…from beneath the crooked bough, witness 230 years of brutal tyranny by the al Khalifas come to an end

Internal Obama administration estimates say sabotage program slowed Iran’s progress toward developing the ability to build nuclear weapons by 18 months to 2 years

Obama order sped up wave of cyberattacks against Iran
By DAVID E. SANGER – 1 June, 2012- NYT

WASHINGTON — From his first months in office, President Obama secretly ordered increasingly sophisticated attacks on the computer systems that run Iran’s main nuclear enrichment facilities, significantly expanding America’s first sustained use of cyberweapons, according to participants in the program.

Mr. Obama decided to accelerate the attacks — begun in the Bush administration and code-named Olympic Games — even after an element of the program accidentally became public in the summer of 2010 because of a programming error that allowed it to escape Iran’s Natanz plant and sent it around the world on the Internet. Computer security experts who began studying the worm, which had been developed by the United States and Israel, gave it a name: Stuxnet.

At a tense meeting in the White House Situation Room within days of the worm’s “escape,” Mr. Obama, Vice President Joseph R. Biden Jr. and the director of the Central Intelligence Agency at the time, Leon E. Panetta, considered whether America’s most ambitious attempt to slow the progress of Iran’s nuclear efforts had been fatally compromised.

“Should we shut this thing down?” Mr. Obama asked, according to members of the president’s national security team who were in the room.

Was Flame virus written by cyberwarriors or gamers?

Told it was unclear how much the Iranians knew about the code, and offered evidence that it was still causing havoc, Mr. Obama decided that the cyberattacks should proceed. In the following weeks, the Natanz plant was hit by a newer version of the computer worm, and then another after that. The last of that series of attacks, a few weeks after Stuxnet was detected around the world, temporarily took out nearly 1,000 of the 5,000 centrifuges Iran had spinning at the time to purify uranium.

This account of the American and Israeli effort to undermine the Iranian nuclear program is based on interviews over the past 18 months with current and former American, European and Israeli officials involved in the program, as well as a range of outside experts. None would allow their names to be used because the effort remains highly classified, and parts of it continue to this day. …more

IT official: 30 countries ask Iran for help to combat ‘Flame’
2 June, 2012 – Shia Post

Iran says 30 countries have asked it for help in fighting Flame, a computer programme designed to steal data. Australia, the Netherlands, India and Malaysia are among the countries that have contacted Iran’s Maher Centre to ask for the anti-virus programme that detects and destroys Flame.

The Maher Centre (Maher means ‘expert’ in Persian) is part of the Information Technology Company (ITC).

The ITC discovered Flame over a month ago and has been working on an anti-virus programme since then said Esmail Radkani the organisation’s deputy director.

“Detecting and writing a programme to wipe out Flame was especially complex,” said Mr. Radkani.

Flame is the third programme to have targeted Iran for the purpose of gathering information, or attacking a specific system.

In 2010, Iran’s industrial and nuclear computer systems were attacked by the Stuxnet worm. The worm was a malware designed to infect computers using Siemens Supervisory Control and Data Acquisition (SCADA), a control system favoured by industries that manage water supplies, oil rigs and power plants.

Stuxnet was followed by Duqu, a virus designed to gather data for future cyber-attacks. Iran announced the discovery of Duqu in November 2011.

Flame seems to have been created with the express purpose of gathering information. Experts believe it could have been running for as long as five years before it was discovered. …more

US democracy aid went to favored groups in Egypt
3 June, 2012 – By BRETT J. BLACKLEDGE and DESMOND BUTLER — Associated Press

WASHINGTON — Two months before Egyptian police stormed the offices of U.S.-backed democracy organizations last year, seven Egyptian employees resigned from one of the American groups to protest what they called undemocratic practices.

They complained that the U.S. group, described as nonpartisan, had excluded the country’s most popular Islamist political organization from its programs, collected sensitive religious information about Egyptians when conducting polls to send to Washington, and ordered employees to erase all computer files and turn over all records for shipment abroad months before the raids.

“Our resignation is a result of many different practices we have been witnessing that seem suspicious and unprofessional,” the Egyptian employees wrote in their Oct. 17 resignation letter.

This wasn’t the democracy that Dawlat Soulam, one of those who quit, said she had hoped to deliver to Egypt when she went to work for the International Republican Institute.

Soulam, a New York City-born Egyptian with dual citizenship, and the others said they were troubled by work being done under the programs run by Sam LaHood, the son of U.S. Transportation Secretary Ray LaHood.

“Are we doing something we want to hide from the Egyptians?” Soulam, in a telephone interview from Cairo, said she asked her bosses. “Are you playing a political agenda and you don’t want to show that you want to take sides?”

IRI officials deny doing anything improper and dismiss the former employees as disgruntled. But the workers’ small revolt, unknown to most, was significant because it reflected a growing sense in Egypt that U.S.-backed democracy programs were less about helping Egyptians and more about serving American interests.

Interviews and documents obtained by The Associated Press show that the workers’ protest and the broader government crackdown with the raids helped expose what U.S. officials do not want to admit publicly: The U.S. government spent tens of millions of dollars financing and training liberal groups in Egypt, the backbone of the Egyptian uprising. This was done to build opposition to Islamic and pro-military parties in power, all in the name of developing democracy and all while U.S. diplomats were assuring Egyptian leaders that Washington was not taking sides.
…more

Contrary to prosecutors’ claims, the former executives now say the king’s visit to Moyock “was not a Blackwater marketing effort, but was instead a CIA-organized and CIA-sanctioned diplomatic event attended by dozens of U.S. Government officials with the aim not of increasing Blackwater’s potential profits, but instead of furthering relations between the two countries.”

The royal visit arose out of a personal relationship between the king and Blackwater founder Erik Prince and was organized with the assistance of other government agencies including the State Department and the Secret Service, they say.

5 ex-Blackwater execs cite CIA in Jordan gun gifts
The Associated Press – 2 June, 2012

RALEIGH, N.C. (AP) — Five former executives of the private security firm once called Blackwater are defending themselves against federal firearms charges by saying the CIA asked them to provide guns as gifts to the king of Jordan.

Federal prosecutors in 2010 accused former Blackwater Worldwide president Gary Jackson and four past colleagues of various federal firearms violations. A group of charges related to five guns given to King Abdullah II of Jordan. Prosecutors said the guns were part of a bid for Blackwater to land a lucrative overseas contract, but allege that records tracking the guns were later falsified to claim the weapons were sold to individuals.

Defense attorneys filed declarations from two retired CIA officials who say they are familiar with gifts presented during the king’s 2005 visit to Blackwater’s Moyok, N.C., headquarters. John Macguire, who described himself as a CIA officer for 23 years ending in 2005, and Charles Seidel, who said he was CIA station chief in the Jordanian capital of Amman in 2005, said they would be willing to testify about their knowledge of government involvement if the spy agency allows it.

“I have information related to the transfer of firearms to the King of Jordan described in numerous counts of the indictment and how the U.S. government’s authorization for the transfer of those weapons took place,” Maguire said in a statement filed in federal court in Raleigh, where the case is pending.

A CIA spokesman declined to comment Saturday.

“The CIA does not, as a rule, comment on matters pending before U.S. courts,” agency spokesman Preston Golson said in an email.

On Friday, the former Blackwater executives asked the judge in the firearms case to dismiss the charges related to the gun gift and others in the indictment.

The filings were first reported by the Virginian-Pilot of Norfolk, Va. (story HERE).

A group of investors bought Blackwater in December 2010 from founder Erik Prince. It is now called Academi.

Prince, a former Navy SEAL, opened Blackwater in 1997 in North Carolina, a half-hour drive south of the world’s largest naval base, in Norfolk, Va. He built it into a contractor that provided training and protection for government workers in war zones around the globe. But Blackwater guards were involved in a series of high-profile shootings, the most notorious being the 2007 shootings in Nisoor Square in Baghdad that left 17 Iraqis dead.

Academi’s owners said in January that the company settled the last lawsuit brought by survivors and estates of Iraqis killed during the Nisoor Square shooting.

Arlington, Va.-based Academi also announced in January that it had settled a lawsuit brought by families of former Blackwater security guards who were killed and mutilated during a mission in Fallujah, Iraq, in 2004. Two of the guards’ bodies were photographed hanging from a Fallujah bridge, producing one of the most disturbing images of the Iraq war. …source

King calls for integrated strategies to fight terror
2 June , 2012 – Saudi Gazette report

JEDDAH — King Abdullah, Custodian of the Two Holy Mosques, has called for formulating comprehensive and integrated strategies to fight terrorism.

In a speech delivered on his behalf by Prince Saud Al-Faisal, Foreign Minister, at the 2nd meeting of the Advisory Board of the UN Counter-Terrorism Center here Sunday, the King said that combating terrorism was a common international responsibility requiring the highest degree of coordination and cooperation.

King Abdullah said that the adoption of the UN Counter-Terrorism strategy in 2006 by the General Assembly was an evidence that combating terror required strengthening of cooperation and coordination, which is embodied in the establishment of the UN Counter-Terrorism Center, the initiative adopted by the International Conference on Combating Terrorism held in Riyadh in 2005, which became a reality with the establishment of the UNCTC.

The Kingdom contributed $10 million for the establishment of the center. It is, however, not a substitute for international institutions involved in combating terrorism, but is supportive in coordinating these efforts.

The Kingdom has at various forums condemned and denounced terrorism in all its forms and manifestations, and whoever might be its perpetrators, and has announced its full readiness to join international efforts to combat it, the King said.

Addressing the gathering, UN Secretary General Ban Ki-moon appreciated the commitment and generosity of King Abdullah, “whose support was important in making the United Nations Counter-Terrorism Center a reality.”

He said that the center, which has attracted considerable interest, is important as terrorism continues to affect all regions around the world and claim lives.

He said that the United Nations strategy to address global terrorism, adopted by all member states, is the cornerstone of a global collective response. Ban Ki-moon stated that choking financial support to terrorism was also an important area and called for building a culture of dialogue and creating awareness. …more

Israel fitting nuclear arms on German subs
June 04, 2012 – Agence France Presse

Iran signatory non-proliferation treaty enriches uranium provokes war response, Israel non-signatory arms submarines with nuclear weapons

BERLIN: Israel is arming submarines supplied and largely financed by Germany with nuclear-tipped cruise missiles, influential German news weekly Der Spiegel reports in its issue to be published Monday.

The magazine said in a cover story likely to touch off a debate in Germany that Berlin had denied any knowledge that German submarines were being used as part of an Israeli atomic arsenal.

Israel is the Middle East’s sole if undeclared nuclear-armed power.

However, former high-ranking officials of the German Defense Ministry told the magazine that the government always assumed that Israel was putting nuclear warheads on the Dolphin-class vessels.

The article, based on a monthslong probe, cited files from the Foreign Ministry in Berlin indicating that the West German state was aware of the practice as early as 1961.

Germany has already supplied Israel with three of the submarines in question, footing most of the bill, and another three are to be delivered by 2017 under a recently signed contract.

Israel is weighing whether to order three more, according to the report.

“The Germans can be proud to have ensured the existence of the state of Israel for several years to come,” Israeli Defense Minister Ehud Barak was quoted by Der Spiegel as saying.

The report said that Germany hoped to see Israeli concessions on settlements and approval for the completion of a sewage treatment plant in the Gaza Strip in exchange for the assistance.

Israel sees its existence under threat if its arch-foe Iran goes nuclear. Like the United States, it has refused to rule out bombing Iranian nuclear sites.

Germany, bearing the historical guilt of the Holocaust, is Israel’s closest ally in Europe.

But it has sharply criticized Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s pro-settlement policies in the West Bank and East Jerusalem as undermining peace efforts with the Palestinians.

Tensions between Germany and Israel flared in April when Nobel prize-winning German author Gunter Grass published an inflammatory poem in which he warned that a nuclear-armed Israel “could wipe out the Iranian people [with a] first strike.”
…more

Palestinians threaten to relaunch prisoner hunger strike
3 June, 2012 – Agence France Presse

RAMALLAH: Palestinian prisoners in Israel are threatening to relaunch a hunger strike, a Palestinian official said on Sunday, blaming Israel for reneging on a deal that ended a recent one.

“There are still provocations in the prisons, and the prisoners are threatening to resume the strike if the situation remains as it is,” Palestinian prisoners minister Issa Qaraqaa said at a press conference in Ramallah.

Some 1,550 Palestinians imprisoned in Israel ended a hunger strike on May 14 in exchange for a package of measures which would allow visits from relatives in Gaza, and the transfer of detainees out of solitary confinement.

Israel also said it would not extend administrative detention orders, unless new evidence emerged.

In return, prisoner leaders committed to not engage in militant activity inside jail and to refrain from future hunger strikes.

Administrative detention is a procedure that allows suspects to be held without charge for renewable periods of up to six months.

But Qaraqaa said Israel was not keeping its end of the deal.

“Israel has begun to violate the deal it signed with the prisoners, and within ten days after announcing the end of the strike, Israel renewed administrative detention orders for approximately 30 prisoners,” Qaraqaa charged.

“Israel wants to punish the prisoners for striking with these renewed orders,” he said.

Qaraqaa also said he doubted Israel would allow the Gaza visits it had committed to.

“So far, we don’t know if Israel will even allow families of prisoners from Gaza to visit their imprisoned relatives,” he said.

An Israeli defence official who wished to remain unnamed rejected Qaraqaa’s claims.

“As of the end of last week, three administrative detention orders were renewed,” the official told AFP.

Regarding the visits from Gaza, the official said that Israel was indeed working toward enabling visits, but it was a process that “would take some time” as it “involves many different bodies.”

Qaraqaa also addressed the issue of two prisoners, Mahmud Sarsak and Akram Rikhawi, who have been on extended hunger strikes.

He said they “were on the verge of a coma and have a low heart rate.”

Sarsak, who comes from Gaza and is demanding to be recognised as a prisoner of war, began refusing food on March 23, and went 53 days without eating before a short break on May 14 when the deal was signed.

He restarted his strike a day later.

Rikhawi is demanding that the prison authority hand over his medical file prior to him appearing before a prison release committee to expedite his release.

Israel Prison Service spokeswoman Sivan Weizman said that the two were under medical supervision in the infirmary in Ramle prison near Tel Aviv, and if the need arose, would be transferred to a civilian hospital for further care.
…more

Bahrain to seek closure of Shia opposition party

* Amal Party accused of violations of constitution and laws

* Party spokesman says govt pressuring them to accept national dialogue

DUBAI: Bahrain said on Sunday it would take legal measures to close down a Shia opposition party that has played a prominent role in protests against its Sunni monarchy.

Bahrain’s Justice Ministry said it would ask the courts to ban the Islamic Action Society, also referred to as Amal Party, for “major violations” of Bahrain’s constitution and laws, the state BNA news agency reported. It gave no details.

Amal spokesman Hisham Sabbagh said he believed the ministry was trying to put pressure on the party to accept a national dialogue with the government aimed at ending the political crisis which grew out of protests that erupted 16 months ago. He said the violations referred to party meetings in unlicensed premises in 2006 and 2008.

Bahrain’s biggest Shia opposition party, Wefaq, and other legal opposition groups have accepted the dialogue in principle, after saying a previous round was skewed towards pro-government factions and did not take their demands seriously.

Protesters led by the Shia majority took to the streets in February last year demanding an elected government, reduced powers for the ruling al Khalifa family, and an end to sectarian discrimination they say they face. A few Shia groups wanted to remove the monarchy.

Bahrain denies any policy of sectarian rule, and described the protests as an attempt by Iran to destabilise the country, which hosts the US Fifth Fleet, by manipulating its co-religionists.

Bahrain called in troops from fellow Sunni-led monarchies Saudi Arabia and the United Arab Emirates to crush the protests, and sentenced some of the organisers to life terms for trying to overthrow the state. ...source

This is how the son of the king tortured us; Parweez narrated the story from inside the prison
2 June, 2012 – Bahrain Mirror

(A bolt from the blue)

Bahrain Mirror (Exclusive): Mohammed Hassan Mohammed Jawad, nicknamed “Parweez” means the savior; whereby he is identified only by his nickname. He was described as a rebel and stubborn against the tyrannical regime. He is a human rights activist and not a politician. Since his childhood, features of his physical force emerged as well as courage in defending the oppressed wherever they were. A German journalist who lived the bloody dawn of Thursday 17th of February 2011 – when the police supported by the army attacked the peaceful protesters at the Pearl Roundabout – said that he saw “Guevara” in the eyes of that man, a sixtieth who saved people tirelessly.

December 1994 … Sitra as a block of fire

Events in the nineties were at zenith, initiatives for a political solution were retreated by the State which had made the situation even worse. Parweez was at home at that time warming his body after catching a cold, when he heard a skirmish between rebel youth and the police outside, he jumped from his place and rushed to open the door of the house. He participated in preventing troops from storming the neighborhood, lit tyres on fire to block the street, and then drove his car. After a few hours, Sitra (third biggest city in Bahrain) had turned into a block of fire. Parweez returned to the house waiting for his arrest. He was arrested at dawn and for 9 months nothing was known about him, a house arrest was imposed on his family for 4 months and 10 days. Parweez was released after a year.

Contempting Fleifel

In the nineties, he participated in a march at (Ras Rumman) area to support the Palestinian cause. He received an order from Public Prosecution on the next day, he went in the morning and returned home late, his eyes were red and his soles were swollen and he was unable to move them. He needed to put them in a basin full of cold water for three weeks. When he was asked about what had happened, he said “they took me to the CID building, Fleifel (a well known security officer) asked why are you looking at me in disdain?! I replied because you are a despicable. Fleifel shuddered and ordered to raise my feet up and beat them from 11am until 5pm. After that I was thrown outside the building, I have no choice but to lie down in the street, my brother who was accidentally passing by, glanced me there and drove me home.

If not stopped, we will arrest him!

In December 2011, the older brother of Parweez warned him saying “Parweez, stop talking about the regime, the Minister of Interior called me personally and said that last night (the night of the eighth of Muharam 1432) at the Manama consolation you blasphemed and infringed on the King in your speech, the minister thus confirmed that if you don’t stop, they will arrest you tonight”. Parweez quietly replied: “all right.”
…more

Nabell Rajab, the president of the Bahrain Center for Human Rights, was released on bail after being held for nearly a month. “We always thought that America and Bahrain’s good relations would benefit our fight for freedom and democracy in our region, but it has turned out to be opposite,” he says. “They are supporting a dictator here, the oppressive regime… We have to suffer for being a rich region.”

Alkhawaja, who was jailed in April after protesting the detention of her father, Abdulhadi, vows: “We are going to carry on protesting … It doesn’t matter if we get arrested five, six, 10 times, it’s not going to stop. In the end, we have sacrificed a lot for democracy and freedom.”

Bahrain: New martyr as leaders boycott political trials
Bahrain Freedom Movement -1 June, 2012

A young Bahraini youth has been martyred after being hit by police vehicle a few weeks ago. Mohammad Rahdi Mahfoodh, 25, died as a result especially with the lack of care he had received at a hospital run by the military.

The martyr who is from Saar Town, received horrible injuries but the police did not notify his family until the following day. No details have yet emerged about the period he had remained at the scene before being taken to hospital. His funeral, attended by many people, was attacked viciously by the mercenary forces employed by the Al Khalifa.

Hassan Salman, father of fifteen year old Mohammed, has stated that his son was raped by police forces during his abduction and torture. The family from Jum’a have been left devastated by the ordeal that Mohammed described to them during his arrest. The government-employed torturers repeatedly raped him and threatened that if he did not sign a confession to the crimes that had been attributed to him, they would capture him again and torture him this time until death. The fifteen year old therefore submitted to the accusations made towards him in front of the prosecution out of immense fear for his life. Mohammed’s parents have confirmed the rape of their son who has been suffering severe pain and bleeding since his arrest by security forces.

The leaders of the revolution were taken to a “civilian” court one year after a “military” court sentenced them to life imprisonment for calling for change of regime and government. The thirteen men (out of 21 considered to be the leadership of the revolution) had been mercilessly treated after their arrest and during their earlier trial. On Tuesday 21st May the first session was held at the court which was presided by an Alkhalifa culprit who acted as the judge and the enemy of the accused. At that session Mr Abdul Wahab Hussain and Abdul Hadi Al Khawaja took turn to speak, presenting an accurate account of the horrific treatment they had been subjected to during their incarceration at the Alkhalifa dungeons. Their testimonies would dwarf the crimes attributed to Charles Taylor, the former President of Sierra Leone who has recently been sentenced to 50 years jail at the International Criminal Court. At the second session on Tuesday 28th May, the “civilian court” was addressed by Mr Hassan Mushaima and Dr Abdul Jalil Al Singace who also presented damning account of their ordeal. As soon as they completed their testimonies, they left the court and vowed not to return. They would rather be sentenced in absentia as the verdicts and sentences are a political decision by the dictator and his clique, supported by the United States.

The release of Nabeel Rajab and Zainab Al Khawaja from their incarceration at Alkhalifa dungeons marked one of the biggest blows to the pride of the ruling clique who have been condemned worldwide for arresting the four most senior human rights activist in the country. Both had challenged the torturers while in prison, urged the people outside to continue their peaceful protests and refused to abide by the rules of the torturers. They fought a war of wills; achieving victory against the Alkhalifa torturers.

Meanwhile Abdul Hadi Al Khawaja has ended his hunger strike after succeeding in drawing the attention of the world to the plight of Bahraini political prisoners and forcing the U-turn on the military trials conducted by the regime last year. …more

Bahrain puts doctors on trial
Joshua Colangelo-Bryan – 1 June, 2012 – Global Post

Hassan Mushaima, another opposition leader given a life term, had advocated “marches, demonstrations and civil disobedience” to call for the “establishment of a democratic republic,” according to the verdict. The court sentenced Ali Abduleman, a prominent blogger, to five years in prison (in absentia) even though its verdict did not cite a single piece of evidence against him.

The special military courts also convicted 20 doctors and medical personnel of transparently political offenses, such as joining in “slogans and chants” that expressed “hatred and contempt for the governing regime.” Nada Dhaif, an oral surgeon, was sentenced to 15 years because she participated in a sit-in, took part in an International Women’s Day march, and assisted with a medical tent that treated protesters. Deya Ja’far, a nurse, was convicted in part because she allegedly stepped on a photograph of Bahrain’s prime minister. And the court convicted Fatima Haji, a rheumatologist, for allegedly asking Manchester United’s manager to observe a moment’s silence before a match.

Last June, after intense international criticism of the government’s general crackdown on protesters, the king appointed the Bahrain Independent Commission of Inquiry, consisting of five international human rights experts. On Nov. 23, the commission issued a 489-page report, which concluded that authorities had committed systematic human rights violations. The commission also called for judicial review of military court verdicts, which, the commissioners explained, meant that the government should free those convicted for peacefully exercising internationally recognized rights. …more

Commentary: Among the ridiculous crimes in the US ally: doctors jailed for chanting slogans, a nurse convicted for stepping on the prime minister’s photo.

In Bahrain, life in prison just for protesting
Joshua Colangelo-Bryan – 31 May, 2012 – Global Post

NEW YORK — “Of course we have free speech in Bahrain,” the official told me. “But you cannot ask to change the government — that’s a crime.” While it was striking to hear a government representative speak so candidly, it wasn’t exactly news.

Having extensively researched criminal trials in Bahrain, the island nation off Saudi Arabia’s coast, I knew this perverse understanding of “free speech” has been the basis for hundreds of prosecutions against peaceful protesters and activists, often leading to lengthy prison sentences.

On May 16, authorities initiated the latest such prosecution, opening the trial of Nabeel Rajab, a prominent human rights defender, on charges of “offending an official body.” The relevant offense, according to the government, was caused when Rajab criticized authorities via Twitter for not prosecuting attacks by armed groups against civilians.

Such charges, which once would have perhaps seemed satirical, are by now just commonplace. Indeed, over a year ago, amid massive pro-democracy demonstrations, Bahrain’s king established special military courts, called National Safety Courts. These courts convicted hundreds of people for engaging in peaceful protest and assembly activities that are protected by international law and Bahrain’s constitution — or would be if courts actually applied the constitution.

For example, in a high-profile case against 21 activists and opposition figures, the military court sentenced eight defendants to life terms, 10 others to 15-year terms, and three to shorter terms. What manner of conduct led to these severe punishments?

According to the verdict, Abdulhadi al-Khawaja, a human rights advocate and protest leader, had “advocated the overthrow of the regime” by protesting in favor of a republic, as well as “a willingness to sacrifice, disobedience, a general strike, and marches.” Prosecuters also charged that he had “insulted the army” and “impugned the integrity of the judiciary.” …source

Just How Many Cyberattacks Will Iran Take Sitting Down?
By Russ Wellen – 1 June, 2012 – FPIP

At the New York Times, Thomas Erdbrink reported on the latest cyberattack on Iran via a virus known Flame. “Iran’s Computer Emergency Response Team Coordination Centre,” he writes, “fears that it’s potentially more harmful than the 2010 Stuxnet virus. … In contrast … the newly identified virus is designed not to do damage but to secretly collect information from a wide variety of sources.”

At Asia Times Online, Pierre Klochendler elaborates:

“Flame can easily be described as one of the most complex threats ever discovered. Big and incredibly sophisticated, it redefines the notion of cyber-war and cyber-espionage,” Alexander Gostev posted on the Securelist blog of Kaspersky Labs, the company that uncovered the worm. Gostev is head of the firm’s Global Research and Analysis Team.

Meanwhile, reports Erdbrink, an Iranian cyber defense official said, “‘Its encryption has a special pattern which you only see coming from Israel,’ … While Israel never comments officially on such matters, its involvement was hinted at by a top official there.”

It’s curious that Iran hasn’t obviously retaliated to the cyberattacks, killings of nuclear scientists, and sabotage of imported nuclear components, much of which seems to have been perpetrated by Israel. Klochendler reports on one possible reason.

“Iran’s brush with Duqu and disastrous encounter with Stuxnet prove that the Islamic Republic is, indeed, lacking in the field of cyber-security,” [Assaf Turner, chief executive officer of the Israeli-based Maya Security company] asserted on the Israeli news site YNet.

But, at NPR, Tom Gjelten reports.

“[The Iranians] have all the resources and the capabilities necessary to be a major player in terms of cyberwarfare,” says Jeffrey Carr, an expert on cyberconflict who has consulted for the U.S. Department of Defense.

Furthermore, writes Gjelten:

Sanctions imposed on Iran by the U.S. and its allies are so severe as to constitute a form of economic warfare. … Under the circumstances, could the Iranians be tempted to consider a cyberattack on the U.S.?

“There is a great deal of worry in terms of what they may be able to do if they’re pushed to the brink,” says cybersecurity researcher Dmitri Alperovitch. “If they believe the regime is threatened, if they believe they’re about to be attacked, [they may consider] how can they employ cyberweapons, either to deter that attack or to retaliate in a way they can’t do militarily.”

How long can Iran be expected to sit back and take it? It’s ironic that it’s suffering the sanctions and attack at a time when it not only seems to have halted terrorist operations on foreign soil — but has no nuclear-weapons program. ….source