Editorials

Featured Articles on Iran & Global Issues

Political Islam in the Service of Imperialism
By Samir Amin

What I contend is that political Islam as a whole is quite simply not anti-imperialist but is altogether lined up behind the dominant powers on the world scale.

United States Plans For War With Iran
By George Friedman

The danger of war is that politicians and generals, desiring a particular end, fantasize that they can achieve that end with insufficient resources. This lesson is applicable to Iran.

The Secret History of the Impending War with Iran That the White House Doesn't Want You to Know - Esquire

Two former high-ranking policy experts from the Bush administration say the U.S. has been gearing up for a war with Iran for years, despite claiming otherwise. It'll be Iraq all over again.

The sun sets early on the American Century - By Philip S Golub

The 'American Century' only began 60 years ago. But it seems already to be over, with the disaster of Iraq forcing some of the United States' ruling elites to realise that its hegemony has been severely weakened. But nobody seems to know what to do next, or even how to behave

The imperial nuclear order - Aijaz Ahmad

In the event that the U.S. does decide to go nuclear, there is no power to stop it

What you need to know about May Day - Leo Panitch

For more than 100 years, May Day has symbolized the common struggles of workers around the globe. Why is it largely ignored in North America? The answer lies in part in American labour's long repression of its own radical past, out of which international May Day was actually born a century ago.

Iran: What's at stake - Aijaz ahmad

EVEN a cursory look at a map of the region should clarify the geopolitical centrality of Iran in West Asian politics and in the epochal struggles for control of oil and gas resources, the most important strategic raw materials of our time.

The Anti-Imperialist Left Confronted with Islam - Tariq Ali

According to Tariq Ali, "For socialists the task is clear: the Muslim communities must be defended against being made scapegoats, against repression, against the very widespread representation that terrorism is proper to Islam. All that must be energetically fought. But at the same time we must not close our eyes to the social conservatism which reigns in these communities, nor hide it. We have to try to win this people to our own ideas."

Why we still need to be anti-imperialists?

It seems evident, from the attitude of the capitalist world to Soviet Russia, of the Entente to the Central Empires, and of England to Ireland and India, that there is no depth of cruelty, perfidy or brutality from which the present holders of power will shrink when they feel themselves threatened.

Now Powell Tells Us

"On Monday, former Secretary of State Colin Powell told me that he and his department's top experts never believed that Iraq posed an imminent nuclear threat, but that the President followed the misleading advice of Vice President Dick Cheney and the CIA in making the claim. Now he tells us."

The Changing Landscape of Party Politics in Iran -- A Case Study

Iran went from being a single-party state under the monarchy to having close to 100 political parties in the months immediately following the country's 1979 Islamic revolution.

The political issues behind the Iranian nuclear confrontation

No one should mistake Ahmadinejad's bravado for a genuine struggle against imperialism. The aim of this limited challenge is to pressure the major powers for a more advantageous relationship for the Iranian bourgeoisie and to bolster Iran's position as a regional power. For the past two years, Tehran has been seeking to use the nuclear issue to manoeuvre between the US and the European powers for a formal agreement with the EU for closer economic and political relations, in return for concessions on its nuclear programs.

News & Views

Iran: Khamenei would approve Iran-US relations if deemed beneficial - AP
Iran's Supreme Leader Ali Khamenei said Thursday that he was willing to improve relations with the United States but that now was not the right moment because it would bring no benefits to the Persian nation.

Iran: Wrapping Up For Winter, And The Morality Police - RFE
To 23-year-old Tehran resident Setareh, the onset of winter and an accompanying crackdown to enforce the dress code mean one thing: Beware the bare ankles.

Iran students break campus gate in protest -AFP
Hundreds of Iranian students held a new protest at Tehran University on Sunday, damaging the main gate to allow outsiders into the campus and denouncing President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad, Iran's news agencies reported

Photos of Students' Protest in Iran - December 2007

Release our comrades: A statement from the Freedom and Equality Seeking Students' group
As you are aware, thirty of our comrades are currently being held in ward 209 of Avin prison in Tehran, subjected to torture and the worst physical and mental conditions.

How one man eased nerves on Iran - The Australian
ON a winter afternoon in February, Ali Reza Ashgari, a moustachioed Iranian general, checked into a hotel in Istanbul, booked for him by two Europeans. Several days earlier, his wife and children had slipped quietly out of Tehran, unlikely to return.

Report on Iran fuels Arab fears - LA Times
The dwindling possibility of a U.S. attack on Iran is changing the dynamics of Middle East politics and raising Arab concern that Tehran may now feel emboldened to strengthen its military, increase its support for Islamic radicals and exert more influence in the region's troubled countries.

Photos of Student's Day Protest in Iran
Despite the heavy presence of the Iranian regime's security forces at Tehran University today's Students' Day commemoration went ahead as planned.

The mullah's method of establishing law and order in Iran. View the photos.
Iran's Security Forces are presently carrying out a nationwide, government-orchestrated crackdown  under the guise of combating "trouble-makers". To instigate fear among the people, some images were aired on state television.

US spies give shock verdict on Iran threat - The Guardian
Intelligence agencies say Tehran halted weapons programme in 2003.

Five hundred students and left-wing activists commemorate Students' Day at Tehran University
Despite the heavy presence of the Iranian regime's security forces at Tehran University today's Students' Day commemoration went ahead as planned. Around 500 students and left-wing activists took part in the event - with just 24 being arrested.

Security forces arrest Tehran University Radical Left students
The security forces of the Iranian regime attacked the home of a left-wing student activist involved in organising the students' protest inside Tehran University on 4 December. Those arrested include Anousheh Azadfar, Mehdi Gerayloo, Alnaz Jamshidi, Ehsan Azadfar and Nader Ahsani.

US strike on Iran 'not being prepared' - Financial Times
The Pentagon is not preparing a pre-emptive attack on Iran in spite of an
increase in bellicose rhetoric from Washington, according to senior
officers.

They think they have right on their side - The Economist
In many ways, the sparring capitals look more like mirror images than polar opposites. On different scales, both Iranians and Americans tend to take an imperial view. Both governments demonise the other. They use past resentments to reap political rewards by looking tough.

Iranian Press Under Increased Pressure to Portray Government in a Favorable Light - Worldpress
"Propaganda against the system," "agitation of public opinion," "blasphemy," "cultural invasion," "preparation for soft revolution," "creeping coup," and "espionage" - these are some of the accusations that Iranian journalists have long been faced with in their quest for the free flow of information.

Iran: Female Doctor's Prison Death Causes Public Outcry - RFE
"Now people see that even an ordinary person does not have basic security; and a person simply can get arrested on a street and, instead of returning home, their bodies are buried in a cemetery." -- journalist Isa Saharkhiz

Larijani: US must acknowledge Iran as a key regional player - Press TV
If they recognize Iran's role in the region and have a logical interaction with Tehran, the result would be a win-win situation.

Noam Chomsky on U.S. Policy Towards Iran
"Whether purposely or not, yes, we're moving towards a military confrontation."

Chavez, Ahmadinejad to Work Against US - AP
"We have common viewpoints and we will stand by each other until we capture the high peaks. God is with us and victory is awaiting us," Ahmadinejad was quoted as saying by IRNA. He said he and Chavez would stick together to defend their "nations and ideals to the end."

Challenge to Iranian President - The Age
An influential  hardline newspaper has made a rare attack on President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad over his accusations against politicians ahead of parliamentary elections.

A plan to attack Iran swiftly and from above - The Globe and Mail
A bombing campaign has been in the works for months - a blistering air war that would last anywhere from one day to two weeks

Iran: Thousands of workers demonstrated in the capital and other cities. November 20, 2007
Thousands of deprived workers staged sit-ins and demonstrations in protest to their unpaid wages and the Islamic regime anti-labor law in such cities as Tehran, Shiraz, Mashhad, Semnan, Sari, Arak, Saveh, Kashan, Qazvin, Qom and Yazd. 

Women activists arrested in Iran.
Iran has stepped up arrests of rights advocates and unionists in the past year, detaining prominent figures including labour leader Mansour Osanloo and prisons' activist Emadeddin Baghi.

Gloves come off as Iran moderates battle Ahmadinejad -  AFP
Iran's moderates are intensifying criticism of hardline President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad, landing their first blows in a bitter political fight ahead of elections next year.

Iran president threatens to expose nuclear 'traitors' - AFP
President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad on Monday threatened to expose "traitors" who were pressuring his government over its atomic ambitions in the face of mounting calls on Iran to stop controversial nuclear work.

Rice denies US on warpath with Iran - AFP
Interviewed on ABC television, Rice was pressed on a Senate resolution passed in September that labeled Iran's Revolutionary Guards a terrorist operation -- a step that critics said had brought war nearer.

Bush Loyalist Now Sees a White House Dangerously Soft on Iran - NY Times
The White House's effort to challenge Iran's nuclear ambitions has been hobbled by "four and a half years of failed diplomacy." Its policy regarding North Korea is a dangerous fraud. It is pursuing an improbable Palestinian-Israeli peace at the expense of its stance against proliferation in the Middle East.

US: Iran Attack Plans Ready if Needed - AP
U.S. defense officials have signaled that up-to-date attack plans are available if needed in the escalating crisis over Iran's nuclear aims, although no strike appears imminent.

Interview of George Bush by RTL and N-TV, German TV
Do you think that the nuclear threat that Iran poses right now is larger than the threat Iraq posed about five or six years ago?

Iran students hold protest against arrests - ISNA
A group of Iranian students gathered at Tehran University on Sunday to protest against the detentions of three fellow students last week, an Iranian news agency reported on Sunday.

A diplomatic opening with Iran? - FP Passport
What appears to be happening here is that the United States is testing Iranian intentions by releasing these nine prisoners.

Ongoing Resistance in Iran Not Driven by The West - Newsbalze
The Iranian student movement has no interdependence on any foreign government programs and is totally independent and self ruled. Although it is true to say that there are various trends in the movement.

Iran Dismisses Possibility of US Strike - The Associated Press -
 Iran dismissed the possibility of a US military strike against the country Monday and said Tehran was ready to consider a new round of talks with Washington on security in Iraq.

White House turns up heat on Iran - Toronto Star
Echoes of run-up to Iraq war stir as White House, presidential contenders and public target Tehran.

US in Middle East 'for 50 years' - The Press Association
American troops could remain mired in Middle East conflicts for another 50 years, a leading former commander has warned.

US downplays talk of Iran attack - AFP 
After weeks of escalating US rhetoric on Iran, the White House vowed Tuesday to "pursue every possible diplomatic means" to defuse the volatile dispute over Tehran's nuclear program.

Assassination attempts Against Labour Activists in Iran! LabourStart
Today, Thursday, October 18, 2007 at 9:00 AM in City of Sanandaj in Iran's Kurdistan Province, three plain clothes agents who had covered their faces attempted to assassinate Mr. Majid Hamidi a labour activists in Sanandaj. Mr. Hamidi is a member of the Coordinating Committee to Form Workers' Organization as well as a member of the Committee in Defence of Mahmoud Salehi.

Iran's leaders need enemies like Bush, and at every turn he obliges them - Guardian
This latest batch of sanctions has little to do with diplomacy and only makes US military action more inevitable.

Iran clamps down on coffee shops - Guardian
They have become a haven for modern bookworms everywhere - a place to combine a love of the written word with the pleasures of cafe society. But now the trend of opening coffee shops inside bookstores has fallen foul of the authorities amid a general clampdown on social and intellectual freedoms.

US avoiding direct action against Iran - Baltimore Sun
In congressional testimony yesterday, Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice called Iran "the single greatest challenge for American security interests in the Middle East and possibly around the world."

Iran's Kurdish Rebels
AINA
As they may stay up in the mountains for as long as a year at a time, the PJAK rebels survive on spring wells and growing few crops, mostly rice and beans.

Iranian Students Protest Jail Sentences For Classmates  - RFE/RL
Students at Tehran's Amir Kabir University demonstrated today against the prison sentences handed down to three fellow students for allegedly insulting Islam.