++ An article by Mojtabah Rashidi explains why Rajavi now knows that the new government of Iraq is no different from the previous one as far as the MEK is concerned. Rashidi says it is ridiculous that Rajavi believes he can create a new Vatican by having Camp Liberty guarded by UN blue helmet peacekeepers as though that would automatically make it an independent enclave. Shortly after this article was published, the Head of UNAMI, Nickolay Mladenov, announced that the new Iraqi government has introduced a plan to speed up deportation of the MEK. Some days later, the MEK published some pdf files – which it claims are from inside the Iraqi government – purporting to show that Iran and Iraq are eavesdropping on MEK conversations and phone calls, etc. A couple of analysis about this situation demonstrate why the pdf files are clearly false. Three documents allegedly from the same office all have different logos and page headings and there are no signatures or stamps on them, which is not what government documents look like. One of them is also half in Farsi. Website Mojahedin.com commented that ‘as a terrorist organisation, did Rajavi expect the Iraqis wouldn’t follow what you are doing, or did you imagine in your dreams that the MEK is the government of Iraq and the government of Iraq is a terrorist organisation?!’ And that ‘after all his cries of victory when it was formed, Rajavi has now given up on the new government being any different. [Editor: Had Rajavi been reassured by agencies trying to manipulate the make-up of the new government, but whose plans failed?]

++ Shahpour Bastansiah, an orchestral conductor, announced his defection from the National Council of Resistance of Iran (NCRI aka MEK) last week. J. Saalvar found and exposed the names of two other NCRI members who have left but who didn’t make their decision public; they are Morteza Barjasteh and Mohammad Shams, both artists. After these three defections, Rajavi and the MEK held a new session with remaining NCRI members during which they were both placated and reprimanded. The NCRI proclaimed ‘there is a difference between those who leave legitimately and mercenaries. The NCRI accepts that people leave if they do it legitimately. We will not conduct character assassination if, firstly, you leave without saying anything at all about anyone or anything. (A hint to Bastansiah to keep quiet.) Secondly, only leave according to a programme made for you by the MEK which will tell you the right time and place and will coach you how and when to leave. Several reactions in Farsi commentary say this lowering of expectation is an indication of the collapse of the NCRI, that it doesn’t matter who is in or out of it, what matters is no one should expose the internal situation.

++ Hanif Heydar Nejad, an internal critic of the MEK, wrote a short article questioning ‘now that Daesh is only 10 km from Baghdad airport, what is Rajavi’s policy and what action will he take, or is he keeping his fingers crossed that the MEK all get killed by Daesh?’ Massoud Khodabandeh is visiting Baghdad and will publish a full report after concluding his meetings this week. In the meantime, he posted on his Facebook that with two car bombs in Baghdad and Daesh so close to the airport where Camp Liberty is situated, it is interesting that Massoud Rajavi has sent a message to MEK commanders at the camp saying that he has been reassured (he didn’t say by whom), that ‘Daesh will not interfere with our camp when they overrun the area’. It is surprising because no one in Baghdad has any doubt that Rajavi’s endgame is to kill all the residents of Camp Liberty.

++ Fars News reporting from the Frankfurt Book Fair, in which the IRI participated, published pictures of the MEK placing anti-Iran pickets in tents outside. The report says, ‘this time there were no logos of Massoud and Maryam Rajavi’. Fars commented that this was probably the first time the MEK have accepted to do this, and we hope it is just the start of them getting rid of the leadership and their logos and becoming a normal organisation.

++ Zahra Sadat Mirbagheri and Hamed Sarrafpour, former leading MEK members, were married in Iran last week. A week before, another famous defector, Ali Khatami, got married. People congratulated them and say these marriages are Rajavi’s worst nightmare because they contradict his rotten ideology.

++Iraq based Sahar Family Foundation published a short article about Ghorban Ali Hossein Nejad. Since the time he left and owing to the vicious character assassination conducted against him by Massoud Rajavi there has been a growing awareness inside Camp Liberty of the mismatch between the person they knew and these attacks, which has led many to reject them. Rajavi has been forced to perform some damage limitation. He has now issued several messages which, while still attacking Hossein Nejad, backtrack on the more vicious lies.

In English:

++ IRNA reports: A professor in Rome University and Chairman of World Study Institute Nicola Pedde, who has written a book about the activities of MKO terrorist group, says the group will never have a place in Iran. The Italian author in his book ‘MEK’ has, in detail, underlined the terrorist nature of MKO and has written about their historical background and development of the group since 1965.

++ Ehsan Roshanzamir, Iraian Pen club (Ghalam), wrote an Open Letter to UK MEP Emma McClarkin alerting her to the true face of the Mojahidin, and warning, “please don’t let your political consciousness be humiliated by them”.

++ Mazda Parsi in Nejat bloggers identifies the MEK as one of several proxy forces used by America and the West against Iran and in other arenas. Listing various scenarios and collating reports about these events, Parsi’s article demonstrates this, but warns, “US support for the MKO does not seem to be productive for both the MKO and the US because of the group’s lack of popular backing in Iran. [Antony] Cartalucci asserts that the West’s “mystery gunmen” are found in Iraqi Camp liberty, Libya and Syria, Egypt, Ukraine, Thailand and now Hong Kong. As a matter of fact, he should notice that the same pattern probably cannot be operative in case of the MKO because the majority of Iranian nation do not care about the MKO if they do not detest it.”

++ Writing in RT, Caleb Maupin, a political analyst from New York City and an activist with the International Action Center and Workers World Party, critiques an article published ealier in October by The Associated Press entitled “Iran Dissident: Tehran Continues Nuke Arms Work”. According to Maupin, “The forgotten history of a group of “Iranian dissidents” being promoted in Western media shows the hypocrisy of the so-called “War on Terror.”… the piece quoted Mujahadeen-e-Khalq (MEK) members, who insist that Iran is developing nuclear weapons. Maupin identified other media such as FOX News in which the MEK are being promoted in spite of their past and that they are universally hated by Iranians.

++ Former MEK member Mohammad Karami, resident in Paris, writes an Open Letter to Polish MEP, EyszarCzarnecki, asking why he would have solidarity with a terrorist cult? “You are aware of the Great Purge conducted by Joseph Stalin in the 1930s. Massoud and Maryam Rajavi have turned the Mojahedin Khalq Organisation into a destructive cult. The existing organisation is exactly like the NKD of Stalin. Massoud Rajavi in his internal meetings has over and over referred to the crimes of Stalin as «revolutionary actions». I can tell you clearly that Stalin is a role model for the Mojahedin Khalq leaders and Massoud and Maryam Rajavi themselves. Many disaffected members have been arrested, imprisoned and interrogated on the direct order of Massoud and Maryam Rajavi.”

October 17, 2014

++ Shapour Bastansiar (a musician) has published a copy of his resignation letter from the National Council of Resistance of Iran (NCRI), on his Facebook status, which is dated about two weeks ago. The MEK (aka NCRI) have not only ignored it up to now but have been trying to coerce him into retracting it. As far as internal news is concerned, Iran-Interlink has the names of two more members of the NCRI who have resigned but will not publish their names unless they decide to go public themselves. Experts say that the MEK cannot accept the resignation of Bastansiar, and would normally swear at him and label him an agent of the regime. But in this case, they cannot do this because he has not yet said anything about his reasons for resigning. The MEK are therefore simply ignoring this issue for the time being. However, past evidence suggests that if he does not retract, they will soon have to start labelling him to reinforce internal morale.

++ Iraj Mesdaghi has published an in-depth review of MEK support for ISIL before they were told by their masters to change course in their outlets in the West. He reveals over ten cases of clear support through public announcements and publications – from Struan Stevenson to the MEK’s official websites and articles from members of the MEK and NCRI. [Editor: Suggesting that a long-term plan involving ISIL has been in place for some time, but that several outlets have been precipitate in their support and have had to retract to await further developments.]

++ Fars News Agency has ridiculed yet another revelation by the MEK about Iran’s nuclear programme because this time no one has taken any notice of it; to the point that even the usual suspects and paid writers have refused to cover it.

In English:

++ Mazda Parsi in Nejat Bloggers writes about the ‘adventures of the Mojahedin and the warmongers’. In the article Parsi draws conclusions from reviewing several sources concerning the MEK, its sponsors and their sponsorship of sectarian violence in the whole region. Parsi argues that

“The fraudulent policy of the West to run its empire in the Middle East is very clearly seen in a recent Henry Kissinger comment about ISIS which MKO propaganda website proudly republishes it. The former US Secretary of State who is famous for his warmonger policies, expressed in an interview with NPR that he considers ”Iran a bigger problem than ISIS”. He sounds to be making this audience ready for another war in the region—which is a dream for Maryam Rajavi.”

++ Tony Cartalucci in Global Research uses the precedent of the MEK to argue that Hong Kong’s current “Occupy Central” protests are US-sponsored. Using further examples, Cartalucci argues that the American backed protestors may soon attempt to provoke the authorities into a violent response, and warns against such manipulation.

++ Pepe Escobar published a thoughtful and very interesting piece in Asia Times about his recent visit to Iran as a roving correspondent. Among personal observations about his visit he talks about the New Horizon conference he attended which, he says, “could not but be about information war. The overall theme was the fight against the Zionist lobby. Everyone knows what the lobby means and how it operates, especially in the US. And yet, in my short interventions, at the Foreign Ministry and at the conference, I preferred to focus on its global financial/economic reach. Follow the money. That’s the only way to pierce the lobby’s seemingly invincible armory.”

His article continues: “Another face of information war. Everywhere I went, I had the pleasure to see how Gareth Porter’s book – Manufactured Crisis: The Untold Story of the Iranian Nuclear Scare – was received as a blessing. The book was translated into Farsi by the Fars News Agency, in only two months, with meticulous care, and launched in a simple ceremony. It’s bound to become a best seller – as it conclusively proves, for instance, how the Iranian “plot” to equip missiles with nuclear warheads was entirely fabricated by the terrorist outfit Mujahedin-e Khalq (MEK) and then handed over to the International Atomic Energy Agency by the Mossad. Contrast the respect shown to Gareth in Tehran to the wall of silence of its US reception – just another reflection of the 35-year-old “wilderness of mirrors” opposing Washington to Tehran.”

++ Mazda Parsi in Nejat Bloggers tells us that reports and documents published about the MKO camps, demonstrate that morality has been deleted from the group’s internal relations. Describing morals as the rules of society, he demonstrates – through examples like the forced divorces – how the MEK’s internal relations have not only abandoned normal morality but turned it on its head so that immorality has become the cult’s value.

++Iranian Pen Club (Iran Ghalam) has written an Open Letter to the judges in Maryam Rajavi’s French court case, Jean Duye and Marc Trevidic. The letter criticises the French judiciary saying “a great historic mistake has taken place by closing her file. This is because the Mujahidin have been transformed from a so called revolutionary-political organization to a dangerous Cult by Massoud and Maryam Rajavi in the recent years. But this new face is hidden so while they are out of reach in the west by the law, they can proceed with their ominous activities to reach their political and military goals. This is why giving them an open hand in Europe is a very dangerous decision, and we hope you will realize it.”

October 10, 2014