Top Stories
WSJ: "Iranian President Mahmoud
Ahmadinejad told the U.N. General Assembly that most people believe the U.S.
orchestrated the Sept. 11 terrorist attacks, prompting a walkout by the U.S.
and allies and clouding diplomacy efforts by the Obama administration. In a
statement quickly issued after the remarks, the U.S. said that Mr.
Ahmadinejad's comments were 'as abhorrent and delusional as they are
predictable'... Mr. Ahmadinejad described what he said were three theories about
the 2001 attacks. The first, that terrorists penetrated U.S. intelligence and
defenses. The second: 'That some segments within the U.S. government
orchestrated the attack to reverse the declining American economy and its grips
on the Middle East in order also to save the Zionist regime. The majority of
the American people as well as other nations and politicians agree with this
view.'" http://bit.ly/a2FL17
Boston Globe: "The
issue of Iran's nuclear program was little more than a footnote in President
Obama's wide-ranging, 35-minute speech before the United Nations yesterday. But
behind the scenes, US and Iranian officials appeared to be engaging in
preliminary efforts to reopen talks to resolve what many consider the greatest
global threat: a nuclear-armed Iran. 'The door remains open to diplomacy should
Iran choose to walk through it,' Obama said in his speech, devoting a mere 160
words to the Islamic Republic in his nearly 4,000-word speech. 'But the Iranian
government must demonstrate a clear and credible commitment, and confirm to the
world the peaceful intent of its nuclear program.' Publicly, Iran's reaction
was decidedly mixed." http://bit.ly/bYSmVr
Reuters: "Iran on Thursday withdrew
a bid for a seat on the U.N. nuclear watchdog's policy-setting board after
failing to win consensus backing from a regional group of Middle East and South
Asian countries... An Arab diplomat said Iran, Jordan and the United Arab
Emirates had vied for the two seats allocated for the group on the International
Atomic Energy Agency's Board of Governors, which meets periodically at IAEA
headquarters in Vienna." http://nyti.ms/9LLaOS
UNGA
Ambassador
Mark Wallace in Detroit News: "Iranian
president Mahmoud Ahmadinejad is in Manhattan attending the United Nations
General Assembly. Unfortunately, the Hilton Manhattan East Hotel has agreed to
host the Holocaust-denying president and his henchmen. He may want to bring
some board games, because it's unlikely he will be welcome anywhere else in the
city. In fact, the vast majority of New York venues have made it clear that he
is not welcome When Ahmadinejad attended the U.N.'s fall 2009 conclave, the
Essex House on Central Park South and the New York Helmsley were among the
hotels that shut their doors to the theocrat dictator from Tehran. Neither
hotel cared to welcome a man who has called 9/11 a 'big lie' and for Israel to
be 'wiped off the map.'" http://bit.ly/aZYkeD
Reuters: "New York knows how to welcome Mahmoud Ahmadinejad... United
Against Nuclear Iran (UANI)-the organization that recently brought Times Square
the giant, not entirely subtle anti-Ahmadinejad billboard (message: 'He's Not
Welcome Here')- is rallying at the Hilton Manhattan East Hotel, which is
hosting the dignitary of questionable dignity." http://bit.ly/dlEmPk
AFP: "US President Barack
Obama was outraged and offended Thursday by Iranian President Mahmoud
Ahmadinejad's suggestion that the US government was involved in the September
11 attacks, a senior US official said. 'The president found the comments to be
outrageous and offensive, particularly given how close we are to Ground Zero,'
the official said on condition of anonymity." http://yhoo.it/9nKRdd
AFP: "Iranian
President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad's suggestion that the US government was involved
in the September 11 attacks was 'outrageous and unacceptable,' the European
Union said on Friday. EU foreign affairs chief Catherine Ashton said that
Ahmadinejad's assertions at the United Nations general assembly on Thursday 'that
the United States was in any way responsible for the 9/11 terrorist attacks or
that the majority of people in the US believe this to be the case, is
outrageous and unacceptable." http://yhoo.it/9EqnGw
Nuclear
Program
AP: "A Belgian-born arms dealer
has been sentenced to nearly two years in prison after pleading guilty to a
conspiracy charge accusing him of trying to illegally export fighter jet
engines to Iran. A federal judge on Wednesday sentenced 57-year-old Jacques
Monsieur, who had more serious charges dismissed. Prosecutors say Monsieur has
provided assistance to law enforcement officials." http://nyti.ms/aSe9Uk
Bloomberg: "A computer worm
called Stuxnet, which targets Siemens AG software used to control industrial
equipment, may be aimed at destroying a specific plant, possibly Iran's
controversial nuclear facility, according to Ralph Langner, a German industrial
controls safety expert, the Financial Times reported. Langner was speaking at a
closed conference in Maryland this week, the newspaper said. The virus, which
spreads through holes in Microsoft Corp.'s Windows operating system, is the
first aimed at destroying physical installations; it's the work of a well
financed, highly organized team, probably associated with a national
government, the FT said, citing security experts." http://bit.ly/a8b6Bf
Commerce
Reuters: "Germany's
ThyssenKrupp said on Thursday it would freeze new business with Iran with
immediate effect in response to ever-harsher sanctions against the Islamic
Republic. Iran's day-to-day business is affected by tighter international, U.S.
and European Union sanctions imposed in response to Western fears the country's
nuclear activities are aimed at making a bomb. Tehran says it has no such
intention. Following are key facts on some companies that have been moving away
from Iran and on others that are still dealing with the country." http://bit.ly/dqmNCb
Human
Rights
ABC: "Sarah Shourd, the American hiker recently released from Iran after
nearly 14 months of detention, said today she would not rule out going back to
the country if it meant proving her innocence and that of her fiance and friend
who are still in captivity. 'I'm not ruling anything out, but I'm not ruling
anything in,' Shourd said on 'Good Morning America.' 'I hope that that doesn't
have to happen. If that's what it takes to prove that we committed no crime and
meant no harm and are absolutely innocent, than I'd be willing to do it.'" http://bit.ly/9EGFX8
Opinion
WSJ Editorial Board: "Iranian
President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad is in New York this week to attend the U.N.
General Assembly and announce the imminent demise of capitalism. Farzad
Farhangian, who spent 23 years in the Iranian diplomatic service, has a
different idea of what's in need of collapse. His message today: 'I want [the
regime] to be overthrown.' Mr. Farhangian defected last week from his job as
press attache at the Iranian embassy in Brussels, becoming the third veteran
Iranian diplomat to publicly quit this year... The diplomatic defections tell
another story. Messrs. Heydari, Farhangian and Alizadeh could not have been
more entrenched within the structure of the Islamic Republic. 'We came from
within the system, all three of us are war veterans,' says Mr. Heydari. 'There's
also a lot of dissatisfaction within the Revolutionary Guard, the Intelligence
Ministry and organizations like state TV and radio. There are a lot of people
who are working undercover. It looks like they are working for the regime, but
they are working for us-their heart is with the Green movement.'" http://bit.ly/a3tGAI
FT Editorial Board: "Not for the
first time, Iran is indicating its willingness to enter talks with the west
about its nuclear programme. The last of umpteen rounds collapsed in 2009, prompting
the UN to adopt new sanctions in June. The US simultaneously introduced
measures barring access to its financial system for firms doing business with
blacklisted Iranian companies. These sanctions are now beginning to bite, which
may explain Tehran's change of heart. There are also welcome signs of greater
international cohesion in the moves to contain Iran. Russia has just pulled the
sale of a high-tech missile defence system to Tehran. Meanwhile, Iran's Gulf
neighbours are busily bolstering their arsenals, spending more than $120bn on
US weapons. The west should explore talks for several reasons." http://bit.ly/c5fVHJ
Robert Mackey in NYT: "The
prepared text of Mr. Ahmadinejad's remarks (embedded below) released by his
government did not carry any footnotes, so it is unclear where he got the idea
that majorities of Americans, or the citizens of other nations, endorse the
conspiracy theory that Al Qaeda was not responsible for the attacks. The most comprehensive international poll on the subject
was carried out in 2008 by WorldPublicOpinion.org, a collaborative project of
research centers in various countries managed by the Program on International
Policy Attitudes at the University of Maryland, which asked more residents of
17 countries the question, 'Who do you think was behind the 9/11 attacks?'
Their answers were grouped into four categories: Al Qaeda; the U.S. government;
Israel; other. When the poll findings were published, Reuters reported, 'the
survey of 16,063 people in 17 nations found majorities in only nine countries
believe Al Qaeda was behind the attacks.' But there were also no countries in
which a majority blamed the American government." http://nyti.ms/cKTuvK
Reza Kahlili in Forbes: "On
September 21, 2010, Mahmoud Ahmadinejad, the president of the Islamic Regime in
Iran, paid another visit to New York to participate in the United Nations
general assembly where today he suggested that 9/11 was an inside job by the
U.S. government to save the Zionist regime. And once again he found a gracious
welcome by the media in America, where he was provided a platform to expand on
his propaganda about the West and about his rule. In interviews with several
media outlets, Ahmadinejad claimed that there was no crackdown in Iran against
the opposition and that the people in his country enjoyed complete freedom. He stated
that the opposition in Iran is free to express its views or hold demonstrations
and that no one is executed for opposing the regime. He even said that, 'Nobody
loses their job because of making a statement that reflects their opinion.'" http://bit.ly/9hhRbK
Anne Bayefsky
in NRO: "The U.N. performances of President Obama and Iranian president Ahmadinejad,
who spoke a few hours apart at this year's opening of the General Assembly,
were not just two ships passing in the night. They made it startlingly clear
that the U.S. president does not understand the threat facing America and the
world from Iran. When Obama took center stage at the U.N., it got off to a bad
start and only got worse. The president arrived late and, as leader of the host
nation, delivered his speech one slot after its originally scheduled time. He
then spent just a few short sentences on the most lethal threat to peace and
security today: the acquisition of the world's most dangerous weapon by the
leading state sponsor of terrorism, Iran." http://bit.ly/aZW1VN
|
Posts
No comments:
Post a Comment