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MEAN STREETS MEDIA
Thursday, July 9, 2015
Iran Nuclear Deal: Prospects, Challenges
In an online question and answer session, the issue of the Iran nuclear agreement was discussed. The panel, moderated by R. Bruce McColm, President of the Institute for Democratic Strategies, included Ambassador Robert G. Joseph, Ph.D, former US Undersecretary of State for Arms Control &International Security, Professor Raymond Tanter, former White House National Security Council senior staffer and Alireza Jafarzadeh, Deputy Director of the National Council of Resistance of Iran US Representative Office.
Ambassador Joseph opened the session by saying he wanted to see a negotiated outcome and a “good agreement” at the end of the nuclear talks. However, he stated that there have been too many concessions, one being the fact that the talks are not preventing Iran from having nuclear weapon capability – a goal that has now been abandoned, meaning that Iran will one day have a large-scale enrichment capability.
Iran’s poor track record was extensively discussed with Ambassador Joseph reminding us how unreliable they have been when faced with questions about their nuclear capability. This means that there is no baseline knowledge for understanding if 12 months is a meaningful deadline - America has no idea how far Iran has advanced. The IAEA has been struggling to make progress in their investigations for years after constant stonewalling from the regime.
Ambassador Joseph also highlighted the unknowns surrounding the excess of enriched uranium that Iran possesses. Will it be sent out of the country? What will Iran do to make it secure? These are questions that we do not have answers to. It is unknown how long it could take for Iran to break out.
Access at any time, to any site and any person affiliated with the site is crucial according to Ambassador Joseph. However, he said that Iran wants to manage access, in other words, they want the right to deny access. This, in his opinion, is one of the many faults that Obama’s administration and the P5+1 have made in the nuclear talks. They have given too many concessions to Iran.
In fact, Ambassador Joseph went on to say that the Obama administration has made a series of serious errors in the negotiations. They have:
• relieved sanctions to “keep Iran on the negotiating table”
• demonstrated that they are desperate for a deal – something that Iran has exploited to the fullest
• made concession after concession (i.e. deadlines)
• relieved sanctions to “keep Iran on the negotiating table”
• demonstrated that they are desperate for a deal – something that Iran has exploited to the fullest
• made concession after concession (i.e. deadlines)
He concludes that the above makes it “almost embarrassing to watch” and that the U.S. is explaining away Iran’s violations.
Ambassador Joseph concluded his opening remarks with a warning that Iran will become the prominent country in the region – its presence in Middle Eastern countries is becoming more and more prominent. He warned that Iran will think it is immune to external pressure when they have nuclear capability and will therefore continue to repress their people.
Professor Raymond Tanter opened by discussing North Korea – a country that possesses extensive ballistic missile knowledge. This knowledge, Prof. Tanter believes, will eventually be passed to Iran, allowing Iran to militarize their nuclear weapons.
The disconnect between the nuclear talks on one hand and Iran’s support for terrorism, their missile delivery research, the repression of its people, etc. is of concern to Prof. Tanter. He stated that this should all be factored into the nuclear deal.
He believes that there is an increasing likelihood that America will accept any deal in order to avoid having to use force. The regime is therefore increasing their demands for concessions and America keeps granting them in return.
Prof. Tanter predicted that Iran will become more active in its support for terrorism, more active in its support for activities in Yemen and more active in its support for Shiite rebellion. He believes that Iran will be very comfortable behind its “nuclear umbrella” and will therefore be able to extend its reach far beyond its current reach.
Alireza Jafarzadeh discussed the inspections of nuclear sites. A major problem is that the joint plan has continued to allow Iran to ban inspectors from visiting nuclear sites. Another problem is Iran’s continual “cheating”. He explained that the regime have many different methods for cheating. They provoke delays, tamper with evidence, lie until they are eventually exposed, distract authorities and promise cooperation that they do not follow through with.
One major example of the above cheating and deception is the case of “Kala Electric” – a site that was exposed by NCRI in February 2003. The IAEA went to visit immediately after the site was exposed but noticed discrepancies only a month later. They took samples and noted that there had been considerable modifications to the premises. The regime said this was because the space was previously used as a storage facility, then changed to a laboratory, hence the major changes. However this was a lie – it was just an attempt to hide evidence and conceal the truth. The regime also lied about discrepancies in uranium quantities and hid evidence and centrifuges in other facilities.
Jafarzadeh said that the lesson we can pull from Kala Electric is that having access any time to any suspect site is crucial in the negotiations. Iran’s strategy of controlled access to already known nuclear sites is to not answer questions. This is why we can’t let this continue. He said that it is unacceptable that Iran can deny requests from IAEA. Obama should make sure this doesn’t continue. He claimed that there are at least a dozen suspect sites and questioned why they are not being looked at. How can future problems be resolved if they can’t even resolve the current and existing ones? The negotiations have not addressed the issue of suspect nuclear activity and Jafarzadeh said this needs to be resolved before a deal can be reached.
Wednesday, July 8, 2015
Russians Rally in Support of U.S. Teacher Sentenced for Sex With Teens
The sentencing of an American teacher to 22 years in prison for having sex with teenaged students has sparked outrage among Russians adamant that the 30-year-old had "done nothing wrong" by pursuing the amorous affairs.
Shortly after Jennifer Fichter's sentence for bedding three of her 17-year-old students was handed down by a Florida court last Thursday, Russian sympathizers flooded the Internet with calls for her release.
Widespread support for the former English teacher emerged among Russians who champion "traditional values," as well as those who just two months ago were appalled when a 48-year-old policeman took a 17-year-old as his second bride.
'Stop the Legal Tyranny!'
By Monday, two online petitions had been launched by Russian supporters of the woman convicted of having had affairs with three 17-year-old boys.
One petition — launched on popular website Change.org — quickly went viral among Russian social media users, having gathered upward of 41,000 signatures by Monday evening.
"Twenty-two years for a woman who helped three mature male students start their adult lives. Twenty-two years for a woman who wanted to be happy and loved, even if it was by someone younger than herself. Twenty-two years for the fact that these students wanted to be with her, longed for her tenderness and attention," said the petition launched by Russian netizen Denis Shiryaev.
The emotional statement was accompanied by a picture of Fichter with a halo photoshopped around her head, an apparent bid to depict her as a saint.
The petition's author demanded an end to the "United States' legal tyranny" and urged U.S. authorities to overturn Fichter's conviction, set her free and force the sentencing judge to apologize for calling her a "predator."
"Comrades! Sign the petition! Any woman could have ended up in a situation like this. If we let this go, students would be able to frame any loving women, and they are so important to our society," the petition, addressed to the U.S. White House, concluded.
Another petition was launched on the U.S. White House's citizen action website We the People, but by Monday evening it had gathered fewer than 2,000 of the 100,000 signatures necessary to warrant the U.S. presidential administration's consideration.
It was not immediately clear whether the second petition was launched by the same Russian activists, but the text of the petition — written in English, but festooned with grammatical errors — was heavily reminiscent of its Russian counterpart. "In its place could be any, and if we close our eyes to this incident, then after some time, students will be able to put any loving woman, which our society so desperately needs," said the petition, posted to We the People activism site.
Male and Female Sympathies
Fichter's Russian supporters have not limited their activism to online petitions. Men and women alike have written blog articles and social media postings blasting the lengthy sentence, trumpeting the theory that there is nothing wrong with a grown woman having sex with 17-year-old boys.
"Did she really deprave them? Taint their mentality? Traumatize them for life?" prominent Moscow artist Andrei Bilzho wrote in his blog on Snob magazine on Saturday. "A teacher must be a teacher in every sense of the word, and she was," he stoically concluded.
Bilzho followed the blog entry up with a Facebook post on Monday, saying he had since been swamped with allegations that his thoughts on Fichter made him a "maniac" or a "pervert."
"I just feel sorry for her. I don't know much about U.S. law. But I'm not talking about law — I'm talking about fairness," he wrote.
Well-known publicist and blogger Nikolai Podosokorsky wrote on his LiveJournal page Sunday: "I sympathize with her. I don't think isolating her from society will make this society any better."
"Feministki," a feminist community on LiveJournal, also expressed dismay with the length of Fichter's sentence.
"What has she done [to deserve this sentence]? Has she beaten those kids and sold them cocaine? She's basically been given a life sentence, as she won't be able to advance her career by the time she's released," a community member wrote Monday.
Pure Chauvinism
This is a clear example of how chauvinistic Russian society is, Anton Sorin, a children psychologist and the head of the Kvartet ("Quartet") psychological clinic, told The Moscow Times on Monday.
"Russian people see men as being more active in terms of sexual relationships. In their view, it's the man who initiates sexual encounters and men always have a choice," the expert said.
Women, Sorin explained, are generally seen as having a more passive nature, one that is often driven by external circumstances.
"If a man engages in sexual contact with an underaged girl, it's disgusting and appalling in society's opinion. But if a woman does that, she was probably lonely or had some other reasons, and it's always assumed that her male partner didn't mind — that he enjoyed it," Sorin said.
The psychologist asserted that neither gender nor age should matter in cases like this. "The abuser is always responsible for his or her actions, no matter what the age gap between him or her and the victim is," he said.
The fact that Russian people don't acknowledge the illegality of Fichter's actions, opting instead to zero in on whether what she did was good of bad, in Sorin's opinion, is easy to explain.
"The way our legal system handles pedophilia is peanuts compared to what other countries do about it," he said, explaining that the sentences handed down to pedophiles in Russia and the West are enormously disparate.
"Moreover, our society often considers rape [by vaginal or anal penetration] to be the only way a person can be sexually abused," Sorin added.
Isolated Case
Prior to Fichter's case, Russian sympathies have rarely lain with adults who had been sexually involved with teenagers or children.
Numerous examples of American families abusing their adopted Russian children contributed to President Vladimir Putin's decision to sign a bill banning the adoption of Russian children by U.S. citizens in late 2012.
And just two months ago Russian society was outraged by a marriage carried out in Chechnya, between a middle-aged police chief and his teenaged second bride.
As rumors mounted of the May-December marriage, it was widely speculated that the bride was being forced to marry the older man. Coming out in defense of the marriage, Russia's flamboyant children's ombudsman Pavel Astakhov — the official whose job it is to ensure the safety of children in Russia — explained that marrying underaged girls was normal for Chechnya, a Russia region where, in his view, girls reach puberty earlier than elsewhere.
"In some Russian regions women are shriveled up by age 27," Astakhov said in an interview with radio station Russkaya Sluzhba Novostey.
Tuesday, July 7, 2015
Education International concerned over Iranian teachers union leader arrest
Esmail Abdi, a leader of the Iranian Teachers' Trade Association, was arrested on 27 June following his attempt to obtain a visa to attend the 7th Education International World Congress in Ottawa, Canada in late July.
After his passport was confiscated at the border, he was ordered to return to Tehran to meet with prosecutors. However, upon reporting to the prosecutors' office he was arrested while more than 70 teachers waited outside in support.
Abdi's arrest comes after nationwide rallies were held earlier this year to protest wages that leave the majority of teachers below the poverty line.
The Education International is deeply concerned about the repression facing representatives of the Coordinating Council of Iranian Teachers Trade Associations.
EI General Secretary demands Iranian government to release Abdi
"Preventing Esmail Abdi to leave the country to attend EI's 7th World Congress is a serious violation of human rights standards,” said EI General Secretary Fred van Leeuwen. “There is no valid reason for placing him under arrest. This is unacceptable. We are contacting the Iranian authorities demanding his immediate release. We are also requesting the heads of ILO and UNESCO to intervene."
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