Monday, November 17, 2008

My Economy, Your Economy, Our Economy

Mr. Hashemi Rafsanjani the head of the Expediency Council and the Experts Council , two top level political councils in the Islamic Republic, yesterday criticized the government of President Ahmadinejad for not abiding to the National Vision for 20 Years. The current policies of distribution of wealth (alms) he noted are not in line with national development policy. This rare expression of direct criticism is indicative of the concerns that economists and experts have voiced regarding the state of the economy in Iran. In this dimension, at least , it seems we are moving parallel to the Western or industrial world. The G-20 session in Washington, has emerged without any concrete remedy or solution for the current global crisis. While major European economies are now feeling the recession and openly expressing that the outlook is worse than expected, the US economy is not faring much better. They are dealing with a significant shrink in economic growth and also an increase in unemployment. While Japan is also following the same direction it seems that other more independent and non-aligned members of the global community are attempting to decouple their economies and some may be more successful in alleviating the pressures and delaying the effects.
I remember we had breakfast in Barcelona, in mid October, on the sidelines of the IUCN Congress with some friends , two professors from Yale and a renown Indian personality who held significant economic and political clout . He mentioned that certain European politicians were angry over the independent position of Indian diplomats in recent WTO negotiations. Apparently, the Indians had opposed the wavering of agricultural subsidies in support of their farmers and vulnerable agriculture sector. Not to mention that Americans had also insisted on keeping their agricultural subsidies for some time now. Someone , he said ; had proposed that India should take loans from strong European banks , mentioning Irish banks as potential lenders. That morning in Barcelona we had heard the news that Irish banks had faced a serious blow due to the global crisis. A few days later we heard on the news that Pakistan , which is known for its pro-west political orientation and open to foreign investment and manipulation in its economy was facing serious woes and setbacks as a backlash of what was happening in the West. The economies of developing countries are more vulnerable and their weak populations will suffer the most from the misdemeanors of capitalist leaders of New York. Particularly since the food crisis and environmental pressures have been building in recent years. Unfortunately world leaders still do not believe that all nations are passengers of the same ship. Prosperous and poor nations will all face the same destiny, sooner or later.
The picture in Iran is similar in a sense and very different in another. We are now facing difficult economic challenges due to the lowering of petroleum prices in Iran , but most of our problems also stem from the faulty and unstable policies of the current populist government in power.

7 comments:

Anonymous said...

Dear Dr. Ebtekar,

Don't you think 70 million Iranians should be ashamed of their leadership when they see these pictures:

http://news.yahoo.com/nphotos/G20-Summit/ss/events/bs/111208groupg20

and wonder to themselves? ...
How did the GREAT Iranian nation end up in such a low standing in the world that there would be a world summit of industrial nations gathering to solve the world economic crisis, and they would have Turkey and Saudi Arabia there, but not Iran??????????????!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
It wasn't enough to fall behind India and South Korea and South Africa and Mexico and Argentina and Brazil, but Turkey and Saudi Arabia???????????????!!!!!!!!!!!!! really??????????!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
shame on IRI, shame, shame, shame!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Time for a re-emergence of the old glory of Persians, represented by the bright and talented people of Iran!!!!!!

If IRI wants to be part of the solution to the global economic crisis, then its leadership MUST cut the hands of its fundamentalist radicals from that forgotten promise of an Islamic Republic, for which your brothers and sisters gave their lives 30 years ago!!!!!

Anonymous said...

good news:


http://www.google.com/hostednews/afp/article/ALeqM5ini4e6Bx620hziYBIHB17S8OPEqA


http://www.marketwatch.com/news/story/Two-Charged-With-Illegal-Trading/story.aspx?guid=%7B4BF9ACC4-998B-49E3-AA9F-F8F09F8AD49F%7D



these are good outcomes as far as the Iranian nation and their Reformist saviors' position in IRI is concerned! ... you may or may not see the link and appreciate it yet Dr. Ebtekar, but I say:

Thanks Secretary Robert Gates!
Thanks Prime Minister Nuri Al-Maleki!
Thanks United States Attorney for the Eastern District of Pennsylvania!

It would take an entire army of "pillagers" to finally silence the EVIL voice of that Jomhuri Eslami newspaper editor, and thank God we seem to FINALLY be witnessing the beginning of a LONG silence!!!

Down with Fundamentalism!
Long Live Democracy!
Long Live Freedom!

Black Chador said...

Dear Dr. Ebtekar you should pay more attention to what your president is doing about this global economy mess. He is not only going to fix Iran economy but through his newly form committee he is asking his team to come up with a solution for the whole world economy mess. America and all of European countries are waiting to see what Ahmadinejad's solution is before take another step in fixing the global economy mess.

Anonymous said...

Dear Dr. Ebtekar,
considering this overture by the American congresswomen to Iranian parliamentarian women:

http://www.presstv.ir/detail.aspx?id=75923&sectionid=351020101

if your right wing (Majlis) parliament majority refuses to let its female members go ahead and accept this offer of talks made by their American counterparts, then I think YOU as a member of the left wing city council of Tehran, should do the next best thing, and offer an invitation of your own to a group of female American elected officials from whatever level (city councils, state legislative bodies, congress, or any other democratically elected groups of American women) who would be willing to make such an important and historic move by coming to Tehran and meet with you and your fellow REFORMIST sisters!

Anonymous said...

I hope your rivals on the Ahmadinejad side, will read this and understand what it means:

http://www.timesonline.co.uk/tol/news/world/us_and_americas/article5201621.ece

OF COURSE President Obama will want to engage Iran, as all of his advisers and party elders and even some elders in the Republican party have counseled him to do! DO NOT doubt that!!! It was not a mere "slogan"!!!! America is not Iran, politicians don't make empty promises to the public in the hopes of getting their votes. they are actually held responsible by the public to follow through with their promised policies, especially such an important and pivotal one, one that he risked his entire campaign on!!!

So, if Bush and Olmert decide to attack Iran in their last few months in power, that's because Robert Gates had said many months ago: "We have to create some leverage!"

If they do attack your country, it's to scare the people into NOT voting for Ahmadinejad!!! Ahmadinejad is the reason your people will be bombed!!! so if you really want to prevent that, what you need to do is convince your supreme leader to call for an early election!

Just as your former UN ambassador said "Iranians are allergic to threats", let me tell you that "Americans are allergic to Ahmadinejad"!!!! So, your best defensive mechanism is to make sure he's gone before Bush's term is over!!!


I hope your rivals will see what's going on, and NOT get too cocky about Iran's recently achieved upper-hand, because as soon as President Obama takes the oath of office, all that upper-hand will be gone, and all the tables will start turning, and your counrty will have lost its one and only chance to go to the negotiating table from a good position!

Don't let Robert Gates opt for air strikes as his "leverage" with regard to Iran! Make a preemptive diplomatic move by having your supreme leader call for an early election, in which case the rest of American allies (EU, Arabs, India, ...) will definitely intervene here and convince the Americans and Israelis to STOP and wait before they make such a risky move!!!!

If the world sees that Ahmadinejad (who scares the bejesus out of everybody) is on his way out, then nobody will let the American hawks go that far with their "leverage-seeking", because the Europeans and other friendly states to Iran already know the Iranian Reformists and are familiar with their commitment to peaceful "crisis resolution"! So there won't be any need for such "scare tactics" on the part of Robert Gates! believe it!!!!
All you need to do is show and PROVE to the world that Iran's non-monolithic society is a REAL thing and not just a ghost or a picture beautifully painted by your skillful diplomats!

Black Chador said...

Dear Kathy,

Just read this story about how Iranian government is getting things done in Iran and you will know why the whole world think that Iran has become the biggest joke in the international arena.

This is the Iran that many Iranians shed their blood for 30 years ago.





http://www.iran-press-service.com/ips/articles-2009/november-2009/billionaire-revolutionary-becomes-interior-ministe.shtml

Ice_Fairy said...

Dr Ebtekar,

We're having a discussion programme on BBC World Service Radio today. It's about what people not taking part in the G20 think about it. I'm very much hoping you might be able to take part, particularly after reading your blog. This is the programme...

http://worldhaveyoursay.wordpress.com/

If you could let me have an email address I could explain more.

Best wishes and I very much hope to hear from you,

doreen.walton@bbc.co.uk (ex Greenland!)