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Giuliani Notes: National Journal Insider’s Poll
The Democrats are no longer sweating a fading McCain but foresee geographic problems with a Giuliani GOP nomination.
Like Flap said the first time.
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Technorati Tags: RudyGiuliani
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Iran Watch: Iran May Charge British Sailors
Update:
Iran says it is now interrogating the British sailors.
AP: Iran may charge British sailors
Iran warned that 15 British sailors and marines could face charges for allegedly entering Iranian waters and rejected British requests to meet with the servicemen detained off the coast of Iraq.
Iranian Foreign Minister Manouchehr Mottaki threatened unspecified consequences for the Royal Navy crew in comments to reporters in New York on Sunday, describing the charge against them as “illegal entrance into Iranian waters.”
“In terms of legal issues, it’s under investigation,” Mottaki said.
Iraq’s foreign minister demanded that Iran release the servicemen who were captured Friday, saying they had been detained in Iraqi waters and were operating with government consent, a statement from his office said Monday.
Foreign Minister Hoshyar Zebari discussed the issue with Mottaki on Sunday and “called for their release and for addressing their issue legally and wisely,” the statement said.
Meanwhile, Iranian state television on Monday quoted Deputy Foreign Minister Mehzi Mostafavi as saying that Iran was not aiming to swap the British servicemen for five Iranians who were arrested in northern Iraq.
The Brits cannot be too happy with this turn of events. Prime Minister Tony Blair has already vehemently protested, warning Iran that its seizure was “unjustified and wrongâ€, insisting the sailors and marines were taken from Iraqi waters.
Iranian Foreign Minister Manouchehr Mottaki speaks during a news conference in New York March 25, 2007. Iran is considering charging 15 British sailors with illegally entering its waters and may grant Britain access to its navy personnel when Tehran’s investigation is complete, Mottaki said on Sunday.
In comments read out by a newscaster, Mostafavi did not say what Iran plans to do with the British servicemen, but he said they were being interrogated.
“Iran has enough evidence to prove that the British Forces personnel were detained in Iranian waters,” he said. He added that the British government was accountable for their actions.
The capture and detention of the British service personnel increased tensions between Iran and the West that already were high over Tehran’s nuclear program and allegations that Iran is interfering with the U.S.-led war in Iraq.
And this is not the first time that British sailors have been captured by the Iranians. In 2004 six British marines and two sailors were captured, then paraded blindfolded on Iranian television. They admitted they had entered Iranian waters illegally but were released unharmed after three days.
The area will remain a “FLASH POINT” for potential escalation until the Brits are released.
Will the British people now swing to majority support of Tony Blair’s policies in the region?
Stay tuned……
British soliders patrol the waterways close to an oil terminal near the Iraqi city of Basra in 2005. British Prime Minister Tony Blair on Sunday called Iran’s seizure of 15 British naval personnel “unjustified and wrong” as international pressure grew on Iran over the new diplomatic crisis.
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Iran Watch: Iran to Try Brits for Spying?
Iran Watch: British Troops Transported To Tehran
Iran Watch: Are Seized British Troops Hostages?
Iran Nuclear Watch: Ahmadinejad Cancels United Nations Appearance
Iran Watch: Iran Seizes British Sailors in Iraq Waters
Technorati Tags: Iran, Iraq, Britain, UnitedKingdomYahyaRahimSafavi
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Day By Day by Chris Muir March 26, 2007
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Cox & Forkum: Misfire
Cox & Forkum: Misfire
FOX News: Iran to Suspend Cooperation With Nuke Watchdog Over Sanctions.
Iran isn’t backing down after a unanimous vote by the U.N. Security Council to impose sanctions, announcing Sunday that it will partially suspend cooperation with the U.N. nuclear watchdog agency and will be adjusting relations with those nations who voted for sanctions.
Iranian officials called the vote by the U.N. Security Council in response to Tehran’s refusal to stop enriching uranium “illegal and bullying.”
“The Security Council has to be aware of its own position and status. Actions that are illegal, unwarranted and unjustified will reduce the credibility of the Security Council,” Iranian Foreign Minister Manouchehr Mottaki said through a translator while in New York.
“A few select countries don’t have the right to abuse the Security Council,” Mottaki added.
In response to the vote, the Iranian Cabinet also decided to stop informing U.N.’s International Atomic Energy Agency of any new steps or decisions in its uclear weapons program, Gholam Hossein Elham, a government spokesman said on state television.
Sunday’s decision is a response to “Saturday night’s illegal and bullying resolution by the Security Council,” Elham said. The suspension of cooperation “will continue until Iran’s nuclear case is referred back to the IAEA from the U.N Security Council.”
While Iran stands firm against the world, international pressure continues to mount for Tehran to release 15 British soldiers who Iranian officials say had crossed into Tehran’s territory. Accused of trespassing, Britain says the sailors and marines were conducting a routine inspection of a merchant ship in the disputed Shatt Al-Arab waterway between Iran and Iraq when they were captured Friday by Iranian forces.
Of course, even the watered down and feckless United Nations sanctions are not enough to persuade Iran and its Mullahs to foresake their quest for nuclear weapons.
And who cares if Iran stops cooperating with the IAEA?
The Iranian secret nuclear weapons development program is not being monitored by anyone.
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Technorati Tags: Cox&ForkumIran
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Giuliani Notes: Rudy Wins Ohio GOP Straw Poll
Former New York Mayor Rudy Giuliani, left, speaks at a Republican fundraiser in Newport Beach, Calif., Saturday, March 24, 2007. Giuliani’s candidacy for the Republican presidential nomination was endorsed by U.S. Rep. Ed Royce, R-Calif., standing at right with his wife, Marie Royce.
Republican straw poll favors Giuliani
In what might be an early indication of the nation’s thinking on the next Republican presidential nominee, former New York Mayor Rudy Giuliani won a straw poll Saturday night with 233 votes at the Summit County party’s annual Lincoln Day Dinner in downtown Akron.
Giuliani’s total was 31 percent of the 752 votes cast in the straw poll.
Finishing second with 194 votes, or 26 percent, was U.S. Sen. John McCain of Arizona. Former U.S. Sen. Fred Thompson of Tennessee was a distant third with 91 votes.
The poll results:
Rudy Giuliani – 31%
John McCain – 26%
Fred Thompson – 12%
Mitt Romney – 8%
The sample size is small but a win is a win.
And for Mitt Romney a DEVASTATING result. It can be said GOP voters are rejecting his campaign.
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Technorati Tags: RudyGiuliani
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Day By Day by Chris Muir March 25, 2007
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Giuliani Notes: California Rep. Ed Royce Endorses Rudy
Former New York Mayor Rudy Giuliani speaks at a Republican fundraiser in Newport Beach, Calif., Saturday, March 24, 2007. Giuliani was endorsed by U.S. Rep. Ed Royce, R-Calif.
Raymond Puzio, right, greets Republican presidential candidate Rudy Giuliani as he sat down at a table before being introduced at a Republican fundraiser in Newport Beach, Calif., Saturday, March 24, 2007.
The Mayor will be attending a private fundraiser tomorrow in Montecito (Santa Barbara) California.
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Technorati Tags: RudyGiuliani
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John McCain Watch: McCain Won’t Meet Fundraising Goals
Republican presidential hopeful U.S. Sen. John McCain of Arizona, center, talks with Linda and James Clark of Monroe, N.H. after speaking at a town hall style meeting Saturday, March 24, 2007 in Littleton, N.H. Linda said that she is solidly behind McCain, while James is leaning toward supporting McCain but is still researching the field.
McCain: We Won’t Meet Fundraising Goals
Sen. John McCain said his presidential campaign would not meet its fundraising goals this quarter, and his campaign advisers acknowledged that ex-MA Gov. Mitt Romney may wind up raising more.
“We’re going to pay a price for it because we got a late start,” McCain told reporters in New Hampshire. “We’re not going to meet the goals we had.” He later said he did not know whether Romney would outpace him, but his advisers did not downplay that possibility. They also did not rule out finishing first.
McCain contends that his exploratory committee’s opening in December and the rush of the busy holiday season did not allow his campaign to begin fundraising in earnest until January. But once that month began, owing in part to a busy Senate schedule, McCain attended only two fundraisers and only two in February. There are twenty scheduled for all of this month, and another twenty in April.
“These are moments, none of which at the end of the day impact winning the nomination,” said John Weaver, McCain’s chief strategist. “We’re on track to do that. Every campaign would trade places with us. We wouldn’t trade places with anyone else.”
The six month fundraising figure out in mid-July is a more accurate figure. But, why is McCain lowering expectations?
Flap expects good fundraising totals by all of the top three candidates.
But, McCain has been fading in the polls and Romney has had a campaign that never really has caught fire.
And Giuliani is keeping pace with good solid fundraising and excellent poll numbers.
What can this all mean?
Flap will tell you around the last week of July.
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John McCain Watch: The ANSWER ? to McCain Blames Club for Growth for Loss of Senate Majority
John McCain Watch: McCain Blames Club for Growth for Loss of Senate Majority
John McCain Watch: Age and Health Questions Plague McCain
John McCain Watch: I’ll Close GITMO
John McCain Watch: Iraq Could End His Career
President 2008 Watch: Arnold Schwarzenegger – No Presidential Primary Endorsement
John McCain Watch: The Blame Game
Technorati Tags: JohnMcCain
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Iran Watch: Iran to Try Brits for Spying?
Iran ‘to try Britons for espionage’
FIFTEEN British sailors and marines arrested by Iran’s Revolutionary Guards off the coast of Iraq may be charged with spying.
A website run by associates of Mahmoud Ahmadinejad, the Iranian president, reported last night that the Britons would be put before a court and indicted.
Referring to them as “insurgentsâ€, the site concluded: “If it is proven that they deliberately entered Iranian territory, they will be charged with espionage. If that is proven, they can expect a very serious penalty since according to Iranian law, espionage is one of the most serious offences.â€
The warning followed claims by Iranian officials that the British navy personnel had been taken to Tehran, the capital, to explain their “aggressive action†in entering Iranian waters. British officials insist the servicemen were in Iraqi waters when they were held.
The penalty in Iran for espionage is death.
But, what is the REAL FLAP here?
1. Is this an annoying repeat of the 2004 capture of British troops? The Brits were accused of spying, blindfolded, paraded around on Iranian television, did not appear in court and were freed after three days.
2. Retribution for United Nations Security Council nuclear sanctions approved today?
Gen. Yahya Rahim Safavi, the chief of the Iranian Revolutionary Guards, left, and President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad, right, review an honor guard, at a base of the Basij paramilitary, in Tehran, Iran, in this Sunday, Oct. 30, 2005, photo.
3. A Cold-War type trade of soldiers? Fifteen Brits for the five Iranian Quds Revolutionary Guards captured in Iraq by American forces.
4. Official Iranian terrorist policy? The tactic had been approved by Ayatollah Khamenei, Iran’s supreme leader, who warned last week that Tehran would take “illegal actions†if necessary to maintain its right to develop a nuclear program.
5. Actions of Chief of the Iranian Revolutionary Guards, General Yahya Rahim Safavi, who is pissed that some of his people have recently defected to the West and that United Nations sanctions are affecting his personal finances?
Admiral Sir Alan West, the former head of the Royal Navy, dismissed suggestions that the British boats might have been in Iranian waters. West, who was first sea lord when the previous arrests took place in June 2004, said satellite tracking systems had shown then that the Iranians were lying and the same was certain to be true now.
Stay tuned…..
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Iran Watch: British Troops Transported To Tehran
Iran Watch: Are Seized British Troops Hostages?
Iran Nuclear Watch: Ahmadinejad Cancels United Nations Appearance
Iran Watch: Iran Seizes British Sailors in Iraq Waters
Technorati Tags: Iran, Iraq, Britain, UnitedKingdomYahyaRahimSafavi
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Iran Nuclear Watch: United Nations Security Council Approves New Iran Sanctions
Acting US Ambassador to the United Nations Alejandro Wolff speaks during a UN Security Council meeting on broader sanctions against Iran at the United Nations in New York. The UN Security Council Saturday slapped new sanctions on Iran to pressure Tehran into suspending its sensitive nuclear program which some powers fear masks a bid to develop atomic weapons.
AP: U.N. unanimously approves Iran sanctions
The U.N. Security Council unanimously voted Saturday to impose new sanctions against
Iran for its refusal to stop enriching uranium — a move intended to show Tehran that defiance will leave it increasingly isolated.The moderately tougher sanctions include banning Iranian arms exports, and freezing the assets of 28 people and organizations involved in Iran’s nuclear and missile programs.
About a third of those are linked to the Revolutionary Guard, an elite military corps.
“This resolution sends an unambiguous signal to the government and people of Iran … that the path of nuclear proliferation by Iran is not one that the international community can accept,” said British Ambassador Emyr Jones Parry.
In December, the 15-member Security Council ordered all countries to stop supplying Iran with materials and technology that could contribute to its nuclear and missile programs. It also ordered a freeze on assets of 10 key Iranian companies and 12 individuals related to those programs.
Iran has vowed the sanctions will only motivate it further to pursue nuclear power, a message Foreign Minister Manouchehr Mottaki was expected to deliver to the Security Council. Mottaki made the trip instead of Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad, who claimed he canceled his appearance because the U.S. failed to deliver his visa in time. The U.S. said it had issued the visa promptly.
YAWN
More FECKLESS United Nations sanctions.
Soon Iran and President Ahmadinejad will be bloviating about Iran’s nuclear rights.
When Israel and the United States have had enough of the diplomacy and as uranium enrichment continues, a military strike will be initiated to destroy Iran’s nuclear facilities.
Stay tuned……..
A protestor stands outside the United Nations (UN) headquarters on 21 March, calling for a democratic and nuclear-free Iran.
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Iran Nuclear Watch: Ahmadinejad Cancels United Nations Appearance
Iran Nuclear Watch: Iran Warns It May Ignore International Nuclear Regulations
Iran Nuclear Watch: Russia Delivers Ultimatum to Iran Over Uranium Enrichment
Iran Nuclear Watch: Ahmadinejad Faces Off With United Nations
Iran Nuclear Watch: New Iran Nuclear Sanctions Headed to United Nations
Iran Nuclear Watch: Russia Postpones Nuclear Plant Launch Over Payments
Iran Nuclear Watch: Ahmadinejad – Iran Won’t End Nuke Program
Iran Nuclear Watch: IAEA – Iran Has Expanded Uranium Enrichment
Iran Nuclear Watch: Iran Refuses to Halt United Nations Demand to Halt Uranium Enrichment
Iran Nuclear Watch: Iran Attack Plans Revealed
Iran Nuclear Watch: Iran Will NOT Suspend Uranium Enrichment
Iran Nuclear Watch: Too Late to Halt Iran’s Nuclear Bomb?
The Natanz uranium enrichment complex in Natanz is pictured in this January 2, 2006 satellite image.
Technorati Tags: Iran, Ahmadinejad