New York Times recent editorials make it sound as if the war looming between the US and Iran is equally the fault of both countries, or of some inexplicable, inevitable force, rather than the result of US actions. This framing hides US governmental responsibility, and makes it harder for the public to judge intelligently where to place blame.
Iran’s smart and articulate Foreign Minister, Mohammad Javad Zarif, has been sanctioned by President Trump to silence the Iranian narrative in the US before the 2020 election. Iran is winning the information war, and Trump is running scared. By imposing sanctions on Zarif, US can deny visa to him and render unlawful (and liable to prosecution under law) any contact between him and any American national. Effectively, Trump instructed Pompeo to make sure that Zarif doesn’t come to New York between now and the 2020 November election so that his detractors and critics cannot hear from the horse’s mouth the Iranian narrative….
Dr. Stephen Sniegoski details the efforts against Iran… U.S. war hawks are targeting Iran because Israel wants them to… Iran is the only regional power impeding Israel’s actions against Palestinians… While Israel has numerous nuclear weapons, Iran is not supposed to acquire them…
At the Center of U.S. Iran policies is Treasury official Sigal Mandelker. The Atlantic writes that Mandelker’s ‘hand is on the lever’ of crippling economic sanctions meant to force Iran’s ‘capitulation or demise’… meanwhile the Treasury Dept refuses to divulge whether or not Mandelker is an Israeli citizen… Iran has long been in Israel’s crosshairs…
Ray McGovern probes the step-up in U.S. belligerence towards Iran – a country posing the same non-existent strategic threat as Iraq.
Thanks to “dubious intelligence” from Israel – which wants nothing more than for its neighbors to be busy for the indefinite future – Trump officials have been thinking hard about entering, or even provoking, a war with Iran.
Former CIA officer Philip Giraldi reports that fake intelligence might be used to obtain another U.S. war against an Israeli adversary…
Hashemi will be taken to the federal courthouse in Washington, her son told AP. He has said she’s been jailed as a material witness, though it’s unclear for which case. She hasn’t been charged with a crime.
Committee to Protect Journalists and PEN call for Justice Department to state why it has jailed US citizen Marzieh Hashemi, a prominent journalist with Iran’s Press TV. FBI & Justice Dept refuse to comment… possible court appearances not listed in dockets…
The US has jailed prominent Press TV journalist Marzieh Hashemi, an American citizen, apparently as a “material witness”– ‘a charge authorities use when they need a reason to arrest somebody but don’t have one.’ She was visiting family & filming a documentary on Black Lives Matter when she was detained at the St. Louis airport, handcuffed and shackled.
The US is holding 59-year-old Marzieh Hashemi, a popular Iranian news anchor, under abusive conditions. Born Melanie Franklin in New Orleans, she was on her way to visit a sick brother when she was arrested… she was held 48 hours before being allowed to contact her daughter.