In the current conflict over Iran, the most important question is what America's real goal in Iran and the Middle East is. Why? Because, as long as we don't have a certain and reliable answer to this question, as long as we don't know what the opponent's hidden real purpose in this crisis is, we are incapable of figuring out what is to be done, in other words, incapable of collectively taking the correct position on this situation.
The American foreign policy leaders' claim in this situation is very simple. They say that the objective of the American interference in this region is to spread democracy and human rights. Based on this claim, the social order that is currently dominant in the world, whose hegemon is America, pretends that there is no ulterior motive or interest and that there is nothing behind its interference. Pro-Americans in Iran and the region, too, naively repeat the same claim. However, does everyone in Iran and the region share the same naive interpretation of the matter? Below -- to the extent that space in this short article allows -- I will try to answer this question. But there is another question, too: when rights and freedoms of a nation are negated and trampled upon and its progress and development are blocked due to the domination of reactionaries, is it the duty of a destructive foreign power to restore this nation's rights and freedoms and open the gate of progress and development? Where in history is there an instance of a foreign power, instead of the nation in question itself, doing any such thing?
The blame game - no one plays it better than the dominant media, and they're at it again over Gaza. Expect no comments below in their spaces, yet honest journalism would headline them.
After Japan attacked Pearl Harbor, Franklin Roosevelt addressed Congress - with an appropriating updating for Gaza:
December 27 "will live in infamy." The people of Gaza were "suddenly and deliberately attacked by....air forces of the" State of Israel. The "attack was deliberately planned many (months) ago. During the intervening time (Israel) deliberately sought to deceive (Palestinians) by false statements and expressions of hope for" the peace process.
It's not the first time and won't be the last. On December 27, AP reported that:
"Israeli aircraft struck Hamas security compounds across Gaza on Saturday in unprecedented waves of simultaneous attacks, and Hamas and medics reported dozens of people were killed."
It's a long time that I've heard expressions such as "wow! I see you have restaurants in Iran!", "Believe me Iran was not what I'd thought", "I was never thinking of such a beautiful country" and so on, when talking to a foreign tourist who has come to Iran for the very first time.
For the global public opinions and the majority of masses who do not have any particular way of knowing a far spot on the earth rather than relying on the information given to them by the mainstream media i.e. magazines, TV channels, news websites and radio stations, Iran would enthusiastically be the most astonishing and enticing place one can ever see and explore in his/her lifespan.
With world eyes on Gaza, the horrific carnage on the ground, innocent civilians being slaughtered, Israel's grievous crimes of war and against humanity, and its slow-motion genocide gaining speed, it's easy to forget America's war at home on Islam and its growing number of victims. This article highlights five recent ones - innocent young Muslim men called the "Fort Dix Five."
On December 22, The New York Times headlined: "5 Are Convicted of Conspiring to Attack Fort Dix" in reporting that a federal jury "convicted five men of conspiring to kill American soldiers at (the base) last year, but acquitted them of attempted murder."
In a world of war, oppression and economic crisis, the need for fundamental change has never seemed more urgent. Todd Chretien examines the choices we have to make a new future.
THE CURRENT economic crisis has debunked the fiction that there is some sort of iron wall between politics and economics. For decades, the partisans of the free market fought to liberate their system from the "meddling" of governments and bureaucrats. But when the blue chips were down, Wall Street and its friends in Washington dropped their anti-government ideal like a hot potato. Treasury Secretary and ex-Goldman Sachs CEO Henry Paulson led the charge by demanding the power to disburse $700 billion in taxpayers' money to try to manage the disaster.
On December 12, 2008, the Wall Street Journal headlined: "Top Broker Accused of $50 Billion Fraud. Bernard L. Madoff....was arrested by federal agents (the previous day) after his sons turned him in for running what they said their father called a giant Ponzi scheme."
On June 15, 2007, Ron Paul introduced HR 2755: Federal Reserve Abolition Act. There were no co-sponsors, no further action was taken, and the legislation was referred to the House Committee on Financial Services and effectively pigeonholed and ignored.
After much bickering and sensational threats, the auto industry got their bailout. Of course this bailout is limited in scope and there is still a chance the big three might fold. But for now the auto execs can go on with business as usual, while promising to pare down union pay and benefits until they match nonunion pay. And the UAW is actually going along with this. The auto workers deserve a real union.
Dr. Saba Valadkhan is a world-renowned biomedical scientist and the Assistant Professor of Case Western Reserve University of USA.
Dr. Saba Valadkhan
After graduating from the Tehran University of Medial Sciences, Saba Valadkhan moved to New York where she could further her studies at the Columbia University with the fellowship she had been granted from RNA Research Society. This young Iranian scientist has won several international awards for her effective, determinant contribution to the field of Molecular Biology such as the Peter Sajovic Memorial Award, the Harold M. Weintraub Graduate Student Award and the James Howard McGregor Prize.
In 2005, she was awarded the American Academy for the Advancement of Sciences (AAAS) award of Young Scientist of the Year for her breakthrough in understanding the mechanism of spliceosomes which was something unprecedented and innovative until that time.
By developing a new strategy to prevent the occurrence of some disastrous cancer types, she identified and determined a slight and insignificant deficiency in the functionality of DNA strands and found an effective way of solving it.
With his choice of Admiral Dennis Blair as director of national intelligence, President-elect Barack Obama has now named three recently retired four-star military officers to serve in his cabinet. This unprecedented representation of the senior officer corps within the incoming Democratic administration is indicative of a growth in the political power of the US military that poses a serious threat to basic democratic rights.
Obama leaves no ambiguity where he stands. From public statements, campaign pledges, policy advisors, and war cabinet selections, his positions affirm:
