Gaza genicideThere is no room to doubt that Israel’s bombing of Palestinian civilians and depriving them of food, water and other necessities of life are grounds to invoke the 1948 Genocide Convention. ››read more

United NationsGENEVA (16 November 2023) – Grave violations committed by Israel against Palestinians in the aftermath of 7 October, particularly in Gaza, point to a genocide in the making, UN experts said today. They illustrated evidence of increasing genocidal incitement, overt intent to “destroy the Palestinian people under occupation”, loud calls for a ‘second Nakba’ in Gaza and the rest of the occupied Palestinian territory, and the use of powerful weaponry with inherently indiscriminate impacts, resulting in a colossal death toll and destruction of life-sustaining infrastructure. ››read more

The director of the New York chapter of the Office of the UN High Commissioner for Human Rights has resigned, protesting the world body's failure to prevent underway genocide in the Gaza Strip, which has come under a brutal Israeli war.

Craig Mokhiber submitted his resignation to the UN High Commissioner for Human Rights Volker Turk in a letter dated October 28. Reactions began to pour in across social media platforms, including X, formerly known as Twitter, on Tuesday. ››read more

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Arash/Dorra gas fieldWhen asked how the dispute can be settled, Zahra Pishgahi Fard, geopolitics professor at the University of Tehran, proposed the creation of a three-partite consortium that gives each country its fair share of the field.
“Firstly Iran-Kuwait border and Iran-Saudi border in the neutral zone should be demarcated. Then a consortium involving all the three countries can be formed to determine each country’s share of the field as per the 1982 convention.
If the demarcation dispute is settled, the countries can take another step forward by sharing the burden of development operation, which usually takes several years and billions of dollars in investment.
Legal mechanisms for joint production in shared gas fields are well established, offering more efficient and quicker exploitation of fields.”
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Over the past four decades, economic sanctions have been a prominent feature of US-Iran policy. The United States has orchestrated and imposed numerous unilateral and multilateral sanctions to isolate and rally support against the Islamic Republic. The underlying premise of economic sanctions is that foreign economic pressure, by its inherent transformative power, would create political pressure within the target country and induce the government to comply with the demands of sanctioned foreign powers. ››read more

West in CrisisNotice how Islam’s Holy book gets desecrated whenever the West is undergoing a crisis and is desperate to either ignite an anti-Muslim public frenzy or distract from its own failures. ››read more

Iranian president Ebrahim Raisi has called on the Central Bank of Iran to lay the groundwork necessary to ditch the U.S. dollar for bilateral trade settlements and to make the switch to use the Iranian real whenever possible. The Central Bank of Iran has already started implementing this policy, proposing to pay bilateral trades using Iranian reals in a recent high-level reunion with Oman’s minister of commerce. ››read more

SCOThe Shanghai Cooperation Organization (SCO) officially included Iran as its ninth full member on Tuesday, July 4. The SCO comprises China, Russia, India, Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Pakistan, Tajikistan, and Uzbekistan. It is geared towards ensuring regional political, economic and defense security and countering Western influence and interference in the Eurasian region. A close ally and neighbor of Russia, Belarus, has also signed a memorandum of obligation which is the first step towards gaining SCO membership. ››read more

As the US and Iran continue indirect talks aimed at reaching a new nuclear deal, Israeli officials claim Tehran is not near their 'red line' ››read more

Tehran has put to bed at least two of the UN nuclear watchdog’s outstanding inquiries over one of the three so-called ”undeclared sites,” where trace particles of unprocessed uranium had been found previously, as well as some recently discovered highly enriched uranium particles, the Associated Press reported on Wednesday.

Two confidential quarterly reports written by the Vienna-based International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA), to be shared with member states, revealed that inspectors no longer have questions regarding uranium particles found to be enriched to 83.7% at Iran’s underground Fordow nuclear facility. ››read more

This paper provides a comprehensive survey and assessment of the literature on the effects of economic sanctions on living standards in target countries. We identify 32 studies that apply quantitative econometric and calibration methods to cross-country and national data in order to assess the impact of economic sanctions on indicators of human and economic development and human rights. Of these, 30 studies find that sanctions have negative effects on outcomes ranging from per capita income to poverty, inequality, mortality, and human rights. We also provide in-depth discussions of three sanctions episodes — Iran, Afghanistan, and Venezuela — that illustrate the channels through which sanctions damage living conditions in target countries. In the three cases, sanctions that restricted governments’ access to foreign exchange affected the ability of states to provide essential public goods and services and generated substantial negative spillovers on private sector and nongovernmental actors. ››read more

National Security Council Spokesman John Kirby announced a plan to expand America’s military posture in the Middle East. The move comes as Washington hijacked an Iranian fuel tanker, provoking Iran to seize two ships in the Persian Gulf. ››read more

Emphasizing that unilateral coercive measures, legislation and secondary sanctions were a violation of international law, norms and principles as well as the U.N. Charter, the text expressed “grave concern” over the negative impact of sanctions on human rights, including the right to development, which is recognized as a “universal and inalienable right” integral to all human rights. ››read more

Donald Trump — facing four government-run investigations, three criminal and one civil, targeting himself and his business — is not being targeted because of his crimes. Nearly every serious crime he is accused of carrying out has been committed by his political rivals.

He is being targeted because he is deemed dangerous for his willingness, at least rhetorically, to reject the Washington Consensus regarding neoliberal free-market and free-trade policies, as well as the idea that the U.S. should oversee a global empire. He has not only belittled the ruling ideology, but urged his supporters to attack the apparatus that maintains the duopoly by declaring the 2020 election illegitimate. ››read more

Daniel Ellsberg“It is essential that members of NATO press the U.S. and others to renounce the atrocious NATO backing of the first-use of nuclear weapons.” ››read more

There are many ways for a state to project power and weaken adversaries, but proxy wars are one of the most cynical. Proxy wars devour the countries they purport to defend. They entice nations or insurgents to fight for geopolitical goals that are ultimately not in their interest. The war in Ukraine has little to do with Ukrainian freedom and a lot to do with degrading the Russian military and weakening Vladimir Putin’s grip on power. And when Ukraine looks headed for defeat, or the war reaches a stalemate, Ukraine will be sacrificed like many other states, in what one of the founding members of the CIA, Miles Copeland Jr., referred to as the “Game of Nations” and “the amorality of power politics.” ››read more

Under Chinese auspices, on 10 March in Beijing, longtime regional competitors Iran and Saudi Arabia reached an agreement to restore diplomatic relations, after a break of seven years.

In its most optimistic reading, the deal can be seen as a historic strategic agreement, reflecting major changes underway in West Asia and the world. At worst, it can be characterized as an “armistice agreement” between two important rivals, that will provide a valuable space for direct, regular communications.

The Sino-Saudi-Iranian joint statement on Friday carried strong implications beyond the announcement of the restoration of diplomatic relations between Tehran and Riyadh, severed since 2016.

The statement is very clear:

The embassies of Saudi Arabia and the Islamic Republic Iran will reopen in less than two months.
Respect for the sovereignty of States.
Activating the security cooperation agreement between Saudi Arabia and Iran signed in 2001.
Activating the cooperation agreement in the economic, trade, investment, technology, science, culture, sports and youth sectors signed between the parties in 1998.
Urging the three countries to exert all efforts to promote regional and international peace and security. ››read more

Chatlin JohnstoneA society grows great when old men plant trees whose shade they know they shall never sit in.”
~ Greek proverb ››read more

Daniel EllsbergMy wish for you, my friends, is that at the end of your days you will feel as much joy and gratitude as I do now. ››read more