Statement of Veterans For Peace: The Solution to the Nuclear ?Crisis? with Iran is not Sanctions and War, It is a Middle East Free of All Nuclear Weapons
July 26, 2012
We are once again on the verge of another disastrous war in the Middle East. The United States and its allies in Europe and the Middle East, especially Saudi Arabia and Qatar, are consciously pushing Syria toward a destructive civil war. The objective is to bring down the Assad regime, an ally of the Iranian government, as a stepping-stone toward further isolation of Iran and preparation of the ground for a military attack on that country.
At the same time, the United States, European Union and Israel are using Iran?s civilian nuclear program as an excuse to impose devastating economic sanctions against the people of Iran. According to various sources, the sanctions have already wreaked havoc on the Iranian economy, leading to inflation rates of 50 to 100 percent, youth unemployment rate of over 22 percent, drastic reduction of Iran?s domestic production to 40 percent of its capacity, massive closure of economic enterprises and widespread layoffs, and 40 percent drop in the Iranian oil exports during 2012, resulting in a loss of $32 billion in oil income since last year alone. It is expected that the new round of expanded sanctions, which started on July 1st of this year, will further reduce the Iranian oil exports to a mere 1.5 million barrels a day, thus pushing Iran into a fatal economic crisis.
This is nothing but a clear declaration of economic war on Iran. These devastating sanctions are not an ?alternative? to war; they are part and parcel of a war aimed at forcing a regime change in Iran as an integral part of the US plan for a ?Greater Middle East.? Let us not forget the case of Iraq. There, too, a decade of devastating sanctions was used as a ?softening period? that would weaken Iraq?s economic infrastructure; make the population desperate enough to welcome any foreign intervention; and reduce Iraq?s military capability to resist an invasion ? i.e., making Iraq an easy military target. Now the same scenario is being repeated with Iran.
All this is being done in the name of removing the threat of nuclear weapons proliferation in the Middle East. But this is just a cover. Iran is already surrounded by the US and Israeli nuclear weapons. The very forces that are threatening Iran over its civil nuclear program are themselves responsible for nuclear weapons proliferation in the Middle East. A US/Israeli military attack on Iran will have disastrous, unpredictable consequences for the peoples of the Middle East region and the world, and will be a serious threat to peace and security of all nations.
The real solution lies not in selective targeting of Iran with sanctions and threats of war, but in complete removal of all nuclear weapons from the Middle East region.The Middle East, like Latin America and Africa, must be declared as a Nuclear Weapons Free Zone. The Nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty (NPT) calls for both the liquidation of nuclear weapons by states and the discouragement of non-nuclear states from obtaining or developing nuclear weapons; and the UN General Assembly has repeatedly called for the establishment of a Nuclear-Free Zone in the Middle East. As an urgent response to the nuclear crisis in the Middle East, the 2010 NPT Conference has called for the convening of a Conference in December 2012, in Helsinki, Finland, for the establishment of a WMD-Free Zone in the Middle East. This initiative must be supported and its success must be guaranteed.
Recognizing the critical nature of the present situation in the Middle East and the threat of an imminent war, Veterans For Peace,
Calls for immediate lifting of all economic sanctions against Iran;
Demands immediate cessation of US and Israeli military threats against Iran;
Declares its solidarity with the Iranian people in their just struggle for freedom, justice and peace;
Demands immediate cessation of all foreign intervention in the internal affairs of Syria, including an immediate end to the illegal arming of surrogate forces fighting the government; establishment of an immediate ceasefire on all sides; and allowing the peaceful people of Syria to decide their destiny democratically and independently;
Calls for recognition of the Middle East as a Nuclear Weapons Free Zone by all parties involved, including the US, Israel and Iran, and the removal of all nuclear weapons from the Middle East region;
Urges all VFP Chapters and the broader peace movement to press the US government to support the Helsinki Conference and the establishment of a Nuclear Weapons Free Zone in the Middle East as a concrete and logical solution to the present crisis in the region.
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Published on Tuesday, August 28, 2012 by Common Dreams
Iran Call for Nuclear Abolition by 2025 is Unreported by New York Times
by Alice Slater
The Non-Aligned Movement (NAM), formed in 1961 during the Cold War, is a group of 120 states and 17 observer states not formally aligned with or against any major power bloc. The NAM held its opening 2012 session yesterday under the new chairmanship of Iran, which succeeded Egypt as the Chair.
Significantly, an Associated Press story in the Washington Post headlined, ?Iran opens nonaligned summit with calls for nuclear arms ban?, reported that ?Iranian Foreign Minister Ali Akbar Salehi opened the gathering by noting commitment to a previous goal from the nonaligned group, known as NAM, to remove the world?s nuclear arsenals within 13 years. ?We believe that the timetable for ultimate removal of nuclear weapons by 2025, which was proposed by NAM, will only be realized if we follow it up decisively,? he told delegates.?
Yet the New York Times, which has been beating the drums for war with Iran, just as it played a disgraceful role in the deceptive reporting during the lead-up to the Iraq War, never mentioned Iran?s proposal for nuclear abolition. The Times carried the bland headline on its front page, ?At Summit Meeting, Iran Has a Message for the World?, and then went on to state, ?the message is clear. As Iran plays host to the biggest international conference ?it wants to tell its side of the long standoff with the Western powers which are increasingly convinced that Tehran is pursuing nuclear weapons?, without ever reporting Iran?s offer to support the NAM proposal for the abolition of nuclear weapons by 2025.
Surely the most sensible way to deal with Iran?s nascent nuclear weapons capacity is to call all the nations to the table to negotiate a treaty to ban the bomb.
Surely the most sensible way to deal with Iran?s nascent nuclear weapons capacity is to call all the nations to the table to negotiate a treaty to ban the bomb. That would mean abolishing the 20,000 nuclear bombs on the planet?in the US, UK, Russia, China, France, India, Pakistan, North Korea and Israel?with 19,000 of them in the US and Russia. In order to get Russia and China to the table, the US will also have to give up its dreams of dominating the earth with missile ?defenses? which, driven by corrupt military contractors and a corporate- owned Congress, are currently being planted and based in provocative rings around Russia and China.
The ball is in the U.S. court to make good faith efforts for nuclear abolition. That would be the only principled way to deal with fears of nuclear proliferation. The US must start with a genuine offer for negotiations to finally ban the bomb in all countries, including a freeze on further missile development. It should stop beating up on Iran and North Korea while it hypocritically continues to improve and expand the US arsenal, with tens of billions of dollars for new weapons laboratories and bomb delivery systems, and fails failing to speak out against the nuclear activities of other nations such as the enrichment of uranium in Japan and Brazil and the nuclear arsenal of Israel.
Alice Slater is New York director of the Nuclear Age Peace Foundation and serves on the Coordinating Committee of Abolition 2000.
**** MORE ABOUT THE THREAT OF NUCLEAR PROLIFERATION HERE ****
**** MORE ABOUT THE TRUE NATURE OF THESE ILLEGAL OCCUPATIONS HERE ****???????
International support is growing for the legitimate rights of the Iranian people
CLICK HERE to sign on to the statement
Support of the legal and legitimate rights of the Iranian people for self-determination and sovereignty is growing as the new round of negotiations with Iran and the countries of 5+1 i.e. US, UK, France, Russia, China plus Germany is set for February 26th in Kazakhstan. A statement demanding the immediate lifting of sanctions and an end to war threats on Iran, which was drafted by SI Solidarity with Iran and initially endorsed by Ramsey Clark and the International Action Center, has gained the support of many known antiwar activists.
The text of the statement which also calls for recognition of the internationally recognized right of the Iranian people to develop nuclear energy for peaceful purposes as well as a partial list of the statement signers are included below.
Take a stand against U.S. war threats and sanctions. Please CLICK HERE to use the form below to add you name in support.
Hands off Iran!
There are two sides in this dispute, one composed of the U.S. and its allies in the European Union who accuse Iran of trying to develop nuclear weapons ? without presenting even an iota of credible facts or supporting documents ? and the other, Iran, which is striving to protect its right to develop nuclear energy for peaceful purposes based on provisions of the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA).
Using an unfounded accusation as a pretext for acts of aggressions, one side of the dispute headed by the US empire is currently punishing the other side, Iran, with the genocidal sanctions, an inhuman act that has endangered the life of 10s of millions of innocent Iranian citizens for their ?crime? of deciding to live independent and free from the yoke of hegemonic powers. The excuse for these aggressions is an allegation that has strongly been denied by Iranian officials and international organizations such as the Non-aligned Movement representing 120 countries. Furthermore, the charge against Iran on intending to develop nuclear weapons has even been refuted by the intelligence agencies of the U.S. government itself.
One side to this dispute has continuously shown its imperial arrogance through war crimes in Afghanistan, Iraq, Libya, and Syria and by fully backing the repeated Israeli mass killings of the Palestinian people, and the other, Iran, has not initiated any war against any nation since its people overthrow the US puppet regime of Shah back in 1979. That record matched with the current position of Iran on opposing wars elsewhere in the world indicates the fact that Iran wishes to live in peace with other nations.
Knowing the facts and the real stands of each party to this dispute, all those who love freedom and truth cannot remain silent or impartial in the ?negotiations? between these two opposing camps?
In these negotiations one side is the oppressor and the other side is oppressed. One side is after domination, exploitation and plunder and the other side is looking to preserve its right to self-determination and sovereignty. One side represents the privileged interests of the big capitalist forces, which constitute less than 1% of the world?s population, and the other is struggling for peace, independence and justice, causes in common with the interests of the 99ers. For these reasons we side with Iran and we urge all activists in the international peace movement to join us in signing this statement and raising the demands:?
- Lift immediately all sanctions and stop threats of war against Iran.
- Recognize the right of the Iranian people to develop nuclear energy for peaceful purposes.
- Hands off Iran
Please CLICK HERE to use the form below to add you name in support.
The Hands off Iran statement above is supported by:?
Miguel d?Escoto Brockmann, Executive Director SURVIVE Foundation, President of the 63rd Session of UN General Assembly;
Ramsey Clark, human rights attorney, former Attorney General of the United States;
George Galloway, Member of Parliament (MP) for Bradford West, UK, author, journalist, broadcaster,
Cynthia McKinney, former member of the U.S. House of Representatives; U.S. Presidential candidate of Green Party,
Mike Gravel, former member of the U.S. Senate;
Cindy Sheehan, antiwar activist, organizer of Camp Casey, 2012 vice-presidential nominee of Peace and Freedom Party;
Teresa Gutierrez, coordinator of May1 Worker & Immigrant Rights Coalition, deputy secretary general of the International Migrant Alliance;
Sara Flounders, co-director of the International Action Center (IAC); coordinator of StopWarOnIran.org Campaign
Sibel Edmonds, founder of National Security Whistleblowers Coalition ? NSWBC;
Art Olivier, former mayor of Bellflower, California, U.S.;
Dr. Franklin Lamb, Director of Americans Concerned for Middle East Peace, volunteer with Palestine Civil Rights Campaign;
Sofia M. Clark, International Campaign for Reinventing the United Nations ? Survive Foundation ? Managua;
Hamid Shahrabi, Co-director of SI Solidarity with Iran, Research Director of House of Latin America (HOLA)
Mahdi Darius Nazemroaya, Research Associate at Center for Research on Globalization (CRG), contributor at Strategic Cultural Foundation (SCF), Moscow;
Stephen Lendman, Research Associate at Center for Research on Globalization (CRG) and Host on the Progressive Radio Network;
Michael Parenti, author, lecturer, advisory boards of Independent Progressive Politics Network and Education Without Borders;
Phil Wilayto, author and a co-founder of the Defenders for Freedom, Justice & Equality;
Brenda Stokely, co-founder of the Million Worker March Movement, former Pres. of DC 1707 AFSCME ? American Federation of State, County & Municipal Employees;
Amir Tafreshi, Director of House of Latin America (HOLA);
Ardeshir Ommani, President of American-Iranian Friendship Committee (AIFC);
Eleanor Ommani, antiwar activist and Co-founder of American-Iranian Friendship Committee (AIFC);
Ismael Hossein-zadeh, author, political analyst and Professor Emeritus, Drake University, Des Moines, Iowa;
Abdol Soofi, Professor of Economics at the University of Wisconsin-Platteville;
Elizabeth Eslami, Iranian-American author;
Randy Short, member of the Dignity, Human Rights and Peace Organization;
Kazem Azin, SI Solidarity with Iran in the US;
Karen L. Hall, American television writer, received Humanities Prize, Women in Film Luminas Award, seven Emmy Award Nominations;
Rodney Shakespeare, co-founder of the Global Justice Movement, member Christian Council for Monetary Justice;
Abayomi Azikiwe, Editor of Pan-African News Wire, organizer with Michigan Emergency Committee Against War & Injustice;
Judy Bello, Upstate Coalition to Ground the Drones and End the Wars,
Bishop Filipe Teixeira, OFSJC, Bishop of the Diocese Of Saint Francis of Assisi, Catholic Church of the Americas;
Joe Lombardo, a coordinator of UNAC ? United National Antiwar Coalition;
* Hands Off Iran Statement drafted by SI Solidarity with Iran.?
Supported by the International Action Center and many others who oppose the sanctions and threats against Iran
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Source: http://occupyunionsquare.net/2013/02/23/iran-call-for-nuclear-abolition-by-2025-is-unreported-by-new-york-times/
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Up a steep hill, far away from the hustle and bustle of the Pla?a d'Espanya?in Barcelona is a small Luthier shop called Jerzy Drozd Basses. Last year in February of 2012, as my travels to Barcelona approached for the Mobile World Congress, I realized that Jerzy Drodz was actually based in Barcelona. What luck and what a shame it would be to travel 8000 round-trip miles ?and not see the shop of this most interesting Luthier.
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Public release date: 14-Feb-2013
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