Iran Video and Transcript: Top US Official Stuart Levey on Sanctions

Stuart Levey, Under Secretary for Terrorism and Financial Intelligence in the US Treasury, spoke for 50 minutes with Charlie Rose of the US Public Broadcasting Service on Wednesday about sanctions and economic pressure. Much of the discussion was about Washington's strategy and tactics and Levey's assessment of the economic and political effects on Tehran.

Whether or not one agrees whether sanctions are working, or indeed whether it is the right approach to Iran, the interview is a revelation of how the Obama Administration has pursued the approach --- note Levey's "personal diplomacy" with dozens of trips to foreign governments, companies, and banks --- and its belief that the measures are working:

CHARLIE ROSE: How bad is their economy today?

STUART LEVEY: It’s interesting, because I think their economy is a lot worse than they try to present it as being.

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Book Club: The First Green Novel is Published

EA learns that the first political novel about the Green Movement and the post-election crisis has been published. Blogger and journalist Masih Alinejad, whose work has been featured on our pages, has written The Green Date, the story of a female correspondent who return to Iran to cover the 2009 Presidential campaign.

Alinejad had to leave Iran after the election and now lives abroad.

The publisher Gardoon, based in Berlin, is bringing out the novel in Persian, with plans for translation into German and English. It will not be published in Tehran: Gardoon's Abbas Maroufi says, “The books we are publishing abroad are trees we plant in the hope that they can be taken to Iran one day.” 

The cover of the book features a sketch by the famous Iranian cartoonist Mana Neyestani.

Iran Analysis: No Liberty --- The Bomb, Bomb, Bomb Diversion...Again

0645 GMT: Sigh....

Yesterday we began with a letter from detained activist Majid Tavakoli to Iranian students, a letter which I think articulately --- and poignantly --- set out the extent of the Government's repression but held out hope: "Despotism's palace is shaking on its foundations."

At no point did Tavakoli, sitting in Rajai Shahr Prison, expend his ink on Iran's nuclear programme or its relations with the West. The emergency and confrontation was much closer to home, and the aspiration had little to do with uranium: "I know that we will be together to joyfully celebrate liberty."

This morning opens far differently, thousands of miles away. Phillip Stephens of The Financial Times writes an account of discussions amongst the West's best and brightest at the Aspen European Strategy Forum, "Caught Between Bombing Iran and an Iranian Bomb".

"Iran" is not necessarily about a day-by-day fretting about the Bomb and Apocalypse. That scenario only feeds into the rhetoric of a regime all too ready to deal with more important matters --- for example, the suppression of dissident --- by holding up the US and its allies as menaces ready to strike Tehran.

No, rather than offer the easy answer or prescription, "It's all about nukes", a day-by-day assessment might begin with regard to the Iranian people and their political, economic, social, and religious situation. Far from Aspen's lavish banquets and its chit-chat, that might be the best way to approach Majid Tavakoli and hundreds --- thousands --- of others like him.

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Pakistan: US Apologises (Kind Of) But Islamabad Keeps Border Closed

The US Government has offered a series of apologies to Islamabad for airstrikes and cross-border raids that killed Pakistani soldiers. General David Petraeus, the US commander in Afghanistan, said coalition forces "deeply regretted" the "loss of life". Anne Patterson, the US ambassador to Islamabad, cited the importance of “Pakistan’s brave security forces”. The chairman of the US Joint Chiefs of Staff, Admiral Mike Mullen, chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, offered a private apology to the head of Pakistan’s military, General Ashfaq Parvez Kayani, in a telephone call.

In the understatement of the year, "American and NATO officials said privately that the Pakistani government’s closing of a crucial border crossing might have made it easier for militants to attack backed-up tanker trucks carrying fuel through Pakistan to Afghanistan to support the American war effort".

Yet I'm not sure, at least from the account in The New York Times, how fulsome the US apology is. The emphasis of the story is, yeah, yeah, stuff happens, but let's get over it.

Certainly Islamabad is, at best, taking its time before accepting US apologies as sincere. Abdul Basit, Pakistan's foreign ministry spokesman, said on Thursday that authorities were still evaluating the situation and a decision to reopen the Torkham crossing to NATO tankers, supplying troops in Afghanistan, will be taken "in due course".

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Israel-Palestine Analysis: It's "Win-Win" in West Jerusalem....but Who Won?

The US approach to Netanyahu, pleading for an extension of the settlement freeze, was that it was a "win-win" proposition: the Prime Minister maintained his flexibility in the talks, which would continue, and Israel also received guarantees and money from Washington. The only problem is that this is not the only "win-win" in town. Away from the formal negotiations, other Israeli politicians were setting out a different "win-win" to the Prime Minister. Bibi, you get to maintain the role of leader in the discussions with the Palestinians but we get the measures inside Israel --- defining who is "proper Israeli" and who is not --- that we want.

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Who Fooled Fox News? The Los Angeles Police 10,000 Jetpacks "Story"

Even by the standards of Fox News, this is pretty special.

On Tuesday morning, the intrepid talking heads of Fox and Friends were shocked --- just shocked --- to discover that the Los Angeles Police Department had ordered 10,000 jetpacks at $100,000 each.

Only one small problem with this billion-dollar story.

It's not true.

So who fooled Fox?

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White House Report: Pakistan Not Doing Enough Against Insurgents (Henry)

Despite repeated Obama administration claims in public that Pakistan is working hard to crack down on militants, a private White House review uses unusually tough language to suggest the ally is not doing nearly enough to confront the Taliban and al Qaeda, according to a copy of a report to Congress.

The report notes that from March to June, the Pakistani military "continued to avoid military engagements that would put it in direct conflict with Afghan Taliban or [al Qaeda] forces in North Waziristan. This is as much a political choice as it is a reflection of an under-resourced military prioritizing its targets."

The report notes bluntly that despite having a presence of 140,000 military and paramilitary personnel, the Pakistani military has been "nonetheless constrained to disrupting and displacing extremist groups without making lasting gains against the insurgency."

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The Latest from Iran (7 October): "We Have No Political Prisoners"

1935 GMT: Clash in Kurdistan. According to Iranian state media, five people, including four policemen, were killed and nine others wounded when two gunmen opened fire on a police patrol in Sanandaj, the capital of Kurdistan.

Deputy provincial police commander Ebrahim Kazeminejad said,"At 5:10 pm two assailants from anti-revolutionary groups fired on a patrol and passers-by in Azadi Square of Sanandaj in which four policemen and a passer-by were martyred. In this terrorist act also five policemen and four passers-by were wounded."

1930 GMT: Academic Corner. According to Rah-e-Sabz, Minister of Culture and Islamic Guidance Mohammad Hosseini has told pro-government academics, "Hopefully all universities will be purged."

1920 GMT: Breaking the Reformists (cont.). Another voice challenging the supposed ban on the reformist Islamic Iran Participation Front: Ayatollah Mousavi Tabrizi has said the dissolution of the party is illegal and cannot be done without a full court hearing and appeal.

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US and Afghan Government "In Direct Talks" with Haqqani Insurgents (Borger/Walsh)

Both the Afghan and US governments have recently made contact with the most fearsome insurgent group in Afghanistan, the Haqqani network.

Hamid Karzai's government held direct talks with senior members of the Haqqani clan over the summer, according to well-placed Pakistani and Arab sources. The US contacts have been indirect, through a western intermediary, but have continued for more than a year.

The Afghan and US talks were described as extremely tentative. The Haqqani network has a reputation for ruthlessness, even by the standards of the Afghan insurgency, and has the closest ties with al-Qaida. But Kabul and Washington have come to the conclusion that they cannot be excluded if an enduring peace settlement is to be reached.

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A Letter from Detained Activist Tavakoli to Students: "Despotism's Palace is Shaking on Its Foundations"

Let us take our last steps with a more determined pace. Your voice can be heard even from behind the prison walls. The determination of your steps will give meaning to history itself. With your will, your destiny will be determined, history will be written, the future will be yours, and you will embrace eternity. Without the consent of the people, without the people on your side, your epilogue will be the same as the despots, reduced to resorting to mercenaries, lies, weapons of mass destruction and missiles in order to maintain their power. Without sincerity, you will be left alone, for deceit and falsehood bring nothing but helplessness. Without courage, you will be subjugated… A society without courage and sincerity is a decadent society headed for destruction.

It is back to school now, and the year ahead of us promises to be a hard one. With unity and by remaining on the side of the people, you will make a pact that will consolidate solidarity, give meaning to resistance for liberty, and make a bright tomorrow ours. I know that the people’s hope will be fulfilled. I know that we will be together to joyfully celebrate liberty.

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