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Iran president promises nation will abide by nuclear deal

TEHRAN, Iran (AP) — Iran's President Hassan Rouhani on Friday pledged that his nation will abide by its commitments in the nuclear agreement reached the previous day in Switzerland.

Rouhani also called on world powers to fulfill their part of the deal, a reference to further lifting of sanctions imposed on Tehran over the controversial nuclear program.

"Everything we promised in the nuclear talks ... we will remain loyal (to) and stand by our promises," Rouhani said in a speech to the nation about the framework agreement. Iranians "do not seek to deceive" the international community, he added.

After a week of grueling negotiations, Iran and the six world powers announced a series of understandings on Thursday on how to curb Iran's nuclear program. They face a June 30 deadline for a final deal that is meant to cut significantly into Iran's bomb-capable technology while giving Tehran quick access to assets and markets blocked by international sanctions.

The deal was met with criticism by Iranian hard-liners but was overwhelmingly backed by the establishment.

Iran's Foreign Minister Mohammad Javad Zarif, who negotiated the agreement in Lausanne, Switzerland, received a hero's welcome upon his arrival back to Tehran on Friday.

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Iranian President Hassan Rouhani arrives for a news briefing at the Saadabad palace in Tehran, Iran, …

Crowds of cheering supporters surrounded Zarif's vehicle and chanted slogans supporting him and Rouhani. One of the chants also offered sarcastic "condolences" to both Israel and to the hard-line Kayhan newspaper, which has opposed the negotiations from the start.

Zarif tried to reassure Iranians that the country's nuclear program will continue but said any negotiation requires give and take. "It is not supposed to be one party receiving all the concessions and the other party surrendering," he said.

Zarif also expressed his gratitude for the support of Iran's Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei and said Thursday's understandings will be a "base for drafting the final agreement," in July.

If implemented, the deal will substantially pare back some Iranian nuclear assets for a decade and restrict others for an additional five years. It would be the first significant success for the United States and its partners in more than a decade of diplomatic efforts focusing on capping Tehran's nuclear advance.

Like Zarif, Rouhani also sought to reassure Iranians that the country will continue to enrich uranium — something it has always insisted was for peaceful purposes only but which the U.S. and its allies suspected was a cover for pursuing nuclear arms.

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Iranian Foreign Minister Mohammad Javad Zarif, who is also Iran's top nuclear negotiator, waves …

"Our enrichment and entire nuclear technology is only for the development of Iran," Rouhani said. "It will not be against regional countries or against the world."

A new chapter of "cooperation with the world" will begin when the final deal goes into effect after July, Rouhani added.

"Some think we have no option except to fight the world or to surrender. But there is a third way, too. We have to have cooperation with the world," said Rouhani.

Iranian hard-liners claimed the agreement was a bargain for the West and a disaster for Iran.

"We gave up a race-ready horse and we got in return a broken bridle," Hossein Shariatmadari, a Khamenei adviser and Kayhan's chief editor, told the semi-official Fars news agency.

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From left, EU High Representative for Foreign Affairs and Security Policy, Federica Mogherini, Irani …

Another conservative analyst, Mahdi Mohammad, referred to the Fordo underground uranium enrichment facility and told the news outlet that under the deal, "a disaster happened in Fordo."

As part of the Lausanne understandings, Iran agreed to stop enrichment at Fordo and change the facility to a nuclear research center.

Another member of the negotiating team — Ali Akbar Salehi, the head of Iran's atomic agency — said, "I see the future very bright and shining."

Ahmad Tavakkoli, a prominent conservative lawmaker, wrote a letter to Rouhani on Thursday, saying the agreement needs ratification by the country's conservative-dominated parliament.

But supporters of the negotiations have claimed that the nuclear talks have been conducted under the direct supervision of Khamenei, and therefore don't require parliamentary approval. Khamenei, who has final say on all state matters, has not made any public comment on the deal.

Related video:

World powers, Iran reach framework for nuke deal

PHILADELPHIA (AP) — A Philadelphia woman was arrested Friday on charges she tried to join and martyr herself for the Islamic State group, a day after two women in New York were charged with plotting to wage jihad by building a bomb and using it for a Boston Marathon-type attack.

Keonna Thomas, 30, was preparing to fly to Spain with hopes of reaching Syria to fight with the terror group, authorities said. Instead, she was arrested at her family's town house in a public housing development, which has three small U.S. flags adorning the porch.

Authorities said she communicated with an Islamic State group fighter in Syria who asked if she wanted to be part of a martyrdom operation. She told the fighter that the opportunity "would be amazing, ... a girl can only wish," according to the documents.

A federal magistrate ordered Thomas held pending a detention hearing Wednesday. Prosecutors will oppose bail.

Last month, Thomas bought a ticket to fly to Barcelona on March 29. She likely planned to take a bus to Istanbul and then reach Syria, according to an FBI affidavit filed in the case. Authorities put a stop to the trip when they raided her house March 27.

In court, Thomas wore a burqa as she acknowledged she understood the charge against her — attempting to provide material support and resources to a foreign terrorist organization. She was appointed a public defender, who did not comment on the charge.

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Thomas Dunn, the lawyer for Asia Siddiqui, talks to reporters outside U.S. Federal Court in Brooklyn …

Thomas appeared to show little emotion as she was led out of the house Friday morning in handcuffs, neighbor Ronni Patterson said. Patterson said she had seen investigators searching the home, where Thomas appeared to live with her mother and grandmother, a week ago.

"She came and went. She didn't bother no one," the neighbor said.

The women in the New York case are accused of plotting to wage violent jihad by building a bomb and using it for an attack like the 2013 Boston Marathon bombings. They were ordered held without bail after a brief court appearance Thursday. The lawyer for one of them said his client will plead not guilty.

Thomas is charged with attempting to provide material aid to terrorists, one of the same charges filed in 2010 against another Pennsylvania woman, Colleen LaRose, known as Jihad Jane, and two co-defendants in a terror plot that prosecutors say also involved online messages and recruitment for overseas terror suspects.

"The incentive for terrorists is (also) ... to create fear, just by that ability to recruit within the U.S. They want to show everyone they have geographic reach and appeal," said defense lawyer Jeremy Ibrahim, a former Justice Department lawyer who represented LaRose's co-defendant Jamie Paulin-Ramirez, of Colorado. "But when you look at who actually responds to their calling, the women tend to be vulnerable."

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This June 26, 1997 file booking photo released by the Tom Green County Jail in San Angelo, Texas, sh …

Authorities have said foreign terrorists seek U.S. women because their Western looks and American passports make it easier for them to travel overseas.

Thomas' posts in support of the Islamic State group started in August 2013, when she reposted a Twitter photograph of a boy holding weapons, authorities said. She called herself Fatayat Al Khilafah and YoungLioness and tweeted posts such as "When you're a mujahid, your death becomes a wedding," according to the FBI affidavit filed in the case. A mujahid is one who engages in jihad.

She began trying to raise money for the cause online and told a Somalia-based jihadi fighter from Minnesota that she soon hoped to have enough money to travel, authorities said.

She applied for a passport in February and on March 26 bought a round-trip ticket to fly to Barcelona — a tourist destination that would not raise eyebrows, the FBI affidavit said.

LaRose got a 10-year term in January for agreeing to kill a Swedish artist who had offended Muslims, while Paulin-Ramirez, who married an Algerian terror suspect the day she met him in Ireland, is serving eight years.

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Associated Press writer Sean Carlin contributed to this report.

Another U.S. woman held for trying to help IS

Keonna Thomas of Philadelphia was prepping to join the terror group and martyr herself, say authorities.
2 others accused of NYC plot

As secret meetings take place between Russian and U.S. intelligence officials, a nuclear threat has emerged.

Putin’s Russia willing to go nuclear over Crimean peninsula

According to a report in The Times of London based on secret notes of one of the participants, Russian President Vladimir Putin is prepared to engage in nuclear war to keep the U.S. and Nato out of his back yard. Putin made it clear that any attempt to take control of the Crimean peninsula by Ukraine or NATO led forces would result in a declaration of war where Russia would take any necessary step, including launching nuclear weapons, to maintain control.

In addition to the nuclear bluster, the intelligence report warned that Putin’s Russia was preparing for imminent “destabilizing actions” in the Baltics. Looking through Russia’s bag of black hat skills, the troubles that Estonia, Latvia and Lithuania might prepare to defend against includes the stoking of ethnic tensions and, perhaps its most lethal weapon of mass economic destruction, cyber warfare.

Is Putin’s bluster over Balkins a bluff or believable?

The bluster over the Balkins could be a negotiating chip, as Putin and Russian Foreign Minister Segei Lavrov desire is to get NATO, and their Baltic “rapid response” forces out of the region. Going further into their back yard, Russia wants to remove NATO’s stealthy black ops surrogates out of Ukraine. It is the resistance fighters who are finding a steady stream of arms and start to make the region look like an Afghanistan to Russian strategic planners. But it also might not be a bluff, which could be why the little nation of Lithuania, whose 2.9 million citizens make it about the same size as Utah.

Russia’s bold moves come as a tidal wave of patriotic sentiment is reported bursting out across the country. Such are the drums of war, as the political establishment, familiar with the societal mechanisms one might use to stoke the flames of hard-lined military aggression, appear to have their cowboy on. A massive parade scheduled to take place May 9 in Red Square is marking Russia’s assistance in defeating the Nazis in the second world war and is expected to further prod Russia’s military into battle mode. Russia apparently doesn’t look at its ally in the Middle East, Iran, and have similar concerns to the Nazi’s they celebrate defeating, even as Iran’s leaders publicly express their desire to hasten a particularly perplexing apocalyptic vision of the future.

Is World War Three taking shape on multiple battlefields?

It is rather odd that a fervor of nationalistic patriotism is sweeping Russia looks in some ways similar to George W. Bush’s folly to finger weapons of mass destruction in Iraq. In Bush’s misadventure, where the stubborn second generation heir to the Bush / Clinton thrown and his close advisers ignored repeated warnings from the locals — including Iraqi intelligence assets on the ground and the regionally wise Saudi Royal family — a war apparently has in fact opened the gates of hell.

It is clearly documented that a sectarian violence and a bloody religious hatred is driving a rebellion against more than a statist oligarchy. Much of the rebellion from the shores of Tripoli to the sands of Kenya to the Pakistani tribal regions seems to be a rebellion against civil society itself. Religion in this region cannot be ignored as a critical point driving a belief system, regardless of educational level. A recent Atlantic piece from Graeme Wood, “What Really ISIS Wants,” points to an undeniable truth.

The United States and its army of politically correct pundits cannot define the nature of Islam. As Wood notes, even those abhorred by brutality not witnessed since the days of the Crucifixion itself recognize that ISIS is basing its military and spiritual revolution on what are known accurate scripture references. While the overlords of politically correctness apparently have done a good job of suppressing the notion that what’s going on in the middle east is not a fanatical religious war that often isn’t driven by calm reason, Wood points to the obvious truth:

We are misled… by a well-intentioned but dishonest campaign to deny the Islamic State’s medieval religious nature. Peter Bergen, who produced the first interview with bin Laden in 1997, titled his first book Holy War, Inc. in part to acknowledge bin Laden as a creature of the modern secular world. Bin Laden corporatized terror and franchised it out.

When describing ISIS rank and file, Wood points to a people that want to advance what they see as a religious mandate that is often at war with civil society:

In conversation, they insist that they will not—cannot—waver from governing precepts that were embedded in Islam by the Prophet Muhammad and his earliest followers. They often speak in codes and allusions that sound odd or old-fashioned to non-Muslims, but refer to specific traditions and texts of early Islam.

This is not a negative comment on any one religion, but rather the cold reality that should be used, without bias when making decisions. It is steady thinking required that is similar to a calculated mathematical logic that could be executed by an algorithm executing a trade without bias or emotion of the situation.

This is the world war to the south, an apparently illogical and emotional foe bent on destroying what others enjoy in life. In the north their is Putin, who increasingly appears to represent an ego-bruised younger brother who one day plans to get back at the older brother. Both at times seem illogical and threatening.

Happy Easter everyone.

[Editor’s note: This is written as ISIS takes control over the Palestinian camps Franklin Lamb at one time told us so much about. It is our suspicion that the take-over is being coordinated by personnel at the US Embassy in Beirut aided by Bush era operatives tied to Condoleezza Rice and a network of Southern State extremists, old business partners of now imprisoned (by Obama) Victor Bout and his gun/nuke running network. Bout, supplier of the 9/11 demolitions, was a major player on the Washington scene, represented by a South Carolina based lobbying firm seen plying the cocktail circuit of Damascus on a regular basis.

Partnering with them is an organized crime group led by Russian and Israelis known as the Khazarian Mafia. Their “marriage of convenience” with right wing Christian fundamentalists, some tied to Rand Paul and his Tea Party bloc, supplies much of the military and public relations aid to ISIS. Planning is done primarily by the Rand Corporation and Jamestown and Heritage Foundations.

This is the group that knocked McCain out of the 2000 presidential race and worked to have Bush appointed president. This same group is tied to a murderous coup in Gambia in 1994 and made millions in Nigeria fronting for Cheney and Haliburton in the bribery scandal that almost led to the arrest and extradition of the then vice president.

Aiding them are “skin head” ultra-nationalists from Belgium and the remains of the P2 Freemasons of Gladio.

We are seeing Victoria Nuland’s hand and her friends we know from experience will down an airliner for amusement. We are also seeing the hand of Saudi Arabia here as well as Hamas representatives working with ISIS, funded with Saudi and Qatar cash seem to be putting together a very strange coalition. Israel has decided a civil war in Lebanon is in the cards.

This will force Syria back into Lebanon, which is increasingly becoming an ISIS staging area. The West, however, will take this as “naked aggression” and use this as a rationale for direct military action on behalf of ISIS against Syria. This is the card Netanyahu has been holding close to his vest for some time.

The other thing that has become increasingly clear is that America’s Christian Right is pouring cash through Israel knowingly to fund ISIS as an “end of days” player in their heretical apocalypse fantasy. This is highly confirmed…Gordon Duff. ]

– First published … April 02, 2015 -

What happens in Yemen currently transcends the Sunni-Shiite regional conflict and civil strife. It is actually a mischievous subversion to overwhelm the Middle East by employing ISIS as an instrumental stratagem to achieve endless geopolitical goals.

Very reliable sources have told “Aydinlik“ that the Saudi military intervention in Yemen marks the beginning of the demise of the Kingdom that will be bogged down in a “cursed bloody quagmire.”

Currently, there is a huge wrangle within the royal family house over the advisability of such an “escapade,” which resembles to a great extent the reckless act of ousted Iraqi President Saddam Husein when he invaded Kuwait, falling head-to-toe into the US trap, the repercussions of which culminated in the 2003 US invasion of Iraq.

“The United States is at present playing one side against the other in order to maintain a mercury balance that serves its own interests in the region. While the US fighter jets were bombing ISIS positions in Iraq, they struck deliberately the Iraqi resistance warriors who wanted to liberate Tikirt with the least American Help.

The Americans have significantly played down the Iraqi victory because it was not completely under their aegis. Paradoxically, the US fighter jets which pound ISIS positions in Iraq and Syria, release military equipment airdrops “by mistake” to those extremists who are waging a ferocious war against the Iraqi and Syrian regimes.”

The Russians and Iranians are quite aware of this double standard approach. They are of the belief that the US wants to disseminate Pandemonium in the region to attain long-terms objectives. One Russian experts says:

“The Americans do not have a steady policy, they squeeze out their allies and enemies to wield influence and then have the ultimate dominance over the wrangling parties.” It is incomprehensible to many foreign analysts, even Americans, how the US combat “Houthis” who are fight ISIS and Al-Qaida in Yemen, while supporting the Saudi-led coalition which is in reality feeding the terror network in Yemen and elsewhere with finance and logistics. It is absolutely weird?”

What happens now in the region is a proxy war between Saudi Arabia and Iran, which is currently involved in marathon nuclear program talks with ‘P5 plus one’ nations for accomplishing a landmark deal.

Our sources, monitoring the event, say that 95 percent of the pact was approved, while the other 5 percent is still pending because of Iran’s persistence on lifting the sanctions at one go in line with a UN resolution. Syrian think-tanker Dr. Bassam Barakat said:

“If this pact is inked, Iran will be the most ideal environment for attracting foreign investments after Russia. It can easily draw 800 billion dollars in light of the current economic stagnation.”

“Iran will have a pivotal role in the Middle East that will empower it to encounter Islamic extremism spread out by Saudi Arabia, Erdogan Government, and the Israeli lobbies. Iran’s adversaries are now taking advantage of the situation to score some points in its playing fields, before the historical accord signature.”

The Saudi-Turkish Axis flamed up the situation politically and militarily via their surrogates in a show of muscle-flexing and bravado that precedes the Beverly Hills White smoke.

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Gordon Duff, Senior Editor

Gordon Duff is a Marine combat veteran of the Vietnam War.He is a disabled veteran and has worked on veterans and POW issues for decades.

Gordon Duff is an accredited diplomat and is generally accepted as one of the top global intelligence specialists.He manages the world's largest private intelligence organization and regularly consults with governments challenged by security issues.

Gordon Duff has traveled extensively, is published around the world and is a regular guest on TV and radio in more than "several" countries.He is also a trained chef, wine enthusiast, avid motorcyclist and gunsmith specializing in historical weapons and restoration.Business experience and interests are in energy and defense technology.

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With supporters' help, Chelsea Manning starts tweeting

Wochit
Chelsea Manning is Officially on Twitter

Washington (AFP) - Chelsea Manning, the US soldier serving a 35-year prison sentence for passing a trove of secret documents to WikiLeaks, started posting on Twitter on Friday, with help from supporters.

Within minutes of her first tweets, Manning had recruited more than 5,000 followers under the handle @xychelsea.

In her initial tweets, Manning acknowledged she had no Internet access behind bars and that she was dictating comments to her supporters by telephone.

"Tweeting from prison reqs a lot of effort and using a voice phone to dictate #90s problems," she wrote.

But Manning, 27, said she still had hopes to promote a genuine online dialogue. "It will be hard, but I don't want this Twitter feed to be a one-way street/conversation."

Manning already writes occasional commentaries for The Guardian newspaper's American edition, offering her take on US foreign policy.

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This undated photo courtesy of the US Army shows Chelsea Manning, the US soldier sentenced to 35 yea …

The former army intelligence analyst was convicted in August 2013 of espionage and other offenses after admitting to handing over more than 700,000 classified documents, including military intelligence reports and State Department cables, to the anti-secrecy website WikiLeaks.

US officials describe Manning's document dump as the biggest leak of classified files in American history.

On Manning's request, judges have ordered the military to address Manning in gender-neutral or feminine terms in court documents as she completes her transition to life as a woman.

After months of legal wrangling, the US Army recently approved hormone therapy for Manning's gender "reassignment," an unprecedented step for the military.

Manning, who was formerly a male enlistee known as Bradley Manning, is serving out her sentence at Fort Leavenworth prison in Kansas.