Global Situation

[ghost 9]

"Ahmadinejad has described the Holocaust as a myth and most famously, in 2006, was reported as saying he wanted to see Israel "wiped off the map". There were claims that the quote was inaccurate but either way he has shown little love towards Israel and has used threats towards the country to try to boost his popularity among Muslims angry at perceived injustices inflicted on the Palestinians.

Only yesterday, in New York for the UN general assembly, Ahmadinejad claimed that "a small but deceitful minority of Zionists are playing with the American public", comments aimed at the forthcoming US election.

Israel's geographical proximity to Iran and the fact that it is so resented by the Muslim world – who Ahmadinejad still looks to for support despite most leaders' dislike of him - coupled with the military might of the US make Israel a much more likely target than America. And for the Israelis, the idea of Ahmadinejad with his finger on a nuclear button is unthinkable.

After a US intelligence report published at the end of 2007 said Tehran's nuclear weapons programme had been on hold since 2003, Israel's prime minister, Ehud Olmert, was quick to indicate that he did not agree, saying that "all options are on the table". Israel is said to believe that Iran could possess a nuclear bomb as soon as 2010.

Israeli officials were reportedly unhappy when the US announced plans to station diplomats in Iran for the first time since 1979, fearing a softening of Washington's stance towards Tehran.

And when Olmert announced a series of initiatives designed at ending long-running conflicts with Lebanon, Syria and Hamas earlier this year, Iran was conspicuous by its absence. What is more, the talks with Syria were seen as a deliberate attempt to isolate Iran from the one Middle East country it could truly call an ally.

The world may have shuddered when Israel's deputy prime minister, Shaul Mofaz, said in June that a strike on Iran's nuclear sites would be "unavoidable" if Tehran refused to halt its alleged weapons programmes, but within Israel the reaction was more muted. Mofaz himself was unrepentant, even going so far as to repeat the threat."

Iran: http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/2008/se ... lestinians

"Even as images of horrific suffering stream out of the country, Russia has maintained that the situation is for Syrians to resolve without outside intervention.
Russia and China vetoed a proposed U.N. resolution aimed at halting the violent crackdown, and Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov touted Assad's commitment to ending the violence during a visit to Damascus on Tuesday.
Russia has long been Syria's primary military supplier and currently has about $4 billion worth of contracts for future arms deliveries to Damascus, according to a report from global analysis firm Oxford Analytica. Syria received 6% of total Russian arms exports in 2010, the report said, and is "critical for some [Russian] companies' financial survival."
"Overseas arms contracts are very important for the Russians," said Rajan Menon, a professor at Lehigh University who studies Russian foreign relations. "There have been significant cuts in the size of the Russian military budget relative to the Soviet period, so if you want to keep people employed in the military-industrial complex, you need exports of armaments."
Recent turmoil in the Middle East, however, has cut into this business.
With the loss of arms sales to Iran following U.N. sanctions and the cancellation of contracts in Libya after the Gadhafi regime's overthrow, the list of Russian arms customers in the region is dwindling. The lost business with Iran was worth $13 billion, according to Treisman, while the Libyan deals totaled $4.5 billion.

The loss of Syrian business would not by itself sink Russian arms production, but the issue has taken on added significance with Russia's presidential election looming and factory workers' votes up for grabs, said Sarah Michaels, the chief Russia analyst at Oxford Analytica."

"The way to persuade Iran to stop enriching uranium, the Bush administration says, is to threaten it with economic sanctions.

But the U.S. drive to marshal international support for sanctions faces growing opposition from key global powers. Perhaps the biggest obstacle is Russia -- a key member of the U.N. Security Council and the main supplier of Tehran's nuclear technology.

"The key to any diplomatic solution ... is that you have to get the Security Council to be obviously willing to impose penalties on Iran, and you can't do that without the Russians, because they have veto power and they are the ones that supply Iran's nuclear program," said George Perkovich, an expert on Iran and nuclear proliferation at the Carnegie Endowment for International Peace in Washington. "It's the main obstacle."

The United States wants the Security Council to begin talks this week on a draft resolution that sets out sanctions against Iran for its nuclear activities, and is expecting an agreement on sanctions shortly, U.S. Undersecretary of State Nicholas Burns said Friday.

But the world's major powers failed to agree on what to do about Tehran's defiance when they met in Berlin last week to work out a strategy on Iran. Russia and China, both of which can veto any proposed action by the Security Council, have expressed reluctance to impose sanctions on Iran.

The Bush administration and its allies could start by pushing for limited sanctions, which would include imposing travel and financial restrictions on Iranian officials. More severe sanctions could involve freezing Iranian government accounts abroad, and banning the trade of goods that could be used for its nuclear program. The United States could also call for ending any cooperation with Iran's oil and gas industry, which would hike global oil prices, but it is unlikely that European countries and China would agree to that.

The United States contends that Iran's intention is to acquire nuclear weapons, and that Russia has been secretly providing a boost to Iran's nuclear-arms program.

"Even though the ostensible purpose of Russian assistance to Iran's nuclear infrastructure is for civilian applications, we assess that such support enhances Tehran's ability to support a nuclear weapons development effort," CIA analysts wrote in an unclassified report to Congress in 2002.

Russia has long resisted imposing any tough measures against its Persian Gulf economic partner, even though in July it joined six major powers to discuss a united response that could involve sanctions if Iran failed to stop the enrichment program by Aug. 31.

After the deadline passed and Iran said it would not give up its nuclear program, Russia signaled that it still thought imposing sanctions would be excessive."

Russia: http://money.cnn.com/2012/02/09/news/in ... /index.htm and

[ghost 9]

"TEHRAN – President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad said on Tuesday that the United States plans to establish domination over Syria, but Iran will continue to support Damascus against foreign conspiracies.

Ahmadinejad made the remarks during a meeting with Faisal Meqdad, the Syrian deputy foreign minister who visited Tehran on Tuesday as Syrian President Bashar al-Assad’s special envoy.

“Today, it has become clear to everyone that the hegemons are seeking to deal a blow to Iran, Syria, and the line of resistance. And they intend to save the Zionists through chanting the slogan of advocating people’s freedom and human rights,” Ahmadinejad stated.

“Through chanting empty slogans of defending people’s freedom, the Americans plan to establish domination over Syria, Lebanon, Iran, and all other countries, and we should be vigilant and strong in the face of their plots,” he added.

The Iranian president also criticized the stance that the Arab League has adopted toward Syria, saying that certain Arab countries which have never held elections are advising the Syrian government to respect democracy.

“So far, the Arab League’s credibility has been due to the membership of Syria,” he said.

“Today, those who are setting policies in the region are the people whom the Westerners would have disdained if they had not had oil and wealth,” Ahmadinejad commented.

Damascus has put up resistance against the Zionist regime, he said, adding, “When the Persian Gulf Arab countries met with Syria’s resistance, they got angry and began to oppose the country because they had planned to compromise with the (Zionist) regime and provide it with money.”

The crisis engulfing Syria is a plot hatched by the hegemonistic powers, Ahmadinejad stated.

“I am very glad that Syrian officials are properly handling the affairs with self-confidence and through reliance on the people, and I hope that the situation in Syria would improve day by day,” he added.

Ahmadinejad went on to say that the Syrian president and other Syrian officials will definitely manage the developments in the country properly and will implement any necessary reforms.

And the enemies will be left empty-handed with the grace of God, he stated.

Elsewhere in his remarks, Ahmadinejad commented on the relations between Tehran and Damascus, saying that the Islamic Republic of Iran sees no obstacles in the way of the expansion of ties with Syria and will make every effort to support the country.

He added, “The Syrian people’s enthusiastic presence on the scene has disturbed the enemies’ equations and will definitely help improve the situation in the country.”

Meqdad thanked the Islamic Republic for the stance it has adopted toward the developments in Syria and briefed Ahmadinejad on the measures that the Syrian government has taken so far to cooperate with the Arab League and the United Nations.

The enemies had assumed that they can overthrow the government through plunging the country into turmoil, he stated."

US: http://tehrantimes.com/politics/96467-u ... madinejad-

[Shadow00]

About the holicaust in first post: he who posseses the past, can control the future. He who posseses the present, can alter the past...