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A recentAssociated Pressarticle (New York Times,3/17/20) headlined "IMF Rejects Maduro's Bid for Emergency Loan to Fight Virus" declared:

The request is an about-face for Maduro, who for years refused to share economic data with the Washington-based lender and just last month condemned it as a tool of U.S. imperialism. In the past he has called the IMF a blood-sucking "assassin" responsible for plunging millions of people into poverty across Latin America.

The request was not much of an "about-face" for Venezuela's President Nicols Maduro, because it was the same type ofdisaster relief loanthe International Monetary Fund (IMF) gave to Ecuador in 2016 under former President Rafael Correa, another blunt IMF critic, after a massive earthquake. The loan was not one of the IMF'sinfamous"structural adjustment loans" that impose a menu of right-wing economic policies such as tax cuts for the rich, privatization of state assets and public sector lay-offs.

The IMF's rejection of the $5 billion emergency loan for Venezuela is, all by itself, justification for Maduro's "assassin" and "tool of U.S. imperialism" charges against the fund.

The IMF said that it refused the loan because "there is no clarity" on whether the "international community" recognizes Maduro's government. This legalistic excuse is reprehensible, because Maduro's government is in power and is therefore the only entity positioned to actually respond to the pandemic with life-saving action. But there are two other huge problems with the excuse, neither of which were mentioned by theAP.

First of all, contrary to what the IMF claims, there is tremendous clarity that the "international community" recognizes Maduro's government. Five months ago, the United Nations General Assembly voted Maduro's government onto the Human Rights Council with 105 votes. That's about double the number of countries that go along with the U.S. in refusing to recognize Maduro ("more than 50," according to theAParticle). AsReuters(10/17/20) reported at the time of the General Assembly vote, Venezuela won the seat despite "fierce lobbying" against it by Washington. TheAPand other western outlets routinely report the number of countries that do not recognize Maduro's government (i.e., that go along with Trump), but never that the majority of UN member states clearly do recognize Maduro and even accord his government the status of a seat on an influential international body.

Another big problem with the IMF's excuse for rejecting the loan was that in 2002, when Venezuelan President Hugo Chvez was briefly ousted in a U.S.-backed military coup, the IMF rushed forward to offer loans to the coup-installed dictatorship. The dictatorship led by business leader Pedro Carmona was recognized by almost no other country in the world except the U.S. Carmona was only in power for two days, but the IMF managed to get out astatementsaying that it was "ready to assist the new administration in whatever manner they find suitable." The IMF spokesperson who said that,Thomas Dawson, is also a former U.S. State and Treasury Department official. In fact, even theAParticle about the IMF's rejection of Maduro's request says that the U.S. is its "biggest shareholder and has a veto over major decisions."

While the request for aid was not a big "about-face" for the Maduro government, the refusal was a dramatic change from the Mafioso-like "take our aid or else" stance the U.S. government took towards Venezuela only a year ago (FAIR.org, 2/9/19). On Feb.23, 2019, Washington attempted to smash "humanitarian aid" into Venezuela through its border with Colombia.At the time,Reuters, like many Western outlets, produced headlines like "U.S. Looking for Ways to Get Aid Into Venezuela: Envoy" (2/14/19), "Venezuela's Maduro Starts Shutting Borders to Block Humanitarian Aid" (2/21/19) and "After Venezuelan Troops Block Aid, Maduro Faces 'Diplomatic Siege'" (2/24/19). ACBCheadline (2/16/19) to aReutersreport read, "Aid for Venezuela Arrives at Border as Maduro Vows to Block Entry."

Washington's aim was to use this aid stunt to overthrow Maduro. The hope was that Venezuela's military would defy Maduro's order to stop the "aid" delivery, or that some act of violence at the border would incite a rebellion. Top U.S. officials at the time made absolutely no secret of their aims. One of Trump's top advisers, the now-fired John Bolton, tweeted:

Any actions by the Venezuelan military to condone or instigate violence against peaceful civilians at the Colombian and Brazilian borders will not be forgotten. Leaders still have time to make the right choice.

Sen. Marco Rubio, R-Fla., opted to obliquely threaten the families of Venezuela's top military officers as well (Twitter, 2/20/19):

.@Ivanr_HD you should think very carefully about the actions you take over the next few days in #Venezuela. Because your actions will determine how you spend the rest of your life.

Do you really want to be more loyal to #Maduro than to your own family?

Four big lies were used to depict this coup attempt as a humanitarian aid mission, and Western outlets likeReutersand theMiami Heraldsold all of them (FAIR,2/12/19):

A study by U.S. economists Mark Weisbrot and Jeffrey Sachs showed that Trump's imposition of broad financial sanctions in 2017 may have caused 40,000 deaths by the end of 2018 alone (FAIR.org, 6/14/19). Trump has repeatedly intensified the already lethal sanctions since recognizing Guaid as interim president in January 2019 (Reuters, 1/28/19, 6/6/19, 2/18/20).

All of this made clear that the U.S. government's concern was the opposite of what it claimed: It always wanted Venezuela's humanitarian situation to get worse, not better. The IMF loan rejection as the deadly coronavirus spreads puts a few exclamations points on that fact. But don't look for a flurry ofReutersheadlines announcing that "Trump Blocks $5 Billion Emergency IMF Loan From Reaching Venezuela During Pandemic."Reutersappears not to have even reported the loan rejection in English, as of March 24. OneReutersarticle (3/19/20) mentioned Venezuela's request, but not that the IMF had already rejected it.

TheWashington Posteditorial board (3/20/20) scolded Maduro for asking the IMF for a loan that "he must have known would be turned down." Yes, how terrible of Maduro to expose the boundless hypocrisy and cruelty of a foreign government that's trying to overthrow him. ThePostthen pretended that Maduro is somehow forcing Trump to maintain "sanctions that are strangling Venezuela's vital oil industry" by rejecting "compromise" with Guaid.

Iran's government has also requested an IMF emergency loan to fight the virus (Reuters,3/12/20). No response yet from the fund as I write this, but theNew York Timeshas reported (3/21/20) that Trump officials have beendebating whether to bomb Iran as it struggles with the virus and crippling U.S. sanctions. That's reason enough to applaud the Maduro government's request to have the International Criminal Court (ICC)investigatethe U.S. government for crimes against humanity over its use of sanctions.

For now, the odds of success in bringing U.S. officials to justice are very remote. Secretary of State Mike Pompeo has openly threatened to deny visas to the families of ICC judges if they try U.S. soldiers over war crimes in Afghanistan. Apologists for the U.S. in Western media have their work cut out for them, but history shows that they will descend to the task. Proving that Hellshouldexist, Eli Lake wrote aBloombergop-ed (3/22/20) headlined "The Coronavirus Is Not a Reason to Lift Sanctions on Iran."

Read this article:
Media struggles to justify cruelty to Iran and Venezuela amid spreading pandemic - Salon

But thanks chiefly to the efforts of the Levinson family and of former Senator Bill Nelson of Florida, where Mr. Levinson and his wife lived, the truth about his relationship with the C.I.A. slowly emerged. Over time, Mr. Levinsons family made repeated efforts either directly or through intermediaries to learn about his fate. His wife, Christine, and son Dan traveled to Tehran and to Kish Island.

After an internal investigation, the C.I.A. disciplined 10 employees, including the three veteran analysts who were forced to leave the agency. The C.I.A. eventually paid Mr. Levinsons family a $2.5 million annuity and an additional $120,000, the cost of renewing Mr. Levinsons contract. Both sides wanted to avoid a lawsuit that would publicly reveal details of the arrangement.

Mr. Levinson was last seen alive in a 2010 hostage video pleading for help and in photographs wearing a Guantnamo-style orange jumpsuit. Neither the video nor the images disclosed the identities of his captors. The video had a Pashtun wedding song popular in Afghanistan playing in the background, but F.B.I. investigators concluded that it was so artfully staged that it was probably made by a state-sponsored intelligence group.

At one point during the Obama administration, Iranian officials secretly informed American officials that they had received intelligence that the remains of an American had been buried in Balochistan, a rugged, lawless region in western Pakistan that borders Afghanistan and Iran. Americans officials assumed that the remains were Mr. Levinsons.

But the Pakistani authorities found no remains at the site, and American officials concluded that the report, rather than a gesture of good will, was a gambit by Iran to further cloud its role in Mr. Levinsons fate.

During the Obama administration, officials overseeing efforts to find him had no clear evidence that Mr. Levinson was either alive or dead.

Last year, Iran acknowledged for the first time that it had an open court case involving Mr. Levinson. In a filing to the United Nations, Iran said the case was ongoing before its Revolutionary Court, without elaborating.

Read the original:
Ex-F.B.I. Agent Who Vanished on C.I.A. Mission to Iran Is Most Likely Dead, U.S. Concludes - The New York Times

Tensions between Tehran and Washington further deteriorated in early January, when top Iranian general Qasem Soleimani was assassinated in a US drone strike on his car in Baghdad.

Major General Hossein Salami, Chief Commander of Irans Islamic Revolutionary Guards Corps (IRGC), has urged the US to use its military for domestic purposes instead of sending it abroad.

When the Americans are in the region, they will both harm themselves and the nations [in the region], and their existence results in nothing but the deterioration of their own power and damage to these nations, Salami pointed out on Saturday.

He referred toan IRGC missile attack on a US airbase in January, saying that some US officials announced after the strike that they wanted to carry out limited operations against the Iranians, which was no more than a political bluff".

Salami noted that after Washington tested the power of the Islamic Republic, the US knows very well how Iran will react to any efforts to undermine it.

He called on US officials to really care about the lives of their people in New York and the states involved with coronavirus rather than thinking about Hollywood scenarios and killing people in Iraq.

Instead of deploying their troops around the world to displace people, it is better to keep their army in the United States to solve the problems of its people, like Iran, which has used its armed forces to fight the coronavirus, Salami said, adding that from the first day of the coronavirus outbreak in Iran, Tehran used all the capabilities of the IRGC [] to combat the virus.

Iran hasthe highest COVID-19 infection ratesin the Middle East and ranks sixth in the world in total infections after the US, China, Italy, Spain, and Germany.

Salamis remarks come after he signaled on Thursday Irans readiness to help the US grapple with the coronavirus, adding that Tehran doesnt need Washingtons assistance in this regard.

The statement followed Salami pledging last week that Iran will continue to respond to the US assassination of the top Iranian general in Iraq earlier this year.

The Americans assassinated our great commander. We have responded to that terrorist act and will respond to it, Salami said in a televised address.

Salami also commented on the economic situation in the country amid the tough US sanctions against Iran, stressing that Tehrans enemies have not been able to subjugate Iran through economic pressure".

Assassination of Qasem Soleimani

On 3 January, a US drone strike, authorised by President Trump, killed Soleimani and Shia militia commander Abu Mahdi Muhandis who both were in a car at the Baghdad International Airport. Washington alleged that the two men were involved in an attack on the US Embassy in Baghdad in late December.

Soleimanis assassination led toa major escalation of tensions between Tehran and Washington, with Iran officially responding by launching airstrikes against two Iraqi military bases housing US troops.

The strikes caused no deaths or serious injuries, but the Pentagon has since reported that at least 109 US servicemembers have been diagnosed with traumatic brain injuries.

Bilateral tensions have been simmering since Trump announcedWashington's unilateral withdrawal from the 2015 Iran nuclear deal, or the Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action (JCPOA), on 8 May 2019, also reinstating harsh economic sanctions against the Islamic Republic. Exactly a year later, Iran announced that it was suspending implementation of some of its obligations under the JCPOA.

See original here:
IRGC hief warns US not to further test the Power of Iran - The Nation

A group of artistes from Iran have written a moving open letter to the artiste community of the world about the despairing COVID-19 pandemic in Iran, aggravated in the light of the U.S.-led Security Council sanctions. The signatories 302 as of March 28 include stalwarts of cinema such as Majid Majidi and Rakshan Banietemad, popular actor-filmmaker-writer Niki Karimi, actor Babak Karimi and Shahab Hosseini who won the best actor award at Cannes Film Festival in 2016 for Asghar Farhadis celebrated film, The Salesman.

The people of Iran are facing a crisis today; the Corona crisis you are aware of, as well as the Crisis of Unjust Imposed Sanctions you might not be aware of, the artistes letter states. There is implicit hope that their global counterparts would be able to influence public opinion and politicians so that theyd act before its too late. Iran is currently fighting the worst Corona outbreak in the Middle East.

The letter starts off by saying that artistes, no matter what their nationality, are citizens of a borderless utopia called art which exists in a world entitled culture . They strive to improve their nations with their collective works and have talent to influence people and make them understand issues. Regardless of our religious backgrounds and ideologies, using our individual tastes, styles and cultural characteristics, we all create narratives and images with our works of art; for peace over war, knowledge over ignorance, good over evil, and of course for our salvation and resurrection, the letter states.

It goes on to say that though global politics and its superpowers have created gaps to keep the artistes separated, they have become stronger and more determined in transferring their collective messages of humanity and peace to the world.

It talks of everyone, regardless of their geographic or political situation, coming face to face with a common enemy COVID-19. We are all equally vulnerable to this microscopic adversary. The salvation of one, depends on the salvation of all. Corona is not just a virus, it is a simple and historic question that is waiting for complex answers from the people and governments of the world. It then goes on to focus on the debilitating effect of the sanctions on Iran in the countrys fight against the pandemic saying that its breaths are limited by inhumane global sanctions.

Also read: Indias health diplomacy cannot ignore Iran

This crisis shall pass too, with small or catastrophic losses, but the collection of tales will remain as well. The stories of exhausted nurses dancing in contaminated hospital hallways to raise the morale of patients, as they hide their worries about the lack of medicines and basic hospital facilities; stories of physicians who havent been home in weeks and are forced to work without masks, gloves, gowns as they search for Corona victims in the hallways of the hospitals. These will all remain in the micro-historical memories of our time, and will be heard by all, sooner or later, either from us or from you all, it states.

Hoping that it will not be too late for influential and unified artistes of the world to tell the stories of the injustices towards the Iranian people, so that the powerful politicians of the world may make the right choices, it informs them that a large number of infected victims (including the elderly who are the most vulnerable) are facing shortages of medical supplies. It ends with questions posited to the artistes of the world What do you think? What do you say? And what will you do?

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Continued here:
Coronavirus | Iranian artistes write open letter on COVID-19 and U.S. sanctions - The Hindu

March 27, 2020, 8:57 PM

6 min read

6 min read

Iran, already struggling to fight the growing spread of novel coronavirus, is now coming to grips with an alcohol poisoning problem that has killed hundreds of people this year.

In the wake of the deaths, officials initially blamed misinformation on social media for convincing victims that drinking alcohol could protect them against coronavirus. But a change in explanation from doctors is opening eyes to a larger problem of bootleg alcohol in the country.

"The first few days we all thought patients had drunken alcohol to protect themselves of corona, as some of them claimed so," Gholam Hosein Mohebbi, head of the public relation of Imam Hospital of Ahwaz, told ABC News.

"But later we realized from their families and friends that they were mostly alcohol users who would get their alcohol from bootleggers, but this time what they had been handed over was a methanol-based drink, not their usual booze, named araq, mixed with water and ethanol," he added.

Trading and drinking alcohol is illegal in Iran, and those seeking alcoholic drinks often rely on a chain of black market dealers without knowing where and how the drinks are produced. The dealers themselves are often not sure of the source of the alcohol.

Members of firefighters wear protective face masks, amid fear of coronavirus disease, as they disinfect the streets, ahead of the Iranian New Year Nowruz, March 20, in Tehran, Iran March 18, 2020.

"One of those [who] died of poisoning in our hospital was an alcohol dealer," Mohebbi said, cautioning people not to trust anyone selling alcoholic drinks and pleading on behalf of a medical staff already overwhelmed with coronavirus infections.

At least 2,197 people have been poisoned by alcohol across the country since the first reported cases of coronavirus in early February and 244 had died as of Sunday, Tasnim News Agency reported.

Iran is already reeling from the coronavirus pandemic; it is the hardest hit country in the Middle East.

The country has an official death toll of 2,378 from 32,332 infection cases, the spokesman of the health ministry, Kianoush Jahanpour, said on Friday, according to the Iranian Students' News Agency.

The rising number of poisoning casualties alarmed other alcohol users to avoid trusting their former dealers.

"People are afraid of buying booze from their dealers," said a 29-year old student who did not want his name to be mentioned for security reasons. He lives in Ahwaz, the capital of the province of Khuzastan, which ranks second in the number of alcohol poisoning casualties. The shortage and increasing price of ethanol has led some producers to end up adding poisonous methanol to the drinks instead of drinkable ethanol, he believes.

"My friend has started making alcohol at home after he lost a friend to poisoning earlier this month," he added.

However, making alcohol at home can also be dangerous.

"If you are unfamiliar with the process, you might end up poisoning your own stuff with a minor mistake. That's why I can't trust his first products," the student said. He said he rejected his friend's invitation to a drink at his place.

"I said no, but can't stop thinking about him as he is an alcoholic and can't just quit easily, especially now with so much free time he has under quarantine," he added.

Members of Iranian Red Crescent test people with possible coronavirus COVID-19 symptoms, as police blocked Tehran to Alborz highway to check every car following ordered by the Iranian government, outside Tehran on March 26, 2020.

Mohebbi expressed his concerns about people with alcohol problems, too.

"We know that those who have alcohol problem[s] have a tough time, but it is banned in our religion. I hope they try to stop drinking at least for now," Mohebbi said.

Despite the illegality of drinking alcohol, those who are poisoned and taken to the hospital are not being prosecuted or arrested, Mohebbi emphasized.

"As medical staff, we are loyal to our duty, which is treating everyone. It doesn't matter if a patient is poisoned by alcohol or is infected by corona," he said. However, to reach the main sources of methanol contamination, police ask questions from the patients.

"Police does not pressure the patients at all. They just try to gain as much information as they can to find the source and prevent more casualties," Mohebbi said.

Go here to see the original:
Iran confronts deadly alcohol crisis in midst of dealing with coronavirus - ABC News