UhuruNews
Published Sep 23, 2011
On Thursday, September 22, Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad addressed the U.N. General Assembly. Below is the complete text of his speech.
Mr. President, Excellencies, Ladies and Gentlemen,
I am grateful to the Almighty Allah who granted me, once more, the opportunity to appear before this world assembly. I have the pleasure to express my sincere thanks to H.E. Joseph Deiss, president of the sixty-fifth session for his tremendous efforts during his tenure. I also would like to congratulate H.E. Nassir Abdulaziz AI-Nasser on his election as the president of sixty-sixth session of the General Assembly and wish him all success.
Let me seize the moment to pay tribute to all those who lost their lives in the past year, particularly to the victims of the tragic famine in Somalia and the devastating flood in Pakistan and especially the earthquake and the ensuing explosions in the nuclear power plant in Japan. I urge everyone to intensify their assistance and aid to the affected populations in these countries.
Over the past years, I spoke about different global issues, and the need to introduce fundamental changes in the current international order.
Today, considering the international developments, I will try to analyze the present situation from a different angle. As you all know, the dominance and superiority of human beings over other creatures lie in the very nature and the truth of humankind, which is a divine gift and manifestation of the divine spirit, including: faith in God, who is the ever-lasting creator and planner of the entire universe.
Showing compassion to others, generosity, justice-seeking and having integrity both in words and in deeds.
The quest for dignity to reach the pinnacles of perfection, the aspiration to elevate one’s material and spiritual status, and the longing to realize liberty; defying oppression, corruption and discrimination in trying to support the oppressed; seeking happiness, and lasting prosperity and security for all.
These are some of the manifestations of common divine and human attributes, which can clearly be seen in the historical aspirations of human beings as reflected in the heritage of our search for art and literary works both in prose and poetry, and in the socio-cultural and political movements of human beings in the course of history.
All divine (more…)
The Sri Lankan military occupied High Security Zone (HSZ) along the northern coast of Jaffna peninsula, that evicted a large number of Tamil civilians from their homes for two decades now [Satellite image courtesy: Google Earth]
* * * * *
[TamilNet, Friday, 11 June 2010, 14:17 GMT]
China, India and the United States of America are gradually strengthening their presence in Jaffna. India and China have openly sought to influence the ‘post-war development’, which is unilaterally undertaken under the supervision of Basil Rajapaksa, the brother of Sri Lankan President Mahinda Rajapaksa. Tamil circles in Jaffna commenting on the corporate race by the powers said articulate sections of Tamils in Tamil Nadu and in the diaspora should come out with appropriate responses that the powers should respect the rights of the people of the land in deciding their own development.
Government owned and private corporates of India have recently secured ‘development’ contracts including reconstruction of railway lines, renovation of Kaangkeasanthu’rai (KKS) Cement factory, reconstruction of Palaali Airport, which is now the largest Sri Lankan military base in the north and the KKS Harbour, all falling within the militarised High Security Zone.
Meanwhile, southern Sinhalese labourers are engaged in excavating limestone inside the HSZ, which is threatening the entire groundwater salinity of the peninsula.
During his recent visit to India, Mr. Mahinda Rajapaksa signed a number of agreements, including the ‘development’ exploitation of KKS Cement factory and the reconstruction of communication facilities attached to the High Security Zones that have been denied of access to the people who have been uprooted from their homes. Further, large tracts of agricultural land also come under the HSZ.
Achchuveali Industrial Estate, which had ceased to operate will also be revived by India.
China, which has already secured (more…)
Filed under: Africa, Asia, Global, Indian Subcontinent, Middle East, North America
* * * * *
Full Essay can be found here
* * * * *
* * * * *
3 August 2009
Source: Online Journal
Israeli officials are facing a conundrum that may take more than military muscle flexing to resolve. The problem is ‘how to deal with Iran.’ The solution to this dilemma will require no less than sheer political genius.
It must be frustrating for Israeli policymakers and their friends and backers elsewhere to stand idle as Iran openly carries on with its nuclear enrichment program, facing nothing but US and European chest-thumping and a mere threat of more sanctions, which will unlikely bend Iranian resolve.
It’s doubly frustrating considering the relative ease that lead the US, its timid coalition and Israeli cheerleaders to unleash a war against Iraq. Alas, those days are long gone. Now, the US is anxiously cloaking its failure in Iraq by pressing the need to tend to more urgent battles elsewhere, namely Afghanistan.
Regardless of why the US targeted Iraq, and why it’s objectives were not met, Israel’s own calculations were a (more…)
* * * * *
26 July 2009
Source: Open Democracy
The war in Afghanistan is intensifying, especially in the southern province of Helmand where western coalition forces are attempting to take the fight to the Taliban. The inevitable result is an increase in deaths and injuries (often disabling ones) among British, American and other national contingents.
The British death-toll since the Afghanistan war began in October 2001 is (as of 23 July 2009) 188, now more than the 179 killed in Iraq. The mid-2009 period has been especially painful; nineteen died in the first three weeks of July, and in the third of these weeks there were a shocking 150 serous injuries. The United States military forces too have endured great losses: 742 US soldiers have died in Afghanistan, while in Iraq – where around 133,000 US troops are still stationed pending a phased withdrawal by the end of 2011 – there have been to date 4,327 fatalities.
The routine media focus on individual deaths and on these overall figures, however, tends to eclipse the fact that by far the largest number of casualties in both war-zones have been civilians; and that – in contrast to the existence of reliable statistics on the western coalition’s death-tolls – there is no official count of civilian deaths and injuries in Iraq and Afghanistan (or indeed in Pakistan, where US (more…)
* * * * *
09 July 2009
Source: ZNet
The conflict over election results in Iran is moving into uncharted territories. Even before the results were announced, millions of voters from all walks of life had moved out of their homes, workplaces, classrooms, and the headquarters of reformist candidates to challenge the ruling conservative faction in the streets. If the factions sharing theocratic power have traditionally engaged in wheeling and dealing behind closed doors, millions of voters embarked on open, transparent street politics.
By the time voting was over, the conservative camp including the Supreme Leader Khamenei was in disarray. Khamenei tried to gain ground by hastily declaring incumbent president Ahmadinejad the winner. The street, again, turned into the site of resistance against “cheaters” and “liars,” including the highest ranking official in the Islamic theocracy, Khamenei, the vali-e faqih, i.e., the ruling jurisconsult, one who represents Allah on earth. Khamenei waited for the Friday prayer, the most important political gathering of the theocratic regime, to warn Iranians, in his sermon, to accept election results and to stop protesting.
Many observers compare the post-election events with the (more…)
Filed under: Asia | Tags: China, Development, Exports, Global Economy, Social Unrest
* * * * *
25 June 2009
Source: World Socialist Website
The world’s second largest exporter, China, registered a record year-on-year fall in exports of 26.4 percent in May. The result followed similar trends in other export-led Asian economies including Japan, South Korea and Taiwan, indicating continuing weak global demand.
China’s May export figure was worse than the 22.6 percent fall in April and is the seventh consecutive month of decline. The slide of exports is the worst since the data is collected in 1995. Imports also fell 25.2 percent year-on-year in May—a further indication of weakening exports as China imports large amounts of semi-finished goods and components for re-export.
Other Asian exporters have been hit by the recession in the US, Europe and Japan. South Korea and Taiwan saw 25-30 percent annual falls in exports and imports in May and Japanese exports tumbled by 40.9 percent. Overall world trade volume plunged by (more…)
Filed under: Asia, Middle East | Tags: Ali Akbar Hashemi-Rafsanjani, aqazadeh, Azad, Azadi, Basij, Green Revolution, Iran, Iran Elections, Iranian Elections 2009, Iranian Revolution, Islamic Republic, Khodi, Mahmoud Ahmadinejad, Mir Hussein Mousavi, Mohamed Khatami, Nationalism, Revolutionary Guards
* * * * *
25 June – 1 July 2009
Issue No. 953
Source: Al-Ahram Weekly Online
Western coverage of the political turmoil in Iran in the aftermath of the 12 June presidential election has for the most part presented a uniform image of the conflict: thousands of young, liberal, and defiant supporters of presidential challenger Mir-Hussein Mousavi have been protesting against what they see as massive fraud, a “coup” to re-elect Mahmoud Ahmadinejad. The government, fearful of a popular uprising, has responded with massive use of force, killing and injuring protesters, arresting activists and politicians, and imposing an information blockade.
Analysts repeatedly ask themselves and others, “Is this a revolution?” And, more expectantly, “Are we witnessing the end of the Islamic Republic?” Whatever we are to make of the question of fraud (there apparently were some irregularities, but no evidence of widespread fraud), Ahmadinejad retains a huge popular base that is not prepared to forfeit its position. Rather than viewing the events of the past 12 days as signs of a revolution-in-the-making, we should be (more…)
Filed under: Asia, Middle East | Tags: Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, Barack Obama, Basiji, Electoral Fraud, Electoral Fruad Iran, Green Revolution, Iran, Iran Elections 2009, Iran Protests, Mahmoud Ahmadinejad, Mir Hussein Mousavi, Mir-Hossein Mousavi, Neo-Con, Obama, Protests, Revolutionary Guard Corps, State Repression, Tehran, Zionist
* * * * *
19 June 2009
Source: Common Dreams
The growing nonviolent insurrection in Iran against the efforts by the ruling clerics to return the ultra-conservative and increasingly autocratic incumbent president Mahmoud Ahmadinjead to power is growing. Whatever the outcome, it represents an exciting and massive outpouring of Iranian civil society for a more open and pluralistic society.
Ironically, defenders of Ahmadinejad’s repression are trying to blame everyone from the U.S. government to nonviolent theorist Gene Sharp to various small NGOs engaged in educational efforts on strategic nonviolent action as somehow being responsible for the popular uprising in Iran. It appears to be based upon the rather bizarre assumption that millions of Iranians would somehow be willing to pour out onto the streets in the face of violent repression by state security forces only because they have been directed to do so by people from an imperialist power which overthrew their last democratic government and subsequently propped up (more…)
