Is Russia Really a Threat to Brexit?

by Con Coughlin • June 22, 2016 at 5:00 am

Even if Britain does vote to leave the European Union, it will still work with the EU, albeit as a separate diplomatic entity rather than having its voice submerged by the dead hand of Brussels bureaucracy.
Britain outside the EU will be just as vigorous in opposing further acts of Russian aggression as it has been as a member of the EU.
NATO, rather than the EU, is the most important organization for keeping Moscow in its place.

For all his claims to the contrary, there can be little doubt that Russian President Vladimir Putin will be taking a keen interest in the outcome of Britain's historic referendum on its membership of the European Union on Thursday.

The Kremlin's official line is that Moscow has no interest in whether the British people decide to leave or remain a member of the 28-state economic and political union. And in his first public comment on the vote last weekend. Mr Putin said the decision was "the business of the people of the UK," even though he could not help having a gratuitous swipe at British Prime Minister David Cameron, accusing him of trying to "blackmail Europe" by calling the vote.

But even though the Kremlin's official position is that it is observing a strict neutrality on the outcome, the reality is that there is nothing that would please Mr Putin more than a British vote in favour of Brexit.

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The National Iranian American Council (NIAC)

by Majid Rafizadeh • June 22, 2016 at 4:00 am

Some Iranian-Americans argued that NIAC's policies did not seem to be aimed at improving the lives of Iranian-Americans, but were political and partisan policies more likely aimed at making more money, getting more fame, media publicity and self-promotion, satisfying those who provide funding to them, or going towards where the money is.
"I think Trita Parsi does not belong to the Green Movement. I feel his lobbying has secretly been more for the Islamic Republic." — Mohsen Makhmalbaf to the Washington Times.
"It appears that this may be lobbying on behalf of Iranian government interests. Were I running the counterintelligence program at the bureau now, I would have cause to look into this further." — Kenneth Piernick, FBI special agent in counterintelligence and counterterrorism.

I have often been asked why someone with my credentials joined the National Iranian American Council (NIAC) -- a political institution, not "nonpartisan" as it sometimes suggests -- and advanced the interests of Iran's ruling clerics, who now lead the world in human rights violations, with a regime that ranks number one in executions per capita.

They also ask why one would work with an organization that is run by a director who is not even Iranian-American; not an American citizen, but holds Iranian and Swedish passports?

Before coming to the United States, I did not know about NIAC and no one I knew in Iran was aware of it either.

Although I wanted to contribute socially in helping Iranian-American communities in the U.S., I also did not want to join a partisan political organization that pretended to help the communities but instead was partisan and sought money, fame, and media attention.

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