Iran and its lackeys

Merry Christmas to you all!  Hope you had a great time opening presents and sitting around the dinner table with your families.  It’s really a great time of the year to catch up with people and to celebrate to have each other.  A shame that that this holiday has become so commercial.  I think the best gift I got/gave was to call my guest mother in Switzerland.  We were both so happy to hear from each other.  It should really be the small things in life that matter, not a new laptop or a new pair of shoes.  Who really cares if you can buy those same things at any other given point in the year?

This week I’m going to focus on two stories that weren’t really featured across all the new websites I use as sources here.  Even though they could be described as ‘fringe’ stories they are nonetheless important.  Both of the stories relate to (who would have guessed) Iran.

Appeasement

Iran will hold military exercises in international waters around the Strait of Hormuz to show its defense capabilities during a time in which it has received much criticism from around the world for its nuclear program.  With the US 5^th fleet based in the Persian Gulf which can only be accessed through the Strait of Hormuz the exercise can be seen as an act of defiance against US sanctions that aim to cripple the state of Iran and its Revolutionary Guards which have been directly linked to the nuclear program of the country.  To top everything off, the Strait of Hormuz sees a third of the worlds oil supply travel through it on a yearly basis.

I used to think that liking Ahmadinejad and Iran to Hitler and the Third Reich was a very morbid and stupid comparison.  The former had done nothing comparable to the latter (yet) and Iran certainly did not show the same behavior that Germany did during the mid-1930s.  Well, with the war games and military exercises that clearly seem to tell the US “hey, look at us, we don’t care about your griefing,” Iran has done the deed and shown the US the international “bring it on” on a whole other level.  Appeasement like it happened in the 1930s is not an option to the US and Israel.  Yet what are they going to do?  Maybe support domestic uprisings against the Ayatollah and his regime?  Or rather accept Iran for what it is and stop giving it the attention it clearly tries to get internationally?

Connecting the dots

The Lebanese-Canadian Bank has been linked to money laundering funds for Hezbollah.  Allegedly, the bank launders money that is earned from South American drug sales, blood diamonds, and used car sales that mostly go trough Africa to reach both the American and European markets.  The investigation by the United States started in 2006 after the Lebanon War that aimed to weaken Hezbollah’s influence in the border region.

This story is nothing but a wake-up call for those who believed that all the illegal activity that takes place around the globe is regional.  Illegal business, just like legal business, is very much globalized and has to care even less about regulations set by states due to its very nature.  The funding of radical organizations like Hezbollah is just another reason to put an end to the drug violence taking place in Middle and South America, and to ensure the blood diamonds are no longer bought by diamond traders that service the developed world.

Other Links

Baghdad blasts: Hashemi accuses government over attacks

Lockerbie bomber protests innocence in 'last' interview

Arab Spring quiz of the year 2011 (this one is impossible)

Yemeni president Ali Abdullah Saleh to go to US

A troubled farewell

Liars and Deceivers

 Happy December!  As Christmas is coming, the malls in the United States are sure to be filled to the brim with people who wish to fulfill each other’s commercial dreams.  In all honesty, why would you go out and spend several hundreds of dollars on a lucky guess of what the person you are buying the present for might actually want.  Just go ask they person what they would like or even better go shopping with them!  You are so much more likely to buy the right present and it will be less stressful than worrying about what someone might want.  Now that I got my Grinch out for the night let me tell you about this weeks topics.  First I am going to focus on Iran and it’s claims that it shot down a US drone and second I am going to give a little update on the elections that took place in Egypt last week.  Finals week is taking its toll slowly but surely.  I’ve already written so many pages today so please do not expect this blog to be high quality. 

Where is that drone?

Iran has claimed that it shot down a US drone on its eastern border after it briefly violated its airspace.  This is the third time that Iran has claimed to have shot down US drones.

The drone that was apparently shot down is a RQ170, the most modern of the drones used by the United States.  The drone uses technologies similar to the B2 bomber to decrease its radar detect ability.

I wouldn’t put it beyond Iran to lie about shooting down a United States drown just to make itself appear stronger during a time where its diplomatic ties with Europe are becoming rocky.  Yet, let’s assume that they actually shot it down.  If they really have this drone which was apparently barely scratched by its forces in the process of bringing it down and if they have the other four drones that they have shot down since January, it would be possible for Iran to reengineer a drone like the RQ170.  Would Israel be ready to defend itself against drones like the ones the United States has?  Time will tell.

No, Islamists are not necessarily bad

Israeli Minister of Defense Ehud Barak is very disturbed about the first results from Monday’s elections in Egypt.  The moderate Islamist Muslim Brotherhood took a third of the vote, the conservative Islamist Nour Party took a fourth of the votes, and the liberal Egyptian party took about twenty percent in the first round of elections.  Fears are now high that the Muslim Brotherhood will combine forces in a coalition with the Nour party to form an Islamist government that would push a conservative Islamist agenda which would try to implement Shari’a law.

While the fears seem to be legitimate, I think that Israel worries for no reason.  Yes, the Muslim Brotherhood does have ties to Hamas, but that is only because they support the struggle of the Palestinians actively, not because they have any sort of terrorist intentions.  If the Muslim Brotherhood takes over parliament, which it most likely will, Egypt will be more proactive in pushing for Palestinian rights within the region.  And that is certainly not a bad thing in my opinion!  Nothing is set in stone as elections will conclude with the election of the upper house in March of next year.

Other Links


Hillary Clinton 'concerned over Israeli democracy'
The fate of Saif Gaddafi
Syria given 24 hours to sign Arab League deal or face sanctions
Still rich but no longer so calm
Two mullahs went into a bar...

Deal and No Deal

This week a bunch of my friends went to the Occupy Wall Street demonstrations in downtown Manhattan.  I don’t think I have ever seen people at my school so divided over an issue that does not even fall within their usual area of interest.  And that is exactly where the Occupy Wall Street demonstrations become dangerous.  If people who have little to no idea about how the world economy works decide to take part in a demonstration that targets one of the main drivers of the world economy, why are they there?  I think many young people attend the demonstration because it is ‘cool’ to go to something that challenges the current system, even when this system is so well established that abandoning or altering it would be very difficult and probably detrimental.  Another thought that crosses my mind is whether the time at which these protests are occurring is related to the public uprisings in the MENA.  Given the recent success in Tunisia, Libya, and Egypt of political revolutions in disposing their infamous leaders, why not stage a revolution that challenges the economic system at a time where Western capitalism is struggling?

This week, I will focus on the prisoner swap that is taking place between Hamas and the Israeli government, and recent developments between Iran and the USA. As always make sure to check the end of the post for additional links (this week particularly about Occupy Wall Street).

A Game of Numbers

Israel agreed to release 1,027 Palestinians for the return of one of their soldiers, Gilad Shalit, who was captured five years ago, on June 25^th, 2006, at the age of 19 by the Islamist organization Hamas in the Gaza Strip.  The Economist’s headline “An extraordinary exchange rate” probably summarizes best what can be described as a pretty lopsided deal.  Both parties are likely to gain fame among their own populations and abroad at a time where it is needed to secure a solid base of support in a region in transition.  Hamas was able to secure many of its most infamous members who have been serving decades of prison terms for committing acts of terrorism during both intifadas.  The return of over a thousand Palestinians, many of which were expected to remain locked in Israeli prisons for the remainder of their lives, is sure to give Hamas renewed legitimacy from Palestinians not just in the Gaza Strip, but also in the West Bank and abroad.  Israel, working closely with Egypt to ensure the smooth transfer of prisoners, is sure to gain support domestically from a population that has been waiting for Sergeant Shalit to be freed and internationally from countries that see this prisoner transfer as a step towards mutual recognition between Hamas and the Israeli state.  Without a doubt many of those released will pick up arms to fight Israel again.  So in the long-run is it going to be worth it for Israel to release so many of its public enemies?  Cooperation over the release with Egypt will help to fix the strained ties between the two countries and when looking at it that way, the release of some one thousand prisoners is worth a peace treaty that took thirty years and four wars to come about.

“Me? Nahhhhhh.”

This past week, Iran proved once again that it is the number one state in the world when it comes to denial.  After a plot to assassinate the Saudi Arabian Ambassador was unveiled by a US undercover agent acting as a member Mexican drug gangster, President Obama was quick to accuse the Iranian regime of planning the attack on the Saudi envoy’s life.  Ayatollah Khamenei and President Ahmadinejad both denied the claim that this assassination was ordered by their regime, even though one of the two planners was identified as belonging to the Quds Force, a special unit under direct control of the Ayatollah tasked with exporting the Islamist Revolution beyond the borders of Iran.  Both of them also advised the United States from refraining from any kind of retaliation.  (If that in itself is not a sign of guilt I don’t know what is!)  Iranian experts chimed into the condemnation of the United States by stating that Iran would have no benefit from assassinating the Saudi ambassador in Washington.  While some might claim that a state-sponsored act of terrorism could lead to a war between the United States and Iran, I have to agree with the remarks made at the end of this Deutsche Welle article.  It is unlikely that the United States will be willing to enter another prolonged war in a region that is already in great turmoil.  The chance to attract more negative attention is simply too great.  I support President Obama for wanting to prosecute Iran internationally and I hope that he will be able to use the international system to weaken the legitimacy of Iran’s leadership.  Oh and one last note: Do you really think that Iran has no reason to assassinate the Saudi ambassador to the United States?  Wouldn’t that just show how ‘high and mighty’ Iran is if it is able to murder the envoys of its greatest regional enemy, Saudi Arabia, even in the most secure state of the world?  I don’t think we need to look any further than Iraq and Bahrain to see that those two states are so pitted against each other that I would not put the assassination of diplomats in other states beyond them.

Other Links

Report: Arab Spring upheaval cost $55bn

In pictures: Occupy the World

What is money?

Arab League foreign ministers discuss Syria

Libya: Bulldozers raze Gaddafi Bab al-Aziziya compound