no claims and always think that God is watching my actions.

Mohammad Mostafai, Judicial Lawyer

مدافع - وب سایت شخصی محمد مصطفایی

نمي خواستم در خصوص نامه مجعولي که از طرف شخصي به نام مينا احدي يکي از اعضاي کمونيست کارگري منتشر شده است و به ظاهر و دورغين مدافع حقوق بشر است اظهار نظري کنم ولي با توجه به تاکيد برخي از دوستانم لاجرم نکاتي را به نظرتان مي رسانم:

دو هفته پيش انجمن سينما براي صلح در برلين از من دعوت کرد که در يک کنفرانس مطبوعاتي شرکت کنم. قبول کرده و خواستار آن شدم که مقدمات سفرم فراهم گردد. از اين انجمن نام شرکت کنندگان در کنفرانس را پرسيدم که گفتند چند نفر از اعضاي انجمن و يک نفر از وزارت امور خارجه آلمان و خانم مينا احدي شرکت خواهند کرد. پوزش خواستم و گفتم من به دليل آنکه نمي خواهم مورد سوءاستفاده سياسي قرار گيرم با اين شخص در کنفرانس مطبوعاتي شرکت نخواهم کرد مسئول انجمن تماس گرفت و گفت خانم مينا احدي شرکت نخواهند کرد و از ليست شرکت کنندگان حذف شده است جلسه کنفرانس بدون دعوت از ايشان برگزار شد. اما اين عدم دعوت باعث شد تا عقده اي شود براي خانم مينا احدي. روز قبل از کنفرانس نامه اي را منتشر کردند و اعلام شد که اين نامه توسط فرزندان خانم سکينه محمدي نوشته شده است. و در نامه آمده است که آقاي محمد مصطفايي ديگر وکيل مادرمان نيست. هر چند همچنان اينجانب وکيل خانم سکينه محمدي هست و تاکنون ايشان من را به صورت رسمي عزل نکرده اند. متاسفانه خانم احدي متن تهيه شده خود را به تمام خبرنگاران دادند که مورد توجه آنها قرار نگرفت.

چند روز پيش شخصي از فرانسه تماس گرفت و من را به يک کنفرانس مطبوعاتي دعوت کرد. من نيز پذيرفتم و روز بعد نام شرکت کنندگان در کنفرانس را اعلام کرد که نام خانم مينا احدي که بسيار مايل است خود را مطرح کند و موضوعات حقوق بشري را دستاويزي قرار داده است تا به اهداف سياسي اش برسد و گويا در خارج از کشور نيز جايگاه مناسبي ندارد در ليست شرکت کنندگان بود. من نيز اعلام کردم که تمايلي به شرکت در اين کنفرنس مطبوعاتي ندارم و نپذيرفتم باز هم اين موضوع کينه اي ديگر شد تا خانم احدي با ارتباطاتي که با فرزندان سکينه محمدي به دست آورده بود زمينه صدور نامه اي مجعول ديگري را فراهم کرده و در آن ذکر کند که خانم محمدي به دليل انتشار عکس بي حجاب شخصي ديگر به 99 ضربه شلاق محکوم شده است.

فورا با دادگستري تبريز تماس گرفتم و مسئولين دادگستري که يکي از آنها از دوستان صميمي و نزديکم است اين خبر را شديدا تکذيب کرد. چرا که مي دانستم چنين خبري صحت ندارد.

جالب است بدانيد:

اولا – فرزندان خانم سکينه محمدي به هيچ عنوان به دنبال خواندن روزنامهاي داخلي نيستند په رسد به اينکه نشرياتي مثل اشپيگل يا تايمز را مطالعه کنند. هر چند زبان انگليسي نيز نمي دانند.

ثانيا – اگر سجاد واقعا مادرش را ملاقات نکرده، پس چطور متوجه صدور حکم به 99 ضربه شلاق شده است.

ثالثا – اين عکس را سجاد به همراه عکس ديگري توسط ايميل از طريق کافي نت به اينجانب ارسال نمود و من نيز ترجيح دادم عکس با چادر را منتشر کنم. عکس دوم که در نشريه تايمز منتشر شده است کاملا شبيه خانم محمدي آشتياني بوده و با عکس چادري نيز مطابقت دارد. هر چند تمام اقداماتي که سجاد انجام مي دهد صرفا با راهنمايي خانم مينا احدي بوده است.

رابعا – اگر واقعا عکس منتشر شده مربوط به خانم سکينه محمدي نيست پس چطور ايشان محکوم به 99 ضربه شلاق شدند.

خامسا – بر اساس کدام ماده قانوني خانم سکينه محمدي محکوم شده اند. در هيچ ماده اي مواد قوانين کيفري ايران ماده اي که مجوز صدور حکم شلاق براي اين گونه موارد باشد وجود ندارد.

در آخر لازم است متذکر شوم، کساني که دست به اينگونه اقدامات غير اخلاقي مي زنند بايد بدانند که با دروغ و فريب و اغفال و تحريک هيچ جايگاهي نمي توانند در دل مردم و ايراني ها بدست آوردند بهتر اين است که انسان صادقانه و براي رضاي خدا و احقاق حقوق بشر قدم بردارد و نبايد براي رسيدن به اهدافي عقيدتي عملي برخلاف وجدان واخلاق انجام داد.

اميدوارم همانطور که در دوران وکالتم در ايران توانستم به لطف خدا و مشيت الهي و حمايت هاي فعالين راستين حقوق بشر جان دهها نفر را نجات دهم در خارج از کشور نيز بتوانم فردي موثر باشم. ادعايي ندارم و خدا را هميشه ناظر بر اعمال و رفتارو کردار خود دانسته و مي دانم.

محمد مصطفايي وکيل دادگستري

Here are the links to the international news sites covering this fake story:

• Aftonbladet.se (Swedish) : Piskas - för bild på annan kvinna
• DN.se (Swedish) : Dömd till piskrapp efter Times misstag
• CNN : Group: 99 lashes for condemned Iranian
• The Guardian: Sakineh Mohammadi Ashtiani to be lashed over newspaper photograph
• Google Search for this news!

Devil Den: Anti-Israeli computer games released in Tehran

When George W. Bush first dubbed several countries the “Axis of Evil” in 2002, few knew what that truly meant for the future of U.S. foreign policy. But no one—not even the President himself—knew then that these evildoing countries would one day have to suffer the ultimate sanction: ridicule of their homebrewed cars by Car and Driver. That day is today. (And a few weeks ago, and a few weeks from now, but you get the idea). In Part 1, we knocked off North Korea. Today, we turn our sights to a country with a just slightly taller leader, the Islamic Republic of Iran.

Two companies account for the overwhelming majority of all new-car sales in Iran: the Iran Khodro Company (IKCO) and Saipa. Until very recently, both were wholly owned by various investment offices within the Iranian government (that stake is now down to about 30 percent in each company). Those nebulous government investing agencies include, in very large part, the Islamic Revolutionary Guard, the elite wing of the military that happens to have billions upon billions of dollars’ worth of investments worldwide.

If that doesn’t sell you on the idea that Iran’s car industry isn’t a prime example of the free market, consider this: Imported cars carry a 90-percent tariff from the Iranian government. That keeps imports very low (about 50,000 cars per year), and available only to the elite upper classes. To get around the import tax, many foreign automakers (including Mercedes, Peugeot, Kia, Nissan, and Mazda) partnered with one of the Iranian manufacturers to send what are called complete knockdown kits so the cars are technically assembled in Iran. The trouble is that these foreign-branded cars still remain too expensive for most shoppers in this country of more than 70 million. Fortunately for them, Iran Khodro and Saipa have a fleet of home-brewed cars that bring new meaning to the phrase “warmed-over.”

Every motorized country has an iconic car that enabled the great leap to widespread automotive ownership. In Germany, it was the Volkswagen Beetle. In France, the Citroën 2CV. In America, the Cadillac Escalade. Or the Model T. Whatever. Iran had one of these cars, too, and it was called the Paykan.

Based on the 1967 Hillman Hunter (a British/French car of its own notorious ancestry), the Paykan was like most iconic cars that got their countries on wheels: slow, noisy, dirty, and generally crappy. Production continued in Iran until 2005, when it was phased out not because of drooping sales, but because the Iranian government—yes, the same Iranian government that owns the company—felt it was too dangerous and inefficient to keep selling.

A huge number of the cars built and sold in Iran today have French roots, a remnant of the strong relationship France once had with the Middle East. While most Americans have forgotten about the Peugeot 405 sedan, which exited the U.S. along with the brand in 1991, it’s more than a familiar site in Iran. They’re not all vintage, though; the Peugeot 405 is the backbone of Iran Khodro’s lineup today, and myriad variations exist. (There is even a red-herring model currently in production, the Peugeot ROA, which has a Peugeot 405 body on top of the ancient Paykan running gear.)

Pictured to the right, the Peugeot Pars is probably the closest Iranian version to the original French car. The interior is even available dolled up with wood so fake that even an old Daewoo would feel smug.

Iran Khodro also cranks out re-bodied versions of the 405 called the Soren and the Samand. These make fine cars for average buyers, but certainly wouldn’t cut it for the elite and wealthy. While black Mercedes S-classes are available for those privileged few, and indeed are popular among such people, shoppers wishing for a domestic limo can consider the crown jewel of the rebadged-405 lineup, the Samand Sarir. In addition to the fine craftsmanship assumed to come with any cut-and-shut limo job, the Samand Sarir’s luxurious interior will no doubt make owners the envy of 1970s pimps worldwide.

But Iran Khodro doesn’t want you to think it’s stuck in the past, just microwaving old Peugeot 405s. In 2009 and 2010, it unveiled two new models, and for once they weren’t based on the old Peugeot 405. One wears the Peugeot name and seems as modern as you can get. It’s called the 207i, and it looks just like the Peugeot 207 presently sold all over the world. But upon closer inspection of the profile and door handles, the deception becomes clear: It’s a Peugeot 206—first introduced in 1998—with the newer 207’s nose grafted on.

The second new model from IKCO went on sale in March 2010, and is called the Runna, which means “nice” in Farsi. To much fanfare (at least in the government-owned media), the company’s top brass described it as “innovative” and proudly announced that it was a fully domestic project designed and built in Iran. They were happy to report that it even meets the latest European emissions and pedestrian-safety requirements. And this is all true—because it, too, is based on the Peugeot 206.

Iran’s other large automaker employs a very similar strategy to IKCO’s—perhaps having the same owners has something to do with it—which, as you may have surmised, is to take one old, reliable design from abroad and rework it to kingdom come. Saipa makes about the same number of cars as Iran Khodro, putting its eggs in the basket of an old Kia subcompact called the Pride. While most American car buffs haven’t heard of the Pride, they might remember it by its American-market name: the Ford Festiva, sold here from 1986 to 1993. Although the design and engineering were originally done in Japan by Mazda, the car was licensed to Kia (it built the Festivas we got here) which then went into business with Saipa of Iran in 1993.

Saipa has been hugely successful selling the Saba sedan and Nasim hatchback, both of which are rebadged and locally assembled Kia Prides. With 63 hp under the hood, they’re not quick enough to outpace growing grass, but the power is sufficient for the basic transportation these cars provide. Drivers even get to operate their Sabas and Nasims as nature intended, with honest five-speed manual transmissions.

In 2003, after ten years of successful sales, Saipa added a new variant of its Pride-based subcompact with freshened sheetmetal and a new interior. It is called the 141, and it remains in production today alongside its platform mates.

But Saipa was apparently not content to have Saab-length model cycles. So this past May, a mere seven years after the 141 was released, Saipa unveiled the production version of what it describes as a completely new model: the Tiba (Farsi for “gazelle”). According to Saipa’s research division, it’s based on a heavy evolution of the Kia Pride platform. It gets a new engine—a 1.5-liter with about 80 hp—and fresh sheetmetal.

From Iran, the news for both Iran Khodro and Saipa is all good. State-run media reports that Iran Khodro is expecting to build 730,000 cars next year, and is on the brink of setting up manufacturing and sales facilities in Venezuela. Similarly, Saipa says business is booming and that it is planning on exporting 20 percent of the Tibas it can build to various countries like Ghana.

But what goes on behind the scenes of this highly complex government and centrally planned economy is much harder to discern. The Financial Times recently reported that sanctions are taking their toll on Iranian auto manufacturing, increasing costs by a very significant 30 percent. Saipa has $2.3 billion in debt, pocket change for a big American corporation, but a serious threat for a relatively small, vulnerable company. The other Iranian manufacturer, Iran Khodro, reportedly has $6.7 billion in debt and officials told reporters recently that it has a very real liquidity problem.

There’s no way to politely package the fact that Iran is a political pariah at present, the target of UN sanctions for its ongoing nuclear-weapons program. If we’re lucky, it’s all a smokescreen—a scheme by Iran’s auto industry to boost exports. Perhaps they’ve realized that threatening the world with nuclear weapons is the only way to make other countries grateful to have Iranian cars inflicted on them.

Flying the Flag; Faking the News

Friday 03 September 2010

(Photo: DVIDSHUB / Flickr)

Edward Bernays, the American nephew of Sigmund Freud, is said to have invented modern propaganda. During the First World War, he was one of a group of influential liberals who mounted a secret government campaign to persuade reluctant Americans to send an army to the bloodbath in Europe. In his book, “Propaganda,” published in 1928, Bernays wrote that the “intelligent manipulation of the organised habits and opinions of the masses was an important element in democratic society” and that the manipulators “constitute an invisible government which is the true ruling power in our country.” Instead of propaganda, he coined the euphemism “public relations.”

The American tobacco industry hired Bernays to convince women they should smoke in public. By associating smoking with women’s liberation, he made cigarettes “torches of freedom.” In 1954, he conjured a communist menace in Guatemala as an excuse for overthrowing the democratically-elected government, whose social reforms were threatening the United Fruit company’s monopoly of the banana trade. He called it a “liberation.”

Bernays was no rabid right winger. He was an elitist liberal who believed that “engineering public consent” was for the greater good. This was achieved by the creation of “false realities,” which then became “news events.” Here are examples of how it is done these days:

False Reality: The last US combat troops have left Iraq “as promised, on schedule,” according to President Barack Obama. TV screens have filled with cinematic images of the “last US soldiers” silhouetted against the dawn light, crossing the border into Kuwait.

Fact: They are still there. At least 50,000 troops will continue to operate from 94 bases. American air assaults are unchanged, as are special forces’ assassinations. The number of “military contractors” is currently 100,000 and rising. Most Iraqi oil is now under direct foreign control.

False Reality: BBC presenters and reporters have described the departing US troops as a “sort of victorious army” that has achieved “a remarkable change in [Iraq's] fortunes.” Their commander, Gen. David Petraeus, is a “celebrity,” “charming,” “savvy” and “remarkable.”

Fact: There is no victory of any sort. There is a catastrophic disaster; and attempts to present it as otherwise are a model of Bernays’ campaign to “rebrand” the slaughter of the first world war as “necessary” and “noble.” In 1980, Ronald Reagan, running for president, rebranded the invasion of Vietnam, in which up to three million people died, as a “noble cause,” a theme taken up enthusiastically by Hollywood. Today’s Iraq war movies have a similar purging theme: the invader as both idealist and victim.

False Reality: It is not known how many Iraqis have died. They are “countless” or maybe “in the tens of thousands.”

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Fact: As a direct consequence of the Anglo-American-led invasion, a million Iraqis have died. This figure from Opinion Research Business is based on peer-reviewed research led by Johns Hopkins University in Washington, DC, whose methods were secretly affirmed as “best practice” and “robust” by the Blair government’s chief scientific adviser, as revealed in a Freedom of Information search. This figure is rarely reported or presented to “charming” and “savvy” American generals. Neither is the dispossession of four million Iraqis, the malnourishment of most Iraqi children, the epidemic of mental illness and the poisoning of the environment.

False Reality: The British economy has a deficit of billions, which must be reduced with cuts in public services and regressive taxation, in a spirit of “we’re all in this together.”

Fact: We are not in this together. What is remarkable about this public relations triumph is that, only 18 months ago, the diametric opposite filled TV screens and front pages. Then, in a state of shock, truth was unavoidable, if briefly. The Wall Street and city of London financiers’ trough was on full view for the first time, along with the venality of once celebrated snouts. Billions in public money went to inept and crooked organizations known as banks, which were spared debt liability by their Labour government sponsors.

Within a year, record profits and personal bonuses were posted, and state and media propaganda had recovered its equilibrium. Suddenly, the “black hole” was no longer the responsibility of the banks, whose debt is to be paid by those not in any way responsible: the public. The received media wisdom of this “necessity” is now a chorus, from the BBC to the Sun. A masterstroke, Bernays would surely say.

False Reality: The former government minister Ed Miliband offers a “genuine alternative” as leader of the British Labour Party.

Fact: Miliband, like his brother David, the former foreign secretary, and almost all those standing for the Labour leadership, is immersed in the effluent of New Labour. As a New Labour member of Parliament and minister, he did not refuse to serve under Blair or speak out against Labour’s persistent warmongering. He now calls the invasion of Iraq a “profound mistake.” Calling it a mistake insults the memory and the dead. It was a crime, of which the evidence is voluminous. He has nothing new to say about the other colonial wars, none of them mistakes. Neither has he demanded basic social justice: that those who caused the recession clear up the mess and that Britain’s fabulously rich corporate minority be seriously taxed, starting with Rupert Murdoch.

Of course, the good news is that false realities often fail when the public trusts its own critical intelligence, not the media. Two classified documents recently released by WikiLeaks express the CIA’s concern that the populations of European countries, which oppose their governments’ war policies, are not succumbing to the usual propaganda spun through the media. For the rulers of the world, this is a conundrum, because their unaccountable power rests on the false reality that no popular resistance works. And it does.

One letter on a plane ticket says a lot about you | Parenting While Abroad

There are a few bits of information to pay close attention to on an airline ticket: the flight number, gate number and boarding time. Fare basis code? Not a common concern.

But the single-letter code can make a big difference in some parts of the travel experience, even though most passengers don’t pay any attention. A fare basis code further divides passengers into classes based on how much they paid and how far out they booked. There are about a dozen in coach class alone.

When you’re on the plane, there’s no difference in service between a passenger who has a “Y” or “Q” — a full-fare and a discounted ticket — if you’re both in coach. But the codes are still important: Some indicate your trip isn’t eligible for frequent-flier miles or an upgrade; others tell a ticket agent where to rank you on a standby list.

Another less serious one is this one:

Fun with Fare Basis Codes

Nothing like a little fun with fare basis codes to show my true dorkiness. A few years back, I worked in airline pricing for America West. There was something about arriving at work at 6a that made us a little loopy. We amused ourselves with things like funny airport code combos (try a flight from Fresno to Fukuoka to see what I mean) and fare basis codes that spelled things out.

Fare basis codes can be up to 8 letters and numbers in length. They are the unique identifier that is used to tie fare rules with fare amounts, and the first letter is almost always the fare class (eg F, Y, B, M, etc). Following that fare class, you get a jumble of letters and numbers identifying things like advance purchase, refundability, minimum stay, etc.

The full fares tended to have pretty simple codes since there are no restrictions to note. Southwest’s full fare, for example, is YL. America West’s full coach was Y6. But my favorite was United’s. It was YUA in coach, but in First Class, they used the FUA fare. Believe me, there were plenty of times that I chanted that to myself after seeing some of the pricing moves they made.

Sometimes, as the fare rules get more complicated, fare bases become unintentionally comical. For example, check out the US Airways fares from LAX to SYD these days.

You may have noticed #28. Yup, it’s the BLOWME fare! Fantastic. Of course, this fare is booked in B class, it’s a Low season fare, and it’s One Way. See, with that lethal combo, you already have “BLOW” up there. Not sure what the ME means, but it’s on several fares so there’s clearly a reason for it.

The reality is that US Airways probably doesn’t pay much attention to these fares. They only fly to Australia through a codeshare, so there aren’t going to be too many people buying these fares. That’s why this fare probably skated by without anyone catching it. Great stuff.

فرانک مجیدی: پیش از این در این وبلاگ، پست‌هایی با عناوین «عکس‌هایی که جهان را تکان دادند» نگاشته شده. باور دارم عکس روی جلد این هفته‌ی تایم، می‌تواند یکی از همان عکس‌ها گردد. این عکس از آن عایشه، زن خجالتی و ۱۸ ساله‌ی افغانی است. عایشه ازدواج ناموفقی در سنین کودکی داشته و توسط خانواده‌ی همسرش آزار می‌دیده، او از خانه‌ی شوهر فرار می‌کند اما دادگاه(!) طالبان رای به بریدن بینی و گوش‌های او در قبال گناه بزرگش بخاطر نجات جان بی‌ارزش زنانه‌اش می‌دهد! برادر شوهر عایشه او را محکم نگاه می‌دارد، شوهرش ابتدا گوش‌ها و سپس بینی او را می‌برد. حالا عایشه این‌طور زندگی می‌کند، این صورت کنونی زنی ۱۸ ساله است. می‌بینید، بدون آرایش هم سخت زیباست!

حادثه‌ای که بر سر عایشه آمده، مربوط به سال‌های قدرت طالبان در افغانستان نیست، این حادثه، همین سال قبل رخ داده. این به عقیده‌ی عایشه، و به درستی، بخاطر سازش دولت افغانستان با طالبانی‌هاست. عایشه در حال که صورت آسیب‌دیده‌اش را لمس می‌کرد گفت: «این کاری است که آن‌ها با من کرده‌اند. چطور می‌توانیم با آن ها صلح کنیم؟»

در ماه جون، کرزای صلحی ضمنی با طالبانی‌ها کرد، «تام مالینووسکی» ، یک دیده‌بان صلح، در این‌باره با کرزای ملاقات کرد. کرزای اما اولویت را به زنده نگاه داشتن می‌دهد تا رعایت حقوق‌ انسانی افغان‌ها. مالینووسکی اظهار کرد: «کرزای از من پرسید کدام‌یک مهم‌تر است؟ حفاظت از حقوق یک دختر برای رفتن به مدرسه، یا نجات زندگیش؟» این‌طور که به نظر می‌رسد، آقای کرزای قرار است مردم افغانستان را به قیمت بریده شدن گوش، بینی، انگشتان، دست و پا بالاخره جوری زنده نگه دارد! این مصالحه، به حق، زنان افغانی را بخاطر امنیت و زندگی‌شان نگران می‌سازد.

اما درباره‌ی این عکس، که توسط عکاس اهل آفریقای‌جنوبی، جودی بایبر، گرفته شده خبرنگار «تایم» می‌خواست ابتدا از امنیت جانی عایشه پس از چاپ این عکس مطمئن شود. عایشه دقیقاً می‌داند با چاپ این عکس، سمبل دردهای زنان افغان بخاطر آسیب‌های طالبان خواهد شد. او اکنون در مکانی سِرّی و تحت محافظت زندگی می‌کند. قرار است عایشه برای جراحی ترمیمی به آمریکا فرستاده‌شود. همچنین «تایم» بخاطر آثار ترسناک این تصویر تکان‌دهنده بر کودکان عذرخواهی کرده‌است. با این وجود، کسی چندان به کودکان افغان فکر نمی‌کند که با خطر رفتن پایشان روی مین دست به گریبانند، و احتمال دارد هم‌بازی‌هایشان را با دست و پای قطع شده ببینند، و این‌که این تصاویر چه آسیب‌های روحی مخربی بر آن‌ها وارد می‌آورد. تایم این عکس را به مثابه یکی از هزاران اسناد افشا شده در سایت ویکی‌لیکس می‌‌داند که در حضور نیروهای آمریکایی در افغانستان رخ داده‌است، چرا که این عکس، ترکیبی است از حقیقت تأثر انگیز و بینشی بر چگونگی زیستن در سرزمین افغانستان و پی‌آمد تصمیماتی است که با دروغ و پنهان‌کاری اتخاذ می‌شود.

عایشه: چهره‌ی یک زن افغان

I just feel sad people are not willing to stand up and change their way of life just a little to save millions of people’s lives that will be lost when water level of the oceans goes up even a few centimeter.

We are doomed, not because of what we did, but because of what we are not DOING right now.

Science stunner: Vast East Siberian Arctic Shelf methane stores destabilizing and venting

NSF issues world a wake-up call: “Release of even a fraction of the methane stored in the shelf could trigger abrupt climate warming.”

March 4, 2010

Methane release from the not-so-perma-frost is the most dangerous amplifying feedback in the entire carbon cycle. Research published in Friday’s journal Science finds a key “lid” on “the large sub-sea permafrost carbon reservoir” near Eastern Siberia “is clearly perforated, and sedimentary CH₄ [methane] is escaping to the atmosphere.”

Scientists learned last year that the permafrost permamelt contains a staggering “1.5 trillion tons of frozen carbon, about twice as much carbon as contained in the atmosphere,” much of which would be released as methane.  Methane is  is 25 times as potent a heat-trapping gas as CO2 over a 100 year time horizon, but 72 times as potent over 20 years!

The carbon is locked in a freezer in the part of the planet warming up the fastest (see “Tundra 4: Permafrost loss linked to Arctic sea ice loss“).  Half the land-based permafrost would vanish by mid-century on our current emissions path (see “Tundra, Part 2: The point of no return” and below).  No climate model currently incorporates the amplifying feedback from methane released by a defrosting tundra.

The new Science study, led by University of Alaska’s International Arctic Research Centre and the Russian Academy of Sciences, is “Extensive Methane Venting to the Atmosphere from Sediments of the East Siberian Arctic Shelf” (subs. req’d).  The must-read National Science Foundation press release (click here), warns “Release of even a fraction of the methane stored in the shelf could trigger abrupt climate warming.”  The NSF is normally a very staid organization.  If they are worried, everybody should be.

It is increasingly clear that if the world strays significantly above 450 ppm atmospheric concentrations of carbon dioxide for any length of time, we will find it unimaginably difficult to stop short of 800 to 1000 ppm.

Note:  As part of the Climate Science Project, I’m making this post as definitive as I can by including other recent scientific findings on the tundra.  Please add other relevant links in the comments.

The lead author, Natalia Shakhova, explains the new findings in this video:

NSF explains:

“The amount of methane currently coming out of the East Siberian Arctic Shelf is comparable to the amount coming out of the entire world’s oceans,” said Shakhova, a researcher at UAF’s International Arctic Research Center. “Subsea permafrost is losing its ability to be an impermeable cap.”

Methane is a greenhouse gas more than 30 times more potent than carbon dioxide. It is released from previously frozen soils in two ways. When the organic material (which contains carbon) stored in permafrost thaws, it begins to decompose and, under anaerobic conditions, gradually releases methane. Methane can also be stored in the seabed as methane gas or methane hydrates and then released as subsea permafrost thaws. These releases can be larger and more abrupt than those that result from decomposition.

The East Siberian Arctic Shelf is a methane-rich area that encompasses more than 2 million square kilometers of seafloor in the Arctic Ocean. It is more than three times as large as the nearby Siberian wetlands, which have been considered the primary Northern Hemisphere source of atmospheric methane. Shakhova’s research results show that the East Siberian Arctic Shelf is already a significant methane source, releasing 7 teragrams of methane yearly, which is as much as is emitted from the rest of the ocean. A teragram is equal to about 1.1 million tons.

“Our concern is that the subsea permafrost has been showing signs of destabilization already,” she said. “If it further destabilizes, the methane emissions may not be teragrams, it would be significantly larger.”

Shakhova notes that the Earth’s geological record indicates that atmospheric methane concentrations have varied between about .3 to .4 parts per million during cold periods to .6 to .7 parts per million during warm periods. Current average methane concentrations in the Arctic average about 1.85 parts per million, the highest in 400,000 years, she said. Concentrations above the East Siberian Arctic Shelf are even higher.

The East Siberian Arctic Shelf is a relative frontier in methane studies. The shelf is shallow, 50 meters (164 feet) or less in depth, which means it has been alternately submerged or terrestrial, depending on sea levels throughout Earth’s history. During the Earth’s coldest periods, it is a frozen arctic coastal plain, and does not release methane. As the Earth warms and sea level rises, it is inundated with seawater, which is 12-15 degrees warmer than the average air temperature.

“It was thought that seawater kept the East Siberian Arctic Shelf permafrost frozen,” Shakhova said. “Nobody considered this huge area.”

Last August I discussed findings by German and British scientists “that more than 250 plumes of bubbles of methane gas are rising from the seabed of the West Spitsbergen continental margin in the Arctic, in a depth range of 150 to 400 metres” (see “So many amplifying methane feedbacks, so little time to stop them all” and figure on right).

A lead researcher of that work said, “Our survey was designed to work out how much methane might be released by future ocean warming; we did not expect to discover such strong evidence that this process has already started.”

But the situation in the ESAS is far, far more dicey, as NSF explains:

The East Siberian Arctic Shelf, in addition to holding large stores of frozen methane, is more of a concern because it is so shallow. In deep water, methane gas oxidizes into carbon dioxide before it reaches the surface. In the shallows of the East Siberian Arctic Shelf, methane simply doesn’t have enough time to oxidize, which means more of it escapes into the atmosphere. That, combined with the sheer amount of methane in the region, could add a previously uncalculated variable to climate models.

“The release to the atmosphere of only one percent of the methane assumed to be stored in shallow hydrate deposits might alter the current atmospheric burden of methane up to 3 to 4 times,” Shakhova said. “The climatic consequences of this are hard to predict.”

And we also know that a key trigger for accelerated warming in the Arctic region is the loss of sea ice.

A 2008 study by leading tundra experts found “Accelerated Arctic land warming and permafrost degradation during rapid sea ice loss.” The lead author is David Lawrence of the National Center for Atmospheric Research (NCAR), whom I interviewed for my book and interviewed again via e-mail in 2008. The study’s ominous conclusion:

We find that simulated western Arctic land warming trends during rapid sea ice loss are 3.5 times greater than secular 21st century climate-change trends. The accelerated warming signal penetrates up to 1500 km inland….

In other words, a continuation of the recent trend in sea ice loss may triple Arctic warming, causing large emissions in carbon dioxide and methane from the tundra this century.

Oh, and the Arctic warming could lead to another feedback according to a 2008 Science article:  “Continuation of current trends in shrub and tree expansion could further amplify this atmospheric heating 2-7 times.”  The point is that if you convert a white landscape to a boreal forest, the surface suddenly starts collecting a lot more solar energy (see “Tundra 3: Forests and fires foster feedbacks“).

That trend is occurring now, as seen in these two photos from a recent ScienceNews article, “Boreal forests shift north.”

“Upper photo taken in 1962 shows tundra-dominated mountain slope in Siberian Urals. A 2004 photo of the same site, below, shows conifers were setting up dense stand of forest.”

Another major study warns that the warming-driven northward march of vegetation poses yet another threat to the tundra:  “Greater fire activity will likely accompany temperature-related increases in shrub-dominated tundra predicted for the 21^st century and beyond.”  The concern is not so much the direct emissions from burning tundra, but the albedo change.

And all that warming would cause massive melting of the tundra and faster emissions release. That must be avoided at all cost, since the tundra feedback, coupled with the climate-carbon-cycle feedbacks that the IPCC models, could easily take us to the unmitigated catastrophe of 1000 ppm.

The good news is that a 2009 NOAA-led study found “Near-zero CH₄ growth in the Arctic during 2008 suggests we have not yet activated strong climate feedbacks from permafrost and CH₄ hydrates” (see “Is it just too damn late?“)

The bad news is we clearly are on very thin ice.  Literally.

Lawrence revised and updated his 2005 analysis of tundra loss under different emissions scenarios (after some scientists criticized the original work) in this 2008 study, “Sensitivity of a model projection of near-surface permafrost degradation to soil column depth and representation of soil organic matter” (subs. req’d).  The updated analysis still found: “the warming is enough to drive near-surface permafrost extent sharply down by 2100.”

I had asked Lawrence if it was still reasonable to keep using this figure in my presentation, since it is so much easier to understand than the figures in his new paper.

He said, “Using the old figure is still fine as long as one mentions the caveats that permafrost is probably degrading a bit too rapidly in the original.

So I will certainly use that caveat, though, of course, I will also caveat the caveat by saying the slightly slower rate of permafrost degradation does not include Lawrence’s new analysis on the accelerated warming of the permafrost due to sea ice loss (or, for that matter, the accelerated warming of the permafrost due to faster shrub encroachment).

Note that the “B1″ scenario stabilizes CO2 concentrations in the air at 550 ppm — and the near-surface permafrost permafrost (down to 11 feet) plummets from over 4 million square miles today to 1.5 million.  If concentrations hit 850 ppm in 2100 (A2), permafrost would shrink to just 800,000 square miles.

And while these projections were done with one of the world’s most sophisticated climate system models, the calculations do not include the feedback effect of the released carbon from the permafrost. That is to say, the CO2 concentrations in the model rise only as a result of direct emissions from humans, with no extra emissions counted from soils or tundra. Thus they are conservative numbers–or overestimates–of how much CO2 concentrations have to rise to trigger irreversible melting.

In short, the would-be point of atmospheric stabilization, 550 ppm isn’t stable at all — it is past the point of no return. We must stay well below 450 ppm to save the tundra and hence the climate.  The new research underscores that conclusion, especially since the planet will keep warming (slowly) for decades even once we slash emissions to near zero.

And that means we must begin a staggering amount of clean energy deployment as soon as possible (see “How the world can (and will) stabilize at 350 to 450 ppm: The full global warming solution“).

Wake up media and politicians who are being duped by the anti-science disinformers into thinking there is any serious doubt about the catastrophe we face on our current path of unrestricted emissions!

UPDATE:  WWF’s Nick Sundt points out:

A report released by the U.S. Global Change Research Program, Abrupt Climate Change, said in December 2008 (during the Bush Administration) that warming in the Arctic could cause sea levels to rise substantially beyond scientists’ previous predictions and could result in massive releases of methane.  The report said that the “rapid release to the atmosphere of methane trapped in permafrost and on continental margins” was among “four types of abrupt change in the paleoclimatic record that stand out as being so rapid and large in their impact that if they were to recur, they would pose clear risks to society in terms of our ability to adapt.”

The NSF has a good fact sheet, “Questions and Answers on Potentially Large Methane Releases From Arctic, and Climate Change.”

UPDATE:  Since we don’t have a time series of CH4 emissions from the shelf, we can’t know for certain that these emissions levels are new or growing.  But as the study makes clear, they are unexpectedly high and the lid is perforated:

They found that more than 80 percent of the deep water and more than 50 percent of surface water had methane levels more than eight times that of normal seawater. In some areas, the saturation levels reached more than 250 times that of background levels in the summer and 1,400 times higher in the winter. They found corresponding results in the air directly above the ocean surface. Methane levels were elevated overall and the seascape was dotted with more than 100 hotspots. This, combined with winter expedition results that found methane gas trapped under and in the sea ice, showed the team that the methane was not only being dissolved in the water, it was bubbling out into the atmosphere.

These findings were further confirmed when Shakhova and her colleagues sampled methane levels at higher elevations. Methane levels throughout the Arctic are usually 8 to 10 percent higher than the global baseline. When they flew over the shelf, they found methane at levels another 5 to 10 percent higher than the already elevated Arctic levels.

So yes, there is the possibility this is a grand coincidence — but  that would not eliminate the fact that the  lid  on these vast methane stores is perforated and emissions are poised to rise  sharply as temperature rises and none of this is in any of the global climate models.  How much is  the business as usual warming now projected for the region?  Try M.I.T. doubles its 2095 warming projection to 10°F — with 866 ppm and Arctic warming of 20°F.

The nations of the world should immediately begin emergency methane monitoring across the entire permafrost region — and, of course, aggressive GHG mitigation.  The risk of abrupt climate change is simply too grave to not treat as the most serious preventable problem now facing the human race as a whole.

Related Posts:

• A methane feedback from the past strikes again
• The Garden of Eden had a 40-foot, 1-ton snake plus 90°F average temperatures

Don’t you think this would have been on the front page of all the news all day long for as long as NK came back kissing their feet?

Israeli Soldiers Sell Gaza Flotilla Passengers’ Computers and Steal Hundreds of Thousands of Dollars in Cash | CommonDreams.org

Israeli Soldiers Sell Gaza Flotilla Passengers’ Computers and Steal Hundreds of Thousands of Dollars in Cash

Israeli Government Refuses to Secure Criminal Evidence

by Ann Wright

Despite appeals from 750 passengers on the Gaza flotilla to their governments to pressure the Israeli government to protect and return their personal belongings that were taken by Israeli commandos on May 31, 2010, when they forcefully boarded the six ships of the flotilla, the Israeli government has left millions of dollars of computers, cameras and cell phones and hundreds of thousands of cash unsecured and un-inventoried.

An Israeli newspaper has revealed that four to six computers among the hundreds that were taken from passengers on the six ships have been sold by an Israeli First Lieutenant to three junior military personnel. On August 18, a second officer was arrested in connection with the theft. An Israeli military official described the case as “embarrassing and shameful.” Eitan Kabel, a member of parliament from the Labour party, told Israeli media: “This is an embarrassing, humiliating and infuriating act.”

Israeli government informed of passengers’ property by Embassies

Passengers from the six ships gave detailed lists of their property to consular officers from their respective Embassies while the passengers were in the Beer-Shiva prison on June 2. All passengers who were flown from Israel on June 4 to Turkey also gave another list of their possessions to consular officials in Istanbul, Turkey. Most passengers followed up with letters to their respective Ministries of Foreign Affairs or Department of State and to lawyers who will be filing lawsuits for deaths and injuries inflicted by the Israeli military and claims for stolen property.

Evidence of commandos’ actions on cameras, cell phones and computers should be available for independent investigation and possible criminal cases

Evidence on the flotilla passengers’ cameras, cell phones and computers should be a part of the evaluation by an independent panel to determine when and where 9 passengers on the Mavi Marmara were killed and when and where 50 other passengers were wounded. With the exception of two camera cards that survived endless body inspections on the ships, in the initial processing center at Ashdod port and in the prison, all the photos and video footage taken by 750 passengers is in the possession of the Israeli government.

Hundreds of Thousands of Dollars of Cash Taken by Commandos

Israeli commandos also took cash and credit cards from passengers. A conservative estimate of $1000 cash per passenger gives a total of $750,000 cash that was taken from passengers. Commandos with weapons demanded cash from passengers stating they were “to take the money for safekeeping.” Many passengers had been fundraising in their home areas to have funds to deliver to non-governmental organizations. Other passengers were taking money to families in Gaza from family members living outside of Gaza. I personally know of four persons on the passenger ships who had a total $68,000 in cash taken by commandos.

Israeli military can find out who took the equipment and money–if they want to

The Israeli military is certainly capable of finding out who took the money and equipment if they wish. The Israeli military knows exactly which military unit boarded each of the six ships, the names of each of the commandos that were on each ship and the leaders of each unit. Passengers do not know the names of the commandos as their uniforms were stripped of nametags, rank and unit insignia and they kept black masks on throughout the hours they were on the ships.

The Israeli military can order the leaders of each unit to testify if they know if any member of their unit took money or equipment and whether they have noticed if any unit member has suddenly had a change in his lifestyle that might be attributed to having stolen money or sold equipment from the passengers.

As a retired U.S. Army Colonel with 29 years in the military, I know that the barracks gossip in the military unit involved will provide some information about the stolen property and money. Checking the pawnshops near the military bases is a good bet as they are likely places that stolen goods will appear. New cars, cell phones, electronic equipment that is above the “pay-grade” of a military members is a dead give-away that the person has somehow come into new money and is living beyond his means.

U.S. military court-martials in 1984 for theft by U.S. military during Grenada invasion

I speak from experience about military personnel taking the possessions of others. In 1984, 13 soldiers from the 82^nd Airborne Division of Fort Bragg, North Carolina were court-martialed and found guilty of stealing property of civilians in Grenada when the U.S. military invaded and occupied that country. I was on the U.S. military claims commission and received the complaints from Grenadians that after U.S. military personnel had occupied their houses, jewelry, money and various items were missing.

We immediately asked the criminal investigative office at Fort Bragg to go to the pawn shops around Fort Bragg to look for the items, and they found most of the them at the shops. The soldiers considered that the property of the Grenadians were “spoils of war.” One young private even wrote an article for the Fayetteville, North Carolina newspaper in which he proudly described in detail what he had taken as “spoils of war.” He was court-martialed and sentenced to several months in prison.

In the same manner, I suspect that the commandos decided that since their government was labeling everyone on the flotilla as “terrorists,” that no one in the government would care if they took “spoils of war,” the possessions of the “terrorists.”

Leadership and Accountablility in the Israeli military?

I have no doubts that members of the commando units know exactly who took what and where the money and equipment is. It takes good military leadership to understand the breakdown in unit integrity and want to correct it.

We will see by the actions of the Israeli military and government what type of leadership and accountability they have.

Ann Wright is a retired US Army Reserve Colonel with 29 years of service and 16 years as a US diplomat who resigned in March, 2003 in opposition to the Iraq war. She was in Gaza three times in 2009, helped organize the 1350 person Gaza Freedom March in December, 2009 and was on the Gaza flotilla.

Tea Party Primer On D.C.: Dangerous, Scary And Full Of Arabs

Evan McMorris-Santoro |

A tea party in Washington D.C.

seekers migrants irregular asylum flash_media_player swftools kominis unaccompanied http://www.abdolian.com/thoughts/?p=3986 Greece must stop treating migrants as criminals | Amnesty International

Greece must stop treating migrants as criminals

The fate awaiting asylum-seekers and irregular migrants in Greece

© UNHCR

Of 30,000 asylum applications in 2009, only 36 were given refugee protection status

© Nikolas Kominis - Studio Kominis

Unaccompanied children are often held with adults, which is illegal under international law

© UNHCR/L. Boldrini

Those detained told Amnesty International of instances of ill-treatment by police

© Amnesty International

27 July 2010

The Greek authorities should immediately review their policy of locking up   irregular migrants and asylum-seekers, including many unaccompanied children , Amnesty International said in a new report today.

Greece: Irregular migrants and asylum-seekers routinely detained in substandard conditions, documents their treatment, many of whom are held in poor conditions in borderguard stations and immigration detention centres with no or limited access to legal, social and medical aid.

“Asylum-seekers and irregular migrants are not criminals. Yet, the Greek authorities treat them as such disregarding their rights under international law. Currently, migrants are detained as a matter of course, without regard whether such measure is necessary. Detention of asylum-seekers and migrants on the grounds of their irregular status should always be a measure of last resort,” said Nicola Duckworth, Europe and Central Asia Programme Director.

Detention prior to deportation can last for up to six months in Greece for asylum-seekers and irregular migrants .   Greek law also makes irregular entry into and exit out of the country a criminal offence.

Tens of thousands of   irregular migrants and asylum-seekers arrive in Greece each year. The vast majority of asylum-seekers and individuals fleeing war-torn countries reach the country through the Greek-Turkish land and sea borders. They are mostly Afghan, Somali, Palestinian, Iraqi and Eritrean.

“After an often hazardous journey, migrants end up in detention centres without access to a lawyer, interpreters or social workers. As a result, their circumstances are not assessed correctly and many in need of international protection may be sent back to the places they have fled, while others may be deprived of appropriate care and support,” Nicola Duckworth said.

Irregular migrants and asylum-seekers are not informed about the length of their detention or about their future. They can be kept for long periods of time in overcrowded facilities with unaccompanied minors being detained among the adults. Those detained have limited access to medical assistance and hygiene products.

Few asylum-seekers are recognized as refugees by the Greek authorities. From the over 30,000 asylum applications examined in 2009, only 36 were granted refugee protection status while 128 were granted subsidiary protection status.

In the vast majority of detention facilities visited by Amnesty International delegates, conditions ranged from inadequate to very poor. Those detained told Amnesty International of instances of ill-treatment by coastguards and police.
Length and poor conditions of detention provoked irregular migrants and asylum-seekers to stage protests in Venna, north-east Greece in February 2010. Likewise, in April 2010, irregular migrants went on hunger strike on the island of Samos to protest their length of detention.

“Detention cannot be used as a tool to control migration. The onus is on the authorities to demonstrate in each individual case that such detention is necessary and proportionate to the objective to be achieved and that alternatives will not be effective,” Nicola Duckworth said.

Amnesty International believes the plans being developed by the Greek authorities to establish screening centres, should include alternative approaches, such as those running open or semi-open centres for those arriving in the country.

The authorities need to ensure that irregular migrants and asylum-seekers arriving at those centres   have access to free legal assistance and interpreters in languages they understand, and medical assistance.

Greece: Irregular migrants and asylum-seekers routinely detained in substandard conditions

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Index Number: EUR 25/002/2010
Date Published: 27 July 2010
Categories: Greece
The Greek authorities should undertake a comprehensive overhaul of the legislative framework, policies and practices regarding the detention of irregular migrants and asylum-seekers, including in particular the treatment of unaccompanied children. These are the key conclusions in this report which shows that currently, immigration related detention in Greece is used without regard to its necessity or proportionality, and not as a measure of last resort.

]]> http://www.abdolian.com/thoughts/?feed=rss2&p=3986 http://www.abdolian.com/thoughts/?p=3986 http://feedproxy.google.com/~r/abdolian/~3/ZN-el5eMm8Y/ http://www.abdolian.com/thoughts/?p=3984#comments Sat, 21 Aug 2010 20:05:05 +0000 Farhad Abdolian wikileaks assange assange http://www.abdolian.com/thoughts/?p=3984 Why WikiLeaks Must Be Protected | CommonDreams.org

Why WikiLeaks Must Be Protected

The case of the Afghanistan war logs and the hounding of Julian Assange prove that there’s never been greater need to speak truth to power than today.

by John Pilger

On 26 July, WikiLeaks released thousands of secret US military files on the war in Afghanistan. Cover-ups, a secret assassination unit and the killing of civilians are documented. In file after file, the brutalities echo the colonial past. From Malaya and Vietnam to Bloody Sunday and Basra, little has changed. The difference is that today there is an extraordinary way of knowing how faraway societies are routinely ravaged in our name. WikiLeaks has acquired records of six years of civilian killing in both Afghanistan and Iraq, of which those published in the Guardian are a fraction.

There is understandably hysteria on high, with demands that the WikiLeaks founder, Julian Assange, be “hunted down” and “rendered”. In Washington, I interviewed a senior official in the defence department and asked: “Can you give a guarantee that the editors of WikiLeaks and the editor-in-chief, who is not American, will not be subjected to the kind of manhunt that we read about in the media?” He replied: “It’s not my position to give guarantees on anything.”

He referred me to the “ongoing criminal investigation” of a US soldier, Bradley Manning, an alleged whistleblower. In a nation that claims its constitution protects truth-tellers, the Obama administration is pursuing and prosecuting more whistleblowers than any of its modern predecessors. A Pentagon document states bluntly that US intelligence intends to “fatally marginalize” WikiLeaks. The preferred tactic is smear, with corporate journalists ever ready to play their part.

The Pentagon line

On 31 July, the American celebrity reporter Christiane Amanpour interviewed the US Secretary of Defense, Robert Gates, on the ABC network. She invited him to describe to her viewers his “anger” at WikiLeaks. She echoed the Pentagon line that “this leak has blood on its hands”, cueing Gates to find WikiLeaks “guilty” of “moral culpability”. Such hypocrisy coming from a regime drenched in the blood of the people of Afghanistan and Iraq - as its own files make clear - is apparently not for journalistic inquiry. This is hardly surprising now that a new and fearless form of public accountability, which WikiLeaks represents, threatens not only the warmakers but also their apologists.

Their current propaganda is that WikiLeaks is “irresponsible”. Earlier this year, before it released the cockpit video of a US Apache gunship killing 19 civilians in Iraq, including journalists and children, WikiLeaks sent people to Baghdad to find the victims’ families in order to prepare them. Before the release of last month’s Afghanistan war logs, WikiLeaks wrote to the White House asking that it identify Afghan names that might draw reprisals. There was no reply. More than 15,000 files were withheld and these, Assange says, will not be released until they have been scrutinized “line by line” so that the names of those at risk can be deleted.

The pressure on Assange himself seems unrelenting. In his homeland, Australia, the shadow foreign minister, Julie Bishop, has said that if her right-wing coalition wins the general election on 21 August, “appropriate action” will be taken “if an Australian citizen has deliberately undertaken an activity that could put at risk the lives of Australian forces in Afghanistan or undermine our operations in any way”. The Australian role in Afghanistan, which is in effect mercenary to Washington, has produced two striking results: the massacre of five children at a village in Uruzgan Province and the overwhelming disapproval of the majority of Australians.

Last May, following the release of the Apache footage, Assange had his passport temporarily confiscated when he returned home. The Labor government in Canberra denies it has received requests from Washington to detain him and spy on the WikiLeaks network. The Cameron government also denies this. They would, wouldn’t they? Assange, who came to London last month to work on exposing the war logs, has now had to leave the country hastily for, as he puts it, “safer climes”.

A duty to publish

On 16 August, the Guardian, citing Daniel Ellsberg, described the great Israeli whistleblower Mordechai Vanunu as “the pre-eminent hero of the nuclear age”. Vanunu, who alerted the world to Israel’s secret nuclear weapons, was kidnapped by the Israelis and incarcerated for 18 years after he was left unprotected by the Sunday Times, which had published the documents he supplied. In 1983, another heroic whistleblower, Sarah Tisdall, a Foreign Office clerical officer, sent documents to the Guardian disclosing how the Thatcher government planned to spin the arrival of US cruise missiles in Britain. The Guardian complied with a court order to hand over the documents, and Tisdall went to prison.

The WikiLeaks revelations shame the dominant section of journalism, devoted merely to taking down what cynical and malign power tells it. This is state stenography, not journalism. Look on the WikiLeaks site and read a Ministry of Defense document that describes the “threat” of real journalism. And so it should be a threat. Having skilfully published the WikiLeaks exposé of a fraudulent war, the Guardian should now give its most powerful and unreserved editorial support to the protection of Assange and his colleagues, whose truth-telling is as important as any in my lifetime.

I like Julian Assange’s dust-dry wit. When I asked him if it was more difficult to publish information in Britain, with its draconian secrecy laws, he replied: “We haven’t found a problem. When we look at Official Secrets Act labeled documents, we see that they state it is an offense to retain the information and an offense to destroy the information. So the only possible outcome is to publish the information.”

]]> http://www.abdolian.com/thoughts/?feed=rss2&p=3984 http://www.abdolian.com/thoughts/?p=3984 http://feedproxy.google.com/~r/abdolian/~3/f74UhJHgb5Q/ http://www.abdolian.com/thoughts/?p=3983#comments Sat, 21 Aug 2010 20:03:24 +0000 Farhad Abdolian loading bushehr ghasemi salehi reactor fuel plant begins http://www.abdolian.com/thoughts/?p=3983 Iran Begins Loading Fuel at its Bushehr Nuclear Reactor | CommonDreams.org

Iran Begins Loading Fuel at its Bushehr Nuclear Reactor

Nationwide celebrations as Russian engineers oversee the arrival of an initial fuel shipment at Iran’s first nuclear power plant

by David Batty

The operation to load fuel into Iran’s first nuclear power station has begun amid nationwide celebration.

The control room at the Bushehr nuclear power plant, where Iran has begun loading fuel under Russian supervision Photograph: Mehdi Ghasemi/AP

Russian engineers will operate the Bushehr plant in southern Iran, supplying its nuclear fuel and taking away the nuclear waste.

At the inauguration of the plant today, the head of the Iran’s atomic energy organisation, Ali Akbar Salehi, said it demonstrated that the country’s nuclear aims were entirely peaceful - an assertion that the US questions.

Describing the plant as a symbol of Iranian resistance, Salehi added: “Despite all pressure, sanctions and hardships imposed by western nations, we are now witnessing the start-up of the largest symbol of Iran’s peaceful nuclear activities.”

The first truckload of fuel was taken today from a storage site to a fuel pool inside the reactor building under the watch of monitors from the UN’s International Atomic Energy Agency. Over the next two weeks, 163 fuel assemblies, equal to 80 tonnes of uranium fuel, will be moved inside the building and then into the reactor core.

It will be another two months before the 1,000-megawatt, light water reactor begins supplying electricity to Iranian cities.

Russia, which helped finish building the plant, has pledged to safeguard the site and prevent spent nuclear fuel from being used to make nuclear weapons. Moscow believes the Bushehr project is essential in persuading Iran to cooperate with international efforts to ensure it does not develop nuclear arms.

Washington disagrees, arguing that Iran should not be rewarded while it continues to defy UN demands to halt the enrichment of uranium, a process used to produce fuel for power plants but which can also be used in weapons production.

The Bushehr plant poses little proliferation risk since Russia is supplying the enriched uranium for the reactor and will take away spent fuel that could be used to make weapons-grade plutonium.

President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad said yesterday that Iran would stop enriching uranium to a high grade if it was assured of the supplies it needed for a research reactor.

]]> http://www.abdolian.com/thoughts/?feed=rss2&p=3983 http://www.abdolian.com/thoughts/?p=3983 http://feedproxy.google.com/~r/abdolian/~3/mx88mwL-agQ/ http://www.abdolian.com/thoughts/?p=3981#comments Fri, 20 Aug 2010 11:37:14 +0000 Farhad Abdolian ybeozp6igom npl youtube rockets filming challenge cool rally http://www.abdolian.com/thoughts/?p=3981 This is really nice, the filming of the rocket is rally bad, but it is a cool science project activity for kids.
YouTube - NPL Water Rockets Challenge 2010

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