A very sharp and revealing "graphic critique,"

at the same time lest we forget the possibility discussed below:

برای بعد از دستگيری احتمالی رهنورد و کروبی و موسوی آماده شويم! 

خواب نوشين بامداد رحيل

باز دارد پياده را ز سبيل

//www.roshangari.net/as/sitedata/201101030928...

EY VAL EY VAL

Sosmar

Mr. Nic Ahang proved that he is able to draw a cartoon that is not Ahmadi-nejad and is not Sosmar. In the past year the only cartoon he created was Ahmadiejad. It is better to look at my cartoon about Sosmar.

//iranian.com/main/blog/aladin-katoor/caricaturist-and-sosmar

They are phony!

They just fighting among themselves and for themselves. They are all the same. For someone who has lived in Iran for a long period during the Islamic regime, I can tell for sure that Khomeini was 100 times worse than Khamenei. For these people Khomeini is Emam who was going to create Madineh Fazele and Khalkahli is a great judge!

Yeah Well Ari Jaan If He doesn't Kill himself Now it's a Miracle

In itself ...

Cause at this rate The Pahlavis are doing it for us It seems ... With or without the IRI's benediction ... Or that of the Jomhurykhah's ( Not You) who wish to see IRan's Revolution from the distorted historic perspective of the so called Virtuous French Guiilotine ...

VIRTUE IN TERROR: Maximilien Robespierre and the Reign of Terror (BBC)

HISTORY FORUM: Bahram Moshiri's Take on The French Revolution and Why He Misses The Point ;0)

Anyways I suppose you'll have your Republic after all ...  

Dunno what to say or What to think anymore ...

Darius

APOLOGIES FOR MY OUTBURST !

TRIBUTE TO THE PERSIAN PRINCE: Prince Ali Reza Pahlavi (1966-2011)

Karroubi

I really think Karroubi is a half decent guy. Now I am ready for the assult on me to come. But I have been watching his behavior. He may be an Akhoond and that is pretty bad. However he has shown signs of intelligence that the others have not.

Still I would not vote for him or want him in power. But he does provide the pole required to break the IR. 

VPK

Khamenei

is just exactly what people need to reject Islamism. A kinder gentler VF would prolong the IR. But then Khamenei will put the stake so deep in it that will do it in for good.

Fesenjoon Jan

To borrow your own words:

If this nationalistic midground was Shift-worthy or shiftable:)) Ta hala mishifteed.

So you are Wrong on concluding that our society is Homogenized. Far from it.

Akhoond taking Akhoond to court .WOW

This never happened before, Usually they just kill the bad Akhoond then they put him on open trial to the public. Can’t wait, my popcorns are popping (I mean Tookhme)

can any of learned friends here explain why....

Neither Mr. Karoubi, nor  Mr. Mousavi have been yet arrested and put on trial, despite all the repeated threats by the current Hojjatieh wing of the velayate faghih regime ruling Iran today after the post election Ahmadinezhad/Khamenei led coup? Is the regime worried about another major uprising or something else?

BTW, your cartoon is very good and a refreshing change from the usual 'visual forms of humour" we get here.

"Personal business must yield to collective interest."

Well SPink Jaan the trouble with You and Your Pedigree ;0)

On the otherhand Is that you both clearly have had your heads stuck somewhere else ...

No Wonder the Restored Pahlavi Monarchy will have to make amendments to improve the Imperfect Qajar Draft ...

Too bad your Treacherous Pedigree's contributions won't be acknowledged by history for it's accomplishments ... 

But Oh Well You know the expression : Nobody is Perfect ... 

And Certainly Not Your Pedigree : 

Some like it hot - last lines

LOOOOOOOOOOOOOooooooooooool 

lol w/Darius

I'm not the aggrieved. You poor folks are. If you took your heads out of the sand for a change, maybe you wouldn't be so out of touch with the political realities of the day.

But hey, I think you've become so accustomed to inner personal misery, you'd feel queer without it. So be it!

SPink Jaan Great Since I'll welcome Your Grief ... ;0)

Wholeheartedly Upon Restoration ...

The Tudors: Anne is beheaded

LOL 

Good grief, Darius. My great

Good grief, Darius. My great grandfather personally wrote large sections of that document in 1906. That was nearly 100 years ago. My ancestor has been dead now for nearly 70 years.

The country has moved on. I suggest you people stop with the looking back and get with it. Stop being so out of touch. Iran is the Islamic Republic of Iran. Face reality.

If you seek change, vote in Iran;s elections. But you must live with the results. Or don't and remain self-exiles. The country is way better off without you, anyway. 

Have you noticed "Fred" writer type B

seems to be the only one from the "Fred" propagandist effort that posts comments on other's threads?

Unfortunately this person is also the worst writer in the group.

Playacting the part

Islamist Rapists including their former “Prime Minister” during whose time thousands of Iranian men, women and children were murdered in cold blood, keep shouting they love their “Imam” and want things back to his days.  

Apparently their past deeds and current words are not to be believed, they are just playacting the part of messianic Islamist murderers with the Iranian people as their real victims.  

Irrational Devotion ? What's So Rational about Reforming this ?

Farrokhzad Explains the Tozihol Massael

A Bad IDEA is a BAD IDEA !

Something that 1906 Clearly Was NOT !

Darius,1906 qualifies as legitimate

Ari Jaan who said it wasn't legitimate or had to be forced upon?

The 1906 Constitution is Historically Legitimate given that it was passed on to us by our forefather's who first struggled to have it implemented through a national upheaval as our first democratic draft in 25 centuries of Absolutism:

PARLIAMENTARY DEMOCRACY: Mozaffaredin Shah Signs First Draft of the Constitution (1906)

PARLIAMENTARY DEMOCRACY: Shah Delivers Speech to Parliament (1951)

Pro Bakhtiar Demonstrations in Support of the 1906 Constitution 

pictory: Bakhtiar Denounces Bazargan's Provisionary Government in exile (1979) 

and definitively more than anything we have endorsed blindly and ignorantly as "Legitimate" since that Fatal day 30 years ago :

Footage of the 1979 referendum of the Islamic Republic of Iran

What historical Legitimacy does the current Constitution have which the former doesn't ? ...

THE PAST IS A FOREIGN COUNTRY: How Would You Evaluate Iran's Democracy Index in 1953 ?

Is it not being being forced upon on us by force and Violence regardless of the national upheaval ?

I have always said that the key to Iran becoming a democracy is not leadership but an IDEA !

A Sovereign per se from a Constitutional Point of view is Not a Leader but at best an Arbitrator.

All this may sound sophisticated theory at first glance but in practice it is not.

The Current Regime is at Odds with EVERYTHING this land has stood for in it's long history. Not just with the concept of democracy but the very concept of Iranian pride, self dignity and self respect.

You cannot fool a nation for ever and this regime will come to an end under it's own contradictions but more importantly because it has insulted the intelligence of the nation at large:

GIVE ME BACK MY COUNTRY: Bold Poem by a fellow compatriot denounces Ahmadinejad's Iran

Words For Eternity ... 

People are realizing the Hypocrisy of this situation more and more as days pass.

And those IRI Think Tanks be it in Iran or in the US who believe in Reforming a Dead Horse will live their disappointments with even a harder blow to their so called Republican ideals.

Cause the Real question today is not between the Islamic Republic and a Republic ...

But Democracy and No Democracy.

Iran will be if not already is at Historical crossroads with people demanding historical accountability for all that has gone wrong in the past 30 years which sacrificed an entire generation.

Politics or History is Not Rocket Science. No one today be it you nor me can predict what will happen or if we will even achieve democracy in our lifetimes but what is certain is that  when a nation reaches a historical crossroad as has been the case since last Summer to such high costs, the people will demand reparations for having been fooled and humiliated.

A Divided Nation can only heal it's scars by honestly evaluating the pros and cons of it's past errors and seeking an alternative that can offer Hope for a better future and national reconciliation around key issues like Human Rights and Democracy.

Can the IDEA of a  Secular Jomhury offer such a Solution while maintaining the country  together ?

Maybe on the short term But I don't think it can on the long term be it with or without a Charismatic leadership.

What can hold Iran together is a Charismatic IDEA that conciliates our National Identity and Democratic aspirations.

That is where Constitutionalism finds it's Entire Legitimacy which transcends the historical error of 30 years ago where we thought that Toppling the Monarch was the solution.

Crown Prince Reza is Not our Leader he is merely our Legitimate Sovereign. 

For that is what a Monarch role is all about: To stand above Political rivalries and divisions . 

Sooner or later people will have to come to terms with this reality if they ever hope to see Iran back on the Track of  social and political progress.

Anything short of that will be an Open door of opportunity to anyone who wishes to see Iran fall into bits:

SEPARATIST TEMPTATIONS: Don't Let It Fool You ... Treason Exists ...

I do not believe that Neither you nor any other genuine Secular  Jomhurykhah wish to see that happen.

Or Do You ? ...

That is why I insist on the IDEA and Not the Person. RP 2 is merely the embodiment of that IDEA Not the Person who will implement it.

That will depend on All of Us in Society and mainly back home: 

REZA's CALL: An Iranian Solidarnosc... by DK 

But that does not mean that we cannot or should not offer a helping hand in any capacity as possible as was the case when Poland's Solidarity movement started off.

But as long as we Iranians don't learn to put aside our "Megalomaniac" tendancies best expressed by our support of any Wannabe PResident to be:

Amir Jahanchahi: Iranian Idiot of the Day | Iranian.com 

or of our recurrent Conspiracy theories and Suspicions of one another, we cannot nor ever will be a counted as a Mature Nation capable of implementing a Democratic and social Model that will lead us to be accepted and respected once again in the Family of Nations:

My Humble Opinion 

DK 

Darius

Ari Jaan You want a more Mild /Gentle Supreme Leader? No problem

Brought to you by "Le Bon Samaritain": 

SATIRE: I voted ;0)

Recommended Blogs:

ROYAL FORUM: Explaining the Concept of a Constitutional Monarchy to a Staunch Republican

CONSTITUTIONALIST FORUM: Daryoush Homayoun Political and Journalistic life Honored in Germany 

fussygorilla

Loved your last sentence.

Yes, this regime is here to stay. Otherwise it would have been gone by now if it was raftanee.

Congratulations IRIB. 30 yrs of brainwashing ppl to conformity has finally given you a homogeneized society. Now all that remains is to start a war with the west, and shift the nationalist middleground (which already hates America) to the right, so that the social engineering project of the revolution will be complete. Allaho Akbar!

If Khomeini was alive, theyd kill everyone like they did in '88, you dumbass Greens!

Naysayers

Talking down to Iranians and deciding what is right for them and what they are ready for, is not the exclusive working theory of the ruling Islamist Rapists.

Naysayers like it or not, with Constitutional Revolution under her belt, Iran has proven her grit and love of democratic freedom.

Who needs democracy?

In my working experience in Iran with the Tehran working class people, as well as in my *private* dialogues and discussions with many ordinary people in different Iranian cities and villages:

1) with a very few exceptions, they were all extremely hostile to the Islamic regime as a whole, with or without a supreme leader! Practising Muslims among them were more disgusted by the whole Islamic regime than the non-practising ones.

 2) - They were certainly not theorised about democracy; but when I asked them if they liked to choose all our leaders and politicians by vote, they responded ''Of course!'' When I asked them, ''Do you like our leaders and politicians to be accountable to people,'' they said ''Of course!'' And when I asked them if they preferred to decide by themselves - without being told by the State - what to wear and how to behave in public (what we call ''personal freedoms''), they said ''Yes,'' and most of them added that it was because of the imposition of Hijab and limitation of people's comings and goings and what they did inside their homes or in the parks that there was such a high number of druggies, prostitutes and Johns, corruption and general hypocrisies.  

These experiences convince me that Iranians living inside the country, although they are not using political terms while expressing their opinions, WILL WELCOME DEMOCRACY & PERSONAL FREEDOMS if these are offered to them.

I did not get the impression that our compatriots wanted a *better* Supreme Leader. And in the context of what's going on in Iran, it is impossible to know how many non-diaspora Iranians are looking for *a gentler dictator.*

The political opinions Iranians express privately and when alone, is completely different from what they think they have to say in public. Individual Iranians (even the villagers) do hate Khomeini as much as Khamenei.

Azadeh

JJ, democratic chicken and egg dilemma

On Supreme Leaders

You guys seem to forget how Ayat. Khomeini had the ultimate control over every single issue in Iran. He decided how people should dress, what kind of music to listen to, whether to play chess or not , on top of every political decision in Iran including the radicalization of our foreign policy. For Khomeini, only Islam mattered and he openly talked about exporting his revolution.

In comparison, Ayat. Khamenie has been very different than khomeini. He is a lot more diplomatic and unlike khomeini, he is not confrontational. He is a smart politician. 

Have you forgot just before the US invasion of iraq, many politicians who are now considered reformists, wanted to join iraq in the fight against US. ( Mohtashamipour speech in defense of sadam hossein in the parliament can still be found on the internet). It was Khamenie who told the reformists to shut up.

It was also Khamenie who stopped the sepah for getting involved in Afghanistan after Taliban had killed our diplomates.

Both those decisions by Khamenie are now considered brilliant moves. I am sure Ayat. Khomeini would have made different decisions.

PS: I am against the involvement of any religious institution with our politics.

Supreme Leader

Ari, Iranians in Iran would breath easier with something much less than a democracy. A kinder, gentler Supreme Leader would be better than Khamenei. But to claim that human rights abuses of the past year would not have happened under Khomeini is far from the truth, as Nikahang has shown so brilliantly in his cartoon. Karroubi and Mousavi must break with Khomeini if they want to remain relevant.

calm down Javid

Oh, they both were acting out of loyalty to their supporter (U.S.A.and Britain) to undermine the Iranian government and sabotage it. They are both as much Khomeinist as anyone except that their price was not too high. They would sell their mothers if the price were right, it is said. so, calm down and don't take them seriously.  The Iranian regime is here to stay for a very very long time because the majority (overwhelming) of the People in Iran support it.

p.s. despite what the expats claim.