++ Among the reactions to Maryam Rajavi\u2019s support for Donald Trump\u2019s speech, many referred to the MEK as mercenaries and claim \u2018this, as other issues, will go away\u2019. But many others remarked on what happened after the speech and that nothing came out of what Trump said. As we know, they say, this means that the Iranians don\u2019t take them seriously. But even those who regard the MEK as a tool are distancing themselves from the group. The MEK is becoming more and more irrelevant, as much as they like to shout about themselves.<\/p>\n
++ In Albania there is a constant stream of people leaving the MEK and they are consolidating around Sahar Family Foundation so that a community of formers is taking shape. On the other side, the MEK are digging in and establishing further connections with the underworld of Albania; drug smugglers, arms dealers, traffickers etc. New MEK bases are being established between Tirana and the port of Durr\u00ebs for smuggling purposes, along with smuggling people and drugs from other routes. The MEK has established its presence in the country in this way and is now involved in the task of corrupting politicians.<\/p>\n
In English:<\/p>\n
++ In a blog which concludes, \u201cThe vast majority of terrorism that is shaking the world today is conceived and nutured [sic] by radical Sunnis bent on destroying Iran. That is a fact that is largely ignored in the United States\u201d Colonel Pat Lang\u2019s analysis of Donald Trump\u2019s Iran policy encompasses the lies and misinformation which illustrate Trump\u2019s delusion. Lang says, \u201cAuthor Sean Naylor, Relentless Strike, which details the history of operations and missions carried out by U.S. Joint Special Operations Command aka JSOC over the last 30 years, sheds light on an uncomfortable truth regarding our support to terrorists. To quote an old cartoon, \u2018We have met the enemy and he is us.\u2019<\/p>\n
\u201cJSOC personnel also worked with the Mujahideen-e-Khalq (MEK), a militant Iranian exile group that had based itself in Iraq after falling afoul of the ayatollahs\u2019 regime in Tehran. The State Department had placed the MEK on its list of designated terrorist organizations, but that didn\u2019t stop JSOC from taking an attitude of \u2018the enemy of my enemy is my friend\u2019 toward the group. \u2018They were a group of folks that could transit the border, and they were willing to help us out on what we wanted to do with Iran,\u2019 said a special operations officer. The MEK were classified as a terrorist group until the United States decided that as long as the MEK would help kill Iranians rather than Americans that they were no longer terrorists.\u201d<\/p>\n
++ Jason Ditz\u2019s post in Anti-War attacks President Trump\u2019s \u201cincreasingly fantastical and absurd accounting of Iran\u2019s history\u201d, in his \u201clong-anticipated anti-Iran speech\u201d. Referring to Trump\u2019s claims about Iran\u2019s military and nuclear activity Ditz reminds us: \u201cThe IAEA has in recent days clarified multiple times that they don\u2019t need or want to visit any military sites right now. The only allegations about the sites are from the Mujahedin-e Khalq, which has been the source of repeated false accusations in the past.\u201d<\/p>\n
++ A lawyer acting for former MEK members in Albania visited the office of the UNHCR in Tirana this week with one of them. They asked the UNHCR to clarify the status of individuals who have been left destitute after they separated from the MEK. The report of the meeting reveals that the MEK do not have refugee status and were brought on \u2018humanitarian grounds\u2019 under an agreement struck between America, the Albanian government and the MEK. Under this agreement, which has not been made public, the MEK is responsible for paying the upkeep of all its members and former members. The MEK however does not pay anyone who does not continue to obey its dictates. The UNHCR suggested that a court case could clarify the status of these dissidents.<\/p>\n
++ Mazda Parsi of Nejat Society ridicules Maryam Rajavi\u2019s dream of ruling the Iranian nation. While she insists \u201cit is imperative that the NCRI be recognised as the sole democratic alternative\u201d to Iran\u2019s government, the people of Iran hold the opposite view of the JCPOA to that of Trump and Rajavi. Parsi compares Rajavi\u2019s rule inside the MEK to that of the absolute monarchy of Saudi Arabia, pointing out that she \u201chas been a president for over three decades with no alternative\u201d.<\/p>\n
++ Jason Rhode in Poste Magazine has no problem denouncing Howard Dean by examining \u201ca pair of Dean\u2019s positions: one in foreign policy, one domestic. Then we can examine why Dean has ended up on the short end of the progressive stick.\u201d With regard to foreign policy, when Dean described Iran\u2019s Revolutionary Guards as a terrorist group, many Twitter replies pointed to his support for the notorious MEK. Rhode says \u201cWithin the District, MEK is famous for its aggressive lobbying efforts. They spent with wild abandon to get their names stricken from the terrorist list. Nobody\u2019s sure how much. Who received those funds? Among others, Howard Dean. Dean is a Democrat, and the MEK are equal-opportunity spenders.\u201d<\/p>\n
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