Gathering the news about Iran's 2009 National election in one place.

Via Washington Times

Siemens risks losses due to Iran ties

Posted Sat, 2009-07-18 08:28 by IRelec09

Siemens risks losses due to Iran ties: Via Washington Times.

One of the world's largest engineering firms, Siemens, could lose hundreds of millions of dollars in sales to the Los Angeles Metropolitan Transportation Authority (MTA) because it sold Iran equipment used to spy on dissidents.

California politicians and Iranian human rights advocates say in awarding contracts, officials should take into account the fact that the German company participated in a joint venture with Nokia in 2008 to sell Iran's telecommunications company a monitoring center that, according to the joint venture's own promotional literature, can intercept and catalog e-mails, telephone calls and Internet data.

Political pressure because of Iran's recent crackdown on postelection protesters - as well as the country's advancing nuclear program - could affect a vote next week on who will supply rail cars for Los Angeles County.
( Read more ... )

Bookmark/Search this post with:
0
Your rating: None

Times reporter recounts life in Iran prison

Posted Mon, 2009-07-13 01:14 by IRelec09

Times reporter recounts life in Iran prison: Via Washington Times.

TEHRAN | Female flight attendants in head scarves had begun attending to passengers inside the Iran Air aircraft bound for Dubai. But as long as the plane remained on the tarmac, I couldn't feel free.

What began as a planned, weeklong trip to cover Iran's presidential elections had turned into a monthlong saga that included nearly three weeks of solitary confinement and a final indignity: a night in a jail cell at the airport for no apparent reason. Perhaps an alternative power center ordered that I be kept, or the same faction that had decided to release me had second thoughts.

So I suppressed my exhilaration and anticipation, and refrained from talking on my obviously bugged cell phone -- unlike the previous day when I had called friends and devoured the news of what had happened in Iran while I was incommunicado. I scanned the aisles of the Iran Air plane for any suspicious-looking characters without carry-on luggage who might move to arrest me again.
( Read more ... )

Bookmark/Search this post with:
0
Your rating: None

Israel declines to ask U.S. to OK Iran attack

Posted Tue, 2009-07-07 15:40 by IRelec09

Israel declines to ask U.S. to OK Iran attack: Via Washington Times.

Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and his top deputies have not formally asked for U.S. aid or permission for possible military strikes on Iran's nuclear program, fearing the White House would not approve, two Israeli officials said.

One senior Israeli official, who requested anonymity because of the sensitivity of the subject, told The Washington Times that Mr. Netanyahu determined that "it made no sense" to press the matter after the negative response President Bush gave Mr. Netanyahu's predecessor, Ehud Olmert, when he asked early last year for U.S. aid for possible military strikes on Iran.
( Read more ... )

Bookmark/Search this post with:
0
Your rating: None

Iranian protesters avoid censorship with Navy Tor technology

Posted Tue, 2009-06-30 23:58 by IRelec09

Iranian protesters avoid censorship with Navy technology: Via Washington Times.

Iranians seeking to share videos and other eyewitness accounts of the demonstrations that have roiled their country since disputed elections two weeks ago are using an Internet encryption program originally developed by and for the U.S. Navy.

Designed a decade ago to secure Internet communications between U.S. ships at sea, The Onion Router, or TOR, has become one of the most important proxies in Iran for gaining access to Web sites such as Twitter, YouTube and Facebook.

The system of proxy servers that disguise a user's Internet traffic is now operated by a nonprofit, the Tor Project, that is independent from the U.S. government and military and is used all over the world.
( Read more ... )

Bookmark/Search this post with:
0
Your rating: None