Iran Caption Competition: What Would a 6-Foot (Cardboard) Ayatollah Khomeini Say?

Here's the story. On Wednesday, the 33rd anniversary of Ayatollah Khomeini's return from exile in Paris to become the effective leader of Iran, the event was re-enacted for a military ceremony.

As the original Khomeini is in his mausoleum, a cardboard replica had to take the leading role.

All very dramatic in photographs, but we think there is more here. What would you say if you were a Cardboard Ayatollah? Or what you say to him? Or what you say about the entire situation?

Best answer wins a dinner with the Cardboard Ayatollah at a Cardboard Restaurant in Tehran....

http://www.mehrnews.com/fa/newsdetail.aspx?NewsID=1522844

US Politics Audio: Scott Lucas with BBC "Romney Wins in Florida --- Now What?"

---

I spoke yesterday with BBC West Midlands about Mitt Romney's win in the Republican primary in Florida. Is the victory decisive for the nomination? (Almost certainly.) Why did Mitt rise and Newt Gingrich fall in the Sunshine State? And what is it about these unusual names for candidates? (Though I guess Mitt is better than Romney's given name...Willard.)

The discussion starts at 2:20.25.

Syria (and Beyond) Live Coverage: So They Had This Meeting in New York....

Interactive Map of Conflict Around Damascus

View Damascus, 2012 Feb 1 in a larger map

See also Iraq Feature: State Department Drones Are Overhead...But For How Long?
Sudan Feature: 10 Leaders of Protest Movement Arrested
Tuesday's Syria (and Beyond) Live Coverage: More than 100 Die as UN Discussion Begins

---

2046 GMT: In Egypt, at least 73 people have been killed and 1,000 injured in a riot at a football match in Port Said.

The match was between Al Ahli, one of Egypt's leading clubs, and al-Masry, a Port Said team. Live TV footage showed fans running onto the field and chasing Ahli players.

Egypt's state prosecutors have ordered an investigation into the pitch invasion and the violence. Parliament will hold an emergency session on Thursday.

Click to read more ...

The Latest from Iran (1 February): Is the Supreme Leader Fretting About Syria?

A poster encouraging Iranians to demonstrate publicly on 25 Bahman (14 February)

See also The Latest from Iran (31 January): "Democracy and Freedom Are A Big Lie"

---

2019 GMT: Food Watch. Continuing problems with grain shipments to Iran....

The news that 400,000 tonnes of grain has been held up on 10 ships outside Iranian ports has been followed by confirmation that traders are no longer booking cargoes on Iranian ships to transport grain exports from Ukraine because of difficulties with payments following European Union sanctions.

"The indication is that Iranian flag ships would not be welcomed (at Ukrainian ports) that is the guidance that is being given." one trade source said.

Another source said, "They will not load vessels bound for Iranian destinations or Iranian ships. It is not entirely clear if this has come from the government and it looks like companies have to make their own decisions on what to do. EU sanctions are very much part of the considerations."

Ukraine's Transport Ministry said there were no restrictions on Iranian ships. "Nobody knows anything about this," a ministry spokesman said. "All our ports are open to foreign ships. There are no restrictions, nor can there be any."

However, a grain trader said, "The trade in Iranian food is getting extremely difficult as the impact of the sanctions is still developing each day. Ukraine has been a leading supplier of grain to Iran. Now it appears Iranian buyers will only be able to buy with delivery to Ukrainian ports and will face further difficulties in arranging shipments."

Ukraine exported about 445,000 tonnes of grain to Iran in the first half of the 2011/12 season. This included 92,000 tonnes of feed barley and 357,600 tonnes of feed maize.

Click to read more ...

Iraq Feature: State Department Drones Are Overhead...But For How Long? (Schmitt/Schmitt)

A month after the last American troops left Iraq, the State Department is operating a small fleet of surveillance drones here to help protect the United States Embassy and consulates, as well as American personnel. Some senior Iraqi officials expressed outrage at the program, saying the unarmed aircraft are an affront to Iraqi sovereignty.

The program was described by the department’s diplomatic security branch in a little-noticed section of its most recent annual report and outlined in broad terms in a two-page online prospectus for companies that might bid on a contract to manage the program. It foreshadows a possible expansion of unmanned drone operations into the diplomatic arm of the American government; until now they have been mainly the province of the Pentagon and the Central Intelligence Agency.

Click to read more ...

Sudan Feature: 10 Leaders of Protest Movement Arrested (Carmichael)

A Girifna ProtestThe Sudanese National Security Forces have arrested Nagi Musa and nine other leaders of Girifna, the nonviolent people's resistance movement in Eastern Sudan.

On Wednesday, 25 January, Nagi Musa was leading a conference titled, "The Massacre in Port Sudan and the Crisis in East Sudan." Nagi Musa's conference commemorated the seventh anniversary of the massacre.

Click to read more ...

US Politics: Romney's "Decisive Victory" in Florida Primary (Balz)

FLORIDA REPUBLICAN PRIMARY: MITT ROMNEY 771,842 (46.4%); NEWT GINGRICH 531,294 (31.9%); RICK SANTORUM 222,248 (13.4%); RON PAUL 116,776 (7.0%); OTHER 21,538 (1.3%)

Bolstered by superior resources and a relentlessly aggressive style, Mitt Romney won a decisive victory in the Florida primary Tuesday night, dealing a major setback to principal rival Newt Gingrich while putting himself back into a commanding position in the race for the Republican presidential nomination.

Romney’s win came after a bitter and almost wholly negative campaign by both leading candidates. The victory, his second of the year to go along with two defeats, gives the former Massachusetts governor much-needed momentum as the GOP contest moves west for Saturday’s Nevada caucuses. Romney is strongly favored to repeat his 2008 victory there.

Click to read more ...

The Latest from Iran (31 January): "Democracy and Freedom Are A Big Lie"

See also Iran Prescription: Oh My God, Tehran Almost Has The Bomb! (Repeat as Necessary)
The Latest from Iran (30 January): Posturing Over Oil

---

2054 GMT: Threat of the Day. MP Mostafa Kavakebian, a member of Parliament's National Security and Foreign Policy Committee, has warned that International Atomic Energy Agency inspectors should be banned from re-entering Iran if they again publish a "unrealistic report" on Tehran's nuclear programme and “mislead the global community”. He also asked security officials to exercise vigilance over the inspectors to prevent them from collecting and leaking confidential information.

A six-member IAEA team, led by the agency's Deputy Director General Herman Nackaerts, completed a three-day visit today, after talks over future co-operation.

Kavakebian is considered a reformist, but has broken from others over the position towards March's Parliamentary elections and is attempting to form a "Democracy Front" for the campaign.

Click to read more ...

Syria (and Beyond) Live Coverage: More than 100 Die as UN Discussion Begins

Interactive Map of Today's Events near Damascus

View Damascus, 2012 Jan 31 in a larger map

See also Bahrain Special: Candles, Balloons, and Molotov Cocktails
Syria Video Special: On the Ground with the Free Syrian Army
Syria 1st-Hand: The Cat-and-Mouse Game in Kafar Souseh
Monday's Syria (and Beyond) Live Coverage: Can the Regime Recapture the Suburbs?

---

2130 GMT: At the United Nations, US Secretary of State Hillary Clinton focuses on the deaths --- more than 5,400 civilians, according to UN estimates --- and the violence: "The evidence is clear that Assad's forces are initiating nearly all the attacks that kill civilians." She says, "o one in Syria is safe, including women, children, Red Crescent workers," and says the regime is working hard to pit Syria’s ethnic and religious groups against each other, risking civil war. "As Syrians take up arms, violence will spiral out of control."

The take-away line: "Stand with people of Syria and the region, or become complicit in the increasing violence."

Click to read more ...

Iran Prescription: Oh My God, Tehran Almost Has The Bomb! (Repeat as Necessary)

Iran is about a year away from developing a nuclear bomb! That is not me getting  hysterical --- it's US Secretary of Defense Leon Panetta in an interview on American television:

"The consensus is that, if they decided to do it, it would probably take them about a year to be able to produce a bomb and then possibly another one to two years in order to put it on a deliverable vehicle of some sort in order to deliver that weapon."

Panetta is not the only Cassandra. His statement echoes that made by Israeli Minister of Defense Ehud Barak last November about the 'when' of Iran's supposed nuclear weapons program.

All very worrying. Just as it has been worrying on every occasion over the last 7 1/2 years when Iran was on the verge of The Bomb.

Click to read more ...