via Boing Boing:
At Hacker News, a user named “Sara70” posts:
I’m writing this to report the serious troubles we have regarding accessing Internet in Iran at the moment. Since Thursday Iranian government has shutted down the https protocol which has caused almost all google…
(via androphilia)
He told NBC he believed Israel had not yet decided how to deal with the issue, amid reports that Israel may strike Iran as early as spring.
Mr Obama said the aim was to resolve the crisis diplomatically, but added that no option was off the table.
The US and Israel suspect that Iran is building a nuclear bomb. Iran says its programmes are for peaceful purposes.
Last November, the UN nuclear watchdog, the IAEA, said it had information suggesting Iran had carried out tests “relevant to the development of a nuclear explosive device”.
Since then, the US and the EU have imposed a series of sanctions against Iran, including measures targeting the country’s lucrative oil industry.
‘Deep alarm’
“I’ve been very clear - we’re going to do everything we can to prevent Iran from getting a nuclear weapon and creating a nuclear arms race in a volatile region,” Mr Obama told NBC in a live interview on Sunday.
He said Washington was working “in lockstep” with Israel, which was right to be very concerned about Iran’s controversial activities.
Asked if he believed the Jewish state could launch a pre-emptive strike against Iran, Mr Obama said: “I don’t think Israel has made a decision on what they need to do.”
He declined to answer directly a question whether Washington would be consulted first, saying only that the US and Israel “have closer military and intelligence consultation… than we’ve ever had”.
Mr Obama also said there was no evidence that the Iranians had “intentions or capabilities” to strike US targets in retaliation.
The US leader was eager to play down tensions between the US and Israel over suggestions that Israel is preparing a military strike against Iran, the BBC’s Jane Little in Washington reports.
But she says that behind the scenes Washington is deeply alarmed by reports that Israel may strike Iran as early as April - in a move that would drive up tensions in the Middle East as well as oil prices, which would threaten the global economy and Mr Obama’s re-election chances.
Reacting to the Russian and Chinese veto to a United Nations Security Council resolution to stop the killings of civilians by Syrian security sources, Turkish Foreign Minister Ahmet Davutoğlu said Turkey’s doors were “open to all Syrians who want to flee from oppression.”
“We are ready to host them in our homes if necessary,” Davutoğlu added as part of a new stage to step up pressure on the Bashar al-Assad regime.
The move is interesting since Turkey has announced that there could be only two conditions for Turkish involvement in military action in the Syrian situation; a U.N. Security Council decision based on humanitarian reasoning or a massive flood of refugees into Turkey.Yet the Turkish Foreign Ministry issued a written statement yesterday categorically denying media reports that Turkey and the United States had agreed on a military action plan on Syria in Feb. 4’s meeting in Munich between Davutoğlu and U.S. Secretary of State Hillary Clinton. Davutoğlu made no comment on U.S. Senator Joseph Lieberman’s statement after he said that his country might consider providing weapons to a Free Syrian Army consisting of defectors from Syrian army and forming the military wing of the Istanbul-based Syrian National Council.
With this move of welcoming Syrian regime opponents in need, Turkey wants to trigger a new balance, as Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov has planned a visit to Damascus to convince al-Assad to stop the violence against his own people. “We don’t want to lose our hopes and we don’t want to let the Syrian people down,” Davutoğlu said, “But Lavrov should have done this months ago.”
The Turkish top diplomat explains the latest move as follows: “Syrian people should not be victimized by a power game between the permanent members of the U.N. Security Council. The U.N. resolution, which was proposed by the Arab League and Turkey who are affected by the Syrian crisis, were vetoed by those who are not directly related with it; it’s an ethical and legalistic weakness regarding international politics. But [even] if the international community prefers to remain silent before this human tragedy, Turkey continues to do whatever is necessary.”
(via verbalresistance)
AFP - Rights group Amnesty International Thursday urged the release of a South Korean activist accused of helping the “enemy” by re-tweeting messages from North Korea’s official Twitter account.
Park Jeong-Geun, a Socialist Party activist, was arrested last month for re-tweeting messages such as “Long Live General Kim Jong-Il”.
The 24-year-old says his re-tweets were meant to ridicule North Korea’s leaders rather than support them.
He has been in custody since January 11 and could face up to seven years in jail under the strict National Security Law (NSL).
“This is not a national security case, it’s a sad case of the South Korean authorities’ complete failure to understand sarcasm,” Sam Zarifi, Amnesty International’s Asia-Pacific director, said in a statement.
“Imprisoning anyone for peaceful expression of their opinions violates international law but in this case, the charges against Park Jeong-Geun are simply ludicrous and should be dropped immediately,” he said.
Amnesty said the party to which Park belongs has frequently criticised North Korea for exploiting its labour force and opposes its father-to-son succession.
Park has told journalists that his intention was to lampoon North Korea’s leaders and its rigid Stalinist system.
Zarifi said the NSL has a “chilling effect” on freedom of expression.
“It is used not to address threats to national security, but instead to intimidate people and limit their rights to free speech. It should be reformed in line with human rights law, and if the government cannot do this, it must be abolished,” he said.
Amnesty International said that despite the end of military rule in South Korea decades ago, “authorities have increasingly used the NSL to harass critics of the government’s North Korea policies since 2008”.
The International Monetary Fund warned on Wednesday that global crude prices could rise as much as 30 percent if Iran halts oil exports as a result of U.S. and European Union sanctions.
If Iran halts exports to countries without offsets from other sources it would likely trigger an “initial” oil price jump of 20 to 30 percent, or about $20 to $30 a barrel, the IMF said in its first public comment on a possible Iranian oil supply disruption.
The IMF highlighted the risks of rising tensions over Iran sanctions in a note on Wednesday sent to deputies from G20 countries who met in Mexico City last week.
The price impact caused by a cut in Iranian exports could be exacerbated by below average oil stocks in many countries, the result of tight oil market conditions through much of last year, the IMF said.
The fund’s comments add pressure to the Obama administration as it struggles to find a way to get countries to reduce shipments of Iranian oil without pushing prices higher ahead of the November U.S. presidential election.
President Barack Obama is tightening sanctions on Iran in a move aimed to deprive its nuclear program of funds and technology. Western governments believe Iran is trying to build nuclear arms, a charge Tehran denies. The EU has slapped a ban on Iranian oil to take effect in six months …
Financial sanctions against Tehran may be “tantamount to an oil embargo” and would imply supply declines of about 1.5 million barrels per day from the world’s fifth-largest oil producer, the IMF said …
The IMF’s concerns about a large Iran-related oil supply shock or an actual disruption has risen in recent weeks as powers in the West increase pressure on Tehran. Its view is based on data that shows limited inventory and spare capacity, and projections that oil demand will not slow despite falling growth in advanced and emerging economies.
Cairo (CNN) — The new round of bloody clashes between pro-democracy protesters and Egypt’s security forces left 10 people dead Saturday, including six by live ammunition, even though the new prime minister denied that live fire was being used by his forces.
An Egyptian protester against continuing military rule throws stones at riot policemen during clashes in central Cairo Saturday
Meanwhile, 213-year-old Egyptian maps and historical manuscripts — described as “irreplaceable” — were destroyed after a library in Cairo was among structures set ablaze during the clashes, officials said.
Among those killed in the escalating violence in central Cairo were two children, ages 12 and 14, and two others died from skull fractures caused by cement blocks, officials said. Also, 432 people have been injured since the latest unrest broke out Friday, said a spokesman for the Health Ministry, Dr. Hisham Sheeha.
Sheeha said six of the deaths were by live fire.
Egypt’s Prime Minister Kamal Ganzouri, appointed by the military earlier this month, condemned the library attack, which he called an “arson committed by the protesters who portrayed no patriotism in protecting the symbols of the historical civilization of this nation.” The 200,000-book library is called the Scientific Center.
Destroyed in the fire were the original manuscript of the “description of Egypt” and “irreplaceable maps and historical manuscripts preserved by many generations since the building of the Scientific Center in August 1798 during the French Campaign,” Ganzouri said in a statement.
Egypt lost a piece of “its national treasure” and “its rare history,” the prime minister said.
The library was a scene of intense confrontation Saturday.
A dozen men dressed in military uniform were positioned on the library roof and threw cement blocks and rocks on the protesters and sprayed them with water hoses to push them away from the building.
But protesters hurled back rocks as well as Molotov cocktails. Then a massive explosion erupted, apparently originating from inside the building, and black smoke billowed.
Firefighters were busy putting out another fire in a nearby building.
Protesters were bleeding from rocks thrown at them.
At least one demonstrator was unaware that the structure was a library containing historical documents.
“We had no idea it was a library. We love our country. Why were the military thugs on the rooftop of the building in the first place, throwing debris and rocks at us? They destroyed it, not us, and now they will use it to turn public opinion against us and label us thugs,” said Ahmed Ali, a student and activist involved in the clashes.
“Since when are buildings or manuscripts more important than the lives of humans?” he added.
Tahrir Supplies, a group that provides medical care to Egyptians injured in Tahrir Square clashes, publicly asked protesters to return any books or maps taken from the library and deposit them at a nearby church. But such a book return appeared daunting Saturday as the neighborhood was embroiled in clashes…
Read More: CNN
Europe stands on the brink of disaster and only Germany, its biggest economy, can avert an “apocalyptic” breakup of the euro zone and the EU’s single market, Poland’s foreign minister said in a dramatic appeal to Berlin.
“There is nothing inevitable about Europe’s decline. But we are standing on the edge of a precipice. This is the scariest moment of my ministerial life but therefore also the most sublime,” Radoslaw Sikorski said in Berlin on Monday evening.
“I demand of Germany that, for your own sake and for ours, you help it (the euro zone) survive and prosper. You know full well that nobody else can do it.”
Alluding to his country’s troubled past ties with its bigger, richer western neighbour, Sikorski said: “I will probably be the first Polish foreign minister in history to say so but here it is: I fear German power less than I am beginning to fear German inactivity.”
Sikorski said the euro zone’s sovereign debt crisis posed the biggest threat to the prosperity and stability of Poland, the EU’s largest post-communist member state which is outside the common currency but still hopes one day to join.
In an opinion piece in the Financial Times echoing aspects of his Berlin speech, Sikorski wrote: “The break up of the eurozone would be a crisis of apocalyptic proportions, going beyond our financial system.”
The EU’s single market would be unlikely to survive such a trauma, he said.
GERMAN CONCERNS
Sikorski did not spell out what Poland wanted Germany to do, but Polish officials have in the past expressed support for euro bonds jointly guaranteed by euro zone nations.
Berlin has also come under heavy international pressure to allow the European Central Bank to embark on unrestricted purchases of stricken euro zone countries’ sovereign debt through quantitative easing.
Germany has so far strongly opposed both eurobonds and a more active role for the ECB, citing fears that indebted countries would no longer have an incentive to reform their economies, as well as concerns about reigniting inflation…
Read More: Reuters
Clearly a sense of historical irony isn’t lost on Reuters with their choice of title, as well as evidently the Polish government.
In the Woods at Giverny, Blanche Hoschedé at Her Easel with Suzanne Hoschedé Reading, 1887, Claude Monet.
Félix Edouard Vallotton, Femme assise dans un fauteuil
GPOY I’M GLAD MONDAY IS ALMOST OVER
Julia Gukova. Illustration from The Legendary Unicorn, 2004
Wingate Paine
6in:
Ushio Amagatsu
Eleanor Fortescue Brickdale, The Uninvited Guest
