Newsweek reports that Iran's Supreme Leader Ayatollah Khamenei will be the last Supreme Leader of the country, ever. Khamenei is only the second Supreme Leader the country has ever had, the first being Khomeini. His successor has proven to be less successful at being the most powerful voice in the country according to the clerical leadership.
From Newsweek:
"Khamenei's response to the massive election demonstrations this past summer reaffirmed a longstanding but secretive belief among a majority of Iran's religious teachers and scholars: supreme clerical rule, no matter who is at the helm, can lead only to despotism and should be abolished. There can be no absolute power because, as Khamenei showed, men are fallible. It's well enough understood outside Iran that those clerics have found common cause with the street demonstrators; what the rest of the world hasn't realized yet is that they also want Khamenei gone."
The Supreme Leader will hold the position until he dies at which point the decision to eliminate the title could be made. Whether or not the standing theocratic order will be around that long is an entirely different question. The street protests continue sporadically and Neda Agha Soltan continues to be a powerful global symbol of the Iranian regime's brutality (as we saw on the blog recently: Neda's boyfriend speaks after escaping Iran).
Caspian Makan, a 38 year old Iranian photographer, has had a terrible few months. Amid massive street protests against Iran's government his girlfriend, Neda Agha Soltan, died a bloody and disturbing death. And the whole watched it on YouTube. Things only got worse for Makan from there. He spent months in the dreaded Evin Prison and upon release, decided to flee the country for his own safety.
The Guardian has a long interview with Caspian Makan, now having had smugglers help him escape Iran. A short excerpt:
"On the day of her death, Caspian was out with his camera in another part of the city. "I was taking pictures of the protests and the protesters that day. It was hard to take pictures as the security guards were beating up protesters. I used my mobile's camera when I couldn't use my big camera. It was six to seven in the evening when I started seeing people get shot and injured. I thought of Neda a lot. I was very worried for her. I wanted to call her but the mobile phone system had been disconnected and I couldn't contact her at all. I didn't sleep that night. The terrible scenes were going through my head. I was sitting in front of my computer, looking at the photos I had taken. Around six in the morning my mobile rang. It was Neda's number. But it wasn't her. It was her sister. She said, 'Caspian, Neda is gone!' I didn't understand what she meant. I couldn't believe what she was telling me."
Henghameh Shahidi has been arrested during the protests after Ahmadinejad re-election. Today the journalist, more and more ill, has been released after the payment of a bail. http://www.inaltreparole.net/en/journalism/giornalistashahidiliberata021109.htmlHenghameh Shahidi has been arrested during the protests after Ahmadinejad re-election.... more
Henghameh Shahidi era stata arrestata durante le proteste seguite alla rielezione di Ahmadinejad. Oggi la giornalista, sempre più malata, è stata liberata dopo il pagamento di una cauzione. http://www.inaltreparole.net/it/giornalismo/giornalistashahidiliberata021109.htmlHenghameh Shahidi era stata arrestata durante le proteste seguite alla rielezione di... more
Just hours after Iranian President Ahmadinejad agreed to accept an IAEA deal to enrich uranium out of the country, they suddenly backed out. The plan had been to take Iran's nuclear stockpile and send it to Russia to be enriched. It's disappointing for those concerned about Iran's plans for its enriching uranium - though I don't think it's particularly surprising.
I was thinking about how long Iran has been playing this game, and it brought to mind this Supernews gem: Iran: Deal or No Deal?
That piece was produced in 2006. Over three years ago. It's kind of disheartening to see what looks like the same game playing out, but with a few different players. No more Bush or Condoleeza Rice, and Putin is now the Prime Minister of Russia, not the President. But it's hard not to watch this and see Iran doing the same things today. Is there another card up the Obama Administration's negotiating sleeve? Let's hope so.
La disponibilità a collaborare con l’Occidente, pronunciata ieri dal presidente Ahmadinejad di fronte al popolo iraniano, potrebbe non essere reale: questa la denuncia del New York Times, dopo le dichiarazioni di alcuni diplomatici europei e funzionari americani, che sono stati messi al corrente dei contenuti della risposta iraniana all’Aiea (Internatioal Atomic Energy Agency).L’essere "pronto a cooperare" di Ahmadinejad potrebbe rivelarsi semplicemente una scelta tattica e non una reale predisposizione a trasferire all'estero le quantità di riserve di uranio per il processo di arricchimento, disposte dall’accordo sul nucleare proposto dall’Aiea. Teheran non avrebbe intenzione di rispettare questo nodo centrale dell’accordo, ufficialmente approvato la settimana scorsa da Usa, Russia e Francia: l’eventualità di possibili riserve da parte dell’Iran erano state prese in considerazione ma, il rifiuto di trasferire i tre quarti dell'uranio a basso arricchimento detenuto dall'Iran, torna a complicare la già faticosa gestione del nucleare in questo Paese.La disponibilità a collaborare con l’Occidente, pronunciata ieri dal presidente... more
Washington Post columnist David Ignatius passes on a report in Nucleonics Week that Iran's uranium enrichment may be stuck at 3.5% due to impurities.
The Iranians have not been able to remove low percentages of metallic fluorides from the UF-6 feed stock that they've laboriously enriched to 3.5% U-235 over the past five years. This has the potential to stop their enrichment program cold—at the level used for civilian nuclear power.
Thus, the Obama administration's offer to have the Iranians' impure 3.5% UF6 shipped to Russia where it can be enriched to 19.75% in that nation's modern, high-capacity radio-chemical plants may not be of merely incremental assistance to the raving anti-Semitic military junta that runs Iran. It may be essential for the continuation of their own independent bomb program (independent, that is, from whatever of North Korea's bomb program they're sharing).
In my October 15 column for TIA Daily, I noted that the Russians would return the highly enriched fuel back to Iran in the form of uranium oxide. It turns out the Russian-purified and Russian-enriched fuel is metallic fuel for Iran's little medical isotope reactor.
So not only will the 19.75% enriched uranium get Iran past a chemical stumbling block they haven't been able to resolve in their uranium bomb program; it will get them metallic fuel that can be converted back to highly purified uranium hexafluoride gas very, very easily.
Our president, his advisors, and his State Department have so deep a contempt for the United States and all of Western Civilization that they didn't look into what the Russian deal would give Iran before they offered to sign onto it. All they were interested in was whether or not it would be an effective gesture of "open-handed" American submissiveness that would calm Iran's military junta. Well, it was effective, alright. Obama's negotiating team has moved the doomsday clock for Israel forward from 11:45 to 11:58 pm in one single step. The Russian deal probably gave Iran's leaders the first good night's sleep they've had in years.
Thank you, Barack Obama, friend of dictators, enemy of America.Washington Post columnist David Ignatius passes on a report in Nucleonics Week that... more
The attack that hit the "Guardians of the Revolutions" in south eastern Iran, causing over 40 deaths bring back to the world's attention the many ethnic and religious minorities living in the country. Although Ahmadinejad's government blames the West for having financed and helped these rebel groups in reality the picture is much more complex than that. Iran is a nation with almost 75 million people, but ethnic Persians are little more than half.The attack that hit the "Guardians of the Revolutions" in south eastern Iran, causing... more
L'attentato che ha colpito i "guardiani della rivoluzione" nel sud est dell'Iran provocando più di 40 morti ha riportato l'attenzione del mondo sulle numerose minoranze etniche e religiose che vivono nel paese. Anche se il governo di Ahmadinejad incolpa l'occidente per aver finanziato e aiutato questi gruppi ribelli in realtà il quadro è molto più complesso di così. L'Iran è una nazione con quasi 75 milioni di abitanti ma i persiani sono poco più della metà.L'attentato che ha colpito i "guardiani della rivoluzione" nel sud est dell'Iran... more
The tyrant is alive or dead? Dictatorships always have something grotesque, just look at Italy, and so in Iran is spreading the rumor that Ayatollah Khamenei has been dead for days, but official sources says nothing. But the news is spreading on the internet and now has been reported around the world. The fact that the Iranian government doesn't speak could be a confirmation that Khamenei is really dead. But it is also possible that the Supreme Leader, the highest religious authority in the Islamic republic, is only very sick or in a coma.The tyrant is alive or dead? Dictatorships always have something grotesque, just look... more
Il tiranno è vivo o morto? Le dittature hanno sempre un aspetto grottesco, basta guardare l'Italia, e così in Iran si diffonde la voce che l'ayatollah Khamenei sia morto da giorni, ma nessuna fonte ufficiale dice nulla. La notizia però si diffonde su internet e ormai è stata ripresa in tutto il mondo. Il fatto che il governo iraniano non parli potrebbe essere una conferma che Khamenei è davvero morto. Ma è anche possibile che il leader supremo, massima autorità religiosa della repubblica islamica, sia soltanto molto malato o in coma.Il tiranno è vivo o morto? Le dittature hanno sempre un aspetto grottesco, basta... more
Washington, 13 October (WashingtonTV)—Narges Kalhor, a daughter of Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad’s media advisor, Mehdi Kalhor, said on Tuesday that she had claimed asylum in Germany.
............... http://televisionwashington.com/floater_article1.aspx?lang=en&t=1&id=14797Washington, 13 October (WashingtonTV)—Narges Kalhor, a daughter of Iranian President... more
Cina e Iran non sono certamente le uniche dittature del mondo ma sono i paesi che guidano la classifica dell'applicazione della pena di morte. In Cina nel 2008 ne sono state eseguite più di 1700, in Iran 350. Ma l'aspetto peggiore è che una buona parte di questi condannati non hanno avuto un giusto processo e probabilmente molti di loro non avevano commesso altro crimine che opporsi alla dittatura. L'Iran ha appena condannato a morte 4 oppositori che avrebbero partecipato alle recenti proteste.Cina e Iran non sono certamente le uniche dittature del mondo ma sono i paesi che... more
Iran has sentenced three people to death over street unrest that erupted after Iran's disputed election in June and links to exiled opposition groups.Iran has sentenced three people to death over street unrest that erupted after Iran's... more
True peace is not merely the absence of tension: it is the presence of justice - Martin Luther King, jr."The young woman who marches silently in the streets on behalf of her right to be... more
TEHRAN, Iran (AP) - A top official with Iran's most powerful military force—the Revolutionary Guard—says Tehran will "blow up the heart of Israel" if the Jewish state or the United States attacked Iran.
Cleric Mojtaba Zolnour, the Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei's representative in the Guard, says that if a single U.S. or Israeli missile lands in Iran, Iranian missiles will hit Israel before the dust settles.
Zolnour's remarks were carried Friday by the state IRNA news agency.
Anti-Israeli stance is common for the hardline Guard, and President Mahmoud Ahmadienjad has often called for Israel's destruction.
But Zolnour appears to be ratcheting up the rhetoric ahead of the next round of talks with the West this month over Iran's controversial uranium enrichment.TEHRAN, Iran (AP) - A top official with Iran's most powerful military force—the... more
"Iran has shut down three daily newspapers critical of Mahmoud Ahmadinejad, the president, according to reports by state-run news agencies.""Iran has shut down three daily newspapers critical of Mahmoud Ahmadinejad, the... more
ust a couple weeks ago, Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad took to the podium inside the U.N.'s grand hall and suggested that there was a worldwide Jewish conspiracy.
But a story published Saturday by The Daily Telegraph stood to turn Ahmadinejad's conspiracy theory on its head. According to the newspaper, Ahmadinejad, a practicing Shia Muslim, is descended from Jews and his family converted to Islam, changing their name from Sabourjian to Ahmadinejad.
Just two days later, fellow U.K. daily newspaper The Guardian has published a report refuting the Telegraph's report. According to The Guardian's Meir Javedanfar, Ahmadinejad has no Jewish roots. Ahmadinejad's mother is even thought to be a descendant of the prophet Mohammed.
The Daily Telegraph's Damien McElroy and Ahmad Vahdat based some of their argument on a photograph of Ahmadinejad's identity card, which showed he was previously known as Sabourjian. They wrote that Sabourjian was a "Jewish name meaning cloth weaver."
The short note scrawled on the card suggests his family changed its name to Ahmadinejad when they converted to embrace Islam after his birth.
The Sabourjians traditionally hail from Aradan, Mr Ahmadinejad's birthplace, and the name derives from "weaver of the Sabour", the name for the Jewish Tallit shawl in Persia. The name is even on the list of reserved names for Iranian Jews compiled by Iran's Ministry of the Interior.
The Guardian's Meir Javedanfar:
"There is no such meaning for the word 'sabour' in any of the Persian Jewish dialects, nor does it mean Jewish prayer shawl in Persian. Also, the name Sabourjian is not a well-known Jewish name," he stated in a recent interview. In fact, Iranian Jews use the Hebrew word "tzitzit" to describe the Jewish prayer shawl. Yeroshalmi, a scholar at Tel Aviv University's Center for Iranian Studies, also went on to dispute the article's findings that the "-jian" ending to the name specifically showed the family had been practising Jews. "This ending is in no way sufficient to judge whether someone has a Jewish background. Many Muslim surnames have the same ending," he stated.
The story was posted to The Huffington Post on Saturday and received tens of thousands of pageviews. Huffington Post's headline credited the 124-year-old The Daily Telegraph for the report.
A photograph of the Iranian president holding up his identity card during elections in March 2008 clearly shows his family has Jewish roots.
A close-up of the document reveals he was previously known as Sabourjian – a Jewish name meaning cloth weaver.
The short note scrawled on the card suggests his family changed its name to Ahmadinejad when they converted to embrace Islam after his birth.
The Sabourjians traditionally hail from Aradan, Mr Ahmadinejad's birthplace, and the name derives from "weaver of the Sabour", the name for the Jewish Tallit shawl in Persia. The name is even on the list of reserved names for Iranian Jews compiled by Iran's Ministry of the Interior.
Experts last night suggested Mr Ahmadinejad's track record for hate-filled attacks on Jews could be an overcompensation to hide his past.
Ali Nourizadeh, of the Centre for Arab and Iranian Studies, said: "This aspect of Mr Ahmadinejad's background explains a lot about him.
"Every family that converts into a different religion takes a new identity by condemning their old faith.
"By making anti-Israeli statements he is trying to shed any suspicions about his Jewish connections. He feels vulnerable in a radical Shia society."
A London-based expert on Iranian Jewry said that "jian" ending to the name specifically showed the family had been practising Jews.A photograph of the Iranian president holding up his identity card during elections in... more
http://boomgen.tv: On the first day of negotiations between Iran and the world powers, the two sides seem to be far apart in their attitudes and expectations. But recent comments by President Ahmadinejad may signal some room for continuing dialogue and compromise.
read Yaz' blog for more info: http://boomgen.tv/category/blogs/yazhttp://boomgen.tv: On the first day of negotiations between Iran and the world powers,... more
