Iran's Green Movement is one year old this Sunday, the anniversary of its first massive demonstrations in the streets of Tehran. Greeted with great hope in much of the world, a year later it's weaker, the country is more repressive, and its hardliners are in a far stronger position -- and some of their success can be credited to Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and sanctions hawks in the Obama administration. If, in the past year, those hardliners successfully faced down major challenges within Iranian society and abroad, it was only in part thanks to the regime's skill at repression and sidestepping international pressure. Above all, the ayatollahs benefited from Israeli intransigence and American hypocrisy on nuclear disarmament in the Middle East.

En su discurso en nombre del Movimiento de Países No Alineados, de 118 miembros, el canciller indonesio Marty Natalegawa dijo en la sede de la ONU que el hecho de que Israel se haya negado a firmar y ratificar el TNP ha expuesto a amenazas atómicas a los estados no nucleares de la región. Israel también genera riesgos al operar "centrales nucleares no protegidas y actividades cuyos estándares de seguridad se desconocen", advirtió.

Actually, the greatest consistency to the policy has been U.S. obsequious promotion of a flagrant double standard. Clearly, Washington finds it easier to draw black-and-white distinctions between noble Israel and evil Iran, if there's no acknowledgment that Israel already has nukes and Iran has disavowed any intention of getting them.

Fuente: La Jornada por Guillermo Almeyra Con gran bambolla y campaña mediática, Barack Obama quiere hacer creer que está trabajando por la paz y contra la posibilidad de una guerra nuclear. El reciente premio Nobel de la Guerra, quien ha enviado más soldados a Afganistán que Bush, ha incluido a Pakistán en el blanco de sus ataques, [...]

Ahmadinejad calls for worldwide nuclear disarmament Source: Antiwar by Jason Ditz February 12, 2010 In an interview with Russian channel NTV, Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad called for a worldwide nuclear disarmament, declaring that the era of nuclear weapons is over. “Today, no one can use a nuclear weapon and we believe that the US is taking a wrong move by [...]

Source: Common Dreams by Daniel Ellsberg January 1, 2010 Mordechai Vanunu — my friend, my hero, my brother — has again been arrested in Israel on “suspicion” of the “crime” of “meeting with foreigners.” I myself have been complicit in this offense, traveling twice to Israel for the express purpose of meeting with him, openly, and expressing support [...]

Kremlin Announces Non-Specific Revisions to Doctrine by Jason Ditz October 13, 2009 According to the secretary if the Russian Security Council, the Russian government’s new review of its nuclear weapons policy retains and even expands the nation’s long-standing option to pre-emptively use nuclear weapons in warfare. “Different variants are considered to allow the use of nuclear weapons depending on [...]

by Jo Biddle and Gerard Aziakou September 24, 2009 UNITED NATIONS  – World powers Thursday adopted a landmark resolution seeking to rid the planet of nuclear arms at an unprecedented Security Council summit hosted by US President Barack Obama. “Although we averted a nuclear nightmare during the Cold War, we now face proliferation of a scope and complexity [...]

by Daniel Ellsberg September 10, 2009 Editor’s note (from Truthdig): This is the first installment of Daniel Ellsberg’s personal memoir of the nuclear era, “The American Doomsday Machine.” The online book will recount highlights of his six years of research and consulting for the Departments of Defense and State and the White House on issues of nuclear [...]

by Dafna Linzer September 12, 2009 Iran’s five-page offer for talks with the Obama administration, first published here, appears to have been accepted by the White House. Shortly after the offer was presented Wednesday, a host of anonymous western diplomats were quoted as dismissing the offer in its entirety because it did not address outstanding issues related [...]