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The Mossadegh Project :: Mohammad Mossadegh.com
Did you know that Iran used to be a democracy?
"It's a sad story that really began in the 1950's..."
- President Bill Clinton
"Iran had a democratic government which was overthrown because of oil."
- Congressman Dennis Kucinich (D-OH)
Why did we, our government, help overthrow Mossadegh in 1953? It had to do with oil. So our foreign policy is designed to protect our oil interests."
- Congressman Ron Paul (R-TX)
"That's ancient history..."
- President Jimmy Carter, 1980 Did you know that Iran used to be a democracy? "It's a sad story that really began in the 1950's..." ... more -
Latin American leaders support Morales at UN
Forrest Hylton: Latin America is leading world in multipolar forms of regional diplomacy.
Visiting the UN this week Bolivian President Evo Morales stated that mediation by UNASUR, The Union of South American Nations, is having a positive effect in a political crisis between his central government and eastern provinces demanding greater autonomy. Journalist and author Forrest Hylton believes that "Latin America is leading the world in multipolar forms of regional diplomacy."
Forrest Hylton is the the author of Evil Hour in Colombia (Verso, 2006), and with Sinclair Thomson, co-author of Revolutionary Horizons: Past and Present in Bolivian Politics (Verso, 2007). He is a regular contributor to New Left Review and NACLA Report on the Americas. Forrest Hylton: Latin America is leading world in multipolar forms of regional diplomacy. ... more -
The UN, cash for trash, and the multipolar world
Pepe Escobar: World leaders speak at the UN about economic crisis, war and the multipolar world.
World leaders met at the UN general assembly on Tuesday. They spoke about the global financial crisis and the need for sweeping reforms of multilateral institutions. The Real News Network analyst Pepe Escobar comments on the emergence of new global realities.
Pepe Escobar, born in Brazil is the roving correspondent for Asia Times and an analyst for The Real News Network. He's been a foreign correspondent since 1985, based in London, Milan, Los Angeles, Paris, Singapore, and Bangkok. Since the late 1990s, he has specialized in covering the arc from the Middle East to Central Asia, including the wars in Afghanistan and Iraq. He has made frequent visits to Iran and is the author of Globalistan and also Red Zone Blues: A Snapshot of Baghdad During the Surge both published by Nimble Books in 2007. Pepe Escobar: World leaders speak at the UN about economic crisis, war and the multipolar world. ... more -
The state of the Empire
Gareth Porter: The US and the world near the end of the Bush administration. Part 2
Gareth Porter is a historian and investigative journalist on US foreign and military policy analyst. He writes regularly for Inter Press Service on US policy towards Iraq and Iran. Author of four books, the latest of which is Perils of Dominance: Imbalance of Power and the Road to War in Vietnam.
See Part 1 at: http://current.com/items/89336287_bush_doctrine_at_the_...
See Part 3 at: http://current.com/items/89351820_provoking_russian_nat...
See Part 4 at: http://current.com/items/89361295_war_and_cash_for_tras...
See Part 5 at: http://current.com/items/89373473_will_a_new_us_preside... Gareth Porter: The US and the world near the end of the Bush administration. Part 2 ... more -
Pakistani troops fire on US helicopters
Pakistani troops and tribesmen opened fire on two U.S. helicopters that crossed into the country from neighboring Afghanistan, intelligence officials said Monday. The U.S. denied the report.
The helicopters did not return fire and re-entered Afghan airspace without landing, the officials said, speaking on condition of anonymity because they were not authorized to speak to media.
"There was no such incursion, there was no such event," said Col. Gary L. Keck, Defense Department spokesman.
The reported incursion late Sunday will likely add to tensions between Islamabad and Washington.
A spate of suspected U.S. missile strikes into Pakistan's border region and a raid by U.S. commandos said to have killed 15 people have angered and embarrassed Pakistani leaders while signaling Washington's impatience with Pakistani efforts to clear out militant havens.
During a recent speech to Parliament, newly elected President Asif Ali Zardari, who is considered U.S.-friendly, warned that no country would be allowed to violate Pakistan's sovereignty in the name of the war on terror. Pakistani troops and tribesmen opened fire on two U.S. helicopters that crossed into the country from neighboring Afghanistan, intelli... more -
Welcome to the final stages of the coup...
By Larisa Alexandrovna
If you must break the law, do it to seize power: in all other cases observe it. ~ Julius Caesar
In 2000, the long fought for and long admired democracy of the United States of America began a slow and steady decline toward fascism - a Bush family tradition - with the installment of a president - a man the citizens overwhelmingly rejected (although the funny math told a still believed myth) - by a few corrupt judges on the US Supreme Court. That coup is now nearly complete and checkmate is all but unavoidable.
Let me first point you to the Bush administration's so-called Wall Street bailout bill, here, so that you can see for yourself that this treachery is being conducted in the light of day. Fascism is finally and formally out of the right-wing closet even if the F word is not yet openly being used (although it should be, and often).
Now, if you do not yet understand that the Wall Street crisis is a man-made disaster done through intentional deregulation and corruption, I have a bridge in Alaska to sell to you (or Sara Palin does anyway). This manufactured crisis is now to be remedied, if the fiscal fascists get their way, with the total transfer of Congressional powers (the few that still remain) to the Executive Branch and the total transfer of public funds into corporate (via government as intermediary) hands.
Adam Davidson of NPR blogs about the so-called bailout bill as follows:
"I would guess that this has to be one of the biggest peacetime transfers of power from Congress to the Administration in history. (Anyone know?). Certainly one of the most concise.
"The Treasury Secretary can buy broadly defined assets, on any terms he wants, he can hire anyone he wants to do it and can appoint private sector companies as financial deputies of the US government. And he can write whatever regulation he thinks are needed."
Most importantly, Davidson points to this passage in the bill:
"Decisions by the Secretary pursuant to the authority of this Act are non-reviewable and committed to agency discretion, and may not be reviewed by any court of law or any administrative agency."
The Bush family, in the form of Prescott Bush, has tried a more aggressive coup before in order to install fascism in this country. This treasonous plot was called "the Business Plot," because the high-level plotters - including Prescott Bush - were Wall Street men who openly supported fascism.
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Click on the link for the complete article and for the in-text links. A must read.
Could the FEMA concentration camps all over the country be for the poor, the dispossessed, the homeless, and dissenters?
The symbol of fascism is the fasces, in case you were wondering about the illustration I chose, above:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fascist_symbolism By Larisa Alexandrovna If you must break the law, do it to seize power: in all other cases observe it. ~ Julius Caesar ... more -
9/11 and the “American Inquisition”
by Michel Chossudovsky
Today’s “Global War on Terrorism” is a modern form of inquisition. It has all the essential ingredients of the French and Spanish inquisitions.
Going after “Islamic terrorists”, carrying out a Worldwide preemptive war to “protect the Homeland” are used to justify a military agenda.
“The Global War on Terrorism” (GWOT) is presented as a “Clash of Civilizations”, a war between competing values and religions, when in reality it is an outright war of conquest, guided by strategic and economic objectives.
The GWOT is the ideological backbone of the American Empire. It defines US military doctrine, including the preemptive use of nuclear weapons against the “state sponsors” of terrorism.
The preemptive “defensive war” doctrine and the “war on terrorism” against Al Qaeda constitute essential building blocks of America’s National Security Strategy as formulated in early 2002. The objective is to present “preemptive military action” –meaning war as an act of “self-defense” against two categories of enemies, “rogue States” and “Islamic terrorists”, both of which are said to possess weapons of mass destruction.
The logic of the ”outside enemy” and the evildoer, allegedly responsible for American civilian deaths, prevails over common sense.
[...]
more at above link
see also:
http://dandelionsalad.wordpress.com/category/911/ by Michel Chossudovsky ... more -
A (subtle) Poem for My President
Somebody left a subtle message for George Bush on the Farwell43 site. Do you see it?
Vote it up on the Farewell43 site and get it printed in the book! Somebody left a subtle message for George Bush on the Farwell43 site. Do you see it? ... more -
Who will rebuild Georgia? The Pentagon, of course.
The US says it is ready to send an assessment team to Georgia to study rebuilding the country's army against any further 'foreign aggression'.
Speaking in a congressional hearing on the recent Georgia-Russia conflict, the US Under Secretary of Defense Eric Edelman said that Washington is going to respond to Georgia's "legitimate needs" and help Georgia rebuild its economy, infrastructure, and armed forces, AFP reported.
"Georgia, like any sovereign country, should have the ability to defend itself and to deter renewed aggression," Eric Edelman said. He also noted that America will consider providing the Georgian army with anti-aircraft and anti-tank weapons in order to curb any further Russian attacks.
Edelman also stressed that NATO has decided to reconstruct Georgia's military. "We must not, and will not, allow Russia's aggression to succeed in Georgia."
Russia drafted an arms embargo resolution on Georgia on Tuesday at the UN Security Council, saying that "some countries" are re-arming Georgia in a move to threaten Georgia's independence-seeking provinces of South Ossetia and Abkhazia.
War broke out between Georgia and Russia on August 7 as Georgian forces opened fire on Russian troops guarding Georgia's breakaway province of South Ossetia. The US says it is ready to send an assessment team to Georgia to study rebuilding the country's army against any further 'fo... more -
Ron Paul revolution against empire and draft
Matt Welch of Reason.com, says Ron Paul's supporters feel shut out of political process.
Matt Welch is a journalist, blogger, pundit and a libertarian. Since 2008, he has been the editor-in-chief at the monthly libertarian journal, Reason. Recently (from 2006 to 2007), he was an editorial page editor for the Los Angeles Times. He has written a portrayal of Republican presidential candidate John McCain, from a libertarian perspective. In McCain: The Myth of a Maverick, Welch argues that a McCain presidency would advance a statist agenda.
There are other videos with Matt Welch on Current - you can find them if you do a search for his name. Matt Welch of Reason.com, says Ron Paul's supporters feel shut out of political process. ... more -
No moderate, no realist, McCain the neocon
Matt Welch, of Reason.com, provides a history of McCain and his move to the militant neocons. Part 4
See Part 1 at: http://current.com/items/89269364_palin_a_bold_move_or_...
See Part 2 at: http://current.com/items/89274547_mccain_and_the_indepe...
See Part 3 at: http://current.com/items/89276276_the_myth_of_mccain Matt Welch, of Reason.com, provides a history of McCain and his move to the militant neocons. Part 4 ... more -
US invade Pakistan — but no complaints from the ‘international community’ By Willi...
By William Bowles
featured writer
Dandelion Salad
I love it! I just came across an article, “Did We Just Invade Pakistan?” but you’ll search in vain for any headline in the mainstream media that even comes close to calling it a US invasion of Pakistan.
This is how the BBC reported it,
“Pakistan fury over ‘US assault’
Pakistan has summoned the US ambassador to protest at an alleged cross-border raid which officials say killed at least 15 villagers in the north-west.”
news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/world/south_asia/7597529.stm
Talk about double-standards! Note that the BBC puts the ‘US assault’ in single quotes and talks of an ‘alleged cross-border raid’ which calls into question whether or not the US-led ‘coalition of the willing’ did in fact assault, invade or otherwise use its helicopter gunships against yet another sovereign nation killing perhaps twenty people some of which are, by one report, children (‘US forces kill 20 in Pakistan cross-border raid’).
Predictably of course, the US denies that it ‘assaulted’ Pakistan. The BBC is not merely the mouthpiece for the UK state but also for the US. So much for ‘objective’ journalism. (For a cross-section of reactions see ‘Pakistan News-links 3-4 September 2008’.)
So what gives here? How come when Russia conducts a ‘cross-border raid’ to repel an invasion by Georgia of the Autonomous Region of Southern Ossetia, we read how it’s condemned by the ‘international community’? But then the ‘international community’ is at best ten countries, all of which are ‘allies’ of the US. (For complete and in-depth analysis of media coverage of Russia’s ‘cross-border’ raid see Media Len’s excellent ‘When news is noise – Georgia, South Ossetia and the political pipeline’.)
More importantly mainstream coverage (if that’s what it can be called) of events reflects the built-in bias of the West when it comes to countries other than those of the G-7. It’s yet another case of don’t do as I do, do as I say!
[...]
see
http://current.com/items/89268799_u_s_invades_pakistan_... By William Bowles featured writer Dandelion Salad ... more -
Lies, nothing but damn lies and then there’s the mass media… By William Bowles « D...
By William Bowles
featured writer
Dandelion Salad
[...]
Two, totally different interpretations of the world and how it works. The important point however is the ‘explanation’ offered by the BBC is but one expression of the ideological commitment of the corporate/state media to the maintenance of capitalism. Thus the way the BBC ‘explains’ the crisis is essentially identical to the government’s, namely ‘it’s not our fault, it’s a global thing over which we have no control’.
The reality however, is very different. The US, along with the UK via their military and economic control, especially over the financial and oil markets are directly responsible for the current crisis, a crisis compounded by the massive financial fraud perpetrated by the major banks and investment corporations, a fraud that ordinary working people are being forced to pay for.
And the proof of the pudding is in the eating. Over the past thirty years a vast transfer of wealth from the poor to the rich has taken place.
[...]
Read the rest at the link.
Thanks. By William Bowles featured writer Dandelion Salad [...] ... more -
WAR ON DEMOCRACY
John Pilger's 2007 documentary explores the historic and current relationship of Washington with countries such as Venezuela, Bolivia and Chile. Pilger claims that the film "...tells a universal story... analyzing and revealing, through vivid testimony, the story of great power behind its venerable myths. It allows us to understand the true nature of the so-called "war on terror". According to Pilger, the film’s message is that the greed and power of empire is not invincible and that people power is always the "seed beneath the snow".
Pilger interviews several ex-CIA agents who purportedly took part in secret campaigns against democratic countries and who he claims are profiting from the war in Iraq. He investigates the School of the Americas in the U.S. state of Georgia, where General Pinochet’s torture squads were reportedly trained along with tyrants and death-squad leaders in Haiti, El Salvador, Brazil and Argentina.
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This is a film that should be shown in History classrooms throughout the states and the world. Pilger aptly displays the American government’s involvement in manipulating Latin America’s leadership over the past 60 years or so.
The focus on Venezuela for the first 40 minutes of the film is an interesting change from what we see in mainstream media. An unabashed socialist, Chavez has thrown out American control in Venezuela, and has gone a long way in convincing his neighbors to do the same. However, the beauty of this film is much more than its discussion of Venezuela. Pilger goes through the history of several countries other Latin American countries weaving them into the bigger picture, thoroughly explaining many of the important details. Its rare to find such a comprehensive history of US involvement in Latin America. Pilger tries establish how the system has evolved from physical control to financial control in today's era. Pilger has mastered obtaining great interviews. For example, in this film he the interviews the head former head of CIA involvement in Latin America as well as interviews an American nun who was tortured in Guatemala in 1989.
Add to the list Georgia and Ukraine. When will "we the people" wake up?
INITIATE CONVERSATIONS WITH YOUR NEIGHBORS, CO-WORKERS AND FAMILY MEMBERS. PARTICIPATE IN EDUCATING THOSE THAT COME IN CONTACT WITH YOU. John Pilger's 2007 documentary explores the historic and current relationship of Washington with countries such as Venezuela, Bol... more -
The state of the empire
David Harvey: Exit the neocon global project, enter competing capitalist blocks. Part 1
In the first part of his interview with Pepe Escobar, David Harvey talks about competing capitalist blocks, the US-China relationship, the neoconservative global project and Barack Obama as the new face of US neoliberalism.
David Harvey is Distinguished Professor of Anthropology at City University of New York. He is also a geographer, historian and political scientist. Harvey is the author of numerous books, including The Condition of Postmodernity, The Limits of Capitalism, The Urban Experience, and the international best-seller The New Imperialism. David Harvey: Exit the neocon global project, enter competing capitalist blocks. Part 1 ... more -
US to take over Afghan mission
The United States is planning to take control of all military operations in Afghanistan next year with an Iraq-style troop surge after becoming frustrated at Nato’s failure to defeat the Taliban.
Plans are being drawn up to send as many as 15,000 extra troops to Afghanistan with a single US general always in command, as in Iraq, defence sources said.
The Pentagon is also pushing for a permanent “unified command” in the south of the country that would sideline the Dutch and the Canadians.
At present, control of the south is rotated between the British, Dutch and Canadians, the three countries that provide the bulk of the troops.
From October next year, when the UK will take over from the Dutch, command of the south is expected to alternate between the British and the Americans.
Although final decisions cannot be made until the new US administration takes over in January, plans are being drawn up to send two to three US combat brigades – a total of between 8,000 and 12,000 men, the sources said.
Lawrence Korb, a defence expert at the Centre for American Progress, a Democratic think tank in Washington, said: “There is no doubt that the US wants to change the command structure as things have deteriorated in Afghanistan.”
Both Barack Obama, the Democrat presidential candidate, and John McCain, his Republican opponent, have spoken of using “two to three [combat] brigades for the surge, amounting to 8,000-12,000 troops”, Korb said. “There will be a US general and the forces will be under US command.”
The surge will also see US and other coalition special forces, which operate separately from the Nato command, absorbed into a single US command for the whole of Afghanistan.
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More at link.
Iraq, Afghanistan, Russia (largely by proxy), which country is next? And where will the manpower come from if not through a draft? One thing seems obvious - the Bush administration has been following the PNAC's "Rebuilding America's Defenses: Strategies, Forces, and Resources For a New Century" blueprint practically to the letter so far:
http://cryptome.org/rad.htm The United States is planning to take control of all military operations in Afghanistan next year with an Iraq-style troop surge after... more -
War on terror is smokescreen for PNAC
This is just part one of the speech, go to youtube to see part 2
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The cost of empire
In classic economic terms, an economy ought to create enough surplus wealth to grow without resorting to excess borrowing–we ought to be able to live on what we earn. But since 1983, we have been unable to do that. So what differentiates the American economy from the rest of the developed world since 1983? The only rational answer is in the chart below which demonstrates how far beyond any possible rival our military budgets have travelled. The fact that the DOD’s own inventory of worldwide bases is more than 189 pages long cannot lead one to any other conclusion than the American taxpayer is supporting the infrastructure of empire. In classic economic terms, an economy ought to create enough surplus wealth to grow without resorting to excess borrowing–we ought to ... more
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Bush's Blood-Orgy In Somalia
While George Bush was busy railing at Zimbabwe's President, Robert Mugabe at the G-8 summit in Toyako, Japan; his Ethiopian proxy-army in Somalia was grinding out more carnage on the streets of Mogadishu. More than 40 civilians have been killed in the last 48 hours. On Sunday, Osman Ali Ahmed, the head of the UN Development Program in Somalia, was shot gangland style as he left a mosque Mogadishu. He died before he reached the hospital with wounds to the head and chest. Ali Ahmed is just the latest of the peace-keepers who have been killed in the ongoing battle between Bush's Ethiopian occupiers and Somali guerrillas.
"I care deeply about the people of Zimbabwe," Bush announced. "And I am extremely disappointed in the election which I labeled a sham election."
Right. Bush's newly-discovered empathy for black people was nowhere in sight during Hurricane Katrina when thousands of African Americans were rounded up at gunpoint and forced into the Superdome without food, water or medical supplies. Nor is it visible in Somalia today where millions of Somalis have been forced to flee their homes and relocate to tent cities in the south because of Bush's support for the Ethiopian army's invasion. The latest surge in violence has been the worst in a decade and the security situation continues to deteriorate despite the arrival of 2,600 troops from the African Union and a tentative truce that was signed in June between some of the warring factions. It should be no great surprize that the western media has stubbornly refused to report on the rising death-toll in Somalia, choosing instead to focus all of their attention on America's "villain du jour", Robert Mugabe. Mugabe is next on the neocon's list for regime change. Neocon Godfather Paul Wolfowitz even composed a postmortem for Zimbabwe's president in a recent Wall Street Journal editorial "How to Put the Heat on Mugabe".
In 2006, the United States supported an alliance of Somali warlords known as the Transitional Federal Government (TFG) who established a base of operations in the western city of Baidoa. With the help of the US-backed Ethiopian army, western mercenaries, US Navy warships, and AC-130 gunships; the TFG was able capture Mogadishu and force the Islamic Courts Union (ICU) and their allies to retreat to the south. But, much like Iraq and Afghanistan, the resistance has coalesced into a tenacious guerrilla army which has returned to the capital and resumed the fight making it impossible for their Ethiopian rivals to govern. As the struggle continues, the humanitarian situation gets worse and worse. At least 2.6 million Somalis are now facing famine due to acute food shortages spurred by a prolonged drought, violence and high inflation. UN monitors have warned that the figure could hit exceed 3.5 million by the end of 2008.
The UN Security Council has played its traditional role as facilitator of American-backed imperial violence by failing to condemn US involvement in Somalia and by promising to send peacekeepers to mop up after violence subsides. The UN has shown no interest in stopping the carnage and have become little more than the glove-hand of the US military; an accomplice to Bush's chronic adventurism. While George Bush was busy railing at Zimbabwe's President, Robert Mugabe at the G-8 summit in Toyako, Japan; his Ethiopian proxy... more -
US to base food inspectors overseas
In a response to the salmonella outbreak caused by Mexican tomatoes, the FDA is stationing inspectors in Asia and Latin America to help prevent the importation of tainted foods to the US. Is the FDA going too far? I don't see other countries stationing officials to check our exports. In a response to the salmonella outbreak caused by Mexican tomatoes, the FDA is stationing inspectors in Asia and Latin America to hel... more
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Imperialism
