25 things about 2010

1. COKE STUDIO

Even in a hit-and-miss fourth season — for every Arif Lohar there was an Aunty Disco Project — Coke Studio was the only Pakistani television show you would want to schedule your day around. During the course of the show Zeb and Haniya cemented their reputation while Meesha Shafi created a brand new one for herself.

2. THE FINAL SCENE OF LOST

In its final 15 minutes, “Lost” went from a mind-bending sci-fi epic to a religious allegory about love. The transcendent ending, unfairly criticised by so many, showed that when we die all that really matters is that we are with the ones we truly love.

3. THE 18TH AMENDMENT

It took months of political bickering but the passage of the 18th Amendment showed us that democracy works. Seeing the most egregious perversions of the constitution rectified at a time when many were sounding the marital law drumbeat was the most satisfying political development of the year.

4. THE LAUNCH OF NEW NEWSPAPERS

Many argue that Pakistan has too many English-language newspapers. Rubbish. There can never be too many newspapers. The launch of The Express Tribune and Pakistan Today added more choice, more views and more information to the market.

5. AISAM UL HAQ AT THE US OPEN

What I enjoyed most about Aisam ul Haq and Rohan Bopanna’s run at the US Open was that it brought the athleticism and teamwork of doubles’ tennis to so many new fans. But I can’t deny that patriotism played its part too. Even if Aisam didn’t win any titles this year, seeing a Pakistani sportsman speak for a cause greater than his own personal enrichment was a joy.

6. MOHAMMAD AAMIR IN ENGLAND

I was too young to see a teenaged Wasim Akram burst onto the scene. Mohammad Aamir’s superb bowling against Australia was a close consolation. Let’s just ignore what came after that.

7. CONAN O’BRIEN LOSING “THE TONIGHT SHOW”

When NBC announced that Conan O’Brien would be replaced by his predecessor Jay Leno on “The Tonight Show”, despite Leno’s earlier promise that he would gracefully stand down, a hero was born. As Conan wound down his show, he took potshots at the network, spent as much of their money as he could and just had a blast. So did we.

8. VEENA MALIK

Anyone willing to denounce Mohammad Asif on live television has already contributed to an awesome 2010. By ignoring all the haters and flaunting her wit and personality on Bigg Boss, Veena Malik brightened up the year.

9. IFTIKHAR HUSSAIN’S BRAVERY

Khyber-Pakhtunkhwa’s information minister lost his son and very nearly his own life to terrorists. The day after the attack on his family he was as feisty as ever, denouncing the Taliban vehemently. Even disillusioned, cynical hacks could see that some politicians have soul, integrity and commitment.

10. JON STEWART’S SANITY

Barack Obama’s election was supposed to end Jon Stewart’s career. Even without George W Bush to kick around, Stewart was as hilarious as ever, skewering hypocrisy and stupidity.

11. NASEEM HAMEED’S POISE

That sprinter Naseem Hameed became the fastest woman in South Asia after winning gold at the regional games is a big enough achievement. Her winning smile, which never wavered even after being besieged by the media, made her our newest hero.

12. THE SLACKISTAN TRAILER

Filmmakers’ obsession with showing the ‘real’ Pakistan has left one class unrepresented in cinema: the ultra-elite. The trailer of Hammad Khan’s Slackistan showed a bunch of young Islooites doing what they do best: nothing.

13. MUSHARRAF’S RETURN TO POLITICS

No, we don’t want him to ever rule the country again. But when insipid speeches by deadly-dull politicians made us want to gouge out our eyeballs, Mush lifted our spirits by boasting of his Facebook fandom.

14. TWITTER

Like Facebook, but without all those annoying friends and photographs and words. Say what you want, but don’t drone on and on. Twitter is ugly, often illiterate and usually unenlightening. But it’s also very addictive.

15. UTH OYE!’S T-SHIRTS

Here’s how to excel at do-gooderism. Follow all fashionable lefty causes and donate proceeds to charity and all that but also have a kick-ass sense of humour. Instead of yet another “Give Peace a Chance” t-shirt this was the year to pick up something from Uth Oye!’s latest line.

16. A MINI-RESTAURANT STREET

Since the elitist Zamzama trope is now so ingrained in us, we need to go somewhere less clichéd for our high-end dining. With Café Flo, Koel and Patio all in one street we have somewhere to go for tamarind drinks, French food and thalis without walking more than 100 yards.

17. SALMAAN TASEER’S SENSE OF HUMOUR

Whether sounding off on Twitter or embarrassing the PML-N at impromptu press conferences, the Punjab governor’s only job seems to be to make us laugh. Sample quote: “In May I will complete two years as governor Punjab. Please send your flowers, gifts etc to Raiwind to thank the Sharifs for their love and support.”

18. ROGER FEDERER AT THE AUSTRALIAN OPEN

In the twilight of his career, the greatest tennis player of all time (that is a fact, not an opinion) cruised through the first grand slam of the year. Despite losing a tiny bit of speed and control, the Swiss maestro was in command throughout, showing he is far from a spent force. Shame about the rest of the year.

19. THE ASHES

At a time when Test cricket’s popularity is waning, the Ashes have come as a delight to cricket purists for two reasons. It shows that Tests produce cricket that is exciting, high-quality and unpredictable. More importantly, it provides evidence that fans will still turn out for five-day matches given sporting wickets and impassioned players.

20. JAMES FRANCO’S CAREER

Franco turned in two of the year’s most devastating performances in 127 Hours and Howl. He also painted, wrote short stories and studied at an Ivy League university. The Renaissance Man is alive and well and is trapped in the body of a twenty-something Hollywood heartthrob.

21. CO SHAHID AFRIDI’S RETIREMENT PRESS CONFERENCE

When Pakistan’s then-Test captain was asked when he had decided to retire from Test cricket, he replied “When I got out” (playing a ridiculous shot). The comic masterpiece of the year belonged to Boom Boom. He showed that his talking is as extemporous as his batting. In a year where there were few laughs for Pakistani cricket fans, Afridi was the only source of amusement.

22. BELLE AND SEBASTIAN’S CONTINUED GREATNESS

Scottish band Belle and Sebastian burst onto the music scene nearly a decade-and-a-half ago with geeky songs about love and books. As their latest album, Write about Love, shows, they just get better with age.

23. NAKED TYRANT

Pakistani society is often so ridiculous that it can be hard to distinguish spoof from reality. Yet Naked Tyrant Productions, a trio of satirists, posted hilarious online videos mocking society magazines, our difficulty in procuring contraceptives and much else besides.

24. THE RISE OF MATHIRA

Equal parts reviled and lusted after; VJ Mathira does what she wants without regard for society’s niceties and mores. When so many others are happy to self-censor to appease the moral scolds, that alone is enough to make Mathira one of the bright spots this year.

25. THE SOCIAL NETWORK

Lets admit it: we live in the Facebook age. Most movies that seek to ride on the crest of the zeitgeist end up being dated as soon as they are released. As realistic as our online personas, The Social Network, which purports to show the founding of Facebook, was the movie event of the year.

Plot through the WikiLeaks

New technology is being utilized by the new warriors to carry out all forms of financial, network and especially media attacks. Most of these attacks are of non-military-types, yet they can be completely viewed as equal to warfare actions. In other words, bloody warfare has been replaced by bloodless warfare as much as possible. In this regard, cyber warfare is the most important domain of the modern wars.

Judging in these terms, release of the new secret documents which have targeted Iran, Turkey, Saudi Arabia and Syria including some other Islamic countries in general and Pakistan in particular are the plot of their collective enemies through WikiLeaks.

In its surprising revelations, the Wikileaks have disclosed that the SaudiArabia’s King Abdullah had made scathing remarks about the leadership of Pakistan, calling President Asif Ali Zardari as the greatest obstacle to Pakistan’s progress, and have also called Pakistan’s politician of the opposition, Nawaz Sharif as a dangerous man.

Showing Saudi Arabia’s anxiety over Iran ’s nuclear programme, the US embassy cables have disclosed that on 29 Nov 2010, the King of the Saudi Arabia had urged the US to attack and destroy the Iranian nuclear sites. Several Arab leaders and their representatives are also quoted as urging the US to carry out an attack on Iran.

The cables indicate that in July 2008, Egyptian President Mubarak called Iranians “big fat liars” and remarked that they sponsor terrorism everywhere. According to the cables, in Oct 2008, Iran used the Iranian Red Crescent (IRC) to smuggle agents and weapons into other countries. The IRC facilitated the entry of Qods force officers to Lebanon during the Israel-Hezbollah war in summer 2006, while in March 2009, Abu Dhabi Crown Prince Mohammed bin Zayed (MbZ) expressed his grave concerns about the Iranian threat to the region. And in June 2009, Iranian President Ahmadinejad’s administration was blamed for pursuing provocative anti-Sunni practices—harassment of Sunni clergy and congregations including raids on Sunni mosques and other “arrogant” crackdowns.

According to one of the leaked cables, in April 2006, the leadership of the United Arab Emirates considered Hamas a terrorist organization and would not fund Hamas unless they denounce violence and accepted Israel. Another document points outs that in March 2009, Syrian head, Assad hided the Palestinians when asked about human rights violations in Syria.

Regarding Turkey, the document of the web revealed that in January 2010, US Embassy claimed that Turkey was becoming more focused on the Islamic World and its Muslim tradition in its foreign policy.

As regards Pakistan, the WikiLeaks cables show US concern over the safety of nuclear weapons and radioactive material in nuclear power stations of the country, with fears that the same could be used in terror attacks. In this respect, in a May 2009 cable, US ambassador Anne W Patterson said that Pakistan had refused a visit from US experts.

No doubt, Pakistan is the special target of the documents of the WikiLeaks which accused that in a March 12, 2009 cable by the former US ambassador to Pakistan, Anne Patterson stated that the head of the army, General Ashfaq Kayani, considered pushing Zardari from office and forcing him into exile to resolve a political dispute. She aslo alleged that Pakistan continues to support the militant group which carried out the 2008 terrorist attacks on Mumbai despite its claims to have launched a crackdown on the organisation.

Following the continued blame game of the US high officials and media, the leaked cables incdicated that Pakistan’s Inter-Services Intelligence agency (ISI) is behind Lashkar-e-Taiba which had killed 166 people in a series of attacks in Mumbai. In this context, the contradiction of the WikiLeaks is also notable. As it also mentioned that the Chief of Pakistan’s ISI, Lieutenant General Ahmad Shuja Pasha said that he had conveyed to Washington—threat information that an attack would be launched against India between September-November, 2009 and he had been in direct touch with the Israelis on possible threats against Israeli targets in India.

However, the secret US Embassy cables are now available on WikiLeaks , while the debate goes on about the legitimacy of the leaks.

Various questions arise regarding the aims and authenticity of the disclosures of the secret diplomatic documents of the WikiLeaks. Moreover, it is also notable that who are behind the revelations of this website.

In this connection, it is mentionable that by following the old western policy of “divide and rule”, the foremost purpose of the disclosures of the WikiLeaks is to create a rift among the Islamic countries and to further accelerate their sectarian differences not only against each other, but also inside their concerned countries which are most volatile to this plot.

In this respect, secret agencies such as American CIA, Indian RAW and Israeli Mossad are behind the revelations of the WikiLeaks as part of a plot, while both India and Israel have still a secret collusion and are acting upon a secret diplomacy. Although whole of the Islamic world is target of Indo-Israeli secret collusion, yet the same has intensified in case of Pakistan and Iran. In this regard, US-led some western countries have also been supporting the Indo-Israeli nexus overtly or covertly.

It is worth-mentioning that documents of the WikiLeaks have given only a little bit coverage to the Indian atrocities in the occupied Kashmir, while the same are silent over Israeli brutal treatment and use of chemical weapons in the controlled territories of the Palestine.

The leaked cables have directly or indirectly favoured India because of the fact America has its political and economic interests in that country which serves as the largest market. And the US has its strategic interests in the region, while New Delhi is its main ally to counterbalance China in Asia. In this respect, US, India and Israeli want to ‘denuclearise’ and ‘destablise’ Pakistan which is the only nuclear Islamic country. It is owing to these collective interests that like his predecessor, President Bush, Obama neglects Hindu terrorism which has now become a dangerous reality. Nevertheless, misdeeds of Hindu fundamentalist parties like the BJP, RSS, VHP, Shiv Sina and Bajrang Dal which have also intensified anti-Christian and anti-Muslim bloodshed with the dissemination of Hindutva (Hindu nationalism) have been ignored by the WikiLeaks.

It is of particular attention that the documents of the WikiLeaks have also neglected Indian secret activities in Afghanistan from where well-trained militants are being sent to Pakistan in order to attack the security personnel, and to commit suicide attacks, while supporting the separatists of Balochistan. In this regard, while preferring New Delhi over Islamabad, the secret cables pointed out that US special representative to Pakistan and Afghanistan Richard Holbrooke had told Indian Foreign Secretary Nirupama Rao that Pakistan’s President Asif Ali Zardari’s government was weakening. During a meeting, Rao described the Indian effort in Afghanistan, saying it was focused on strengthening governance by building Afghan capacities and that the Indian engagement is transparent, while Holbrooke also pledged transparency with India on America’s activities in Afghanistan.

Besides other leaders, Pakistan’s former Army Chief Gen (Retd) Mirza Aslam Baig has termed the WikiLeaks report a conspiracy to sabotage relations between Pakistan and Saudi Arabia, adding that US is included in this plot and the report is part of its psychological war. He further explained that US was now giving importance to India by ignoring Pakistan—he had stated 3 years earlier that CIA and Mossad were jointly launching campaign to weaken Pakistan.

In fact, Indian RAW and Israeli Mossad with the help of American CIA and strong Indo-Israeli lobbies are working in the US and other European countries against the interests of the Islamic countries—particularly Pakistan. They are well-penetrated especially in the US administration. They have played a key role in preparing and publishing the US embassy cables, especially to malign Pakistan including other Islamic countries and to intensify their blame game against ISI.

Gen Petraeus scraps McChrystal”s strategy

KABUL: Gen David Petraeus, the new US commander in Afghanistan, has scrapped his predecessor”s plan to secure the southern city of Kandahar.

He has decided a full-scale military encirclement and invasion – as American troops had done in Iraq”s Fallujah – was not an appropriate model to tackle the Taliban in the southern capital.

Gen Petraeus”s decision to revise the entire strategy comes just weeks after he arrived in Afghanistan following the abrupt dismissal of Gen Stanley McChrystal for insubordination.

Gen McChrystal had planned a summer conquest of the Taliban in Kandahar to reinvigorate the battle against the Taliban.

But the operation has been repeatedly delayed by concerns that it would not adequately restore the confidence of city residents in the security forces.

Gen Petraeus is reported to believe that the operation must be a broad-ranging counter-insurgency campaign, involving more troops working with local militias.

The plan he inherited was criticised for placing too much emphasis on targeted assassinations of key insurgent leaders and not enough on winning over local residents.

Richard Holbrooke, the US special envoy to Afghanistan and Pakistan, said yesterday that the US-led strategy in southern Afghanistan was undergoing sweeping changes.

“Kandahar is not a military operation like Fallujah,” Mr Holbrooke said. “We have Gen David Petraeus looking at the plan, scrubbing it down, looking at it again.”

President Hamid Karzai has bolstered Gen Petraeus”s efforts by agreeing to a US proposal to pay defectors from the Taliban to form local defence militias.

Mr Holbrooke, who oversees the civilian component of the American campaign in Afghanistan, has been described by Gen Petraeus as his “wing man” in the effort to reverse Taliban gains.

He said that the changes of strategy in the area also included a decision not to destroy poppy crops this year, an action that had in the past “driven” farmers into alliance with the Taliban.

He also said that the Afghan police force in Marjah – which now numbers 60 – could not yet replace thousands of US Marines. Efforts to stabilise Helmand”s Marjah have been bogged down by stronger resistance.

Gen Petraeus recruited prominent military experts who assisted him in the surge of forces that brought stability to Iraq.

Stephen Biddle, a military strategist at the US Council for Foreign Relations, coauthored as suggestion that the US would be successful in Afghanistan if it could set up a strong local government in places like Kandahar.

Defections from the Taliban are crucial to the goal of ending the war within four years but Mr Holbrooke said only insurgent groups that had split with al-Qaeda, and willing to work within the framework of the Afghan constitution would be approached.

More effort was being put into recruiting local allies on a district by district basis.

“The reintegration policy is the key to a successful counter-insurgency campaign,” he said. “As for reconciliation, it”s out there somewhere. We”ve talked about it. The US will support Afghan-led reconciliation and by that we mean we need to know what”s going on. Not much is going on now, and nothing is going on with the United States.”

Mr Holbrooke said Pakistan had dramatically increased its co-operation with the US in the battle against the Taliban but he criticised Islamabad”s continuing support for the Haqqani network of insurgents.

“Without Pakistan”s participation, this (Afghan) war could go on indefinitely,” he said. “There”s much more co-operation at every level

“But I don”t want to mislead you, it is not yet where we hope it will be. What we talk about is the Haqqani network. Let”s be very specific. It”s a real problem.”

US rules out war on Islam

President Barack Obama’s new national security strategy would make clear the United States is not at war with Islam, a top US adviser John Brennan said as the administration prepared for a formal break with Bush-era doctrine.
The White House plans to roll out Obama’s first formal declaration of national security goals, which are expected to deviate sharply from the go-it-alone approach of his predecessor that included justification for pre-emptive war. Previewing parts of the document, John Brennan, Obama’s leading counterterrorism adviser, said: We have never been and will never be at war with Islam.
The president’s strategy is unequivocal with regard to our posture — the United States of America is at war. We are at war against al Qaeda and its terrorist affiliates, he said in a speech at the Center for Strategic and International Studies in Washington. Brennan’s words dovetailed with Obama’s outreach to the Muslim world, where former President George W. Bush alienated many with the US-led invasion of Iraq and his use of phrases like war on terror and Islamo-fascism.
Obama has been widely credited with improving the tone of US foreign policy but is still struggling with unfinished wars in Afghanistan and Iraq, nuclear standoffs with Iran and North Korea, and sluggish Middle East peace efforts.

Deal cleared Zardari’s return, Musharraf’s exit: Mushahid

KARACHI: Pakistan Muslim League-Q General Secretary Mushahid Hussain Syed said Wednesday that under a deal President Asif Ali Zardari had returned to the country and his predecessor Pervez Musharraf was given a safe exit.

This deal was not a usual one as it had the support of international powers; he said this at a press conference in Karachi.

“I advised the government to constitute a high-level committee with the instructions to find out solutions of the lingering energy and economic crises in 30 days,” he said.

The PML-Q leader quoted a US newspaper saying that former US President Bush and President Asif Ali Zardari had made an agreement, which allowed US to continue drone attacks in tribal areas and let Pakistani government criticize the attacks publicly.

About 850 people, he said, lost their lives in 114 US drone strikes carried out during the present government.

The government has wasted Rs600 billion in two years, he added.

Talladega Nights

Talladega Nights, “Pineapple Express” and “Talladega Nights” among his favorites, has a movie line for just about any occasion. …
I spent some time in Alabama when we shot Talladega Nights. We stayed in Birmingham. I had what may have been the best ribs ever and also found a great …
By Kyle Palmer: Talladega Nights is not one of Will Ferrell’s more memorable performances. But a line from that movie came to my mind immediately after …
Morello has previously been a part of the soundtracks for Spider-Man, Talladega Nights: The Ballad of Ricky Bobby and Dodgeball: A True Underdog Story. …
The prayer video from “Talladega Nights: The Ballad of Ricky Bobby” was shown along with the Prayer video from “Meet the Fockers.” I was quite shocked to see these videos being used in our church as a tool to show people what they

FBI 10 Most Wanted

FBI 10 Most Wanted, The FBI Ten Most Wanted Fugitives list arose from a conversation held in late 1949, during a game of hearts between J. Edgar Hoover, Director of the United States Federal Bureau of Investigation, and William Kinsey Hutchinson,  International News Service (the predecessor of the United Press International) Editor-in-Chief, who were discussing ways to promote capture of the FBI’s “toughest guys”. This discussion turned into a published article, which received so much positive publicity that on March 14, 1950, the FBI officially announced the list to increase law enforcement’s ability to capture dangerous fugitives.

Individuals are removed from this list if the fugitive is captured, killed, or if the charges against them are dropped; they are then replaced by a new entry selected by the FBI. In five cases, the FBI removed individuals from the list after deciding that they were no longer a “particularly dangerous menace to society”.Donald Eugene Webb, added to the list in 1981, was on the list longer than anyone, at 25 years, 10 months, and 27 days. Billie Austin Bryant spent the shortest amount of time on the list, being listed for two hours in 1969.On rare occasions, the FBI will add a “Number Eleven” if that individual is extremely dangerous but the Bureau does not feel any of the current ten should be removed.

The list is commonly posted in public places such as post offices. In some cases, fugitives on the list have turned themselves in on becoming aware of their listing. As of November 1, 2009, 494 fugitives have been listed (eight of them women), and 463 (94%) captured or located, 152 (33%) of them due to public assistance.[8] The FBI maintains other lists of individuals, including the Most Wanted Terrorists, along with FBI Crime Alerts, Missing Persons, and other fugitive lists. The most recent Ten Most Wanted Fugitives to be captured are Emigdio Preciado, Jr., who was apprehended in Mexico on July 17, 2009,[10][11][12] Edward Eugene Harper, who was arrested six days later in Wyoming, and Jorge Lopez-Orozco who was captured by authorities in Mexico on October 7, 2009.

Backbone Of Terrorist Network Has Been Broken:Prime Minister

Prime Minister (PM) Yousaf Raza Gilani in his first radio address to the nation informed that the backbone of the terrorist network has been broken and very soon the country would be free from the menace of terrorism. PM appreciated the role of Pakistan Army Jawans who have sacrificed their lives for the country.
PM said that he would try his best to keep the public well informed on all policy matters. PM claimed that his government has succeeded in overcoming the difficulties and miseries faced by the nation. PM reiterated that the government is accountable to the public. PM said main challenges confronted by the country include inflation, scarcity of food, economic crisis and impacts of events in the neighboring countries. PM reiterated that the government is working to overcome challenges.
PM also said that he does not mind the criticism of the media and opposition. PM informed that the nation would soon receive results of the action taken to improve Water and Electricity crisis. PM added that all state institutions are working within their domain.

Famous analyst Najam Sethi  said that the only thing interesting in today’s address of PM Gilani was that it was on radio and not on TV. PM just tried to improve his ratings by informing all the good works his government has done, although there were not many.
The radio address was a part of the strategy to gain time. Pakistan Peoples Party government is under immense pressure from different groups of the society. The date of March 23 mentioned during the address has no significance except that the government is trying to take time for another thirty days.
Sethi added, that there should be no choice except to acknowledge the decision of the public. He recalled that Pakistan is confronted by Economic challenges but we kicked off the Kerry-Lugar Bill. Sethi said that the government is confronted with immense challenges.

Gordon Brown Says Iraq War Was “Right”

British Prime Minister Gordon Brown was greeted with shouts from protesters accusing him of being a war criminal when he arrived at the public inquiry into Britain’s role in the Iraq war.
Brown insisted that he was provided with all details by his predecessor Tony Blair on the effects and consequences of the Iraq war.
Brown added that his own intelligence briefings had convinced him that Iraq was a threat that “had to be dealt with”.
Brown reminded that if the international community could not act together over Iraq, Mr Brown said, he feared the “new world order we were trying to create would be put at risk”.

Barack Obama no better than Bush , Iran

TEHRAN: U.S. steps to renew sanctions and seize a New York skyscraper linked to Iran show that President Barack Obama is no better than his predecessor George W. Bush, Iranian parliament speaker Ali Larijani said on Sunday.

Larijani’s statement, which was followed by chants of “death to America” among MPs in the legislature, was the latest from Tehran voicing disappointment in the new U.S. Administration’s policies towards the Islamic Republic.

It came as Obama, during a visit to Asia on Sunday, said time was running out for diplomacy in a dispute over Iran’s nuclear programme, which Tehran says is for peaceful purposes but which the West suspects has military aims.

Since taking office in January, Obama has sought to reach out diplomatically to Iran, but the dispute over Tehran’s atomic activities continues.

“After one year of giving speeches and baseless slogans, it is a disgrace to see the behaviour and the attitudes of this president are not better than his predecessor’s,” Larijani told parliament, the official IRNA news agency said.

U.S. prosecutors filed a civil lawsuit on Thursday to seize control of a New York City skyscraper they say is owned by companies illegally funnelling money to the Iranian government. The suit seeks to revoke the Alavi Foundation and the Assa Corporation’s ownership of a 36-storey building at 650 Fifth Avenue in Manhattan. The original lawsuit filed in December only sought Assa Corp’s building share.

Prosecutors said both companies were sending money to Bank Melli, owned by the Iranian government. The U.S. Treasury has designated the bank as a weapons proliferator and banned U.S. citizens from dealing with it.

Also on Thursday, Obama renewed some long-standing U.S. financial sanctions against Iran. Obama notified Congress that, as expected, he was extending a set of existing U.S. Measures against Tehran for another year, saying: “our relations with Iran have not yet returned to normal.”

The sanctions that Obama renewed, which involve certain frozen Iranian assets, stem from a “national emergency” the U.S. government declared in November 1979 near the start of the Iran hostage crisis. Such sanctions have to be extended annually by the U.S. president to remain in effect.

Larijani said: “Extension of restrictions and sanctions against the Iranian nation for another year, and also blocking the accounts and assets of the Alavi Foundation in America, show how deep are the changes in the United States.”

He also accused Washington of “childish actions” after Iran’s disputed June election as well as “irrational proposals” on the nuclear issue. This showed that the “claimed changes by Obama were nothing but deceiving signals,” Larijani said.

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Barack Obama no better than Bush , Iran was first posted on November 15, 2009 at 9:31 pm.

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