Kourosh Ziabari/Fars News Agency Interview With Prof. John McMurtry

World-renowned Canadian philosopher Prof. John McMurtry argues that the US and its ally, Israel, violate the laws against armed aggression, occupation and crimes against humanity at will, while other world states are either their accomplices or afraid of taking any move against them since they will risk being labeled a rouge or terrorist state otherwise.

Prof. John McMurtry says that the US government is a gigantic mass-murdering machine which earns profit through waging wars, and is never held accountable over its unspeakable war crimes and crimes against humanity. He also believes that the US has become a police state, which treats its citizens in the most derogatory manner.

“I have travelled alone with only backpack possession through the world, and have found no state in which police forces are more habituated to violent bullying, more likely to draw a gun, more discriminatory against the dispossessed, and more arbitrarily vicious in normal behavior,” said McMurtry. “The US now leads the globe in an underlying civil war of the rich against the poor.”

“The US can … detain, kidnap and imprison without trial or indictment any US citizen or other citizens anywhere by designating them enemies to the US,” Prof. John McMurtry noted in an exclusive interview with Fars News Agency.

According to the Canadian intellectual, the United States statesmen have long supported dictatorial and tyrannical regimes and even funded and armed the Nazi regime of Adolf Hitler in the period between 1939 and 1945.

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Kourosh Ziabari

Interview* with public policy scholar Soraya Sepahpour-Ulrich

Kourosh Ziabari – Sanctions imposed on Iran by the United States and its allies are “immoral and illegal – and cowardly”, public policy scholar and researcher Soraya Sepahpour-Ulrich says.

Sepahpour-Ulrich, who has a Master’s in Public Diplomacy from USC Annenberg for Communication, made the remarks during an exclusive interview with the Tehran Times this week.

“I believe that there should be no mistake about the reality that sanctions are warfare without the military involvement,” she added.

Sepahpour-Ulrich is an independent researcher and writer with a focus on U.S. foreign policy. Her articles have been published by several online publications.

Following is the text of Sepahpour-Ulrich’s interview with the Tehran Times.

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Interview by Kourosh Ziabari

German political pundit Dr. Christof Lehmann believes that the Doha conference failed to unite the Syrian opposition and there are many conflicting interests even among those nations who support the foreign backed opposition.

"The Doha Conference and the establishment of the Syrian National Coalition for Opposition and Revolutionary Forces, SNCORF, was one more failed attempt to create a unified, politically and militarily credible opposition… The failure to create this opposition is not least caused by the fact that there exist considerable conflicts of interest between the US, UK, the PGCC members and Israel on one hand, and continental European EU member states and Turkey on the other," said Dr. Christof Lehmann in an interview with Fars News Agency.

Dr. Christof Lehmann is a German political pundit, analyst and author. He has been the advisor of many political figures and leaders across the world. He is also a practicing clinical psychologist and has been actively advocating Palestinians' right to statehood and self determination. He is the founder of NSNBC media collective and his writings have appeared on different online and print outlets such as China's The 4th Voice.

Christof Lehmann took part in an interview with Fars News Agency to discuss the latest developments in Syria, the failure of opposition groups to reach a consensus and the prospect of the 22-month crisis in the country. What follows is the text of the interview.

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Kourosh Ziabari

The fact that the inhumane sanctions of the United States and its European allies against Iran are taking a heavy toll on the ordinary Iranian citizens is still hard to believe for many Western citizens who suppose that their governments are sincere in their claims of being concerned for human rights and freedom.

In different articles, I've pointed out this fact that the economic sanctions against Iran have become so intensive and rigorous that they have nothing to do with Iran's nuclear program anymore; rather, they are aimed at paralyzing the daily life of the innocent civilians in the country with the ultimate goal of persuading them to revolt against the government to protest the deteriorating living conditions, hence creating an all-out chaos and unrest in the society.

Since 2006, the United Nations Security Council passed 7 resolutions on Iran's nuclear program, demanding the country to suspend uranium enrichment and reprocessing activities. In four of these resolutions, the UNSC has imposed sanctions on Iran, including a ban on the supply of nuclear-related materials and technology, an arm embargo, travel bans on individuals connected to Iran's nuclear program, a freezing of the assets of Iranian banks in the United States and EU countries and the Islamic Republic of Iran Shipping Lines along with various embargoes on the assets and activities of Iran's Revolutionary Guards.

However, the thirst of the United States and its allies in crippling Iran's nuclear program and harming its economy has not been quenched with the UNSC resolutions. The United States and its allies have sought to put a huge amount of economic and political pressure on Iran outside the framework of the Security Council, and through imposing unilateral sanctions on Iran's banking, insurance, oil, industry, aviation, shipping and medical sectors, they have taken up an unjustifiably aggressive stance in regards to Iran which has caused a dramatic surge of the anti-American, anti-Western sentiments among the Iranian people, instead of turning them against the government.

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Interview by Kourosh Ziabari

Nima Shirazi is a political commentator from New York City. His analysis of United States foreign policy and Middle East issues, particularly with reference to current events in Israel, Palestine, and Iran, is published on his website, WideAsleepInAmerica.com.

His articles and commentaries are published on a variety of online and print publications including Foreign Policy Journal, Palestine Chronicle, Mondoweiss, Media with Conscience, Monthly Review, Dissident Voice, Salem-News, Middle East Online, Indymedia, The Palestine Telegraph and Axis of Logic.

Shirazi is widely acclaimed for his precise and accurate analysis of the Middle East events and the U.S. foreign policy.

The world-renowned author and political scientist Norman Finkelstein has praised Nima Shirazi's work, saying that he is "a very smart fellow and remarkably well informed. It's worth taking the time to read what he writes."

Jeremy R. Hammond, political journalist and the editor of Foreign Policy Journal has said about him: "Nima Shirazi is a brilliant analyst whose writing gets right to the heart of the issue without any messing around. Reading articles in not only the mainstream media, but also on alternative and independent websites and blogs, is generally a frustrating experience, for the broad adherence of most (actually, almost all) commentators to a limited manufactured framework."

What follows is the complete text of my interview with Nima Shirazi with whom I discussed on a variety of issues including Israeli-American relations, Iran's nuclear program, the death of Osama Bin Laden and the Western media propaganda against Iran.

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Interview by Kourosh Ziabari
With Some Final Comments by Stephen Lendman

TEHRAN (FNA)- American writer and radio host Stephen Lendman believes that the successful arrangement and hosting of the 16th heads-of-state Summit of the Non-Aligned Movement in Tehran was diplomatically a triumph for the Islamic Republic, which disappointed Israel and the United States and helped Iran improve its political profile on the international scene.

Stephen Lendman believes that despite the US and Israeli propaganda, the Non-Aligned Movement (NAM) summit in Tehran which wrapped up on Friday was a great diplomatic victory for Iran and meant a great defeat and failure for the US and the Zionist regime of Israel.

What follows is the full text of Fars News Agency's interview with Stephen Lendman in which a number of issues pertaining to the Non-Aligned Movement summit in Tehran, the frustration of Western powers at the successful summit in Tehran, the attendance of Egyptian President Mohamed Mursi at the summit, the prospects of the movement under Iran's presidency and the role it can play in fostering global peace and stability were discussed.

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Kourosh Ziabari

Just a few days ago, Google removed the name of 'Persian Gulf' from its online maps and Google Earth plans. This action is considered to be a politically motivated plot directed by the CIA to undermine and demoralize Iranian people and weaken their position in the international community. Unquestionably, it's unlawful to distort or change geographical names for political purposes.

To Iranians, 'Persian Gulf' is not simply a name referring to a geographical region on the world map. To Iranians, the name of 'Persian Gulf' is interwoven with a sense of national dignity and honor which makes them a united and powerful troupe against the relentless attacks of the enemy. The name of 'Persian Gulf' resembles a feeling of pride and decorum for them which cannot be replaced by any other gift or reward. It reminds them of the impressive days when the flag of ancient Persian Empire honorably fluttered and waved in the sky and there was no other competitor to supersede this mighty empire.

Of course Iranians' attachment to 'Persian Gulf' and the cultural heritage which it carries does not emanate from blind nationalistic sentiments. Iranians know well that today, they are the representative of a greater, broader union that is the Islamic Ummah. They know that it's with the blessing of Islam that they can still take pride on being an unrivaled superpower in such a tumultuous and restless region as the Middle East. However, Iranians are extremely sensitive about those vicious, brutal powers who intend to undermine their national honor and solidarity by encroaching on their national heritage, including the [name of] 'Persian Gulf'.

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Kourosh Ziabari

US deploying fighter jets to the Gulf - The US says it has deployed a number of its most modern jet fighters to an air base in Southwest Asia. The announcement alarmed many, who suspect the base is actually in the United Arab Emirates just 200 hundred miles from Iran. The Air Force did not specify the exact number or location of the recently-deployed F-22 Raptors, but confirmed that they had been sent to a region that includes the UAE. - RT

The United Arab Emirates officials are burning with a low blue flame. They have once again started insulting the Iranian nation using an arrogant and offensive language. What has irritated them this time is the recent visit paid by the Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad to the Iranian island of Abu Musa in the Persian Gulf as part of his provincial trip to the southern province of Hormozgan on April 11. They claim that the island belongs to the UAE and that Iran has violated their territorial integrity by continuing its "occupation" of this strategic island.

Of course fueling anti-Iranian sentiments has been constantly on the UAE officials' political agenda. The statesmen of the newborn, tiny Arab sheikhdom think that by launching verbal attacks against Iran, they can gain power and popularity. But they have brought their eggs to the wrong market. Hostility and rivaling with Iran will backfire and fail. The hullabaloo of the Emirati officials is a tempest in a teapot and there's no trace of logic and rationality in it. What is annoying and painful is that by credulously neglecting the principle of peaceful neighborhood and coexistence, the Arab officials are muttering the words of Israel, the U.S. and UK about Iran and upsetting a neighbor which has always contributed to their progress and development.

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Kourosh Ziabari

2011 was a turbulent year for the world. With chained revolutions in the Arab world, mounting financial crisis in Europe and the unprecedented wave of protests and mass demonstrations in the U.S. against the corporate system of the government which has long swallowed the rights of the defenseless majority of the people voraciously, one can call 2011 the year of global unrest and tumult.

For Iran, 2011 was also a challenging year. Benefiting from the all-out backing of the Western mainstream media, the apartheid regime of Israel for several times renewed its hawkish war threats against the Islamic Republic and repeatedly used an aggressive rhetoric against the people of Iran, threatening them with various military options which the United States and certain European governments embraced willingly and enthusiastically.

It would not be an exaggeration to claim that the Arab Spring was a legacy of Mohamed Bouazizi who with his painful self-immolation before a municipality office in Tunis in protest at the ill treatment and corruption of the police, sparked the rage and irritation of the Arab nations in the Middle East and North Africa and somehow invited them to rise up and stand against their corrupt, authoritarian governments which were mostly equipped and supported by the U.S. and its European allies.

In Tunisia and after Bouazizi burnt himself before the mayor's office, people started to sympathize with him and his family and held funeral processions for him. These small gatherings began to expand explosively and after a short time, turned into massive demonstrations against the uncontested 23-year rule of Zine El Abidine Ben Ali whose accumulation of illegitimate wealth and what his opponents called his family's Mafia rule had infuriated the oppressed, pauperized people.

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Kourosh Ziabari

Prof. Mark Kingwell is a world renowned Canadian author and philosopher. He is the associate chair at University of Toronto's Department of Philosophy. Kingwell is a fellow of Trinity College. He specializes in theories of politics and culture. Kingwell has published twelve books, most notably, A Civil Tongue: Justice, Dialogue, and the Politics of Pluralism, which was awarded the Spitz Prize for political theory in 1997. Spitz Prize is annually awarded by a panel based in the Department of Political Science of Columbia University to the author of the best book in liberal and/or democratic theory.

Kingwell is the contributing editor to Harper's Magazine. His articles on philosophy, culture, journalism, art and architecture have appeared on the New York Times, Utne Reader, Adbusters, Harvard Design Magazine, Toronto Life, the Globe and Mail and the National Post.

His main areas of interest are political philosophy, cultural criticism, philosophy of art and continental philosophy.

Mark has been the editor of "The Varsity," the second oldest student newspaper of Canada from 1983 to 1984 and the "University of Toronto Review" from 1984 to 1985.

Prof. Kingwell's works have been translated into ten languages and among his notable books are "Dreams of Millennium: Report from a Culture on the Brink," "Practical Judgments: Essays in Culture, Politics, and Interpretation" and "Nearest Thing to Heaven: The Empire State Building and American Dreams."

Prof. Kingwell kindly joined me in an exclusive interview and answered my questions about philosophy, popular culture, the Arab Spring, Occupy Wall Street Movement and ethics in journalism.

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