Next Thursday has the potential to be a rather interesting day. The date will be February 11th, it will be the 31st anniversary of the Islamic Revolution in Iran, and a couple of interesting events are scheduled to take place.
Just as a quick recap from Monday, http://www.cnn.com reported that two top Iranian opposition leaders were calling for citizens of Iran to rise up on February 11th and demand that Iran return their rights to them as citizens of Iran. Ahmadinejad told Iran’s state-run television on Sunday that a blow to “global arrogance” would take place on that day.
Now for the fresh angle: the first event that seems worth mentioning involves the Cobra Gold war games. According to http://www.bangkokpost.com, this gathering of about 11,500 military personnel, 6000 of which are from the US, includes the participation of several countries. This year is its 29th anniversary and the Cobra Gold war games are described as a “regionally significant training event.” In addition, US Ambassador Eric G John said in a press conference that Cobra Gold is America’s “largest cooperative effort in the Pacific,” and illustrates “the US commitment to the security of our friends and allies in the Asia-Pacific region.” Interestingly, the event is scheduled to end on February 11th.
A http://www.wsj.com article reported that Iran “test-fired a new satellite rocket and unveiled a series of what it said were homegrown advances in a space program that has worried Western officials because of possible crossover applications in the country’s weapons program.“ Iran’s state media also reported on Wednesday that Ahmadinejad unveiled “three new telecommunications satellites and a new satellite-carrier engine.” The event is being celebrated into next week, and is expected to reach its highpoint on February 11th.
In what appears to be a similar story with additional details, http://www.jpost.com reported that Iran launched a research rocket containing a mouse, two turtles and what looked like about 12 worms into space on Wednesday. The animals were apparently included just so that Ahmadinejad could say that Iran has accomplished putting animals into space, as a US defense expert stated that the animals have no real purpose. Ahmadinejad told Iran’s state-run television that “The scientific arena is where we should defeat the (West’s) domination.” He also stated that the launch is a “very big event. This is the first presence of animals in space launched by Iran. It’s the start of bigger achievements.”
One country that is being especially vocal in defense of Israel and about the need for the international community to impose tougher sanctions on Iran is Italy. The Jerusalem Post reported Italian Prime Minister Silvio Berlusconi as saying that “We cannot accept the nuclearization of a country whose leaders have explicitly expressed their desire to destroy Israel, have denied the Holocaust and delegitimized the Jewish state.” He also stated that “We cannot make compromises. The path that must be taken is multilateral oversight, negotiations and sanctions.” And Berlusconi is certainly making the effort to lead by example. He announced that Italy has cut its business ties with Iran by a third and that Italy’s large ENI energy company decided against assisting Iran with developing an important oil field.
In the meantime, it will be interesting to see what international events transpire leading up to and including next Thursday.
