Showing posts with label AhmadiNejad. Show all posts
Showing posts with label AhmadiNejad. Show all posts
2.8.09
Iran's Protesters' Trial: Confronting the West on Torture
The trial of Iran's protesters has renewed the urgency of a clear condemnation of Torture in the West. Mousavi, who is championed by the West, is accusing the regime of torturing the protesters before the trial and declared the statements of the accused as invalid because they were extracted under torture.
Mousavi knows very well what he is talking about. He presided, with the same techniques, over the trials of Iranian leftists at the hands of the new Mollahs regime, after the overthrow of the Shah.
This is an occasion for those in the West who champion democracy and regime change in Iran: will they condemn the torture of the protesters or will they remian silent ? Or will they, once again, try to justify torture for some and condemn it for others ?
A portrait of Mousavi and an analysis of the current inside struggle for power among Iran's religious elite.
Mousavi knows very well what he is talking about. He presided, with the same techniques, over the trials of Iranian leftists at the hands of the new Mollahs regime, after the overthrow of the Shah.
This is an occasion for those in the West who champion democracy and regime change in Iran: will they condemn the torture of the protesters or will they remian silent ? Or will they, once again, try to justify torture for some and condemn it for others ?
A portrait of Mousavi and an analysis of the current inside struggle for power among Iran's religious elite.
27.6.09
Iran's present turmoil: Opportunism or Reformism ?
A dissident note in the chorus of western condemnations of Iran is necessary, and what if it is true ? Reading this critique from an Iranian American scholar who is an expert in vote fraud and was on the board of NGOs overseeing votes in many countries worldwide, it appears that the story of vote fraud in Iran is somehow twisted and overblown. Mousavi is more of an opportunist than a reformist. He is betting on western influence and the present uproar to do what he is unable to do hismself: win the elections in Iran or at least destabilise his opponent. This is the Lebanonisation of Iranian politics.
The point of view I have expressed here does not entail that I take sides. I am merely stating that western coverage of post elections Iran is a large scale interference used as a pressure on the regime by those who oppose AhmadiNejad. It is clear that what is going on is an internal struggle inside the regime between hardliners and 'reformists'. But comments from an Iranian blogger (Naj) here confirmed what I suspect is at the bottom of this struggle, the identity of the country: AhmadiNejad and his supporters in the religious hierarchy want a regional and political leadership for Iran focused on current Middle East problems: Palestine and sunni-shia political rivalries and that's a direction that goes against Israel's and the US will for the middle east, while those who oppose AhmadiNejad have set their priority in separating Iran from regional conflicts, namely conflicts in the Arab world. But in my opinion, and although AhmadiNejad and his supporters are labeled as conservatives, and although vote fraud may have taken place, the present turmoil has nothing to do with reforms, at least not from the perspective of Mousavi and some inside the religious hierarchy, but it is certainly for reform that most Iranians are demonstrating in the streets.
I wish Iranian people the best and most of all to be able to resolve the present turmoil in a peaceful manner.
From Le Monde Diplomatique: Betqeen religious and democratic legitimacy: Iran's stolen elections
The point of view I have expressed here does not entail that I take sides. I am merely stating that western coverage of post elections Iran is a large scale interference used as a pressure on the regime by those who oppose AhmadiNejad. It is clear that what is going on is an internal struggle inside the regime between hardliners and 'reformists'. But comments from an Iranian blogger (Naj) here confirmed what I suspect is at the bottom of this struggle, the identity of the country: AhmadiNejad and his supporters in the religious hierarchy want a regional and political leadership for Iran focused on current Middle East problems: Palestine and sunni-shia political rivalries and that's a direction that goes against Israel's and the US will for the middle east, while those who oppose AhmadiNejad have set their priority in separating Iran from regional conflicts, namely conflicts in the Arab world. But in my opinion, and although AhmadiNejad and his supporters are labeled as conservatives, and although vote fraud may have taken place, the present turmoil has nothing to do with reforms, at least not from the perspective of Mousavi and some inside the religious hierarchy, but it is certainly for reform that most Iranians are demonstrating in the streets.
I wish Iranian people the best and most of all to be able to resolve the present turmoil in a peaceful manner.
From Le Monde Diplomatique: Betqeen religious and democratic legitimacy: Iran's stolen elections
29.1.09
24.9.07
The power of satire
When rational discourse becomes impossible, locked in double standards, threats, and guilt, only satire can rescue us from idiocy and bigotry. Thanks to Wolfie and Stef for the links.
"Still, the bulk of my sympathies are with whatever group suffers the most, regardless of how much of the problem is their own damned fault. To feel otherwise would be inhuman. Sometimes it feels as if the Palestinians are only one Gandhi away from fixing their problems. But he’d need to be bulletproof."
"I was happy to hear that NYC didn't allow Iranian President Ahmadinejad to place a wreath at the WTC site. And I was happy that Columbia University is rescinding the offer to let him speak. If you let a guy like that express his views, before long the entire world will want freedom of speech...
...Ahmadinejad also called the holocaust a "myth." Fuck him! A myth is something a society uses to frame their understanding of their world, and act accordingly. It's not as if the world created a whole new country because of holocaust guilt and gives it a free pass no matter what it does. That's Iranian crazy talk. Ahmadinejad can blow me.
...Those Iranians need to learn from the American example. In this country, if the clear majority of the public opposes the continuation of a war, our leaders will tell us we're terrorist-humping idiots and do whatever they damn well please. They might even increase our taxes to do it. That's called leadership."
"Still, the bulk of my sympathies are with whatever group suffers the most, regardless of how much of the problem is their own damned fault. To feel otherwise would be inhuman. Sometimes it feels as if the Palestinians are only one Gandhi away from fixing their problems. But he’d need to be bulletproof."
"I was happy to hear that NYC didn't allow Iranian President Ahmadinejad to place a wreath at the WTC site. And I was happy that Columbia University is rescinding the offer to let him speak. If you let a guy like that express his views, before long the entire world will want freedom of speech...
...Ahmadinejad also called the holocaust a "myth." Fuck him! A myth is something a society uses to frame their understanding of their world, and act accordingly. It's not as if the world created a whole new country because of holocaust guilt and gives it a free pass no matter what it does. That's Iranian crazy talk. Ahmadinejad can blow me.
...Those Iranians need to learn from the American example. In this country, if the clear majority of the public opposes the continuation of a war, our leaders will tell us we're terrorist-humping idiots and do whatever they damn well please. They might even increase our taxes to do it. That's called leadership."
6.3.07
Ayatollahs against AhmadiNejad
Demagogy, Unfulfilled Promises, Incompetence. Without naming AhmadiNejad, these are the words with which this notable Ayatollah from Qom and close to the now deceased first guide of the revolution and ex-president Khomeini describes the political situation in Iran to Le Monde's special correspondant.
And I must add that these are the same words one can use to describe Bush, Blair, Rice and the neocons.
" The Qoran teaches us that we should never do to the other what we don't want to be done to us. The Holocaust is history. Are we going to change the history of Nations ? I don'T understand why the government has taken this initiative for a conference on the Holocaust. . This is bad for Iran and for Islam. ''
This Ayatollah thinks that Ali Akbar Hachemi Rafsandjani, former presidential hopeful, should be the man ruling Iran and pulling it from its troubles.
Is this an isolated appreciation asks Le Monde's correspondant ? The answer is No. The Grand Ayatollah Saanei reflects the mainstream opinion among Ayatollahs in Iran toward AhmadiNejad. "AhmadiNejad has one support in Qom, the fundamentalist Ayatollah Mesbah-Yazdi, two or three others and some radicals. Most Ayatollah are against the 'religious populism' of AhmadiNejad and the social tensions that go with it. They prefer the ex president Rafsandjani, a highly educated cleric, adn a pragmatic who knos how to manage crises." ... ''Most Ayatollahs want a more open government. They fear that the politic of intransigeance that is being conducted in the name of religion is going to weaken the religion and the country alltogether".Another Ayatollah mentioned the social problems pervasive among youths in modern Iran and considered that the government is ignoring these problems and diverting its energy from them...
Every war waged against a foreign country without a valid pretext in matters of national defense is a war waged against the people from the inside tio hide the problems the nation is facing at a specific moment of its history. This is firstly true of the US, and it is being generalised to the entire world with the new US foreign policy because wherever the US is facing countries with internal problems, it is promoting, by its belligerant attitude which radicalises the population, those leaders like AhamdiNejad, who have the same way of reacting to the internal problems of their country, by exporting its malaise...
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Since March 29th 2006