Baithak World Jun 19: Freezing Iran Bank Assets, Raj Persaud's Plagiarism, News & Views, Map Quest, RealNews

Israel's fear of an Iranian nuclear attack is nothing more than a ruse. Iran has neither attacked nor threatened to attack Israel or anyone else. It is those who make these claims who do the attacking. Nuclear technology has many different applications that have nothing to do with missiles, weapons and bombs. These include electricity generation, techniques for scientific analysis, geology and mining, medical sciences, industrial applications, quality control, sanitization and many others. Just like Iraq was before the 2003 invasion, Iran is a highly educated and scientifically advanced society. Knowledge and education are good things ... in countries where the U.S. and Europe have control. In other countries outside their sphere of control - knowledge and education are either seen as a threat or coveted as a possession. Why are the US and Europe freezing assets of Iran's largest bank?

The celebrity psychiatrist Raj Persaud, who is struggling to save his career from dishonesty claims at a medical tribunal, was described yesterday by one of the experts whose work he plagiarised as a baffling mixture of skill and stupidity. Professor Richard Bentall, whose work was passed off as Persaud's own in a highly publicised book by the accused doctor, said he was "flabbergasted" at the blatancy of his colleague's cheating. Persaud has admitted to a General Medical Council fitness to practise hearing that he used other psychiatrists' work without attribution for the book and a string of articles which made him Britain's best-known media specialist on the subject.Raj Persaud's blatant cribs were flabbergasting, professor tells tribunal

News & Views

Sham trial:Ringleader lived in `jihadi fantasy,' court told
Legalizing Occupation: Bush's Last Manoeuvre
Afghan Prisoners Abused by U.S. Military to Retaliate for 9/11

Can the U.S. Thrive as Other Powers Rise?

Report on ex-Guantánamo prisoners reveals systematic abuse and chronic failures of intelligence
Top Pentagon Officials Developed Brutal Interrogation Methods At Guantanamo

Comment: Time is up for Friedman
What does a blueprint for a nuclear weapon look like?

The Mogambo Guru: Numbers and greed without limit

Seven Questions: Twilight of the Arab Moderates
Sami Al-Arian’s Catch-22

Are we all North Koreans now?
Thackeray wants suicide squads to fight terror
The failed harvest of food policy [thanks ID]

India-Pakistan peace on track, somehow
Historic Bangladesh papers 'lost'
Mr. Murdoch Goes to War

Campaign Contretemps Covered Correctly
Energy costs take their toll on Canada
Vinod Khosla: Biofuels: Good or bad?
Crossing the Line interviews professor Nasser Aruri about AIPAC conference
Huffpollstrology: Candidates' Horoscopes, Polls And More For June 19
New Google Earth Layer Shows Global Deforestation
Yoga For Better Sex
'The Selected Essays of Gore Vidal'
Ingraham badgers Muslim civil rights activist
AWARDS: SAJA announces award winners, scholarships and Hall of Fame inductee

Map Quest - Steve Brodner paints the pivotal states in the electoral college.

Comic for June 18, 2008

VIDEO: China's "Kingdom of Women"
In video_in_the_news

In the matriarchal Mosuo culture of southwestern China, women own property and determine family relationships. But this so-called free-love society is under threat from modernization.

Doonesbury@SLATE

Paul Jay presents RealNews

Hamas announces truce with Israel Cease-fire deal first announced by Egypt, quickly confirmed by Hamas, not officially confirmed by Israel view Kandahar braces for Taliban offensive Taliban and NATO forces both assert that they are in control view Does the Afghan war matter to the US? Ahmad: Permanent bases and strategy towards China long term US objectives in Afghanistan (1/4) view Obama and progressives Thom Hartmann: It's time for progressives to take over the Democratic Party view Senator says 'no' to impeachment Sen. Byron Dorgan, (D) N. Dakota, says he does not support Kucinich on impeachment proceedings view