Iranian Puzzle

Rafsanjani is allegedly one of the most powerful men in Iran, having accumulated vast riches during his corrupt tenure and enjoying political power well beyond his station. It was Rafsanjani who was key in ensuring that the Ayatollah`s selected successor never took power, in essence taking part in the co-opting of the revolution for personal gain...or so goes the story.

I have no idea how or why Mahmoud Ahmedinejad came to power...either Rafsanjani is not nearly as powerful as the Iranian ex-pats I know make him out to be, or he is, in fact, committed enough to the system to play ``fair``.

As for the Iranian students, too much is made of them. The uprising against the Shah was in no small part due to the Shah`s widespread abuses across the social strata. The students were a voice that the West could no doubt easily identify with, however were by no means the only voice or the major voice.

I think the results of this election speak louder than the students who agitate against the regime...the poor underclass is fed up and they want action to address their needs. This is make or break time for the regime...if they loose this support base then the revolution is lost.

my friend haroon has written this:

Iran is an important regional power. Its population is three times that of Iraq. It is an old civilization with a great intellectual and cultural tradition and a strong sense of its Shiite identity. Under Khatami, it has seen the potential to develop into a democracy and become the Shiite equivalent of moderate Sunni Turkey and Malaysia.

Isolating Iran is the worst possible course to follow.Isolating Iran will only strengthen hardliners - Haroon Siddiqui says most Iranians want to normalize relations with U.S.

Election time in Iran is always a very difficult time for the US government. It is at pains to explain to the american public why despite Iranians going to elections in droves, it is not really a democracy! 60% plus participation by citizens is an enviable mark for any western democracy. Bush administration would have propgandized to no end if it had mustered this kind of democracy in Iraq.

Then you see american media coming up with catch phrases to discredit the elections. NY Times suggested that ``youth boycotted this election`` - not withstanding the fact that nearly 70% of the iranian population is under the age of 30 and that majority of the votes Ahmedinijad received were from youth. Perhaps the only ``youth`` that mattered to the western media was the one that allegedly boycotted!

The war mongers in Bush administration could not be happier with the result. Rafsanjani has a track record of being very polished and fox-like in his foreign policy. Ahmedinijad is a new hand and the war mongers are hoping that he will overplay his hand, thus giving ammo for a new war.

Already, several books have come out, scaring american public about Iran and conditioning them for next war. ``The countdown to showdown with Iran`` is one such book that alleges that 9/11 was infact plotted by iranians and al-qaeda!!!

Its deja vu all over again.

I have many iranian friends in the US and they have told me that a vast majority of the iranian population live in squalor, crowded into dingy tenements, despite the wealth that oil has purportedly brought into that country.There is an elite in Iran who are in cahoots with the mullahs and between these two groups the spoils are divided.Whatever govt. in iran occupies power is immaterial to us Indians as teheran under any guise has always maintained good relations.

It makes no difference who gets elected in Iran, after all the President is little more than a figurehead.

Temporal,

You friend failed to mention that the Iran is the hiding place for most of the terrorist. He failed to mention that Iran is providing support to Iraqi opposition. Your friend failed to mentioned that Iran is the most regressive and repressive regime in the world.
Why he failed to mention all those things? “Bughas -e- Maviya” perhaps.

Your friend wants to oppose the US and to do that your friend supports the regime in Iran.

All these theories about Iran more populace or more powerful don’t mean a thing.
It was a mistake by the US to go after Iraq first. They should have taken out the Mullah in Iran first. The US really thought that the Iraq campaign would be short and they will regroup to take on Iran. Things did not turn out that way in Iraq and that leaves Iran off the hook temporarily.
The factors working for Iran are the oil prices and the oil supply in the world. Europeans don’t have more than thirteen days supply of oil. The oil prices would shoot up astronomically if the Gulf were blocked for two weeks. That is a strong possibility even when the US takes the Pakistan route to attack Iran.

However, Iran must not bank on its lucky stars. If not this, the next US administration would have to deal with these enemies of humanity sitting in Tehran and thumbing their noses as if their elections were real.

They kept the voting to 60%; people would have rejected these polls right away, if they have gone on to 99% participation. Mullahs think that the world is impressed with their elections and they are a democracy now. They are as usual delusional. Nobody believes in their elections except for a few misguided, Jihadi inspired kids.

HP:

saeen don`t be quick with condemnation

click on the link i provided and then click on ``haroon`` ..this will take you to his previous columns...read a few of them before you send him to the gallows;)...personally i think he is one of the relatively more balanced columnist in any major newspaper in the west

btw...if iran supports dissidents in iraq, hazrat USA supports terrorist mujahideen e khalq too...hisab barabar?

rgds

t

HP,

``You friend failed to mention that the Iran is the hiding place for most of the terrorist. He failed to mention that Iran is providing support to Iraqi opposition.``

Not really. In any case, support for political opposition, or even influencing Iraqi politics, is well within the right of the Iranian regime given the extent of American medelling in Iraq (which is total).

Needless to say, Iran under the Mullahs is perhaps infinitely better than Iraq without a functioning government...

Re: # 3

``60% plus participation by citizens is an enviable mark for any western democracy. ``

I read somewhere that women were debarred from voting. Is it true?

To qualify as a democractic undertaking it would have to do away with:
1. the guardian council, let the people decide whom they want to vote.
2. debarring women participation (if its true that women were debarred)

Re: # 8

``Needless to say, Iran under the Mullahs is perhaps infinitely better than Iraq without a functioning government...``

better in what respect?

Re: # 8

``Needless to say, Iran under the Mullahs is perhaps infinitely better than Iraq without a functioning government...``

better in what respect?

we may never know what exactly is happening in Iran. The only information we have, and our perception is solely based on that, is from the news that we get from American and Western propaganda machinery. On one hand it is an accepted truth that Americans lie to their teeth to further their agenda and on the other hand population in West has been brainwashed into hatered and downright prejudice against Muslims and Iran that truth about Iran is hard to find.

Imperialist forces will never stop crying over a matter that is out of their control. They want to see the whole world in one color, the solor which is their own. These imperialist powers are no more liberal or democratic.

Liberalism demands to tolerate a thing that is different from you. They just can`t do it. Liberalism demands to give the other people a space to breath but the ``liberal west`` wants whole world to be like them. Seriosuly, Europe lost its way long ago and US start losing its direction a couple of decades back. As Noam Chomsky says, the intolerant attitude of US government and rising intolerance among americans due to the ears created by government will cause heir generations to suffer.

And about being democratic, democracy is the biggest tool used by these goras. If a regime is friendly, it is democratic. If it is not, there must be a re-election as elections were not fair.

Ahmedinijad, certainly not my favourite, was not favourite of Elite Mullahs in Iran. He didn`t win because he is a conservative, he won because he is a middleclass person who promised to help poor people. While he was the mayor of Tehran, he showed by his acts that he lives a simple life and he has roots in his people. As a result, it was the people who voted for him. It is what democracy is.

Now if a blind west followers gets up, feeling irritated by the fact that a conservative had such a landslide victory and claims that electyions were not fair, I can say nothing but to feel pity for this unbearded, westernized extremist.


Despite US propoganda and an 8 year long war imposed by imperialist powers and two decades of strict bans, Iran has survived well. Theiir per capita income is more than any other country in the region. Their economy is stronger than anyone else. Their life style is better han other countries in the region and population living under poverty line is less than any other country in the region. Iranians live happily, they know how to live happily with what they have. It is a proven fact that Iranians hate west and they have reasons for it.

But west still tries to prove otherwise.

In modern world, media, democracy,human rights, freedom and similar logos have become the tools to dictate. Down with such extremist europe.

Europe is already its way down to dark ages. US might take a century or more for that. China rising at the top, India rising to the second, it will be interesting to see how world looks like after 150 years.

While India has chosen the easy way of submission to west, as they have been doing since centuries, China has some policy of their own. Let`s see what happens.

Note: I am sorry, if I was a bit off topic.

urstruly #11:

it is understandable why you would not trust the iranians

Iranian Newspapers in English

have faith, someday there would be enough freedom there

;)

#8 _digit


“support for political opposition, or even influencing Iraqi politics, is well within the right of the Iranian regime given the extent of American medelling in Iraq (which is total).”

Yes! It is not de Jure but a de facto right. But that also gives Pakistan or the US a right to influence politics in Iran, breach the Iran border or send in advance forces for guerilla activities.
Based solely on infiltration, Iran becomes a party in the Iraq conflict thus opening itself for retaliatory action.

“Mullahs is perhaps infinitely better than Iraq without a functioning government...”

Infinitely better than a country under arms conflict! What are the bases of the comparison?

Take out the insurgency, Iraq right away becomes a better place for human rights and civil rights. Removing the occupation army would make Iraq the only country along the gulf to have a functioning democracy. Iran w/o all those elements such as insurgency or occupying army still won’t qualify for a functioning democracy or a civil rights heaven.

Netizen,

Better in all respects. I`m not an anarchist.

Women were allowed to vote and run for office, although they could not run for the presidency.

The culling of a candidate list is not unique to Iran, and is often enthusiastically approved of by Western nations (the US in particular). Elections in Turkey and Algeria are closely guided by their military, which serve a similar function to Iran`s Guardian council.

One can only conclude, then, that Iran`s practice of culling candidate lists is hardly undemocratic with respect to Western perceptions of what democracy is, even if it is not a normative practice in the West.