Iran
November 28, 2022 — Scott Johnson
The big stories of the past few days share a theme in common: • Protests of China’s insane Covid regime have broken out around China. I followed them on Twitter over the weekend (as in the tweet below, for example). People of Beijing are protesting near Sitong Bridge, shouting: “We want freedom, we want freedom!” pic.twitter.com/O12i58jVjr — Xiyue Wang (@XiyueWang9) November 28, 2022 • However, traditional news outlets with reporters
»
November 22, 2022 — Scott Johnson
I admire the bravery and support the cause of the Iranian players competing in the FIFA World Cup competition in Doha, Qatar. The AP reports: “Iran’s players didn’t sing their national anthem and didn’t celebrate their goals.” Their silence speaks. The players are putting themselves on the line for a cause that is a matter of life, death, and basic human rights back home. It’s not exactly akin to taking
»
November 18, 2022 — Scott Johnson
The Iranian regime is one of the world’s most truly evil, yet it is treated with kid gloves. Most recently, this November 16 Reuters story caught my attention. Michael Holden reports from London: Iran’s intelligence services have made at least 10 attempts to kidnap or even kill British nationals or individuals based in the United Kingdom regarded by Tehran as a threat, the head of Britain’s domestic spy agency said
»
November 14, 2022 — Scott Johnson
Dan Senor has just posted a one-hour podcast with once and future Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu (below). The interview is occasioned by the publication of Netanyahu’s memoir Bibi: My Story. They also take up Netanyahu’s prescient A Durable Peace: Israel and Its Place Among the Nations (2000). Senor is the knowledgeable co-author of Start-Up Nation and the interview takes up the subject of Senor’s book while ranging beyond the
»
October 16, 2022 — Scott Johnson
I write to commend Mohammed Khalid Alyahya’s Tablet column “How to lose friends and influence over people.” The headline works a twist on Dale Carnegie’s best-selling How To Win Friends and Influence People. It’s the granddaddy of self-help books and the advice remains worthy. Alyahya writes: “As a Saudi who loves the United States, and believes deeply that our two countries need each other, the only word that comes to
»
October 9, 2022 — Scott Johnson
How can an American do anything but intensely admire and vocally support the resistance of Iranians to their brutal regime? Someone really ought to ask President Biden and his foreign policy gurus about it. The folks at MEMRI have caught and translated a truth blast that was inserted into a broadcast on state-run television via an inspired hack (tweet below). The Guardian provides this summary along with the video: A
»
September 14, 2022 — Scott Johnson
Those who are doing their best to sell us out to Iran with another wrap on the JCPOA have given up for the time being. The AFP/Times of Israel story puts it this way: “Europe: ‘Serious doubts’ Iran wants nuke deal; program ‘way beyond’ civilian purpose.” The subhead cites a joint statement saying that France, Germany and the United Kingdom have reached the “limit of flexibility” while Tehran escalates its
»
September 11, 2022 — Scott Johnson
Albania has announced another cyberattack by the Iranian regime, this time on one of its border systems. The AP reports the story here. The AP story quotes a statement released by Albania’s Interior Ministry as well as Prime Minister Edi Rama’s Twitter feed. As I understand the translation of Rama’s tweet below, the system is back up and running: “The systems of the border points have been in operation since
»
September 10, 2022 — Scott Johnson
I noted in “The supremacy of Albania” that President Biden’s national security team had vowed to “take further action to hold Iran accountable for actions that threaten the security of a U.S. ally and set a troubling precedent for cyberspace.” The “troubling precedent” was Iran’s massive cyberattack on Albania government systems as spelled out in Prime Minister Rama’s statement. Yesterday the United States Treasury announced what I take to be
»
September 9, 2022 — Scott Johnson
Albania’s Prime Minister Edi Rama severed diplomatic relations with Iran and gave the Iranian mission 24 hours to get out. When mission personnel had vacated the premises in Tirana, he sent in counterintelligence officers to scour the premises and ascertain what might be learned. Rama’s moves were prompted by an Iranian cyberattack on government digital services and web sites in July. The AP story quotes the video statement issued by
»
September 7, 2022 — Scott Johnson
The Times of Israel publishes a brief AFP story under a headline that might be filed under Laughter is the best medicine: “UN watchdog says it ‘cannot assure’ that Iran nuclear program is ‘exclusively peaceful.’” Please make sure you’re sitting down before taking this in: The UN’s nuclear watchdog says it cannot guarantee the peaceful nature of Iran’s nuclear program, saying there had been “no progress” in resolving questions over
»
August 29, 2022 — Scott Johnson
The Times of Israel reports on the draft of the proposed nuclear deal submitted by the European Union to genocidal Iranian regime. Submitted for your approval, Twilight Zone style, without further comment: A draft proposal from the final stages of negotiations to revive the 2015 Iran nuclear deal envisions the Iranians halting all uranium enrichment, but holding on to the material they already have, and a final US return to
»
August 19, 2022 — Scott Johnson
Matthew Lee is the AP’s excellent diplomatic reporter. In a story just posted this morning, Lee reports that a new Iran deal (worse than the old deal) may be “tantalizingly close.” Reading between the lines, Lee’s opening paragraph comes off like a subtle satire of the proposition that the deal in view is “tantalizing”: “Last week’s attack on author Salman Rushdie and the indictment of an Iranian national in a
»
August 17, 2022 — Scott Johnson
Daniel Pipes is the founder of the Middle East Forum. He literally wrote the book on the Rushdie affair: The Rushdie Affair: The Novel, The Ayatollah, and the West. I pulled it down from the bookshelf and wrote him last week following the attempted assassination of Rushdie at the Chautauqua Institution. He kindly agreed to answer my questions by email. In the exchange below I allude to his prescient tracking
»
August 16, 2022 — Scott Johnson
In 1989 Ayatollah Khomeni put out a hit on Salman Rushdie. He backed up the call for a hit with a $3,000,000 financial reward. Khomeni was of course the founder and Supreme Leader of the Iranian regime. Ayatollah Ali Khamenei is Khomeni’s successor as the regime’s Supreme Leader. In 2005 he told Iranians that Rushdie is an apostate whose execution is authorized by Islam. In the words of Daniel Pipes,
»
August 15, 2022 — Scott Johnson
Salman Rushdie has been severely wounded, but his physical condition is reportedly improving. He was wounded on American soil by a fanatic seeking to effectuate Ayatollah Khomeni’s fatwa. Rushdie may lose an eye, but he won’t be as blind as the Biden White House. The Biden administration refuses to acknowledge the evil reality of the regime they are treating with in Vienna. Jonathan Schanzer focuses on the evil reality in
»
August 13, 2022 — Scott Johnson
Ayatollah Ruholla Khomeni was the architect of the Iranian revolution and the guiding spirit of the Iranian regime that has held sway since 1979. He was the regime’s Supreme Leader. Ayatollah Ali Khameni is his successor. Salman Rushdie’s novel The Satanic Verses was published in September 1988. A few months later, on February 14, 1989, Khomeni issued a fatwa proclaiming a death sentence on Rushdie “and all those involved in
»
