Like the rest of the world, in Iran, there are alot of reactions to Obama's inaugural ceremony and the first days he has had in the Oval Office. His meteoric rise to the Presidency of the United States has given the signal to many throughout the world that change is on the way. His quick decisions to close down Guantanamo and other CIA detention centers have been generally welcomed . Here in Iran, politicians are still cautiously optimistic . Whether this is truly a new era for America as Hillary Clinton put it yesterday or not has to be seen . We are waiting to see how Obama's new rhetroric in dealing with its adversaries including with Iran will actually translate into action. There have been many attempts to engage Iran before but without much success. The lack of trust on both sides has been evident.
Joe Biden , as an American Senator was the guest speaker of the Iran in the World session in Davos in 2005 . Dr. Kharazi and I spoke on the diverse aspects of Iranian society and politics in that session, misunderstandings between the two nations were also discussed. Joe Biden who was there along with his wife, also spoke that night. Biden defined the circumstances and mentioned that Iran has to choose between its nuclear energy program and its economic advancement plans. He was trying to make a strong impression of the American resolve on this matter.
In the IGWEL session in the World Economic Forum many Presidents, Vice Presidents and Minsters spoke on global issues. As I recall , one other American senator Orrin Hatch was there in addition to Biden. They faced many questions on American economic and diplomatic policy. I brought up the question why the US had so many double standards in dealing with the world. Why had they supported dictatorships who were US allies and opposed democracies when they were American adversaries. What are the core values America claims to promote , I asked.
Now, as the US Vice President and working with Barack Obama I think Biden has many opportunities to rationalise relations between Iran and the US. Confidence building is probably the key .
3 comments:
:-) I AM LOVING THIS!!!!!
http://www.aftabnews.ir/vdce7n8v.jh8xoi9bbj.html
:-)
haghaa ke bacheye khalafe Kashan-i agha!!!! ;-) aafarin! ahssant! bravo!!!! baarekallah!!!!
Now, "the proof is in the pudding" as they say! I think if you really wanna show that "the clock can be turned back in time", and you actually wanna have your intended audience in the other side of the pond believe it, then I would say the first ACT of faith Iran can show in order to prove such a claim, can be for this reasonable Ayatollah to be named as the replacement for the fanatic one who is currently heading the shameful "Council of Discriminators" in IRI. It's time for his retirement, don't you agree Mr. Supreme Leader?!!! He'll retire if you convince him it's for the sake of Islam's expediency!
Iran's "Discriminator in Chief" should AT LEAST be able to exhibit as much selflessness and a sense of sacrifice for his country's BEST INTERESTS as Mr. Darth Vader here who agreed to be humiliated in front of his angry and disappointed people (ke laa-aghal deleshoon khonak sheh) by being wheeled out of power so poignantly as a crippled man! If Darth Vader could love his country enough to show this level of self-sacrifice, then surely his Iranian equivalent (similarly known as being the force behind the president) aught to show as much "eessaar" for his beloved Muslim World if not for Iran!
In a democracy like USA, it's the collective voice of the PEOPLE (52.9% of them or 69,456,897 of them to be precise) that has the power to awaken the soul of a man with a dark and cold heart, but in a theocracy like IRI, let us at least HOPE that the one lone voice of the Valiye Faghih who is the ONLY one with that much power, can achieve the same level of essential TRANSFORMATION in the establishment when needed, enough to convince a similarly dark and cold heart to warm up with the light of "basseerat" and duty to higher principles!
dorood bar naa-kojaa-aabaad!
sorry it's not in English, but I'll tell you all (English speaking readers) what it boils down to as far as I see it.
http://baran.org.ir/?sn=news&pt=full&id=2141
what Ayatollah Seyyed Mohammad Khatami is saying here in this gathering of Reformist women who keep begging him to candidate himself and "SAVE Iran" in their view, by winning the powerless and heavily constrained position of president - which in this current (deviated) form of IRI basically means prime ministership or governorship - is indicative of a GENIUS strategy by the Reformists to actually effectuate or engineer a set of democratic enough social conditions in a far from democratic regime (one resembling much more to a monarchy or dynasty of the clerical class than anything else) that could result in a relatively healthy and FREE election next June!
He is trying to TEACH his followers in the Reformist camp that they can believe in themselves and be "the ones they've been waiting for" rather than feeling soooooooooooo helpless, hopeless and desperate that they would keep begging him to jeopardize his position as Iran's 3rd Supreme Leader (which will happen in the near future) and expose himself to unscrupulous, cruel, and barbarian treatment by the radical, extremist, far right minority in that society who will stop at NOTHING to deface and destroy Khatami just so that their most favorite lackey (nokar) Ahmadinejad would win again and turn a few more uneducated, incompetent, selfish impostors into billionaires (like Mahsouli and Jannati and Kordan and ...) with Iranian people's precious oil money!!
this is what I gather from this BRILLIANT strategy pursued by the big brains of the Reformist camp:
Khatami will endorse Mir Hossein Mousavi as his best choice for presidential candidacy, Karroubi will setup his Etemad Melli party's selection committee (shoraaye hakamiyat) in order to determine the BEST and most viable candidate commonly chosen by consensus among ALL members of the "broad coalition of reformist parties", where at the end the highest vote of confidence will go to Mir Hossein due to his bipartisan appeal as well as his socialist and progressive approach to policy (especially economic policy) which will be needed at this time in Iran's history with low oil prices and the prospect of further economic sanctions (in short term), and Dr. Aref will perhaps be nominated as vice-president in order to make the point to the public that THIS is a real pro-Khatami team that will bring back the same practical expertise to the cabinet as that of Khatami's administration.
so, this way:
1) Mr. Karroubi will be known more successfully as a strong Party Leader consolidating all the Reformist factions which operate as pockets of weak and small parties today
2) Mr. Khatami will be proven once more as being a philosophical, highly ethical, and popular LEADER of the REFORM MOVEMENT to be strengthened by his wide popularity and his ability to define the necessary social norms needed in TEACHING the concept of democracy to a people of King or Priest worshipers
3) the right wing will be forced to give up its neoconservative far right agenda and embrace the more traditional role of a conservative party who will take on the role of advocating "Free Market" principles (their 44th amendment), by convincing the Supreme Leader to call for Ahmadinejad's NOT running for a second term and instead, they will support Qalibaf (the current mayor of Tehran) as their presidential candidate with Dr. Velayati as his possible vice-presidential nominee
BRILLIANT!!!! Bravo!
Dr. Ebtekar, I think you shouldn't be too worried about how America needs to build confidence with Iran!!!!! I think you should help Iran figure out how to build confidence with America!
You see, in America there is REAL democracy, and contrary to what your fanatic right wing rivals in the Ahmadinejad camp think, the victory of Barack Obama was NOT a "scheme" by the old US establishment in order to repackage themselves as more acceptable (movajah) in the eyes of the world!!!! President Obama's ascendancy to this position of unprecedented political power, and this genuine chance for a truly TRANSFORMATIONAL policy shift in the American self-image as well as global role, has been given to him by the PEOPLE, particularly the PROGRESSIVE Liberal wing of those PEOPLE! ... watch this:
http://www.pbs.org/moyers/journal/01232009/watch.html
and take it not from me, but from these progressive liberal guys! my kinda guys!!! ... darn it, they both have wedding rings on! ;-)
So, I think you need not preoccupy yourselves with too much "caution" or "skepticism" about how TRULY substantial the CHANGE in America's foreign policy will be in the Obama World, because we the liberals and progressive PEOPLE of America will keep him in check and in keeping with his promises (which actually nobody has to b/c he truly is a progressive liberal himself and knows how to CHANGE Washington).
What YOU can do though, to make sure the vicious neocons who are still lurking in the background and will pounce on any opportunity to destroy this great man's credibility with the PEOPLE (after they figure the honeymoon will be over) starting next year and until 2010 congressional elections at which time they hope to be able to make a come back and stand so destructively in his path that he would come out looking like a total failure and a disappointment to the public by 2012, is HELP him achieve some big victories in his first couple of BIG ticket item agendas, namely his Afghanistan/Pakistan security and development policy and his Israeli/Arab peace making policy.
If you want this NEW America to be successful and survive the storms of "old establishment backlash" winds that will surely mean the same old "master and slave" domination mentality of OLD America for you, then THIS first year is Iran's and the Muslim World's best chance to help their brother Barack Hossein!
If he can win these two pressing challenges that Richard Holbrooke and George Mitchell are embarking on, then the neocon storms will most effectively be put to rest for good and the world (especially yours) can TRULY start to hope for that Global Justice and Peace which can pave the way for Iran to achieve its 20-year plans of catching up with G13 countries like India and Brazil.
But if he can't weather these storms for the next couple of years and the Republicans (with the help of Rush Limbaugh and Sean Hannity) can succeed in taking this HOPE and euphoria away from the Obama Nation by painting him as soft or unsuccessful in those two crucial fronts in their beloved Bush legacy of "war on terror", then even us progressive liberals can't survive the return of the wrath from the neocon machine, and things could possibly revert back to the same old, so it is in the best interest of the ENTIRE WORLD (especially yours) that Obama wins BIG in his agenda for GLOBAL PEACE and SECURITY in his first year!
Again, don't sit back and expect HIM to prove his genuine desire and sincerity in wanting to CHANGE the world, take his word for it, take OUR word for it, take that leap of faith, be optimistic, set aside old cynicism, and come to his aid as only YOU (Iran) can! in both of these two tasks, Obama's success can be greatly accelerated and guaranteed if YOU (Iran's Reformists) are able to take back the helm of IRI's leadership and positively affect the equations in both Afghanistan and the Middle East.
to niki mikon o dar dajleh andaaz, ke izad dar biyaabaanat dahad baaz!
THIS time you can be SURE that your help will NOT be answered with an "Axis of Evil" remark, just look at the STARK difference between "We'll extend a hand if you're willing to unclench your fists" as opposed to "You're either with us or against us"! ... nobody wants to go back to that! so do the right thing and help the Messiah fulfill his "hojjat" promise!
This man (and his family) means soooooooooo much to soooooooo many of your "brothers and sisters in either religion or humanity", so don't let your unenlightened cynics and radicals stand in his way! ... watch these ones too:
http://www.pbs.org/moyers/journal/01232009/watch2.html
http://www.pbs.org/moyers/journal/01232009/watch3.html
and HEAR, FEEL, and TASTE the HOPE!
YOU, WE, and the WHOLE WORLD needs to do ALL we can to help this man succeed, or NOTHING will EVER change!
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