Iran breaking free from its imperial chains, U.S. author says
by Kourosh Ziabari – 7 September, 2012 – Tehran Times

Iran is breaking free from its imperial chains given its vast reservoir of history and knowledge from which to draw on in getting back on its feet, said Dr. Colin S. Cavell during a recent interview with the Tehran Times.

Colin S. Cavell is a member of the American Political Science Association (APSA) and the Massachusetts Community College Council (MCCC). His writings have appeared on Press TV and Global Research, among other publications.

Following is the text of the interview:

Q: What’s your viewpoint on the U.S. media’s portrayal of Iran and its people? I think as a result of the biased and lopsided coverage, many U.S. citizens are unaware of Iran’s rich culture, civilization and its people’s cosmopolitan lifestyle. What’s your view?

A: Iran has a long rich history dating back to ancient Greece and Rome, and its culture predates the rise of Islam in the seventh century. Reclaiming its dignity and patrimony in the 1979 revolution, it is logical that Iran would be the first country in the Middle East to break free from its imperial chains given its vast reservoir of history and knowledge from which to draw on in getting back on its feet.

The extent and richness of Persian culture intimidates the monarchs across the Persian Gulf, as their regimes are relatively new creations forged by or with the assistance of imperialist powers only within the last 200 years or less. And Iran’s greatest asset today, and what most threatens its Western enemies, is the democratic aspects of its government, aspects which are imbued with an ethos which is anathema to the autocratic and hereditary Arab despots which are trying to fend off the rising democratic aspirations of its own peoples. To the extent Iran continues to develop as the champion of democracy in the Persian Gulf region, it will become invincible and a beacon to be emulated throughout the region.

Q: What’s your prediction for the upcoming presidential elections in the U.S.? Will President Obama successfully convince the American voters that he is a suitable choice for the Oval Office?

A: If there is a fair vote, then Obama will win reelection to a second term this November. With Mitt Romney, former governor of Massachusetts, now designated as the official nominee of the Republican Party after their convention in Tampa, Florida in the last week of August, the race is now clearly between a White venture capitalist millionaire and a Black law professor and community organizer.

The profit bubble for the top U.S. capitalists during the George W. Bush years popped in 2008 causing widespread unemployment and misery to millions, as well as bringing to office the first African American in the nation’s history, and this is a significant development for the U.S. Bush spent billions to bail out the top banks and financiers, and Obama is trying to provide some relief to middle class Americans and workers who have been most severely impacted by the economic recession and depression of 2008-2009. Since taking office in 2009, Obama has tried traditional Keynesian measures, including increasing effective demand through increased government spending, but he has been largely hampered by a highly partisan Republican Party which is appalled both by the fact that a Black man has taken control of the nation’s highest political office and, as well, that he is attempting to implement the rudiments for a national healthcare program, which eventually could become as popular as the Social Security program implemented by Franklin Delano Roosevelt in 1935.

As a consequence, the Republican Party representatives in Congress have virtually blocked most of Obama’s initiatives in the last four years, and this includes Obama’s attempt to close the U.S. detention and torture camp in Guantanamo, Cuba. Many progressives here in the U.S. have been disappointed with Obama’s lackluster performance and may stay home during the upcoming presidential election. However, given the outrageous display of juvenile behavior by disgruntled capitalists who miss the casino years of the George W. Bush Administration and their Tea Party front organizations, many will turn out to the polls on November 6th to prevent these predatory capitalists, racists, and warmongers from returning to power. In addition, Obama is currently running at least ten percentage points ahead of Romney with women voters, and this could be the decisive group to clinch the election for Obama. Don’t get me wrong: Obama is a capitalist and is supportive of continued U.S. imperialist policies; but in the present election, he is definitely the lesser of two evils.

Q: The alternative press has reported that the Israeli officials have come to conclusion that Iran is not seeking nuclear weapons. So, what are these sanctions, war threats, assassinations and Stuxnet stuff all about? Why should Iran be the target of such an intensive campaign of economic sanctions?

A: The attacks on Iran, including U.S. sanctions, assassinations of Iranian nuclear scientists by Israel and its Mujahedin-e-Khalq clients, insertion of computer viruses, or worms, like Stuxnet and Flame, to destabilize Iran’s nuclear centrifuge program, and the overall attempt to redirect the Arab Spring revolt against Iran and its ally Syria has its origin in a very scared and paranoid Saudi Arabia, whose aging monarch, King Abdullah, is, in his last days, fearful that the days of the House of Saud are numbered. And, he is correct, as the Arab peoples are fed up with the autocratic dictators which have ruled over them for the past thirty, forty, or even fifty years or more.

The complete loss of legitimacy of the Al-Khalifas in Bahrain was a wake-up call for the Saudi royals who reacted by sending in troops from the Persian Gulf Cooperation Council Peninsula Shield forces in March of 2011 in an attempt to wipe out the democratic activists and pacify the Kingdom, an effort which has been a dismal failure. Trying to get control of the massive rebellion against the 229-year-old Khalifa monarchy, both Saudi Arabia and Bahrain reached into its well-worn bag of tricks and began to accuse Iran as the instigator of this latest revolt. Ever since the successful 1979 revolution in Iran against the pro-Western dictator Shah Mohammad Reza Pahlavi, when the Iranian people were able to reclaim their patrimony of vast reserves of oil and other natural resources, the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia, along with the other Persian Gulf monarchies, have been playing a two-track rear-guard action which entails portraying themselves, on the one hand, as the true interpreters and guides of Islam while, on the other hand, attempting to undermine and subvert the Iranian revolution hoping to install a counterrevolutionary regime, reclaiming control over Iranian oil, and thus putting a stop to anymore movement towards democracy in the Persian Gulf region. However, with the successful ouster of Saddam Hussein in Iraq in 2003, Mubarak in Egypt, Ben Ali in Tunisia, and Muammar Gaddafi in Libya in 2011, followed by the ouster of Ali Abdullah Saleh in Yemen this year, the Saudi royals have grown increasingly worried that their longtime ally and defender, the United States, may abandon them in a classic case of clausula rebus sic stantibus (Latin for “things thus standing”) which, in international law, means that under changed conditions, prior agreements no longer hold validity.

And conditions have indeed changed. In the case of Saudi Arabia and the United States, the deal in question is the famous agreement between President Franklin Delano Roosevelt and Saudi Arabia’s Ibn Saud in the Great Bitter Lake in Egypt in 1945 wherein FDR promised U.S.-backed military security for the House of Saud and its regime in the Arabian Peninsula in exchange for steady and relatively cheap access to the Kingdom’s crude oil. Sensing correctly that the U.S. is in the process of restructuring its longtime relations with its Arab client states—in order to both bring some semblance of democracy to these states and, as well, to bring these states’ business production and cultural relations into the modern world—the Saudi regime is thus faced with an existential threat. Consequently, it has attempted to defend itself with the largest purchase of weapons from the U.S. in history worth over 60 billion dollars. It has increased its social welfare spending dramatically and has attempted to buy off its population with significant salary increases. Moreover, in an effort to divert attention away from the internal corruption and lack of democratic freedoms in the Kingdom, the regime has, along with Israel and the U.S., instigated a massive Western effort to overthrow the regime of Bashar al-Assad in Syria which, if accomplished, will then set the stage—in their view—for a final confrontation with Iran. So, again, subverting and overthrowing the Iranian revolution is seen as the only solution to Saudi Arabia’s existential crisis, and this is why Iran is the current international scapegoat from a Western power perspective.
…more

Iran to host intl. conferences on human rights violations in Bahraini prisons
07 September, 2012 – Theran Times

TEHRAN – International conferences on human rights violations in prisons run by the Bahraini government will be held in five Iranian cities from October 4 to 6, the International Union of Unified Ummah reported on Thursday.

According to Ali Reza Komeili, who is one of the organizers of the events, a number of Bahraini opposition groups and European human rights activists are scheduled to attend the conferences.

“The crimes that are being committed in Bahrain are only occurring due to the support of the United States and Saudi Arabia for the Al Khalifa (royal family). Otherwise, the Bahraini people would have already brought their revolution to fruition. They (the U.S. and Saudi Arabia) are aware that any form of democracy in Bahrain, be it a constitutional monarchy or a true democracy, would lead to the majority gaining power, and that runs contrary to their geostrategic interests in the region,” Komeili stated. …source

Reuters

Russia-Saudi Arabia: A growing strain
6 September, 2012 – Muslim World News – By Alexey Pilko – IANS

Relations between Russia and Saudi Arabia, which have never been cloudless, are quite tense today, something that seems unlikely to change in the foreseeable future, says a RIA Novosti commentary from Moscow.

This is not just because of their conflicting approaches to resolving the crisis in Syria. The reason is that Moscow and Riyadh are on opposite sides of the barricades in the transformation of the Middle East that is currently under way.

Nevertheless, in some ways these countries are very dependent on each other and could become partners at some time in the future. Unfortunately, that could be quite a long time from now.

It is almost forgotten now that the Soviet Union was the first non-Arab state to diplomatically recognise Saudi Arabia, in February, 1926 (even before its formal independence).

Moscow viewed Saudi independence as one more sign of the inevitable collapse of the colonial empires. However, diplomatic relations were broken off in 1938 at the initiative of Riyadh, and relations between the two states remained unfriendly, if not hostile, for a long time.

During the Cold War, Moscow placed its Middle East stake on secular political regimes, such as Egypt (before its realignment in 1974), Syria and Iraq.

Being a monarchical and theocratic state, Saudi Arabia automatically fell off the list of potential Soviet allies or partners. In the meantime, Riyadh regarded the Communist regime as anti-Islamic and incompatible with Saudi values.

Of course, both approaches were purely ideological. But there were also a number of serious clashes between Moscow and Riyadh, especially due to the Soviet support of the Communist regime in South Yemen. The secularization and political modernization (on the basis of socialism) of the Arab Peninsula threatened to undermine Saudi stability.

Finally, these processes could lead to the collapse of Saudi Arabia as a unitary state. This forced Riyadh to strengthen its relationship with the West, particular with the US (the only power that could provide the Saudi government real political and military support in case of serious tensions with Moscow).

At the same time, Russia has its own claims against Saudi Arabia. In the 1980s, Riyadh backed the mujahideen in Afghanistan and the Saudis reached agreement with Washington to drive down the price of oil, reducing the Soviet Union’s oil export revenue.

This atmosphere left little grounds for cooperation. However, after Mikhail Gorbachev revised Soviet foreign policy, Moscow began to look at the Middle East from a different perspective. In 1990-1991 it abandoned its unpredictable ally, Saddam Hussein, and did not oppose the Desert Storm. In 1990, diplomatic relations between Soviet Union and Saudi Arabia were restored.

Perhaps it might have been a successful restart.

But further developments showed that relations between Moscow and Riyadh faced other challenges. These appeared very soon when in the 1990s Saudi Arabia (along with a number of other countries) began to transfer money to radical Muslim organisations in Russia and other post-Soviet countries.

It would certainly be inaccurate to say that Riyadh intentionally backed separatists in the North Caucasus to weaken the Russian state and to cause domestic problems for Russia.

However, it is evident that at least a part of these financial resources fed the extremists and encouraged them to continue their bloody work. Saudi militants also fought on the side of the separatists in the Chechen wars. It was definitely an irritant in bilateral relations.

Nevertheless, after the end of counterterrorist operation in Chechnya, there was some slight progress. In November 2003, the Saudi delegation headed by the future King Abdullah bin Abdulaziz Al Saud visited Russia and held negotiations with President Vladimir Putin.

As a result cooperation between Russia and Saudi Arabia received fresh impetus that finally led to ratification of a number of agreements in the oil and gas sector, science and technology. In February 2007, Putin was the first Russian leader who visited Saudi Arabia.

Up until the Arab revolutions began, it seemed that the steady improvement in relations between Russia and Saudi Arabia was continuing.

In fact, disregarding the political and ideological contradictions of the past, cooperation between Moscow and Riyadh is still promising. Both states could cooperate in the global energy market, regulating oil prices to the benefit of both.

Russia was ready to sell to Saudi Arabia its advanced weapons and military equipment, reducing its dependence on US supplies. Also Russia could present opportunities for Saudi investments. But at present, none of these are likely to be realized soon.

Since the beginning of the Middle East uprisings, in particular after the war in Libya broke out, Moscow suspected (with good reason) that Saudi Arabia was financing and arming the anti-Gaddafi forces.

Later, Moscow was dismayed by the Saudi decision to suppress the opposition in Bahrain. It looked like the classical double-standard game: support the Libyan opposition and shoot Bahraini protesters. …more

CODEPINK Activist Speaks Out During Democratic Whip Steny Hoyer Speech At Democratic Convention: End the War in Afghanistan, Stop the Killer Drones

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
September 5, 2012

CONTACT:
Rae Abileah, (415) 994-1723
Alli McCracken, (860) 575-5692, alli@codepink.org
Follow @codepink

CODEPINK Activist Speaks Out During Democratic Whip Steny Hoyer Speech At Democratic Convention:

End the War in Afghanistan, Stop the Killer Drones

Charlotte, NC— Representative Steny Hoyer from Maryland’s 5th district was interrupted by CODEPINK co-director Rae Abileah calling for an end to current US wars and drone strikes. Abileah, 29, from San Francisco, stood up, unfurled a pink banner which read “Bring Our War $$ Home!” and said, “Bring our war dollars home! End the war in Afghanistan! Stop the killer drone strikes in Pakistan, Yemen and Somalia! Money for healthcare and education, not war!”

When asked why she spoke out, Abileah said, “Too many young people my age can’t afford healthcare, college, or even make rent. Meanwhile, both political parties are squandering our taxpayer dollars on big military contracts.” She added, “Instead of bombing homes and killing innocents abroad, we need to pursue real security through diplomacy and negotiations.”

CODEPINK has campaigned for the past ten years to end US wars in Afghanistan and Iraq, stop funding weapons to Israel, and redirect our federal budget away from the bloated Pentagon spending and into programs that address human needs and the environment. Last week CODEPINK was at the Republican Convention where they were inside the convention every night protesting the Republican policies around war, money in politics, and women’s rights. CODEPINK will continue to protest both parties ongoing funding for war. …more

Statement on Nabeel Rajab by The Hon. Jane Harman, Director, President and CEO, the Wilson Center
8 May, 2012 – The Wilson Center

WASHINGTON – For a second time since he received the Ion Ratiu Democracy Award last year at the Wilson Center, human rights activist Nabeel Rajab has been detained by the Government of Bahrain.

“On behalf of the Wilson Center, I urge Mr. Rajab’s prompt release,” said former Congresswoman Jane Harman, current director, president and CEO. “The Government of Bahrain would be wiser to tolerate dissent and promote the free expression of views. Events in the region in the past year make clear that local voices will not remain silent and repression will be resisted,” she added.

The Ion Ratiu Democracy Award aims to bring international recognition to the ideas and accomplishments of individuals around the world who are working on behalf of democracy. Whether in exile from repressive regimes or operating within emerging democracies, recipients of the Ion Ratiu Democracy Award are democracy advocates with the type of life-changing experience in Washington that Ion Ratiu encountered as a young Romanian democracy activist in the 1970s and 1980s. The Award provides a month-long scholarship at the Wilson Center during which awardees have an opportunity to immerse themselves in the scholarly, policymaking, and NGO communities in Washington, D.C. Recipients also provide the keynote address at an international symposium on major issues confronting their democratic activism.

Nabeel Rajab received the award in a ceremony at the Wilson Center in Washington D.C. in December 2011. When Rajab was badly beaten during a rally in the Bahraini capital of Manama in January 2012, Jane Harman joined the State Department in expressing concern direct to the Bahraini Ambassador to the United States and called for a full investigation into the incident.
…source

Wife of Nabeel Rajab reveals his harsh conditions: stripped naked, put in a dirty cell with dead animals and water is limited!
6 September, 2012 – Bahrain Center for Human Rights

Further to the last update published by the GCHR and BCHR about ill-treatment of the imprisoned Human Rights Defender Nabeel Rajab in Bahrain prison by putting him in solitary confinement (read it here), we have received more details in that regard.

Sumaya Rajab, wife of human rights defender Nabeel Rajab, stated that she met Nabeel (4 September 2012) in Jaw Prison for the first time in three weeks.

Sumaya confirmed that Nabeel is subjected to degrading conditions and ill-treatment through repeated personal inspections, whereby they take off all his clothes during the inspection and leave him with only a small piece of fabric to cover his private areas. He said he was subjected to deliberately humiliating inspections.

With regards to being put in solitary confinement in August, Nabeel told Sumaya that he was taken to solitary on the day he was sentenced to three-years imprisonment, which seems to indicate a desire for revenge and punishment, and added that the atmosphere of the cell suggested to him that he would be exposed to “repeated meals of severe torture.”

She continued by saying that in his solitary cell, Nabeel was stripped of all his clothes, forced to wear a small piece of fabric (“a wrapper”) only, then forced to stand and sit 40 times as part of the physical torture he suffered despite the fact that he suffers from a herniated disc in his back, and has requested a special medical belt to help cope with the recurrence of pain. He was also hit on the back by security forces several times previously.

Sumaya said that Nabeel does not know how many days he spent in that cell, because he could not tell day from night. Also, he said his cell was filled with dirt and even a dead cat!

As well, Sumaya confirmed that Nabeel doesn’t eat the food he’s given by the prison because he does not trust them, so he has lived for nearly two months on what is left of his corn flakes cereal and some canned food, as he’s allowed to buy from the prison cafeteria only once a week. Also, he’s allowed to only take 6 litres of water per week, although he suffers from kidney and gallbladder stones.

Sumaya said that for the first time in two months Nabeel ate cooked food today, as his family were able to give him a sandwich. He is prohibited from having sugar as well.

She continued saying that the prison administration refused to give Nabeel an electric shaver which she brought after Nabeel was refused shaving blades she brought the last time. As a result, he cannot shave and looks inappropriate, which she considers is one of the degrading actions committed against him. …more

OP-ED: Bahraini Repression Amidst a Failing Strategy
6 September, 2012 ⋅ by Mauro Teodori – IPS

This week’s decision by the Bahraini court of appeals to uphold the prison terms against Bahraini opposition activists is a travesty of justice and an indication that Bahraini repression continues unabated.

Bahraini officials, when confronted with angry world reaction to the court’s decision, cynically hid behind the claim they would not interfere in the proceedings of their “independent judiciary”.

Despite the threat to U.S. national interests and the security of U.S. citizens in Bahrain and elsewhere in the Gulf, Washington remains oblivious to the ruling family’s violent crackdown against peaceful protesters in the name of fighting “foreign elements”. Pro-democracy Bahrainis are wondering what we are waiting for.

Because of our muted reaction to what’s happening in Bahrain, the ruling family and their Saudi benefactors have not taken seriously Western support for democratic transitions in the Middle East.

The United States and Britain maintain deep economic and security relations with these states but also enjoy strong leverage, including the U.S. Navy’s Bahrain-based Fifth Fleet, which they must revisit in the face of continued egregious violations of basic human rights by some of these regimes. Bahraini civil rights organisations and activists are expecting the United States to use its leverage to end regime repression.

Despite their pro-Western stance, there is nothing exceptional about the autocratic Gulf Arab regimes. And they should no longer be given a pass on the importance of democratic reform.

Staying in power will require Bahrain’s Al Khalifas and other Gulf tribal family rulers to do more than push a vicious sectarian policy and employ slick public relations firms. Their cynical and deadly game might buy them some time, but, in the end, they will not be able to escape their peoples’ wrath.

In the absence of genuine reforms in the next three years, the Gulf’s autocratic regimes will be swept aside by their peoples. The “people power” that emerged from the Arab Spring in Tunisia, Egypt, Yemen, Libya, and now Syria, cannot be kept out of these tribal states. In reality, they all have been touched by peoples’ demands for dignity and justice.

While Iran might be exploiting the protest movement to discredit these regimes, the pro-democracy movement in Bahrain goes back to the 1960s and 1970s – way before the Islamic Republic came on the scene.

Even more troubling for U.S. national security are the continued efforts by Al Khalifa to whip up anti-American attitudes among Bahrain’s more rabidly anti-Shia and xenophobic Sunnis. Bahrain and some of their Gulf Co-operation Council (GCC) allies perceive the growing rapprochement between the U.S. and the new Islamic democrats, such as the Muslim Brotherhood in Egypt and Tunisia, as a sign of tacit opposition to Gulf autocrats. …more

Bahrain should scrap life sentence of blogger Alsingace
6 September, 2012 – Global Freedom Movement

New York, September 6, 2012–Bahraini authorities should toss out the unjust conviction and life sentence handed to an online journalist who was imprisoned for exercising his right to free expression during the country’s 2011 popular uprising, the Committee to Protect Journalists said today.

The High Court of Appeal on Tuesday upheld a life sentence given to Abduljalil Alsingace, a prominent independent blogger and human rights defender, on charges related to “plotting to topple” the regime, according to news reports. Alsingace had been convicted and sentenced by a military court in June 2011, the reports said.

The appellate court on Tuesday also upheld harsh sentences given to 19 co-defendants, including human rights activist Abdulhadi al-Khawaja, who was handed a life term, news reports said. The court also upheld a 15-year jail term against Ali Abdel Imam, an online journalist who had been convicted in absentia, the reports said.

The defendants plan to appeal the ruling again with the Court of Cassation, which is the highest court of appeals, news reports said.

The conduct of the prosecution has been questioned by an independent panel commissioned by the Bahraini government. The Bahrain Independent Commission of Inquiry suggested that Alsingace and his co-defendants be granted a civilian retrial since they had initially been tried in military tribunals, news reports said. In response, authorities conducted the appeal in a civilian court.

Human rights groups reported that the appeals process was marred by procedural irregularities. The court appointed new defense lawyers against the wishes of the defendants, not all of the defense witnesses were heard, and the court did not investigate reports that the defendants had been tortured in custody, the groups said.

“More than a year after the anti-government protest movement in Bahrain, the government is still prosecuting journalists and human rights defenders for their dissenting opinions,” said CPJ Executive Director Joel Simon. “The expression of critical opinion is protected by international law and can never be a crime.”

Alsingace and Abdel Imam were arrested in December 2010 and detained for two months on anti-state conspiracy charges during a government crackdown, according to news reports. They were re-arrested in March 2011, news reports said. …more

Bahrain: 16 years old child Ali Al Muhafdha detained and deprived from proper medical care
07 September, 2012 – Bahrain Center for Human Rights

Although Bahrain is a signatory of the convention of the rights of the child, children in Bahrain continue to be subjected to ill-treatment, torture and arbitrary detention by the Bahraini force. Bahrain Center for human rights (BCHR) expresses its grave concern over the high number of detained children.

Sayed Ali Al Muhafdha, 16 years old, was arrested from 14 Jun 2012 to date as his detention was extended several times. According to his family he was severely beaten on the head and other parts of his body and was deprived of water for a day. He was kept in ward 7 in a dry dock prison which has detainees from all ages and later moved to a childrens’ ward. Sayed Ali is ill and because of the conditions during his detention, his illness was worsened. On 28 Aug 2012, his father stated that Sayed Ali had a high fever and abdominal pain, that he could not urinate for 10 days, was suffering from serious pain and that he was not able to move or speak clearly. He was taken after midnight to Salmaniya hospital after deterioration of his health, but he was only given some painkillers and returned to prison. He was then taken again to the hospital on 26 Aug where the doctor advised that he might have kidney stones and asked for him to be admitted. However he was taken back to prison. Sayed Ali is still in detention and is being denied proper medical care.

More than 80 children are in Bahraini prisons on sham charges and being tried in unfair trials. With no regard to their age and emotional status, children are being kept in detention for months while at least one was sentenced to 15 years’ imprisonment by a military court (link). …more

Saudi protesters once again hold demos against Riyadh regime
7 September, 2012 – PressTV

Anti-government protesters have once again staged demonstrations in Saudi Arabia, as anger flares in the kingdom over Riyadh’s harsh crackdown on dissent in recent months.

The protests come in defiance of Saudi officials’ strict ban on any anti-regime gatherings in the kingdom.

The demonstrators called for the release of prominent Shia cleric Sheikh Nemr al-Nemr who was attacked, injured and arrested by the security forces of the Al Saud regime while driving from a farm to his house in the Qatif region of the Eastern Province on July 8.

Since February 2011, protesters have held demonstrations on an almost regular basis in Saudi Arabia, mainly in Qatif and the town of Awamiyah in the Eastern Province, primarily calling for the release of all political prisoners, freedom of expression and assembly, and an end to widespread discrimination.

However, the demonstrations have turned into protests against the repressive Al Saud regime, especially since November 2011, when Saudi security forces killed five protesters and injured many others in the Province.

According to Human Rights Watch, the Saudi regime “routinely represses expression critical of the government.”

On August 13, Swedish Defense Minister Karin Enstrom criticized Riyadh for its human rights violations, describing Saudi Arabia as “an authoritarian regime and an absolute monarchy where serious human rights crimes are committed.”
…source

U.S. congressman confirms high-level U.S.-Israel spat over Iran
7 Septemebr, 2012 – By Tabassum Zakaria -Reuters

WASHINGTON: Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu blew up at the U.S. ambassador last month because he was “at wits’ end” over what he sees as the Obama administration’s lack of clarity on Iran’s nuclear program, a U.S. congressman who was at the meeting said.

House Intelligence Committee Chairman Mike Rogers, a Republican, made his first public comments about the late August meeting in Israel in an interview with Michigan’s WJR radio on Tuesday.

Continued controversy over the meeting comes as President Barack Obama on Thursday night will accept his party’s nomination at the Democratic National Convention, where the level of the Obama administration’s support for Israel was a contentious topic.

“Right now the Israelis don’t believe that this administration is serious when they say all options are on the table, and more importantly neither do the Iranians. That’s why the program is progressing,” Rogers said.

Iran says its nuclear program is for peaceful energy purposes.

Israel is facing growing international pressure not to unilaterally attack Iran’s nuclear infrastructure and the United States has made clear it opposes any such strike.

Rogers said if the United States does not show Israel more clarity on where it draws “red lines” on Iran’s nuclear program, then Israel might conduct a strike.

“If I were betting my house today, I would guess that they probably will do it if we don’t have a change in more clear red lines from the United States,” he said.

A spokesman for Israel’s embassy in Washington declined to comment. The State Department would not comment on private diplomatic meetings but spokesman Edgar Vasquez said, “We have a rock solid relationship and an ironclad commitment to Israel.”

The spat between Netanyahu and U.S. Ambassador to Israel Daniel Shapiro appears to confirm a deep chasm over how to deal with Iran, which the two allies have tried to play down publicly.

Obama has vowed to prevent Iran from obtaining a nuclear weapon, but says there is still time for sanctions and diplomacy to work. The White House says it has brokered international oil and banking sanctions that are far tougher on Iran than previous administrations achieved.
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THIRD MEETING OF STATES PARTIES TO THE CONVENTION ON CLUSTER MUNITIONS

The Third Meeting of States Parties (3MSP) to the Convention on Cluster Munitions (CCM) will take place in Oslo, Norway, from 11 to 14 September, 2012.

At this meeting, States Parties to the Convention on Cluster Munitions will give progress updates on implementing their treaty obligations and will take key decisions relating to the implementation and universalization of the Convention. States that have not yet joined the Convention or have yet to ratify will also be present to give updates on their progress.

Logistical and sponsorship information

We would like to invite all participants to carefully read the logistical memo below and to register on the official registration page as soon as possible. In the memo, you will find useful information on the registration process, sponsorship criteria and rules, the provisional schedule, the visa process, hotels, side events and further practical information. …more

Syrian regime using cluster bombs: report
7 September, 2012 – By Alessandra Rizzo – Reuters

LONDON: Syrian government forces have almost certainly used cluster bombs, which kill and maim civilians long after conflicts end, during their crackdown on a 17-month revolt, a disarmament group said Thursday citing video and photographic evidence.

The Cluster Munition Coalition said it had collected pictures and footage from Syrian activists showing fragments of cluster munitions at two sites at least in Syria.

The Damascus government has not signed a convention against the weapons, meaning it would not have broken any international laws by using them, said officials at the center.

But many humanitarian groups and governments have condemned the use of the munitions, which spray hundreds of small explosives over wide areas of land, where they can lie undetected for months if not years.

“We think the evidence is compelling that the Syrian government forces have used cluster munitions,” Stephen Goose, from both CMC and the campaign group Human Rights Watch, told reporters in London as he launched a report on the use and disposal of the weapons worldwide.

The group could not be 100-percent certain how the bombs were used, as it did not have eye witness accounts of fighting from the sites, it said.

But “cluster munitions are there, there’s no question. They’re cluster munitions that have been used, they haven’t just been pulled out of a warehouse and torn apart with a screwdriver,” said Goose.

Damascus has not made any public comment on whether it uses the bombs, CMC said, urging the Syrian government to confirm or deny the reports.

The group cited videos posted online in July showing cluster munition remnants and bomblets in Jabal Shahshabu, a mountainous area near Hama, a flashpoint city in the uprising against President Bashar Assad
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US led attempt to allow cluster bomb use is rejected at UN negotiations
26 November, 2011 – Cluster Munitions Coalition

(Geneva, November 25, 2011) – An attempt by the United States and other remaining producers and stockpilers of cluster munitions to push through a weak new law which would have allowed these indiscriminate weapons to be used, has failed. Over fifty states at the United Nations negotiations rejected outright the cynical attempt to give legal cover to use these weapons in the future. This ends four years of negotiations on this issue.

“This was not a diplomatic game. It was about saving a great number of lives – the outright rejection of weaker standards shows that small and medium size states in partnership with the UN, ICRC and civil society can set the agenda in international politics” said Grethe Ostern, Policy Adviser, Mine Action Department, Norwegian Peoples Aid, Cluster Munition Coalition member.

The failure to set up a weaker alternative to the existing ban strengthens the 2008 Convention on Cluster Munitions which like the 1997 Mine Ban Treaty prohibits the use, production and transfer of an entire category of weapons and promotes the rights of victims and survivors. The Cluster Munition Coalition calls on all remaining countries to join the Convention on Cluster Munitions.

“The message from the failed efforts today is clear – cluster bombs are indiscriminate, kill long after they are dropped and are illegal. Countries like China, India, Israel, Russia and the US who say they are seriously concerned about the humanitarian impact, should go home and immediately begin destroying their stockpiles” said Amy Little, Campaign Manager for the Cluster Munition Coalition.

The US was the key promoter of the proposed law. Opposition was led by Norway, Austria, and Mexico, with powerful support from the Cluster Munition Coalition, the ICRC, and a large number of UN agencies, notably the UN Development Programme, the Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs and the Office of the High Commissioner for Human Rights.

The Convention on Cluster Munitions has been signed by 111 nations, including some of the biggest users, producers, and or stockpilers in recent decades, such as the United Kingdom, Germany, France, and the Netherlands. Twenty-two of the twenty-eight NATO members have joined the ban convention. …more