Friday, May 29, 2009

Presidential debates and foreign policy


I am traveling for the election campaign these days. I have visited Ghazvin, Mashad, Zanjan and Golestan. I have met with large groups of people and spoken about the shortcomings of the current government and the need for change. Students in all cities are very enthusiastic and the majority are supporters of Mousavi.
In addition the official state radio and television campaign has commenced and each candidate has the opportunity to speak in the TV and radio programs in various forms and there is a debate for each pair of candidates. The three candidates are seriously criticizing the current policies and government failures. We are experiencing an unprecedented level of tolerance to freedom of expression and critisisms of the government. This, process I believe is conducive towards the full realization of a democratic society.
Foreign diplomacy issues have also surfaced in these speeches.In one of his election speeches Mr Ahmadinejad has said that one of the saddest moments of his life was when former President Khatami went to France on an official visit. In his meeting with President Chirac, he goes on to say, Chirac stood at the top of the stairways and did not come down to greet Khatami. Ahamadinejad said that this was a great disgrace for Iran. After these allegations , reformist news sites have published pictures of that visit. Pictures indicate that contrary to what Ahmadinejad said President Chirac had came down all the steps leading to the Elysee Palace to meet President Khatami. Here you can view the scenes from 2001.

4 comments:

Anonymous said...

This is the first time I came across your website. I thought you'd be interested to know that a book (compilation of essays) on Imam Khomeini has been published in Malaysia by Islamic Book Trust. The title is Imam Khomeini: Life, Thought and Legacy, and is in remembrance of the 20th anniversary of his death. More at www.ibtbooks.com

Shaun Baker said...

Why the silence????

Black Chador said...

Hi Dr. Ebtekar,

I have not seen anything about post Iranian election on this site. I am just wondering what happened to your "Democracy"?

Maybe it is because of too much Democracy in Iran that you are not allowed to write anything about how Ahmadinejad and Khamenei stole the hopes and dream of Iranian people. Do you remember the comment I made months ago with title "Halfass Democracy"? If you still have it please revisits my comment and you will see that I was right and you were wrong for not posting my comment.

sonoko_k said...

Maybe it is difficult to update blogs now... but you are silent since a very long time and the is no new about you in the net...