Puppet Masters
Iran's intelligence minister said Thursday the government had detected a network of US and Israeli spies, and detained a second group of people who planned to go abroad for espionage training, state television reported.
For eurosceptics, the European Court of Justice ruling in September 2005 was like giving a child a loaded gun. It opened the way for the European Union to designate a new class of pan-European crimes, and how they should be punished.
According to a report by Iran's Farsi news agency, the Mossad could not have been behind the death of one of its nuclear scientists three weeks ago, because Israeli operatives cannot penetrate the Iranian security apparatus.
An unnamed Iranian official was quoted as saying "None of the Iranian nuclear scientists have been assassinated by the Mossad because the Israeli intelligence agency is basically incapable of running operations inside of Iran."
The Iranian dismissal of the Mossad's capabilities came in response to a report in the Sunday Times of London that attributed the death of nuclear scientist Ardshir Hosseinpour to a Mossad assassination. The official Iranian position on the death of Hosseinpour, a professor at Shiraz University, is that he was killed by fumes from a faulty gas burner while he slept, and that his death was in no way connected to his role at Iran's uranium conversion facility in Isfahan, where uranium hexafluride is produced from uranium ore.
An unnamed Iranian official was quoted as saying "None of the Iranian nuclear scientists have been assassinated by the Mossad because the Israeli intelligence agency is basically incapable of running operations inside of Iran."
The Iranian dismissal of the Mossad's capabilities came in response to a report in the Sunday Times of London that attributed the death of nuclear scientist Ardshir Hosseinpour to a Mossad assassination. The official Iranian position on the death of Hosseinpour, a professor at Shiraz University, is that he was killed by fumes from a faulty gas burner while he slept, and that his death was in no way connected to his role at Iran's uranium conversion facility in Isfahan, where uranium hexafluride is produced from uranium ore.
Today, Iraq, Baghdad, hot off the mainstream media presses, this just in:
More than 120 feared dead in Baghdad bombing
A suicide truck bomber struck a market in a predominantly Shiite area of Baghdad today, killing as many as 121 people among the crowd buying food for evening meals, one of the most devastating attacks in the capital since the war started.
The attacker was driving a truck carrying foodstuffs including oil and flour when he detonated a ton of explosives, destroying stores and stalls that had been set up in the busy outdoor Sadriyah market, police said.
The late-afternoon explosion was the latest in a series of attacks against mainly Shiite commercial targets in the capital. No group claimed responsibility for the attack, but it appeared to be part of a bid by Sunni insurgents to provoke retaliatory violence and kill as many people as possible ahead of a planned US-Iraqi security sweep.
Egypt's security echelon has been keeping track of a university student arrested under charges of passing information to Mossad agents, since 2002, the London-based newspaper Al-Hayat reported Sunday.
Mohammed al-Attar, the report said, left Egypt in 2001 to live in Turkey. He admitted to leaving because he was unable to integrate into the Egyptian society by his third year as a student at Al-Azhar University. He chose Turkey both because of the relative lenience found in receiving a tourist's visa and its proximity to Europe.
Mohammed al-Attar, the report said, left Egypt in 2001 to live in Turkey. He admitted to leaving because he was unable to integrate into the Egyptian society by his third year as a student at Al-Azhar University. He chose Turkey both because of the relative lenience found in receiving a tourist's visa and its proximity to Europe.
This week, Charles Krauthammer returns to his favorite theme of late: Iraq -- it's all the fault of the bloody wogs.
Recognition would imply acceptance that they deserve to be treated as subhumans.
Since the Palestinian elections in 2006, Israel and much of the West have asserted that the principal obstacle to any progress toward Israeli-Palestinian peace is the refusal of Hamas to "recognize Israel," or to "recognize Israel's existence," or to "recognize Israel's right to exist."
Since the Palestinian elections in 2006, Israel and much of the West have asserted that the principal obstacle to any progress toward Israeli-Palestinian peace is the refusal of Hamas to "recognize Israel," or to "recognize Israel's existence," or to "recognize Israel's right to exist."
British Justice. Bloody Sunday, Derry, Jan 1972. That was then.
A civil rights march by 15,000 Irish Catholics in the city of Derry was attacked by members of the British paratroop regiment. Under direct orders to "get some kills", the British soldiers opened fire on unarmed demonstrators, killing thirteen including six children. Five of the dead had been shot in the back. One demonstrator was shot twice in the back as he lay wounded on the ground. Another was shot at close range in the face. There was also evidence to suggest that some soldiers had used modified 'dum dum' bullets that create a larger wound with greater blood loss and trauma.
All the dead were unarmed members of the civilian community.
Near-Earth orbit has become a more dangerous place, after the People's Republic of China became the third nation to test an anti-satellite weapon.
While Beijing has been silent on the matter, US intelligence sources say a medium-range ballistic missile was launched from China's Xichang space centre in Sichuan province on 11 January. The weapon is believed to have had a hardened warhead, which smashed into and ripped apart a defunct Chinese weather satellite flying at an altitude of 850 kilometres.
While Beijing has been silent on the matter, US intelligence sources say a medium-range ballistic missile was launched from China's Xichang space centre in Sichuan province on 11 January. The weapon is believed to have had a hardened warhead, which smashed into and ripped apart a defunct Chinese weather satellite flying at an altitude of 850 kilometres.
Today, one of these rare breed allegedly managed to get all the way down to the southern tip of Israel, to the Red Sea resort town of Eilat.
At 9.45 this morning (Eilat time), we are told that a "Palestinian suicide bomber" detonated his explosives in a small bakery, killing three people and himself. As with every other "suicide bombing" attributed to Palestinians over the past 6 years, we are forced to rely only on the claims of Israeli state security forces that each bombing was indeed a "suicide" attack. Such claims are almost always made within minutes of the event, subsequently propagating virus-like around the world's news agencies so that, by the time the world public gets wind of the news, it is already a closed case. There is however much to be gained from looking at the details of these alleged suicide bombings, because when we do, problems with the story invariably arise, not to mention uncomfortable questions.
Comment: According to the Iran's Farsi news agency, reprinted here in the Jerusalem Post, just because an "unnamed Iranian official" declares that Mossad could not be operating inside Iran, then we must believe it to be true.
It is far more likely that the Mossad, with it's global reach and sordid history, has agents operating in most, if not all countries of the world, including Iran.
It has been obvious for some time that the middle east is headed for a nuclear showdown between Iran and Israel. It is possible that this conflict will eventually draw in competing global superpowers resulting in something akin to World War III. This time around, Iran and it's President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad are being set up to play the role of Germany and Hitler.
So, not only are there likely lots of Mossad agents working inside Iran, but at some higher level, both governments are working hand in hand.