Michael Theodoulou is a journalist based in Nicosia, Cyprus who reports for the Christian Science Monitor , The Times , National Public Radio, and The Scotsman . He has reported for numerous news outlets over a long career. He frequently reports on Cyprus [1] and the Middle East. [2] [3] [4] [5] He traveled to Iran many times in the 1990s, [6] and his reports on Ayatollah Khomeini are often cited. [7] [8] [9]
He retired as an active journalist in May 2018.[ citation needed ]
The Iran–Contra affair, also referred to as the Iran–Contra scandal, the Iran Initiative, or simply Iran–Contra, was a political scandal in the United States that centered around arms trafficking facilitated by senior officials of the Ronald Reagan administration to Iran between 1981 to 1986. As Iran was subject to an arms embargo at the time of the scandal, the sale of arms was deemed illegal. The administration hoped to use the proceeds of the arms sale to fund the Contras, an anti-Sandinista rebel group in Nicaragua. Under the Boland Amendment, further funding of the Contras by legislative appropriations was prohibited by Congress, but the Reagan administration figured out a loophole by secretively using non-appropriated funds instead.
The Middle East is a geopolitical region encompassing the Arabian Peninsula, the Levant, Turkey, Egypt, Iran, and Iraq.
The Christian Science Monitor (CSM), commonly known as The Monitor, is a nonprofit news organization that publishes daily articles both in electronic format and a weekly print edition. It was founded in 1908 as a daily newspaper by Mary Baker Eddy, the founder of the new religious movement Christian Science, Church of Christ, Scientist.
Elliott Abrams is an American politician and lawyer, who has served in foreign policy positions for presidents Ronald Reagan, George W. Bush, and Donald Trump. Abrams is considered to be a neoconservative. He was a senior fellow for Middle Eastern studies at the Council on Foreign Relations. He served as the U.S. Special Representative for Venezuela from 2019 to 2021 and as the U.S. Special Representative for Iran from 2020 to 2021.
Michael Arthur Ledeen is an American historian and neoconservative foreign policy analyst. He is a former consultant to the United States National Security Council, the United States Department of State, and the United States Department of Defense. He held the Freedom Scholar chair at the American Enterprise Institute where he was a scholar for 20 years, and now holds the similarly named chair at the Foundation for Defense of Democracies. He was very close to Italian politician Antonio Martino. Ledeen was also noted to have done work for Italian intelligence agency SISMI, having received over $100,000 in payment to offshore bank accounts for services including but not limited to training Italian intelligence operatives. Ledeen denies these allegations but admits he did do work for SISMI and was paid for it.
The 1980 October Surprise theory refers to the claim that members of Ronald Reagan's presidential campaign covertly negotiated with Iranian leaders to undermine incumbent President Jimmy Carter by delaying the release of 66 American hostages detained in Iran. The hostage situation, which began when Iranian revolutionaries seized the U.S. embassy in Tehran, was one of the biggest news stories of 1980, and Carter's inability to resolve it is widely believed to have contributed to his loss.
John Kent Cooley was an American journalist and author who specialized in islamist groups and the Middle East. Based in Athens, he worked as a radio and off-air television correspondent for ABC News and was a long-time contributing editor to the Christian Science Monitor.
The Israel lobby in the United States comprises individuals and groups who seek to influence the U.S. federal government to better serve the interests of Israel. The largest American pro-Israel lobbying group is Christians United for Israel, which has over seven million members. The American Israel Public Affairs Committee (AIPAC) is a leading organization within the lobby, speaking on behalf of a coalition of pro-Israel American Jewish groups.
Robert Malley is an American lawyer, political scientist and specialist in conflict resolution, who was the lead negotiator on the 2015 Iran nuclear deal known as the Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action (JCPOA).
Jacques Hodoul was a Seychellois judge and former politician. After serving as Minister of Education and Culture, he was Minister of Foreign Affairs from 1979 to 1982, Minister of National Development from 1982 to 1989, and Minister of Tourism and Transport from 1989 to 1991. He was the leader of the Seychelles Movement for Democracy, which he founded in 1991. Hodoul was appointed to the post of Justice of Appeal in March 2005, the highest court in Seychelles. Hodoul resigned from this position in 2011 after finishing his minimum five-year term. Hodoul died on 3 May 2021.
Barnett Richard Rubin is an American political scientist and a leading expert on Afghanistan and South Asia. He is the author of eight books and is currently senior fellow and director at the Center on International Cooperation at New York University, a leading foreign policy center. He was previously senior advisor to the US special representative for Afghanistan and Pakistan. He has advised the United Nations, NATO, the United States, and the Afghan government on numerous policy matters, including aid policy, security policy, and diplomatic strategy.
Robin B. Wright, is an American foreign affairs analyst, author and journalist who has covered wars, revolutions and uprisings around the world. She writes for The New Yorker and is a fellow of the U.S. Institute of Peace and the Woodrow Wilson Center. Wright has authored five books and coauthored or edited three others.
Ariel Cohen is a political scientist focusing on political risk, international security and energy policy, and the rule of law. Cohen currently serves as the Managing Director of the Energy, Growth, and Security Program] (EGS) at the International Tax and Investment Center (ITIC), an independent, nonprofit research and education organization founded in 1993 to promote tax reform and public-private initiatives to improve the investment climate in transition and developing economies.
Faysh Khabur is a town on the northwestern edge of the Kurdistan Region in the Zakho District of Duhok Governorate of Iraq. It is named after the Khabur River on which the town is built, and lies on the confluence of the Tigris and Khabur river. The town is in a very strategic location, as it lies just 4 km south from the Semalka Border Crossing with Syria as well as being close to the border with Turkey.
H.R. 301, long title: "To provide for the establishment of the Special Envoy to Promote Religious Freedom of Religious Minorities in the Near East and South Central Asia," is a bill that was introduced in the United States House of Representatives during the 113th United States Congress. The bill would direct the President to appoint a Special Envoy to Promote Religious Freedom of Religious Minorities in the Near East and South Central Asia within the Department of State. The Special Envoy's duties would include promoting religious freedom, monitoring religious intolerance, and denouncing rights violations.
Salam was a Persian-language daily newspaper published in Tehran, Iran. It was named by Ahmad Khomeini, the son of Ayatollah Khomeini. It was highly influential in the country during its brief existence from 1991 to 1999 and was one of the early reformist dailies published following the Islamic revolution in Iran.
Lt. Colonel Lewis Lee Hawkins was a United States military aide to Iran who was assassinated. Vahid Afrakhteh, a member of the Mojahedin M.L. (Marxist–Leninist) and later a founding member of Peykar, was captured and confessed to the assassination. Some sources attribute the assassination to the People's Mujahedin of Iran.
Colonel Paul R. Shaffer (1930–1975) was a United States military aide to Iran who served as an air force pilot in both Korea and Vietnam. In 1975, he was assassinated along with Lieutenant Colonel Jack H. Turner. Vahid Afrakhteh, a founding member of Peykar, confessed to the killing and later was executed. Nevertheless, some sources have falsely attributed the assassination to the People's Mujahedin of Iran (MEK), a group which Vahid Afrakhteh and Peykar tried to eliminate.
Victor D. Comras is an American diplomat, lawyer, and writer.
Martin Tolchin was an American journalist and author. He was a longtime political correspondent for The New York Times, and later co-founded The Hill and Politico.