Podcasts about muqtada

Send us a text

Muqtada's Room“An invitation to stay in bed gets him out of bed and into the dream”

Scott interviews Iraqi journalist Dana Taib Menmy about an article he wrote on the possibility that cleric Muqtada al-Sadr may return to Iraqi politics after a nearly three-year withdrawal. Scott and Menmy discuss who Sadr is, why he left, why it seems he may return and how that will impact both Iraqi politics and the stability of the whole region. Discussed on the show: “Will Iraq's Muqtada al-Sadr end his political quarantine?” (The New Arab) Dana Taib Menmy is The New Arab's Iraq Correspondent, writing on issues of politics, society, human rights, security, and minorities. Follow him on Twitter @danataibmenmy This episode of the Scott Horton Show is sponsored by: Roberts and Robers Brokerage Incorporated; Tom Woods' Liberty Classroom; Libertas Bella; ExpandDesigns.com/Scott. Get Scott's interviews before anyone else! Subscribe to the Substack. Shop Libertarian Institute merch or donate to the show through Patreon, PayPal or Bitcoin: 1DZBZNJrxUhQhEzgDh7k8JXHXRjY Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

 Download Episode. Scott interviews Iraqi journalist Dana Taib Menmy about an article he wrote on the possibility that cleric Muqtada al-Sadr may return to Iraqi politics after a nearly three-year withdrawal. Scott and Menmy discuss who Sadr is, why he left, why it seems he may return and how that will impact both Iraqi politics and the stability of the whole region. Discussed on the show: “Will Iraq's Muqtada al-Sadr end his political quarantine?” (The New Arab) Dana Taib Menmy is The New Arab's Iraq Correspondent, writing on issues of politics, society, human rights, security, and minorities. Follow him on Twitter @danataibmenmy This episode of the Scott Horton Show is sponsored by: Roberts and Robers Brokerage Incorporated; Tom Woods' Liberty Classroom; Libertas Bella; ExpandDesigns.com/Scott. Get Scott's interviews before anyone else! Subscribe to the Substack. Shop Libertarian Institute merch or donate to the show through Patreon, PayPal or Bitcoin: 1DZBZNJrxUhQhEzgDh7k8JXHXRjY

 Download Episode. Scott interviews Iraqi journalist Dana Taib Menmy about an article he wrote on the possibility that cleric Muqtada al-Sadr may return to Iraqi politics after a nearly three-year withdrawal. Scott and Menmy discuss who Sadr is, why he left, why it seems he may return and how that will impact both Iraqi politics and the stability of the whole region. Discussed on the show: “Will Iraq's Muqtada al-Sadr end his political quarantine?” (The New Arab) Dana Taib Menmy is The New Arab's Iraq Correspondent, writing on issues of politics, society, human rights, security, and minorities. Follow him on Twitter @danataibmenmy This episode of the Scott Horton Show is sponsored by: Roberts and Robers Brokerage Incorporated; Tom Woods' Liberty Classroom; Libertas Bella; ExpandDesigns.com/Scott. Get Scott's interviews before anyone else! Subscribe to the Substack. Shop Libertarian Institute merch or donate to the show through Patreon, PayPal or Bitcoin: 1DZBZNJrxUhQhEzgDh7k8JXHXRjY

Follow this week's guest Scott Ritter on X/Twitter @RealScottRitter and his substack http://scottritterextra.com/ and read his latest article here: https://consortiumnews.com/2024/04/15/scott-ritter-the-missiles-of-april/ Find me and the show on social media @DrWilmerLeon on X (Twitter), Instagram, and YouTube Facebook page is www.facebook.com/Drwilmerleonctd   FULL TRANSCRIPT: Announcer (00:06): Connecting the dots with Dr. Wilmer Leon, where the analysis of politics, culture, and history converge. Wilmer Leon (00:14): Welcome to the Connecting the Dots podcast with Dr. Wilmer Leon, and I'm Wilmer Leon. Here's the point. We have a tendency to view current events as though they happen in a vacuum, failing to understand the broader historical context in which they occur. During each episode, my guests and I have probing, provocative, and in-depth discussions that connect the dots between current events in the broader historic context in which they happen, enabling you to better understand and analyze the events that impact the global village in which we live on today's episode. The issue before it says, what can we expect next? Now that Iran has responded militarily to Israel's attack on the Iranian consulate in Syria for insight into this, let's turn to my guest. He's a former US Marine Corps intelligence officer who served in the former Soviet Union implementing arms control treaties in the Persian Gulf during Operation Desert Storm and in Iraq overseeing the disarmament of WMD. His most recent book is entitled Disarmament in the Time of Parika, and he is of course, Scott Ritter. As always, Scott, welcome to the Connecting the Dots podcast with Wilmer Leon. Scott Ritter (01:37): Well, thanks for having me. Wilmer Leon (01:39): So Pepe Escobar wrote the following. He called it the Shadow Play, and he writes, so this is how it happened. Burns met an Iranian delegation in Oman. He was told the Israeli punishment was inevitable, and if the US got involved, then all US bases will be attacked and the Rai of Horus would be blocked. Burns said, we do nothing if no civilians are harmed. The Iranians said it will be a military base or an embassy. The CIA said, go ahead and do it. Scott Ritter, you've been writing about these issues in Iran for over 20 years. First, your assessment of Pepe Escobar's assessment. Scott Ritter (02:29): Well, I mean, clearly Pepe, he is a journalist. He is a journalist of some renno, and he has a source and he's reporting it. It's plausible. I can't confirm it. I can't sit here and say, I know that this happened. I have no idea if this happened. I do know that the CIA has over the course of time, taken on a shadow diplomacy role because the State Department in implementing America's hegemonic policies has alienated America with so many nations and that normal diplomatic relations are impossible. And so the CIAs assume this responsibility. Indeed, this is why William Burns was selected by Joe Biden to be the director of the CIA. He's not a CIA hand, he's not a man who has involved. He's a diplomat, former ambassador to Russia, and he's a man who has written a book called The Back Channel, which describes his approach, the back channel approach to resolving things. Burns has carried out similar meetings with Russia when trying to reopen arms control venues or talk about possible prisoner exchanges. (03:55) It's burns that takes the lead on these things. The CIA has played an important role in the past in facilitating dialogue between the Palestinians and the Israelis. The CIA had a very big role to play in making that happen. The CIA was behind the secret negotiations with the Taliban that led to the American withdrawal. So would it surprise me that the CIA has connectivity with Iran? Absolutely not. Especially given Burns' role and the importance of the back channel to the Biden administration. I think the Israelis might find it somewhat of a shock that the United States green lit the Iranian response. But then again, we're living in very strange times where the lack of, let's just call it the deterioration of relations between the United States and Israel is real. I've said for some time now that no American president or presidential candidate has won the White House by turning his back on Israel. (05:09) And I've also noted that no Israeli Prime Minister stays in power by turning his back on the United States. And yet we have a situation today where Joe Biden, a sitting president, is starting to turn his back on Israel because of the policies of Benjamin Netanyahu's government policies that are being carried out in direct defiance of American instructions to the contrary. So we live in unprecedented times, and it would seem to me that the United States has made it clear that their policy objectives, strategic policy objectives, and again, just a quick background, remember, part of the reason why we withdrew from Afghanistan in August of 2021 is that we were delinking ourselves from a two decade long commitment to the middle. We were going to lower our profile there as part of our pivot to the Pacific to confront China. And so we have, we no longer are actively implementing the Carter Era doctrine of guaranteed American military intervention. (06:21) Anytime something in the Middle East goes south that we don't like, we don't do Desert Storm anymore. We don't do Operation Iraqi freedom anymore. We don't do the invasion of Afghanistan anymore. We're not looking for a fight. We're looking to avoid a fight. And one of the reasons is that Iran has emerged as a very significant regional power with a tremendous amount of military capability. Iran is also a major player in the regional and global economy, and it's incumbent upon the United States to do what we can stabilize this economy to make sure that it doesn't go south, especially in an election year where the old James Carville mantra, it's the economy stupid factors in so large. So we don't want a war or a conflict with Iran that could lead to the shutting down of the straight or moves. This would've a devastating impact on global energy security. (07:20) Oil prices would go through the roof at a time again to remind people when Joe Biden has lowered the strategic petroleum reserve down to less than 17 days worth of reserves. So if there was suddenly a shutdown in oil transit, we'd be in trouble. Huge trouble in an election year, which is for Joe Biden. So it doesn't, what I'm trying to say is a long way of saying that there's a lot of reason to believe the reporting that's put out by Pepe Esquire. And again, when I say believe the reporting, I'm not challenging Pepe Escobar. I understand I'm saying that every journalist has sources and some sources are better than others. But what I'm saying is my assessment of the information that Pepe is reporting from the source would be that this is extraordinarily plausible, that it makes sense that this would indeed happen. Wilmer Leon (08:15): That was my takeaway, whether it was Bill Burns or whether it was Mr. Burns from whatever that cartoon is. I was really focused more on the point that there was a dialogue between the United States and the parties involved, and that those parties came to a consensus. In fact, when I read, it might have been, I guess it was Thursday, that Iran had seized an Iranian cargo ship in the Straits of Horus. Then there was the missile launching, and then that drones were used as the kind of foray or entree into all of this and that the drones traveled as far as they did. I said, oh, well, Iran was really sending a message more than they were an attack. And I think the message was, and is if you're looking for trouble, you found it and you found a very big bag of it, and you really don't want to mess around with this. It seems as though the Biden administration is starting to get that message. I don't know that Netanyahu, I think it seems like it's falling on deaf ears in Israel. Scott Ritter (09:45): What Iran did here is I have said that I've called it one of the most impressive military victories in modern history. Wilmer Leon (09:57): In fact, let me interrupt and say, folks, you need to read Scott's piece, the missiles of April. You can find it in Consortium News, Scott, you can tell me where else, but it's a phenomenal assessment of what recently transpired. Scott Ritter. Scott Ritter (10:14): Well, thank you very much. It was originally put out on my substack, it's scott ritter extra.com, but then Joe Luria, who I have a very good relationship, he's the editor of Consortium News, asked permission to publish it with Consortium News. And then he and I had a discussion and he asked some questions, follow on questions based upon the article, and I gave him some answers. (10:38) So he added some material. So for anybody who read my article on my substack, there's additional material in on the consortium news variant. You might want to read that as well. It's just basically an update when you write things about moving targets such as breaking news, you write based upon the data that's available. And in the time between, I published on my Substack and I spoke with Joe Lauria, there was additional information necessary that provided additional clarity to some of the points I made. So it's not that I changed anything in terms of my assessments, although that's possible too. When you get new information, assessments can change, they should change, and you shouldn't be afraid to change them. But my assessment regarding the Iranian, the efficacy of the Iranian attack remains the same, one of the most impressive military victories in time. Now, people say, well, wait a minute, how could that be? (11:29) They didn't blow up Israel. They didn't destroy anything. War is an extension of politics by other means. That's what everybody needs to understand. Military victories basically mean that you have achieved something through the use of military force. That's impressive, especially an impressive military victory. What Iran did on April 14th, on April 13th, 14th, and this attack is established deterrence, supremacy over Israel. Iran has had a problem with what I would say, making the world understand its declaratory policy regarding deterrence, it's deterrence strategy. Deterrence is basically a policy posture that says, if you want to hit me, understand that I'm going to come in afterwards and pummel you to death, that the price you're going to pay for hitting me is going to be so great that you don't want to hit me. I'm not threatening to hit you first. I'm sitting here saying, live and let live, but if you attack me, the price you're going to pay will be so overwhelming that it won't be worth what you thought you were going to achieve by hitting me in the first place. (12:44) Iran has established this deterrence superiority over the United States. We saw that when the United States assassinated QM Soleimani in 2020, the Iranians responded with a missile attack against the Alad airbase that didn't kill any Americans. It was telegraphed well in advance, but the purpose was to demonstrate the Americans that we can reach out and touch you anywhere, anytime with devastating force, and there's nothing you can do to stop this, nothing you can do. So now we get to William Burns meeting with his Iranian counterparts, and when they say, and we will strike American bases, burns is going, and they can, and if they do, there's nothing we could do to stop it and we will suffer horrific losses. Therefore, Mr. President, we should heed what the Iranians are saying. This is deterrent superiority over the United States, that the United States understands the consequences of attacking. Iran is not willing to live with those consequences. (13:45) They'll be severe even more so in an election year where any disruption of the economy is politically fatal to the incumbent seeking reelection. So they have successfully done that with the United States. Iran has also used missiles. Again, part of declaratory policy. It doesn't have to be necessarily spoken policy, but demonstrative, and we've seen Iran use missiles to strike targets in Iran, in Syria, Pakistan, in Pakistan. Wilmer Leon (14:17): In fact, on that Pakistan point, that was what about a month ago, maybe month and a half ago, and when I heard that Iran had sent, I think it was a cruise missile into Pakistan, I did my best to calculate how far that missile traveled. And then I checked, well, what's the distance between Tehran and Tel Aviv? It was about the same distance. And I said, I think Iran is sending a message to the Israel that we can strike Tel Aviv if we so choose. Scott Ritter (14:57): Yeah, I mean, first of all, just so people understand historically during the Gulf War, and not too many people know this, so Israel was very perturbed about Saddam Hussein's scud missiles hitting Israeli cities and locations, and they were threatening direct military intervention, which would've destroyed the coalition that George W. Bush had built up. And so we were doing everything we could to convince the Israelis that we had the scud problem under Control Pro. And you mean that you were personally involved in doing that? Yeah, no, this was my part of the war that, I mean, first of all, I wasn't a general, I wasn't a colonel. I wasn't lieutenant Colonel. I wasn't a major, I was just a captain. But as a captain, I played a bigger role than one would normally expect from a captain. I mean, when my name gets briefed to the chairman of the Joint Chiefs of staff, and when General Schwarz cov not only fires me, but arrests me because of what I'm doing, I'm having an impact larger than what I was wearing on my shoulder, and I'm pretty proud of the work I did during the Gulf War, but that's beside the point. (16:04) The point is that Israel was being told, don't intervene because we've got it under control. But Israel needed to make a statement, and it was a statement being made not to Iraq, because what they did is they brought out a Jericho missile, which is a nuclear capable missile, but also can have control warheads, and they fired this missile into the Mediterranean Sea, and when you measure the distance that it went, it's exactly the distance from Israel to Baghdad and what the Israelis were telling, not the Iraqis, because the Iraqis couldn't monitor the attack and it wasn't publicly announced. They were telling the Americans who were monitoring that, if you don't solve this problem, we're going to solve it for you, and this is the weapon that we're going to use. And it was a wake up call. I remember when that happened. We're all like, stop. (16:55) We were only getting two hours sleep at night. No more sleep at night. Do everything you can to stop these Iraqi missiles from flying. We never did, but Israel stayed out of the war. But my point is, when you talk about, because to the lay person, they might be like, come on Wilmer, you're getting a little too creative. They're a little too conspiratorial. Wilmer Leon (17:17): I heard that. I heard that last Saturday night. I was at a buddy's house and he said to me, I walk into his house and CNN is on, as it always is, chirping in the background. And so finally he says to me, so what do you think? I said, think about what he said. What do you think about the Iraq? I said, oh. I said, man, that was collaborated. That was done with collaboration. He said, man, you always come in here with this junk. I said, well, okay. So I hear that a lot. Scott Ritter (17:53): Well, but in this case, it's not junk because I'm telling you, as somebody who has been in the technical analysis business of ballistic missiles for some time now, there are various ways to send a message. To give you an example, in the arms control world, sometimes the way to send a message is to open up telemetry channels that are normally closed down and launch a missile test. You're not saying anything. You don't put out a press release, but the people monitor because you don't want to say anything. North Korea does this all the time, all the time. They open up some telemetry channels and they just go, Hey, listen to this. And they send a to the Sea of Japan, and the technicians are going, ohoh. They got, oh, they did this capability. Oh, no. And then they're writing secret reports, and that message gets, meanwhile, the public is just sitting there, going to the beach, surfing, smoking dope, and doing whatever we do because we are not meant to get upset about this or worried about it. (18:52) It's a subtle message being sent to leadership through the intelligence agency. So your notion that the distance mattered because Iran didn't need to fire at that distance. They just could have fired at a closer range, whatever, but to fire at that distance is a signal to the people who are that distance away, that what we're doing here we can do here. But the problem is the Israelis weren't listening. This is the problem. Iran has through very indirect and direct means. First of all, Iran has never issued a public declaratory policy on deterrence and ballistic missiles until now. And it's one of the weaknesses of Iran is that they didn't make it clear what the consequences would be. The United States got it because they hit us and we're smart enough to go, oh, we don't want that again. Pakistan sort of gets it, but I mean ISIS and Syria, when they got hit with missiles, ISIS isn't going to sit there and go, oh, you're going to hit us with missiles, so we're not going to carry out terrorism anymore. (20:03) No, that was a punitive attack. The same thing with the various missile strikes in Iraq. It was punitive attack. It wasn't meant to be a declaratory policy statement. And so here you have a situation where Israel just isn't getting it because Israel believes that it has deterrent supremacy over Iran. And why would Israel believe that? I don't know. Maybe they've assassinated a whole bunch of Iranian scientists in Iran with no consequence. Maybe they've carried out covert direct action sabotage in Iran blowing up nuclear related facilities with no consequence. Maybe they've struck Iranian revolutionary Guard command positions in Lebanon, in Syria, in Iraq, inflicting casualties with no consequence. So maybe Israel believed that it had established deterrent supremacy over Iran. Therefore, when they saw a meeting at the Iranian consulate in Damascus of these major people plotting the next phase of the operation against Israel, they said, take it out. (21:04) There won't be any consequence because the Iranians are afraid of us. The Iranians won't strike us because we have deterrent supremacy. Iran believes that if they attack us, we will come down on them tenfold. And so they struck the consulate and Iran went, guess what guys? Nope, it's over. We're done with the subtlety. We warned you don't attack our sovereign territory. The consulate is sovereign territory. We're going to respond. But now the problem with the Iranian response is you have to put yourself in the Iranian shoes because the last thing Iran wants, it's just like the United States. They don't want a war with Israel. They don't want it, as they said in the Godfather, it's bad for business, it's bad for business. And business right now for Iran is improving. They're members of the Shanghai Cooperation Organization. China has brokered a reproachment with Saudi Arabia, dismantling an American strategy of creating a Sunni shield against the Shia crescent and provoking permanent conflict that would empower American defense industry, Israeli security credibility and economic co prosperity between that part of the ward and Europe with Israel in the middle. (22:25) Israel's going, wow, we're back in the game, guys, when Israel was Benjamin Netanyahu, for all the criticism that people have out there, and I'm one of those biggest critics understand that on October 6th, he was on top of the world on October 6th, he had created a geopolitical reality that had Israel normalizing relations with the Gulf Arab states, Israel becoming a major player in a major global economic enterprise, the India, middle East, economic C and the world, not talking about a Palestinian state anymore. Israel was entering, becoming legitimate. It was like Michael Corleone and the Godfather when he was saying, I'm going to put all that behind me and I'm going to become legitimate, reached out and just drag them back in by October 7th. And then Israel was exposed for the criminal enterprise that it is, and now Israel has collapsed. But Iran, that was the Israeli process. (23:27) Iran is sitting here saying, we don't want to war. We're members of the Shanghai Cooperation Organization. We normalized relations with Saudi Arabia. We have an axis of resistance that's holding Israel in check and these plans, Hezbollah is very strong. The militias in Iraq and are strong. The Anella movement in Yemen, the Yemen strong, but we don't want to provoke war. What we want is to become economically viable again. The promise that we, the theocracy have made to the Iranian people over time that trust us, things will get better. We're in that, Hey, you trusted us. Now things are about to get better. We're joining bricks together with Saudi Arabia, so we're going to work with Saudi Arabia and these powerful economic interests that no longer are turning their backs on us to create economic opportunity. And the last thing Iran needed is a war with Israel. It's bad for business. (24:29) It's bad for business. And so now the Iranians are like, how do we set declaratory policy to achieve deterrent supremacy? I mean, not supremacy, superiority supremacy is where you have everybody just totally intimidated. Superiority is where you put the thought in people's mind, and they now need to tell the Israelis, you can't attack us or the price you're going to pay is tenfold. Normally you do that. It's like going in the boxing ring. Mike Tyson, even now, I don't know if you've been watching his training videos of him getting ready for this fight he's got in July 20th. The man's a beast. I'm intimidated if I could 57, what he's doing. Wilmer Leon (25:10): Well, lemme tell you. I don't know if you saw the report of the guy that was kicking the back of his seat on the airplane, and he came over. He kept asking the guy, Hey man, can you stop kicking my seat? And the guy wouldn't leave him alone. And the folks on the plane said, finally he came over the top of that seat like Iran and pummeled the guy. They had to carry the guy off the plane and a stretcher. Scott Ritter (25:42): Well see, that's deterrence supremacy. There you go. Deterrence supremacy is when I jump into the ring with Tyson and Tyson knocks my face in, kicks my teeth out, and I'm on the ground hospitalized and bites your ear, pardon? And bites your ear. That is a bonus. Yes. (26:02) The deterrence superiority is where I jump in the ring, ent Tyson comes up, takes the fist right to my nose and just touches it. But he doesn't in a way that I'm in my stance, but he's already there and I'm like, oh, oh, I got a problem. Yeah, okay. I don't really want to be in this ring, Mike. It was a misunderstanding. I'm backing off. I'm just going to go out here and pee my pants in the parking lot. So that's what Iran needed to do. But how do you do this? It's very delicate operation. That's why this was one of the most impressive military opera victories in modern history because what Iran did was make all the demonstration necessary to show potential, and in the end, they hit a base nem. And this is important for your audience to understand. The Naam airbase is the single most heavily protected spot on earth when it comes to anti-ballistic missile defense. (26:55) There's no spot on earth that's better defended than nem. It has at the heart of this defense, a and I'll give you a fancy name, a N TP Y two X-Band radar sounds like, well, not one, not one, but two. Well, it's the number two radar, not two radars. Wilmer Leon (27:13): No, I'm saying because I got one over my house. Yeah, they got two over 2.0. This is 2.0 man. Scott Ritter (27:20): They got this radar there that has the ability to do overheard the horizon surveillance, but it's not just the radar, which is the most sophisticated radar of its type in the world. It's linked into the Ballistic Missile Defense Organization in the United States Strategic Command and the satellites that we have over hanging over the area. So all of that's linked in into a common command center that's shared with the Israelis. So this data is fed to the Israelis and around Nati. (27:48) And why is Naam important? I don't know. The F 35 I fighters are there. This is Israel's best fighter plane, their strategic deterrent. They have F fifteens, F sixteens, and they do other secret things there as well because of the notice that they were given, if I understand it, they were able to move those F 35. So the F, again, it was coordinated 100%. I mean, we'll get to that in a second. But they have the arrow two and arrow three missiles, which are joint Israeli American projects are deployed around Nevada. David Sling, which is another anti-ballistic missile capability, is deployed around Nevada. Advanced Patriot missiles are deployed around Nevada. And the US Thad system is deployed around Nevada. The bottom line is they have, and there's Iron Dome as well. So what they have is this multi-layered defense using the world's best anti-ballistic missile technology linked to the world's best surveillance and tracking technology. (28:56) And you read the literature on this stuff, we hit a bullet with a bullet. Okay, wow, you guys are good. Now here's the other thing. It's all specifically tailored for one threat and one threat only. Iranian medium range ballistic missiles. That's all it's geared to do. It's not like there's confusion. It's not like you have a multitude of missions. One mission, Iranian medium range missiles. Okay? So now that's like me watching Mike Tyson training videos, and I'm watching the training and I'm like, I got 'em. I can move. I got this guys, I got this. I go into training, bullet, hit a bullet, hit a bullet. I got this. And so now, Mike Tyson, Iran, they go a step further. Not only do they do the Pepe Escobar advanced notice, they build the attack in a way that says, Hey, this is really happening. They announce that the launch of the drones, and these aren't just any drones, guys. (29:57) These are slow, moving, loud drones. So you couldn't get a better air alarm system than what Iran gave Israel. They unleashed the drones, and here the drones go. Now Israel's got, they're like flying bumblebees six hours of advanced notice, which gives the United States time to say, take your F 30 fives out, anything value out. But the other thing the Iranians did is they told the United States, see, I think they went a step further. The Iranians made it clear that they will only strike military targets that were related to the action. Iran's whole argument. And again, I know in the West, we tend to rule our eyes, like when Russia says, we acted in Ukraine based upon Article 51, self-defense, preemptive self-defense, the Caroline Doctrine, all the people who hate Russia go, no, no. That was a brutal roar of aggression. Unprovoked. No, the Russians actually have a cognitive legal case because that's how Russia operates based upon the rule of law. (30:57) Now, the rule of law, Wil, as we all know, can be bent, twisted, manipulated. I'm not saying that the Russians have the perfect case. What I'm saying is the case that Russia has made is cognizable under law, right? It's defendable. You could take it to a court and it's not going to be tossed out asr. It's not Tony Blinken rules based order. It is not. And so now the Saudis, or not the, I'm sorry, the Iranians, they have been attacked and they have cited Article 51 of the UN charter as their justification. But now you can't claim to be hiding behind the law and then just totally break the law yourself. If Iran had come in, you can. You're the United States, correct? But that's the rules based international, not the law based international. That's the difference between the two. The rules say we can do whatever we want. (31:50) The law says no, you're constrained by the law. So in order to justify self-defense, Iran had to limit its retaliation to the immediate threat that was posed by those who attacked them, which means you can hit the two air bases where the airplanes flew out. And there's a third site that nobody's talking about yet. Is that the CIA site? Well, it's the 8,200, the Sgin site on Golan Heights that's looking out into Damascus. And according to the Iranians, that's the site that gathered the intelligence about the Iranians being in the consulate and then shared that intelligence with the airplanes coming in. And so these three targets are the three. Now, in addition to that, Iran is allowed to strike facilities and locations that are involved in the defense of these three things. So the ballistic missile defense capability becomes a legitimate target. But now, so Iran has to hit these three, and so they've broadcasted, we're coming, we're coming. (32:55) And that gives the United States do something politically smart, which is to tell the Israelis, we will defend you, but we will not participate in any Israeli counter attack. So we've limited the scope and scale of our participation in this. And so we came together, we started shooting down these drones, creating a fiction of Iranian incompetence, Iranian lack of capability. So this is part of the plan. This is all part of the plan. Now, Iran didn't sit down with the United States and say, this is what we're going to do. This is what we want you to do. Iran is scripting it for them. I mean, this is basically United States going, damn, I forgot my lines. Here you go. Here come the drones. Here come the drones. Shoot them down. Oh, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah. Thank you. And so we're shooting it down, and then we're sending the cruise missiles, just in case you don't know, we're launching them live on TV Here. (33:51) Let me show you a closeup of what they look like so you understand the operational parameters of the system. And off go, the cruise missiles. Don't shoot pigeons, shoot cruise missiles. So now they're shooting. But then as they're doing this, the Iranians are sitting there going, okay, so we sent the drones. What's lightening up, guys? First of all, what people don't understand is before all this happened, the Iranians did a very targeted cyber attack and shut down. They attacked the Iron Dome system. Now, why do you want to attack the Iron Dome system but not attack the others? Because the Iron Dome system isn't designed to take down big ballistic missiles. It's designed to take down the other stuff. Medium range cruise missiles. No, well, cruise missiles and drones, low flying. It's actually designed to take down kaka rockets and the Hamas rockets. Okay? That's what it's supposed to do. (34:44) So you disrupt this so that the other systems have to take priority, and then the arrives, you go, oh, thank you very much. Now, some of the drones that were sent in aren't armed with explosives, but armed with radars and signals intelligence collection, which they're broadcasting the data back to Iran. These are guys are very sophisticated ladies and gentlemen. These aren't amateurs you're dealing with. And so they're sitting in going here. They come turn it on, collect, thank you. And now they have their targeters looking at a big map going, okay, we got a radar here. We got here. Okay, now they're shooting. Okay, we got missile launchers here, boom, boom, boom. It's all there. And they've looked at all. Then they say, okay, remember, because the goal now is to get the glove to touch the nose. The goal isn't to hit the knockout. (35:33) So they say, what do we need to do to demonstrate capability the Iranians used? Now, there's some mixed reporting out here. The problem is I like everybody else, I'm held hostage with the Iranians. I don't get to go on the ground anymore and look at the debris and do technical analysis. I used to do that, and I used to be able to come back. One of the things we did with the Iraqis, just so people understand, I am not the dumbest marine in the world. I'm one of the dumbest Marines in the world, but I do have some capability based upon experience. And when my time as a weapons inspector, I worked with the Israelis, their technical intelligence people on looking at debris of the missiles that Iraq fired against Israel. And we were able to ascertain several different variants of scud missiles that have different capabilities that the Iraqis had been denying or not declaring. (36:27) And by coming back to them with the technical intelligence from the debris on the ground, the Iraqis had to admit to certain capabilities that they had been denying. And this is important when you're trying to be able to stand before the world and say, we understand the total picture of Iraqi ballistic missile capability, and we can certify that we can account for it all. Because imagine going before the security council and saying that only to have the Israelis go, yes, but what about variant 3D alpha four? Well, I don't understand what you're talking about. What's 3D alpha four? That's the point. You're making a report and you don't understand what we're talking about, which means you don't know everything, do you? I don't like to be in that position as an expert, or I want to know everything. And so we did, and we got the Iraqis to come clean. (37:14) So when I say we could account for Iraq's ballistic missile program, we could account for every aspect of it. So I don't get to do that right now. So I'm at a disadvantage where I have to rely upon information. So I don't know if Iran used their hypersonic missiles or not. I don't know that, okay, reports, it's reported. There's reports that they did, and then there's reports that they didn't, and it's conflicting. The most recent press TV report and press TV is a organ of the Iranian state, says that they did use the fat two missiles against thetan airfield. So I'm going to run with that, but I want to put a big caveat on that, that I don't know for certain. (38:01) But we do know, just looking at the characteristics of the missiles that came in, that they used at least three different kinds of, they used more than that, but three that were designed to put the glove on the nose, other missiles that were sent were designed to be shot down again as part of the intelligence collection process. So you send in an older ballistic missile that comes on a ballistic missile trajectory. The first thing that you do by doing that is you are training the defense systems. These Iranians are smart. They understand these things. You're training them because you see, there's a whole bunch of computers, software, artificial intelligence. This is the proof that ai, please don't do it better than ai. Is the brain a train brain? Because ai, listen to what everybody's talking about. I mean, I get this phone call. I don't know if you get this up, Scott, I'd like to take the transcripts of your discussions and use them to train my ai. I don't know if you've ever received that request. And I'm like, no, I don't want you to do that. But I just personally go. But the point is, that's how ai, it's not artificial intelligence, ladies and gentlemen. It's just programmed, just programmed in a different way. And you can program in stupidity, which the Iranians said, which they usually do. Let's program in stupidity. Wilmer Leon (39:24): Well, for example, just for a quick example, that's why facial recognition technology fails to the degree that it does. It's limited by the abilities and capabilities of the people that are programming it. That's why facial recognition technology doesn't work on Asian people, and it doesn't work on people of color. Dammit, I'm the wrong race. I could have put that a long time ago. Go ahead, Scott Ritter (39:57): Touche. So the Iranians are programming the ai. They're sending missiles in, and the system is starting to normalize to come up with a, because it's wartime now. So now you're actually detecting tracking and firing. Then what you do is you throw in, it's like a pitcher, fastball, fastball, fastball, changeup, and here comes the changeup. First changeup they do is, and I don't know the sequence that they did this, but we see the video evidence. There's a warhead that comes in, and again, it's about timing. So you're sending these missiles in. Now they have separating warheads. So what happens when a missile has a separating warhead is the radar's picking one target. (40:44) All of a sudden, the radar is dealing with two targets, but it's not just two targets. When you separate the warhead from the missile body, the missile body starts to tumble and it starts sending differentiating signals, and it's no longer a ballistic trajectory. So the computer's going, oh my God, what's happening here? Meanwhile, this warhead's going this way, it's tracking that, and it has to make a decision. Which one? Which one? Which one, which one, which one? This one, pick this warhead. So now they've trained it to discriminate onto this warhead, which is what they want. Now, you'd say, why would they want to look at that warhead? You'll find out the warhead comes in and they're timing. It's like a track coach got the timer, warhead comes in, and the missiles fire up to hit it, and you go, we got it. We now know what the release point is for the missiles being fired. (41:29) So now they send in this other missile, it comes in, warhead separates the AI says, go with the warhead baby. They ignore this thing, which is good. It's just a distraction. They're focused on the warhead, they're on the clock. Everything's getting queued up just the way it's supposed to be. Everything's optimized. We're going to take this thing, a bullet hits a bullet baby, and all of a sudden, the warhead right before the launch on the ground, fires off a whole bunch of decoys. It's like a shotgun shell. And the computer goes, damn, what the hell just happened? We don't know. It's going crazy, trying to differentiate between all this stuff. And they're firing a whole bunch of missiles now in panic overload, and they're trying to deal with this. And meanwhile, they have a warhead here. They accelerated these shotgun shells out. So they're going faster. (42:17) Now, the computer's adapting to that. Oh God, what do we do? Fire, fire, fire. That warhead's hanging back. It's not the priority right now. And then once everything's committed, you see it on the film, boom. It has a booster engine on it. It gets fired through the chaff. Nothing's intercepting it, bam hits the ground. But not only that, as it comes in, it makes an adjustment. I don't know if people saw that. It comes in and you see it go up, up. Again, terminal adjustment to hit the precise target it wanted to hit. Iran sent a couple of those in, and they took out the Iron Dome sites, et cetera. A signal just got you. And they know that the Israelis are smart. They know that there's a bunch of Israeli guys who were smarter than I am that I used to work with who were looking at all this stuff going, oh God, they got us. (43:11) They got us. Damn. Now we come to Nevada, and it's the same thing. They send in the missiles. This is the most heavily layered system in the world. They send in the missiles, and this one's not even as sophisticated. It just comes in. They release it, hyper accelerates down. Then wham hits the ground and the Israelis, because the Israelis are like, okay, we got it. We got it. We don't have it. It's like a catcher used to catch 70 mile an hour fastballs, and it hits him in the head, and then the guy fires the 102 mile an hour. Bam. What happened? I wasn't ready for that. It comes in and it hits it. Wilmer Leon (43:47): Well catcher called a change up, and a fastball came through. Fast ball came in. Scott Ritter (43:52): So then they came into Na, Nevada, and they touched Naum at least five times. The Iranians were saying seven times. I would probably go with five. And the reason why I say this is that there is a chance the most heavily defended space on earth, there's a chance that they got two of 'em. I'm going to concede that point to the Israelis and the Americans that you put all these hundreds of billions of dollars into building something, and you got two out of seven, but five hit. But the idea, none of them were meant to be a knockout blow. Each one was just a, Hey, hey. And the Israelis know that They're sitting there going, and now they've come to the realization, and this is the whole point. After all of this, the Israelis have come to the realization that Iran can reach out and touch us anytime it wants to, any place it wants to, and there's nothing we can do to stop them. So now the Israelis are in a quandary because Iran has war is an extension of politics by other means. (44:51) So Iran has established a political reality using military means to establish a deterrence superiority without creating the conditions that mandate an automatic Israeli response. You see, they've allowed the situation a narrative to be developed by the United States and Israel that says, Iran sucks. He sent everything in there. We shot it all down. We're better than they are. We actually established deterrence over Iran by telling the Iranians that no matter what they do, you thought you were Mike Tyson. You came in and swang gave us all your punches. You miss, you, miss you, miss you, miss you, miss. It's like, Ali, I'm still here. You didn't touch me. You punched yourself out. Can't touch this. That's the narrative that Iran was allowing the West to do. But the reality though is that the Israelis got down there, and there was an interesting text, I don't know if you saw it by, not text, but a post by an Israeli insider who has connectivity with the war council. (45:58) And he said, if the Israeli public heard what was being said in the War Council, 4 million people will be leaving Israel right now. I'm going to tell you right now what was said in the war Council, Iran can destroy us. Iran can flatten us. There's nothing we can do if we allow this to happen to remain unanswered. We've lost everything that we've fought for over the past several decades. This deterrence, supremacy that we thought we had has gone forever. Nobody will ever respect us. Nobody will ever fear us, and therefore people will attack us, and we will be in an untenable situation Wilmer Leon (46:39): Wait a minute. That's that's very important politically, because that is part of the whole Zionist ideology, is we we're the persecuted people, and you all need us to protect you because the wolves are always at the door. And now what is the reality is all that insurance money you've been paying for those insurance policies, you've wasted your money. Scott Ritter (47:15): Absolutely. I used to live in Turkey, and when I've traveled through the planes of Turkey, they have shepherds with their flocks, and out there amongst the flocks are the sheep dogs. I don't know if you've ever seen a picture of an Anatolian sheep dog. Yes, big. Wilmer Leon (47:34): I'm a big dog guy. Yes. Scott Ritter (47:35): Okay, so these are like bears, right? Some of them are bigger than bears. And I remember we were walking once in a Kurdish village and we got too close to the sheep, and all of a sudden, these two things coming at us, and they're bigger than we are. I mean, these are bigger than humans, and they're coming at us, and they're going to kill us. And we knew that it was just all over. Then you hear, and the shepherd gives whatever signal, and the sheep dogs stop, and then they come up and they sit down and you pet 'em. (48:04) They have no ears because their ears have been chewed off. Their noses are scars their faces. They got these giant collars with spikes on to protect their throat, their faces like that, because they fight wolves. They hold the wolves off. Israel has been telling the world that we are the anatolian sheep dog. We are here and we will protect you. The rest of the world, the sheep from the wolves, they're getting ready. What Iran just did is went, took off the cloak, then went, you're just a sheep. You're just a sheep. We are the wolves. You're just a sheep. And the sheep's going, I don't want everybody to know this. We were faking them out, that we were the anatolian sheep dog, but we're really just a sheep. So that's a political problem for the Israelis, and this is important, and this is probably the most important part of this discussion, believe it or not, this isn't about Israeli security. This isn't about a real threat to, because Iran is a responsible nation. When Iran talks about deterrence, Wilmer Leon (49:07): oh, wait a minute now, wait a minute. Now, Scott, now you've crossed the Rubicon is Iran is responsible? Yeah, Iran is a, they're ravaging. Crazy. Raghead. Come on, Scott. Scott Ritter (49:25): That may be true, but they're ravaging, crazy Raghead who operate based upon a law-based system as opposed to a rule-based system. Not only that, a law-based system that is based on thousands of years of history and culture, right? I mean, that's their own national culture. I mean, a lot of people go the theocracy, the theocracy, theocracy, yes, but Persian. Persian, Persian. I understand that this is a civilized people who have been around. They invented cataract surgery. They invented a lot of stuff. They invented the agrarian watering system, the irrigation, the irrigation system. They invented the wheel. I think they probably did. (50:20) We've been reinventing the wheel over time. But mathematics, psychology, the whole thing, sociology, all comes out of there. And today, you see it when you Google International Math Olympics, the teams that are coming in at top are Chinese teams and Iranian teams, MIT, California technology, they're coming in down at the bottom. They're not one in this thing behind it. The Indian Institute of Technology, the Indians are getting up there too. They have good applied science and good applied skills. And it's not just that. I mean, to give you an example, the Iranians have the highest percentage of peer reviewed, not percentage, the highest number of peer reviewed PhD thesis published per year. So it's not like, excuse me, Iraq, I, forgive me for this, but under Sadam Hussein, where you went to an Iraqi university, it used to have a good reputation, but they were just punching out, handing out diplomas to Kuai. (51:26) And the thugs who went in there and said, I went to school. Here's your diploma. See, I'm a doctor. No, in Iran, you earn it. You go to the school, you earn it, and you earn it the old fashioned way, peer reviewed, which means your thesis leaves. Iran goes out of ranks the world, the experts, they review it, they come back and they say, this is PhD level work. Wilmer Leon (51:46): I just had a conversation with another dear friend. And when you look at their diplomats, when you look at their leadership, many of them are engineers. President Amad, the first time I went to Iran, I got to sit for two hours with then former president Amadinijad has a PhD in engineering and teaches engineering at the University of Tehran. I sat there for two hours listening to this cat going, oh my God. Yeah, he's not what? (52:22) He was sold deep. He's not some short madman. He's a short, brilliant man. Scott Ritter (52:31): A brilliant madman maybe. But the point is, brilliant dude, genius. No, they're all that way. They all have extraordinary. First of all, let's stop picking on Ayatollahs. If people understood what it took to become an ayatollah in Iran, the level of seminarian study, what you have to know, not just about. And here's the important thing about the Shia theocracy for all the Shia people out there, if I got this wrong, please forgive me, but it's my understanding, especially in the Iranian model, they have something called the Marja, which is basically, it's like your flock. (53:14) What do they call it? A diocese in the Catholic church, right? Congregation. Thank you. There's what we want, congregation. It's a congregation. Now, you have to, because in Iran, it's not just about knowing the religion, but having a philosophy that is derived from absolute understanding of the religion that is approachable to the people. It is religious democracy, because now I've done my ayatollah training and they go, Huma, I can't do the cross. Sorry, God, I just made a huge mistake. Forgive me. But they anoint you. They say, you're the dude. You're the guy that can do it. But now, to survive, you have to write a document that says, this is my religious philosophy as it applies to something today. There's a name for that, the, or something. Again, I apologize, but they put that out there. Now. People read it, the public, it's there for the public. (54:10) And then people go, I like this guy. I'm going to hang out at his marja for a little bit and see what he does. Now, if they come to the Marja and he's not impressive, then the Marja dissipates and they shut 'em down. They say, you failed. You couldn't win the people. It's not just about imposing religion on people. It's about getting the people to buy into what you're saying religiously. Wilmer Leon (54:35): That's what the Ayatollah Khomeini was doing when he was in exile in France. Scott Ritter (54:39): Bingo. Okay. But you have compete, for instance, Al Sistani in Iraq, he has a competing the Najaf. Marges compete with the coal Marges that compete with Carval, which compete with, there's competing margins. And even within Comb, there's different margins. Wilmer Leon (54:59): I'm drawing a blank on the guy in Iraq that was raising all kind of hell. Muqtada al Sadr. There you go. Yeah. Who is the son, if I have it right? He's the son of a the, Grand Ayatollah Scott Ritter (55:17): yeah, yeah, yeah. And he, in order to become credible, had to go to Cole and study and learn things because everybody, when he was out there talking, he had a lot of personality. He had the name, but people are going, you don't have the credentials, man. You can't sit here and play religion because we take our religion seriously. So we had to go disappear and go to calm and train up and all that. Wilmer Leon (55:45): Had to coach him up a little bit. Scott Ritter (55:48): But he also then has to go out and sell himself right? To an audience. And a lot of people weren't buying what he was selling. I mean, he's a very popular man, very influential in Iraqi politics today. But it's earned. It's not given. But the point is, the Iranians are a responsible nation, and if Israel was smart, they would've said, okay, we're in a bad position here, bad position. (56:12) It's not a good position for us to be in. We need to take a step back, take advantage of the fact that the Iranians have written a script that makes it believable that we did some amazing stuff. And then we have to reassess where we are. What do we have to do to get our defenses back up? What do we have to do to get capabilities to strike Iran? When do we want to do it? Because the United States isn't on our side right now, behavioral modification to get the world to love us. Again, things of this nature, strategic thinking. But Israel's governed by a crazy man named Benjamin Netanyahu, who doesn't care about Israel. He doesn't care about the Israeli people. He doesn't care about Israeli security. He doesn't care about alliances with the United States. He's a 76-year-old man in bad health who only cares about Benjamin Netanyahu. (56:58) And he right now has his butt in a sling because he got embarrassed on October 7th, and now he was just humiliated by the Iranians. And he can only stay in power as a wartime prime minister. And if they're going to either, they have to ratchet it up in Gaza. Every Israeli knows that they lost in Gaza that they haven't won Harts the day before, the Iranian attack front page headline, we lost. We lost everything. We haven't won anything we've lost. And that's the assessment of the Israeli intelligence service. And people who don't know need to know that Harts is a very prominent Israeli newspaper with a very good reputation of like, well, you said good reputation. I was about to compare to the New York, used to have, right? There you go. There you go. Like it used to have. But so he's lost in Gaza. (57:52) He was looking to maybe promote a conflict against Hezbollah to expand the war. And there's always that hope that we can drag the United States into a larger war with Iran. But the United States, it says, no, we're not doing that. Hezbollah now is linked to Iranian deterrence, superiority. So you can't do the Hezbollah thing like you wanted to do anymore. You're in a, and now you've got Ansara Allah in the Red Sea shutting down the Red Sea, shutting down the Israeli economy. Wilmer Leon (58:22): And on the other side, you have Iran shutting down the strai of Harmouz. And that's why I go back to that ship that they captured because they wanted the United States to understand will shut your oil off. Scott Ritter (58:36): And the United States, remember, we've been running guardian prosperity or something like that, whatever the name of our wonderfully named operation to deter the Hootie. And we, I don't know if everybody understands, we had to approach the Hoothie last week and beg them to stop it. Please, please, please, please, please. We'll stop bombing you. We'll do everything. We'll lift the terrorism thing, but just stop this, please, because we can't force you to stop it. And the Hootie went, no. Yeah. They said, here's another one. The missiles, you guys are deterring. That's a failure. But that's the thing. The failure of deterrents policy has been played out with the Hoothie and it's being played out. See, America no longer has deterrents, superiority. We no longer have deterrence. We can't deter a minute. Wilmer Leon (59:25): Wait a minute. We sent the Eisenhower into, now this takes me back to, so we sent a couple of aircraft carrier groups into the region when I think it was the Eisenhower. Oh, it was Gerald Ford. We first sent the Gerald Ford in President Putin says to Joe Biden, why did you do that? You are not scaring anybody. These people don't scare. And oh, by the way, we can sink your carrier from here with our Kenjal missile. Hypersonic missile. So stop it, Joe. You're not scaring anybody. Scott Ritter (01:00:08): But here's something else that happened, and I'm glad you brought this up. This is an important thing. The United States linked at least two of its ships to this system, and this is part of the American anti-ballistic missile strategy. We do this with Japan, we do this with Korea, we do this with Europe. We have a whole bunch of ages, class destroyers in Spain that we now are going to fan out to protect Europe from Russian missiles. And we're telling everybody, no worry. We got this. We got this. Remember guys, when that satellite was coming down, we shot it down. We're that good? We can pull it, hit a bullet kind of stuff. So we went to the Israelis and we plugged in to the world's most sophisticated anti-ballistic missile shield in the world. We plugged in and the Iranians went. (01:00:55) What the Iranians proved, and I just want this to sink in there, they can hit any American ship anytime they want with a warhead that will sink that ship. They just sent a signal to the United States that we will sink every one of your aircraft carriers. We will sink every one of your destroyers, all these wonderful ships you have. You can't stop it. The missile we sent in and touched, Nevada can sink any one of your ships. And how do we know? Because you plugged your ships into the system. Guys, up until then, we might've been theoretical about this, but now you plugged it in and you were playing the game. You committed your best anti-missile ships to the defense system, and you didn't stop us. We went in and went pop, pop, pop, pop, pop five times on the target. If Nevada had become the Gerald Ford or become the Eisenhower or the Carl Benson, we would've sunk that ship. (01:01:52) That's the other thing that the Iranians did here that nobody's talking about, because this is the scariest thing in the world to the United States. Iran just told the United States, your Navy is useless. Useless. It's done and now, but it's not just the Iranians, the North Korean, China China has everybody out there who has hypersonic missile capability is now basically saying, oh yeah, we can sink American ships too. And this is important thing. Wilmer Leon (01:02:22): I was talking to KJ Noh last week, and KJ was talking about the United States sending all kind of hardware into Taiwan and that the United States may even wind up sending personnel in Taiwan and in anticipation of China making a, I think this is what KJ said, making a land invasion in Taiwan. And I said, kj, why would China do that when all they got to do is sink an aircraft carrier with a hypersonic missile? And he said, well, that's a good point. Scott Ritter (01:02:58): No, I mean the United States, but now we come to, because America's facing the same problem that BB Netanyahu is, except there's not a political dimension to it. BB Netanyahu right now has to do something to stay in power politically so now Wilmer Leon (01:03:15): and not be prosecuted for theft. Scott Ritter (01:03:19): Correct. For his corruption. Yeah. Second, he leaves office, he gets arrested and he gets put on trial. Wilmer Leon (01:03:25): Ala Donald Trump. Scott Ritter (01:03:27): Except, yeah, I mean, yeah, Wilmer Leon (01:03:32): that's a whole nother story. But I'm just saying that right now is what Donald Trump is facing. Scott Ritter (01:03:38): Correct. Wilmer Leon (01:03:38): And I'm not saying it's legitimate or not legitimate. Scott Ritter (01:03:41): Yeah. That's my only reason why I did that is I don't want to get into the, no, Wilmer Leon (01:03:47): it's happening. Scott Ritter (01:03:47): Because Netanyahu is a criminal. He is a corrupt person. Donald Trump is an imperfect human being who may have committed some crimes, but in America, you're innocent until proven guilty. And he has these trials, many of which people believe are politicized, designed, and diminishes. We can move on. We don't need to go down that rabbit hole on this episode. But the fact is Israel right now is desperately looking for a face saving way out of this because the fiction of we were so good that we stopped this Iranian attack is not believable. It's not believable domestically. So now the Israelis are looking for the ability to do something that if not gives them deterrence, superiority they're looking for right now, deterrence, parody. Parody. And so here's the question, because you remember now we come back to Pepe, and this is probably a good way to spin this around. (01:04:53) William Burns met with Iranians beforehand and came up with an elegant solution to an extraordinarily difficult and dangerous problem. Iran now has established a deterrence philosophy, and they articulate the second Israeli airplanes take off. We launch our missiles. We're not waiting for Israel to attack us. The second your planes take off, we're firing. And Iran has said, we consider the matter settled. Settled. We consider the matter over. You struck us, we struck back, let it go. Correct. But it's not settled because there's thing called politics. And Iranians, again, are some of the most sophisticated political players in the world. So my guess is as we're speaking, Hey Pepe, if you're out there, call your source. I'm giving you a hint that behavioral patterns, one thing I used to do as an intelligence officer is do analysis and assessments, predictive analysis based upon behavioral patterns. Humans tend to repeat behavioral patterns. (01:05:59) And so now the CIA and the Iranians have talked to prevent one crisis. They're talking right now and the CIA saying, guys, what can we do to prevent Israel from doing something really stupid, which is the big attack, which politically we need a safety valve. This is the equivalent of a methane tank getting heat on it. And if you don't have a safety valve that goes, it's going to blow. So how do we get a safety valve? What can Israel do to save face that doesn't impact you? And you see the Israelis now ratcheting it down. It was, we're going to strike nuclear facilities. We're going to strike this, we're going to strike that. And now they're saying, well, what if we strike something outside of Iran? But it's clearly Iran like at seven 11. Yeah, at three in the morning when it's been closed and nobody's there strike at seven 11. (01:06:53) And so they're desperately looking for this outlet. The question now is, what will Iran do? My bet is that Iran will facilitate a face saving gesture by Israel because the Iranians don't want and don't need a war, a major war business. Well, it's horribly. The Iranian foreign ministry, just so everybody understands this, their number one priority now, one of their top priorities is they have all of their smart people right now writing papers for the Brick summit in October, which Iran will be attending and will be playing a major role in establishing new global infrastructure and institutions on how the world's going to be governed and a possible international currency off of the dollar bingo. These are big ticket things. Business. They don't need to be business. They don't need to be dragged into this stupidity of a mafia family dispute Wilmer Leon (01:07:54): Really quickly. One of the reasons why President Putin went into Ukraine light in the beginning was he doesn't want a war because it's bad for his economy. Scott Ritter (01:08:11): But the West didn't pick up on that. Now we got thing. Wilmer Leon (01:08:15): And now he's kicking ass and taking names and folks are all befuddled. Hey, you started. You went looking for trouble. You found a big bag of it. And now, so thank you for your time, Scott. Two things I want to hit quickly. One is the estimates are in very simple terms, that Iran spent a million dollars on this attack and Israel lost a billion in their response to it. Scott Ritter (01:08:50): I'd say 60 million for the Iranians, about 3.2 billion for the Israelis and the United States altogether. Wilmer Leon (01:08:55): Okay. Okay. And this other thing, is it velvet or violet, this AI program that Israel has developed that they assign a score? Are you familiar with this? They assign a score to Palestinians based upon a number of predetermined social behaviors. And when your score gets close to a hundred, you get assassinated. And this is all generated by artificial intelligence. You mentioned ai, so I want to just to quickly drop that one in there before we get out. Scott Ritter (01:09:31): No, I mean, again, it's a criminal enterprise. It's about killing innocence. And part of this AI too is that it calculates the number of civilian casualties that'll be assigned to that thing target. And unfortunately for the Palestinians, one would think if you're a rational, look, I keep telling people, I'm not a pacifist, and if you want to go to war, I'm old. You're the guy. But guys, I have no problem killing you. I mean, I know you're trying to kill me, so I will kill you, and I'm not going to weep at night when you die because you wanted to play this game. But I'm not in the business of killing you and taking out innocent civilians. Okay? (01:10:17) That's where I draw the line. Now there's collateral damage. If it happens, I'll be upset, but I have my parameters. If I'm going to take you and they're saying, you're going to take out this many civilians, I'm going, that's a bad target. Not the right time. Not the right place. We're not going to do it. But the Israelis have the opposite thing. It's not just when you're going to take out the target, but when you get the maximum impact of civilian casualties. The Israeli approach is AI program is designed to kill the maximum number of family members and civilians to maximize the impact of the attack on the morale of the Palestinian people. But see, that's where AI fails because it doesn't understand the human heart and doesn't understand rage, it doesn't understand hate, and they don't understand that the more Palestinians you kill, the more you train them to hate you. (01:11:05) And not only that, the world is turning against you. See, the AI program hasn't figured out the global factor that every time they do this, the world hates Israel even more. Hamas is a political organization. Hamas is a military organization. Hamas is an ideology, and you don't kill an ideology with weapons. You defeat an ideology with a better ideology, which is generally linked to a better lifestyle, better standard of living, economic prosperity. Again, Jane Carville's mantra, it's the economy. Stupid isn't just an American only. It's a global human reality Wilmer Leon (01:11:52

01:00 Conservative Claims of Cultural Oppression: On the Nature and Origins of Conservaphobia (Transgender Edition), https://lukeford.net/blog/?p=154284 03:00 Philosopher Rony Guldmann, https://ronyguldmann.com/ 38:00 Hero systems, https://lukeford.net/blog/?p=146534 48:00 Liberal and conservative reactions to gay identity 1:02:00 The rise of Christian nationalism 1:08:00 The buffered identity purports to transcend all hero systems, but leaves many listless 1:12:00 Why isn't nudism a celebrated identity? 1:15:00 MSM focus on polyamory, https://www.takimag.com/article/whats-the-new-current-thing/ 1:19:00 Polygamy, https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Polygamy 1:25:00 Rony favors a Palestinian state 1:31:00 Sam Bankman-Fried, https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sam_Bankman-Fried 1:33:00 Joseph Bankman, https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Joseph_Bankman 1:35:00 Barbara Fried, https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Barbara_Fried 1:42:00 Can you have universal morality while hating out-groups 1:44:50 DTG on live streamers, https://decoding-the-gurus.captivate.fm/episode/sean-carroll-the-worst-guru-yet 1:51:30 Vaush is Unironically Evil & SHOULD QUIT, https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KCFQuui2iIY 1:55:20 Mini-Decoding John Gray: Indulgent Monologuing, https://decoding-the-gurus.captivate.fm/episode/mini-decoding-indulgent-monologuing 2:40:00 Fahad Boty joins the show 2:58:00 Muqtada Al-Sadr, https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Muqtada_al-Sadr 3:01:00 The Gaza Question

*) Iraq expels Swedish ambassador in response to Quran desecration in Sweden Iraq's prime minister has ordered the expulsion of the Swedish ambassador from Iraq and the withdrawal of the Iraqi charge d'affaires from Sweden as a man desecrated a copy of the Quran in Stockholm. Thursday's diplomatic blowup came hours after protesters angered by the planned burning of a copy of the Quran stormed the Swedish Embassy in Baghdad, breaking into the compound and lighting a small fire. Online videos showed demonstrators at the diplomatic post waving flags and signs showing the Iraqi Shia cleric and political leader Muqtada al Sadr before a planned burning of the Islamic holy book in Stockholm by an Iraqi asylum-seeker who burned a copy of the Quran in a previous demonstration last month. *) ​​Israel's Netanyahu doubles down on judicial plan despite mass protests Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has vowed to press ahead with his contentious judicial overhaul, despite unprecedented mass protests at home, growing defections by military reservists. Netanyahu's message set the stage for stepped-up street protests in the coming days leading up to a fateful vote expected on Monday. Thousands of people marched through central Tel Aviv on Thursday night, while others continued a roughly 70-kilometre march from Tel Aviv to Jerusalem. *) Macron reshuffles cabinet to revive second term French President Emmanuel Macron reshuffled his government as he looks to move on from a series of crises since his re-election last year, government sources said. After weeks of speculation that he might change the prime minister, the 45-year-old head of state said on Monday that he was sticking with under-fire Elisabeth Borne. Advisers and ministers had long argued over whether the centrist should carry out a major overhaul of the cabinet to signal a fresh start, but in the end the reshuffle was limited in scope. *) Erdogan urges world to lift unfair restrictions from Northern Cyprus Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan urged the lifting of political restrictions that have been unfairly imposed on the Turkish Republic of Northern Cyprus. Inaugurating a newly renovated and expanded Ercan Airport in Northern Cyprus, Erdogan also reiterated his call on the international community to support the ideal of two equal states living side by side on Cyprus, rejecting the culture of domination, tension, and conflict on the island. "The new terminal is six times larger than the previous one, meaning it is now capable of serving 10 million passengers," he said, adding that Ercan Airport also has the largest passenger capacity of any airport on the Eastern Mediterranean island. *) Over 60% of world's population uses social media Nearly five billion people, or slightly more than 60 percent of the world's population, are active on social media, according to a recent study. That represents an increase of 3.7 percent over the past year, according to calculations by digital advisory firm Kepios in its latest quarterly report. However, Kepios noted that social media figures may exceed the actual figures due to issues like duplicate accounts.

Join the discussion in the Intelligence Fusion OSINT community, exclusive to Discord: https://hubs.ly/Q01k6Qyv0----How successful has Iranian foreign policy been in recent years? From Iran's alliance with Russia leading it to becoming involved in the war in Ukraine through the supply of drones and other weaponry, to closer to home, where Iran seeks to project power into the wider region such as supporting Houthi rebels in Yemen or Hezbollah in Lebanon, we take a look at understanding Iranian foreign policy, what it hopes to achieve, and whether it has been a success for Iran's regime.To do this, Intelligence Fusion's Deputy Intelligence Manager, Max Taylor, is joined by Regional Analyst Peter Wood and Senior Regional Analyst for Europe Matt Pratten, where they discuss Iran's involvement in the Russia-Ukraine war, how Iran hopes to influence Iraqi politics and the problems it faces with Muqtada al-Sadr and the Sadrist Movement, and how secure Iran's borders are, particularly its borders with Iraq, Afghanistan and Azerbaijan - especially in light of potential Iran-Azerbaijan tension. The analysts also discuss whether Iran's foreign policy supports its domestic policy, and whether it has helped or hindered its security at home, especially in light of the ongoing Iranian protests.Listen to latest episode of The Roundtable now.----For more insights from Intelligence Fusion, head to: intelligencefusion.co.uk/insights Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Arab Digest editor William Law's guest this week is Dr Renad Mansour, senior research fellow and head of the Iraq Initiative at London's Chatham House. He has just returned from Baghdad and this wide-ranging conversation explores Iraq's political impasse and the structure that is responsible for it, the culture of violence and the enigmatic and powerful populist cleric Muqtada al-Sadr. Also on the table: Iran, Gulf neighbours, the JCPOA and climate change. Sign up NOW at ArabDigest.org for free to join the club and start receiving our daily newsletter & podcasts.

August 2022. Political tensions in Iraq boil over, and peaceful demonstrations outside the country's parliament turn violent. The sounds of gun and rocket fire return to Baghdad, and 30 people are killed. The violence ends when populist leader Muqtada al-Sadr tells his followers to lay down their arms and go home. His Sadrist party won the most seats in the previous election, but his inability to form a majority government has led to the political deadlock. Politics in a country as diverse as Iraq is complicated, with Shia, Sunni and Kurdish groups, and well-armed militias. Add oil revenues and political interference by Iraq's neighbour Iran into the mix, and you have a potentially volatile situation. So this week on the Inquiry we're asking, How close did Iraq come to civil war? Presenter: Tanya Beckett Producers: Ravi Naik and Christopher Blake Editor: Tara McDermott Technical Producers: Richard Hannaford and Mitch Goodall Broadcast Coordinator: Jacqui Johnson (Image: Supporters storm Republican Palace after Iraqi Shiite cleric Moqtada al-Sadr announced retirement from politics, Baghdad, Iraq - 29 Aug 2022: by MURTAJA LATEEF/EPA-EFE/REX/Shutterstock)

Almost a year since Iraq's parliamentary elections in October 2021, the country's political parties have struggled to form a new government. Despite doing well in the vote, the Sadrist Movement, led by powerful Shiite leader Muqtada al-Sadr, has been thwarted in its attempts to build a governing coalition, thanks to a decision by Iraq's Supreme Court. The court required a two-thirds quorum to convene parliament to select a president, who in turn would nominate the prime minister. In protest, al-Sadr threatened to quit politics and withdrew his deputies from parliament. Days later, his supporters, who had occupied parliament and entered the presidential palace, clashed with paramilitary groups loyal to al-Sadr's Shia rivals. The fighting was the worst the capital Baghdad had seen in years. Violence has abated for now, but it is far from clear whether Sadr and his rivals can reach agreement on a way forward.In our first episode of Season 3 of Hold Your Fire! Richard Atwood is joined by Crisis Group's Senior Iraq Analyst Lahib Higel to make sense of the political turmoil engulfing the country. They talk about how the crisis came about and why Sadr's attempts to form a government have failed. They discuss the opposition he faces from his main political rivals, the coalition of Shia parties known as the “Coordination Framework”, which is backed by Iran, and look at Tehran's hand in the crisis and Washington's influence on Iraqi politics more broadly. They talk about the prospects for rapprochement between al-Sadr and his Shia rivals, as negotiations on a new government look set to resume amid calls for early elections. They also assess risks of another bout of fighting. For more on the situation in Iraq, check out Crisis Group's extensive analysis on our Iraq country page. Our GDPR privacy policy was updated on August 8, 2022. Visit acast.com/privacy for more information.

It looked to many Iraqis like the beginning of a civil war, but the fighting that broke out last week was over almost as quickly as it started. But there's a difference between stable and stuck, and Iraq is still in the same political stalemate that sparked the violence. And at the center of it all is Shia leader Muqtada al Sadr and his unexpected retirement from politics. Is Iraq in the calm before the storm, or will cooler heads prevail once again?  In this episode: Imran Khan (@ajimran), Al Jazeera senior correspondent Ali Hashem (@alihashem_tv), Al Jazeera senior journalist Episode credits: This episode was produced by Alexandra Locke with Chloe K. Li, Ruby Zaman, Amy Walters, Negin Owliaei and Halla Mohieddeen. Our sound designer is Alex Roldan. Our engagement producers are Aya Elmileik and Adam Abou-Gad. Ney Alvarez is Al Jazeera English's head of audio. Connect with us: @AJEPodcasts on Twitter, Instagram, and Facebook

Rival Shiite militias clashed in Iraq last week, as a power struggle between infamous cleric Muqtada al-Sadr and his political opponents spilled over from parliament into the streets of the heart of Baghdad's Green Zone.

Rival Shiite militias clashed in Iraq last week, as a power struggle between infamous cleric Muqtada al-Sadr and his political opponents spilled over from parliament into the streets of the heart of Baghdad's Green Zone.

Stories about the floods that have submerged a third of Pakistan; the violent clashes in Iraq; Brazil's bizarre bicentennial and farewell to the last Soviet leader, Mikhail Gorbachev. In Pakistan, heavy rains and floods have submerged a third of the country. UN Secretary General Antonio Guterres called the calamity “a monsoon on steroids". At least 1100 people have been killed, and an estimated 33 million are now displaced or homeless. Shahzeb Jillani reports from the southern province of Sindh, the worst affected, where victims are disappointed with their politicians, but young people have sprung into action. At least 23 people were killed, and many injured, in some of the worst violence in the Iraqi capital Baghdad in years. Supporters of Muqtada al-Sadr, a powerful Shia Muslim cleric, political leader and militia commander, clashed with Iran-backed armed groups. There'd been a long stand-off following inconclusive parliamentary elections, and then al-Sadr announced his retirement from politics. Shelly Kittleson in Baghdad explains. Next week, it'll be 200 years since Brazil became an independent country, breaking free of its colonial ruler Portugal. There'll be military parades – and more. But one ceremony has already taken place, held to receive a bizarre royal relic from Portugal. Reactions to this occasion seem as divided as the views about what to celebrate, if anything. Julia Carneiro reflects on her country's bicentennial. Mikhail Gorbachev, the last leader of the Soviet Union, was liked and admired in the West, for bringing about the end of the Cold War, lifting the Iron Curtain that kept Eastern Europe under Communism, and dissolving the Soviet Union. But in Russia, he is reviled by many for breaking up the Soviet Union. Steve Rosenberg met Mr Gorbachev on several occasions - and got to hear him sing. Presenter: Kate Adie Producer: Arlene Gregorius Production coordinator: Iona Hammond Editor: Hugh Levinson

At least 23 people have been killed in some of the worst fighting for years in Iraq's capital, Baghdad, sparked by a critical leader's decision to quit politics.  Radio Islam International discussed with Iraq's researcher and analyst, Ruba Ali Al Hassani, who described Muqtada al-Sadr as the boy who cried wolf, saying it is not the first time al-Sadr has resigned from politics, as he has done it several times over the past few years. She says Al Sadr had his followers storming into the Iraqi parliament over the past few years.

Since October 2021, Iraq's politics have been deadlocked in a showdown between two of its most powerful political factions. The rivalry between the Coordination Framework, a pro-Iranian Shiite bloc, and the supporters of populist cleric Muqtada al-Sadr has left the country's Parliament paralyzed since last October's elections, unable to form a government or elect a new president. But after Sadr announced his withdrawal from politics at the end of August, the rivalry turned deadly as protesters from his movement marched into the heavily fortified Green Zone and paramilitaries battled each other in the heart of Baghdad. Only after Sadr called for the violence to end and for his supporters to withdraw did the fighting die down. New Lines' Rasha Al Aqeedi joins host Faisal Al Yafai to talk about what this latest escalation may mean for Iraq's future. Produced by Joshua Martin

Since the 2003 invasion of Iraq, Shia leader Muqtada al-Sadr has emerged as one of the country's most powerful figures. As political turmoil turns deadly in the capital, The Newsmakers Ahad al- Fadhli looks at Sadr's role and what the future has in store for him.

We get an update on the water crisis in Jackson, Mississippi, from Mayor Chokwe Antar Lumumba and a longtime activist; Yanar Mohammed, president of the Organization of Women’s Freedom in Iraq, on violent protests in Baghdad after Iraqi cleric Muqtada al-Sadr announced his resignation; Robin D. G. Kelley on the new 20th anniversary edition of his book, “Freedom Dreams: The Black Radical Imagination.” Get Democracy Now! delivered right to your inbox. Sign up for the Daily Digest: democracynow.org/subscribe

We get an update on the water crisis in Jackson, Mississippi, from Mayor Chokwe Antar Lumumba and a longtime activist; Yanar Mohammed, president of the Organization of Women’s Freedom in Iraq, on violent protests in Baghdad after Iraqi cleric Muqtada al-Sadr announced his resignation; Robin D. G. Kelley on the new 20th anniversary edition of his book, “Freedom Dreams: The Black Radical Imagination.” Get Democracy Now! delivered right to your inbox. Sign up for the Daily Digest: democracynow.org/subscribe

Earlier this week violent protesters took to Iraq's streets, leading to several deaths and many people being injured – prompted by the sudden announcement of Shia cleric Muqtada al-Sadr's retirement from politics. Andrew Mueller explains who he is and why he has such a strong hold over the country's citizens. See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Mississippi governor declares state of emergency with end of Jackson water crisis nowhere in sight, a former Marine is caught in El Salvador after allegedly killing his girlfriend in San Diego 6 years ago, dozens dead after armed supporters of Iraqi cleric Muqtada al-Sadr clashed with security forces in Baghdad, one woman says her immigration status left her vulnerable to sexual abuse by her boss and the surprise guest for one young student in Kentucky.

Iraq's government descended into further political turmoil, following the announcement that Muqtada al Sadr would retire from public life. But is this a ploy to rally the Sadrists? And can the country's fragile political framework find surer footing? Guests: Saad al Muttalibi Political Security Adviser to the Baghdad Security Council Tallha Abdulrazaq Iraqi Security and Political Analyst Borzou Daragahi International Correspondent for The Independent

A federal judge has indicated that she may appoint a “special master” to review the documents that the FBI seized from Mar-A-Lago earlier this month. We go over what that means, and what it means for the Justice Department's investigation into former President Donald Trump.NASA was set to blast off the debut flight of its Artemis I mission to the moon on Monday, but engineers were forced to delay the launch over apparent engine problems.And in headlines: Iraqi leader Muqtada al-Sadr said he's retiring from politics, the Federal Trade Commission sued a data broker for allegedly selling information that could track user locations, and teachers in Columbus, Ohio voted to end their days-long strike.Show Notes:Vote Save America: Fuck Bans Action Plan – https://votesaveamerica.com/roe/Crooked Coffee is officially here. Our first blend, What A Morning, is available in medium and dark roasts. Wake up with your own bag at crooked.com/coffeeFollow us on Instagram – https://www.instagram.com/whataday/For a transcript of this episode, please visit crooked.com/whataday

After months of political impasse, Iraq is facing protests again. This time it comes after the powerful Shiite cleric Muqtada al-Sadr announced he is leaving politics for good. And many people who describe long COVID symptoms to their health care providers are met with suspicion, but their symptoms are real, says New York Times columnist Zeynep Tufekci. Also, the Dutch Refugee Council, a nongovernmental organization, is suing the Dutch government over hazardous conditions at migrant reception centers across the country. Plus, we hear about Norway's role in the future of energy with the podcast “Things That Go Boom.”

More than thirty people are dead following fighting between rival Shia militia after the powerful Shia cleric, Moqtada al-Sadr, said he was stepping away from politics. His appeal for them to stop has now restored calm. Also in the programme: the general who oversaw the withdrawal of the US military in Afghanistan speaks about no longer having a presence there; and how male dolphins make male friends for life, behaviour not previously confirmed among animals. (Photo shows members of militias loyal to cleric Muqtada al-Sadr in Baghdad, Iraq. Credit: Miurtaja Lateef/EPA)

Iraq's capital city has seen violent protests that left at least 21 dead after weeks of tensions. The spark was ignited after influential Shiite cleric Muqtada al-Sadr announced on Twitter that he was quitting politics for good. This comes after his supporters were unable to form a government, despite winning the most seats in parliament last year. Al-Sadr's announcement sent a shockwave through Baghdad and his loyalists stormed the so-called Green Zone, prompting al-Sadr to apologize to the nation for the violence and urged protesters to go home. Correspondent Ben Wedeman has the latest. For more on the unrest, and to explain the background, Sara speaks with Feisal Amin al-Istrabadi, who as Iraq's deputy ambassador to the United Nations had firsthand experience of Iraqi politics and diplomacy.  Also on today's show: Craig Whitlock, author of The Afghanistan Papers, which examines how that country's war was sold -- and mis-sold -- to the public; Jason Reid, author of Rise of the Black Quarterback; Global Citizen CEO Hugh Evans and Grammy Award-winning musician Angelique Kidjo on the 10th anniversary of the Global Citizen Festival.To learn more about how CNN protects listener privacy, visit cnn.com/privacy

In episode 1066 of #CutTheClutter, ThePrint Editor-in-Chief Shekhar Gupta looks at who Iraqi Shi'ite cleric Muqtada al-Sadr is, why his supporters invaded Baghdad's high security Green Zone & how his political exit worsens the uncertainty in Iraq.

In recent months, the Iranian regime has redoubled its threatening behavior. For example, it has plotted to kill former U.S. officials in our country. It has enriched uranium effectively to bomb grade and finally acknowledged that it has the option to deploy nuclear weapons. And Iran's proxy militiamen in Iraq have just flexed their muscles by attacking government buildings and even the U.S. embassy in Baghdad's supposedly secure Green Zone. While their leader, Muqtada al-Sadr, has ordered them to withdraw, the point has been made: They can take over there at any time. Incredibly, Team Biden's response to such abiding – and growing – threats is to press on with the completion of a new deal that has no prospect of blocking the mullahs' nuclear ambitions. Instead, it will simply help underwrite, legitimate and otherwise enable them. That's simply insane, and must be abandoned.   This is Frank Gaffney.

On today's Front Page: Iraqi Shiite cleric Muqtada al-Sadr has announced his “definitive retirement” from politics, President Biden's plan to crack down on soaring crime rates by hiring 100,000 police officers is drawing criticism, and more.

Confrontos no Iraque deixam ao menos 30 mortos e 700 feridos, de acordo com relatos de fontes médicas à rede árabe Al Jazeera. País vive uma escalada de violência após o clérigo xiita Muqtada al-Sadr anunciar sua retirada da política local.

El motivo de las protestas no es otro que el anuncio del influyente clérigo chií Muqtada al-Sadr de que se retira de la vida política. Se han producido cargas policiales en la Zona Verde de la capital iraquí donde se encuentran las principales instituciones y la mayoría de los fallecidos son manifestantes afines a Al Sadr. ...

In this week's episode of Nonviolence Radio, Stephanie speaks with interdisciplinary sociologist Ruba al-Hassani to bring context and understanding to the current protests in Iraq, and how they differ from the nonviolent Tishreen/October movement of 2019. To provide context to each of these movements, she first gives a deep explainer of the ethno-based consociational and power-sharing model of government that was imposed by the United States following the 2003 invasion, and why Iraqi citizens consider it a failure. Secondly, she explains how armed groups managed to gain seats in parliament after the fight against ISIS, and the obstacles this is creating for the formation of a functionable and representative government.To draw it all together, Ruba describes why the 2019 Tishreen movement insists upon a governance model that is democratic and representative on the basis of merit, as opposed to sectarianism, and what the current protests led by Muqtada al-Sadr might mean for Iraqi people as they conflict with these goals. Despite the deeply unpredictable future of the country, she draws hopefully on the nonviolent and feminist means utilized by the Tishreen activists and considers how the movement elevated public consciousness, while also challenging the status quo and legitimacy of violence as a political tool."But this is another phase, another stage in this revolution. And I think it's still continuing, in a way. Many people claim that the protest movement has been crushed. But just because there are no street protests, it doesn't mean that the momentum has been lost. .... There's greater thirst for knowledge about the constitution, about their rights. ... And now we're seeing more dialogue amongst the people. Politicians are not necessarily engaging in dialogue, but the people are, both online and offline. They're thinking. And the protest movement has caused a shift in the public consciousness, in the collective consciousness. And this shift will be there for a long time to come. Iraq is not the same after the 2019 October Movement, and I don't think it ever will be."Music by: Farida Mohammed Ali -- Maqam al hanabat

Hoe het zit met dat aangekondigde Oekraïense tegenoffensief Vorige week werd er nog een vliegveld vol Russische straaljagers getroffen, gisteren ging een groot munitiedepot in vlammen op. Met twee spectaculaire aanvallen op de Krim in één week, lijkt het Oekraïense leger nu in staat Rusland diep achter de frontlijnen te treffen. Maar dat is nog iets heel anders dan het stoppen van de Russische opmars, laat staan het verdrijven van het Russische leger uit bezet gebied. Hoe zit het toch met dat lang aangekondigde tegenoffensief van Oekraïne? Daarover Bob Deen van Instituut Clingendael. Irak maakt zit op voor een explosief weekend Rivaliserende sjiitische partijen in Irak hebben hun aanhangers opgeroepen massaal naar Bagdad te marcheren. De politiek in Bagdad wordt gegijzeld door een patstelling tussen het pro-Irankamp en de geestelijke Muqtada al-Sadr. Hij is ook verantwoordelijk voor de bezetting van het parlementsgebouw die als sinds eind juli voortduurt. Gevreesd wordt voor een verdere escalatie waarbij gewapende groepen tegenover elkaar komen te staan. Journalist Abdou Bouzerda schetst een profiel van de machtige geestelijke en de situatie in het land. Uitgelicht Iwan Brave, hoofdredacteur van de krant De Ware Tijd, over de verkeersveiligheidsmaand in Suriname.

Rivaliserende sjiitische partijen in Irak hebben hun aanhangers opgeroepen massaal naar Bagdad te marcheren. De politiek in Bagdad wordt gegijzeld door een patstelling tussen het pro-Irankamp en de geestelijke Muqtada al-Sadr. Hij is ook verantwoordelijk voor de bezetting van het parlementsgebouw die als sinds eind juli voortduurt. Gevreesd wordt voor een verdere escalatie waarbij gewapende groepen tegenover elkaar komen te staan. Journalist Abdou Bouzerda schetst een profiel van de machtige geestelijke en de situatie in het land.

Kate Adie introduces dispatches from Colombia, Taiwan, Tunisia, Iraq and Germany. Colombia's first-ever left-wing President, the former guerrilla fighter Gustavo Petro, has been sworn in, and questions about the country's peace dividend have sharpened. With the long-running insurgency disarmed, many Colombians hoped they'd soon be able to breathe more freely. Katy Watson visited the Cauca valley, where the benefits of peace have yet to trickle down to the grass roots. The recent furore over Nancy Pelosi's visit to Taiwan was a sharp reminder of just how much of a regional flashpoint this island's status can be. Rupert Wingfield Hayes knows this part of the world well – and he's seen its Taiwanese democracy evolve over several decades. Tunisia was the birthplace of the Arab Spring uprisings just over a decade ago. The country ejected its long-time leader Zine al-Abidine Ben Ali and brought in a full parliamentary democracy, but since then it's seen prolonged political stalemate and infighting. The current President, Kais Saied, wrote a new framework which hugely extends the powers of his own office, which was approved by an apparently overwhelming majority at the polls. But the BBC's Middle East correspondent Anna Foster found that not everyone was celebrating. In Baghdad, followers of the Shia cleric-cum-politician Muqtada al-Sadr took over the main parliament building recently. But having central government at a standstill leaves the prospect of finding solutions to Iraq's multiple social problems even further out of reach. The Sadrists insist their leader has the answers and should be enabled to govern unobstructed - Lizzie Porter talked to the demonstrators about what they really want. The energy squeeze applied by rising fuel prices are being felt particularly sharply in Germany, which has historically depended on cheap gas from Russia. Some German regions are now proposing new limits on energy usage. Jenny Hill is in Bavaria, where frugal plans for the winter are very much on the minds of local politicians. Producer: Polly Hope Production Co-Ordinator: Iona Hammond

*) Trump invokes Fifth Amendment to evade questions over alleged fraud Former US president Donald Trump has invoked his Fifth Amendment protection against self-incrimination as he testified under oath in a NY civil investigation into his business dealings. The Fifth Amendment protects people from being compelled to become witnesses against themselves in a criminal case. Attorney General Letitia James said her office uncovered evidence that Trump's company misled lenders and tax authorities about the value of prized assets like golf courses and skyscrapers. Trump Organization even exaggerated the size of Trump's Manhattan penthouse, saying it was nearly three times its actual size — a difference in the value of about $200 million, James' office says. *) Sierra Leone imposes nationwide curfew after violent protests At least two police officers and a civilian have been killed after a protest descended into clashes between security forces and demonstrators who were demanding the president's resignation. "Two police officers, a male and female, were mobbed to death by protesters at the east end of Freetown," police spokesperson Brima Kamara said on Wednesday. In addition, Reuters reported that a civilian was also killed in the violence. A hospital worker in Freetown said that dozens more had been wounded. *) Ukraine shelling causes ammonia leak in Donetsk – separatists Pro-Russian separatists have accused Ukraine of shelling in the occupied eastern city of Donetsk, killing one person and triggering a leak of ammonia, Interfax news agency reported. The emergency ministry in the Russian-backed so-called Donetsk People's Republic said a shell had hit an ammonia line late at night. It sparked a fire that at one point covered 603 square metres. Pictures from the scene showed flames lighting the sky above one part of the city as well as firefighters donning masks. One picture appeared to show a corpse on the ground. *) Iraq's Sadr gives one-week deadline to judiciary to dissolve parliament Iraqi Shia cleric Muqtada al Sadr has called on the country's judiciary to dissolve parliament by the end of next week. The judiciary "must dissolve parliament by the end of next week... if not, the revolutionaries will take another stance," Sadr said in a statement on his Twitter account. The Iraqi Shia leader has helped inflame tensions in Iraq over the last two weeks by commanding thousands of followers to storm and occupy parliament. And finally… *) African football body launches new Super League to boost local clubs The Confederation of African Football (CAF) has launched a new lucrative $100 million Super League aimed at injecting financial muscle to the cash-strapped clubs on the continent. Twenty-four clubs, yet to be decided, will take part in the first edition, which has the backing of world governing body FIFA. It will take place between August 2023 and May 2024. CAF president Patrice Motsepe, who announced the new competition, did not say if it would replace CAF's existing Champions League and the second-tier Confederation Cup.

*) China begins military drills as Taiwan faces Pelosi visit fallout China's largest-ever military exercises encircling Taiwan have kicked off, in a show of force after a controversial visit to the island state by US House Speaker Nancy Pelosi. Taiwan's military said its forces were closely monitoring the Chinese drills and was prepared for conflict, but would not seek it. The exercises, which began on Thursday, will be the biggest aimed at Taiwan since 1995, when China fired missiles in a large-scale exercise after a visit by the Taiwanese president to the US. *) First Ukrainian grain ship leaves Istanbul for Lebanon The first grain-laden ship to leave Ukraine since the conflict with Russia erupted has passed an inspection in Istanbul and set sail for Libya. The inspection by a team from the Joint Coordination Centre (JCC) in Istanbul was carried out on Wednesday and lasted over an hour. The ship, carrying over 26,500 tonnes of corn, left Ukraine's Odessa on Monday under a landmark deal brokered by Türkiye to resume grain shipments from blockaded Ukrainian ports. *) Iran, US, EU envoys return to Vienna for revival of nuclear talks Iran, the United States and the European Union have said they will send representatives to Vienna amid what appears to be a last-ditch effort at reviving the Iran nuclear talks. The EU official who chairs the talks, Enrique Mora, wrote on Twitter that the negotiations would focus on the most recent draft on restoring the 2015 nuclear agreement. It wasn't immediately clear from Wednesday's announcement if other parties to the landmark accord would attend the surprise summit. *) Iraq's Sadr vows to continue parliament sit-in until demands met Iraqi cleric Muqtada al Sadr has told his supporters to continue their sit-in occupation of the Baghdad Parliament until his demands are met. The demands include early elections and unspecified constitutional changes. Thousands of followers of the Shia leader stormed the empty parliament building last weekend, staging a sit-in that is ongoing. The move is a response to attempts by Sadr's Shia Muslim rivals to form a government with prime ministerial candidates that Sadr disapproves of. And finally… *) Myanmar announces birth of rare white elephant A rare white elephant has been born in western Myanmar, state media has said. Born last month in western Rakhine state, the baby weighs about 80 kilograms and stands roughly 70 centimetres tall. Historically, white elephants were considered extremely auspicious in Southeast Asian culture, and the region's ancient rulers acquired as many as they could to boost their fortunes.

Iraq has been reeling from unrest after the powerful Shiite cleric Muqtada al-Sadr called for a revolution, taunting his Shiite rivals and demanding sweeping changes to the current political system. Special correspondent Simona Foltyn reports from Baghdad. PBS NewsHour is supported by - https://www.pbs.org/newshour/about/funders

Iraq has been reeling from unrest after the powerful Shiite cleric Muqtada al-Sadr called for a revolution, taunting his Shiite rivals and demanding sweeping changes to the current political system. Special correspondent Simona Foltyn reports from Baghdad. PBS NewsHour is supported by - https://www.pbs.org/newshour/about/funders

Iraq has been reeling from unrest after the powerful Shiite cleric Muqtada al-Sadr called for a revolution, taunting his Shiite rivals and demanding sweeping changes to the current political system. Special correspondent Simona Foltyn reports from Baghdad. PBS NewsHour is supported by - https://www.pbs.org/newshour/about/funders

Der Irak kommt nicht zur Ruhe. Bereits zum zweiten Mal stümten Demonstranten das Parlament in Bagdad. Auf diese Weise protestieren vor allem Anhänger von Muqtada as-Sadr, dessen Partei im Oktober die Wahlen gewonnen hatte. Ist er auch der Drahtzieher dieser Proteste und was beabsichtigt er? Weitere Themen: (06:07) Im Irak spitzt sich die Lage gefährlich zu (11:55) In Mexiko wird das Wasser knapp (17:27) Mitten in Afrika eine neue Schweizerfahne (22:04) Am Staatsfeiertag zum «Buurezmorge»

Supporters of powerful Iraqi cleric Muqtada al-Sadr have stormed the Baghdad parliament for the second time in a week. The protesters again breached the high-security Green Zone in the capital, as they oppose the nomination of a pro-Iran rival candidate for prime minister. Over 120 people were injured in the latest unrest over the weekend.  Sadr's block won the most seats last October, but it is not in power due to a political deadlock. KAN's Mark Weiss spoke with Iraqi specialist  Dr Ronen Zeidel from Tel Aviv university's Moshe Dayan Center about the unrest in Iraq. (Photo:Reuters)See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Mamia ya wafuasi wa kiongozi wa kidini Muqtada al-Sadr waliingia katika jengo la bunge jumamosi kwa mara ya pili wiki hii. Mapema, vikosi vya usalama vya Iraq vilipambana na maelfu ya waandamanaji huko Baghdad katika eneo linalojulikana kama Green zone.

Le Président de la République, Abdelmadjid Tebboune, a reçu ce jeudi, 28 juillet, le ministre nigérian des Ressources pétrolières, Timipre Sylva, ainsi que le ministre nigérien de l'Énergie et des Énergies renouvelables, Mahamane Sani Mahamadou. Les forces de la "coalition internationale" stationnées dans le champ pétrolifère d'Al-Omar, qui est la plus grande base militaire de la coalition internationale en Syrie, ont tiré des missiles vers des positions pro iraniennes. Tension à Bagdad. Les manifestants qui soutiennent Muqtada al-Sadr sont mécontents que les partis pro-iraniens en Irak aient soutenu Mohammed Shia al-Sudani comme candidat au poste de Premier ministre.

Iraqi protesters aligned with Shia cleric Muqtada al-Sadr's political movement stormed the heavily militarized Green Zone and Iraqi Parliament building on Wednesday. The protesters eventually cleared out of the building, but political gridlock continues to plague Iraq. And, while Sweden and Finland's membership to NATO is still pending, the large Kurdish community in Sweden is worried that striking any deal with Turkey could put members of their community at risk. Also, gun battles between rival Haitian gangs continue to wreak havoc in and around Port-au-Prince. There's growing anger that weapons trafficking from the US is fueling the violence. Plus, we remember James Lovelock, creator of the "Gaia hypothesis," who has died at the age of 103.

Morse code transcription: vvv vvv Manchin says he has reached deal with Democrats on economy, climate bill Jan. 6 rioter charged with assaulting Capitol police takes plea deal CNN Exclusive Biden administration offers convicted Russian arms dealer in exchange for Griner, Whelan Facebook owner Meta sees first ever sales decline Nigerias Chibok girls Two victims found eight years on Parade attack suspect indicted for murder, attempted murder Muqtada al Sadr supporters in Baghdad storm parliament building Every womans body is beach ready, says Spanish government campaign Gas prices soar as Russia cuts German supply My most prized possession is gone US offers Russia deal to bring Griner, Whelan home Russia to NASA Sticking with space station until at least 2028 Former White House aide Cassidy Hutchinson cooperating with DOJs Jan. 6 probe, say sources Fed unleashes another big rate hike in bid to curb inflation US makes major interest rate rise to tame soaring prices With Roe Gone, Republicans Quarrel Over How Far to Push Abortion Bans Two Former Minneapolis Officers Sentenced To Prison For Violating George Floyds Rights NBC News 9 Mega Millions tickets were a Mega Ball short of winning it all George Floyd death Last two ex officers sentenced to prison Covid in China Million in lockdown in Wuhan after four cases

Morse code transcription: vvv vvv George Floyd death Last two ex officers sentenced to prison Two Former Minneapolis Officers Sentenced To Prison For Violating George Floyds Rights NBC News Covid in China Million in lockdown in Wuhan after four cases Parade attack suspect indicted for murder, attempted murder CNN Exclusive Biden administration offers convicted Russian arms dealer in exchange for Griner, Whelan Manchin says he has reached deal with Democrats on economy, climate bill US offers Russia deal to bring Griner, Whelan home Russia to NASA Sticking with space station until at least 2028 Facebook owner Meta sees first ever sales decline Muqtada al Sadr supporters in Baghdad storm parliament building Fed unleashes another big rate hike in bid to curb inflation Nigerias Chibok girls Two victims found eight years on Every womans body is beach ready, says Spanish government campaign My most prized possession is gone Gas prices soar as Russia cuts German supply Former White House aide Cassidy Hutchinson cooperating with DOJs Jan. 6 probe, say sources Jan. 6 rioter charged with assaulting Capitol police takes plea deal US makes major interest rate rise to tame soaring prices 9 Mega Millions tickets were a Mega Ball short of winning it all With Roe Gone, Republicans Quarrel Over How Far to Push Abortion Bans

Morse code transcription: vvv vvv Russia to NASA Sticking with space station until at least 2028 US offers Russia deal to bring Griner, Whelan home With Roe Gone, Republicans Quarrel Over How Far to Push Abortion Bans Parade attack suspect indicted for murder, attempted murder Two Former Minneapolis Officers Sentenced To Prison For Violating George Floyds Rights NBC News CNN Exclusive Biden administration offers convicted Russian arms dealer in exchange for Griner, Whelan US makes major interest rate rise to tame soaring prices Muqtada al Sadr supporters in Baghdad storm parliament building George Floyd death Last two ex officers sentenced to prison Fed unleashes another big rate hike in bid to curb inflation Facebook owner Meta sees first ever sales decline Jan. 6 rioter charged with assaulting Capitol police takes plea deal Gas prices soar as Russia cuts German supply Nigerias Chibok girls Two victims found eight years on 9 Mega Millions tickets were a Mega Ball short of winning it all Covid in China Million in lockdown in Wuhan after four cases My most prized possession is gone Every womans body is beach ready, says Spanish government campaign Former White House aide Cassidy Hutchinson cooperating with DOJs Jan. 6 probe, say sources Manchin says he has reached deal with Democrats on economy, climate bill

Iraq's parliament has been stuck in political deadlock for months following October's general election.Shia cleric Muqtada al-Sadr - who clinched the largest share of seats in the election - failed to form a government despite joining a triple alliance with Sunni blocs and Kurdish groups.So instead, to the surprise of many hawk-eyed political analysts, the maverick cleric ordered a mass resignation among his supporters - throwing Iraqi politics further into disarray.On this week's episode of The New Arab Voice looks at why the Sadrists resigned and what this means for the fate of Iraq. The episode examines the current players in Iraqi political life as well as the system itself, to try and understand what happened recently in Iraq and the longer structural forces that produced the situation today.We speak to Hamzeh Hadad (@HamzehKarkhi), visiting fellow at the European Council of Foreign Relations (@ecfr), Yesar Al-Maleki (@yesar), non-resident scholar at the Middle East Institute (@MiddleEastInst) and also a Gulf analyst with the Middle East Economic Survey (@MeesEnergy), and Zeinab Shuker (@zfshuker),professor at Sam Houston State University who specialises in the sociology and political economy of Iraq.This podcast is written and produced by Rosie McCabe (@RosieMcCabe3) and Hugo Goodridge (@hugogoodridge). Theme music by Omar al-Fil (@elepheel). Other music by Blue Dot Sessions.To get in touch with the producers, follow then tweet us at @TheNewArabVoice or email hugo.goodridge@alaraby.co.uk

KGMI's Dianna Hawryluk and Adam Smith talk about the recent Iraqi election results and Muqtada al Sadr's new coalition government.

The Iraqi Supreme Court on Monday upheld the results of the country's parliamentary election, in effect ratifying a win for the hardline Shia cleric Muqtada al Sadr. Al Sadr's nationalist party claimed a huge 35 percent increase in seats from its 2018 position, becoming the largest party in the parliament. Al Sadr once enjoyed backing from Iran and was a fierce enemy of the United States, but now opposes all foreign interference in Iraq. He has also hinted at increasing representation of the country's Kurdish and Sunni minorities. But will his reform project turn the tide on corruption and re-engage Iraqi civilians? Guests: Farhad Alaaldin Iraq Advisory Council Chairperson Ahmed Rushdi Senior Adviser to the Iraqi Parliament's Secretary General Tallha Abdulrazaq Iraqi Security and Political Analyst

As Iraq's Prime Minister Mustafa Al-Khadimi survives an assassination attempt, Shekhar Gupta looks into the defining elections recently held in Iraq, won by 'nationalist', Muqtada al-Sadr. And why in a world of declining democracies, Iraq is a rare symbol of democratic success in the Arab world in episode 873 of #CutTheClutter

Iraq held its parliamentary elections earlier this month which saw record low turnout. The biggest beneficiary following the polls turned out to be the firebrand nationalist and anti-Iranian cleric Muqtada al Sadr. Now that the stage is set for Iraqi to form a coalition government, will it be able to win support from the millions of Iraqis who chose not to take part in the polls? Guests: Ahmed Rushdi President of the House of Iraqi Expertise Foundation Ahmet Keser Associate Professor at Hasan Kalyoncu University

Dr. Linwood Tauheed, associate professor of economics at the University of Missouri-Kansas City, joins us to discuss domestic politics. Congress is running out of time as the President works to get his economic agenda through Congress before he leaves for Europe at the end of the week. Also, progressives battle to keep a few social spending programs in the bill as they seem to be almost completely stripped from the legislation. Tunde Osazua, on the Africa Team of the Black Alliance for Peace (BAP) and coordinator of BAP's "U.S. Out of Africa" Network, joins us to discuss Africa. International security observers again suspect the US empire as Sudan becomes the latest African nation to face a military coup. The prime minister has been arrested by the military and taken to an unknown location, as radio and TV stations in the capitol fall into the hands of the coup plotters.Steve Poikonen, national organizer for Action4Assange, joins us to discuss Julian Assange. Consortium News is reporting that "Ian Duncan Burnett, the most powerful judge in England and Wales, will join Lord Justice Timothy Holroyde on the bench next week for the two-day U.S. appeal in the extradition case of WikiLeaks publisher Julian Assange." The Assange case has completely disintegrated and some are holding out hope that he may reverse the trend of unfair and unreasonable findings by the court. Leo Flores, Latin America coordinator for Code Pink, joins us to discuss Venezuela. The Venezuelan government was working in a reasonable and professional manner in talks with the opposition when the talks were sabotaged by the Biden administration. The Biden team kidnapped Venezuelan diplomat Alex Saab and illegally brought him to Miami. The appearance is that the administration has no intentions of holding honest negotiations with the Bolivarian republic. Laith Marouf, broadcaster and journalist based in Beirut, joins us to discuss the Middle East. Shiite cleric Muqtada al-Sadr remains one of the most influential politicians in Iraq. Al-Sadr's political followers have secured 70 seats in the latest election, and observers wonder if he can garner enough support to form a ruling coalition. Also, the US seems to be hitting roadblocks in their attempt to secure permission from Pakistan for the use of their airspace to continue their assault on Afghanistan. Mark Sleboda, Moscow-based international relations security analyst, joins us to discuss President Putin's Valdai speech. President Putin infuriated the Davos crowd when he made pointed statements about the moral and economic decline in the West. Putin argued that the current model of neoliberal globalist capitalism serves only the rich and is creating destabilizing wealth inequality. Jonathan Kuttab, human rights lawyer, joins us to discuss Israel. Israel has effectively outlawed six Palestinian human rights organizations Friday by designating them as terrorist organizations. Many observers expect harsh police and/or military crackdowns on these groups as a result of this move.KJ Noh, peace activist, writer and teacher, joins us to discuss the US's relationship with the UN. The leaders of Russia and China have both recently made comments about the UN and the need for it to remain a stable body for international stability. Russian President Vladimir Putin argues that the US's recent moves to change the security council will destroy the credibility of the body and reduce it to a discussion platform.

Last week Iraq held a parliamentary election several months early, with Shia cleric and militia commander Muqtada al-Sadr emerging as the winner. What kind of Iraq does al-Sadr want? Andrew Mueller is joined by Sofia Nitti, Jane Arraf and Renad Mansour. See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Stati Uniti, Iran, ma anche Francia guardano all'esito elettorale in Iraq. Ma il nodo centrale di queste elezioni — e il motivo per cui ha vinto l'astensionismo — è proprio la forte ingerenza estera nel paese, che alimenta un sistema corrottoNell'ottobre 2019, migliaia di iracheni hanno iniziato a partecipare a enormi manifestazioni per chiedere un cambiamento: chiedevano la fine della corruzione dilagante che stava dirottando la ricchezza petrolifera del loro paese, per ottenere servizi pubblici migliori — come un sistema idrico e un sistema elettrico affidabili — ma soprattutto chiedevano di avere più voce in capitolo in un governo.Il movimento di protesta ha costretto Adel Abdul-Mahdi, allora Primo ministro, a dimettersi nel dicembre 2019, e a far insediare un governo che avrebbe dovuto traghettare il Paese verso nuove elezioni. Domenica 10 ottobre gli elettori si sono recati alle urne per le seste elezioni legislative dalla caduta di Saddam Hussein nel 2003 — la prima volta che si vota a causa delle richieste di piazza. Le consultazioni si sono svolte con una nuova legge elettorale che divide l'Iraq in circoscrizioni più piccole — un'altra richiesta dei giovani attivisti — e permette un maggior numero di candidati indipendenti.Molti iracheni, però, disillusi dalla politica nazionale, hanno dichiarato di non avere alcuna ragione per andare a votare e hanno sostenuto un boicottaggio diffuso. Gli attuali partiti al potere – molti sostenuti dalle milizie coinvolte negli attacchi che hanno ucciso circa 600 manifestanti – sono quelli che molto probabilmente usciranno vincitori dalle urne, deludendo ancora di più le aspettative di coloro che sono scesi in piazza nell'ottobre del 2019. A poche ore dalla chiusura dei seggi, possiamo dire che l'astensionismo è uscito vincitore: solo il 41% dei cittadini iracheni si è recato alle urne.La rabbia crescente contro questo sistema, noto come muhasasa, è stata una delle cause delle proteste popolari iniziate nel 2019. È ampiamente considerato come una ragione chiave per i problemi di governo in Iraq oggi. Ha portato all'impasse in parlamento e si è prestato alla corruzione diffusa e al clientelismo, dato che i partiti politici travasano i fondi statali per pagare i loro sostenitori o riservare posti di lavoro ai fedelissimi. Così si è andato a creare uno scenario politico complesso e incapace di governare il Paese.Nota: questa puntata è stata registrata prima che venissero annunciati i risultati delle elezioni.Show notes In Iraq's elections, little is expected to change : NPR L'Iraq alla prova del voto, tutti gli scenari per le elezioni del 10 ottobre - NovaNews L'Iraq a un anno dalle proteste | Sicurezza internazionale | LUISS L'incredibile giro politico di Muqtada al Sadr - Il Post Turnout at Iraqi national election sluggish as many boycott polls | Iraq | The Guardian Chi era Qassem Soleimani, la super spia iraniana che Trump ha voluto morto France's Macron visits Iraq to show support and strengthen ties Macron vows French troops will remain in Iraq even

Influential Shia cleric Muqtada al Sadr's supporters celebrated on the streets of Iraq after his party won the most number of seats in the parliamentary election. Though Sadr gained strength, there was no out-right winner in the polls that saw 41 percent voter turnout - a record low. The stage is set for Iraqi politicians to try forming a coalition government. But does Sadr enjoy the backing he needs to form a coalition? Guests: Ahmed Rushdi Former Adviser to the Speaker of the Iraqi Parliament Lahib Higel Senior Iraq Analyst with the International Crisis Group Anas Altikriti The Cordoba Foundation Chief Executive

Los países del G20 han acordado ayudas económicas para paliar la grave crisis que vive Afganistán desde la toma del poder el pasado agosto por los talibanes y han encargado a Naciones Unidas que coordine esa respuesta, para lo que tendrán que hablar con el nuevo régimen afgano. El primer ministro italiano, Mario Draghi, ha dicho que "es pronto para cualquier tipo de reconocimiento" del gobierno de los talibanes, y que "toca esperar". Un día más miramos tmbién a Irak y a los resultados de las elecciones del domingo, con nuestra corresponsal en Oriente Próximo, María Gámez. El bloque encabezado por el clérigo chií Muqtada al Sadr ha sido el ganador, con 73 escaños, pero varias formaciones chiíes rechazan los resultados. En Francia seis miembros de un grupo ultraderechista que se autodenomina 'Organización del Ejército Social' han sido condenados a penas de hasta nueve años de prisión. El grupo fue desmantelado hace unos años por planear atentados contra inmigrantes, mezquitas y políticos de izquierdas. Dos semanas después de los motines en la cárcel de Guayaquil, en Ecuador, en los que murieron 119 presos, todavía algunos de ellos siguen sin identificar, por lo que sus cuerpos no pueden ser entregados a sus familias. Más de un millar de policías y militares intervinieron en el centro penitenciario para retomar el control después del motín. Escuchar audio

President of the Dayton chapter of the NAACP denounces the violent arrest of paraplegic man, Clifford Owensby; Nabil Salih on the implications of populist Shiite cleric Muqtada al-Sadr sweeping the vote in Iraq's parliamentary election and conditions in country; Ethan Paul warns against the U.S. instigating a "new Cold War" as tensions mount between China and Taiwan. Get Democracy Now! delivered right to your inbox. Sign up for the Daily Digest: democracynow.org/subscribe

About the Lecture: Muqtada al-Sadr is the leader of the Sadrist Movement, a Shia political group with a militia called the Mahdi Army. Al-Sadr has a complicated history with the United States but is now in a position to create a stable democracy and protect Iraq from Iranian influence. While the U.S. looks to thwart Iranian efforts in the region, it needs to consider how to work with political actors like al-Sadr. About the Speaker: Caroline Hickey is a graduate student at IWP where she is pursuing a Master's degree in Statecraft and International Affairs. Her regional interest is in the Middle East and has focused her studies on Iraq and Afghanistan.

Iraq and Saudi Arabia have opened the Arar border crossing for trade for the first time in 30 years. Officials from both countries- including the Saudi ambassador to Iraq and the Iraqi interior minister, travelled to Baghdad to open the border. Both goods and people will be able to pass through Arar which had remained closed since Saddam Hussein's invasion of Kuwait. Relations between the two countries started to take a positive turn in 2017 when representatives from each country had made a visit to one another, consequently leading to the initiation of commercial flights between the two neighbours. The current prime minister of Iraq, Mustafa al-Kadhimi is said to be on good terms with Saudi Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman. One group known as the Ashab al-Kahf published a statement however expressing a rejection of “the Saudi project in Iraq”. The Iraqi prime minister welcomes the development, in hope that it may provide employment opportunities to 1/3 of the youth who are unemployed.Approximately 4,000 prisoners are meant to be on death row, after being charged with terrorism offences in unfair trials, claims United Nation human rights experts. The UN has asked the Iraqi government to halt plans of executions, after 21 men were executed last Friday. Six Iraqi demonstrators have been killed from bullet wounds in the capital of Nasiriya after clashes have erupted between anti-government protestors and thousands of Muqtada al-Sadr supporters in Tahir Square. The Sadrist movement called for protests to back the reform of what he views a corrupt state. By Saturday morning, at least 60 people were wounded. Sadr on Wednesday called for relations between Shiite factions and parties to be repaired and to sign a political honour code from internal and external challenges facing the country. The leader of Al-Fatah Alliance, MP Karim Aliwi welcomed this proposal, stating that it will have popular support because it's in the interests of the country and its citizens.  Kurdish journalist Sherwan Amin Sherwani has been imprisoned for almost two months by Iraqi Kurdish authorities for political reasons fuelled by his involvement as editor-in-chief of Bashur, a magazine that has been openly critical of the Kurdish political elite. Notably, the Kurdistan Democratic Party and the powerful Barzani family who are based in Erbil and Duhok provinces. Whilst Sherwani's lawyer is adamant that there is no legal basis for his confinement, representatives from the Kurdistan Regional Government have reiterated the reason for his arrest as being his threat to the security of the region. The responsibility of a rocket attack at an oil refinery in Northern Iraq has been claimed by ISIS. The attack occurred on the 29th of November, which yielded no casualties, the oil ministry says. There was another attack executed by them 8 days prior in the Salahuddin province where a bomb hit a civilian car. Members of ISIS then killed six Iraqi security officers that had arrived on the scene along with four civilians. On the 27th of November, a massage parlour was raided in Baghdad, where inside facilitates were destroyed with batons and men and women were violently pushed onto the street. Rab'Allah initially took responsibility for the raid on social media, stating it is their duty to ‘stand against societal corruption' which has been inspired by ‘ideas of America and Israel'. A day later however, they denied their involvement in the incident. Other attacks followed on Christian and Yazidi-owned liquor stores across the capital. One shop owner said that he had been bribing armed groups to protect his business from being raided.The US is set to reduce its troops in Iraq to 2,500 by January 12th next month.Support the show (https://www.justgiving.com/tncf)

al-Sadr commands ethnic Shia based popular mobilization units alloyed to Iran; US needs to take him out.

#IraqiDinar #Dinar #MrBrando #IQD Welcome to Mr. Brando's channel where we discuss Iraqi Dinar and Foreign Currency. Check out Mr. Brando on Patreon https://www.patreon.com/Mrbrando Get your Mr. Brando and April Bebee shirts at the link below. https://teespring.com/stores/mr-brand... Thanks so much for being of the Iraqi Dinar Conversation. My Latest Video https://ltstyt.be/3yn For Donations Cash App $MrBrando77044 Business Inquiries : mrmrsjackson713@gmail.com Mailing address : Mr. Brando P.O. Box 11176 Houston, Texas 77293 ----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Mr. Brando's Channel www.youtube.com/mrbrando April Bebee's Channel www.youtube.com/aprilbebee Mr & Mrs. Jay's Channel www.youtube.com/mrmrsjay ----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Legal Disclaimer: I am not a financial advisor. This is merely my personal opinion from the articles read and experience. The ideas and strategies should never be used without first assessing your own personal and financial situation, or without consulting a financial professional.

The crisis in Iraq continues to escalate. Multiple reports of assassinations and other targeted killings of activists and demonstrators reflect an attempt to suppress the protests through intimidation, likely by Iran's proxies. Leading Shi'a political figure Muqtada al Sadr called for the dissolution of the government and a new election in an attempt to oust the sitting Prime Minister, who has failed to address the crisis. A parliament session is reportedly scheduled for October 5th. It remains unclear whether a reshuffle in the political leadership in Baghdad would ameliorate protest demands, however. ISW's Iraq expert Samantha Leathley joins Jennifer Cafarella to discuss developments on the ground and what ISW is watching for next. *Originally published October 4, 2019. 

Rumors of an imminent resignation of the Iraqi prime minister emerges after nationalist Shi'a cleric Muqtada al Sadr made a dramatic return to Iraq and joined escalating protests in Najaf. He and Iranian proxy leader Hadi Al Ameri each released statements pledging to hold a no-confidence vote against the prime minister in the Iraqi parliament. ISW Research Director Jennifer Cafarella discusses the political stakes and possibilities. *Originally published October 29, 2019. 

In Iraq, masked gunmen shot dead 18 protesters overnight and injured more than 800 people in the Shiite holy city of Karbala on Monday. Nearly 225 Iraqis have been killed since a wave of anti-government protests swept the country last month. The protesters in Karbala were attacked while they camped out in the city's Education Square to protest corruption, lack of jobs and poor public services. Meanwhile, in Baghdad, hospital officials said four people died during protests on Monday, while another 109 were injured. On Monday, the Iraqi Parliament met for the first time since the protests began. Lawmakers voted to dissolve provincial councils and cut the salaries of some high-ranking officials. But the influential Shiite cleric Muqtada al-Sadr dismissed the measures as a “sham” and called on the Iraqi government to announce early parliamentary elections. We speak with Yanar Mohammed, president of the Organization of Women's Freedom in Iraq. The post As Death Toll Tops 220, Iraqi Protesters Stay in Streets Calling for End to Corrupt Government appeared first on KPFA.

Rumors of an imminent resignation of the Iraqi prime minister emerged after nationalist Shi’a cleric Muqtada al Sadr made a dramatic return to Iraq and joined escalating protests in Najaf. He and Iranian proxy leader Hadi Al Ameri each released statements pledging to hold a no-confidence vote against the prime minister in the Iraqi parliament. ISW Research Director Jennifer Cafarella discusses the political stakes and possibilities. 

The crisis in Iraq continues to escalate. Multiple reports of assassinations and other targeting killings of activists and demonstrators reflect an attempt to suppress the protests through intimidation, likely by Iran’s proxies. Leading Shia political figure Muqtada al Sadr called for the dissolution of the government and a new election in an attempt to oust the sitting Prime Minister, who has failed to address the crisis. A parliament session is reportedly scheduled for October 5th. It remains unclear whether a reshuffle in the political leadership in Baghdad would ameliorate protest demands, however. ISW’s Iraq expert Samantha Leathley joins Jennifer Cafarella to discuss developments on the ground and what ISW is watching for next. Crisis Brief is a special edition of the Overwatch series intended to provide timely updates on unfolding national security crises. 

The day Russell Frost and two former American soldiers were kidnapped was an unusual one, even by the standards of 2016 Baghdad. On Jan. 15, as the battle against Islamic State raged across the country, Frost and his two fellow contractors — former U.S. Army soldiers Amr Mohamed and Waiel el-Maadawy — found an interpreter to assist in their government mission of training coalition forces. The interpreter was a strange one, Mohamed said, offering the men liquor and women in an area where such things at the time could lead to death. Against their better judgment, the three men met at the interpreter's house to finalize a working relationship over tea. As night began to fall, Mohamed insisted they leave. When the Americans attempted to do so, they were surrounded by dozens of armed men, members of a Shiite militia supported by cleric Muqtada al-Sadr. What followed was a horrific, 31-day ordeal in which the three — accused by their captors of being CIA operatives — were brutally tortured and imprisoned in inhumane conditions. It was the first kidnapping of Americans in the country since 2011 and while it was widely reported, the reason why the men where kidnapped by a faction ostensibly working with U.S. forces — and why it took so long for them to be released — remains murky. This episode of Force for Hire welcomes Mohamed to talk about the ordeal and its fallout. Frost died in November 2017 of complications from the kidnapping and torture. We're proud to have Frost's family on this episode to talk about how his death has impacted them and what they're doing to help ensure the sacrifices of military contractors aren't being forgotten. podcast@stripes.com

The day Russell Frost and two former American soldiers were kidnapped was an unusual one, even by the standards of 2016 Baghdad. On Jan. 15, as the battle against Islamic State raged across the country, Frost and his two fellow contractors — former U.S. Army soldiers Amr Mohamed and Waiel el-Maadawy — found an interpreter to assist in their government mission of training coalition forces. The interpreter was a strange one, Mohamed said, offering the men liquor and women in an area where such things at the time could lead to death. Against their better judgment, the three men met at the interpreter’s house to finalize a working relationship over tea. As night began to fall, Mohamed insisted they leave. When the Americans attempted to do so, they were surrounded by dozens of armed men, members of a Shiite militia supported by cleric Muqtada al-Sadr. What followed was a horrific, 31-day ordeal in which the three — accused by their captors of being CIA operatives — were brutally tortured and imprisoned in inhumane conditions. It was the first kidnapping of Americans in the country since 2011 and while it was widely reported, the reason why the men where kidnapped by a faction ostensibly working with U.S. forces — and why it took so long for them to be released — remains murky. This episode of Force for Hire welcomes Mohamed to talk about the ordeal and its fallout. Frost died in November 2017 of complications from the kidnapping and torture. We’re proud to have Frost’s family on this episode to talk about how his death has impacted them and what they’re doing to help ensure the sacrifices of military contractors aren’t being forgotten. podcast@stripes.com

From Communities Digital News: There are those who take uncertain steps on IED-ridden battlefields, take to contested waterways, and fly unguarded skies as dangerous threats lurk below. Protecting freedom is how over a million active-duty military men and women support their families. These Brothers in Arms fight and die, for each other, and for those who can’t fight for themselves. Since the Global War on Terror began on September 11, 2001, America’s warriors have faced evil on a heightened scale and risked life and limb to quell a hate-filled enemy who does not respect human life. It was the remarkable esprit de corps, the history and its intimacy as an organization that drew Lt. Col. Stephen Mount to the Marine Corps in 1996. Mount, severely wounded in Iraq, 2004, was given command June 30th, 2016, of Wounded Warrior Battalion-West (WWBn-W), located at Camp Pendleton Calif., now in its tenth year of operation. SAN DIEGO, 2017. Lt. Col. Stephen Mount at Wounded Warrior Battalion-West  Headquarters Complex, Camp Pendleton, Calif. Photo by Jeanne McKinney for CommDigiNews There, he is committed to the successful recovery of each Marine assigned to his care. “I try to be the kind of guy who absorbs the blows and then just figures it out,” said Mount. He chooses to not make drastic decisions right away and let things kind of simmer. “Let’s just figure this out together and go forward,” he tells his Marines. Absorbing the blows of active-duty service prefaced Mount’s first historic experiences as a UH-1N (Huey) pilot with Helicopter Marine Light Attack Squadron (HMLA)-169. His first deployment in 2001, as part of the Aviation Combat Element (ACE) with the 15th Marine Expeditionary Unit (MEU), took him to Darwin, training with the Australians. After the twin towers and the Pentagon were hit and hijacked Flight 93 crashed into a Pennsylvania field, the 15th MEU was redirected to the Arabian Sea. “It was a very anxious and excitable kind of feeling that we were out in the Arabian Sea and the country had been attacked and more than likely we were going to do something about it.” He was on the flight deck of his ship, watching the first U.S. missile strikes launched in the first round of attacks. The guided-missile destroyer USS Porter (DDG 78) conducts strike operations against Syria while in the Mediterranean Sea, April 7, 2017. U.S. Navy Photo Mount’s squadron was flown into the Afghanistan desert and had to scrape out a “pseudo desert airstrip”, that Mount said, “[had] some old abandoned buildings they probably used to run drugs out of.” By end of November 2001, that pseudo desert airstrip had a name: Camp Rhino, the first U.S. Forward Operating Base (FOB) established in Afghanistan during Operation Enduring Freedom. They went in there with 1st Battalion, 1st Marines under Colonel Brett Bourne. “It wasn’t a Forward Operating Base in the traditional sense. They dug holes in the sand—that was our perimeter. Then we built ourselves fueling points.” Mount called flying into the middle of the desert in a foreign country and doing good things “fun times.” The first night he slept by the skid of his aircraft. “None of our aircraft have any gas. We don’t know what is going to happen. You’re a young man—that’s what you do … it was exciting.” A sense of finality prevailed. “I can’t get back to the ship until someone lands and gives me more gas,” said Mount. There was already fighting in the North which had fallen to the Taliban. Gas arrived on C-130’s and U.S. troops followed Hamid Karzai and his boys into Kandahar and then Lashkar Gah, Helmand Province, establishing an airfield at Kandahar. Mount explains, “The big offensive against the Taliban hadn’t started yet; not until we got there and Karzai could have some assurances that America is here to help you.” A future home for wounded warriors would come into play as the Global War on Terrorism kicked off. Operation Iraqi Freedom I, the initial invasion of Iraq, saw U.S. and Coalition Forces quickly defeat Suddam Hussein’s Army. Upheaval and more harrowing times ensued. During Operation Iraqi Freedom II, 2004, the U.S. sent troops in to support the newly-established Provisional Iraqi Government, trying to stabilize the country and protect Iraqi citizens, threatened by growing violence and complexity. The unpreparedness for the number of casualties and pace of operations going forward took a toll on the military healthcare system. For Mount and others deployed to Iraq and Afghanistan, there was no centralized operation to care for the numbers of wounded warriors too well to be kept in-patient, but not well enough to go back to their units or deploy. A charismatic yet disenchanted Shiite Muslim cleric, Muqtada al­ Sadr, spread insurrection around Iraq, in opposition to the new government. His die-hard followers formed heavily-armed militias or al-Sadr’s Mahdi Army, who rained bullets and shrapnel on U.S. and Coalition forces. Al-Sadr’s militia was battered. A conditional truce was made with him for An Najaf and al-Kufa (his home territory) that restricted Coalition forces entry. Al-Sadr used fear and oppression to reinforce control and conducted assassinations, kidnappings, and torture of police and government officials. The militia would then hide where Coalition forces could not pursue them. Mount and his flight crew deployed with Colonel Anthony M. Haslam’s 11th MEU and Lt. Col. John L. Mayer’s Landing Team, 1st Battalion, 4th Marines (1/4) in the summer of ‘04. The MEU took over the battlespace in and around An Najaf by August, in soaring desert temperatures and volatile instability. “There was an old holy cemetery [Wadi al-Salam],” said Mount, then a Captain. “They [al-Sadr’s militia] would use the crypts and catacombs to build smuggled weapons and launch attacks out to the Iraqi police forces.” Mount and his crew couldn’t fly over or attack the holy burial grounds or the Imam Ali Mosque. “There was a police station in Revolutionary Circle…they would lob mortars and shoot at us [every night]. By the time we’d get to our birds and fly over there, they’d [retreat] back to the cemetery,” said Mount. The night of August 3rd, enough was enough for MEU commanders. A Quick Reaction Force (QRF) and Combined Anti-Armor-Team (CAAT) were summoned to reinforce the police station. American forces came under attack on the main highway that runs by the cemetery, from where al-Sadr’s militia was positioned. Mount’s aircraft section suppressed the threat, allowing our forces to run through. Again, they were called out. “We spun up one Huey and two Cobras,” said Mount, who piloted the lead Huey with Co-pilot Drew Turner, Crew Chief Pat Burgess, and Gunner Lance Corporal Teodro Naranjo. Mount’s section circled, seeking to take out a mortar pit that an ‘observer’ had seen by an old gas station near the cemetery. He missed seeing it on the first “poke your head out, shoot, and get back,” attempt, but on a second circle, further out, the Huey’s number one engine and Mount got a fiery hit. “I clenched and reflexed, bringing our nose way up and lost all our air speed,” remembered Mount, crediting Turner for landing the battered helicopter right-side up instead of upside down, which would have killed them. A rifle round entered Mount’s left temple and went behind the bridge of his nose, in front of an eye through the socket and exited the right temple. “I remember Pat Burgess…dragging me off the skid behind some bricks – waiting there for the guys – a Corpsman ran up and jabbed with morphine.” “Captain Andrew Turner, ran into the [nearby medical] clinic and came out with an Iraqi physician. Mount had been holding a compress to his wound while trying to chamber a round in his pistol with his teeth. His crew chief, Staff Sergeant Patrick O. Burgess, finally gave him a needed hand in loading.”

About the Lecture: This discussion will examine the influential role played by Iran within Iraq and the challenge of building a functioning Iraqi state in the context of Iranian penetration of Iraqi politics, economics, security, and religion. In security, the rise of the Islamic State provided an opportunity for Iran to assist Iraq by standing up Shi'a militias, which are now being used to further Iran's security presence in key areas of Iraq and are helping Iran to realize its strategic vision of building a "Shi'a arc" from Tehran to the Mediterranean. This has complicated Baghdad's ability to grasp the security situation within Iraq. Iran, also, has benefited from a one-sided economic and trade relationship with Iraq. At the same time that its influence has been rising within its neighbor, Iran has been becoming increasingly unpopular among the Iraqi people for its interference in Iraq, and Iraqi nationalists such as Muqtada al-Sadr are pushing back against that influence. This talk will examine all of these aspects of Iranian interference with a particular focus on how to build healthy Iraqi governance functions in the midst of these major challenges. About the Speaker: Mike Pregent is a senior fellow at Hudson Institute. He is a senior Middle East analyst, a former adjunct lecturer for the College of International Security Affairs, and a visiting fellow at the Institute for National Strategic Studies at the National Defense University. Pregent is a former intelligence officer with over 28 years of experience working in security, terrorism, counter-insurgency, and policy issues in the Middle East, North Africa, and Southwest Asia. He is an expert in Middle Eastern and North African political and security issues, counter-terrorism analysis, stakeholder communications, and strategic planning. He spent considerable time working malign Iranian influence in Iraq as an advisor to Iraq's Security and Intelligence apparatus. Pregent served in Desert Shield and Desert Storm, and he served as a liaison officer in Egypt during the 2000 Intifada, as a counter-insurgency intelligence officer at CENTCOM in 2001, and as a company commander in Afghanistan in 2002. Additionally, Pregent served as an embedded advisor with the Peshmerga in Mosul from 2005-2006. Also, as a civilian SME working for DIA, Pregent served as a political and military advisor to USF-I focusing on reconciliation, the insurgency, and Iranian influence in Iraq from 2007-2011. He was a violent extremism and foreign fighter analyst at CENTCOM from 2011-2013.

On today's episode of Loud & Clear, Brian Becker and John Kiriakou are joined by Dave Lindorff, an investigative reporter and founder of This Can’t Be Happening!, Ted Rall (rall.com), an award-winning editorial cartoonist and columnist, and Dr. Jack Rasmus (jackrasmus.com), a professor of economics at Saint Mary's College of California.A blockbuster New York Times investigation has found that Donald Trump in the 1990s participated in dubious tax schemes, and committed outright fraud, that greatly increased the fortune that he had inherited from his parents. Trump won the presidency in part by proclaiming his status as a self-made billionaire. That, it turns out, was simply not true. Wednesday’s regular segment, Beyond Nuclear, is about nuclear issues, including weapons, energy, waste, and the future of nuclear technology in the United States. Kevin Kamps, the Radioactive Waste Watchdog at the organization Beyond Nuclear, and Sputnik news analyst and producer Nicole Roussell, join the show. Last night Donald Trump went before adoring crowds on the campaign trail to mock and deride the credibility of Dr. Christine Blasey Ford, who had alleged that Brett Kavanaugh assaulted her and attempted to rape her while he was severely inebriated at a gathering in a home in Bethesda, MD. Dr. Ford was 15 years old at the time and Kavanaugh was a seventeen-year-old football player. Meanwhile, it appears that the FBI is wrapping up its very limited investigation without interviewing Dr. Blasey Ford or Judge Kavanaugh. Brian and John speak with Dan Kovalik, a human rights and labor lawyer. He’s the author of the book “The Plot to Attack Iran.” More than 1,600 children in recent weeks have been sent in the middle of the night and with no notice or public announcement to a tent city in west Texas where there is no schooling and almost no access to legal representation. The Trump Administration says it has done this because migrant shelters are overflowing. But apparently nobody bothered to consult attorneys or consider human rights. Jorge Barón, the executive director of the Northwest Immigrant Rights Project, joins the show. The Pentagon is expected today to announce that, if asked, it will offer NATO allies its formidable cyber warfare capabilities. A Pentagon spokesperson said that the Defense Department will offer allies both offensive and defensive capabilities, but the U.S. will maintain control over the program. Meanwhile, controversy continues over comments by U.S. NATO envoy Kay Bailey Hutchinson about preemptively “taking out” Russian missiles. Alexander Mercouris, the editor-in-chief of The Duran, joins Brian and John. After a breakthrough agreement between the political bloc led by Muqtada al-Sadr and the pro-Iran Fatah Alliance, Iraq has a new Prime Minister. It’s Adil Abd al-Mahdi, a Shia Muslim former communist who will now try to create a new government. Abd al-Mahdi is a 76-year-old French-trained economist who has spent much of the past 30 years working at European think tanks. Mohammad Marandi, an expert on American studies and postcolonial literature who teaches at the University of Tehran, joins the show.British Prime Minister Theresa May gave a keynote address at the Conservative Party Conference today in which she said that the economic austerity policies of her party are now a thing of the past. On Brexit, her policy was simple: My way or the highway. But most British observers think that May’s policy changes are too little too late. She faces strong challenges now from both the right and the left. Brian and John speak with Sputnik news analyst Walter Smolarek.

In this episode John & David interview Prof Albert Wolf. Albert recently moved to the KRG from his last posting in Afghanistan. Here, we discuss issues surrounding KRG, Iraq, Syria, Iran and Israel. Here is extra information on some of the names/terms used in this episode for those who may not be familiar with them: Hashd al Shabi - also known as the Popular Mobilisation Units, largely Shia Iraqi, but has some Sunni, Christian and Yazidi Iraqis as well Sairoon Alliance of the Shiite Iraqi leader, Muqtada al Sadr. Al Sadr's seat of power is in Shiite-majority Basra Hadi al Amiri - a Shiite Iraqi politician (parliamentarian in Baghdad), formerly the head of the pro-Iranian Badr Organisation. He heads the Fateh Alliance electoral bloc. Al Amiri is a rival of Al Sadr Golden Division (also referred to the Golden Brigade) - Iraqi special forces focussed on counter-terrorism missions. Their rise to fame came about through their role in liberating the Kurdish city of Mosul from ISIS rule (2016-17) Basel 1 Rules - minimum capital requirements for banks Dayton Agreement 1995 - put an end to the Bosnian War in the former Yugoslavia JCPOA - Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action (more commonly referred to as the Iran Nuclear Deal) est. 2015 OBOR - One Belt One Road - also known by the acronym (BRI) Belt and Road Initiative. The strategic transportation network formulated by the People's Republic of China (PRC) in order to overcome America's dominance of global maritime trade routes. RSS feed: http//feeds.soundcloud.com/users/soundcloud:users:141166782/sounds.rss STRATEGIKON can also be found on the SAGE International Australia (SIA) website: www.sageinternational.org.au For more information from SAGE International Australia, follow SIA on Facebook, Twitter & LinkedIn. If you are enjoying our podcast, please help us out by liking us on our various social media and podcasting platforms and by telling your friends and colleagues about STRATEGIKON. Many thanks! See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

In this episode John & David interview Prof Albert Wolf. Albert recently moved to the KRG from his last posting in Afghanistan. Here, we discuss issues surrounding KRG, Iraq, Syria, Iran and Israel. Here is extra information on some of the names/terms used in this episode for those who may not be familiar with them: Hashd al Shabi - also known as the Popular Mobilisation Units, largely Shia Iraqi, but has some Sunni, Christian and Yazidi Iraqis as well Sairoon Alliance of the Shiite Iraqi leader, Muqtada al Sadr. Al Sadr's seat of power is in Shiite-majority Basra Hadi al Amiri - a Shiite Iraqi politician (parliamentarian in Baghdad), formerly the head of the pro-Iranian Badr Organisation. He heads the Fateh Alliance electoral bloc. Al Amiri is a rival of Al Sadr Golden Division (also referred to the Golden Brigade) - Iraqi special forces focussed on counter-terrorism missions. Their rise to fame came about through their role in liberating the Kurdish city of Mosul from ISIS rule (2016-17) Basel 1 Rules - minimum capital requirements for banks Dayton Agreement 1995 - put an end to the Bosnian War in the former Yugoslavia JCPOA - Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action (more commonly referred to as the Iran Nuclear Deal) est. 2015 OBOR - One Belt One Road - also known by the acronym (BRI) Belt and Road Initiative. The strategic transportation network formulated by the People's Republic of China (PRC) in order to overcome America's dominance of global maritime trade routes. RSS feed: http//feeds.soundcloud.com/users/soundcloud:users:141166782/sounds.rss STRATEGIKON can also be found on the SAGE International Australia (SIA) website: www.sageinternational.org.au For more information from SAGE International Australia, follow SIA on Facebook, Twitter & LinkedIn. If you are enjoying our podcast, please help us out by liking us on our various social media and podcasting platforms and by telling your friends and colleagues about STRATEGIKON. Many thanks! Support the show.

One man was responsible for chronicling the taxpayer dollars wasted and the fraud committed during the U.S. reconstruction effort in Iraq. His name is Stuart Bowen. He is our guest for the 94th episode – live from Austin. In this fascinating conversation, we begin by talking about the role of Inspector General and its limitations, what he found when his work was complete, how sectarianism and corruption paralyze Iraq, how ISIS has been decimated, whether Muqtada al-Sadr will be able to form a coalition government, what Iran wants in Iraq, what the future holds in Syria, whether Trump had sided with the Sunni countries over the Shi’a ones, and what Iraq’s future looks like.

On today's episode of Loud & Clear, John Kiriakou and Walter Smolarek (sitting in for Brian Becker) are joined by Coleen Rowley, a former FBI special agent who was named Time Magazine person of the year with two other whistleblowers, and Joe Lauria, the editor-in-chief of Consortium News, founded by the late Robert Parry and the author of "How I Lost, By Hillary Clinton." A highly anticipated FBI Inspector General’s report released today found that former FBI director James Comey deviated from official procedures in handling the probe into Hillary Clinton. The Inspector General found that Comey was not motivated by bias, but his actions damaged the FBI’s image of impartiality. On the regular Thursday series “Criminal Injustice,” about the most egregious conduct of our courts and prosecutors and how justice is denied to so many people in this country, the hosts discuss Prison Legal News under fire in Florida and the skyrocketing “gang database” in New York City under Mayor Bill de Blasio. Paul Wright, the founder and executive director of the Human Rights Defense Center and editor of Prison Legal News and Criminal Legal News, and Loud & Clear producer Nicole Roussell join the show. A federal judge today refused to dismiss a lawsuit by an American journalist challenging his apparent placement on a “kill list” by US authorities in Syria. The ruling clears the way for Bilal Abdul Kareem to seek answers and try to clear his name after what he says were five near misses by US airstrikes in Syria after he was mistaken for a militant. Brian and John speak with Stephen Vladeck, a professor at the University of Texas School of Law where he specializes in national security law, especially as it relates to the prosecution of war crimes, and a regular contributor to CNN. The United Nations General Assembly voted 120-8 with 45 abstentions to condemn Israel for its lethal use of force against Palestinian demonstrators in Gaza. Only the United States, Israel, Australia, and five tiny Pacific island countries opposed the measure, which also called on the UN to make recommendations on how to protect Palestinians. Ambassador Manuel Hassassian, the Palestinian Ambassador to the United Kingdom, joins the show. Four major human rights groups said today that the government of Ukraine is failing to respond adequately to attacks by far-right groups against marginalized communities in the country. Amnesty International, Human Rights Watch, Freedom House, and Front Line Defenders said in a report that ethnic minorities, women’s activists, and LGBTQ groups are particularly targeted. John Wight, the host of the weekly Sputnik Radio show Hard Facts, joins Brian and John. A storage site holding half of Baghdad’s ballot boxes from Iraq’s recent parliamentary election in May caught fire this week in what appears to have been an act of arson ahead of a countrywide vote recount. Many parliamentarians are now even calling for the election to be re-run. Meanwhile, negotiations for the formation of a new government move forward as Iraqi leader Muqtada al-Sadr announces an alliance with a coalition associated with the Shiite militias that fought ISIS and are close with Iran. Massoud Shadjareh, the founder of the Islamic Human Rights Commission, joins the show.Saudi and Emirati military forces continued to attack the Yemeni port city of Hudaidah today, pushing the country closer to a humanitarian crisis. The port of Hudaidah is the only way that millions of Yemenis can get food and medicine. The United Nations estimates that eight million people are at risk of starvation. Brian and John speak with Cindy Sheehan, an anti-war activist and journalist whose son Casey was killed during the Iraq War.

Elijah Magnier returns to the show to talk about politics in post-ISIS Iraq, the results of the recent election, and the mission to select a new prime minister and cabinet. Elijah and Joanne also talk about the latest developments in Syria as the battle for the southwest Syria begins. Elijah is a veteran war correspondent, a terrorism/counterterrorism analyst specializing in the Europe and the Middle East, especially Lebanon, Iraq, Syria, Sudan and Libya. He recently left Iraq and is speaking to us today from Lebanon. Follow Elijah at @ejmalrai and find his work at ejmagnier.com We are independent media and we rely on your contributions. Patreon: patreon.com/aroundtheempire Donations: aroundtheempire.com Find all of our work at our website aroundtheempire.com Follow @aroundtheempire. Follow Dan & Joanne: @USEmpireShow,  @joanneleon Please subscribe/follow us on iTunes, YouTube, Facebook. Recorded on May 31, 2018. Music by Fluorescent Grey. Reference Links: Qassam Soleimani and Donald Trump Agree on Al-Abadi as Prime Minister Despite Ameri and Maliki's Discontent, Elijah Magnier South Syria to Return Within the Control of Damascus: With or Without a Russian-Israeli Deal, Elijah Magnier The Iraqi Elections: Implications For Regional Politics, Shireen Hunter, LobeLog

Malaysia's anti-corruption task force is investigating its biggest target yet – Najib Razak. Will it send the former prime minister to prison? Also, we ask why Saudi Arabia is arresting women's rights activists less than a month before the driving ban is lifted. And, Shia cleric Muqtada al Sadr has won a shock victory in Iraqi elections. The head of the Sadrists' bloc in parliament tells us why they're demanding the withdrawal of US forces in Iraq.

De Iraakse geestelijke Muqtada al-Sadr verraste vriend en vijand met de verkiezingswinst van zijn politieke coalitie. Met zijn nationalistische retoriek en anti-corruptiecampagne heeft de radicaal-sjiitische leider veel kiezers weten te overtuigen. Maar buurland Iran en de VS kijken met argusogen naar de politieke ontwikkelingen in Bagdad: Sadr wil geen buitenlandse inmenging meer. Joost Hiltermann is Midden-Oostendeskundige bij de International Crisis Group en duidt de uitslag.

Iraq’s parliamentary election threw up a surprise result after Muqtada al-Sadr, a populist cleric once seen as the face of Shia resistance against the US occupation, looked like being the leader of the bloc with the most seats. Daniel Dombey discusses what this means for Iraq and the region with the FT’s Andrew England See acast.com/privacy for privacy and opt-out information.

On today's episode of Loud & Clear, Brian Becker and John Kiriakou are joined by Palestinian rights activist Arab Barghouti, son of imprisoned activist Marwan Barghouti; Dan Cohen, whose new film is “Killing Gaza;” Richard Becker, author of the book “Palestine, Israel, and the US Empire,” and Bob Schlehuber, the producer of By Any Means Necessary.At least 52 Palestinians were killed today and more than 2,400 wounded as Israeli soldiers opened fire on demonstrators in the Gaza Strip. The violence came as the US opened its embassy in Jerusalem today, a move which has infuriated Palestinians. Firebrand nationalist Iraqi cleric Muqtada al-Sadr’s party took a surprise lead in Iraqi elections today, making him the kingmaker in the decision to choose a new Prime Minister. Sadr has led two uprisings against the US in Iraq and is seen as an enemy of both the United States and Iran. Mojtaba Masood, an Iraqi journalist and a filmmaker whose films include “Islamophobia: Cause & Effect” and “ISIS: Islamic Extremism?,” joins the show. Former CIA officer, peace activist, and frequent guest on this show Ray McGovern was thrown to the ground and arrested last week for allegedly disrupting the Senate Intelligence Committee’s hearing on Gina Haspel’s nomination to be CIA director. Haspel has a past history as a high-level CIA officer who was integral to the Agency’s torture program. Prosecutors have now charged Ray with felony resisting arrest. Brian and John speak with Ray McGovern, a CIA analyst under seven presidents who was also the personal morning briefer for President George H. W. Bush, and whose work is at www.raymcgovern.com. Monday’s regular segment “Education for Liberation with Bill Ayers” looks at the state of education across the country. What’s happening in our schools, colleges, and universities, and what impact does it have on the world around us? Today focuses on the dangers of privatizing education. The hosts speak with Bill Ayers, an activist, educator and the author of the book “Demand the Impossible: A Radical Manifesto.” The hosts cover the continuing prosecution of those who were arrested on Jan 20, the day trump was inaugurated. More than 200 people were arrested facing heavy felony charges, including charges that could get up to decades in prison. Jury selection is beginning in the first J20 trial today. Chip Gibbons, a journalist and policy and legislative counsel for Defending Rights & Dissent, who has contributed to the Nation, Jacobin, and the book The Henry Kissinger Files, joins Brian and John. Catalonia has a new premier after five months of political deadlock. Quim Torra was handpicked by ousted leader Carles Puigdemont. Torra urged unity among Catalonians and promised to find common ground across the political spectrum. Dick Nichols, the correspondent for Spain and Catalonia for Green Left Weekly, joins the show.

A portion of our Young Turks Main Show from May 14, 2018. For more go to http://www.tytnetwork.com/join.  Hour 1: Cenk. Blake Farenthold gets lobbying job and will not repay his $84K sexual harassment settlement. Democratic Senator Mark Warren is supporting Gina Haspel. Muqtada al-Sadr has won majority votes in Iraq’s parliament elections.  ZTE updates, Trump is working with them to secure their jobs. China has guaranteed loans to build a Trump resort. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

When the brutal Iraqi dictator Saddam Hussein was captured in 2003, senior CIA leadership analyst John Nixon was called in to confirm his identity and became the first person to conduct a prolonged interrogation of the man known as the “Butcher of Bagdad.”  He talks about it in his new book Debriefing the President: The Interrogation of Saddam Hussein. Today Nixon recalls the surreal experience of debriefing one of the most notorious men of our time.  He’ll discuss Saddam’s sadistic sense of humor, his personal heroes, and how his opinion of his fellow leaders in the Middle East.  He’ll talk about Saddam’s delusional view of the US-Iraq relationship, why he thought 9/11 should’ve brought the two countries closer, and his almost prophetic warnings about the rise of extremism and chaos in the region.  Nixon will also reveal what President George W. Bush asked him about Saddam and he’ll weigh in on the Russia-Trump Intelligence Report. If you enjoyed today’s podcast, then you can order John Nixon's book Debriefing the President: The Interrogation of Saddam Hussein on Amazon or you can also download the audio version for free at www.audibletrial.com/kickassnews.  Today's podcast is sponsored by GoDaddy and Blue Apron. Visit www.GoDaddy.com and enter our promo code "KICK30" to get 30% off a new domain.  Check out some of the delicious meals from Blue Apron and get your first 3 meals FREE by going to www.blueapron.com/kick. Please subscribe to Kickass News on iTunes and take a moment to take our listener survey at www.podsurvey.com/KICK. And support the show by donating at www.gofundme.com/kickassnews. Visit www.kickassnews.com for more fun stuff.

Ever since the invasion in 2003 Iraq has faced ceaseless conflict. Today there are two parallel crises. In Baghdad protesters are demanding an end to elite corruption. And, on the battlefield, the Iraqi army and Shia militias are fighting so-called Islamic State. But Iraqis are wondering about the battles to come. Will the central government have to cede power to armed groups that control their own areas? Owen Bennett-Jones is in Baghdad, along with his guests to discuss the forces threatening Iraq's fragmentation. (Photo: Protest by supporters of the Shia cleric Muqtada al-Sadr. Credit: AP/Khalid Mohammed)

Congress wants to fence off the Mexican border by the end of this year. So, the Bush Administration has waived the Clean Air and Endangered Species Acts along with some 30 other environmental laws. Will completing the fence mean better border enforcement? Will it be worth the environmental costs? Also, Muqtada al-Sadr offers to disband his Madhi Army, and the Olympic Torch—extinguished in Paris. What's expected in San Francisco?

Roundtablery of the bitchiest order returns! Aaron and Gavon go on at length (and it is a long, throbbing episode) about presidential primaries past and future, Glenn Beck's seeping rectum, and Sylvester Stallone's pivotal role in shaping human history. Here's a bonus for those that patiently kept the Punditocracy torch burning: Top 20 Iranian Provocations The U.S. Will Use As An Excuse To Bomb The Crap Out Of Them 1. Didn't answer Cheney's Myspace survey. 2. Thought "Juno" was overrated. 3. That whole removing-Mossadegh-and-installing-the-Shah thing? Never even sent a "Thank You" note. 4. Ate the last taquito. 5. Always picking Muqtada al-Sadr over Condi for kickball games. 6. Re-gifted weapons to North Korea by just scratching out "From, Reagan" on the card. 7. Never waterboarded any U.S. hostages, making us look like total dicks. 8. Aren't big on spooning. 9. Constantly smell like tahini. 10. Hate our freedom, especially when we try to spread it all over their face. 11. Are aggressively bearded. 12. Selfishly think their oil belongs to them. 13. Didn't even have the common decency to suicide bomb our warships. 14. Ahmadenijad drunkenly made a pass at Jenna Bush, then George H.W. Bush. 15. Suspended their nuclear enrichment program like a bunch of d-bags. 16. Never accepted our apology for all of those "Ayatollah Ass-a-hole-ah" t-shirts. That's just petty. 17. Insist on being brown. 18. Hello?!?! Executing the mentally retarded? That's our turf. Kindly stop frontin'. 19. Supplied IED technology to Iraqi insurgents-even though they didn't. Jerks. 20. Double dipping. Eww.

Senators of both parties are less than impressed by what Attorney General Alberto Gonzales plans to tell their committee tomorrow.  As influential conservatives call for Gonzales to step down, we'll hear about Karl Rove, missing e-mails and the role of politics in the administration of justice.  Also, radical Shiite cleric Muqtada al-Sadr has ordered six cabinet ministers to quit the Iraqi government and, on Reporter's Notebook, Saudi Arabia, Turkey and Egypt want to develop nuclear power. Is it for energy or to counter Iran?