Is there a Chavez terror network on America’s doorstep? (WAPO)

President Obama’s trip to South America has showcased promising partnerships in Brazil and elsewhere. His visit, however, should also focus attention in the region and within his administration on the fact that Iran and Venezuela are conspiring to sow Tehran’s brand of proxy terrorism in the Western Hemisphere.

On Aug. 22, 2010, at Iran’s suggestion, Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez hosted senior leaders of Hamas, Hezbollah and Palestinian Islamic Jihad (PIJ) in a secret summit at military intelligence headquarters at the Fuerte Tiuna compound in southern Caracas. Among those present were Palestinian Islamic Jihad Secretary General Ramadan Abdullah Mohammad Shallah, who is on the FBI’s list of most-wanted terrorists; Hamas’s “supreme leader,” Khaled Meshal; and Hezbollah’s “chief of operations,” whose identity is a closely guarded secret.

The idea for this summit sprang from a meeting between Iran’s ambassador to Syria, Ahmad Mousavi, and his Venezuelan counterpart, Imad Saab Saab, at the Venezuelan embassy in Damascus on May 10, 2010. According to the report received by Venezuela’s foreign minister, the two envoys were discussing a meeting between their presidents and Hezbollah’s leader, Hasan Nasrallah, when the Iranian suggested that the three meet Chavez in Caracas. That these infamous criminals left their traditional havens demonstrates their confidence in Chavez and their determination to cultivate a terror network on America’s doorstep.

According to information from within the Venezuelan regime, arrangements for the August conclave were made by Chavez’s No. 2 diplomat in Syria, Ghazi Nassereddine Atef Salame. Nassereddine is a naturalized Venezuelan of Lebanese origin who runs Hezbollah’s growing network in South America — which includes terror operatives and drug traffickers. A document obtained recently from a senior Venezuelan diplomat indicates that Nassereddine does business with four companies operated by Walid Makled, a cocaine smuggler indicted in the United States and detained in Colombia.

Makled has admitted his ties to the drug trade in a series of media interviews from jail.  He claims to have documents and videotapes proving the complicity of Chavez’s military commander, Henry Rangel Silva, and other Chavista cronies in cocaine smuggling.  Colombian authorities say they must return Makled to his native Venezuela to face a murder charge, and U.S. diplomats have concluded it is pointless to continue pressing for his extradition to face drug charges in New York. Yet the revelation that Makled can cast light on Nassereddine’s Hezbollah network should spur U.S. diplomats to renew their push for Makled’s extradition to the United States.

Please click here for the rest over at Washington Post Opinions (H/T Fred L)

Canada deplores Iran’s election to the UN Commission on the Status of Women

From PressTV

Iran seat on UN panel irks Canada
Sun, 02 May 2010 02:39:11 GMT
Canada’s Foreign Affairs Minister Lawrence Cannon
Iran’s election to the UN Commission on the Status of Women (UNCSW), an influential panel that promotes women’s rights, has irked Canada.

In a Saturday statement, Canadian Foreign Affairs Minister Lawrence Cannon said there were “serious concerns” with Iran’s election to the UNCSWat the United Nations Economic and Social Council.

On Thursday, the UN announced that Iran, along with 10 other countries, had been elected to the high-profile UNCSW for the term beginning in 2011.

The UNCSW seeks to ensure women’s rights by investigating nations that violate women’s rights, monitoring their efforts in improving women’s equality and detailing their shortcomings.

“It is the Government of Canada’s understanding that Iran was acclaimed as a member of the UN Commission on the Status of Women as part of an uncontested slate endorsed by the Asian regional group, of which Canada is not a member,” he said.

“We deplore this development but will use Iran’s membership on this body to take the Iranian authorities to task for their systemic human rights violations,” he added.

Rejecting allegations of human rights violations, Iran blames Western countries for most of the abuses and rights violations that happen around the world.

“Those who claim to be the top advocates of human rights start wars and kill millions of people,” President Ahmadinejad has said.

Canada’s government is currently struggling with the parliament over documents that could implicate Canada in torture of Afghan detainees while in American custody.

Ahmadinejad has also said that freedom of expression and freedom of religion were integral parts of Iranian culture.

Iran’s civilization and culture dates back to 2500 years ago, when “Cyrus the Great put an end to slavery,” he has said, drawing a comparison with the US, where slavery has only been abolished for 180 years.

MJ/MMN

Videos from Iran. Tehran 11 Feb 2010 Protest P12



gates of Vienna passed me these clips. More information will be available there. Click through to the youtube page they are hosted on, and some information is there. The Iranian regime has done all it can to shut down communications for it’s people to the outside world. Gmail for instance was closed starting a day or more before the 11th, and other services were shut down. Stratfor.com has more on the specifics. Sorry to be vague on this one, but vague is better than wrong. More info as it comes my way.

There is more here for those that are willing to rely on a machine translation, or can speak this Scandinavian language.

STRATFOR: Sanctions on Iran will toughen

a href=”http://stratfor.com” target=”_blank”>Iran: U.S., France Call For New Sanctions
February 8, 2010
U.S. Defense Secretary Robert Gates said Feb. 8 that Iran has left the international community no choice but to pursue new sanctions against the country, Reuters reported. Gates, at a joint news conference with French Defense Minister Herve Morin, said a peaceful resolution to the issue of Iran’s nuclear program is possible, but “it will require all of the international community to work together.” Morin said France is in “complete agreement” with the United States, BBC reported.

Russia moves towards West on Iran

Blomberg: From business week,

Russia Signals Unity With West After Iranian Rocket Launch

Feb 4 2010

By Lucian Kim

Feb. 4 (Bloomberg) — Russia is moving closer to the West on how to deal with Iran’s nuclear program following a rocket launch by the Islamic republic, said Konstantin Kosachyov, the head of the foreign relations committee of Russia’s lower house of parliament.

“Mutual understanding between Russia and its international partners on additional sanctions has clearly improved,” Kosachyov said in an interview with state broadcaster Rossiya 24 today. “The situation is beginning to alarm us increasingly.”

Iran fired a satellite into space yesterday at a ceremony attended by President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad. The launch prompted Western concern that the rocket technology, like Iran’s nuclear program, could have military applications. Iran maintains it has only peaceful intentions.

Russia, a member of the six-country contact group with Iran, has made contradictory statements on the need for more United Nations economic sanctions. President Dmitry Medvedev has indicated a willingness to toughen the trade embargo, while Prime Minister Vladimir Putin has held off from new threats.

“What Iran is trying to do now raises concern because it’s classic dual-use technology,” said Kosachyov. Should Iran one day start producing nuclear warheads, the situation would be even more dangerous if the country had medium- and long-range missiles, he said. Continue Reading →

Iran at start of new revolution and regime?

There are several phases to a revolution and the most significant one from the point of view of actual change afterwards, is if security forces join the revolutionaries and stop taking orders from the government. The reasons for this are obvious.

It might be the case in Iran now. According to this STRATFOR report I just received:

December 27, 2009
STRATFOR Iranian sources say that unconfirmed reports indicate as many as 16 people are believed to have been killed so far in the Dec. 27 protests in Tehran, including one Basij militiamen, and that several security forces have been injured along with rioters. There are also reports that there have been some desertions by security forces to the side of the protesters.

Iran bringing in Hizbulah as goons to Qom

According to Stratfor, Iran is rumoured to be bringing in hundreds of Hizbolah men to Qom as goons to act against anti government protesters. If this is true we will know within the week. Chances are, some of the reports we are reading about non uniformed men acting violently against protesters already are likely Hizbolah. Certainly Hizblah are seen frequently in the streets of Iranian cities according to a Chris Hitchens interview from years ago.

But what an ugly government that brings in hired thugs from another nation to control its own population. I can’t think of much worse except what Iran plans for Israel, the US and perhaps Saudi Arabia even.

December 25, 2009
A STRATFOR source reported Dec. 25 that hundreds of Hezbollah security forces have been dispatched to Iran in anticipation of the opposition demonstrations planned for Dec. 27, the Shiite holy day of Ashura. The source indicated that most of the Hezbollah forces would be sent to Qom, where demonstrations have broken out in the past week. This report has not been confirmed.

By the way, for anyone who likes this sort of geopolitical analysis on world affairs I suggest buying a STRATFOR membership. It is fallable indeed as they really got the Iranian nuclear program wrong. But overall it is a fantastic way to think and a good augmentation of more typical ways of thinking about war and politics.

Iran Iraq and oilfields.

Stratfor has missed the boat in my opinion, on its estimate of Iran’s true nuclear ambitions, capabilities and intentions. Stratfor consistently argued that there was no real intention to make a nuclear weapon but the illusion of making one gave them leverage in terms of negotiations with the US over territory in the newly minted Saddam free Iraq.
Iran now appears to be within reach of a nuclear weapon. Not a device but a fairly sophisticated weapon as well as launch capabilities to create an EMP effect over whatever target it desires, as illustrated by Iran’s successful satellite launch in 09
So much for ambitions. It clearly did intend to develop nuclear weapons and may well have done so. I would bet that whatever common intel is on Iran and it’s nuclear program is, they are in fact well ahead of that schedule. This would appear to be the theme. It is a series of surprises with Iran. Surprise! they are at stage 2 and we thought they were still in stage one, and so on and so on. The most recent one was surprise, they have developed a sophisticated nuclear trigger that may be a part for a plutonium based weapon.
So much for capabilities. As to intentions I believe Iran has been very clear. A world without Jews, Israel and the U.S.A
How this story relates I have no idea at all. But Iran while it may indeed be crazy, it may indeed have a leadership which are dedicated believers in a cult that requires a man made Armageddon to bring its mythical saviour back to life, Iran has shown that it is not stupid and underestimating it would be foolish beyond measure. I do not know how this story relates to Iran’s programs and intentions, but I do know that it does.

Stratfor has missed the boat in my opinion, on its estimate of Iran’s true nuclear ambitions, capabilities and intentions. Stratfor consistently argued that there was no real intention to make a nuclear weapon but the illusion of making one gave them leverage in terms of negotiations with the US over territory in the newly minted Saddam free Iraq.

Iran now appears to be within reach of a nuclear weapon. Not a device but a fairly sophisticated weapon as well as launch capabilities to create an EMP effect over whatever target it desires, as illustrated by Iran’s successful satellite launch in 09

So much for ambitions. It clearly did intend to develop nuclear weapons and may well have done so. I would bet that whatever common intel is on Iran and it’s nuclear program is, they are in fact well ahead of that schedule. This would appear to be the theme. It is a series of surprises with Iran. Surprise! they are at stage 2 and we thought they were still in stage one, and so on and so on. The most recent one was surprise, they have developed a sophisticated nuclear trigger that may be a part for a plutonium based weapon.

So much for capabilities. As to intentions I believe Iran has been very clear. A world without Jews, Israel and the U.S.A

How this story relates I have no idea at all. But Iran while it may indeed be crazy, it may indeed have a leadership which are dedicated believers in a cult that requires a man made Armageddon to bring its mythical saviour back to life, Iran has shown that it is not stupid and underestimating it would be foolish beyond measure. I do not know how this story relates to Iran’s programs and intentions, but I do know that it does.

Eeyore for Vladtepes

From STRATFOR.COM:

Iraq Incursion Update: Assessing Iran’s Motives

December 18, 2009 | 2318 GMT

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AFP/Getty Images

Members of Iran’s Revolutionary Guard in April 2006

Following an emergency meeting held Dec. 18 in response to an Iranian incursion and occupation of an oil well in southern Iraq, the Iraqi National Security Council said that Iran has violated Iraq’s territorial integrity and called on the Iranian government to withdraw its forces. Iraqi government spokesman Ali al-Dabbagh said the Iranian ambassador in Baghdad had been summoned and that diplomatic steps were being taken to resolve the situation.

The details of what exactly happened remain murky, but it appears that Iranian forces have occupied an oil well in the al Fauqa region of the East Maysan oil field, about 280 miles south of Baghdad. The border between Iran and Iraq in this area has not been demarcated since the Iran-Iraq war. Iran has implied that it did not violate Iraqi territory, as it considers the oil well to be within its borders.

For the rest of this article you will need a STRATFOR.COM membership.

Here is a new STRATFOR video on this issue:

Secret document exposes Iran’s nuclear trigger

From The Times online with a thanks to Fred for pointing this out to me
Iranian technicians remove a container of radioactive uranium, 'yellow cake', sealed by the International Atomic Energy Agency

Confidential intelligence documents obtained by The Times show that Iran is working on testing a key final component of a nuclear bomb.

The notes, from Iran’s most sensitive military nuclear project, describe a four-year plan to test a neutron initiator, the component of a nuclear bomb that triggers an explosion. Foreign intelligence agencies date them to early 2007, four years after Iran was thought to have suspended its weapons programme.

An Asian intelligence source last week confirmed to The Timesthat his country also believed that weapons work was being carried out as recently as 2007 — specifically, work on a neutron initiator.

The technical document describes the use of a neutron source, uranium deuteride, which independent experts confirm has no possible civilian or military use other than in a nuclear weapon. Uranium deuteride is the material used in Pakistan’s bomb, from where Iran obtained its blueprint.

“Although Iran might claim that this work is for civil purposes, there is no civil application,” said David Albright, a physicist and president of the Institute for Science and International Security in Washington, which has analysed hundreds of pages of documents related to the Iranian programme. “This is a very strong indicator of weapons work.”

The documents have been seen by intelligence agencies from several Western countries, including Britain. A senior source at the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) confirmed that they had been passed to the UN’s nuclear watchdog.

A Foreign and Commonwealth Office spokeswoman said yesterday: “We do not comment on intelligence, but our concerns about Iran’s nuclear programme are clear. Obviously this document, if authentic, raises serious questions about Iran’s intentions.” Continue Reading →

Beware of Persians bearing gifts.

Nurses at one Bolivian hospital forced to wear Islamic veils as price for sum of money from Iran.

From Fausta’s blog by way of GOV:

Bolivia: Nurses forced to wear veil

Semanario Verdad Latinoamericana reports that nurses in a Bolivian hospital are forced to wear a hijab veil at their jobs.

The article, Bolivia: enfermeras son obligadas a llevar velo, says that state newspaper Cambio (link to their website here, but no link to their report on the hospital) reported that following a donation of $1.2 million US dollars by Mahmoud Ahmadinejad during his visit Wednesday last week, the nurses at a hospital in El Alto have to wear a veil due to conditions set by Iran.

Hugs and kisses; Chavez and Ahmadinejad locked in love. Yeah baby.

From The Jerusalem Post

Nov 26, 2009 6:01

Ahmadinejad to Chavez: ‘We’re going to be together until the end’


Gay Moody and Chavey

” We feel at home here among our brothers…..we’re going to be together until the end” Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad told his Venezuelan counterpart Hugo Chavez during a visit to Latin America on Wednesday.

Both leaders roundly denounced US “imperialism,” and Chavez also called Israel “a murderous arm of the Yankee empire.”

Chavez said he had just returned from an unannounced visit to Cuba, where he met with his mentor Fidel Castro as well as President Raul Castro. “They asked me to give you a hug for them,” he told Ahmadinejad.

Also during Ahmadinejad’s visit, the two leaders agreed on the inception of a direct flight route between Teheran and Caracas, according to a report by AFP.

Iran steals Nobel Peace Prize from recipient

From CNN

Norway says Iran confiscated Nobel Peace Prize from Iranian activist

November 26, 2009 4:42 p.m. EST
Iranian judge and activist Shirin Ebadi, pictured here in June, won the 2003 Nobel Peace Prize. Iranian judge and activist Shirin Ebadi, pictured here in June, won the 2003 Nobel Peace Prize

(CNN) — Iranian authorities confiscated the 2003 Nobel Peace Prize given to human rights activist Shirin Ebadi, Norway said Thursday.

“The medal and the diploma have been removed from Dr. Ebadi’s bank box, together with other personal items. Such an act leaves us feeling shock and disbelief,” Norwegian Foreign Minister Jonas Gahr Store said in a written statement.

Norway did not explain how it had learned of the alleged confiscation, and there was no immediate reaction from Iran.

Norway’s Ministry of Foreign Affairs said in a written statement that it “has reacted strongly” and summoned the Iranian charge d’affaires on Wednesday afternoon to protest the move.

During the meeting with the Iranian charge d’affaires, State Secretary Gry Larsen also expressed “grave concern” about how Ebadi’s husband has allegedly been treated.

“Earlier this autumn, he [Ebadi’s husband] was arrested in Tehran and severely beaten. His pension has been stopped and his bank account has been frozen,” the statement from Norway said.

Store said in the statement that it marked the “first time a Nobel Peace Prize has been confiscated by national authorities.”

The peace prize is one of five awarded annually since 1901 by the Nobel Foundation in Stockholm, Sweden. The other four prizes are for physiology or medicine, physics, chemistry and literature. Starting in 1969, the Sveriges Riksbank Prize in Economic Sciences in Memory of Alfred Nobel also has been awarded.

While the other prizes are awarded by committees based in Sweden, the peace prize is determined by a five-member panel appointed by the Norwegian parliament.

Ebadi received the prize for her focus on human rights, especially on the struggle to improve the status of women and children.

A statement from the Nobel committee at the time said, “As a lawyer, judge, lecturer, writer and activist, she has spoken out clearly and strongly in her country, Iran, and far beyond its borders.”

Stratfor SITREP: Iranian airforce drills largest ever

November 22, 2009 STRATFOR
The Iranian air force has begun conducting the largest air defense drill in the Islamic republic’s history, Arabic-language Iranian news channel Al-Alam TV reported Nov. 22. The drills are aimed at testing Iran’s capability to repel an attack on the country’s nuclear facilities. The simulation will run through Nov. 26, and consist of three phases; a preparatory phase, a phase for detecting enemy aircraft which would be carrying out attacks or distorting electronic systems, and a phase for the Iranian air force to engage enemy aircraft.
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