Iran building massive rocket launcher

Meet the Iranian nuclear weapon delivery system. One by one, the pieces fall into place, but nobody outside Israel seems interested in stopping Iran's nuclear project.

 

Ami Isseroff  

'Iran developing massive launch site'

 

By JPOST.COM STAFF
06/03/2010  
 
North Korea reportedly assisting Teheran in building launch pad for new missile.  
 
Iran is building a new rocket launch site with North Korean assistance, Israel Radio quoted IHS Jane's as reporting overnight Friday.

 

The new launcher, constructed near an existing rocket base in the Semnan province east of Teheran, is visible in satellite imagery, according to the report.

 

The defense intelligence group said the appearance of the launcher suggests assistance from North Korea, and that it may be intended to launch the Simorgh, a long-range Iranian-made missile unveiled in early February and officially intended to be used as a space-launch vehicle (SLV). SLV's can be converted to be used as long-range ballistic missiles for military purposes.

 

Both the missile and the launch pad, which according to Jane's is large enough to accommodate it, point to cooperation from Pyongyang.

 

Tal Inbar, head of the Space Research Center at the Fisher Institute for Air and Space Strategic Studies, said shortly after the unveiling of the Simorgh that the rocket is a worrisome development since the missile could one day be adapted into an ICBM, capable of carrying a nuclear warhead.

 

After analyzing images of the missile, Inbar said that it appeared to currently be powered by liquid fuel, but could one day be configured to work with a solid fuel propellant, a technology that the Iranians have already begun using in their Sajil ballistic missile, which has a range of around 2,500 km.

 

"This is a major technological breakthrough and could mean that the Iranians are on their way to obtaining an ICBM," he said.

 

Israel and other Western countries suspect that Iran is trying to build nuclear weapons. Iran insists its nuclear program is peaceful.

 

In August 2009, President Shimon Peres told his Russian counterpart Dmitry Medvedev during a visit to Moscow "The fact that Iran is investing billions of dollars in the development of long-range missiles, in parallel to its nuclear project, is clear indication of its intent."
The president said there would be no point for any country to develop missiles capable of reaching targets so far and then loading them with conventional warheads.

 

Evoking Holocaust imagery during the meeting with Medvedev, Peres likened an Iranian nuclear bomb to a "flying death camp."

 

Yaakov Katz contributed to this report

European persecution of Kurds

It is hard to believe, but it is a fact. All of the European rhetoric about human rights and liberties and protection of minorities seems to simply evaporate when they have to deal with the unfortunate Kurds.

 

Ami Isseroff

The European Gestapo is reviving!
Saturday, 06 March 2010 21:05 Rojhelat English

 

The European Gestapo is reviving this time not only in the Nazi Germany but throughout the entire continent. The European Gestapo is not rounding up and massacring the Jews this time but another stateless nation similar to the Jews. No one would have believed a Jew of not having crucified the Jesus; no one would have believed them of not having drunk the blood of Christians; no one would have believed them of not poisoning wells, or to have exploited the peasant, and so on. Without a country or any other bond of unity they were regarded as the living corps, no longer alive and yet walking among the living.

 

 

 

Similar things happening to the stateless Kurds with a little difference that the Kurds are not regarded as the "Jesus crucifiers" but are charged with the groundless accusation of "terrorism". No one now would believe that the Kurds are not terrorists, a people who struggle for the recognition of their identity. No one would believe that the Kurdish cause is just and the Kurds deserve to be regarded and treated like humans, since they have no country where they could protect themselves.

 

 

 

Nonetheless the European Gestapo is labelling the stateless Kurds as the terrorist that must be wiped out of the history. Within the course of last week the European Gestapo raided more than 30 Kurdish community centres throughout the continent because the Kurds have no country; they are alien, foreigners and "terrorists" because they resist to the fascist policies of Turkey, Iran, Iraq and Syria. They are scattered all over the world not deserving to be united, they should have no access to facilities promoting their cultural identity. The people who are alien and do not deserve a representative and their voice must not be heard by those who side with freedom and equality.... This is what the European Gestapo is telling the stateless Kurds!

 

 

 

The European Gestapo raided also the Kurdish national ROJ-TV based in Brussels, in a savage way crushing all the equipments along with other broadcasting facilities because the Kurds are stateless, they don't deserve to have a TV, they have no country no sate; who the hell allows them to equate them with the state owned people in the world? They should be banned from any activities that would serve to promote their culture, they are "terrorists"; no one in the world should hear their voice; no one should see how they are resisting to the fascist regime of Turkey and other Middle Eastern despotism. They must be oppressed and oppressed until they are totally annihilated... That's what the European Gestapo is telling the stateless Kurds...!

 

 

 

The European Gestapo is also raiding the Kurdish National Congress based in Brussels at 5 am injuring the feelings of the millions of the Kurds, by putting a black bag on the heads of their national leaders and dragging them behind. They dragged Dr. Remzi Kartal the head of our parliament in exile in front of the cameras, facing the entire population of the world, with no respect, no honour conveying the message, who cares about you the "stateless Kurds"? I drag the head of your leaders in front of the entire world and no one would ever dare to face me up. I have the power you don't! I'm the authority you are not. I'm the superior, you are the opposite. I rule you, you have to obey, I oppress you but you have no right to resist. If you do you are a "terrorist"..... It does not hurt at all by the way.... The Kurds do not have feelings any way, they have no country, they don't deserve respect; they are alien and "terrorists"....! That's what the European Gestapo is telling to the stateless Kurds....!

 

 

 

A day after the Colon branch of the European Gestapo raided the house of the leader of Free Life Party of Kurdistan (PJAK), the major political group in Iran, without judicial warrant and took him to their "camp". The leader of PJAK, 72 years old Haci Ahmedi is the German citizen, who has been living there for the last 45 year and is admired by the millions of the Kurds for his tireless work for the peaceful solution of the Kurdish issue over the last 50 years. Yet he is not wanted, he leads the Kurdish resistance against Iranian Fascism, raid and drag him too, who the hell would care about the stateless nations, who the hell allows Haci Ahmedi to lead the stateless nation, he resist to fascist rules, eliminate him, he is a "terrorist" too... That is what the European Gestapo is telling the stateless Kurds....!

 

 

 

Within the same purge carried out against the Kurds, the Italian branch of the European Gestapo raided several Kurdish community centres in Italy and rounded up many Kurdish community workers in the same way they rounded up the Jews and massacred them or sent them to the concentration camps. They have no country, no representatives, no state; thus we can act without impunity, no one will pursue us, no one will bother with how we are treating them, they are the Kurds, stateless people, they do resist to our offensives, thus they are "terrorist"; round them up, beat them up, humiliate and degrade them behind; they are inferior; stateless Kurds; they are "terrorist".... That's what the European Gestapo is telling the stateless Kurds....!

 

 

 

Kardo Bokani

 

06/03/2010

 

 

Europeans side with racist genocidal colonialist apartheid reactionary Turkish occupation of Kurdistan

Of course, if lives are lost, it will be regrettable. But the frustration and bitterness of the Kurds who are denied their rights under an apartheid racist occupation is understandable and justifiable. Will there perhaps be Kurdish suicide bombers? Will they hijack some aircraft? Kidnap a few civilians?

 

One would be quite disappointed  in any case if the EU does not  uphold the legitimate right of the Kurds  to resistance against the occupation, a right guaranteed to all peoples by a vote of the UN General Assembly and founded in international legitimacy.

 

Ami Isseroff

 

The EU provokes the Kurd into violence!

Thursday, 04 March 2010 20:14 Rojhelat English

The EU provokes the Kurd into violence!

Kardo Bokani

While the Turkish government closing down the only pro-Kurdish party in the Turkish parliament which had 22 seats as well as 99 municipalities, few months later the Belgian Police raids the Kurdish National Congress based in Brussels and arresting the truth representatives of the Kurds in an inhuman degrading way which provoke anyone who has the feeling of honour. While the Turkish cops shooting Kurdish civilians in the peaceful demonstration, at the same time the Italian and French police forces raiding the Kurdish community centres ostensibly to fight the terrorists. While the Turkish military aircrafts flying over the Kurdistan sky intimidating the Kurdish population, at the same time the Belgian Police forces raids the Kurdish national ROJ-TV based in Brussels, crushing all the equipments, provoking and injuring the journalists, ostensibly to capture the terrorists!

It seems to me that they are all parts of the same plot against Kurdish resistance movement in Turkey, with a little difference that Turkey is not a member of EU. But the EU is demonstrated its capacity to be worst than Turkey. Turkey believes that there is no such a thing as the Kurdish issue but a terror one which must be responded militarily, the EU is doing the same thing but under different title, "anti-terror operations" ostensibly! Turkey claims that there is "one language, one flag, one identity in this country; whoever doesn't like it can leave", the EU is acting along the same line of mentality. Equating the Kurdish nationalist movement is not going to be a good option to face the realities in the world. The reality is that the PKK is the true voice of the Kurds. The PKK and the Kurdish question are bounded together, separating them will not develop a solution and we all know this, even those who pretend to be after a peaceful solution to the Kurd case.

The Belgian police forces raiding more than 24 Kurdish community centres including Kurdistan National Congress are well aware that those who they are raiding and arresting are not terrorist and they have a good background of them. But what really they want to show by putting a bag over the head of Dr. Remzi Kartal, the leader of Kurdish National Congress, and dragging him behind......? Apart from humiliating and hurting the feelings of millions of the Kurds what else they are hoping for? Are they really aware that the humans can be unpredictable? Are they really aware that the Kurds are well able to protect their values and their honours? Are they really aware that the similar thing happened to Ocalan, the Kurdish national leader in the Imrali prison, and it sparked the violence among those who were agitated by these provocative treatments? But would provoking the masses into violence really help to solve the issues? The Belgian police could have sent summons to Dr. Kartal and his three colleagues to attend the court of law, if there is still any court of justice in Belgium! Who are those that they arrested in such a humiliating way? Where is the place that they raided at 5 am in the morning? By the way Dr. Kartal was arrested in 2004 in Germany and in 2009 in Spain under the same charge and he won his case and released respectively.

They raided Kurdistan National Congress which is in the vicinity of the European Parliament, a place that diplomats from different countries paying regular visits to; a place that has nothing less than the Belgian Parliament in the eyes of not only the Kurds but any one who sides with democracy and freedom and the rights of the oppressed nations. The Belgian Police need not to raid it in this way and if they had, there was no need to treat the truthful voices of the Kurds in that humiliating way. That will not only put into question the Belgian standard for human rights but it will also create disgust and hatred toward Belgian authorities.

Of course the Kurdish nation has seen many days as such in their history and has demonstrated huge potential for victory. In fact the Kurdish nation has been triumphal in its struggle against the Turkish regime, with the great sacrifices of our nation we defeated the denial and annihilation policies of the Turkish government and are in the final stage of victory. The Turkish government now are having a really tough time and has lost their vision; they don't know how to pave their last steps of defeat in their fascist war against the Kurds. One might argue that orchestrating multi-faceted attacks on the Kurdish community centres and lately the Kurdish National Congress and ROJ- TV are steps to give the defeated Turkey solidarity and condolences.

But to conclude with I should say that the Belgian Polices forces acted in an extremely immature and provoking way that might only bring about hatred and disgust. Apart from negative effects, it would definitely not bring about any result in the favour of peace and democracy and above all it would only add up to more problems of the war-torn country such as Turkey and it might also "lead" the people who have been hurt and humiliated, into violent protests around the world, that the Belgian Authorities should stand accountable to.

Kardo Bokani

04, 03.2010

Arrests of Kurds in Belgium: What happened to human rights in Europe?

European concern for human rights ends as soon as it is a matter of human rights and freedom of expression in Europe. European concern for people under occupation seems to end as soon as it is politically inconvenient for European politicians. Europe seems to be more than anxious to collaborate in the apartheid genocidal policies of certain countries regarding the legitimate rights of the Kurdish people.

 

Ami Isseroff

 

 

Mass arrests of Kurds in Belgium causes great concern across Europe

Thursday, 04 March 2010 17:41

Press Release: Mass arrests of Kurds in Belgium causes great concern across Europe

At 5am this morning, the offices of ROJ TV were raided by the Belgium along with several other addresses in Belgium. 30 people were arrested including Mr Remzi Kartal, Mr Zubeyir Aydar and Mr Eyep Duru. Though we understand that ROJ TV has not been closed down none of the journalists have yet been allowed back into the building and transmission has ceased for the time being. ROJ TV is the mouthpiece of the Kurdish community in Europe and is seen as a beacon of hope for all those who seek the resolution of the Kurdish Question.

Remzi Kartal is particularly well known and respected across Europe and in the UK for his diplomatic activities on behalf of his people. Like many Kurds, Mr Kartal regarded Europe as a safe haven when he had to flee repression in his homeland. Mr Kartal had been elected to the Turkish Parliament as a Democratic Party (DEP) member along with Mr Aydar. They were prevented from playing their part in the democratic political process and were quickly attacked and detained with Ms Leyla Zana later serving a long prison sentence. Fearing incarceration and torture, they fled to Europe where they were granted asylum.

In 2002 the European Court of Human Rights, ruled against Turkey and in favour of Mr Kartal and 12 others, under Article 3 of Protocol 1. The systematic torture of dissidents by Turkey was yet again proved beyond doubt and Mr Kartal received 50,000 Euros compensation.

Undeterred Mr Kartal started to campaign in exile for the Kurdish cause and became well known in diplomatic and government circles all over the UK and Europe for his lobbying work and advocacy of a democratic and peaceful solution to the Kurdish question in Turkey.

All three men have been working constructively in the search for a peaceful settlement based on justice and respect for everyone's rights inside Turkey. For their diplomatic efforts they should be honoured not incarcerated. Their vision of a just, free, peaceful and democratic Turkey is one that we all share and as such we demand that their freedom is returned to them to allow them to continue in their chosen and much valued roles.

Mr Kartal and Mr Duru were arrested in Spain in 2009 but subsequently released without charge. We fully expect the same to happen again and already many of those arrested have been released but these tactics of intimidation against those working peacefully to further the Kurdish cause are of great concern, particularly in the lead up to the International Women's Day on 8 March and the Kurdish New Year, Newroz which is celebrated on 21 March.

An emergency demonstration is being held in the UK to protest the arrests at midday tomorrow, Friday 5 March outside the Belgian Embassy, 17 Grosvener Crescent, London.

For further information contact: Peace in Kurdistan

Rachel Bird: 020 7272 4161 / 07952 145854; knklondon@gn.apc.org This e-mail address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it

Estella Schmid: 020 7586 5892; estella24@tiscali.co.uk This e-mail address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it

What the Middle East is really like

Most of the people in the Middle East, most of the time, are just people, as they are anywhere else. They spend their time working and having fun, rather than blowing each other up. And they are not really as interested in the games of politicians as the politicians make out. Is there a political party that represents all these people?

 

That's an important part of any reality.

 

Ami Isseroff

4 Palestinian women escape into reality
By RUTH EGLASH
02/03/2010  
They've had enough of war, they've had enough of politics, and they are looking for an escape from their daily realities.
 
They've had enough of war, they've had enough of politics, and now four young Palestinian women from Gaza and Jerusalem claim they are looking for an escape from their daily realities by becoming the stars of an on-line reality series that aims to show the world how people in this region really live.

 

"There are so many documentaries about the [security barrier ] or about Gaza and about politics," Samar Stephan, producer of Sleepless in Gaza and Jerusalem, which aired its first episode Monday evening, told The Jerusalem Post Monday. "People both here and abroad are sick of hearing about the politics in the region and we have decided it's time to show people what life is really like."

 

The concept is simple: A camera will follow the girls – two from Gaza and two from Jerusalem, two Muslims and two Christians – on a daily basis and record whatever they do.

 

"Whether they are out buying tomatoes or going out drinking and dancing with their friends, we will show it. The content is up to them," explained Stephan, 29, from Ramallah.

 

However, the interesting twist to this show, which has enough funding for some 90 half-hour episodes over the next three months, is that it will harness the wildly popular social networking Web site Facebook to garner fans and will be broadcast each evening on the video self-promotion site YouTube in order to reach as many people as possible.

 

"This is a non-profit project," explained Stephan, saying only that anonymous funders in Egypt and Abu Dhabi were behind the initiative. "We want as many people as possible to watch it. YouTube is a really popular medium and it is open to everyone. We want to show what this generation [of Palestinians] wants."

 

The series already has its own Facebook fan page and within 24 hours of broadcasting its trailer on Sunday more than 200 people had decided to join. In addition, the webcast on YouTube was viewed by close to 1,500 Web users in less than one day. And on both Web sites, just the anticipation of the series has already garnered talkbacks and discourse among Palestinians and Israelis from across the globe.

 

"It's amazing that so many people have joined [our Facebook page] already," said Stephan. "I think people are looking for new things in their lives and a huge percentage of people around the world use Facebook every day. It's a way of building bridges and reaching as many people as possible."

 

Jerusalemite Ashira Ramadan, one of the four young women who will be followed by cameras for the next three months, added, "When a show is on a certain TV channel there is always one group of people that is alienated. By being on YouTube it is open to every side – Israelis, Palestinians and anyone across the world who wants to see what we are doing can watch us. It's the best way to reach people."

 

Ramadan, 25, who is a presenter for the Palestinian Broadcasting Corporation and was previously a reporter for the now defunct RAM FM radio station in Jerusalem, will be joined in the series by Gazan Nagham Mohanna, a documentary filmmaker, Ala Khayo, a Jerusalem-based accountant, and teenager Dona Matras from Gaza.

 

"No one has made a reality TV show about life in this area yet," said Ramadan, who hopes to show that "we have normal lives like the rest of the world."

 

Though the show features two professional journalists and the women obviously have their political convictions with regards to the Israeli-Palestinian conflict, Stephan and Ramadan claim that the overall goal is to demonstrate that despite the issues, most young people just want to enjoy life without politics.

 

"Obviously we will not ignore what is happening here," stated Ramadan. "Occupation is something that you cannot erase or get rid of and it affects me every day, but I would also like to show my family life in Jerusalem."

 

"I go out with my friends and we have fun," she continued. "It's just fun under occupation, with borders and boundaries, but I think people will be shocked to learn that we do go to parties or to the cinema and that there is culture behind the wall."

 

"Of course there are a lot of people struggling in this area," said Stephan, "but at the same time there are many people who just want to get on with their lives.

Talking about BDS

Let's talk about BDS

Some of my American friends tell me that young Jewish people are complaining: "Why can't we talk about BDS?" "What's wrong with BDS?" "Please let's talk about BDS." "How come you never want to talk about BDS?"

Indeed, one Emily Schaeffer wrote an article in the anti-Israel blog Mondoweiss entitled, "People are talking about BDS."

So if people are talking about BDS, why not talk about it? By all means, let's talk about BDS.

Any subject referred to by its initials is likely to be something unpleasant, best discussed with caution in public: VD, STD, AIDS. The initials are used to euphemize reality. We can talk about the "C-word" without saying the name of the disease, and that makes us feel much better about it.

Continued here: Let's talk about BDS  http://zionism-israel.com/log/archives/00000730.html

Not Permissible for Muslims to Join Non-Muslim Parties- Omar Bakri

In reference to infiltration of the British Labour Party by Islamic fundamentalists, Sheikh Omar al Bakri said:

 

"We have raised almost three generations of Muslim youth, and thanks to God, this preaching has begun to bear fruit in a number of different forms, and perhaps the statements by British Environment Minister, Jim Fitzpatrick, are the best evidence of the success of this preaching in Britain by my al-Muhajiroun and al-Ghurabaa movements, in addition to other sincere preachers such as Abu Qatada, Abu Hamza, Abu Ezz Eddin, Abdullah el-Faisal, Abu Basir al-Tartusi, Hani al-Sibai, and Anjem Choudry."

Is any further comment needed? Is anything unclear?

 

Ami Isseroff

 

Not Permissible for Muslims to Join Non-Muslim Parties- Omar Bakri

 

01/03/2010
Asharq Al-Awsat

 

London, Asharq al-Awsat- British Environment Minister, Jim Fitzpatrick, has said that Islamic fundamentalists have infiltrated the British Labour Party. In an interview with the Sunday Telegraph, the British Minister said that the ruling Labour party, which he is a member of, has been infiltrated by an extremist Islamist group that want to create an "Islamic social and political order" in Britain. The newspaper quoted Fitzpatrick as saying that the Islamic Forum of Europe (IFE) which believes in Islamic Shariaa law and wants to turn Britain and Europe into an Islamic state, has placed sympathizers in elected officers in the borough of Tower Hamlets in East London, and claims correctly to be able to achieve "mass mobilization" of voters.

 

Fitzpatrick told the Sunday Times "They [the IFE] are acting as an entryist organization, placing people within the political parties, recruiting members to those political parties, trying to get individuals selected and elected so they can exercise political influence and power, whether it's at local government level or national level."

 

For his part, Muslim preacher Omar Bakri, the spiritual guide of the banned extremist Islamist al-Ghurabaa movement told Asharq Al-Awsat in a telephone interview from Tripoli, Lebanon, where he currently resides that "engaging in the political process, meaning a Muslim joining a non-Islamic British [political] party, is something that is not permissible, and this is a sin and something that I do not encourage. However I do not doubt the sincere intentions of the Muslims who engage in the political process, and the Prophet peace be upon him told us that God will grant Islamic victory, even against the immoral."

 

Omar Bakri, who was the former leader of the now disbanded al-Muhajiroun movement, added that "the fundamentalist secularists will target Muslim preachers and youth regardless of whether they take part in the political process and [join] political parties in Britain, and this will have a positive impact on Muslim preaching in the future because people will realize that the al-Ghurabaa movement and the [al-Muhajiroun] movement and others have been banned as a result of a strategy to target Islam under the pretext of combating terrorism."

 

Bakri also asked "[what is] the meaning behind the West's fear of some Muslims becoming involved in non-Islamic political parties?"

 

Omar Bakri moved to Britain in 1986, where he went on to become one of the most famous radical clerics in the country. In 2005, following the London July bombings, Bakri left Britain for Lebanon, and the British government promptly banned him from returning after the British media launched a media campaign against him as a result of his extremist views. He once described the September 11 hijackers as "the Magnificent 19" and called on all Muslims to emigrate from Britain.

 

Bakri also told Asharq Al-Awsat that "the call to God is the message of the prophets, and the work of the Islamic organizations, and this is something promoted and protected by the Islamic faith, and God said 'Invite (all) to the Way of thy Lord with wisdom and beautiful preaching; and argue with them in ways that are best and most gracious' [Surat an-Nahl; Verse 125]. We praise God according to His call that "Who is better in speech than one who calls (men) to Allah, works righteousness, and says: I am of those who bow in Islam?" [Surat al-Fussilat; Verse 33]. Therefore it is not surprising that among those Muslims in the West, and in Britain in particular, there are those who are preaching Islam and working towards establishing divine Shariaa law. We have succeeded in sowing the seeds of preaching [the message of God] and Islamic concepts."

 

Al-Bakri added that "We have raised almost three generations of Muslim youth, and thanks to God, this preaching has begun to bear fruit in a number of different forms, and perhaps the statements by British Environment Minister, Jim Fitzpatrick, are the best evidence of the success of this preaching in Britain by my al-Muhajiroun and al-Ghurabaa movements, in addition to other sincere preachers such as Abu Qatada, Abu Hamza, Abu Ezz Eddin, Abdullah el-Faisal, Abu Basir al-Tartusi, Hani al-Sibai, and Anjem Choudry."