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Don't get us mixed up Ahmadinejad is not, REPEAT not, the epitome of Iranian people's aspiration ...
Iranian.com ^ | December 16, 2005

Posted on 12/16/2005 1:54:46 PM PST by F14 Pilot

Don't get us mixed up Ahmadinejad is not, REPEAT not, the epitome of Iranian people's aspiration and their logic

December 16, 2005 iranian.com

There are countries of the world about which the world cannot afford to be ignorant. Iran is one such country and though the International community is slow in realising, it will have to be as informed and uncluttered in the their judgement about Iran as they are about France say. They would have to because Iran matters a lot and I am not saying that as an Iranian patriot but as an informed observer.

It is precisely because of this imperative that when I read Mr Mordechai Kedar's article "Nucleotheism" last night I was amazed at the sheer lack of insight in his assertions. I reiterate Iran cannot be generalised away in the stereotypes we are accustomed to about Mid Eastern countries. This was particularly disappointing to me as generally the Israeli politicians and opinion makers are people of sober judgement. There has always been a general pragmatic intelligence which has underpinned the modus operandi of Israeli Statecraft. Let us hope that despite Mr Kedar's very professional credentials and academic standing he will not wield any where near the kind of influence when he is under this level of misconception.

The argument he has marshalled is that the aggressive stance that the Islamic republic has adopted in relation to its alleged nuclear proliferation finds its justification in the state sponsored theology. Which theology has the concept of Velayat Faqih at its apex. Indeed the writer says and I quote:

'According to the principle of Wilayat al-Faqih, all these matters must be under the control of the Man of Faith in view of the fact that he enjoys divine illumination, granting him understanding of God's ways in the world, whereby the Deity illuminates his path and guides his footsteps and his decisions'.

Later on he continues in a very simplistic way:

''The Iranian logic is as follows: 'If Allah gave us the ability to develop nuclear weapons, and if we decided that we must carry out this development, then this decision cannot be wrong, for Allah illuminates our path and guides us to the correct decision. The decision to proceed with the nuclear development is not our decision but a divine decision, our part being merely to carry it out. Were we to terminate the development of our nuclear capability, we would be guilty of violating a divine command'."

It is actually very difficult to find any kind of distinction in Mr. Kedar's argument between the people of Iran and the regime. He asks rhetorically: 'And, overall, how can one understand the Iranians at the present time?', and later on he claims; 'The Iranian constantly asks himself: "Who appointed these infidels to tell us what to do and what not to do?''.

Given that he has also written:

'As a Shi'ite Moslem, he [Ahmadinejad] is obligated to do all in his power... to build up the country's power, seeing that Allah, in his grace and mercy, has endowed the Iranian Shi'ite Moslems with the ability to develop nuclear weapons'.

I can only assume that he sees absolutely no distinction between Ahmadinejad and other regime figures and the Iranian people. He is not simply referring to the government ruling in Iran as 'the Iranians' but in some bizarre fashion all of the Iranian people.

Now I do not know which Researcher can seriously have recourse to the best practices in empirical validation and yet be culpable of this magnitude of generalization. To inform his judgment however may we remind Mr. Kedar of the same fact that we have reminded the regime apologists in this and other forum that: no sound opinion poll has ever been conducted to solicit the true views of the Iranian people on this issue. On the odd occasion that the results of an opinion poll have been published (in the Khatami years), the conclusion was so unequivocal and uncomfortable for the regime that the regime arrested the pollsters.

As this writer has previously written to this forum may I remind the gentleman in question that the Islamic Republic is not exactly a transparent regime. Free flow of information is anathema to its existence and only a select few insiders have access to premium intelligence. As such any information pertaining to the state of public opinion is at best intelligent guess work at worst speculation. There are some parameters however within which some kind of forecasting can be conducted (again by no means accurate but within reason):

1. The Iranian people are diametrically opposed to the concept of Velayat-e-Faqih; we know so as there are now factions within the regime itself who are openly questioning its validity within temporal and theological domain. Needless to say these regime opportunists are no better than their so-called Conservative counterparts but they do sense a great schism between the regime and the general population at large.

2. The people of Iran would like a serious rapprochement with the West; no other country in the Middle East was as sympathetic to the Americans post 9/11 as the Iranians were. This we know to be true by the outpouring of serious sentiment on the morrow of this tragic calamity on the streets of Tehran. They are also spurned on to better relations with the West as the Iranian economy with its long-term youth unemployment is desperate to get on the Globalization bandwagon to benefit from it. The regime is institutionally and organically opposed to this as it knows that Globalization can destroy it.

3. The Iranian people are still licking their wounds from the Iran Iraq war. Perhaps less clear-cut for them is the desperately reckless Post Revolutionary policies of Ruhollah Khomeini in encouraging an Iraqi attack with US blessing (another story, another fallacy, another tragedy). As such they feel very much threatened by potential attacks on their country in the future. Again there are disturbing signs that a certain portion of the Iranian public does not understand the greater responsibility of the Islamic Regime in creating this crisis in the first place. What proportion we do not know and with this regime in power we have no way of telling. It is a safe bet to say however that this is by no means the majority but it does constitute a big minority. We know so because large numbers of people did go to the polls last July and regrettably afforded legitimacy to this vile regime. Given that the numbers of those who opted for the Non-Conservative candidates along with abstainers was higher than the Conservative voters we can be relatively comfortable with the assertion that the majority of Iranians do want a change in their country and are not happy with its direction.

4. Iranian people are just as prone to populist and demagogic policies as any other country. Perhaps more so as they have never tasted real democracy in their history except for a brief period in the Pahlavi era.

5. Iran does have serious economic considerations to contend with. The oil is running out and the population is on the rise. It is imperative for the Iranian economy to be able to diversify its energy resources so as to be able to sustain its perspective economic growth. The Iranians understand this but again regrettably what they fail to realize is that the regime occupying the seats of power has actually signed the Non-Proliferation treaty and acted with typical lack of transparency with the International community. We know that it has been less than candid with its true intentions not only by serious concerns voiced by IAEA but also Rafsanjani's opportunistic pre-election admission-cum-gimmick regarding this lack of frankness.

6. The Iranian population is looking more and more towards a secular and Nationalistic model of political development for its country. Its new cultural mores and values are far more in tune with what was left behind in 1979 by the Pahlavis than what the left and right of the anti-Shah revolution aspired to. This we know from increasing popularity of Nationalist writers such as Kasravi and the mushrooming of secular and nationalistic groups not only outside Iran but also inside. It is also palpable by the choice of names given to the newborn, pennames, dress codes, choice of mythology and folklore and attempts at purifying the Persian language. This we also know in the increasing and unfortunate estrangement of national minorities who believe (rightly or wrongly) that there is a lurking chauvinistic backlash in the offing against them. No wonder that buoyed by the thesis of regime change many of these groups are trying to hide their separatist tendencies by calls for Federalism.

7. There is an increasingly estranged and impoverished working class who nevertheless lurk further and further to reaction. This social class- and contrary to the machinations of nostalgic Communists- are arguably the most reactionary group in Iran. The youth and women groups are amongst the most progressive.

8. The regime is good at one thing and one thing alone; the ability to crisis manage its way to another round of odious survival. It did this before with the American hostage issue to drive out liberals; it later on smashed the left by prolonging the war and it has dissipated people's energies for establishing Civil Society by Kahatami type distractions.

With the above points made it is obvious that for the regime to survive it has to create another crisis, this time by concocting a phony nationalism and tagging its destructive and regressive values on that movement in order to survive.

Mr. Kedar asks rhetorically:

'And what motivates president Ahmadinajad of Iran, in such a complex situation, to voice declarations on "a world without Israel" and "the transfer of Israel to Europe"?'

Let me inform Mr. Kedar of what motivates Ahmadinejad to spew out his inflammatory poison and create further tension in the region. I need to inform him of this as his comments are not only unhelpful but downright misleading to say the least.

As I argued above the regime is expert at crisis management. When it sees that the US is regrettably caught up in an apparent quagmire and its forces stretched in Iraq and Afghanistan and further sees the political backlash amongst the Western electorate it knows that the possibility of military invasion is remote. It further sees that for the duration of the time that there are foolish governments in London, Paris and Berlin who chose to appease the Mullahs when there is a laughing clown like Khatami in power but still continue with the same appeasement when an obnoxious figure by the name of Ahmadinejad is holding the reins; he sees no incentives in moderating his tirade.

When Ahmadinejad further sees that there are vile regimes like that of Vladimir Putin (the ex-KGB Communist thug) and even more disgusting murderous Communists in China and Cuba which can aid it in the UN, it is buoyed up in playing a game of chicken with the West. It does so because by its murderous, regressive, fascistic nature it needs to. It needs to because it has defined its authority by speaking from a position of strength and if that bullying authority is undermined its power is diminished.

Ahmadinejad is not, REPEAT not, the epitome of Iranian people's aspiration and their logic. He is the laughing hyena who mocks the pathetic ignorance of people like Emma Nicholson of the Social and Liberal Democrats in the UK who call this regime some kind of Democracy. He is the irony of fate who mocks at the reckless silliness of President Clinton who believes that the regime is semi-democratic. He is a jester at the court of Khamenei who through his sarcastic frankness inadvertently lets the cat out of the bag and embarrasses the likes of Khatami who are the 'human face' of the Islamic Republic.

For the duration of the time that the West is ignorant about Iran Ahmadinejad will continue. For the duration of the time that sections of the foolish Iranian opposition are busy fighting each other prolonging petty squabbles about 1953 rather than fighting the regime; the Iranians will go along with this Islamic dog and pony show. For the duration of the time that Iranian Democrats and students inside are forgotten instead of receiving the moral support of the International community in the same way that anti-Apartheid movement did a few decades ago the regime will act cocky and self righteous.

For the duration of the time that the Liberal tendency in the West is ignorantly busy portraying Regime Change as synonymous with American military intervention rather than Iranian people's just right to oust their vile theocracy the world will be held to ransom. For the duration of the time that otherwise rational politicians and opinion makers in the US such as the American Enterprise Institute and Michael Ledeen are busy appeasing separatists to bring pressure to bear the people of Iran are apt to close rank behind this vile theocracy.

This debacle is a zero sum game between nations and behind the smokescreen of apparent irrationality there are many rational calculations which I have delineated above. The more vile the regime ruling that country is the more vile the objectives of that diplomacy will be. The higher the pressure on that regime to change its behavior the more flexible it will be. The world needs to decide: does it want a pariah state in the 21st century or the noble people of Iran by its side?

The choice is that simple but the distance a great leap of faith.


TOPICS: Editorial; Foreign Affairs; Israel; News/Current Events; War on Terror
KEYWORDS: ahmadinejad; americans; bigotry; bigots; bigotsrhere; bush; cakewalk; clinton; deadmullahsstink; democracy; economy; eu; ezekiel38; ezekiel39; feelsorry; freeiran; hatred; havenoidea; holocaust; iaea; iran; islam; ledeen; mideast; nukes; persia; racism; regimechange; secularism; terrorism; theshah; usa; world
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To: NC28203
If the youth of Iran rise up against the Mullahs and take over, would we allow them to continue efforts to build a nuclear facilities?

If they comply with their IAEA obligations I see no reason why not.

21 posted on 12/16/2005 2:34:35 PM PST by usurper (Spelling or grammatical errors in this post can be attributed to the LA City School System)
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To: Mr. Keys
When you understand that the new Iranian President is completely off his rocker and a card carrying member of the Hojjatieh Society.

Sometimes you feel like a nut, sometimes you don't.

22 posted on 12/16/2005 2:37:41 PM PST by ConvienentCharade
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To: samadams2000

See my post The Hojjatieh Society


23 posted on 12/16/2005 2:38:24 PM PST by ConvienentCharade
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To: F14 Pilot

"Ahmadinejad is not, REPEAT not, the epitome of Iranian people's aspiration and their logic. "

Sort of like Hitler not being the epitome of the Germans' logic in the forties? Probably better than that. I sense that the iranian people are far more reasonable human beings than the nut driving their ship of state while flapping his lips in the wind.


24 posted on 12/16/2005 2:47:14 PM PST by RoadTest (Religion never saved a soul - that's Jesus' job.)
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To: dennisw; Cachelot; Nix 2; veronica; Catspaw; knighthawk; Alouette; Optimist; weikel; Lent; GregB; ..
If you'd like to be on or off this middle east/political ping list, please FR mail me.
Articles on Israel can also be found by clicking the keyword Israel.

---------------------------

25 posted on 12/16/2005 3:04:31 PM PST by SJackson (There's no such thing as too late, that's why they invented death. Walter Matthau)
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To: SirLinksalot
The under 30 folks are the elephant in the room folks. They will be the downfall of the Mullahs yet.

Then they need to get a move on. Threatening to wipe Israel off the map isn't going to buy them too much time.

26 posted on 12/16/2005 3:05:56 PM PST by processing please hold (Islam and Christianity do not mix ----9-11 taught us that)
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To: F14 Pilot

They'd better do something - and fast - before he gets them all nuked.


27 posted on 12/16/2005 3:34:10 PM PST by thoughtomator (Congrats Iraq!)
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To: F14 Pilot

"As I argued above the regime is expert at crisis management. When it sees that the US is regrettably caught up in an apparent quagmire and its forces stretched in Iraq and Afghanistan and further sees the political backlash amongst the Western electorate it knows that the possibility of military invasion is remote..."

He lost me there.


28 posted on 12/16/2005 5:37:14 PM PST by Fred Nerks (Read THE LIFE OF MUHAMMAD free pdf download - link on My Page)
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To: Hank Rearden
What do you expect them to do?

I have been here long enough to see that the people who speak so harshly of the Iranian PEOPLE - not the lunatic regime - have so idea really, what's been happening in Iran.

There are people all across the land who demonstrate, almost DAILY. When they do, massive militarized force, militias, and islamist vigilantes called basijis (all of these groups are new to Iranians, introduced after the islamic revolution) both uniformed and in civilian clothing, surround the demonstrators. All electricity in the region is cut off, all phone-lines are cut off, all lines of communication are cut off, all cameras and videos are confiscated. And then the regime allows the demonstrations to proceed while they watch and film EVERYTHING. They film faces, they film the loudest protesters, the plainclothes militias mingle amongst the people and listen and record conversations. And the militia goads the people on and on and on until in comes to an end and eventually the people leave. But there it is in the middle of the night when the militia come to the homes they have pinpointed as the leaders, the loudmouths, the daring, and they take people's children away with no words or explanation. Some disappear for months and families go desperately from prison to prison - those are the official prisons I mean, not the secret prisons belonging to one or the other interior or intelligence ministries - looking for their loved ones. There the regime build "official" records for their catch of the day. Oh anything from having used alcoholic beverages to having unislamic relations with the opposite sex, to "disturbing peace and tranquility," and being "hoodlums." They force confessions, get 80 to 100 lashings and sent home with warning that the next time the regime won't be as benevolent.

There is more, much much more that is happening in Iran, but this is a small mental picture.

Now you tell me if you are tired of hearing that Iranians loath this regime, and that you think they should get off of their a@#@$es and do something about it.
29 posted on 12/16/2005 6:05:17 PM PST by parisa
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To: parisa
What do you expect them to do?

I expect them to try to take back their country, by force if necessary, or hide and try not to die when Israel or the USA does the job once again to clean up another useless, idiotic Moslem "culture".

Tick, tock, Moos.

30 posted on 12/16/2005 6:14:44 PM PST by Hank Rearden (Never allow anyone who could only get a government job attempt to tell you how to run your life.)
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To: parisa; Hank Rearden; samadams2000
There is more, much much more that is happening in Iran, but this is a small mental picture. Now you tell me if you are tired of hearing that Iranians loath this regime, and that you think they should get off of their a@#@$es and do something about it.

Well said. Most people who live in a free country like the US have *no* idea what it's like to live in a totalitarian state, or a close facsimile to one. It's easy to say they should just "get off their a**ses" and overthrow the leaders, but that's not so easy when the first person (or the first 10,000 people) to stand up against the government get "special attention" from the stormtroopers. Standing up to a totalitarian government is a good way to commit suicide.

Perhaps the keyboard cowboys who want to attack or abandon the Iranian people for not being able to remove an entrenched totalitarian and fanatical government should just catch the next flight over there and show us all how it's done. They could bring their friends and family along too, so that they can put as much at risk as the Iranian people have at stake also. Then we'll see how bold they are.

31 posted on 12/16/2005 6:21:18 PM PST by Ichneumon
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To: Hank Rearden
The US under jimmy carter has had a direct hand in creating the problems in, what did you call it, "another useless, idiotic Moslem "culture"." I am not sure how much you actually know about the Persian culture, but putting that aside and not discussing it here and now, cleaning up the mess the mollas and their "friends" have brought for Iran should be a united world affair. The people with empty hands standing up against this monstrous regime is a useless insanity. Whatever Iranians are, insane they ARE NOT. They need and want unity of purpose from the world governments, and they need moral and logistical support and then we'll see if they'll get off their behinds and end their own misery and the world's anxiety. So the rest of the world SHOULD STOP vacillating and GET OFF ITS OWN A##$$ first and give concrete support and not just lip service about 'I say to Iranians tonight, as you stand up for your rights, America will stand with you!"
32 posted on 12/16/2005 6:42:20 PM PST by parisa
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To: Ichneumon
People don't realize for how long the Iranian people have been warning the world of what is brewing in Iran. They have known the nature of this beast up close and personal, but the world has preferred to do trade with the mollas because mollas have been so much better for international business than the previous regime - international business will take a pure mafioso ruler any day over a nationalist, even a timid one as the Shah was. So for 25 years the US has preferred to ignored and look the other way and let the Europeans and even the Russians reap the benefits of trade with the thieves in control of Iran, all the while the mollas were planning and fortifying and finding new, unusual allies for Iran amongst the arab terrorists and Far Eastern communists. And Iranians have been living in a breathtakingly Hellish world which has been spiraling further and further down the dark hole.
What I ask of everyone here is to be fair to the people in Iran.

IT IS NOT THEM YOU SHOULD HATE OR DESPISE, FOR THEY ARE NOT THE ENEMY.
33 posted on 12/16/2005 6:56:57 PM PST by parisa
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To: parisa
Tell you what - let's make this a mercenary deal. We save the Moslems from themselves, as usual, and we get Cost+100% payback in oil, plus US$10 Million per life lost.

How's that? I think the world is awfully tired of Moslems mooching off other countries who have to come in and save them from their own Moon God death cult.

The Moos had an opportunity to stop Khomeni and his gang of kidnapping asswipes, yet did nothing.

34 posted on 12/16/2005 7:06:42 PM PST by Hank Rearden (Never allow anyone who could only get a government job attempt to tell you how to run your life.)
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To: SirLinksalot

If the youth of Iran were so against the mullahs, they wouldn't have voted in such large numbers for Ahmadinejad.


35 posted on 12/16/2005 8:01:50 PM PST by Holden Magroin
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To: parisa; Hank Rearden

and that you think they should get off of their a@#@$es and do something about it.

People who say things like this, I wonder if they really understand what it's like to live in a dictatorship?


36 posted on 12/16/2005 8:32:29 PM PST by Valin (Purple Fingers Rule!)
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To: F14 Pilot

"The world needs to decide"

Why?

It's their country, let them change it.


37 posted on 12/16/2005 9:07:23 PM PST by voteconstitutionparty
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To: Holden Magroin

A few days ago a large truck with thousands of fake Iraqi ballots were confiscated passing from Iran to Iraq. The driver informed the Iraqi border guards that there were other trucks with more fake ballots on their way to Iraq. These are the known, knowns. What about all the known unknowns, and even worst, the unknown, unknowns??? AND mind you, all this is in Iraq, under the control and watchful eyes of the US and allies. Can you imagine the contrives of the mollas' mind on soil they control with an iron fists?... No, a dumb question, no one but a molla has the capacity!

The truth is the vast majority of Iranian people stayed home that day, day of election. All they could do was watch what the mollas were cooking up next for their poor country, but at the very least they WERE NOT going to give justification to the Europeans and other trade advocates that Iran is a "sort of democracy" by colluding in the fraud with their tormentors.


38 posted on 12/16/2005 9:31:14 PM PST by parisa
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To: voteconstitutionparty
"It's their country, let them change it."

Like Iraq was their country; like Kuwait; like Ukraine; like Yugoslavia; like South Africa; how about Poland, or East Germany, or ....
39 posted on 12/16/2005 9:41:03 PM PST by parisa
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To: Mr. Silverback
"I want a hippopotamus for Christmas...only a hippopotamus will do!"

Merry Christmas!!!

40 posted on 12/16/2005 9:49:19 PM PST by humint
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