On the evening of June 21, 2009, I, Dr. Amy L. Beam, was watching the unfolding events of Iran simultaneously at my computer and on Al Jazeera and CNN TV. I am in Europe. The TV newscasters kept repeating that this had become a Twitter Revolution in Iran. I've never before used Twitter to search for news, but this prompted me to. I logged onto twitter.com and searched for "Iran demonstrations". I saw the top search term was #iranelections so I searched for this and kept updating my search every minute. Twitters were pouring.
This is how I saw the Twitter posting that had a link to the youtube video of Neda being shot in Iran. It had just been uploaded. About 120 people had viewed it within several minutes. I was curious to know the dead woman's name so I emailed the person who uploaded the video. He thought the name was Neda Soltani. He explained that this video had been sent to him, outside of Iran, by the doctor who had been at Neda's side as she bled to death. The doctor's friend shot the video with his cell phone. The doctor also sent an explanatory note.
Puppet Masters
© International Monetary Foundation
The Russian economy, which seesaws from boom to bust along with commodity prices in the best of times, has experienced the most extreme swing from growth to contraction of any large economy in the current downturn.
The bank's new projection showed that the Russian economy would contract by 7.9 percent this year and not recover to precrisis levels until at least 2012. Just before the crisis reached here, in the first quarter of 2008, Russia had been growing at an annual rate of 8.7 percent.
The bank's estimate was all the more remarkable because oil prices have recovered recently, a positive sign for resource-dependent Russia. About two-thirds of exports, for example, are made up of oil and natural gas. Yet the International Monetary Fund, the Russian government and private banks all project slower growth.
© Unknown
Now, YouTube is providing a "Breaking News" link at the top of every page linking to the latest footage of the Iranian protests (all shot in high def, no less). Welcome to Destabilization 2.0, the latest version of a program that the western powers have been running for decades in order to overthrow foreign, democratically elected governments that don't yield to the whims of western governments and multinational corporations.
China could face censure at the World Trade Organisation after the US and Europe lodged a joint complaint over its restrictions on raw materials exports
Europe and the United States announced last night co-ordinated action against China for busting World Trade Organisation (WTO) rules by restricting exports of essential raw materials, raising fears of a damaging east-west trade war in the depths of the global recession.
Europe and the United States announced last night co-ordinated action against China for busting World Trade Organisation (WTO) rules by restricting exports of essential raw materials, raising fears of a damaging east-west trade war in the depths of the global recession.
Former Pakistani Army General Mirza Aslam Beig claims the US Central Intelligence Agency (CIA) has distributed 400 million dollars inside Iran to evoke a revolution.
© Agence France-Presse/Getty Images
Adam Yahiye Gadahn, a.k.a. Azzam the American, formerly known as Adam Pearlman, is seen in an earlier al Qaeda video.
Adam Yahiye Gadahn, a.k.a. Azzam the American, formerly known as Adam Pearlman, is seen in an earlier al Qaeda video.
In the video, Adam Yahiye Gadahn, also known as Azzam the American, discusses his roots as he castigates U.S. policies and deplores Israel's offensive in Gaza that started in late December 2008 and continued into January.
"Let me here tell you something about myself and my biography, in which there is a benefit and a lesson," Gadahn says, as he elicits support from his fellow Muslims for "our weapons, funds and Jihad against the Jews and their allies everywhere."
"Your speaker has Jews in his ancestry, the last of whom was his grandfather," he says.
Growing up in rural California, Gadahn embraced Islam in the mid-1990s, moved to Pakistan and has appeared in al Qaeda videos before.
Comment: We already know this of course, but perhaps his handlers encouraged him to confess in an effort to extend his thinning credibility?
Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu telephoned Egyptian President Hosni Mubarak on Monday night to clarify Israel's stance on a Middle East peace agreement, according to a report on Egyptian television.
It came after Mubarak blasted the prime minister for Sunday night's policy speech, saying that "Netanyahu's demand that Palestinians recognize Israel as the Jewish state is ruining the chance for peace."
According to Egyptian news agencies, Mubarak further added that "not Egypt, nor any other Arab country would support Netanyahu's approach" to the peace process.
It came after Mubarak blasted the prime minister for Sunday night's policy speech, saying that "Netanyahu's demand that Palestinians recognize Israel as the Jewish state is ruining the chance for peace."
According to Egyptian news agencies, Mubarak further added that "not Egypt, nor any other Arab country would support Netanyahu's approach" to the peace process.
Just when Iran and Pakistan had reached a key Pipelineistan breakthrough, regional violence exploded involving, once again, "the greatest prize" Balochistan (Please see Balochistan is the greatest prize, May 9, 2009, Asia Times Online.)
The key question to ask is, as usual, cui bono?, or "Who profits?" What's behind this new, bloody intersection of Pipelineistan and the former "global war on terror" - a key theme US President Barack Obama would not dare touch in his Cairo address on Thursday to the "Muslim world"?
The key question to ask is, as usual, cui bono?, or "Who profits?" What's behind this new, bloody intersection of Pipelineistan and the former "global war on terror" - a key theme US President Barack Obama would not dare touch in his Cairo address on Thursday to the "Muslim world"?
A report on Iran's nuclear program issued by the Senate Foreign Relations Committee last month generated news stories publicizing an incendiary charge that U.S. intelligence is underestimating Iran's progress in designing a "nuclear warhead" before the halt in nuclear weapons-related research in 2003.
That false and misleading charge from an intelligence official of a foreign country, who was not identified but was clearly Israeli, reinforces two of Israel's key propaganda themes on Iran - that the 2007 U.S. National Intelligence Estimate on Iran is wrong, and that Tehran is poised to build nuclear weapons as soon as possible.
But it also provides new evidence that Israeli intelligence was the source of the collection of intelligence documents which have been used to accuse Iran of hiding nuclear weapons research.
That false and misleading charge from an intelligence official of a foreign country, who was not identified but was clearly Israeli, reinforces two of Israel's key propaganda themes on Iran - that the 2007 U.S. National Intelligence Estimate on Iran is wrong, and that Tehran is poised to build nuclear weapons as soon as possible.
But it also provides new evidence that Israeli intelligence was the source of the collection of intelligence documents which have been used to accuse Iran of hiding nuclear weapons research.
Comment: Sound analysis from the author, but what is reprehensible about a man who defends his country's right to nuclear energy and condemns Zionism on the world stage where no other dares to tread?