CLibertyC

Some Breathing Room for Iran

"A recent letter from a bipartisan group of U.S. Senators to the presidents of the European Council and European Central Bank has shed light on the Iranian use of the European Central Bank’s Trans-European Automated Real-time Gross Settlement Express Transfer System—also known as Target 2. This allows Iran to convert Iranian rials into euros. With euros in hand, Iran has far more latitude to conduct foreign transactions than it otherwise could with their increasingly worthless currency. The Senators urged the European Central Bank to immediately block Iranian access to Target 2." Continue reading →

Continue ReadingSome Breathing Room for Iran

New sanctions on Iran introduced to Congress

"The bipartisan House bill would allow President Barack Obama to impose penalties on foreign entities that provide Iran with goods to help maintain its struggling economy. The Nuclear Iran Prevention Act of 2013 also would provide Obama with broader authority to target strategic imports, such as mining or power generating equipment that could help Iran with its nuclear program, which the West and Israel say is a front for weapons development. The bill would designate the Iranian Revolutionary Guard Corps as a foreign terrorist organization." Continue reading →

Continue ReadingNew sanctions on Iran introduced to Congress

New sanctions on Iran introduced to Congress

"The bipartisan House bill would allow President Barack Obama to impose penalties on foreign entities that provide Iran with goods to help maintain its struggling economy. The Nuclear Iran Prevention Act of 2013 also would provide Obama with broader authority to target strategic imports, such as mining or power generating equipment that could help Iran with its nuclear program, which the West and Israel say is a front for weapons development. The bill would designate the Iranian Revolutionary Guard Corps as a foreign terrorist organization." Continue reading →

Continue ReadingNew sanctions on Iran introduced to Congress

U.S. Keeps Nuclear First-Strike Option [2010]

"The Obama administration will release a new national nuclear-weapons strategy Tuesday that makes only modest changes to U.S. nuclear forces, leaving intact the longstanding U.S. threat to use nuclear weapons first, even against non-nuclear nations. But the new policy will narrow potential U.S. nuclear targets, and for the first time makes explicit the goal of making deterrence of a nuclear strike the 'sole objective' of U.S. nuclear weapons, a senior Obama administration official said Monday." Continue reading →

Continue ReadingU.S. Keeps Nuclear First-Strike Option [2010]

U.S. Keeps Nuclear First-Strike Option [2010]

"The Obama administration will release a new national nuclear-weapons strategy Tuesday that makes only modest changes to U.S. nuclear forces, leaving intact the longstanding U.S. threat to use nuclear weapons first, even against non-nuclear nations. But the new policy will narrow potential U.S. nuclear targets, and for the first time makes explicit the goal of making deterrence of a nuclear strike the 'sole objective' of U.S. nuclear weapons, a senior Obama administration official said Monday." Continue reading →

Continue ReadingU.S. Keeps Nuclear First-Strike Option [2010]

New sanctions against North Korea after threat of pre-emptive nuclear strike

"The resolution expresses 'gravest concern' over the nuclear test and adds three new individuals, a government science academy and trading company to the UN blacklist for a travel ban and assets freeze. The Security Council had also banned exports of luxury goods but this resolution for the first time says that certain jewelery, yachts and luxury and racing cars must be banned. North Korea blasted the United States and South Korea over military exercises which have just started in the South. The North said earlier this week that it would withdraw on Monday from the armistice that halted the 1950-53 Korean War." Continue reading →

Continue ReadingNew sanctions against North Korea after threat of pre-emptive nuclear strike

New sanctions against North Korea after threat of pre-emptive nuclear strike

"The resolution expresses 'gravest concern' over the nuclear test and adds three new individuals, a government science academy and trading company to the UN blacklist for a travel ban and assets freeze. The Security Council had also banned exports of luxury goods but this resolution for the first time says that certain jewelery, yachts and luxury and racing cars must be banned. North Korea blasted the United States and South Korea over military exercises which have just started in the South. The North said earlier this week that it would withdraw on Monday from the armistice that halted the 1950-53 Korean War." Continue reading →

Continue ReadingNew sanctions against North Korea after threat of pre-emptive nuclear strike

US Plots Conquest of Venezuela in Wake of Chavez’ Death

"US corporate-financier funded think-tank, the American Enterprise Institute (AEI), declared in its 'post-Chávez checklist for US policymakers,' that the US must move quickly to reorganize Venezuela according to US interests. In reality, AEI is talking about dismantling entirely the obstacles that have prevented the US and the corporate-financier interests that direct it from installing a client regime and extracting entirely Venezuela's wealth. US military contractors and special forces had been caught operating in and around Venezuela. The US' intentions of provoking bloodshed and regime change in Venezuela stretch back as far as 2002." Continue reading →

Continue ReadingUS Plots Conquest of Venezuela in Wake of Chavez’ Death

Obama promised to close Guantánamo. Instead, he’s made it worse.

"The 44-year-old British resident and father of four has spent over 11 years incarcerated at Guantánamo despite being cleared for release as early as 2007. To this day never charged with a crime, Aamer is just one of hundreds of detainees who remain imprisoned in Guantánamo. Despite running on an explicit campaign promise to shut down the island prison which has become a symbol of the abuses of the 'war on terror', President Obama has continued to preside over its operation. And by recent accounts, under his tenure, the conditions for prisoners there – from both a physical and legal standpoint – have become markedly worse." Continue reading →

Continue ReadingObama promised to close Guantánamo. Instead, he’s made it worse.

North Korea and the United States: Will the Real Aggressor Please Stand Down?

"This historical context results in North Korea taking the threats of the United States very seriously. It knows the US has been willing to kill large portions of its population throughout history and has seen what the US has done to other countries. In 2003, Libya halted its program to build a nuclear bomb in an effort to mend its relations with the US. Then last year Libya was overthrown in a US-supported war and its leader Moammar Gadhafi was brutally killed. While calling for a world without nuclear weapons, President Obama has instead continued Bush’s plan and has increased the budget for nuclear weapons." Continue reading →

Continue ReadingNorth Korea and the United States: Will the Real Aggressor Please Stand Down?