By Dave Lindorff

We’ve all heard it said by our teachers when we were in school, we’ve all heard it said by politicians, including presidents: “Democracies don’t start wars.”

Drumbeat for War on Iran

by Stephen Lendman

Haaretz knows better. Still it misreports on Iran. On August 12, its editorial headlined "Netanyahu's dangerous demagoguery on Iran" saying:

"Iranian nuclear weapons are a threat to Israel - but its leaders' demagoguery is just as dangerous."

Iran War Weekly

August 12, 2012

Hello All – Negotiations about Iran’s nuclear program remain suspended, as the US-led opposition to Iran focuses on the effect of sanctions (economic war) on Iran and the possibility that the sanctions will coerce Iran to modify it negotiating positions.  The good/useful reading linked below includes several essays on the devastating and (often) hidden impact of sanctions on ordinary people.

The latest from ThisCantBeHappening.net

BULLETIN 07 August 2012
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In this Newsletter:
1) The West stokes more war in the Middle East
2) Don't Iraq Iran
3) Become a Friend of Stop the War and get a signed copy of David Gentleman's new book
_____________________________________________

The situation in the Middle East is becoming more and more dangerous. As the violent siege of Aleppo continues, the risk of further western intervention is growing.The West is already intervening in the Syrian conflict by arming the opposition through its proxies Saudi Arabia, Qatar and Turkey. It was revealed last week that earlier in the year President Obama authorised the CIA to support the opposition in trying to topple the Assad regime. The CIA are actively vetting which groups receive arms. (see http://bit.ly/NVt8SA)

The CIA is also working closely with the opposition leadership and campaigning internationally for regime change in Syria. Since the early stages of the uprising, the Turkish-based Syrian National Council (SNC), which is being treated by western powers as the main opposition coalition, has called for foreign intervention. The SNC leadership has close links to the US policy elite that go back several years. For the last six months representatives of various Syrian opposition groups have been meeting in Germany to plan what a post-Assad government would look like. (see  http://bit.ly/MpbQMO)

Outside intervention, particularly that of Saudi Arabia and Qatar, is inflaming the conflict and increasing sectarian tensions. Western intervention -- supposedly to support 'democracy' and 'freedom' -- brought nothing but blood and destruction to Iraq, Afghanistan and Libya. There is no reason to think it would be any different in Syria. It would deny the Syrian people the ability to shape their future, and risks turning the civil war into a disastrous regional war, drawing in Iraq, Lebanon, Iran and Turkey.

  To War or Not to War

by Stephen Lendman

Will Obama wage more wars or won't he? He's already fighting multiple direct and proxy ones. November elections approach. Electoral priorities dictate policy.

Iran War Weekly

August 5, 2012

Hello All – Diplomacy and peace making are just about going, going, … almost gone from Syria’s civil war and the international stand-off over Iran’s nuclear program.  Nuclear negotiators from Iran and the European Union talked briefly (by phone) this week and agreed to get back in touch “later,” “at the end of the month,” etc.  The press release (dissected below) suggests that the US and its allies are content to see if and how sanctions affect Iran’s willingness to change its positions on its right to enrich uranium (not very likely).  Meanwhile, the Obama team sees the short-term importance of sanctions in terms of enhancing its re-election prospects, keeping the EU in line, Israel on the leash, and Mitt Romney off balance.

By Soraya Sepahpour-Ulrich

By Dave Lindorff

This article was originally written forPressTV

We Americans are taught it in school. The propaganda put out by Voice of America repeats the idea ad nauseum around the globe. Politicians refer to it in every campaign speech with the same fervor that they claim to be running for office in response to God’s call: America is a model of democracy for the whole world.

But what kind of democracy is it really that we have here? 

  Illegitimate Sanctions on Iran

by Stephen Lendman

Washington bears full responsibility for imposing illegitimate sanctions on Iran. Other countries are pressured to agree. Doing so harms their own interests.

Heavy-handed US bullying largely gets its way. Rule of law principles and norms are violated. At issue is advancing Washington's imperium.

“Is the U.S. Closer to a War of Choice?”

By AMY TEIBEL, Associated Press

JERUSALEM (AP) — An Israeli newspaper reported Sunday that the Obama administration's top security official has briefed Israel on U.S. plans for a possible attack on Iran, seeking to reassure it that Washington is prepared to act militarily should diplomacy and sanctions fail to pressure Tehran to abandon its nuclear enrichment program.

A senior Israeli official, speaking on condition of anonymity to discuss confidential talks, said the article in the Haaretz daily was incorrect.

Haaretz said National Security Adviser Tom Donilon laid out the plans before Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu during a dinner at a visit to Israel earlier this month. It cited an unidentified senior American official as the source of its report, which came out as presumptive Republican presidential nominee Mitt Romney was telling Israel he would back an Israeli military strike against Iran.

IranWar Weekly

July 29, 2012

Hello All – Last week’s lower-level talks in Istanbul between representatives of the EU and Iran about Iran’s nuclear program came and went with little indication about “progress” and no time set for a further meeting. It appears that the US-led side of the negotiations is waiting to see if and how the strong economic sanctions (economic warfare) imposed on Iran four weeks ago weakens Iran’s negotiating stance.  Updates on the negotiations and the sanctions’ impact are linked below, as are articles about the growing USmilitary presence in the Persian Gulf.

Will Downing St. Memo Recur on Iran?

Editor Note: A decade after the infamous “Downing Street Memo” and its “fixed” intelligence for invading Iraq, the pressure is on again to make the case – whatever the facts – for a new war with Iran. Will the UK’s MI6 and the CIA bend again or hold firm, ask ex-intelligence analysts Annie Machon and Ray McGovern.

By Annie Machon and Ray McGovern

Recent remarks by Sir John Sawers, who heads Britain’s MI6 (the Secret Intelligence Service that is Britain’s CIA counterpart), leave us wondering if Sawers is preparing to “fix” intelligence on Iran, as his immediate predecessor, Sir John Scarlett, did on Iraq.

By Annie Machon and Ray McGovern, Consortium News

Recent remarks by Sir John Sawers, who heads Britain’s MI6 (the Secret Intelligence Service that is Britain’s CIA counterpart), leave us wondering if Sawers is preparing to “fix” intelligence on Iran, as his immediate predecessor, Sir John Scarlett, did on Iraq.

IranWar Weekly

July 22, 2012

Hello All – The US/Israel–Iran conflict over Iran’s nuclear program was overshadowed this week by a dramatic increase in the fighting in Syria.  With the armed insurgency now reaching inside Damascus and Aleppo, and inflicting mortal wounds on the Assad regime’s inner circle, some of the good/useful reading linked below addresses the question of the implications for the war in Syria on Iran, and the possibilities that the fighting will spill over into the region. 

By Dave Lindorff

Things are getting out of hand in the Persian Gulf.

…the Islamic Republic has a strong case which could prevent war 

By Franklin Lamb

This observer’s best ever (and shortest) job  involved  “ sort of” representing Iran before The Hague based International Court of Justice back in the ancient history days of 1980 following the American hostage events when the US government sued the new Islamic Republic of Iran before the ICJ  under Articles 22 (2), 24, 25, 26, 27 and 29 of the 1961 Vienna Convention on Diplomatic Relations as well as Article 111 (4) of the 1955Treaty of Amity, Economic Relations and Consular Rights (USA/Iran).

Glenn Greenwald:

CHRIS LAWRENCE, CNN PENTAGON CORRESPONDENT: Well, Wolf, Iran’s missiles are getting more accurate, but they may not have to be because they are also getting more deadly. By that I mean they’re developing a new payload system that spreads out the destruction over a wider area than a solid warhead. . . .

The Pentagon report says Iran is developing short-range missiles that can identify ships at sea and maneuver towards them in mid-flight. And Iran already has a missile that could reach the U.S. if it could put it on a ship and move it to within 600 miles of the American coastline.

I’d like to repeat that: “Iran already has a missile that could reach the U.S.”!!!! (“if it could it put on a ship and move it to within 600 miles of the American coastline”). As As’ad AbuKhalil observed about these frightening Iranian missiles: ”They can also reach the moon if they can put it on a rocket and get closer to the moon.” Indeed, I’m excited to announce that I’m writing today from within walking distance to the peak of Mount Everest! (if someone transports me and my laptop by jet and then helicopter to within 500 yards or so of the top of that mountain).

Iran War Weekly

July 15, 2012

Hello All – Negotiations about Iran’s nuclear program are on pause while the United States and its European allies assess the impact of the new round of sanctions – in reality, of economic warfare – against Iran. In this week’s good/useful reading linked below, NB especially the overview article by Conn Hallinan on sanctions; an excellent article by Mohammad Ali Shabani about the impact of sanctions, and a packet of articles about the next round of sanctions just unveiled by the Obama administration.

Iran War Weekly

July 8, 2012

Hello All – Nuclear diplomacy stepped into the background this week.  The focus of the US-Iran standoff is now the new round of economic sanctions against Iran and the possible effect/non-effect of these sanctions on Iran’s negotiating positions about its nuclear program.  Iran views the sanctions as economic warfare, and an indication that the US-led diplomacy in the UN Security Council and with its European partners is aimed at regime change, and not simply Iranian compliance with the Nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty.  The discourse in “the West” seems to be shifting from “diplomacy or sanctions?” to “sanctions or military action?”

  Unresolved Iran Nuclear Talks

by Stephen Lendman

Multiple rounds have been held. Istanbul technical talks just concluded.

Breakthroughs haven't happened. How can they when Washington blocks them.

By Gareth Porter, Truthout

For many months, the most dramatic media storyline on Iran's nuclear program has been an explosives containment cylinder that the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) says was installed at Iran's Parchin military base a decade ago to test nuclear weapons. The coverage of the initial IAEA account of the cylinder in its report last November has been followed by a steady drip of reports about Iran refusing to allow the agency's inspectors to visit the site at Parchin and satellite photos showing what are said to be Iranian efforts to "sanitize" the site.

But unknown to consumers of corporate news, the story of the Parchin bomb test cylinder has been quietly unraveling. A former IAEA expert on nuclear weapons has criticized the story as technically implausible; the account itself turns out to be marked by a central internal contradiction, and even satellite images published to the IAEA account have been found by experts to contradict it.

The evidence detailed below leaves little room for doubt that the whole story of an explosives cylinder designed with the help a former Soviet nuclear weapons scientist was a falsehood, foisted on the world by a state that is never named, but with an obvious political interest in promoting the idea of a covert Iranian nuclear arms program.  However, the IAEA, which is supposed to be a politically neutral organization, appears to be committed to the storyline as part of the political commitment to the anti-Iran coalition that was pledged by its Director General Yukiya Amano. The tale of the bomb test cylinder is an essential backdrop for the coming confrontation with Iran.

Read the Rest.

IranWar Weekly

July 2, 2012

Hello All – It seems now that negotiations to resolve the conflicts in/around both Iran and Syria will be put on hold until more “facts on the ground” alter the relative power of the contending forces.  Regarding Iran, the failure of the recent negotiations in Moscow indicates to many analysts that the United States has decided to see if the new round of economic sanctions against Iran and its oil will weaken Iran’s negotiating stance on its nuclear program.  And the lack of progress on Syrian issues at last week’s meeting in Geneva, along with the rejection by the Syrian armed resistance of any negotiated outcome that would not banish the Assad family from power, indicates that fighting will continue to escalate, with potential dangers for the entire region.

By Gareth Porter, IPS

WASHINGTON, Jun 30 2012 (IPS) - By staking out a policy line on Iran reflecting the views of the Israeli national security leadership, Deputy Prime Minister Shaul Mofaz has undercut the Benjamin Netanyahu government’s carefully planned strategy to get U.S. President Barack Obama to threaten war against Iran if it doesn’t give up its nuclear programme.

It could be the beginning of a process by which Netanyahu begins to climb down from a militarily aggressive policy that has provoked unprecedented dissent from high-ranking active and retired military and intelligence officials.

By Dave Lindorff

There are two US presidents who have won the Nobel Peace Prize. Now one of those Nobel laureate leaders is accusing the other, though without naming him, of actions that qualify as war crimes and impeachable crimes against the US Constitution.