Iran: Mahmoud Ahmadinejad Defies World Over Uranium Enrichment
THE TELEGRAPH: President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad has announced that Iran is producing its first uranium enriched to 20 per cent, defying the world to stop him.

"I want to announce with a loud voice here that the first package of 20 per cent fuel was produced and provided to the scientists," he told a crowd of hundreds of thousands celebrating the 31st anniversary of the Islamic Republic in Tehran.

He said the uranium enrichment plant in the city of Natanz was capable of enriching to the much higher levels necessary to build a nuclear weapon and could triple its production of low-enriched uranium.

But he insisted that the country did not intend to construct a device.

"When we say we do not manufacture the bomb, we mean it, and we do not believe in manufacturing a bomb," he said. "If we wanted to manufacture a bomb, we would announce it. Our nation has the courage to explicitly say it and build it and not fear you."

He went to attack the West's attempts to curtail Iran's nuclear programme.

"We told them the Iranian nation will never give in to bullying and illogical remarks," he said.

Mr Ahmadinejad's decision to press ahead with enrichment would appear to put an end to a negotiated settlement put forward by the International Atomic Energy Agency to swap Iran's low-enriched uranium for prepared fuel rods for a medical research reactor in Tehran. >>> Richard Spencer, Middle East Correspondent | Thursday, February 11, 2010

THE INDEPENDENT: Huge rallies as Iran proclaims 'nuclear state': Hundreds of thousands of government supporters today massed in central Tehran to mark the anniversary of the revolution that created Iran's Islamic republic - while president Mahmoud Ahmadinejad chose the day to proclaim his nation is now a "nuclear state". >>> Associated Press | Thursday, February 11, 2010

Pakistan Fashion Week Defies Taliban with Non-Islamic Dress
THE TELEGRAPH: Pakistan's fashion week began on Wednesday in defiance of the Taliban's preference for strict adherence to modest Islamic veils.

As Pakistan's army battled religious extremists in South Waziristan, Karachi's top designers sent models down catwalks with bare shoulders and exposed navels in an unusual display of skin in a country where most women cover up.

Sonya Battla, the first designer to show, presented a collection that she said celebrated strong women. She dismissed the fact that in more conservative parts of the country, her designs might get women driven out of town or stoned to death.

A model presents a creation by Pakistani designer Aiesha Varsey during the Pakistan Fashion Week in Karachi on November 4, 2009. Pakistan's fashion week began on November 4 with an opulent opening ceremony, against a backdrop of militant violence and secu[rity]. Photo: The Telegraph
"I'm a very brave woman," said the 38-year-old designer. "I'm not going to be scared and no one's going to judge me." >>> Chris Allbritton in Karachi | Thursday, November 05, 2009

Iran Test Fires Nuclear Missile Capable of Hitting Israel and Parts of Europe
TIMES ONLINE: Iran has fired one of the longest-range missiles in its arsenal as part of testing it began ahead of a confrontation with foreign powers over a previously undisclosed secret nuclear facility later this week.

Earlier today the Revolutionary Guard is reported to have successfully launched the Shahab-3 missile, which is capable of carrying a nuclear warhead and has a range of up to 1,200 miles – which would put Israel, most Arab states and parts of Europe, including much of Turkey, within its range.

Iranian television broadcast footage of the Shahab-3 being fired from desert terrain.

Iran’s war games began yesterday after the revelations about the enrichment plant, at a military base near the holy city of Qom. It dramatically upped the stakes for the meeting in Geneva on Thursday between Iranian representatives and those of the five permanent members of the United Nations Security Council plus Germany. >>> Catherine Philp | Monday, September 28, 2009

Moussavi bietet dem Regime in Iran weiter die Stirn: Miliz fordert Ermittlungen gegen Oppositionsführer
NZZ Online: Trotz drohender Strafverfolgung bietet der iranische Oppositionsführer Moussavi der Staatsführung weiter die Stirn. Er bekräftigte am Mittwoch seinen Widerstand gegen die Wiederwahl von Präsident Ahmadinejad. Die Basij-Miliz forderte unterdessen strafrechtliche Ermittlungen gegen Moussavi.

Die Präsidentenwahl vom 12. Juni sei illegitim gewesen, erklärte der nach offizieller Lesart unterlegene Kandidat in einer Internetbotschaft. Ausserdem forderte Moussavi die Freilassung aller politischen Gefangenen sowie Pressefreiheit und eine Wahlrechtsreform. >>> ap | Mittwoch, 01. Juli 2009

THE TELEGRAPH: Mir-Hossein Mousavi Calls Iran Election Illegitimate in Renewed Defiance of Ayatollah

Iran's reform leader Mir-Hossein Mousavi urged his supporters on Wednesday to continue to fight for "the rights of the people" in his first rallying cry since the regime validated the results of the country's disputed presidential election.

Mr Mousavi reasserted his claim that the June 12 election was illegitimate, and demanded that Iran's hardline government release all political prisoners and institute electoral reforms and press freedom.

His latest defiance came as the Basij militia accused the opposition leader of undermining national security and asked a prosecutor to investigate his role in violent protests.

The move came amid heightened tensions between Tehran and the West.

On Wednesday, a senior Iranian military official suggested that nuclear negotiations between Tehran and the West would be further stalled in the wake of the protests, which the regime has accused European powers of masterminding.

Iran has particularly targeted Britain as an instigator of the protests, and on Monday arrested nine local employees of Britain's embassy in Tehran. Five were released on Monday night.

"It's not yet too late," said Mr Mousavi, who has slipped from public view in recent days. "It's our historic responsibility to continue our complaint and make efforts not to give up the rights of the people." >>> | Wednesday, July 01, 2009

Barack Obama Warns North Korea over Rocket Launch as Pyongyang 'Fuels Missile'
THE TELEGRAPH: North Korea can expect a "stern, unified action" from the international community if it test-fires a ballistic missile, US President Barack Obama has said.

South Korean protesters burn a mock missile, pictures of North Korean leader Kim Jong Il and North's flags during a rally against North Korea's missile in Seoul, South Korea. Photo courtesy of The Telegraph
Mr Obama promised tough action at a meeting on the sidelines of the G20 summit as reports emerged that Pyongyang had begun fueling the long-range rocket for an impending launch.

US military officials said that technicians have started to fuel up the three-stage Taepodong-2 missile at Musudan-ri launch site in the country's northeast in defiance of a 2006 UN resolution.

Pyongyang has said that the missile-test is a satellite launch not covered by the UN resolution and has informed international agencies that it will fire the rocket as early as Saturday.

US intelligence officials said that analysis of the rocket's nose-cone appeared to confirm claims that it was a satellite launch, but added that the launch was a cover for testing ballistic missile technology capable of delivering a warhead as far as Alaska or Hawaii.

Diplomatic tensions are building on the Korean peninsula, where relations between North and South have sunk to their lowest levels in a decade. >>> By Peter Foster in Beijing | Thursday, April 2, 2009

Obama Will Face a Defiant World on Foreign Visit
LONDON A protest of the Group of 20 meeting on Saturday. Trade unions and foes of globalization and war have planned marches. Photo courtesy of The New York Times
THE NEW YORK TIMES: WASHINGTON — President Obama is facing challenges to American power on multiple fronts as he prepares for his first trip overseas since taking office, with the nation’s economic woes emboldening allies and adversaries alike.

Despite his immense popularity around the world, Mr. Obama will confront resentment over American-style capitalism and resistance to his economic prescriptions when he lands in London on Tuesday for the Group of 20 summit meeting of industrial and emerging market nations plus the European Union.

The president will not even try to overcome NATO’s unwillingness to provide more troops in Afghanistan when he goes on later in the week to meet with the military alliance.

He seems unlikely to return home with any more to show for his attempts to open a dialogue with Iran’s leaders, who have, so far, responded with tough words, albeit not tough enough to persuade Russia to support the United States in tougher sanctions against Tehran. And he will be tested in face-to-face meetings by the leaders of China and Russia, who have been pondering the degree to which the power of the United States to dominate global affairs may be ebbing. >>> Helene Cooper | Saturday, March 28, 2009

America Should Defy Islamic Supremacism
ENERGY PUBLISHER: Failure to defeat Islamic supremacism may cost Americans their freedom, and their identity.

Our generation shares the responsibility to challenge Islamic supremacism in America and around the world. Our responsibility is based on our nation and our leaders' accountability in defending our inalienable human rights of equality and liberty – which demands that we reject all supremacism, including Islamic supremacism. Such accountability on human rights also requires that we challenge those in denial on this threat who seek our surrender to Islamic supremacism abroad and at home.

Failure to defy Islamic supremacism will not only cost us our freedoms – it will also cost us our identity, as those who appease and support such supremacism will seek to use our nation's influence and power as a weapon against freedom – as we have recently seen in other nations.

To effectively defy Islamic supremacism, we must use our existing consensus in equality and liberty as a tool to ensure that Islamic supremacism is treated like any other supremacist ideology that would seek to threaten our freedoms. We know that outrage against supremacism is not enough; we are responsible to act to defy such supremacist ideologies that threaten our freedoms and take a public stand against them. >>> By Jeffrey Imm | Tuesday, February 17, 2009

The Dawning of a New Dark Age (Paperback – USA)
The Dawning of a New Dark Age (Hardcover – USA)