Media in Tehran // PressTV and George Galloway

Because we don't speak Farsi/Persian and we were in a hotel (read: no satellite) we only had two English options for news. One of those options was Iranian run PressTV. I was super impressed by the speaking skills and level of consciousness that one particular newsman offered (though I watched him for probably less than 2 hours total). I'd never heard of him, but George Galloway is apparently quite famous. A member of British parliament who had many call-in fans from around the Middle East (check out his Facebook fan page to get an idea of his fanbase) as it turns out, he was also involved in the UN Oil-for-Food scandal (YouTube testimony below) and US pundits have their own opinion about him.


(This wasn't a clip I saw, but the date it was uploaded is closest to when we were in Tehran.)

(hit permalink just below for more videos)

Believe it or not, it did totally surprise me to find out that some politicians in the US House of Representatives wanted to brand PressTV a 'Specially Designated Global Terrorist' (SDGT) organizations (House resolution 1308). It seems pretty out of line, considering what I was seeing. PressTV even has a story about it here.




(This is what I found when I got back to New York and googled this guy.)




....click here for full article/permalink.


Zionism // Part... oh, jez, again?

It's official. I've decided that one can't discuss the 'Islamic Republic of Iran'... that is, Modern Iran, without giving equal attention to Israel. Iran, a Muslim country, was a collective response to the founding of Israel... a Jewish country.

This article came across my desktop today, and it was hard to ignore.

This post makes a great companion piece to this one I did a couple days ago.

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The Roots of Christian Zionism Part I, The Cause of the Conflict
Charles E. Carlson Dec 08, 2008

America’s war based economy depends on Christians’ support
Christian Zionists, by whatever name, are the primary public enablers of serial wars upon Islamic states. Why? Because they have been conditioned to think of Islam as an anathema to them, much as many of us were trained to consider communists our ideological enemies a generation ago. Most Christian celebrity media leaders have allowed themselves to be used as propagandists against Islamic states with independent governments, including Iraq, Palestine, Afghanistan, Somalia, Bosnia, and in the future, Islamic states of Iran and Sudan. Our purpose is to examine why and how this has been done, why it is wrong and what can be done to correct it.


The Christian Right’s world war on Islam was observed as early as 1983, and became official in 1991 with the first destruction on Iraq. Only Christian Zionists (known by many names) believe war is an inevitable part of their religion, so they do little to resist it. Due to this un-Christ like error, they have become the primary cause of our conflict, a conflict that has become perpetual.

Christian Zionists, by whatever name, are the only remaining faction of any size that supports the war in Iraq. Therefore, they are largely responsible for the economic and social disaster, and due to the distortion of their own faith, they are the seeds of their own destruction. We find them among our friends, families and associates. This is a problem because we can not just turn our back on Christian Zionists, despise them, and call them fools; they are among our best friends, bosses, even our wife or children, so we need to learn to deal with them. In their formidable numbers we find them our best hope for the positive change from the warmaking state.

Endless wars always have, and always will result in the destruction of both the morality and the currency of the aggressor and are historically destructive to religious freedom. High priced gasoline and food can be accurately laid at the feet of those few industrialists and politicians who see war in their own interest. They deceive Christian Zionists, making them enablers, believing that war is necessary to their faith. Judeo-Christians can be easily swayed to support conflict, so long as a Muslim is on the receiving end of our bombs and bullets, and so long as the state of Israel is perceived to benefit from it.

I am in no way excusing cowardly Congressmen for knuckling under to the war lobby. We know some few gain a lot financially from war, and work for it. But these professional Warmakers are far too mercenary to believe that a God controls their eternal destiny. I also do not dismiss the influence of Jewish Zionists, who consider war in the Middle East in their national interest. But for every Jewish Zionist in America there are ten or twenty Christian Zionists doing the work of the former.

It is my belief, as a follower of Jesus Christ, that Christians who turn from Jesus’ words, “Blessed are the peacemakers, and love your brother…even your enemies, as you love yourself”…these “Christians” deserve the hottest places in hell, as Dante put it. For if those who claim they follow Christ fail to stand for justice and protection of the innocent, who will?

Change can only come from understanding the Roots of Christian Zionism. To this end it is urgent that all Americans of all religions understand why Christian Zionists believe what they do. Those who try to follow Christ need to rescue decent souls to more orthodox Christianity, one by one.

Most Christian Zionists don’t know they are Zionists and might deny it. They usually describe themselves as Evangelicals, Dispensationalists, pre-Millennialists, or a “Born Again Christian.” Very few are comfortable with the radical elements of Christian Zionism if they stop to think about it, but they do not. Their church is to most, a comfortable social outlet, especially for their families, and a society that they desire. Their societal links are much better defined than the theological ones which most do not understand and can not recite.

Restoring the walk to Jesus’ Way can save America.

If Christian Zionism can be correctly exposed as a warring religion, America may be restored to peace, justice, and at least to some of the prosperity which we have lost. Many of us are all beginning to suffer economic distress as a result of the very wars Christian Zionists have supported, supposedly because these wars please God and are necessary for Jesus’ return to earth.

At the apex of the Christian Zionist sect (which is only 100 years old) are leaders who include media personalities such as John Hagee, Rod Parsley, Pat Robertson and the late Jerry Falwell, Benny Hinn, Joyce Meyer, and hundreds more. Each has openly expressed the view that war upon Islamic states is necessary and welcome. Currently, most of these call for America’s next planned serial war against Iran. Sudan is also on the war agenda.

Dispensational bible students can be found in almost any church of any denomination because of the effectiveness of radio churches and giant international bible studies in homes and churches that transcends denominational descriptions. For instance, some Roman Catholics, Episcopalians and Lutherans are Christian Zionists because of their outside Bible studies and are ignoring the contradictions to orthodox Christianity espoused by their own church. In this sense, Christian Zionism is a disease or a parasite upon orthodox or traditional Christianity.

The sixty-four dollar question is how do you identify a Christian Zionist, and how do you know if you are one? We have developed a 10 word litmus test that is non-invasive and usually welcome, so you can ask any churchgoer without hurting his feelings or starting an argument: "Do you believe the state of Israel is the fulfillment of biblical prophesy?"

Tens of millions of Americans need to face this question, for if they believe Israel is the fulfillment of biblical prophesies, then where does Jesus fit in? Simply stated, either Jesus or Israel is the fulfillment of the prophecies of the Old Testament, but there is not room in Christianity for both. If you have been taught that political Israel is in any way involved in your spiritual life, you are infected!

Orthodox or traditional Christians have always believed that Jesus, not Israel is the correct answer. Only Christian Zionism (by definition) assumes that political Israel is in God’s plan for the future, and that in spite of its intolerance, racism, and constant wars, political Israel is the chosen people of God.

Today about one-third of the 210 million American adults who identity themselves in polls and census as Christians, are influenced by Christian Zionism. That is about 70 million, most of whom vote, making Christian Zionists the most powerful and coveted voting block in the world, as can be clearly seen during an election year, translating into some 26 million votes! This means they are much coveted by every political candidate.

The most obvious example was John McCain’s reckless pursuit of Christian Right support that had led him to gross embarrassment at the pulpit of both maniacal Zionists, John Hagee and Rod Parsley, both of whom call for nuclear destruction of Iran.

The teachings of Jesus Christ inescapably demand peace and love of one’s neighbors. This has been America’s one badge of righteousness. In the mid-19th Century, America’s churches led the cry for peace in a world where wars were all too common. It was later, at the turn of the 20th Century that Christian Zionism first took root.

The French author Alexis deTocqueville wrote of churches while he traveled here in the first third of the 19th Century. He sang the praises of America’s invulnerable strength and spirit which he attributed to our citizens sense of morality, and even to the abundant church attendance he observed in America, which of course he would not find in his native France.

DeTocqueville wrote: “America is great because she is good, and if America ever ceases to be good, she will cease to be great.” He could not know that the churches he saw as the source of conscience were under a moral attack aimed at the very sense of justice he observed within them.

War seeds immorality
The first attack on the churches came with the War Between the States in 1861-65, which scarred the sense of justice and morality and diminished and divided churches as only a brutal war can. The terrible slaughter called the War Between the States taught moral Christian men about mass killing. But it did not change their New Testament Bible; it simply allowed men to ignore it.

The most powerful theological attack on Christianity came from Oxford University Press in England, which in 1908 published a false and intentionally misleading reference Bible called the Scofield Reference Bible aimed at creating a new religion, with the future state of Israel a semi-God in it. The term “dispensationalism” was taken from Scofield’s book, and is an assault on orthodox Christianity. Oxford did not just publish the book; it promoted it into the key places of study in America where opinion could be molded to cloud the peacemaking tradition of Christianity.

Most pastors and teachers were unaware of any danger. A few foresaw the consequences of the heresy that to most seemed foolish, outlandish, and embarrassing. Few guessed it would come to dominate American Christianity when in 1948 the State of Israel came into existence.

This new religion that chose the friendly pseudonym “evangelicalism” is the topic of our discussion. Religion scholars on both sides often identified it as “Dispensationalism” or “Pre-millennialism,” and “Judeo-Christianity” which are popular synonyms. We will presently explain some of these changes in detail, but first I want to show you how world-Zionism sold its stepchild to Christians.

The World Zionist movement was in full charge toward occupying Arab Palestine by 1913. It was given a huge financial and promotional boost through Oxford University Press in England, which to the amazement of Biblical scholars published a new bible of Christian Zionism in 1908 called the Scofield Reference Bible. This book would be used as the launching pad for a methodical and spiritually deceptive growth of the new sect. Its leading was to be subtly used to help lure America into two unnecessary world wars.

Not all mainline Christians were asleep.

One of the few who saw the warmaking and heretical danger of the new sect, and actually called it “Zionism” was a well-known attorney, Phillip Mauro, turned scholar, who wrote a brilliant critique of the new cult in his 1927 book, Gospel of the Kingdom. Mauro wrote:

“Through a recent occurrence I was made aware of the extent- far greater than I had imagined – to which the modern system of dispensationalism has found acceptance amongst orthodox Christians; and also the extent- correspondingly great- to which the recently published “Scofield Bible” (which is the main vehicle of the new system of doctrine referred to) has usurped the place of authority that belongs to God’s Bible alone.”

Mauro went on:
“Let it be understood at the outset that my controversy is solely with the doctrine itself and not at all with those who hold and teach it, or any of them. Indeed I was myself of their number for so long a time that I can but feel a tender consideration and a profound sympathy likewise, for all such.”

Phillip Mauro has been an encouragement to your writer, and to all those who support We Hold These Truths. He was a dedicated scholar with an engineer’s logic, and a lawyer’s tenacity that allowed him to foresee errors in 1927, that many like myself took five decades to recognize.

This writer must admit and echo Mauro’s confession; for I, too, was “of their number” and like Mauro, I share “profound sympathy” for those caught up in dispensationalism. As his words suggest, we are not fighting Christian Zionists; we are trying to reclaim them.

Dr. F. Furman Kearley was another who saw the path to war in the errors of dispensationalism. He was head of graduate studies at Adeline Christian University in 1983 when he wrote of Christian Zionism’s evil fruit of perpetual war in the Middle East. His short book, The Middle East Crisis in Biblical Perspective, takes sharp issue with those he calls Israel First Millennialists. He names radical prophet Hal Lindsay, and the late Jerry Falwell, whom he said would lead us into endless war with Islamic states.

Kearley noted: “When the concept of Armageddon, as in Revelation 16:16 is raised, those who believe in a literal war at Armageddon often feel that Christians should work to start this war, and should vigorously participate in it. Those in particular who view this present situation as Armageddon…believe that Christians should support Israel with vigor and urge our government to take an active part in the conflict in the Middle East.”

Kearley saw Christian Zionist’s support of Israel’s brutal occupation of Palestine as a precursor to more war in the Middle East. He concludes:
“One needs to be absolutely certain that the doctrine he follows is God’s and not of men before he advocates a doctrine that would put the blood of other men on our hands.”

Dr. F. Furman Kearley explains the neo-Christians’ love affair with war as a religious fixation, correctly stating: “Christians must (as a matter faith) pray for peace in the Middle East. Premillenialists must pray and work for World War III, so Armageddon will come. They cannot pray for peace.”

If a follower of Christian Zionism would only examine the simple teaching of Jesus in the New Testament he will find not a single passage or phrase that would give a follower of Christ cause to take the life of another man, or another man’s child. Certainly we must not kill a man’s wife in a far away country. No such permission exists.-End Part I


In Part II: We examine the bitter fruit of Christian Zionist's error...how followers of Christ were detoured to accept a false and anti-Jesus doctrine of Christian Zionism that leads to the death of millions in the name of Christianity.

The Roots of Christian Zionism DVD (this is the beginning of the audio part) is a documented and sometimes dramatic one hour movie written by Chuck Carlson and edited by Tom Compton. It can be purchased from We Hold These Truths website Bookstore, and is ideal to be shown to concerned audiences of all faiths. http://eshop.cp.whtt.org/eshop.php?id=22 


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Huffington Post, the sponsor of this video, is banned in Iran.

Rapture Ready: The Unauthorized Christians United for Israel Tour from huffpost on Vimeo.

Read the full article here.

From the video @ 4:45 "The one who forces Israel into a peace treaty with the Arabs is the one who is.. you've got to watch out for." The interviewers says "is the Beast" and they agree.

And @ 6:24 “Another reason that we support Israel is that we have a common enemy, the Muslims. We are fighting what is behind the Muslim people, which is Satan. Satan is actually the one who is trying to destroy the human race.” 


....click here for full article/permalink.


Mainstreamedia // CNN

From CNN:
Israeli Web site advises using wisdom of Quran

Quranet is here. 


....click here for full article/permalink.


Israel/US article by Robert Weitzel

The US relationship with Israel is fundamental in understanding the US relationship with Iran.



The foundations of modern Iran (1979) were built upon self-identification- Muslims standing up for Muslims, an opponent to recently established Jewish Israel (1948) and its lifeline, the United States of America. The rallying cry of Khomeini was in support of Arab Muslims, Palestinians, who were, in his words: "...oppressed by the Israelites".

Israel’s Settlement on Capital Hill
by Robert Weitzel

Soon after the sand settled following the Six Day War in 1967, Jewish settlements began dotting the hills in the occupied territories. These settlements are typically located on the high ground to better control the surrounding landscape. Today there are 127 Jewish settlements with a population exceeding 468,000 in the West Bank, the Golan Heights and in the suburbs of East Jerusalem—the last of nearly 8,000 settlers were removed from the Gaza Strip in 2005.


According to a recent Amnesty International report, “In the first six months of 2008 Israel has expanded settlements in the West Bank/East Jerusalem at a faster rate than in the previous seven years.”

Unbeknownst to most Americans, Israel’s westernmost settlement is not located in Palestine-Israel, but is 6000 miles away on the high ground overlooking Foggy Bottom in Washington D.C.

This Capital Hill settlement of pro-Israel lobbies and think tanks strategically controls the high ground overlooking the United States’ Middle East policy landscape by having made kibbutzniks of most members of the executive and legislative branches of the government—including President-elect Obama, Vice President-elect Biden (a wannabe Zionist), and future Secretary of State Hillary Clinton and Chief of Staff Rahm Emanuel (a born Zionist).

While Israel’s hilltop settlements in the occupied territories—violating over 30 UN Security Council resolutions since 1968—are “facts on the ground” that make the two state peace solution unlikely, their hilltop settlement in the center of the world’s only superpower makes it equally unlikely that Israel’s right-wing government will feel compelled to end their “self defensive” brutalization of the Palestinian people, which has been condemned by the international community (UN, EU) as crimes against humanity.

John Holmes, UN Undersecretary General for Humanitarian Affairs, said that Israel’s blockade of vital supplies to the Gaza Strip in retaliation for rocket attacks “amounts to collective punishment and is contrary to international humanitarian law.”

Collective punishment is forbidden by Article 33 of the Fourth Geneva Convention, which states, “No protected person may be punished for an offense he or she has not personally committed.” A “protected person” is someone who is under the control of an “Occupying Power of which they are not nationals.” Only the most ideologically blinkered individual would fail to recognize the Gaza Strip as occupied territory.

Israel’s current blockade of Gaza, which began on November 4, is resulting in what the UN Relief and Works Agency is calling a humanitarian catastrophe. Before the blockade, 1000 truckloads of food, fuel and essential supplies per day were necessary to sustain the 1.5 million Palestinians imprisoned behind the concrete and barbed wire of the 25-mile long border. Eighty percent of Gazans live on two dollars a day and depend on international aid to survive. Since the border crossings were sealed, less than 100 truckloads have been permitted through.

The imprisoned Palestinians—50 percent of whom are younger than 15—are slowly starving. They lack the fuel to generate electricity for lighting, water purification, and sewage treatment. The erratic, intermittent electrical power puts the lives of patients in intensive care wards and those who are connected to live-sustaining equipment in grave peril. The lack of basic medicines such as antibiotics and insulin pose an equally fatal threat.

Twenty human rights organizations and all Israeli and international journalists have been barred from entering the Gaza Strip since the blockade began. A letter of protest signed by most major news organizations was sent to Prime Minister Olmert. Israeli Defense Ministry spokesman Shlomo Dror responded to the letter by saying that Israel was afraid journalists would inflate the Palestinians’ suffering. No one is allow to speak out on behalf of this beleaguered population.

President-elect Obama has been speaking out “swiftly and boldly” about the economic catastrophe threatening our 401Ks, but his silence regarding the unfolding humanitarian catastrophe threatening the lives of Palestinians is both deafening and telling of the price he’s willing to pay to maintain his status as kibbutznik-in-good-standing in Israel’s westernmost hilltop settlement.

Obama’s unconditional support for Israel’s policy of “self defense,” preemptive attacks, and repressive occupations is not one iota different from that of George W. Bush, an internationally recognized war criminal. This is not an encouraging beginning for a man whose battle cry was “change we can believe in.”

By any rational, humanitarian standard, Israel’s treatment of the Palestinians amounts to collective punishment and crimes against humanity. Perpetrators of such crimes, whether they are individuals or governments or willing allies, are criminals who should one day sit in the dock of the International Court of Justice in The Hague—just as defendants sat in a Nuremberg court 60 years ago—and be held accountable for their crimes.

Until Israel’s hilltop settlement in our nation’s capital is dismantled, allowing for the possibility of a just and lasting peace in Palestine-Israel, its influence on both branches of our government and its insidious affect on US Middle East policy will continue to make willing—or unwitting—kibbutzniks of all Americans. We will be held as complicit, and as culpable, as the citizens of the country whose leaders sat in the dock at Nuremberg.

The world will ask, “Why didn’t you do something to stop it?” The majority of us will reply, “We didn’t know!”

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People and the Land:



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Team Obama // Security

If you're keeping up with the news, Obama has selected his National Security team...

From Jerusalem Post Editorial:

"The appointments sent a message that was, by and large, reassuring. Clinton is a trusted "brand" in Israel. Gates and Jones are pragmatists who must know that allowing Iran to go nuclear would be debacle of colossal proportions. Moreover, Jones knows first-hand the distance between Tel Aviv and the West Bank. And Rice understands the importance of Israel as a Jewish state. Her UN role will position her as a central player in stopping Iran." 


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Bri gets a letter about her view on policy

> I know that you feel as though the media distorts/filters the news as
> they see fit in regards to Iran, however my question persists; what
> do you think about President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad's continued call for
> the destruction of Israel? Clearly he is not a loving person in this
> stark regard. Are your hopes to raise awareness within the general
> population of Iran (and abroad) that the decrees this man gives are
> setting a dangerous example in the Middle East, and that the founding
> that Iran gives to terrorist organizations such as Hezbollah and
> Hamas need to end in order for any chance of peace to endure?
>
> Thank you for any information regarding these questions.
>
> Stephen
>


Hey there Stephen!

Very interesting inquiry.

Just the same as I don't publicly delve too deep into the political misgivings of the United States and Israel, I tend to not promote or defend President Ahmadinejad's. But alas, you have asked a very specific question.

Mr. Ahmadinejad is not alone in his opinion of Israel. He represents the voice of many fellow humans... and on every level, I think its important to give everyone their soapbox. Like a 2 year old or a disease, if you ignore it-- it just gets louder (or in the case of far too many, deadlier).

If we were to go beyond the soundbites and poor translations, we'd find that Ahmadinejad often makes a special point to distinguish between Jews and Zionists. And his call for Israel to be 'wiped off the map' (which translates closer from Persian as: must [vanish from] the page of time) is, to some, just a way of declaring that the Jewish state of Israel does not have the right to exist.

Israel was founded because of violence and with violence and continues to be, to this day, violent. Organizations such as Hezbollah and Hamas were most likely born in response to this Western colonization, and there certainly is no global consensus on who is doing the terrorizing. To some the end of Hezbollah and Hamas would be the catalyst towards Peace, and to others the end of Israel would be the catalyst towards Peace.

While I've got my thinking cap on, I'd also like to acknowledge the remarkably close relationship between the United States and Israel. According to the American-Israeli Cooperative enterprise, Israel receives over $7.7 million/per day from the US-- the largest percentage of US foreign aid (primarily for its military, and including a nuclear arsenal that Israel doesn't have to account for). As a world superpower, the United States has clearly drawn its line in the sand as far as its unbridled support for Israel.

If that's the 'Us' what becomes of the 'Them'? Seems like the same story that has played out over and over again: weapon stockpiles, economic manipulation and empty threats... fear in the hearts of young and old.
Boring I say. All Boring.

So, no, I am not going to "raise the awareness in Iran that Ahmadinejad sets a dangerous example in the Middle East" because I'm not doing that in regards to the United States or Israel either. What I am going to do is promote 'Unconditional Love', without trying to point fingers or figure out who is to blame.

So there you have it.
I'm not sure its what you were looking for,
but its what it is.

xo
bri 


....click here for full article/permalink.


National Post | Leader says Iran would retaliate if attacked

From the National Post:

Leader says Iran would retaliate if attacked

By Fredrik Dahl

TEHRAN (Reuters) - Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei warned on Wednesday Iran would hit back if attacked over its nuclear program, which the United States believes is aimed at making atom bombs.

Khamenei, who has previously threatened U.S. regional interests if attacked, was addressing a big crowd of pilgrims at Iran's holiest shrine in the northeastern city of Mashhad to mark the Iranian new year, which falls on March 21.

"If they want to threaten us and use force and violence against us, they should not doubt that Iranian officials will use all they have in their power to deal a blow to those who assault them," he said in the speech aired on television.

The U.N. Security Council is this week considering new sanctions against Iran over its refusal to suspend its uranium enrichment program, whose product can be used to make fuel for power generation or, when more highly enriched, nuclear weapons.

But Khamenei's speech, and a defiant New Year address by President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad earlier on Wednesday, showed no intention by Iran of bowing to foreign pressure.

The world's fourth-largest oil exporter insists the program is peaceful and aimed only at generating electricity.

Khamenei said Iran's nuclear work followed international rules, but if major powers via the Security Council took "illegal actions" and ignored Iran's rights, "we can also carry out illegal actions and we will do that."

Washington has said it would prefer a diplomatic solution to the stand-off, but has not ruled out military options, though Britain's Foreign Secretary Margaret Beckett said world powers were not preparing for a strike against Tehran.

"No one is preparing for military action," she told reporters in the United Arab Emirates capital Abu Dhabi after talks with officials of the Gulf Arab ally.

"The purpose of sanctions, the purpose of pushing further pressure on Iran is to get them to negotiations," Beckett said. "We all very much hope that they will."

The UAE and fellow U.S.-allied Gulf Arab neighbors of Iran have expressed concern over its nuclear program and raised fears of a regional nuclear race they announced plans to acquire nuclear energy capability in December.

Khamenei said Iran is ready to sign a joint defense treaty with Gulf countries, state television said, without elaborating.

PSYCHOLOGY

In his address earlier on Wednesday, Ahmadinejad accused some big powers of waging psychological warfare against Iran.

"By psychological warfare, propaganda and misuse of the organizations they have themselves created ... they are trying to prevent our nation's development," Ahmadinejad said.

He has previously accused the United States and Britain of using the Security Council as a tool against Iran.

The proposed U.N. resolution would embargo Iranian arms exports and freeze financial assets abroad of 28 individuals, groups and companies.

It is a follow-up to a previous resolution adopted by the Council in December and was expected to be voted on this week after Germany and permanent council members Britain, China, France, Russia and the United States agreed on the text.

But South Africa, the council's current chair, has called for all the main proposed sanctions to be dropped. The council could probably adopt the measure without South African backing, but the major powers had wanted it passed unanimously.

Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov said amendments proposed by South Africa and Indonesia deserved "attentive consideration."

He also said Russia, which has commercial and political ties to Tehran, would not back "excessive sanctions" against Iran.

Russian officials say they share Western concerns about a nuclear-armed Iran but argue a policy of constructive engagement can prevent this more effectively than one that corners Tehran.

Earlier this week Russia denied a newspaper report that it had threatened to halt work on building Iran's Bushehr nuclear power station unless Tehran stopped uranium enrichment.

At U.N. headquarters in New York, negotiators said Qatar had also submitted amendments to the draft, but that they and those proposed by Indonesia were general and could be accommodated.

"More challenging for the permanent five is the South African amendments, much more challenging," China's deputy U.N. ambassador Liu Zhenmin told reporters.

He said negotiators were aiming at a vote this week "but it seems that this week is not possible."

(Additional reporting by Christian Lowe in Moscow, Stanley Cavalho in Abu Dhabi, Louis Charbonneau in Berlin and Evelyn Leopold at U.N. headquarters) 


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AIPAC | U.S. relationship with Israel

This week, American Israel Public Affairs Committee (AIPAC), self-described "America's Pro-Israel Lobby", had it's annual policy conference in Washington D.C.

From the Washington Post:

The groups fact sheet announced that this is the "largest ever" conference, with its 5,000 participants attending "the largest annual seated dinner in Washington" joined by "more members of Congress than almost any other event, except for a joint session of Congress or a State of the Union address." The group added that its membership "has nearly doubled" over four years to 100,000 and that the National Journal calls it "one of the top four most effective lobbying organizations."

Informal administration foreign policy adviser Richard N. Perle provoked cheers from the crowd when he favored a military raid on Iran, saying that "if Iran is on the verge of a nuclear weapon, I think we will have no choice but to take decisive action." When Rep. Jane Harman (D-Calif.) said the "best short-term option" is the U.N. Security Council, the crowd reacted with boos.

According to the Christian Science Monitor, the event was attended by half the Senate and a third of the House of Representatives.

Vice President Dick Cheney Spoke

From the Jewish Journal:

"Friends owe it to friends to be as candid as possible," he said. "My friends, it is simply not consistent for anyone to demand aggressive action against the menace that is posed by the Iranian regime while at the same time acquiescing in a retreat from Iraq that would leave Israel's best friend, the United States, dangerously weakened." and later: [From The Jewish Daily Forward] “Israel has never had a better friend in the White House than George Bush.”

He outlined his view of the "war on terror" by arguing that "the only option for our security and survival is to go on the offensive, facing the threat directly, patiently and systematically until the enemy is destroyed." [From Zawya]


Congressman Lieberman Spoke

From the Jewish Journal:

"There is something profoundly wrong when, in the face of attacks by radical Islam, we think we can find safety and stability by pulling back, by talking to and accommodating our enemies, and abandoning our friends and allies," Lieberman said to a group that he likes to call "family."

His remarks were closed to the press, but Lieberman's office distributed the remarks Tuesday, and within minutes they were forwarded to Jewish leaders by the White House liaison to the Jewish community with a note labeling them as "important."

According to the aforementioned Washington Post article, the event included "a fleet of police cars, sirens wailing, blocked intersections and formed a motorcade to escort buses". And also dissenting voices as protesters gathered outside according to Media Monitors Network: From Mark Braverman: “As an American Jew, I’m here to protest AIPAC’s control of Congress. It is a very self-destructive course for America to be supporting Israel unconditionally.” To Rabbi Yisroel Dovid Weiss of the Neturei Karta International, “Jews United Against Zionism.” He said: “AIPAC stands for a rebellion against God...What they are doing is against the Torah...AIPAC should be stopped...And the state of Israel should be...peacefully dismantled.”


Israel receives the largest percentage of US foreign aid (primarily for its military). Over $7.7 million/per day according to this chart by The American-Israeli Cooperative Enterprise. 


....click here for full article/permalink.