Wednesday, 30 August, 2006
- 30 Aug 06, 05:13 PM
How worried should we be about Iran鈥檚 nuclear programme? What difference has our made to people who were planning to travel abroad for treatment? Is the super casino at the Dome a done deal? And when will we get mobile phones that are able to do everything? Discuss of Newsnight here.
Comments Post your comment
We should do a specail about Iran's Relationship with USA and the offer of the Iranian President to debate Bush.
Complain about this post
Iran Iranium ofcourse they want iranium enrichment how embarrassing not to have it...
Europe should repond to Iran's offer to support nuclear development and infrastructure...do business not intimidation...
The UN should not be abused..
Just because Iran is between Afghanistan and Iraq doesn't mean we can invade it...though it must have 1000s of refugees and 100s of tourist terrorists..
Americans are the extremist radicals and the threat to peace... prosperity was the mission
Just imagine the anarchy Muslims could create..none of that has happened..not serial killers not derailments or gas explosions... there is little risk to us at home...
Complain about this post
I was extremely dissapointed to see how biased this newsnight edition was in its reporting of Iran's nuclear programme. There was a long interview a US State Department spokesperson, who was given was given plenty of time to justify the US standpoint on the issue. Iran's standpoint was however completely ignored, which unfortunately leads one to question the integrity of of this show.
Complain about this post
International Markets could be an exciting use of Domespace... purchases sourced from throughout history and throughout the world... each stall an introduction to london shops auction houses and world businesses... from fashion to furniture...from car components to technologies... rare items each week and visitors from around the world just to see and discover the rare collections...
Complain about this post
I was very disappointed at the bias in Gavin Esler's 'interview'- if it can be called that - of an American govt spokesman. I thought it was more along the lines of - what would you like to tell us to to think in the UK?
Why didn't he ask the obvious question, ie
Why is it ok for Israel to have nuclear weapons but not Iran? Please try to get both sides of the argument.
Complain about this post
Why does Newsnight constantly make US propaganda? Why can it not be neutral at least and give the views of the other side?
Why for instance does it not ask US representatives why Iran threatened by the US should not have neuclear weapons to defend itself when the US has nuclear weapons and is regarded as the greater threat to world peace?
Why is the USA that arms Israel not a terrorist nation but Hisbula and Hamas that are freedom fighters for their countries called Terrorists?
Why does newsnight ask loaded one sided question? Never the questions people wish answered?
Complain about this post
The U.S, i believe, is creating such a threat to Iran that it is causing the government to react defencively. And as we can see in the U.S and in the U.K acting in such fearful ways results in authoritarian measures. In our case the removing of civil liberites, in the U.S's case the government supported torture of individuals clearly breaking the geneva convention. So it is not suprising that Iran may respond similarly. And just as in our countries their will be large sections of Iranian society that will oppose this and it is these groups that the U.S want to grow so they can fund and support them and use them as an anchor and a western justification to an eventual conflict with Iran. And why is this, simply because Iran and the middle east in general, especially the Shiite dominated areas, are strategically important areas in terms of energy control and the making of huge profits for a largely corporate run government.
To Hamid S. Aziz
The 成人快手 is controlled to some extent in the fact that the reports it gives are the reports constructed by the government. Our government supports the U.S and therefore it is not suprising that the 成人快手 happens to continuously give bias reports favouring the agenda of the U.S government. If you want your questions answered i suggest you look elsewhere at philosophers, analysts and the true free media.
For starters give Noam Chomsky a listen, his discussions can be found at www.chomsky.info.
Complain about this post
Once again we see the lighter side of biased TV.
Describing the feature in the trailer as "How worried should we be" is just sensationalism. Then the bias begins.
The American spokesman gets several minutes of uninterrupted statement, no real hostile questioning, and there is as has already been pointed out, nothing about Bush's dismissal of a long letter from the Iranian President.
Perhaps you should now do a feature to redress the balance. E.g. "Israel; How Worried Should We Be?" This could deal with the size of the armed forces in relation to every neighbour, their military spending, their stock of nuclear weapons, their annexation of territory almost unchecked since 1948.
When will the 成人快手 stop showing as news, sensational items that only help governments maintain their hysteria built up around the war on terror?
Complain about this post
Very concerned about the situation in Iran - particularly that the stupidities that were used against Iraq are going to be even greater . There was a saying a decade ago " after a cockup - get an expert in to cockup expertly " - and this is my fear - appocalypse \ armageddon .
Complain about this post
Well said the fly
However if Iran were in France and its president stated they wanted to wipe the UK off the face of the planet. Would you want them to have a nuclear abiliy?
Complain about this post
Hamid S. Aziz asks
"Why is the USA that arms Israel not a terrorist nation but Hisbula and Hamas that are freedom fighters for their countries called Terrorists?"
I guess he approves of the existance of private armies.
As I understand it Lebanon already has a Lebanese army which is the legitimate military organisation in the country.
Does he think that the MCB should be armed so that it can resist the Met too?
Complain about this post
Seats remained empty for those opposing the "Dome Casino"... why?... if they couldn't spell Salvation Army correctly.. does that mean they & others were not contacted CORRECTLY! Cannot believe those critics just didn't bother to appear! they suspect it's a done deal (aka Pressa) anyway...BUT.. it stinks!
Complain about this post
Stem cells. We should indeed be able to go for treatment where we like. But there is a strong whiff of con-trickery in all this. The usual story: vulnerable people, being conned by crooks (who in this case are being pursued by the FBI). If this isn't the case here, why all the hidden business links, why the animal cells perhaps ending up in humans? Are Brits becoming more gullible, or is it just that they no longer trust the National Health Service and resort to desperate remedies?
I thought Gavin Esler's interview with Nick Burns was excellent. Burns said with crystal clarity what is wrong with Iran. If they have indeed been lying or prevaricating for 18 years about their nuclear programme, that is surely proof enough that they are continuing to indulge in their national brand of taqiyya. The message is patently obvious: you cannot trust Iran to tell the truth. If this nuclear enrichment is not for military purposes, please let Iran prove that it is honest. The onus is on Iran.
As for Israel, yes, it has nuclear weapons and shouldn't have. Israel has nuclear weapons to frighten her neighbours into not trying to annihilate her, as Ahmedinejad keeps repeating that he wants to do.
Israel, for all its faults, is a Western-style democracy which is not likely to start doing a Hezbollah and launching thousands of indiscriminate rockets - with or without nuclear warheads - into a neighbouring country, while its heroic leader hides underground - literally. Olmert may not be the best man for the job, but as he himself says, the public sees him.
And one further key point. When the 成人快手, however biased, interviews the Israeli cabinet, this is according to the normal rules of journalism. However, Nasrallah is so scared of being assassinated, that he will not even celebrate his birthday openly. He is not the leader of a nation, just someone who has surreptitiously taken over Lebanon with a little help from her neighbours. Lebanon has been infected by the military equivalent of a computer virus.
It is time that the Left in Britain woke up to what Hizbullah / Hezbollah stands for. I don't believe that a usurper in a bunker who believes in a totalitarian brand of Islam is the right sort of person for the Left to be lauding. Remember that the Left in Britain, in the good old days, stood for equality for women, equality for gays, a viable economy where ordinary people get a good share of the benefits of their work, not having religion - any religion - pushed down your throat.
Now all those armchair socialists, like Noam Chomsky, are preaching how wonderful the rule of the Palestinians and Hizbullah would be, if only the rest of the world makes a few more concessions, if only more aid money were paid to the noble and honest Palestinian government, the brave and forceful Lebanese government. Palestine is a failed state. Lebanon brought destruction upon herself.
Who are these na茂ve fools on the Left that believe that chaos and anarchy are the same thing as democracy?
As for the war on terror, passenger profiling, bias, the victim mentality, where are the Methodist cartoon-haters, the orthodox Jewish bomb-belters, the Hindu train-bombers, the Opus Dei suicide martyrs, the Sikh rocket-lobbers? Why are so many countries in the world the victim of violence which happens to be perpetrated by Muslims, members of the "religion of peace"? Please explain.
I applaud Newsnight for allowing the Yanks to have their say, instead of being shouted down by the rabble.
Complain about this post
成人快手 and Newsnight are like a long playing gramophone record with the needle stuck in the groove. Once again we are being 'softened up'for aggression, this time against Iran.
The Zionist fascist control with inputs from British and US CIA
sources that guide the British media has, unfortunately for you, been 'sussed' long ago.Bush called Iran 'part of the axis of evil'.Can you blame it for wanting to defend itself when, patently, North Korea's
possession of Nuclear weapons counters any threat to them. The modern day crusaders for oil and Zionist hegemony in the Middle East and beyond must and will be stopped.
Complain about this post
You can't watch a news report on Iran without the possibility of America or Israel attacking it being mentioned. Newsnight was no exception.
Our screens are filled with such threats daily.
If I were the president of Iran I would also make a nuclear bomb; how else can you guarantee you won't be attacked, just because someone decides you are evil? Certainly worked for North Korea. Protecting myself and my people would come above international law. (which is written by whom exactly? you can all have nukes, and we can't - sounds fair)
If Iran goes nuclear, they are protecting themselves from Israel and the west, all nuclear powers. Nobody else is threatening them. Nobody else is calling them evil. Nobody else has invaded two of their neighbours. Nobody else sponsored an eight year war against them, killing a million. And who backed the previous monarchy against the republic? oh yeah we did.
I am not saying that more nuclear bombs are desireable, or that Iran have never done anything wrong, but we can only change OUR behaviour; we can't keep bullying other countries and blaming them when they defend themselves.
What will happen when we bomb their nuclear installations? Will they like us more? Will they decide to live side by side in harmony with us? Thats before you talk about the environmental damage. Surely thats akin to letting off a dirty bomb in their country. Good move, should win some friends.
If we want to sort this out peacefully (unfortunately I don't think a lot of peole in power do) we need to start thinking long term. There is not a military solution to this, every father we kill leaves a child that hates.
We, as a species, need to evolve out of this childish behaviour, and I suspect we will, in time - perhaps the nuclear stand off in Europe that brought us 50 years of peace can be replicated in the middle east, giving the angry, messed-up minds of that region so damaged by a century of war, a chance to forgive and forget.
Complain about this post
Irans position is that sitting as it does on one of the worlds largest natural reserves of oil it needs nuclear technology to .... generate power -ummm sounds a bit dodgy dont you think. Coupled with their Presidents stated intention to wipe Israel the only liberal democracy in the region off the map some would say this was worrying.
Also I would add there is a difference between a liberal democracy having a nuke and a dictatorship having one. It is the difference between Britain having a nuke and Nazi Germany having a nuke and thereby should be obvious.
Complain about this post
Personally, I always get a little worried about people who put "Death to" before the name of a people or country.
Fudamentalists, are found in any country and any race, the shared traits are ignorance and the prejudice born of it.
Complain about this post