Justice, Freedom Common Goals of Human Beings

President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad has stressed the unique and prominent role of scholars and academics in reforming societies and facilitating the realization of the ideals of humankind.
Addressing the International Conference of Muslim University Professors and Islamic Awakening in Tehran on Monday, Ahmadinejad said scholars and scientists must improve the world by enhancing knowledge, reported Press TV.
The two-day conference, held with the theme of advancing justice and religious democracy, began on Monday in a ceremony attended by Secretary General of the World Assembly of Islamic Awakening Ali Akbar Velayati.
Representatives from 70 countries as well as 500 foreign and Iranian professors are participating in the conference.
“The problems that you see, including oppression, arrogance, wars, acts of occupation, massacres, the issue of Palestine, slavery, imperialism, systematic plundering of nations’ wealth and killings, have all occurred because some people have forgotten their human truth,” the president added.
The president said reaching the pinnacle of perfection and realizing the rule of justice and freedom in the world is the common goal of all human beings.
“Islam belongs to all human beings; therefore, Islamic Awakening also belongs to all human beings in the world,” Ahmadinejad said.

Gaza Victory Result of Islamic Awakening
Speaking at the conference, Velayati also described Gaza’s victory over Israel as an important achievement of Islamic Awakening.

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Georgia, Russia to Hold First Direct Talks Since War

Georgia and Russia are to hold their first direct diplomatic talks since the arch-foes severed ties after the 2008 war over the separatist region of South Ossetia, Georgia’s foreign minister said on Monday.
Georgian Prime Minister Bidzina Ivanishvili’s special representative for Russia Zurab Abashidze will meet Russian diplomats “this week in Europe,” Foreign Minister Maia Panjikidze told journalists, declining to specify the location, AFP reported.
“We may not expect any concrete positive outcome from this meeting, but the fact that a first meeting takes place is already positive,” she added.
Georgia and Russia have not had diplomatic relations since the brief 2008 war and the Kremlin refuses to have any dealings with President Mikheil Saakashvili.
Ivanishvili made normalizing ties with Russia his foreign policy priority after his Georgian Dream coalition defeated Saakashvili’s party in a parliamentary election two months ago. He has however vowed to maintain Saakashvili’s pro-Western course and continue Georgia’s bid to join NATO and the European Union--an ambition strongly opposed by Russia.

Damascus Meeting Pursues Tehran Approvals

The Monitoring Committee for the Syrian ‘National Dialog’ held its first meeting in Damascus on Monday to pursue the approvals of the conference held in Tehran which was attended by representatives of the Syrian opposition and government in mid-November.
Syrian political and religious sides who participated in the ‘National Dialog’ conference in Tehran at the initiative of the Islamic Republic had agreed in the conference’s communiqué to hold a committee meeting in Damascus to pursue the status of ‘National Dialog’ and approvals of the Tehran meeting, Fars News Agency reported.
The Monitoring Committee meeting kicked off in Damascus Monday with 30 representatives and Iranian chargé d’affaires to Syria Abbas Golrou in attendance.

Iran Appreciated
The participants appreciated Iran’s initiative to host the conference between representatives of the Syrian government and opposition figures, describing it a ‘big and important’ step to reach a national understanding in Syria, Golrou said.
They also stressed the importance of implementing the contents of the communiqué, he said.

US Blamed for Climate Talks Failure

Even as international climate talks ended this weekend with no new commitments on carbon emissions or climate aid from the United States, some believe the Americans would not be let off so easily the next time around.
Other countries are watching to see if the Obama administration will back up post-election comments about climate change with renewed efforts to cut emissions at home, and pave the way for more ambitious targets as work proceeds to adopt a new global climate pact in 2015. The two-week talks in Doha ended with an extension of the Kyoto Protocol, which was to expire this year, but which now will only cover 15 percent of global emissions since several developed countries, including Japan and Canada, have opted out. The US never ratified the accord, AP reported.
European Union Climate Commissioner Connie Hedegaard said on Sunday the US negotiators were “careful not to block” the negotiations, adding that it’s still difficult to know whether they will actually invest political capital in committing to a new international deal. In an emailed comment to AP, Hedegaard said she hopes Obama will not only present an enhanced domestic climate policy but also an enhanced US engagement and willingness to commit more in an international climate context. Both rich and poor countries have long accused the US of hampering the global effort to fight climate change, which scientists say is raising sea levels, threatening low-lying areas and island nations, and shifting weather patterns with impacts on droughts, floods and the frequency of devastating storms.

Captured RQ-170 Drone Fully Decoded

Senior Iranian commander Brigadier General Amir-Ali Hajizadeh said all data on the US RQ-170 drone previously captured by Iran has been decoded by the Islamic Republic.
“All the intelligence existing in this drone has been completely decoded and extracted and we know every step it has taken (during its missions),” Commander of the Islamic Revolution’s Guards Corps (IRGC) Aerospace Force told reporters in Tehran on Monday, Fars News Agency reported.
In December 2011, the Iranian military grounded a US RQ-170 spy aircraft while it was flying over the city of Kashmar, some 140 miles (225km) from the Afghan border.
The stealth drone was downed by Iran through a sophisticated cyber attack.
The commander further revealed some of the data taken from the aircraft’s intelligence system, and added, “The US President (Barack Obama) had told Israeli officials that the drone was tasked with spying on Iran’s nuclear program, but our experts found after decoding the drone that it had not performed even a single nuclear mission over Iran.
This, he said, reveals that the Americans are treating the nuclear issue (of Iran) as an excuse to conduct hostile moves, including spying operations, against Iran. The unmanned surveillance plane lost by the United States in Iran was a stealth aircraft being used for secret missions by the CIA.

Silver for Iran’s Female Shooters

The Iranian female shooting team finished second in the trapshooting in India’s clay pigeon shooting competitions, the secretary of Iran’s Shooting Federation said.
Navvab Nouri told IRNA that Sepideh Sirani, Narges Ranjbar, and Fatemeh Amir-Behzadi won silver medal in the team competition category of India’s trapshooting contests.
He noted that Sirani also won bronze medal in single trapshooting contests.
The 2nd Asian Shotgun Shootings Competitions were held in commemoration of the former head of India’s National Olympic Committee, Singh Mahinder in India’s Patiala from November 29 to December 9.
Trapshooting is one of the three major disciplines of competitive clay pigeon shooting (shotgun shooting at clay targets). The other disciplines are Skeet shooting and Sporting Clays. Within each discipline, there are also several variations.
Trapshooting is shot throughout the world’s countries. Trapshooting variants include but are not limited to international varieties Olympic trap, also known as ‘International Trap’; Double trap (also an Olympic event), Down-The-Line, also known as ‘DTL’ and Nordic Trap. American Trap is the predominant version in the United States and Canada.

Ex-US Policy Makers:Washington Should Ease Sanctions

A group of US national security professionals issued a report, suggesting that the US sanctions on Iran should ease as they do not offer a way forward.
The report, titled ‘Weighing Benefits and Costs of International Sanctions Against Iran’, was published by more than three dozen former US foreign-policy makers, military officers, and independent experts, Press TV reported on Monday.
“It is not clear that these sanctions alone will result in agreements or changes in Iranian policies,” the report said.
It added that Iran is unlikely to curb its nuclear program if Washington and its western allies do not ease economic sanctions. The 38 signatories include three Republican former cabinet secretaries, former Federal Reserve Chairman Paul Volcker, and some retired Army and Marine Corps generals.
The report also said the sanctions have decreased the quality of life for average Iranians, creating new international patterns of trade, which has resulted in increased market share for Chinese and Indian goods in Iran.
“So far, neither the United States nor the UN Security Council has stipulated the precise criteria that Iran must meet to trigger the lifting of sanctions, or the sanctions that would be lifted in exchange for Iran’s actions,” the 86-page report said.
On November 30, the US Senate approved a new round of sanctions against Iran’s energy, port, shipping, and shipbuilding sectors.

Riding the Winds

Since the beginning of history, human beings have always had conflicts among each other. From the love rivalry between Abel and Cain through which Cain committed the first crime in humanity by killing his brother, till conflicts on tribal issues, recourses, water, land, trade, ownership, race, religion, beliefs, etc. There have always been conflicts on what each side considers to be right, and these conflicts will continue till the end of humanity.
Almost all countries have disputes with their neighbors mainly on border issues or natural resources. Some talk; some go to international courts; some fight for a section of their right and some keep issues quiet till the right time. Some weigh and calculate the gain or loss over claiming for their rights. If they understand that they will have more benefits than losses, then they would claim their rights. Sometimes, some may consider rights for themselves that never belonged to them, which may be solved through bilateral talks.
It was a big introduction I had to start my article with, I but hope it wasn’t boring. All above issues has happened naturally throughout history and will continue to happen. But nowadays a new policy of ‘divide and rule’ is penetrating the normal situations and some countries sow seeds of hatred and distrust between two or more other countries to be able to rule over them.
Some countries, mainly those in control of international mass media, exaggerate small schisms between two countries and blow a balloon filled with empty air in an attempt to fish in troubled waters. They are playing with this tool between Iran and its neighbors, mainly Arab countries of the Persian Gulf. When you talk to officials from both sides you find them all understanding the issues and trying to narrow gaps between their countries. But suddenly grubbed puppets disturb all measures for solving any argument, and some media either intentionally or unintentionally fall in the trap. They fan the flames and manage the situation toward what the enemies of regional countries want.
Due to the nature of my work, I have had off-the-record talks with many high ranking officials from all sides.

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