Wie sah denn die Effektivität der iranischen Flugabwehrkräfte im Krieg gegen den Irak aus?

Iran is an opportunity, not a target

ASK THIS | February 27, 2008
Longtime New York Times foreign correspondent Stephen Kinzer writes that a better understanding of Iran's history exposes the folly of pre-emptive military action. By contrast, negotiations offer tantalizing possibilities.

By Stephen Kinzer
s-kinzer@northwestern.edu

Q. How should history inform our understanding of Iran's current position and role in the world?

Iran is one of the world's oldest civilizations. Its people are proud and, like their government, want Iran to be taken seriously as a regional actor. Iranians have a longstanding view that the West does not want their country to develop economically. This view helps shape their broadly shared opinion that Iran has a right to a nuclear energy program.

Many Americans are familiar with only one episode in the history of US-Iranian relations: the hostage crisis of 1979-80. Few realize that the miltants who seized the U.S. embassy in Tehran have stated that they were primarily motivated by fears that the events of 1953 were about to be replayed. In that year, the Shah fled his country but was placed back on his throne after a coup organized by CIA agents working in the basement of the U.S. embassy.

The 1953 coup brought an end to democratic rule in Iran. That makes it difficult for Iranians to take the American leaders seriously when they demand that Iran democratize itself. Iranians naturally react by thinking, "We had a democracy until Americans took it away from us."

Q. What would be the effects of an American military strike against Iran?

Some of the effects are easy to predict. The Iranian population, which is now strongly pro-American, would naturally erupt in outrage. There would be an instant and perhaps devastating spike in violence against U.S. forces in Iraq. Violence would also likely erupt in Afghanistan, Pakistan and other Muslim countries. Iran might retaliate by firing missiles at Israel and U.S. allies in the Persian Gulf. The cause of democracy in Iran would be set back by a generation. Iranians would rally around their government, as all people do when their country is under attack, thereby giving a new boost to a regime that is now highly unpopular. Iranian nuclear scientists whose homes are bombed and whose children are killed would have a special motivation to use their knowledge in ways that could be devastating to the U.S.

If the events of 1953 and the history of other U.S. interventions are a guide, though, the most devastating effects of such an attack would be ones we cannot now predict. No one in 1953 could have foreseen that the CIA coup in Iran would have produced the 1979 Islamic Revolution, which in turn set off the Iran-Iraq war that brought the U.S. into its death-embrace of Saddam Hussein, and that also led the Soviet Union to invade Afghanistan, thereby setting in motion the U.S. war there that led to the rise of the Taliban and al Qaeda. The lesson is that when a big power violently intervenes in the political development of another country, it sets off consequences no one can imagine.
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Ähm,
ich denke dieser Beitrag ist in diesem Thread richtig

Irgendwie kommt mir das seltsam vor.

nö, ist es absolut nicht



dir kommt viel komisch vor

Russia gas pact energizes Iran
By Pepe Escobar

While Washington, facing European Union discomfort and frank opposition from Russia and China, remains obsessed with another round of United Nations sanctions against Iran, the facts on the ground spell an overwhelming "expansion of mutual cooperation" in the energy sector between Iran and Russia.

Iran holds the world's second-largest proven natural gas reserves, behind only Russia. Alexei Miller, chief executive of Russia's state-run gas exporter Gazprom, recently visited Tehran and met with Iran's Oil Minister Gholam-Hossein Nozari. The result is that Gazprom will develop "two or three" blocks of the monstrous South Pars gas field in Iran; and its daughter company, Gazpromneft, will also be part of a huge oil project in Iran. Gazprom has been in South Pars since 1997, alongside TotalFinaElf of France and Malaysia's Petronas.

For Iran, this is really big news. Reza Kasaeizadeh, the managing director of Iran's National Gas Company, now insists that Iran will supply no less than 10% of the world gas market in the next 20 years; currently it's only 1%. Iran at the moment exports gas only to Armenia and Turkey. When South Pars phases 17, 18 and 19 are developed by 2013 that will be a whole different ball game. South Pars - which Iran shares with Qatar - is the largest gas field in the world. Annual output of its eight blocks on the Iranian side stands at 73 billion cubic meters; in the next few years it will easily reach 200 billion cubic meters.

Sanctions? What sanctions?
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both Russia and Iran want the formation of a gas equivalent of the Organization of Petroleum Exporting Countries (OPEC) sooner rather than later - a likely scenario at least from the point of view of Russian-Iranian coordination in investment policy and pricing.
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Teymur Huseynov, head of the Eurasia department at the Exclusive Analysis risk consultancy, confirms "Gazprom's vulnerability to US sanctions is minimal". Gazprom supplies over 25% of Western Europe's gas. Much of Iran's future production will also go to Western Europe anyway. Russia and Iran are competitors in the world gas market - but up to a point: Europe needs both.

Gazprom has already invested at least US$4 billion in Iran since 2000. The Russian company will also help Iran to develop its pipeline system - which will finally link the north (where Tehran is located) to the oil and gas fields in the south and southwest.
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Iran and Russia have also signed a letter of understanding to speed up construction of power grids.
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The results are obvious: the merging of Russian and Iranian electricity networks will cover virtually all the demand in Central Asia and the Caucasus. Most of the new investment will be Russian.
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Im übrigen ist die Frage warum nicht Boeing (wer hat da falsch geschmiert?) schon spannend genug, da braucht man keine sonstigen Verschwörungstheorien mehr.

POLITICS: Iran Nuke Laptop Data Came from Terror Group
By Gareth Porter

WASHINGTON, Feb 29 (IPS) - The George W. Bush administration has long pushed the "laptop documents" — 1,000 pages of technical documents supposedly from a stolen Iranian laptop — as hard evidence of Iranian intentions to build a nuclear weapon. Now charges based on those documents pose the only remaining obstacles to the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) declaring that Iran has resolved all unanswered questions about its nuclear programme.

But those documents have long been regarded with great suspicion by U.S. and foreign analysts. German officials have identified the source of the laptop documents in November 2004 as the Mujahideen e Khalq (MEK), which along with its political arm, the National Council of Resistance in Iran (NCRI), is listed by the U.S. State Department as a terrorist organisation.

There are some indications, moreover, that the MEK obtained the documents not from an Iranian source but from Israel's Mossad.

In its latest report on Iran, circulated Feb. 22, the IAEA, under strong pressure from the Bush administration, included descriptions of plans for a facility to produce "green salt", technical specifications for high explosives testing and the schematic layout of a missile reentry vehicle that appears capable of holding a nuclear weapon. Iran has been asked to provide full explanations for these alleged activities.

Tehran has denounced the documents on which the charges are based as fabrications provided by the MEK, and has demanded copies of the documents to analyse, but the United States had refused to do so.

The Iranian assertion is supported by statements by German officials. A few days after then Secretary of State Colin Powell announced the laptop documents, Karsten Voight, the coordinator for German-American relations in the German Foreign Ministry, was reported by the Wall Street Journal Nov. 22, 2004 as saying that the information had been provided by "an Iranian dissident group".
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Iran stoppt Verhandlungen mit EU 05. Mrz 17:17Bild: http://www.netzeitung.de/img/0076/195176-1.jpg (Bild automatisch entfernt)Bild: http://www.netzeitung.de/idesk/img/zoom_thumb.gif (Bild automatisch entfernt)Ahmadinedschad will künftig nur mit IAEA sprechenFoto: dpa Teheran will im Streit um sein Atomprogramm ausschließlich mit der Internationalen Atomenergiebehörde reden. Bilaterale Verhandlungen mit EU-Ländern schließt Regierungschef Ahmadinedschad aus.

Als Reaktion auf die jüngste Iran-Resolution des UN-Sicherheitsrats hat der iranische Präsident Mahmud Ahmadinedschad weitere Atomverhandlungen mit der EU ausgeschlossen. Einziger Ansprechpartner werde künftig die Internationale Atomenergiebehörde (IAEA) sein. Zwei Tage nach dem Votum des Sicherheitsrats sagte Ahmadinedschad: «Der Iran wird keinerlei Gespräche mit irgendeinem anderen Land außerhalb des Rahmens der IAEA mehr führen». In den vergangenen Jahren hatten deutsche, französische und britische Diplomaten unabhängig von der IAEA intensive Verhandlungen mit dem Iran über ein umfassendes Wirtschaftsabkommen geführt. Mit dem Abkommen sollte Teheran der Verzicht auf die Urananreicherung schmackhaft gemacht werden.

Iran-Sudan begin first round of talks on defense cooperation

Iran - Tehran - TEHRAN, March. 05 (ISNA)-The defense minister Mustafa Mohammad Najjar started the first round of talks with his Sudanese counterpart on international and regional issues. Mustafa Mohammad Najjar's tour is taking place following the formal invitation of his Sudanese counterpart, Abdul Rahim Mohammed Hussein. Najjar also expressed hope the two countries would boost technical and instructional aspects of defense cooperation.
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The brigadier general is also scheduled to meet with other high-ranking Sudanese officials during his trip. Iran and Sudan enjoying widespread ties in domains including economy, agriculture and energy are expected to cooperate more in the field of defense as well.
End Item

<h2>
Iran to export gas to EU via Croatia

Belgrade, March 5, IRNA

Iran-EU-Gas Iran's ambassador to Croatia Mohammad- Hassan Fadaiefard says Iran's gas will be exported to the European Union via Croatia.
The latest edition of Zagreb-based weekly 'National' quoted Fadaiefard as saying that Iran has made a proposal to Croatia to set up
a terminal and lay pipelines to transfer Iran's gas to Austria and Switzerland.

Fadaiefard said that based on agreement Iran will export dlrs 25 billion worth gas to Austria and a similar contract, valued dlrs 30 billion, is to be signed with Switzerland.
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POLITICS-US: Fallon's "No Iran War" Line Angered White House
By Gareth Porter*

WASHINGTON, Mar 7 (IPS) - A new article on CENTCOM commander Adm. William Fallon confirms that his public statements last fall ruling out war against Iran last fall were not coordinated with the White House and landed him in trouble more than once with President George W. Bush and Vice President Dick Cheney.

In an admiring article on Fallon in Esquire, former Pentagon official Thomas P.M. Barnett writes that Fallon angered the White House by "brazenly challenging" Bush on his aggressive threat of war against Tehran. Barnett also cites "well-placed observers" as saying Bush may soon replace Fallon with a "more pliable" commander
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Later that day, according to Barnett, Fallon told him during a coffee break in a military meeting, "I'm in hot water again," and then confirmed that his problems were directly with the White House.

That was the second time in less than a week and the third time in seven weeks that Fallon had publicly declared that there would be no war against Iran. In an interview with Al-Jazeera television in September, which Fallon himself had requested, according to a source at Al-Jazeera, he had said, "This constant drum beat of conflict is what strikes me which is not helpful and not useful".
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Fallon's public statements explicitly ruling out an attack on Iran thus undermined the Bush administration's threat against Iran.

The willingness of the top commander in the Middle East to take the military option "off the table" was in part a reflection of the determination of uniformed military leaders to prevent what they regarded as a disastrous course.

The new chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, Adm. Mike Mullen, who replaced Gen. Peter Pace in June, was even more candid about his opposition to the use of force against Iran than Pace had been, according to a Congressional staffer who had participated in private meetings with both. Pace declared publicly in late October, "We have to be mindful of the risks that would [be spawned] by engaging in a third conflict" in the region.

Mullen added, however, that military options "cannot be taken off the table".

But Fallon, as the commander responsible for the entire Middle East, was concerned about more than the consequences of actually exercising the military option. He was prompted to enunciate a "no-war" line on Iran by the panicky reactions of Arab states to what they thought were indications of the warlike intentions of Bush administration.
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Fallon is not the first CENTCOM commander to rein in aggressive White House policy toward the Middle East. In late 1997, according to Dana Priest's book, "The Mission", the Bill Clinton White House wanted CENTCOM commander Gen. Anthony Zinni to order his pilots to provoke a military confrontation with Iraq in the no-fly zone by deliberately drawing fire from Iraqi planes.

The request for such a provocation was conveyed to Zinni by the vice chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff Gen. Joseph Ralston. But Zinni, who believed that it could lead to an unwanted war with Iraq, insisted that a formal request from the White House would have to be sent, and the plan was dropped.
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Iran: Studenten gegen “Apartheid der Geschlechter”

Samstag, den 8. März 2008 um 19:07 Uhr von Hamid Tehrani

Am Dienstag protestierten wieder hunderte Studenten der Shiraz Universität gegen die “Apartheid der Geschlechter”. Die Studenten wollen ein Ende der im Februar eingeführten Regelungen, die die Universität in Klassen für Männer und für Frauen trennt.

Auch solle der Präsident der Uni zurücktreten und die Zustände der Schlafräume und in der Cafeteria verbessert werden. Außerdem wollen sie eigene Delegierte wählen dürfen. Am 4. März war der achte Tag der Proteste. Während die Mainstream-Medien die Ereignisse ignorieren, verfolgen mehrere Blogger die Ereignisse.
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Im Blog “Sozialistische Literaturstudenten der Shiraz Universität” wird die Trennung der Geschlechter in den Kursen ein Verbrechen gegen die Menschenrechte genannt [FA]. Einige Studenten seien schlecht behandelt worden, und die zunehmende Präsens des Militärs beunruhige die Studenten.
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AmirKabir Khabarnameh, eine führende Informationsquelle der Studenten, schreibt [FA], dass mehrere Familien von Studenten kontaktiert worden seien von Sicherheitskräften. Die Familien wurden aufgefordert, ihre Kinder von der Teilnahme an den Protesten abzuhalten.
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Israel: ElBaradei, an Iranian agent
Mon, 10 Mar 2008 20:59:31

IAEA chief Mohamed ElBaradei
An Israeli minister says UN nuclear watchdog chief Mohamed ElBaradei should be relieved from duty, as he is 'an acting agent for Iran'.

In an interview with Israel's Channel One television, housing minister Ze'ev Boim called on the international community to push for the IAEA chief's dismissal.

Boim said ElBaradei is serving 'the interests of Iran' by allowing the country to continue its nuclear enrichment program without international intervention.

"When you examine his behavior you cannot but reach the conclusion that he is a sort of planted agent ... who has served well the interests of Iran," he added.

"ElBaradei's decisions have many times been taken in coordination with the Iranians, which has made it impossible to create a strong coalition which could stop Iran's uranium enrichment program," Boim said.
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THE EVOLUTION OF IRANIAN WARFIGHTING
DURING THE IRAN-IRAQ WAR
When Dismounted Light Infantry Made the Difference
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Sergeant Ben Wilson is Middle East analyst at the Foreign Military Studies
Office at Fort Leavenworth, Kansas.
The references for this article are on file and available through Infantry
Magazine.

Iran will improve missile capabilities
Wed, 02 Apr 2008 20:37:14

An Iranian military commander says the country is seeking to develop and enhance its ballistic missile and air defense capabilities.

Tehran has taken measures to achieve its military goals in the new Iranian year, Commander of the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps Major General Mohammad Ali Jafari told reporters Wednesday.

Commander Jafari added that Iran's national security is at its highest level in the country's history.

"By achieving its new goals, the IRGC seeks to further improve national security," Maj. Gen. Jafari concluded.

MD/HGH/RE

Israel: Iran has set up listening stations in Syria to intercept Israeli communications

JERUSALEM (AP) - Iran has set up sophisticated listening stations in Syria in recent months to intercept Israeli military communications, Israeli security officials say.
The officials offered no details on how many stations had been set up. They spoke on condition of anonymity Tuesday because they were not authorized to disclose information about defense operations.

Israel is taking new precautions because of the listening stations, the officials said.
Top brass won't be allowed to bring their mobile phones into rooms where classified information is being discussed, the officials said. And generals will be assigned special areas on bases to conduct private conversations. That way, listening stations won't be able to hear sensitive conversations that might be going on in the background while generals talk on their cellular phones, they explained.

Rules governing landline conversations won't be changed because those communications are less exposed to interception.
Israeli military officials say Iran helped Lebanese Hezbollah guerrillas pick up Israeli radio communications during the 2006 war between Israel and Hezbollah in Lebanon. Several months ago, all radio communications were ordered to be encrypted, security officials said.
On Tuesday, Israeli intelligence officers told a parliamentary committee that Hezbollah was replenishing its arsenal with medium- and long-range missiles, and improving its systems.
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Israel droht Iran im Falle eines Angriffs mit harter Vergeltung

Infrastrukturminister Ben-Eliezer droht mit "Zerstörung der iranischen Nation"
Jerusalem - Im Falle eines Angriffs des Iran auf Israel hat die Regierung in Jerusalem mit harter Vergeltung gedroht. "Der Iran wird sich nicht beeilen, uns anzugreifen, denn sie kennen die Bedeutung eines solchen Angriffs", sagte Infrastrukturminister Benjamin Ben-Eliezer am Montag nach Berichten des israelischen Rundfunks. "Ein iranischer Angriff gegen Israel wird einen harten Gegenschlag auslösen, der die Zerstörung der iranischen Nation zur Folge haben wird", sagte Eliezer weiter, der auch Mitglied des israelischen Sicherheitskabinetts ist.
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Vielleicht solltest Du Dich besser mal ins Thema einlesen. Der Russ und Staub wird durch die enorme Hitze von mehreren Millionen Grad verursacht. Bei diesen Temperaturen schmizt wohl fast alles, auch anorganisches. Durch die Hitze steigt dieser Staub eben auch in die Atmosphäre auf.

Wobei ich mich immer frage mit was der Iran denn eigentlich Israel angreifen soll. Die haben doch überhaupt nichts was die Distanz zurücklegen kann UND dann auch noch ein Ziel punktgenau treffen.

Vielleicht solltest Du Dich besser mal ins Thema einlesen. Der Russ und Staub wird durch die enorme Hitze von mehreren Millionen Grad verursacht. Bei diesen Temperaturen schmizt wohl fast alles, auch anorganisches. Durch die Hitze steigt dieser Staub eben auch in die Atmosphäre auf.

Juden im Iran – geschützt und respektiert

Den Holocaust habe es nie gegeben und Israel solle von der Landkarte getilgt werden – Immer wieder unterstreicht Irans Präsident Ahmadinedschad mit solchen antisemitischen Hetztiraden seinen Judenhass. Doch ausgerechnet in seinem Land lebt die größte jüdische Minderheit im Nahen Osten. Und entgegen seiner Kampagnen gelten sie im Iran als verfassungsrechtlich geschützte religiöse Gruppe.

Und nach einer erstaunlich seriösen und beliebten Doku-Soap im iranischen Fernsehen weiß auch die Bevölkerung mittlerweile über den Holocaust Bescheid: Die Serie "madare sefr darajeh" (zu Deutsch: "Breite: Null Grad") im staatlichen Fernsehen ist eine iranische Version von "Schindlers Liste": Sie erzählt von dem Schicksal, das Juden im von Hitler besetzten Paris 1940 erlitten. Damals gaben iranische Diplomaten in Paris tatsächlich etwa 500 Pässe an Juden aus, damit sie flüchten konnten. Die TV-Serie wurde zum Quotenerfolg und bewegt im ganzen Land die Gemüter: Jede Woche erfahren die Zuschauer mehr über den Holocaust, den der iranische Präsident Ahmadinejad immer wieder leugnet.
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