Réalité-EU Analysis

Round up of Today’s International News
Compiled by Gerlinde Gerber: gerlinde.gerber@realite-eu.org
21/01/10

EUROPE

Financial sanctions key to pressurising Iran: UK
Britain believes financial sanctions have an important role to play in putting pressure on Iran over its nuclear programme, Foreign Secretary David Miliband said yesterday. Britain and five other powers discussed prospects of further sanctions against Iran at a meeting in New York on Saturday, but China made clear it opposed more punitive action at the moment, participants in the meeting said.

University of Birmingham invites Hamas supporter to speak to students
The University of Birmingham has been accused of allowing “a notorious Jew-hater and supporter of terrorist attacks” to speak to students at an event on campus. MP Denis MacShane has written to the university’s Vice Chancellor urging him to cancel a planned talk by Azzam Tamimi, a Palestinian-born academic and supporter of terror group Hamas.

Iran in billion-euro gas deal with Germany
Iran has signed a one-billion-euro (1.44-billion-dollar) deal with a German firm to build 100 gas turbo-compressors, an industry official said in newspapers on Wednesday. The contract provides for the unnamed German firm to transfer the know-how to build, install and run the equipment needed to exploit and transport gas, said Iran's Gas Engineering and Development Company head, Ali Reza Gharibi.

Iran denies report of gas distribution grid deal
An Iranian official has denied a report that a state engineering company had signed a deal with a German company to help improve Iran's gas distribution grid. Earlier on Tuesday, the semi-official Mehr News Agency, citing the head of Iran's Gas Engineering and Development Company, said a German firm had agreed a 1 billion euro deal to manufacture, install and commission 100 gas-fuelled turbines and turbo-compressors.

Euronews plans Persian, Turkish broadcasts
The pan-European television news channel Euronews said on Monday it planned to start broadcasting rolling news in Persian and in Turkish this year. Broadcasts in Persian, spoken in Iran and Afghanistan, are planned by the end of the year, said the broadcaster based in the eastern French city of Lyon. Turkish broadcasts will start sooner, on January 30.

Muhammad Cartoonist Defiant After Attack
Four years ago, Kurt Westergaard triggered a bitter clash of cultures with his cartoon depicting the Prophet Muhammad. On New Year's Day, a young Muslim from Somalia tried to kill him with a knife and an ax. Despite having to live under constant protection, the Danish cartoonist refuses to give up.

Free Speech Versus Islam
It seems a court case in Holland - which starts today - will test what freedom of speech truly means. The man in the dock is Geert Wilders - a politician with far right views. He's been charged with inciting racial hatred and discrimination. He's well known for his outspoken views on Islam. A film he made - called Fitna - juxtaposes the Koran with images of terrorist attacks. He also claims the Prophet Muhammad would be hunted down as a terrorist if he was alive today.

IRAN

Iran 'formally rejects nuclear fuel deal'
Iran has told the International Atomic Energy Agency it does not accept the terms of a deal to ease concerns about its nuclear programme, diplomats say. For months, the Iranian government has criticised the offer to ship low-enriched uranium abroad in return for fuel, but never responded formally. But diplomats say Tehran is now suggesting an alternative involving a simultaneous exchange on its territory.

Six powers to unite over Iran nuclear ambitions
Six international powers are counting on unity to check Iran's nuclear ambitions, according to a European diplomat who expects China to drop its opposition to new sanctions for fear of isolation. As Iran balks at a confidence-building proposal, the five permanent members of the UN Security Council -- the United States, Russia, China, France, and Britain -- plus Germany are increasingly weighing sanctions.

Stalled atom fuel offer to Iran still on table-IAEA
The U.N. nuclear watchdog said on Wednesday it still hoped to seal a draft deal on enriched uranium between Iran and big powers despite Tehran's rejection of terms meant to stop the material being used for atomic bombs. Diplomats familiar with the International Atomic Energy Agency's contacts with Iran said on Tuesday that Tehran had notified the U.N. agency about two weeks ago that it could not accept central aspects of the draft deal.

Shadowy arms deal traced to Kazakhstan
The trail of the plane busted in Thailand last month for allegedly smuggling North Korean weapons to Iran leads back to a small air freight company housed near an old Soviet airfield on the edge of the Kazakh steppe. […] The persistence of carriers willing to ship anything anywhere for a price -- even to countries under international sanctions like Iran and North Korea -- has frustrated global efforts to stem the flow of illegal arms.

Iran's Republic of Fear
Iran's clerical regime governs by a simple formula: he who is the most frightening, wins. "Victory by terrifying" is a trope that is present in many of supreme leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei's speeches. Indeed, it is a reliable guide to his political philosophy.

Iran: Student Activist, Subject of "Men in Hijab" Campaign, Handed Heavy Prison Term
Amir Kabir Newsletter reports that post-election detainee, Majid Tavakoli, has been sentenced to eight and a half years in prison, as well as five years ban from political activity and ban from exiting the country. Majid Tavakoli, who is a member of Amir Kabir University Islamic Student Association, was arrested on December 7, National Student Day, after giving a speech at the University.

Iran to unveil 3 new satellites
Iran will unveil three new satellites in February, a report said Wednesday. ISNA news agency quoted Communications Minister Reza Taghipour as saying that one of the three home-built communications satellites is still under construction. Taghipour named the three satellites as Toloo, Ya Mahdi and Mesbah-2, but did not elaborate on exactly when they would be launched.

THE MIDDLE EAST

Iran's FM spokesman: If West's strategy in Afghanistan not changed, Iran will not participate in London's meeting
If the strategy of Western countries towards Afghanistan is not changed, Iran will not participate in the meeting in London, relating to Afghanistan, Iran's Foreign Ministry spokesman Ramin Mehmanparast said. "If they want to make past mistakes again and continue their earlier affairs in Afghanistan, it is natural that we do not appreciate it and will not take part in the meeting," Mehmanparast told Trend News over phone from Tehran today.

The Shiite Lebanese are fleeing Hezbollah's ministate
[…] The Kuwaiti daily Al-Seyassah unveiled in a report published today that Hezbollah and its armed ally, the Shiite Amal Movement, are secretly but firmly and seriously trying through both force, and persuasion to hold back the massive fleeing of the Shiite community members from Hezbollah’s ministate stronghold located in the suburbs of Beirut.

ISRAEL - PALESTINIAN AUTHORITY

What Drives Arabs to Hamas and Al-Qaeda?
Arab journalists are under growing pressure from the Palestinian governments in the West Bank and Gaza Strip to avoid “hanging the dirty laundry in the open.” Arab journalists are often taught that they should place the interests of their leaders, governments and homelands before above anything else, including the facts and the truth. Americans and Europeans who are pouring billions of dollars on Abbas and Fayyad need to be aware of the absence of an independent media in the West Bank.

World Citizen: Iran and Israel Already at (Cold) War
At about 5 p.m. on Jan. 14, a loud blast rang out along the Jordanian road that leads to the main bridge connecting the Hashemite kingdom with its neighbor, Israel. The target of the remote-controlled explosion was a two-car convoy carrying Israeli diplomats posted to Jordan, traveling back to Israel for the weekend. The assassination attempt failed, but it triggered a number of investigations as well as rampant speculation on both sides of the Jordanian-Israeli border. Differing theories point to various possible extremist perpetrators. The most intriguing reports, however, quote insiders in Jordan's security services who claim that the Islamic Republic of Iran ordered the assassination attempt on the Israeli diplomats.

UNITED STATES OF AMERICA

U.S., Russia never so close on Iran nuclear issue: diplomat
The positions of Washington and Moscow on the Iranian nuclear issue "have never been so near," said U.S. Ambassador to Russia John Beyrle here on Wednesday. Beyrle told the Ekho Moskvy radio station that neither the United States nor Russia needs a nuclear arms race in the East Asia and the Middle East. The nuclear non-proliferation treaty remains effective as long as the two sides synchronize their stances, said the ambassador, adding that otherwise current situations would be further jeopardized.

U.S. spy agencies see Iran pushing atom bomb research
U.S. spy agencies updating intelligence on Iran see growing evidence that Tehran has pushed forward with nuclear weapons research but has yet to relaunch its atomic bomb program in full, U.S. officials said. Analysts from across the U.S. intelligence community have been finalizing a revised national intelligence estimate (NIE) that is expected to bring the United States more into line with its European allies about the state of Iran's nuclear program.

3 accused of laundering money through Iran
A federal sting operation aimed at disrupting a U.S.-Iran money-laundering operation has netted three New York businessmen, the FBI said Wednesday. The FBI said in a statement on its Web site that the agency, along with the IRS and U.S. attorney's office, worked together on the investigation that led to Reza Safarha, 54, aka Ali Safarha; Nick Mohamey, 56, aka Abdollah Mohammadipour and Abdi Pour; and Mohammad Sourush Mahalaty, 48, aka Mohammad Soroush, being charged with conspiring to launder money from the United States to Iran.

Freedom vs. security: How far can Obama push Iran?
[…] President Obama, in his Cairo speech discussing the rule of law, justice, transparent government, and “freedom to live as you choose,” promised: “Those are not just American ideas; they are human rights and we will support them everywhere.” But what happens when these global pledges collide with narrow, but critical, national interests? How must a president balance the promotion of democracy in a country with an oppressive regime from which he seeks momentous concessions?

ASIA

Exclusive: Russia to start Iran nuclear plant in 2010
Russia plans to start up Iran's first nuclear power station in March 2010 to coincide with the Iranian New Year, two sources closely involved with the project told Reuters. Russia agreed in 1995 to build the 1,000 megawatt nuclear power plant at Bushehr on the Gulf coast in south-western Iran, but delays have haunted the $1 billion project and diplomats say Moscow has used it as a lever in relations with Tehran.

China's support for more Iran sanctions in doubt
[…] Western diplomats and analysts, however, said that China's willingness to continue to participate in discussions on Iran sanctions meant that Beijing was eager to stay with the group and might be persuaded not to veto any new measures. "It looks like the Chinese are playing hard to get," said Mark Fitzpatrick of the International Institute for Strategic Studies in London. "They are strutting their newfound role of global kingmaker, and they are peeved at the coming U.S. arms sales to Taiwan."

REPORTS, STATISTICS, ANALYSIS

Iranian regime accused of crimes against humanity
Condemning the continuing arbitrary arrests and illegal detention of journalists, many of whom are being held incommunicado for long periods, Reporters Without Borders today accused the Iranian regime of “crimes against humanity” and urged the international community to speak out.

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