Posted on 08/16/2005 6:06:50 AM PDT by F14 Pilot
TEHRAN: Iran's ultra-conservative President has announced a hardline cabinet, signalling a tougher line in negotiations with the West and sounding the death knell for the reform movement in Iran.
Despite promising a Government of moderation, Mahmoud Ahmadinejad gave key posts to prominent religious conservatives and new faces from the ideological Right, many of whom are former military commanders.
Although hailing from different right-wing political factions, which analysts say could lead to political in-fighting, the cabinet is united in believing that Iran must not bow to international pressure over its nuclear ambitions.
Mr Ahmadinejad named conservative MP Manouchehr Mottaki as Foreign Minister. Mr Mottaki is a champion of Iran's nuclear program and a scathing critic of Western interference.
Mr Mottaki strongly backed the controversial move last week to resume uranium conversion, a step that resulted in the EU calling an emergency meeting of the UN's nuclear watchdog and which placed Iran on the brink of an international crisis.
This is the one issue they all agree on and, unlike the reformists, this new conservative cabinet will not compromise over the nuclear issue, according to political analyst Said Leylaz.
The appointments came as Tehran warned the West to back off from what it sees as bullying over its nuclear program, after US President George W.Bush said that he would not rule out a military strike against Iran's nuclear facilities.
Mr Ahmadinejad also replaced Hassan Rohani, Iran's chief nuclear negotiator, with Ali Larijani, a conservative former head of state broadcasting.
The nuclear issue is likely todominate policy for the new 21-member Government, but dramatic changes in foreign policy are unlikely, as it is set directly by Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, Iran's Supreme Leader.
Instead, analysts say that the new Government is likely to present a harder, more inflexible image to the West.
Other appointments of prominent conservatives, renowned for their fundamentalist views, are Mostafa Pourmohammadi, a former deputy intelligence minister who has been named Interior Minister, and Gholamhossein Mohseni-Ejei, who has been named Intelligence Minister.
The US should be doing anything it can to help the dissidents even to sending arms.
Dunno, look at his other posts.
You're right... Maybe he was just being sarcastic.
a cultural event. a crackdown. a riot. a massacre. a leader. a new beginning of an old nation.
I'll have one eye on them/there.
bear in mind: I'm sick as a DOG, running a good fever, so all this could easily be fever-delusions
even if I were completely hale, I would never advise anyone to pay too much mind to the vague whispers in the back of my head.
Now I don't see Bush as having a choice whether to invade Iran, since he invaded Iraq on 'assumed' WMD, rather than concrete as is the case now with Iran.
The question now is when and how?"
I think that it has to coincide with a couple of things:
1) Receiving oil from Iraq. Contracts are being formed now on a broad scale to buy the oil 'legally'. When we are shut off from Tehran, we need a major supplyer. I am not an expert, but based on what I see on the ground, we are six months away.
2) The Euroweenies are failing negotiations with Iran (what a surprise). It is raising the ire of the EU but at the same time they also are highly reliant on Iran for oil. It would make an invasion a lot easier if we can have the support of Europe instead of opposing us so hand in hand we both have to impose harsh sanctions on Iran, including a naval blockade if necessary and have oil from Iraq.
I am guessing a 12 months before we could do the above mentioned and 18 months to have enough troop deployment to get the job done if we have to go in.
Gotcha. Grain of salt added.
I'm too good looking to be a troll....
I think you have a fetish with trolls....wonder what's on your car's keychain...
2) The Euroweenies are failing negotiations with Iran (what a surprise)....
I'm Dutch, and Holland is filled with quasi-hippies who want peace and tranquility.....if it works well now they would rather keep the peace, although, they could look down the road a bit and see that the sh*t is going to hit the fan soon. But the road seems a bit hazy.....wonder why ;-)
It's about time to start a nice little crusade against the koran and therefore Islam, since we would be paying quite a bit less if it weren't for OPEC. We are non-muslims, therefore we are forced to pay more.
This is going to be a bloody crusade, I tell you, but could be decided a bit quicker since we've improved our ability (Americans and Europeans, once the Euros step up to the plate) to over-saturate the target with uranium-depleted bullets. Time to blow off the dust of those mini-nukes. Could be used in North Korea, but sure as hell can now. :)
Finally have to stop targeting 'evildoers' and finally put an actual face on the target.
I'm Dutch, and Holland is filled with quasi-hippies who want peace and tranquility.....if it works well now they would rather keep the peace, although, they could look down the road a bit and see that the sh*t is going to hit the fan soon. But the road seems a bit hazy.....wonder why ;-)
It's about time to start a nice little crusade against the koran and therefore Islam, since we would be paying quite a bit less if it weren't for OPEC. We are non-muslims, therefore we are forced to pay more.
This is going to be a bloody crusade, I tell you, but could be decided a bit quicker since we've improved our ability (Americans and Europeans, once the Euros step up to the plate) to over-saturate the target with uranium-depleted bullets. Time to blow off the dust of those mini-nukes. Could be used in North Korea, but sure as hell can now. :)
Finally have to stop targeting 'evildoers' and finally put an actual face on the target."
Good points. It gets cloudy and hazy over here too some times in America, especially those basements we have :^)
I think that crushing the belief of Islam is not a feasible goal in our lifetimes. That being said, the best we can probably hope for is to annihalate the regimes that support the radical strains.
the mullahs regime is not reformable
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