Iran Protesters May Have Last Laugh on Ageing Regime
THE NATIONAL (UAE): Some years ago, Hashemi Rafsanjani, a former Iranian president, revealed something that speaks volumes about the bare-knuckled quality of politics currently on display in Tehran.



In late 1978, with protests mounting against his abusive reign, Shah Mohammad Reza Pahlavi went on television and expressed contrition. “He admitted to past transgressions and past sins and said ‘I’ve heard the voice of your revolution’,” Karim Sadjadpour, an expert on the Middle East republic, told a conference held recently at the Carnegie Endowment for International Peace. He believed that was going to appease the crowds and silence the unrest.

On the contrary. In hard-boiled Iran, the Shah's mea culpa was a fatal show of vulnerability. "That's when we smell blood", said Mr Rafsanjani. "That's when we pounce."


Mr Rafsanjani’s aside explains the uncompromising stance staked out by Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, the Iranian supreme leader, as his regime faces the most serious threat to its legitimacy since the Shah’s removal. “What Khamenei has long believed is that you never compromise when you’re under siege,” Mr Sadjadpour said at the Carnegie briefing. “That projects weakness, which invites even more pressure.”

The Iranian regime is indeed weak, and has been long before it struggled to win the latest election with president Mahmoud Ahmadinejad apparently receiving more votes cast. If anything, the events of the past 10 days have revealed the Iranian government to be the hollow shell that it is, and not a rising power as it was so ludicrously portrayed by George W Bush, the former US president, and his neoconservative cadres. >>> Stephen Glain | Sunday, June 28, 2009

Beat It You Fanatics! Get Out of My Land!

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Forget Gerontomullocracy! Give Youth a Chance!
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Who’d Want to Be Ruled by Boring Old Farts in Iran?
Isn’t it high time that Obama spoke up for freedom? Isn’t it high time he stood by the side of the young people of Iran who are so obviously crying out for help to overthrow the tyranny they have to live with, and live under?

Obama said that he didn’t want to ‘meddle’ in the internal affairs of Iran. When did the idea of ‘meddling’ ever stop Obama before? He has meddled in the US car industry, he has meddled in banking affairs, he is meddling in the health-care industry, and he is going to meddle in European affairs, by insisting that the EU accept Turkey as a member state, even though most Europeans want nothing to do with the accession of that predominantly and backward nation to the Union. Yet, when it comes to ‘meddling’ in the affairs of Iran, Obama wants nothing to do with it. Funny that! Strange that!

Iran suppresses its people. Iran’s system is totally corrupt. Iran is brutal with the Iranians. Iran is totally un-democratic. Iran is also enriching uranium under our noses in order to get the atomic bomb; yet Obama feels that it would be wrong to ‘meddle’ in its internal affairs.

For God’s sake, Obama, this is a gift on a plate for you! The young of Iran have done all the work. It is high time, therefore, that the situatiuon be exploited. The vast majority of the educated people of Iran do not want the theocracy they have to live under. This has become self-evident in the last few days. Instead, these demonstrators want their human rights and freedom. They want freedom from tyranny, freedom to live their lives as they choose. Yet the best thing that you, Obama, can come up with is that you don’t want to ‘meddle’.

What a weak, lame excuse! It’s time for you to grow a backbone. It’s time for you, Obama, to get tough. It is not in the best interests of the world for this corrupt system to survive. After all, who the hell would want to be ruled by boring, old, bloodthirsty farts like the mullahs of Iran? And who wants to allow them to stay in power long enough to get the atomic bomb.– ©Mark

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PS: Do you want to know what a “boring old fart” looks like? If so, click here >>>