nuclear weapons

Tehran on Obama: "the hatred runs deep" but "there is a slight chance that there will be direct talks"

Sophie Team Observers — Fri, 07 Nov 2008 10:51:23 +0100

An anti-US billboard in Tehran. Photo: Olaf Koens.

On the day that Barack Obama was elected President of the United States, our Observer Olaf Koens happened to be in Tehran. He tells us how the Iranian capital reacted to the news.

Can you bribe an Indian MP?

Sophie Team Observers — Tue, 29 Jul 2008 12:21:49 +0200

Despite opposition from all directions, India's struggling government managed to win a vote of confidence last week, enabling them to finalise a nuclear agreement with the United States. But was the vote won fairly? Our Observers take a look at a video that shows MPs who say they've been bribed.

Last Tuesday, India's lower house arrived in Parliament to vote on whether the current government should continue to hold power. The Indian National Congress-led coalition had been forced to hold a vote of confidence after the 59-member left alliance refused to support the government's plans on a nuclear power-deal with the United States and resigned.

The government looked doomed, with both the country's Hindu nationalist Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) and lower-class Dalit champion Mayawati Kumari pushing for the government to be dissolved. But on the day, MPs were wheeled in from hospital on trolley beds and convicted murderers let out of their cells to make the vote. The government won by a majority of 19, with 275 voting for and 256 against.

This video was taken at the time of the vote. A group of opposition politicians from the BJP hold up bundles of 10m rupee notes, saying that they were given to them by the government as a bribe to abstain from the vote. The issue is now being investigated by the parliamentary authorities.

Material compiled with help from one of our Indian Observers, Arnab Das.

The footage was aired by India's parliament broadcasters last Tuesday (July 22, 2008).

Photoshop pros in the Revolutionary Guards

Ségolène Team Observers — Fri, 11 Jul 2008 18:18:48 +0200

The photos of Iranian missiles released on Wednesday, July 9 made headlines around the world. But one of them, picked up by Agence France Presse (AFP), was found to be altered - most likely released by the Iranian Revolutionary Guard's official press office, Sepah News.

The relations were tense this week between the West and Iran, suspected of trying to obtain nuclear arms. The Islamic Republic's recent missile tests are a new stage in its bid for power. But not all went as planned for the organisers of the nuclear trials, well-covered by the media. They then decided to embellish their powerful image.

The nuclear crisis from an Iranian viewpoint

Sophie Team Observers — Tue, 27 May 2008 18:03:52 +0200

Accusing Teheran of withholding information, the International Atomic Energy Agency said yesterday that Iran still owed it "substantial explanations" concerning its nuclear programme. This firm standpoint by the IAEA once again revives the polemic over Iran's right to nuclear weapons.