Week in Review

DoctorZin provides a review of this past week's [7/03-7/09] major news events regarding Iran.

Iran and the G8 Summit.

• Adnkronos International reported that the Iranian opposition views this G8 Summit with hope.
• Iranian blog, Roozonline reported that days before the G8 summit, rumor has it the U.S. will arrive with plans in tow for military action against Iran. Another.
• The U.S. State Department published the G8 Statement on Iran.

The London Bombing.

• National Review reminded us that if London, which has long faced the highly sophisticated terrorists of the IRA can be struck by terror, then every city is vulnerable.
• Victor Davis Hanson, National Review suggested that the British may react very differently than the Spanish did after Madrid — by doing nothing.
• The NY Sun reported that Jack Straw said the attacks in London bore all the hallmarks of Al Qaeda.
• Iran Focus reports that a senior Iran cleric blames West for London bombings.
• Nick Cohen, The Guardian said, We all know who was to blame for Thursday's murders... and it wasn't Bush and Blair. A power warning to the liberal elite.
• The Times UK reported Netanyahu said concerted action was required to rein in Iran, not least because of its links with Islamic terrorist groups.
• Roger Scruton, The Times UK said, In dealing with terrorism you are confronting a resentment that is not concerned to improve the lot of anyone, but only to destroy the thing it hates.
  

Ahmadinejad: The Terrorist Charges.

• The Times UK examined the charges Ahmadinejad is a terrorist, torturer and executioner.
• The Guardian UK reported that Iran claimed that its hard-line president-elect, Mahmoud Ahmadinejad, was the victim of a smear campaign.
• Amir Taheri, New York Post reported that Ahmadinejad was wounded in an assassination of an Iran dissident and spent a day in a Vienna hospital before being whisked out of Austria with a diplomatic passport.
• Caroline Glick, The Jerusalem Post reported that the mask is off the Iranian regime, but the world does not seem to care.
• Northeast Intelligence Network reported on Ahmadinejad's own website for evidence of his involvement in the taking of the U.S. Embassy.
• Iran Press Service examined a few of Iran's President Elect challenges.

More on the Election Fraud.

• The Times Union reminds us that Ahmadinejad's 17 million votes, as reported by the Interior Ministry, amount to only 36 percent of the electorate. If you believe their totals.

Iran's Troublemaking Outside of Iran.

• Middle East Newsline reported the Iranian-sponsored Hizbullah has offered $100,000 for the abduction of an Israeli soldier.
• Khaleej Times reported that Iran threatened Bahrain after a newspaper published a cartoon deemed insulting to the Islamic republic'’s supreme leader.
• St Petersburg Times reported that Iranian leaders are just waiting for U.S. troops to leave Iraq.
• WorldNetDaily reported that an Iranian movement says it now has recruited 40,000 human "time bombs" to carry out suicide attacks against Americans.
• Men's News Daily said that the Islamic terrorists can take down a building, bomb a train, and kill and maim innocent people and that the Islamic Republic of Iran has continued to finance and sustains terror groups throughout the world.

The power struggle inside of Iran.

• Iranian.ws reported that Grand Ayatollah Hassan Ali Montazeri criticized the recent presidential elections, and called for the urgent amendment of Iran's constitution.
• The Guardian UK reported that Iran's hard-line Revolutionary Guards pledged their loyalty to the country's ultraconservative president-elect.

Iran's military.

• The Washington Times reported that Ahmedinejad said his country needs a strong army to "form a great resource for the country and its people." He added that Iran was "pivotal in bringing security to the Islamic world."
• St Petersburg Times reported that Russia is reportedly in talks to upgrade three Iranian submarines with missile weapons systems.
• BBC News reported that the Iranians plan to train Iraq's Military.
• Radio Free Europe reported that a U.S. court has sentenced an Iranian national to nearly five years in prison for trying to export parts for F-4 and F-14 jet fighters.

Iran's nuclear negotiations.

• Khaleej Times reported that a close aide to Iranian president-elect Mahmoud Ahmadinejad said that Iran's nuclear policies will change under the new government.
• Iran Focus reported that Iran's chief nuclear negotiator, Hassan Rowhani, denied was stepping down as had been reported earlier.
• Voice of America News reported a meeting between Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice and France's new foreign Minister, Philippe Douste-Blazy. The French minster said, the EU-Three will never accept a resumption of military nuclear activities by Iran.
• The Financial Times reported that the EU3 may seek to turn the Paris agreement into international law.
• Iran Focus reported that Iranian officials are becoming increasingly anxious that the European Union may change its policy toward the clerical state.
• BBC News reported Tehran is considering building 20 new nuclear power stations.
• World Net Daily reported on how Condi scuttled EU-Iran agreement.

The Iranian Economy.

• The Peninsula reported that Iran is in talks with Indian and Chinese firms that are interested in developing the Azadegan oil field.
• BusinessWeek reported that since the Iranian President-elect is anti-capitalist and anti-West, investment may suffer.

Human Rights/Freedom of the press inside of Iran.

• Eli Lake, The NY Sun reported that jailed Iranian dissident journalist Akbar Ganji has defied the will of his captors, vowing to refuse to end his 26-day hunger strike.
• IranMania reported that imprisoned Iranian dissident Ganji is near death due to his hunger strike and demanding unconditional freedom.
• Islamic Republic News Agency reported that the EU called on Iran to release Ganji.
• Islamic Republic News Agency reported that Ebadi says Zarafshan on medical leave from prison and the government denies Ganji is in any medical emergency.
• Gooya News reported that more than 380 intellectuals and scholars called for a demonstration next Tuesday, to press the Islamic government to release Akbar Ganji and other political prisoners.

• Amnesty International released an Urgent Action statement on Iranian writer and journalist Yousuf Azizi Bani Toruf.
• Reporters Without Borders issued another statement saying Iran's judiciary continues to stall in Kazemi case, two years after her death.
• Gooya News published a petition in support of Dr. Hossein Ghazian who was tried and charged with the alleged crime of cooperating with a belligerent state (the U.S.) through conducting opinion polls for Gallup Organization and Zogby Polling Institute.
• Iran Focus reported that a hospital belonging to the Revolutionary Guards in the Iranian capital is refusing entry for women not wearing the head-to-toe covering known as chador.
• IranMania reported that Iran's Judiciary system says will not carry out eye-for-eye verdict.
• Iranian.ws reported that an Iranian woman singer was threatened with death for singing.
• Voice of America News reported that Iran's streets are full of children working illegally.

Popular struggle for freedom inside of Iran.

• SMCCDI reported that several militiamen were killed in an ambush near the southeastern City of Zahedan.
• FrontPageMag reported that more and more young Iranians are resorting to violence against the regime and its representatives.
• SMCCDI reported that repressive measures are increasing with the approach of the anniversary of Students' Uprising on July 9th.
• SMCCDI reported a scheduled demonstration at Tehran University did not happen. The regime had sent all students home and surrounded the University with security forces.

Popular support outside of Iran for the pro-democracy efforts in Iran.

• SMCCDI reported that for the third time this year, their website was shut down, allegedly for emailing spam. Update
• Iran Focus obtained the photograph of Iran’s President-elect Mahmoud Ahmadinejad with Ayatollah Khomeini’s Chief Representative in the Islamic Revolutionary Guards Corps in the 1980s. Photo.
• Farah Pahlavi published an English translation of a message of solidarity with the Iranian people.
• Freethoughts reminded us of the July 9th, 1999 crackdown in Iran.

Iran and the International community.

• The Jerusalem Post reported that the leading Polish presidential candidate said, an Iranian attempt to develop nuclear weapons would be the greatest threat to peace on earth.
• Middle East Newsline reported that Israel's Defense Ministry has said that Iran could destroy the Jewish state with two atomic bombs.
• Roozonline examined the recent cold reception the Europeans gave to Iranian representatives.
  

Can you believe this?

• Tiscali.it reported that El Baradei is married to an Iranian woman whose relative is Ayatollah Mahdavi Kani, one of the "brains" of the regime and close to the tyrant Khamenei.

Must Read reports.

• The Post-Gazette suggested that since Ayatollah Khameini no longer sees a need to put a "reformist" face on the regime, Iran is very close to -- or already possesses -- a nuclear weapon and the means to deliver it.
• Newsweek provides a serious look at Iran's nuclear lies.
• Middle East Intelligence Bulletin published a few years ago a report on the Origins of Iran's Reformist Elite. A valuable read in light of recent developments in Iran.
• Iran Focus reported that a clique of 300 men with family ties have been running the Islamic Republic from the time of the 1979 Iranian revolution until present.
• James Lewis, Real Clear Politics thinks an Iranian bomb will split Islam.
• Alan Peters, The Free Republic published: Operation "Sandblast" advocating the U.S. support a radical rethinking of U.S. policy. The following is an example of one such approach.
• CNN sees Iran as a land of contradictions.
• Jewish Journal lamented that during Bush’s tenure, the movement for reform and liberty in Iran has waned.

The Experts.

• Michael Rubin, Forward said Washington must plan today for the democratic Iran of tomorrow.
• Amir Taheri, Arab News reported the people of Iran are witnessing an impressive build-up of power around the newly elected president.
• Amir Taheri, Aawsat discussed the new face of Iran and the West's great misunderstanding.

Photos and cartoons of the week.

• A photo of a recent demonstration against the regime: 70,000,000 prisoners in Iran and
• A Cox and Forkum cartoon: It gets worse every year.

And finally, The Quote of the Week.

Amir Taheri, The Times UK said about the London bombing:

It may take some time before the full identity of the attackers is established. But the ideology that motivates them, the networks that sustain them and the groups that finance them are all too well known.