Iran moves foreign assets amid sanction threatIran is moving foreign exchange out of European banks in advance of a possible referral to the United Nations Security Council and imposition of economic sanctions over its nuclear programme.
Ebrahim Sheibani, Central Bank governor, told reporters on Friday that Iran would “transfer the foreign exchange reserves wherever we consider expedient” and confirmed a shift from Europe had begun.
Mr Sheibani refused to give details or to say where the funds were... (more)
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Petrodollar Warfare: Dollars, Euros and the Upcoming Iranian Oil Bourse"This notion that the United States is getting ready to attack Iran is simply ridiculous...Having said that, all options are on the table."
-- President George W. Bush, February 2005
August 8, 2005 (MediaMonitors) - Contemporary warfare has traditionally involved underlying conflicts regarding economics and resources. Today these intertwined conflicts also involve international currencies, and thus increased complexity. Current geopolitical tensions between the United Stat... (more)
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Bin Laden offers Americans truceIn an audio tape broadcast on Aljazeera, Osama bin Laden has warned that al-Qaida is preparing an attack very soon, but also offers Americans a long-term truce.
The voice, attributed to Bin Laden and apparently addressing Americans, said: "The new operations of al-Qaida has not happened not because we could not penetrate the security measures. It is being prepared and you'll see it in your homeland very soon."
But the voice on the tape, which appeared to be aimed at... (more)
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Worry as Chinese reserves poised to touch historic US$1 trillion level BEIJING - China's foreign-exchange reserves rose to a record last year, almost matching Japan's as the world's largest, as a swelling trade surplus and money inflows betting on a currency revaluation boosted holdings.
The People's Bank of China said reserves rose to US$818.9 billion ($1.1 trillion) at the end of December from US$769 billion at the end of September and US$610 billion a year earlier.
Japan's foreign-exchange reserves stood at US$824 billion at the en... (more)
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Outrage over the dictator poised to lead AfricaSudan's military dictator is likely to become chairman of the African Union and the continent's face to the world despite waging war in Darfur, it emerged yesterday.
President Omar al-Bashir, who seized power in a coup and harboured Osama bin Laden for five years in the 1990s, will host a meeting of African leaders in Sudan next Monday.
They are due in Khartoum for a summit of the African Union, an alliance of all 53 countries in the continent. They are likely to ou... (more)
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Russian Expert Says Israel Likely to Bomb Iran in SpringIsrael could launch a missile attack on Iran in the upcoming spring, Director of the Russian Political Research Institute Sergei Markov was quoted by Interfax as saying Saturday.
“Israel is in the state of a bitter cold war with Iran and might become the first victim of a nuclear weapon attack: therefore, I deem it very likely that the Israeli Air Force could launch missile strikes on military, nuclear targets in Iran as early as this spring,” Markov told Interfax.
... (more)
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N. Korean General "We'll Nuke You"North Korean three-star General Ri Chan Bok tells correspondent Dan Rather that if the U.S. invades his country, he will use nuclear weapons to defend it.
Rather spoke to the general during a recent visit to the reclusive Communist dictatorship for a 60 Minutes report airing this Sunday, Jan. 15, at 7 p.m. ET/PT.
“Tell the American people that you met the general. If the United States invades our country and starts a war, the People’s Army will fight t... (more)
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Bush: Iran Intends to Nuke IsraelIn his sharpest comments to date on the Iranian nuclear crisis, President Bush warned Friday that Iran is seeking to produce nuclear weapons and intends to use them to destroy Israel.
Speaking at a joint press conference in Washington, D.C. with German Chancellor Angela Merkel, Bush warned:
"I want to remind you that the current president of Iran has announced that the destruction of Israel is an important part of their agenda. And that's unacceptable. And the devel... (more)
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Bush Warns Against Nuclear-Armed Iran: U.S. Presses Allies for U.N. ActionPresident Bush declared yesterday that a nuclear-armed Iran would pose "a grave threat to the security of the world" as he tried to rally support from other major powers for U.N. Security Council action unless a defiant Tehran abandons any aspirations for nuclear weapons.
In using the phrase "grave threat," Bush invoked the same language he used before launching the invasion of Iraq in 2003, and he highlighted in particular the danger to Israel. But during a White House appearance... (more)
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Writer jailed for 30 years for criticising U.S.-puppet Government in IraqA lot of conflicting reports have been circulating about the legal case involving Dr. Kamal Sayid Qadir, who was arrested according to law and an established court system for writing an article criticising the puppet U.S.-led government in Iraqi Kurdistan.
In accordance with law no. 21, article 1, enacted by the Kurdistan National Assembly (KNA) in 2003 pertaining to defamation of public institutions, Dr. Qadir, a leading Kurdish academic and one of the regio... (more)
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Israel's new confidence in attack on Iran nukesIsraeli military planners have more confidence in the success of an attack on Iran's nuclear weapons facilities and have already begun sending signals to Tehran that it will not be permitted to threatened the Jewish state with annihilation, reports Joseph Farah's G2 Bulletin today.
The new government of acting Prime Minister Ehud Olmert also wants the mullah government in the Islamic republic to understand that the incapacitation of Ariel Sharon will not leave Israel in any less ... (more)
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UK's Straw says consensus growing for action on IranLONDON (AFX) - A consensus is growing among the international community, including Russia, for action to tackle Iran's nuclear programme, British Foreign Secretary Jack Straw said today.
But Straw, who the day before had joined his French and German counterparts in Berlin to call for an emergency meeting of the UN's nuclear watchdog to discuss the crisis, insisted that military action was not being considered.
Asked whether Russia would fully back Tehran's ref... (more)
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U.S. ‘Threatened N.Korea with Military Action’Washington last year threatened North Korea with military action if Pyongyang did not return to six-party talks on its nuclear program, the Sankei Shimbun reported quoting diplomatic sources in the U.S.
The Japanese daily said when tensions over North Korea's development of nuclear weapons peaked in April last year, Washington considered military action if North Korea kept boycotting the multilateral talks.
Sources in Washington said that on April 22, a special envoy of... (more)
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Iraq Braces For Civil WarBAGHDAD [MENL] -- Less than a month after parliamentary elections, Iraq has begun to brace for civil war.
Officials said the resurgence of suicide bombings and other violence could mark the start of a civil war that would pit Sunnis against Shi'ites and Kurds in Iraq. They said the Sunnis have sought to infiltrate and control the nation's security forces to support such an effort.
On Jan. 8, the Iraqi Defense Ministry issued a statement that warned of a civil war be... (more)
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Iran breaks seals at nuclear site Iran has removed international seals from a nuclear facility and will begin research there in the coming hours.
The move ends a two-year suspension of research, and could result in Tehran being referred to the UN Security Council for possible sanctions.
France called the move a "grave error", and the UK said the world was running out of patience with Iran.
Western countries fear Iran's nuclear programme could be used to make atomic bombs, but Tehr... (more)
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Corridors Of Power: The Lady Was A SpySusanne Osthoff, the German archeologist kidnapped by Iraqi gunmen on Nov. 25 and released before Christmas was connected with her country's intelligence service, the BND, and had helped arrange a meeting with a top member of the terrorist organization al-Qaida, possibly Abu Mussab al-Zarqawi himself, according to well informed German sources Sunday.
The sources confirmed German press reports that the 43-year-old woman had worked for the BND in Iraq on a freelance basis, and had f... (more)
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Why have both the US and the UK have given Iran the materials it needs to go nuclear?We are being constantly bombarded with propaganda over Iran and its intention to build a nuclear arsenal. We are told (contrary to intelligence reports) that they are just months away from doing so. And we have been told that they must be stopped.
What we are not being told is that both the US and the UK have supplied Iran with the materials and the know how in order that they may build the bomb.
With the news at the weekend of Iranian intentions to resume nucl... (more)
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Chavez Influence GrowingPopulist Advances Economic Reforms Across Latin America
The economic reforms and nationalist policies being advanced by Hugo Chavez, the populist president of Venezuela, are liberating Latin American nations from the suffocating grip of the international financial oligarchy.
The wide-ranging reforms promoted by Chavez are being financed by the immense oil wealth of Venezuela, the world’s fifth-largest exporter of oil. The year 2006 brought increased state cont... (more)
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Poland's Defence Minister, Radek Sikorski, works for the CIA?Polish Defense Minister a neo-con protege.
Poland's Defense Minister Radek Sikorski, a veteran senior fellow of the neo-con citadel, the American Enterprise Institute (AEI), is the new darling of the neo-con media, being hailed as a "visionary" by the New York Sun, a noted neo-con outlet.
Polish intelligence sources report that Sikorski became a U.S. intelligence asset during the Reagan Cold War years.
Sikorski was a Solidarity leader in the 1970s. He... (more)
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Ariel Sharon clinically dead? Local media make dire claim, doctor tries 'to refute the rumors'Despite doctors' attempts to counter media reports, local print and television stations in Israel are reporting Israeli Prime Minister Ariel Sharon is clinically dead following a massive stroke yesterday.
Sources tell Israel Insider Sharon "died" at 11 a.m. today local time, but Shlomo Mor-Yosef, director of Hadassah Hospital where the prime minister lies, denied reports of Sharon's death and says he is "serious but stable."
Local TV station Channel 10 reports tho... (more)
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