Posted on 04/15/2005 9:35:57 PM PDT by DoctorZIn
Top News Story
Europe "Rock-Solid" That Iran Cease Enrichment
AFP, Yahoo! News:
European diplomats say the EU is "rock-solid" in its insistence that Iran cease uranium enrichment, ahead of crucial talks next week designed to win guarantees from Tehran that it will not make nuclear weapons.DoctorZin: The EU3 need to be applauded if they stick to this position. We reported back in November that the likely reason Iran wants to maintain a small number of centrifuges to continue to run, was to hide an undeclared enrichment program.
European Union negotiators Britain, France and Germany are studying an Iranian proposal that would allow some enrichment, and there have been hints of a crack in their unity over this issue.
But the European trio is "rock-solid on cessation" by Iran of uranium enrichment, which makes fuel for nuclear reactors but what can also be the explosive core of atom bombs, one European diplomat told AFP on Thursday.
The trio is to meet with Iran starting Tuesday in Geneva in a nuclear issues working group, ahead of a meeting of senior foreign ministry officials from the two sides scheduled for April 29 in London, diplomats said.
Iran proposed at such a senior-level meeting in Paris in March a project to do low-scale enrichment in a pilot project, and the Europeans agreed to consider this.
The European diplomat said however that the EU position remains that "cessation means cessation."
The EU wants so-called "objective guarantees" from Tehran that its nuclear program is a peaceful one.
Iran is trying to soften this demand, and some European diplomats told AFP that French President Jacques Chirac had said in February at a meeting in Paris with Iranian President Mohamad Khatami that France would agree to the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) determining what these objective guarantees would be.
Other diplomats said this was not the case and that Chirac had only said that the Vienna-based UN nuclear watchdog would have a role to play.
The IAEA is a verification arm of the United Nations rather than a policy-making body.
A non-European diplomat said Iran felt it could get a better deal from the IAEA than it would get from the Europeans, who agree with the United States that Iran should not be allowed to develop the capacity to make nuclear weapons.
One European diplomat said that the idea of having the IAEA determine the objective
John Loftus (a Fox News intelligence correspondent and director of IntelCon) claimedthat uranium enrichment centrifuges, which run at supersonic speeds, emit a unique “sound” that our intelligence satellites can detect
. He believes that Iran is aware of this capability of US intelligence.
If Iran has an “undeclared” centrifuge program as many claim, then Iran needs a few centrifuges to be permitted to stay in operation to mask this larger program they have in operation. Once Iran declares that all enrichment has ceased US intelligence would be “hear” the undeclared centrifuges and thus be able to prove their deception. This would explain the Iranian insistence on running the empty centrifuges it convinced the EU3 to permit to continue to run.
- The Word Unheard published the following response Mohsen Sazegara's recent article.
- OpenDemocracy.com published the controversial Iranian dissident Mohsen Sazegara article, Iran’s road to democracy.
- The Jerusalem Post reports more than 250 people were arrested Friday in southwestern Iran.
- Amnesty International, Urgent Action: Seventeen-year-old Rasoul Mohammadi is reportedly due to be executed on 16 April.
- WorldTribune.com says when talking about Iran's nuclear program, "Don't expect another Osirak."
- WorldTribune.com reports that Iran wants to join a United Nations satellite network that produces high resolution imagery.
- Washington Times asks can Iran be thwarted?.
- USA Today interviewed former MEK member Arash Sametipour who says his main motivation now is to stop others from joining the group.
- The Christian Science Monitor suggests that social freedoms have long been a barometer of politics in Iran, and once again the hardliners have shifted tactics.
- And finally, SMCCDI reports another public execution lead, today, to sporadic but violent clashes in the City of Najaf-Abad located in Esfahan province.
"If you want on or off this Iran ping list, Freepmail DoctorZin
Join Us At Today's Iranian Alert Thread – The Most Underreported Story Of The Year!
"If you want on or off this Iran ping list, Freepmail DoctorZin”
I really do not understand why terrorists can gather in the US capital and have a big meeting?
http://www.iranfocus.com/modules/news/article.php?storyid=1874
Is it permitted by law in the US? Is war on terror finished?
What will happen if some MPs in Iran meet Al-Qaeda members in downtown Tehran publicly and address them?
I hope the US wouldnt start supporting a Marxist-Islamist group in order to replace them with mad Mullahs...
I thought what Iranian people want is so clear:
Democracy and Freedom, not bunch of dictators again!
As requested:
Bolton's Terrorist Tango
http://www.villagevoice.com/news/0515,webmondo2,62867,6.html
They people they wanted to speak, didn't.
Actually, I could say that popularity of America among Iranians is declining very fast.
Because the regime portrays these things very loudly and clearly among ordinary Iranians and prepare them for a mental warfare against the US.
I doubt the Bush admin is not aware of such meetings or they should be permitted by Homeland Security Dept or FBI.
That's what I thought to. What's going on? Good to hear from you Khashayar...I've been concerned as I have not seen you around lately. You're safe?
Some rock....
How do you stop them from meeting? If they have a permit to gather (a crowd control/mob prohibition) there is nothing that can be done. They have the right to assemble. And the right to free speech. It's that simple.
Last year...Ole Muss of Pakistan said he thinks osama is not in country.
Has ole Muss of Pakistan satisfied the Bush Admin ....garnering F-16's to some degree as a reward...allong with the reality being a good head kick to arrogant China?
Iran is cagy.
Algerian terror/Arafat does preceed Ayatollah Khomeini.
Yet his Party of God/Hizbullah blueprint is reasonably the true source for world terror strategy.
Osama and the tape message is A.K. fortay.
We can also thank the treacherous French for giving A.K. a luxury condo to dream up evil.
It would be beneficial to press the osama/al z issue to closure...even if it means violating Iranian airspace to prove he is there.
Humiliating Iran...and revealing their treachery could go miles in politcal capital.
maybe...it turns the tide inside Iran to be rid of these despots with world displeasure pouring out.
well...at least the Marshall Islands will be outraged! : )
Iran is biding time until President Bush leaves office in my thinking.
Euro's are likely playing this option too.....along with Cadaver Putin.
If there were other options than MEK and Komalar that could have greater influence to replace the current Iran regime, America will be happy to support them. However, I have seen no other popluar groups that may uprise and tak over the government. If you know any, other than MEK, Komalar, and Khatami's faction, let us know. Otherwise, there are no other groups that America can support to replace the current regime.
That's true. The US government cannot stop a group from organizing merely because they're unpopular or their views are unpopular it is against the First Amendment in the US Constitution. The entire idea of the First Amendment is to protect unpopular views.
Only if the MKO/MEK was inciting the imminent, overthrow of the US government could they intervene or else they could just not issue the permit, but then they would have to be for a legitimate government purpose and be the least obtrusive means of getting there.
Cannot stop people from meeting or organizing?
Don't we have new anti-terrorism laws in this country?
This is a group designated by the State Dept as Terrorists. Should we allow alQaida and FARC to rent convention centers for meetings? Maybe everyone (including the congressmen and women and whomever else was involved in this terrorist meeting) should read the LAW.
Go to the State Dept's website page on Terrorist Organizations....
http://www.state.gov/s/ct/rls/rpt/fto/2001/5258.htm
Isn't it against the law to engage in terrorist activity?
Here's what the State Dept defines as engaging in Terrorist Activity : " The term "engage in terrorist activity" means to commit, in an individual capacity or as a member of an organization, an act of terrorist activity or an act which the actor knows, or reasonably should know, affords material support to any individual, organization, or government in conducting a terrorist activity at any time, including any of the following acts:
"The solicitation of any individual for membership in a terrorist organization, terrorist government, or to engage in a terrorist activity.""
You don't think they're trying to solitcit new members?
You don't think these people (the speakers, especially)at this meeting knew who this group was? You don't think their speeches supported this group and were delivered to produce future support for this terrorist group??
I don't know if they collected any money at this meeting or have received pledges of donations, but here's the Law, "It is unlawful for a person in the United States or subject to the jurisdiction of the United States to provide funds or other material support to a designated FTO." (Foreign Terrorist Organizations)
And here's a list of the speakers : Congressman Bob Filner (D-CA), joint-chair of the Iran Human Rights and Democracy Caucus of the U.S. House of Representative; Congressman Tom Tancredo (R-CO), a member of the Foreign Affairs Committee in Congress and Co-chair of the Caucus; Congressman Dennis Moore (D-KS); and Congressman Ted Poe (R-TX), Republican Senators Kay Hutchinson from Texas and James Talent from Missouri.
"A number of former government officials, human rights activists, and parliamentarians from other countries also spoke at this convention. They included Dr. Neil Livingstone, a Washington-based terrorism expert and author; Prof. Donna Hughes, Chair of Women's Studies at the University of Rhode Island, and Paul Enzinna, a lawyer from former Secretary of State James Baker’s law firm, Baker Botts.
Two former officers of the U.S. Army, Col. Kenneth Cantwell and Army lawyer Captain Vivian Gembara, both of whom served year-long tours of duty in Iraq, addressed the convention, as did Rep. Paul Forseth from the Canadian Parliament."
I encourage anyone whose congressman or senator is listed,(from CA, CO, KS, MO,TX ) to write that politician and include a quotation of the LAW and the link for the State Dept's website on Foreign Terrorist Organizations.
Free speech and all that. However, one hopes we aren't as stupid as we seem to be and that the FBI took lots of video and followed them all home. Here's hoping they also carried out a few 'trash' searches and hacked into their internet activity. If they pull a few threads, the whole sweater might unravel.
Maybe I clicked the wrong link, but this D.C. meeting on Iran with Sen. Kay B. Hutchinson speaking seemed focused on democracy and freedom for Iranians. If there was some other meeting with terrorists milling about, soliciting funds, new members, I hope the FBI took notes.
Okay, read your link about MEK. Troublesome, certainly. But maybe we have informants in that org..
In other words, take heart, all is not lost. There's more than one way to skin a cat. (Keep your powder dry.)
I am hearing that Iranians say the US govt is about to replace this group with mullahs.
It has to be proven, though. I also believe that the government is really busy watching everything, everywhere... and sometimes they can't keep up. We ALL know that the threat of terrorism still exists. I live by the motto of not IF but WHEN.
"...the government is really busy ...sometimes they can't keep up"
Umm....these are congressmen and senators at this rally. You think they don't know the law? Especially Tancredo who serves on the Subcommittee on International Terrorism? I think he's got a lot of explaining to do.
Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.