Azerbaijan Arrests 22 of Their Own Citizens for Allegedly Being Iranian Spies

By Madison Ruppert

Azerbaijan - The Azerbaijani government has announced that they arrested 22 of their own citizens who they claim are Iranian spies.

The tensions between Iran and neighboring Azerbaijan have only increased over recent months and this latest announcement is, without a doubt, not going to make anything less heated.

Late last month, Iran complained of “creeping Zionist influence” in the Caucasus, a jab which was clearly aimed at Azerbaijan. This came after Azerbaijan signed a shockingly large $1.6 billion weapons deal with Israel.

The Associated Press reports that security services in Azerbaijan arrested the individuals who they claim were hired by Iran to carry out multiple terrorist attacks against both the American and Israeli embassies and other entities linked to the West.

Back in 2007, Azerbaijan convicted 15 individuals who were accused of being part of an alleged spy network linked to Iran which was supposedly transmitting intelligence on the Western and Israeli activities in the country.

Just last month, Azerbaijan announced that they arrested another alleged terrorist group who was supposedly working under Iranian security forces.

In January, an additional two people were arrested and accused of planning to murder two teachers at a Jewish school in the capital city of Azerbaijan, Baku.

The latest individuals who were arrested are accused of being trained in Iran directly by the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC).

The statement did not reveal when these 22 individuals were arrested, or how they were captured or discovered. As of now they have been charged with treason in addition to the purchase and possession of weapons and explosives.

Interestingly, this alleged plot brings both Russia and Syria into the mix.

Azerbaijan’s security ministry claimed in their official statement that an alleged operative of Iran’s Revolutionary Guard Corps identified as Akper Pakravesh recruited individuals who he met with in the Russian capital of Moscow and the Syrian capital of Damascus, at which time they were given finances and equipment.

Azerbaijani officials claimed that they found espionage equipment grenades, automatic assault rifles, ammunition and other explosives when capturing the alleged terrorists.

Alleged targets included the offices of an unnamed Jewish organization, Western and Israeli diplomatic missions, the local headquarters of behemoth oil corporation BP as well as, oddly enough, an American-themed fast food restaurant.

Like the alleged plots in both Georgia and India, these targets do not make much sense when one attempts to assume the mindset of a terrorist.

The only targets that might actually make an impact would be diplomatic missions but even then, chances are that the only result would be a hellacious assault on Iranians.

It seems highly unlikely that the IRGC, a group which the Western establishment media loves to characterize as some superhuman crack squad of terrorist handlers, would choose targets like a fast food restaurant.

Obviously such an attack would only give more reasons for warmongers to cite when attempting to justify a war with Iran, while accomplishing absolutely nothing.

I’m not one to think that violence can accomplish anything truly meaningful, but blowing up cheeseburgers and milkshakes seems especially pointless, especially given the inevitable repercussions which would follow.
The Associated Press points to Iran’s constant denials of any links to the attacks which are blamed on them, however they write that Iran “accuses Israel of directing the slayings of Iranian scientists.”


It isn’t just Iran accusing Israel of directing the assassinations of Iranian scientists linked to their nuclear program, indeed anonymous American officials have confirmed that the Israeli Mossad is indeed training and running the assassinations.

The statement alleges that some of the individuals who were supposedly involved in the plot were recruited as early as 1999, while one of the brothers of the accused called the allegations, “unfounded and fabricated.”

It will be interesting to see if the likes of the Prime Minister of Israel Benjamin Netanyahu and his warmonger cronies will jump on this as another questionable justification for a strike on Iran.

The Dirty War on WikiLeaks

By John Pilger

Worldwide - War by media, says current military doctrine, is as important as the battlefield. This is because the real enemy is the public at home, whose manipulation and deception is essential for starting an unpopular colonial war.

Like the invasions of Afghanistan and Iraq, attacks on Iran and Syria require a steady drip-effect on readers' and viewers' consciousness. This is the essence of a propaganda that rarely speaks its name.

To the chagrin of many in authority and the media, WikiLeaks has torn down the facade behind which rapacious Western power and journalism collude. This was an enduring taboo; the BBC could claim impartiality and expect people to believe it.

Today, war by media is increasingly understood by the public, as is the trial by media of WikiLeaks' founder and editor Julian Assange.

Assange will soon know if the supreme court in London is to allow his appeal against extradition to Sweden, where he faces allegations of sexual misconduct, most of which were dismissed by a senior prosecutor in Stockholm.

On bail for 16 months, tagged and effectively under house arrest, he has been charged with nothing.

His "crime" has been an epic form of investigative journalism: revealing to millions of people the lies and machinations of their politicians and officials and the barbarism of criminal war conducted in their name.

For this, as the United States historian William Blum points out, "dozens of members of the American media and public officials have called for [his] execution or assassination".

If he is passed from Sweden to the US, an orange jumpsuit, shackles and a fabricated indictment await him. And there go all who dare challenge rogue America.

In Britain, Assange's trial by media has been a campaign of character assassination, often cowardly and inhuman, reeking of jealousy of the courageous outsider. Bbooks of perfidious hearsay have been published, movie deals struck and media careers launched or resuscitated on the assumption that he is too poor to sue.

In Sweden, this trial by media has become, according to one observer there, "a full-on mobbing campaign with the victim denied a voice".

For more than 18 months, the salacious Expressen, Sweden's equivalent of the Sun, has been fed the ingredients of a smear by Stockholm police.

Expressen is the megaphone of the Swedish right, including the Conservative party, which dominates the governing coalition. Its latest "scoop" is an unsubstantiated story about "the great WikiLeaks war against Sweden".

On March 6, Expressen claimed, with no evidence, that WikiLeaks was running a conspiracy against Sweden and its foreign minister Carl Bildt.

The political pique is understandable. In a 2009 US embassy cable obtained by WikiLeaks, the Swedish elite's vaunted reputation for neutrality is exposed as sham. (Cable title: "Sweden puts neutrality in the Dustbin of History.")

Another US diplomatic cable reveals that "the extent of [Sweden's military and intelligence] co-operation [with NATO] is not widely known", and unless kept secret "would open up the government to domestic criticism".

Swedish foreign policy is largely controlled by Bildt, whose obeisance to the US goes back to his defence of the Vietnam War and includes his leading role in George W Bush's Committee for the Liberation of Iraq.

He retains close ties to Republican party extreme right-wing figures such as the disgraced Bush spin doctor, Karl Rove. It is known that his government has "informally" discussed Assange's future with Washington, which has made its position clear.

A secret Pentagon document describes US intelligence plans to destroy WikiLeaks' "centre of gravity" with "threats of exposure [and] criminal prosecution".

In much of the Swedish media, proper journalistic scepticism about the allegations against Assange is overwhelmed by a defensive jingoism, as if the nation's honour is defiled by revelations about dodgy coppers and politicians, a universal breed.

On Swedish public TV "experts" debate not the country's deepening militarist state and its service to NATO and Washington, but the state of Assange's mind and his "paranoia".

A headline in March 6's Aftonbladet declared: "Assange's moral collapse". The article suggests Bradley Manning, WikiLeaks' alleged source, may not be sane, and attacks Assange for not protecting Manning from himself.

What was not mentioned was that the source was anonymous, that no connection has been demonstrated between Assange and Manning, and that Aftonbladet, WikiLeaks' Swedish partner, had published the same leaks undeterred.

Ironically, this circus has performed under cover of some of the world's most enlightened laws protecting journalists, which attracted Assange to Sweden in 2010 to establish a base for WikiLeaks. Should his extraditionbe allowed, and with Damocles swords of malice and a vengeful Washington hanging over his head, who will protect him and provide the justice to which we all have a right?

Occupy 4 Prisoners Protest Outside San Quentin Prison

San Quentin - Occupy Oakland joined together with prison reform activists, forming Occupy 4 Prisoners, outside the infamous prison February 20th to protest against the high incarceration and living conditions.prevalent in the facility. Some of their issues involved the strict sentencing, ending solitary confinement, and children being tried as adults.


"I myself experienced more than 14 months of solitary confinement and after only two months my mind began to slip," said Sarah Shourd.  Shourd was one of three people, along with her friends Shane Bauer and Josh Fattal, who were imprisoned for in an Iranian jail in 2009. They have since focused their efforts toward prison reform.



"We have merged the prison rights movement with the Occupy Movement. The 99 percent has to be concerned about the bottom 1 percent," said activist Barbra Becnel said, quoting a message she said came from death row prisoner Kevin Cooper.


Demonstrators also held a moment of silence for Christian Alexander Gomez who died February 2 while on a hunger strike in California's Corcoran State Prison. He was one of the prisoners who staged a wave of hunger strikes in solidarity with other prisoners who united against the isolation unites in Pelican Bay State Prison.

Computer Program Lands Man on Iran's Death Row

Iran - A Canadian man on a trip to Iran is now facing the death penalty thanks to a program he made.

Saeed Malekpour was visiting his father, who was dying in Iran, when he was arrested because his photography program was used to upload pornography. Amnesty International stated he was held in Tehran's Evin Prison for a year without knowing his charges.

Although he initially confessed to the crimes, which was televised, he later said he was tortured into giving them. 

He also says he has yet to be consulted by a lawyer.

He was given the death penalty in October 2010, but it was overruled by the country's Supreme Court. The sentence was reinstatedlast week however when he was sent back for a reassessment.

Although Canadian Foreign Minister John Baird condemned Iran's decision, it doesn't mean much as they don't carry much muscle in the country.

Anti-war Activist Speaks Against U.S. Treatment of Iran

Minneapolis - Anti-war activist Jess Sundin, one of several activists who were raided by the FBI in an attempt to find links between anti-war activists and groups in Colombia and the Middle East, condemned what she calls an “act of war against Iran.”

“The anti-war movement needs to take U.S. threats against Iran very seriously,” said Sundin. “Over the past several months we have seen more military deployments of U.S. forces into the Persian Gulf, a new round of U.S. sanctions - with more threatened from Europe - and the murder of Iranian scientists. The situation is looking a lot like the run-ups to the U.S. wars on Iraq. In and of themselves, the U.S. sanctions on Iran are an act of war. The sanctions are designed to harm Iran’s economy and cause human suffering on a mass scale.”


Despite the treatment she is facing from the FBI as well as a Chicago grand jury, she continues to speak out against state repression. When questioned about repression from the FBI she said “As peace activists, we need to continue to speak out against all U.S. wars and we need to condemn government repression directed against the anti-war movement, like the attack on Carlos Montes in Los Angeles. He is a veteran leader of the Chicano movement, who speaks out against U.S. intervention abroad. The government wants to put him in jail, and we say drop the charges. “People in this country can’t afford to let the government pick our ‘enemies.’ The State Department is trying to demonize Iran and pave the way towards another war. We have to speak out and say, ‘Hands off Iran.’”

Panetta Defends "Obama's Decision"

Of course I am paying attention to what's going on in the Occupy Movement after the fall of Occupy Wall Street, but given that just about every other blogger and news organization of merit are doing so as well, I figure my lowly self will cover another story.


Washington D.C. - President Obama's decision to take the troops out of Iraq in a few weeks was defended by Defense Secretary Leon Panetta. Citing the agreement between George W. Bush and Iraqi officials to get the troops out of Iraq by the end of the year, he said “The bottom line is that this is not about us, it's about what the Iraqis want to do and the decisions that they want to make and secure itself, and hopefully, make the decisions that are in the interests of its people.”

President Obama spun it a different way on October 21^st when he announced on television he is “keeping his campaign promise” to get U.S. forces out of Iraq.

However he did mention even though we are “out of Iraq” we aren't really. He and Martin Dempsey, chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, said the military will still practice counter-terrorism tactics with 10 of Iraq's forces. There is also a claim that some of them will give counter-terrorism training in the camps but not go embed themselves into Iraq's forces.

This goes to show what the end-game is for them. They will help Iraq if they get diplomatic immunity but if not the people are on their own. Chances are they're hoping Iran starts something and starts messes with it through Israel.

At least we are more than sure where Leon Panetta stands.

Richard Clarke Warns Against War

Washington D.C. - A former U.S. cyber-security official said the United States should not go to war because of the country's vulnerability to cyberattacks.

"If I were advising the President, I would warn against fighting other countries because many of them could react via cyber-attacks capable of destroying power grids, bank networks, or transportation systems."  These are the words of Richard Clark, who advised three Presidents and joined several military and civilian experts in assessing the country's cyber-security.

He continued "the U.S. military is entirely dependent on computer systems and could end up in a future conflict in which troops trot out onto a battlefield and nothing works."

Clarke said several more things such as "the entire us economic system could be crashed in retaliation ... because we can't defend it today", "I can't assure you that as you go to war with a cybersecurity-conscious, cybersecurity-capable enemy that any of our stuff is going to work", and "

General Keith Alexander, head of the National Security Agency and U.S. Cyber Command joined him in saying the U.S. needs to do better when it comes to seeking out malware and viruses.

Last week the United States blamed Russia and China for stealing economic information and technology for their own gain.

Israel, UK, United States Considering Attack on Iran

Washington – When asked Wednesday about rumors that Israel is seeking support for an attack against Iran press secretary Jay Carney said “I’m not going to respond to that kind of speculation.”

Carney was asked after a report in Haaretz earlier in the day cited an Israeli official who said Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu was trying to gain support for attacking Iran's nuclear facilities.

England is also preparing itself to attack, with British officials saying according to The Guardian "that if Washington presses ahead it will seek, and receive, UK military help for any mission, despite some deep reservations within the coalition government."

However there is opposition to the idea within the Israeli government.  Some of them include Interior Minister Eli Yishai of the ultra-Orthodox Shas party, Intelligence Minister Dan Meridor, Strategic Affairs Minister and Netanyahu confidant Moshe Yaalon, and Finance Minister Yuval Steinitz.  Others are army chief Benny Gantz, head of Israel's intelligence agency Tamir Pardo, the chief of military intelligence Aviv Kochavi, and the head of Israel's domestic intelligence agency Yoram Cohen.  Recently-retired head of Mossad Meir Dagan publicly advised against attacking Iran, saying it would be stupid and risks causing a region-wide war.

The Israeli people are nearly split on the issue. In a poll, which asked Jews and Arabs where they stand on the issue, 41% say they're opposed to an attack against Iran while 39% support it. 20% are undecided.