Venezuela Mourns the Death of Hugo Chavez (Video Reports)

A Sea of Tears in Caracas

Source: The Real News

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Venezuela says farewell to “El Comandante” Hugo Chavez

Source: Russia Today

On Tuesday supporters of Hugo Chavez wept and chanted slogans at Caracas main square, where they came to mourn the loss of the socialist firebrand leader who redistributed his countries oil wealth to the poor.

The Venezuelan president died on Tuesday after losing a two-year battle against an undisclosed type of cancer. He was 58.

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The Life and Legacy of Hugo Chavez

Source: The Real News

Greg Wilpert looks at the achievements, failures and life of the leader of Venezuela's Bolivarian Revolution

After China, US presses UAE to limit Iran trade

Source: PressTV
http://www.presstv.ir/detail.aspx?id=122324§ionid=351020104


While continuing to pressure Russia and China to follow its lead in imposing a new round of sanctions against Iran, the US tries to cajole Dubai into limiting its trade relations with Tehran.

Over the past few months, the Obama Administration has made systematic efforts to woo Dubai to toe Washington's anti-Iran line and persuade the business-savvy Muslim Emiratis into restricting their centuries-old trade with Iran.

To that end, high-ranking US officials have regularly flown over to Dubai in recent months and have held private meetings with high-ranking officials of the United Arab Emirates (UAE).

Stuart Levey, the US Under Secretary of the Treasury for Terrorism and Financial Intelligence, told The Times on Friday that he has so far flown to Dubai about 12 times in a bid to warn UAE officials of the consequences of their strong economic relations with Iranians.

"The UAE is really grappling with the issue," Levy claimed. "The Emirates are aware of the reputational risks with dealing with Iran, and they take those risks seriously."

"To the extent that normal consumer goods are getting into Iran, that does not undermine the overall policy," Levy explained.

In an effort to harm Iran's economy since a popular revolution deposed the pro-US dictatorship of Shah Mohammad Reza Pahlavi, the US has not only imposed unilateral sanctions against Iran, but it has sought to browbeat other states to follow suit, mostly to no avail. In the case of UAE, despite US pressure, the volume of trade between Iran and UAE has risen greatly over the past few years.

Dubai, which is reportedly home to around 500,000 Iranians, is widely considered to be one of Iran's largest trading partners in the region.

Embassy officials in Abu Dhabi estimate that trade between Iran and Dubai topped $15 billion (55.09 billion UAE dirhams) in 2009.

While Levy made his latest comments, Esfandiar Rahim-Mashaei, the head of Iran's Presidential Office, was visiting the UAE, according to the official Iranian IRNA news agency.

Rahim-Mashaei called for the further expansion of Iran-UAE trade ties, stressing that “both countries have a lot to offer as key players in the region's economy.”

UAE Prime Minister Mohammed bin Rashid Al Maktoum, for his part, said both Iran and the Emirates have mutual interest in trade and should thus work closer to promote cooperation in different levels.

Rahim-Mashaei made the remarks while offering the Iranian people's deep condolences to UAE President Sheikh Khalifa bin Zayed Al Nahyan on the death of his brother Sheikh Ahmed bin Zayed Al Nahyan.

The late Sheikh Ahmed who headed the Abu Dhabi Investment Authority - the largest sovereign wealth fund in the world - was killed in an apparent aviation incident on March 26. The full circumstances of his death have yet to be established.

Israel pressured over Mabhouh death

Meir Dagan, head of Mossad


Source: Al Jazeera
http://english.aljazeera.net/news/middleeast/2010/02/201021875613810292.html


Israel is coming under increasing pressure over the assassination of a senior Hamas commander at a luxury Dubai hotel last month.

The Israeli ambassador in London was questioned by UK government officials on Thursday over the use of six "fake" British passports used by the hit team that allegedly killed Mahmoud al-Mabhouh.

Authorities in Ireland have also summoned the Israeli ambassador in Dublin after three Irish passports were also found to have been used in the operation.

Seven of the names used in the passports are thought to be stolen identities of people currently living in Israel.

'No forgery'

The website of the Abu Dhabi government-owned daily The National on Thursday quoted Dahi Khalfan Tamim, the head of the Dubai police force, as saying that the investigation into the killing "reveal[s] that Mossad [Israel's security service] is involved in the murder".

Tamim said it "is 99 per cent, if not 100 per cent, that Mossad is standing behind the murder".

The police chief also told Al-Bayan, another Dubai publication, that the European passports used in the operation were not fakes and that Dubai immigration officers were "trained" by European security experts to spot such documents.

"This training qualifies immigration officers to spot fake passports," he said.


"They applied these procedures at Dubai airport when the alleged [killers] entered the country.


"No forgery was found in those passports."


'Policy of ambiguity'

Dubai police on Tuesday released closed-circuit television footage of 17 individuals believed to have been involved in the killing of al-Mabhouh's at the Al-Bustan hotel.

Eleven of the suspects were named based on immigration records, although all are believed to have entered the emirate on forged passports- including a French and a German passport, in addition to those from the UK and Ireland.

Britain's foreign ministry said the country's Serious Organised Crime Agency would lead an investigation into the matter in close co-operation with the Emirati authorities.

It said the UK would also provide support to its nationals "who have been affected by this fraudulent activity".

Israeli silence on the killing was broken on Wednesday by Avigdor Lieberman, the country's foreign minister, who said that "there is no reason to think that it was the Israeli Mossad, and not some other intelligence service or country up to some mischief".

However, he also said that Israel maintains a "policy of ambiguity" on intelligence matters.

Palestinian anger

In the Gaza Strip, the Palestinian territory run by Hamas, anger spilled onto the streets on Wednesday with thousands of people gathering at a rally vowing to avengethe death of al-Mabhouh.

Al-Mabhouh was a senior commander and one of the founders of the Ezzedine al-Qassam Brigades, Hamas'armed wing.

Khaled Meshaal, Hamas' leader and himself a victim of an attempted Israeli assassination, pointed the finger of blame squarely at Mossad.

"The time for promises and talk of revenge is done. Now is the time for action," he said, addressing the Gaza rally via video from Damascus, where he is based.

'Professional hit'

Strategic Forecasting, or Statfor, a US-based non-governmental intelligence company, released its analysis of the Dubai tapes on Thursday, saying the suspected assassins operated in a way that was "calculated, well-choreographed and, most of all, indicative of a professional operation".

"The tactics and logistics involved in this operation were well beyond the capabilities of known terrorist organisations and all but a few national intelligence services," the report(subscription only) said.

Stratfor said the tapes, however, did not offer clues as to which specific agency carried out the attack.

Despite this, the AP news agency reports that some Israeli security officials are convinced Mossad was behind the operation- both because of the possible motives for the killing and the use of Israeli citizens' identities.

Israeli media has seen mixed reactions, with some praising al-Mabhouh's death, and others criticising a sloppy operation.

A front-page commentary in the daily newspaper Haaretz called for Meir Dagan, the head of Mossad, to be removed from office.

But a source close to Dagan told the Reuters news agency that the intelligence chief has no intention to resignbefore the end of his term later this year.

For Dagan to resign on the heels of a political row over al-Mabhouh's death would be to admit having had a role in it, the source said.


Meanwhile, the diplomatic spat looks set to intensify, with calls in Britain for Ron Prosor, the Israeli ambassador, to be expelled if he fails to provide adequate answers.

Auschwitz survivor sees Nazi acts in Israel

Source: PressTV
http://www.presstv.ir/detail.aspx?id=117179§ionid=351020202


A Nazi death camp survivor slams Israel over its occupation of Palestine, drawing an analogy between the Israeli army's indignations and the conduct of Nazi forces during World War II.

"The Israelis tried to dehumanize the Palestinians, just like the Nazis tried to dehumanize me," said Dr Hajo Meyer, 86, who survived 10 months in Auschwitz Nazi concentration camp in Poland.

"Nobody should dehumanize any other and those who try to dehumanize another are not human," he said at the beginning of his lecture in Scotland.

The octogenarian Holocaust survivor, who embarked on a 10-day tour of the UK and Ireland, called Israel "the world champion in pretending to be civilized and cultured."

The comments by Meyer have provoked a fresh outcry of "anti-Semitism" by hardline Jewish lobby groups.

However, Meyer, the Dutch-based author of three books on Judaism, the Holocaust and Zionism, dismissed "anti-Semite" labels hurled against him.

“Formerly an anti-Semite was somebody who hated Jews because they were Jews and had a Jewish soul. But nowadays an anti-Semite is somebody who is hated by Jews,” he stated.

A spokesman for the International Jewish Anti-Zionist Network, of which Dr. Meyer is a member of, backed the remarks.

“Hajo knows that Israel has a long history of abusing the tragic history of the Holocaust in order to suppress legitimate criticism of its own crimes," said the spokesman.