Vital Perspective

UN Human Rights Council to Meet on 'Gross Human Rights Violations by Israel'

Late yesterday, we'd heard that the Tunisian government, which chairs the group of Arab States, had requested a special session of the new UN Human Rights Council to "consider and take action on the gross human rights violations by Israel in Lebanon, including the Qana massacre, county-wide targeting of innocent civilians, and destruction of vital civilian infrastructure."

We've now been able to confirm that the request has been made, and that the session is in the logistical planning stages. The countries signing on to the Tunisian request were Saudi Arabia, Bahrain, Algeria, Morocco, Jordan, Bangladesh, Indonesia, Malaysia, Senegal, Pakistan, China, Russia, Cuba, South Africa and Azerbaijan.

Russia to Participate in Islamic Conference; Discrepencies on 'Palestine' at OIC

Lebanon's Daily Star reports that "combating international terrorism and Islamophobia, Arab-Israel conflict and the issue of Palestine, situation in Iraq and Afghanistan, the problem of refugees in Muslim countries and reform in the UN will dominate the agenda of the three-day 33rd Islamic Conference of Foreign Ministers (ICFM) beginning on June 19 in Azerbaijan's capital city of Baku... Issues to be addressed by the ICFM also include Middle East peace process and the discord between Iran and IAEA."

Surprisingly to us, Russia will be participating in the conference obtaining by virtue of obtaining observer status in Organisation of Islamic Conference (OIC). Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov will also arrive in Baku in Russia's first participation in a ministerial level OIC meeting.

We also found that the OIC website proclaims "Palestine was founded in 1993. The capital is Jerusalem." Interesting that the OIC recognizes the Oslo Accords as the creation of Palestine, whereas Arafat and the PLO declared the existance of the State of Palestine in 1988 (from Algiers mind you).

Azerbaijanis Protest Iranian Cartoon; Police Using Torture to Implicate U.S.

According to the Azerbaijani press, major protests are underway in several Iranian cities by Azerbaijanis who have been upset by the Iran Daily publishing a caricature insulting them.

Unlike the Iranian response to the cartoon protests, some 20,000 guards and police forces have been moved into the city of Tabriz alone to disperse the 10,000 protesters there. Predictably, once detained by authorities, the protesters are being tortured into saying that the U.S. and other Western powers are behind the protests... the Tehran propaganda machine rolls on...

There was also an armed clash between the Iranian military forces and the demonstrators in the city of Miyane. There is no exact information about number of the killed and injured. According to the latest reports, law enforcement bodies arrested 1,700 Azerbaijani protesters in Tabriz, 1,500 in Ardabil and 1,000 in Tehran.

Azerbaijan Won't Be Associated with Any Military Operation Against Iran

Azerbaijani President Ilham Aliyev spoke at the Council on Foreign Relations on Wednesday following an earlier meeting with President Bush. Sounds like he's staked out his position on a military option against Iran:

PRESIDENT ALIYEV: In our relations with United States, we have a very high level of mutual confidence and trust, and we continue our military cooperation because it is a benefit of both countries. At the same time, Azerbaijan, of course, will not be engaged in any kind of potential operations against Iran, and our official made it very clear, including myself in the past, that if I think that it's not -- it's time to stop speculating on this issue. We have a bilateral agreement with Iran, which clearly says that the territories of our countries cannot be used for any danger towards each other. So it's very clear, and therefore, our relations are regulated by international treaty. But at the same time, if additional steps are needed to be taken in order to achieve peace in Afghanistan or strengthen peace in Iraq, of course Azerbaijan will do all its best in order to be with the United States shoulder to shoulder, as we have been from the very beginning.