Iran: the truth the UK/US cannot admit Ayad Jamal Aldin: Official denials of involvement in kidnapping should not mask Tehran's growing power. "Mr Moore was taken not by Iraqi criminals looking for a ransom, but by politically motivated forces with a bigger agenda. Those forces are Iranian: their agenda is to make Iraq a state that is Iran in all but name." Read Article    

  In Saudi Arabia, this Sunday is Valen-ban Day.The Islamic theocracy is cracking down on stores selling red roses, heart-shaped products or red gift wraps.Valntine's Day merchandise is considered contraband because observing Western holidays is prohibited in Saudi Arabia."As Muslims, we shouldn't celebrate a non-Muslim celebration, especially this one that encourages immoral relations between unmarried men and women," Sheikh Khaled Al-Dossari, a scholar in Islamic studies, told the Saudi Gazette.Religious cops from the Commission for the Promotion of Virtue and Prevention of Vice patrol shops, confiscate symbols of love, and destroy them. 

 

Cuba to put 'everything' on table in US talks Castro's offer high on agenda at Summit of the Americas in Trinidad By David Usborne, US editor
  Saturday, 18 April 2009
ALEJANDRO ERNESTO / EPA Trinidad is preparing a warm welcome for President Obama  Barack Obama was urged to end the 47-year-old American embargo of Cuba by a phalanx of Latin American and Caribbean leaders at a summit in Trinidad last night. The pressure on Mr Obama came after Raul Castro, the Cuban leader, insisted that he was ready to discuss "everything" with Washington. As the summit got under way in Port of Spain, the isolation of Cuba by the US – and what Mr Obama intended to do about it – looked set to dominate proceedings. "There is no more Cold War," proclaimed the Brazilian President, Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva, after speaking with Mr Obama on the issue. In an attempt to blunt any ambush at the summit, Mr Obama last week took some steps at least to tinker with the fringes of the Cuba embargo. He lifted all restrictions on Cuban-Americans wishing to visit family in Cuba or send money to the island and authorised the US telecommunications industry to bid for contracts there. "I think what you saw was a show of good faith on the part of the US, that we want to recast our relationship," Mr Obama said of those changes during an eve-of-summit visit to Mexico on Thursday. However, he added that for more to happen Cuba would have to show its willingness to reform. "There are a range of steps that could be taken on the part of the Cuban government," Mr Obama added. "My guidepost in US-Cuba policy is going to be how can we encourage Cuba to be respectful of the rights of its people." Cuba's membership of the Organisation of American States was suspended in 1962, and Mr Castro himself was not at the Port of Spain summit. But, within hours of Mr Obama's remarks, Mr Castro, who was attending meetings of leftist leaders in Venezuela, returned the ball with rhetorical challenges of his own. "We've told the North American government that we are prepared to discuss everything – human rights, freedom of the press, political prisoners – everything, everything, everything," he said. He went on, however, to underline that the Cuba will enter such dialogue only if the US "respects" the right of self-determination for the island. Others expected to lash the US for its Cuba position included Evo Morales of Bolivia and Hugo Chavez of Venezuela. It hardly helped Mr Obama that the summit coincidentally fell on the anniversary of the 1961 Bay of Pigs invasion, when CIA-backed Cuban exiles were humiliated by the forces of Fidel Castro. Whatever flirting is now going on between Washington and Havana may quickly be replaced by a more testing reality. Since he took over from his brother, Raul Castro has made…

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