The Hill: Consider three principles. First, in Plato’s Republic, one definition of justice is to give each person that which is due. Second, Martin Luther King stated, “Injustice anywhere is a threat to justice everywhere.” Third, King also said, “The arc of the moral universe is long, but it bends towards justice.” It is intolerable for the State Department to ignore virtual imprisonment by Baghdad of Iranian dissidents stuck in Iraq.
Still no help for Iranian dissidents
Why Iran fears Iraq’s Kurds
Daily Beast: At the end of June, Nechirvan Barzani, the prime minister of Iraqi Kurdistan, visited Tehran to meet with Rear Admiral Ali Shamkhani, secretary of Iran’s Supreme National Security Council. When Shamkhani met Barzani he was dressed in full navy uniform. “I intentionally met with Nechirvan Barzani in uniform so that he would understand that for us the integrity of Iraq is important,” Shamkhani said after the meeting.
Maliki plans to carry bid for power to Iraq courts
New York Times: Nuri Kamal al-Maliki said Wednesday that he would press ahead in the Iraqi courts with his increasingly unlikely bid to retain power, and would not turn to the army. With so many political forces now aligned against Mr. Maliki, including the United States and Iran, and with his retreat from veiled threats to use force, the political crisis that has gripped Baghdad in recent days diminished in intensity.
Chennai petroleum plans Iran oil imports after two years
Bloomberg: Chennai Petroleum Corp. (MRL), a unit of India’s largest refiner, plans to resume crude imports from Iran after a two-year gap as insurers return to the market. “This year, we plan to restart Iran oil purchases,” Managing Director S. Venkataramana said in a phone interview. “We are already talking to the re-insurers for this, and we are getting positive responses so far.”
Iran retakes top spot in money-laundering risk ranking index
Wall Street Journal: Iran is once again the country posing the largest money-laundering risk, taking the spot back from Afghanistan in the latest edition of the Basel AML Index. The 2014 edition of the index, published by the Basel Institute on Governance, covers more than 160 countries, and said it is the only country-level rating of money laundering and terrorist financing risk by a nonprofit.
With gas byproduct, Iran sidesteps sanctions
New York Times: Iran is finding a way around Western sanctions to export increasing amounts of an ultralight oil to China and other Asian markets, expanding the value of its trade by potentially billions of dollars a year. The exports come during a slight thaw in Iran’s relations with the West as negotiations over its nuclear program continue.
Iranian Stanford professor first woman to win top maths prize
Reuters: Iranian mathematician Maryam Mirzakhani on Wednesday became the first woman to be awarded the Fields Medal, mathematics’ equivalent to the Nobel Prize.The professor at Stanford University in California was among four Fields Medal recipients at the International Congress of Mathematicians held in Seoul, and the first female among the 56 winners since the prize was established in 1936.
Maliki seems to back away from using military force to retain power
New York Times: After two days of defiant speeches and special security units deployed in the Iraqi capital, raising the specter of a coup, Prime Minister Nuri Kamal al-Maliki appeared to back away on Tuesday from his implied threat to use force to stay in power, issuing a statement saying that the army should stay out of politics.
Iran’s secret massacre: the untold legacy
Medium.com: This summer marks the 26th anniversary of Iran’s massacre against political prisoners in 1988. The shock and terror inflicted on the Iranian nation wen tens of thousands of prisoners were executed in a matter of months went unnoticed. The legacy of this event has resulted in the survival of a despotic regime, and the stunted growth of a nation.
Lord Carlile: Dangers still posed by Iran regime
PoliticsHome: A range of politicians and analysts have recently argued for close cooperation between the United States and Iran on issues such as the sectarian conflict in Iraq. The view is irresponsibly neglectful of the dangers still posed by the Iranian regime.
