Harun Riaz

Media is the 4th Pillar of democracy. Is journalism in my country, playing the role of a watchdog. I am ex @OmanObserver. Now at Diplomacy In Focus.

[Ziyad Yakubu @Ziyad_yakubu]

Iran cloned a sheep, launched its own satellites, mastered uranium enrichment, built most of its missile and drone arsenal domestically, manufactured 95% of its medicines domestically, and climbed into the world’s top 20 in scientific output, all under decades of brutal sanctions.

Yet people feel compelled to post videos of skimpily dressed Iranian women doing yoga and Pilates to convince the West that Iranians deserve dignity and shouldn’t be bombed.

[Sharmine Narwani @snarwani]

Iran's seven conditions:

1. An end to the war on all fronts, including Lebanon
2. Lifting the US naval blockade of Iran
3. Releasing Iran's frozen assets
4. Lifting Iran sanctions imposed after the Islamabad Agreement
5. Withdrawal of US forces from the geography around Iran
6. Iranian oil sales to be exempted from sanctions
7. Recognition of the maritime corridor agreed upon by Iran and Oman

There will be no nuclear discussions until these conditions are met. The Strait of Hormoz will not reopen until the US accepts and executes these terms, verifiably. Iran will no longer be flexible - that opportunity was forever lost once the US and Israel launched a war of aggression.

[Maria Dubovikova @politblogme]

For the first time, EU countries have officially confirmed plans to deploy their troops to Ukraine.
The decision was made as part of a strategic review of the EU's military training mission for Ukraine.

There’ll be no peace.

[Caitlin Johnstone @caitoz]

They Want To Use AI To Re-Centralize Control Of Information

"It’s becoming clearer and clearer to everyone that these new technologies are not intended to improve the lives of ordinary people, but to serve the interests of the oligarchs and empire managers who rule our world."

[Nitin Sethi @nit_set]

Three of my young colleagues were tipped off by @nikhilmkss about a scam of votes in Rajasthan. They drilled into the data to find 2 lakh voters that ECI declared dead but state commission said they are alive. Read my colleague @DikshyaKoirala7's summary 👇

[the reporters' collective @reporters_co]

Exclusive. ECI’s internal records of 2024 elections: On 51 seats of Maharashtra, Haryana and J&K, votes counted differed from votes cast. ECI rules say such mismatch should trigger probe into possible rigging.

@TweetSumedha & @VenkateshNSS report

1/6
https://t.co/qKVoRpx0iP

[Maktoob @MaktoobMedia]

Kerala's Cellebrite purchase began under the CPI(M)-led LDF government on 27 September 2024 and was renewed by the Congress-led government in July, according to a MediaOne investigation based on Thiruvananthapuram Forensic Science Laboratory tenders.

https://t.co/HVNdbgYRPd

[Sagrika Kissu @SagrikaKissu]

One must be truly bigoted and inherently inconsiderate to burst crackers on Diwali, knowing fully well the consequences it has for others. One must be a sadist to rejoice in bursting crackers.

Citizens of the national capital and adjoining states neither pay heed to court orders nor seem to care about their fellow citizens, be it children, the young, the elderly, men or women, who are left choking under this thick blanket of pollution and gasping for breath.

There seems to be no other way but for the government to completely ban the bursting of crackers or impose heavy fines on those who flout the rules.

People might be upset about it, but this is about their future and the future of generations to come.

Loving God or celebrating a festival does not require you to put everyone else’s life at risk.

I am sure God, too, would be equally sad to see how recklessly people are willing to pollute and destroy the air, water and lives that they (god) created, if at all.

#AirPollution #gaschamber #DelhiAQI #DelhiPollution

[Joe Kent @joekent16jan19]

It is critical that everyone understand this: the issue of highly enriched uranium is a goalpost that the neocon & Israeli lobby echo chamber will keep moving until we physically go into Iran to “take it”. The actual goal is to force a ground invasion and/or never-ending air strikes.

Even when we bomb & obliterate all of Iran’s HEU, as we did w/Op midnight hammer, the lobby insists we have to go get the “nuclear dust,” creating the circumstances for more strikes and/or that prized boots-on-the-ground op.

The U.S. intelligence community assessed that Iran was not developing a nuclear weapon. The entire premise of chasing “nuclear dust” was—and remains—bait to draw us into Israel’s war.

[Joe Kent @joekent16jan19]

This is CENTCOM inviting Iran to escalate while the Vice President is attempting to negotiate with the Iranians. This is, as CENTCOM calls it, “policy by CONOP,” when the military finds a way to subvert the White House without blatantly disobeying the President, by taking actions that will ensure a war escalates or perpetuates.

This tactic was implemented over & over again in the War on Terror in Iraq, Syria, Afghanistan, etc. Many Americans died, needlessly.

The Iranians have made it clear that they won’t accept negotiations while under threat of escalation. Iranian leadership has stated there will either be war or there will be peace, but they will not sit idly by and wait for the next attack & they won’t tolerate being slowly strangled by sanctions.

Imposing more sanctions, & publicly broadcasting that we’re imposing more sanctions, is brash provocation.

The midterm results sent a message that the President should find impossible to ignore: the American people do not support this war. We want out. The VP is currently in negotiations to end it, & a new Chief of Staff was chosen under the auspices of helping the President do just that.

CENTCOM announcing this escalation is the military working directly against what President Trump is attempting to accomplish. If the President had any desire to escalate, he’d simply do it. Instead, thankfully it appears he is attempting more diplomacy, and CENTCOM must support that.

It’s become abundantly clear that the President needs to install a new national security team, one that’s not tied to starting the war and that can instead end it. To do that, he needs people who can & will get the national security state under control, not submit to it.

[Gaza Notifications @gazanotice]

🚨 HORRIFIC SCENES IN GAZA: Displaced families’ tents are completely submerged in floodwater. After Israel destroyed their homes, families are now left with nothing but flooded tents, with nowhere else to go.

[The Indian Express @IndianExpress]

A 42-year-old Singapore-based corporate executive was shot dead allegedly by a neighbour following a parking dispute at Faridabad’s Sector 21C on Friday night, police said.

The victim, Paramjith Dhankhar, currently worked as the senior vice-president of a Vietnam-based IT firm in Singapore. He was in Faridabad to attend his nephew’s wedding later this month and had arrived on November 5.

@AB_Hazardous

Read more: https://t.co/3Jc5b6vosK

[Tongam Rina @tongamrina]

Adum Tayom, Omak Paron, Okut Paloh, and Oson Paron, who were detained nearly a month ago under the stringent Arunachal Pradesh Unlawful Activities (Prevention) Act (APUAPA), 2014, have been released. The activists had been held in preventive custody since October 9 following intense local opposition to the proposed 11,000-MW Siang Upper Multipurpose Project (SUMP). While this is a major victory for the people, many still remain in jail, the threat of arrest looms against several others, and the Siang Valley remains heavily militarised. #SaveSiang

[Abbas @Abbas_Muntaqim]

After the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan, there was a rising anti-war sentiment that needed to be contained. Barack Hussein Obama was the containment strategy, and his campaign of hope quelled the movements in the streets and turned them into Democratic ballots. They used his identity to show that America was progressing, when in reality it was sharpening its imperial blades for a new form of drone warfare in a technological age.

Now, during the genocide of Palestinians, the war on Southern Lebanon, the war on the Islamic Republic of Iran, and the war on Yemen, the Democrats are running the same Obama Plan. Once again, anti-war sentiment is rising, and once again a containment strategy is rising to meet it—this time by getting Muslims elected into various positions. And this time it comes in a new age of technological warfare, where AI models are sharpening themselves to change the fate of war, and where war will continue under the blue of the Democrats.

How often are we fooled? Fool me once, shame on you, but fool me 100x? Shame on our own humanity.

[Live Law @LiveLawIndia]

#BREAKING X informs Delhi High Court that takedown notices sent to Internet Freedom Foundation and SFLC were by some impostor and not by Delhi Police.

X says complaint has been filed to find the impostor and no action is taken against IFF and SFLC.
@Slfc05 @internetfreedom

[Ehsan Safarnejad @Safarnejad_IR]

The proclamation by Iranian Supreme Leader, Ghalibaf's tweet and the visit of 3 Iranian island by IRGC Ground Force Chief shows that Iran is wary of Democratic win in midterm election.

The next 2 months are pivotal for the fate of the war!

[Ali Abunimah @AliAbunimah]

It doesn’t matter how well they do, @TheDemocrats are the party of the Gaza genocide.

[Dr. Kanchana Yadav @Kanchanyadav000]

संगीत रागी ने कल पूरे यादव समाज को गंवार बोला था। आज रागी के ऑफिस के बाहर युवा पहुंच गए हैं। उन्होंने ऑफिस को गोबर से रंग दिया है।

जब आप किसी एक समुदाय को गंवार बोलोगे, तो उसका जवाब भी आपको उसी तरह मिलेगा।

अभी तो हरियाणा, राजस्थान, गुजरात और मध्य प्रदेश से भी लोग आ रहे हैं।

[Scroll.in @scroll_in]

"The moment you want to deter someone from leading a protest you immediately invoke sexual harassment and this has been the SOP of Delhi Police"

On the latest episode of #ScrollAdda with @ShoaibDaniyal @neha_aisa speaks about how the police use sexual harassment as a tool to shame and silence women.

https://t.co/nWNsOTBndv

[Hemani Bhandari @HemaniBhandari]

ACP Manasvi Vashishta - who led the gathering outside police headquarters on Monday - has been suspended, a senior police officer confirmed.

@htTweets