IRI

Joubin Houshyar

Salaam: 

(1) I am happy that I made you laugh. Laughing is good for a healthy life. 

(2) Quite frankly, the title of your comment has nothing to do with its content. I wonder why.

(3) 90% of people who post comments here use "anonymous" or pseudo-names, and it seems to be fine to most people. But, as soon as a guy like me expresses his opinion with utmost clarity, and the opinion is not liked by some, he is attacked for using an incomplete name (my true name is Mammad or Mohammad). Can you explain that? 

(4) If I were to take your writing seriously, you seem to be much more of an Islamist than I am. That is puzzling to me. 

(5) Why am I a hypocrite? Because I say I a practicing Muslim, respect Dr. Shariati, but live in the US? Should people like me only live in, for example, Iran? If so, why?

(6) Since you seem a lot more Islamist than I am, I am just curious: Where do you live yourself?

(7) As I have said many many times in this column, I publish articles with my full name on the internet and in the print media. So, I am not afraid of being known. Moreover, anybody who reads my writings will see immediately that I am against extremists of all types and terrorism; I am for secular republic in Iran, and I criticize gross violations of human rights in Iran. 

Even if I were the faceless "Mammad" here, I do not advocate anything violent or radical. So, I honestly do not know what you are talking about.

(8) Dr. Shariati was born in 1933, and passed away in 1977 at the age of 44. He wrote over 30,000 pages in such a short life. That immediately implies that he was susceptible to making errors and mistakes. Indeed, he made many mistakes. But, unlike what you say in your insulting comment about him, he was a deep thinker, and whether anyone likes it or not, he had a huge impact. His impact was so significant that even today, 31 years after his death, his writings are still being debated by people on all sides of the political spectrum.

In addition, one must view Dr. Shariati's writings in the context of his time. As I said in my last comment (to which you are responding), some of his thoughts and teachings are no longer applicable today. The most important of such inapplicable thinking is his interpretation of Islamic teachings in revolutionary terms, which he put forth over 40 years ago in order to provide the youth of that era with an alternative to Marxism which was the dominant thinking of that era. I suggest that you read a series of good articles by Taghi Rahmani on roozonline.com about Dr. Shariati.

I will be looking forward to read your critique of Dr. Shariati. Will it be under the name, Joubin Houshyar?

Mammad

Imperialist IRI

Tehran is mistrusted in almost every Sunni Arab capital. None believe the insistent claim that it is interested only in civilian nuclear power and has no military/economic ambitions. It is seen as working to establish its hegemony across the Middle East, setting the agenda through allies or “non-state” proxies such as Hizbullah and Hamas, confounding the US and Israel in Iraq, Lebanon and Palestine.

Joubin Houshyar I agree with

Joubin Houshyar

I agree with fully with your statement. Q and Mammad unconciously seek a war between "benevolent" Iran and the "satanic" US because they are consumed with hatred. They are Islamists and do not care about Iran and its people. As long as Islam is triumphant in the end. How very sad...

IRI is an illegitimate regime!?

Disagree with many of IRI's wrong policies (there are plenty of them), but it is IRI that has not allowed the destruction of Iran by those who have demolished Iraq and wanted to do the same with Iran. To me that is the biggest legitimacy stamp .....

to: Jalil Bahar (Re: Q You Are Making US ALL Laugh )

Your post to Q is full of mis-information and wrong data.. I leave the rest to others to point it out to you (if they care) but here is an obvious one that I KNOW it is wrong.

You say:

>>> .... Voter participation is high because if you do not have an electoral stamp in your ID document, then you will be disqualified from many government driven opportunities (like attending college, or getting government rations....SO PEOPLE ARE FORCED TO VOTE); and secondly UN monitors are brought in AFTER the candidates are prescreened and disqualified.

I say:

Not true. You are not the only one with relatives and contacts in Iran. I and many opther iranian.com posters do. There is absolutely no checking of one's electoral stamp in "shenasnameh" as a requirement for college entrance, or receiving government benefits. You must have mistaken Iran today wth some dinky little nation that you are imagining in your mind. Not that our mollahs are good, they are not. But we need to keep facts as they are, not as we want them to be ("W" because of his stupidity and enriching his clans changes facts to his likings. You should not  !! )

thanks.

IRI is an illegitimate regime

I do strongly agree with Mr kashani's viewe, I would like to ask islamist like Q and mamad. why S.arbia which is considered as birth of Islam and it's government is guardian of Islam is always in bed with U.S and it's allies like UK,Israil,and European union.
US, UK fighters,tanks are filled by Arabs oil,to bombing palstian and Iraq , but a non Arab country like Iranian has to suffer because of this illegitimate government which is support by west and east find a way to fool the left wings(tudeh party and...)right wings(jebhe melly and reformist) by standing against Israeli(only in word)to oppress Iranian and loot the country.
we heard enough bullshit from you fool.
by the way mammad shariati was like a used car sales man that tries to sell an old rusty and faulty car(tasadofy)whit new paint, he was fooled by his own believe.
in order to stop war mongol government to destroy Iran, get united and finding a way to get rid of this Illegitimate IRI regime.
Down with IRI

the biggest threats to world peace!?

Kashsni says: "- IRI is the biggest threat to world peace"

Kashani_jAn, despite some of my deep disagreements with IRI I find your statement totally wrong. If not past 50+ years of history, past ~7+ years clearly show that the biggest threats to the world peace and particularly middle east are U.S and Israel not Iran. And that is why I beehive Iran should not leave anything to chance, and I wish IRI total success IF they are building the nukes.
Having said that, I hope that one of these days Iran recognizes Israel and normalizes its relation with that country and the U.S. I believe 'Trust and Verify' is applicable here, Iran should start 'Trusting' U.S and Israel and strengthens its 'Trust' with enough nukes in place.

You are asking for a Jihad ... you may get it

"I have never ever hidden anything that I believe, or believed, in. One either truly believes in something, in which case one should be prepared to express publicly one's beliefs if necessary, or one should not claim it at all.

Mammad "

Salaam "Mammad",

That was good for a laugh. (It is also an accurate measure of your intellectual and moral state and development.) One wonders why "Islamists" like yourself and "Q (another source of levity for us) do not use your full names? After all, the American security services know who is who regardless as they have full access to ISP informations. Is it because you live the lives of hypocrites (MONAAFIQS) here in the West?

Do tell.

Regarding your beloved dead Dr. Shariati:

One is not permitted by ALLAH, The Most High The Glorious, and HIS Messenger, Salla Allah Aleihum Wa Alehum Wa Salaam, to speak ill of the dead. But, inshAllah, I intend to rip his writings to pieces. His French affected Pseudo-intellectual and ill-informed "thoughts" on Islam have been a source of grave injury to Our Religion, and Our Beloved Meehan.

/& Salaam

Q You Are Making US ALL Laugh

There is absolutely no way, there is a democracy in Iran. If you think so you are a total moron.

When literally thousands of people are disqualified from running for elected office, including literally hundreds of people that were in office before...then there is no basis for free, fair and open elections. What the government is doing is PRESCREENING candidates -- that is not a democracy.

When literally hundreds of newspapers are closed down - then clearly there is no free speech. Without free speech -- there can be no democracy.

When people that demonstrate (in public) are imprisoned, sentenced to death, tortured ....and we are talking literally hundreds of thousands of people (over 300,000 have been killed in prison) -- then there can be no democracy.

Sometimes, people are misled by statements like "The UN monitors Iranian elections", or "Voter participation is higher in Iran than the US"...but these mask the truth. Voter participation is high because if you do not have an electoral stamp in your ID document, then you will be disqualified from many government driven opportunities (like attending college, or getting government rations....SO PEOPLE ARE FORCED TO VOTE); and secondly UN monitors are brought in AFTER the candidates are prescreened and disqualified.

Q there is no defense for these types of actions. There is no justification for these types of actions. This is not anti-IRI propaganda...these are simple facts.

If you support the government in Iran, that is fine. If they have something positive to say or do, let them get the support of the majority of voters, BUT, they have no basis for denying free speech and open elections (i.e. where any one can run for office). Even Iran's current constitution does not permit them to prescreen candidates, close down newspapers (i.e. deny free speech), and torture prisoners.

It takes courage and decency to see and accept the truth. Q, you must have intellectual integrity and accept the truth.

Kashani, you are making me laugh

who do you think your fooling your 10 year old nephew?

You used the term "illegal", I asked which law this was against. Can you kindly point me to the international law that is being broken? Are you telling me the UN dealing with an "illegal" government in China and in Iran?It will be all clarified once you provide the treaty that makes these government "illegal". I'll wait.

Actually, IRI's supreme leader is indirectly elected just like US Supreme court judges. It is not "for life" and the people who vote for the supreme leader are themselves directly elected by the people. Say what you want about the merrits of the system, but please at least understand it first so that you don't sound like you don't know what you're talking about.

There are no political parties in Iran
so what? Since when is having a democracy dependnet on Parties? The US constituion doesn't have any provision for political parties. The definition of what is a "party" is extremely vague anyway. What we have in Iran now could be considered parties. IN any case, what does this have to do with IRI being "illegal", even if there are no political parties?

IRI, unlike countries such as U.S, France, England, Japan, and even Palestinian authority, Iraq and Afghanistan, is one of the few counties in the world that does allow U.N election observers to monitor their so called ”electoral process”;

Once again, you have made a "shah-kar" lie: "US, France, England, Japan" do not have UN election observers. UN doesn't "approve" any elections. These observers are dispatched by a specific mandate after a vote at the UN. The US elections have never been monitored by the UN, ever.

The Palestinians and a few other places invited UN to be a neutral observer to ensure fairness. Yes, in that election, HAMAS won. Finally, you wrote something true.

As far China and Russia goes, Chinese government is absolutely illegal, the above mentioned criteria applies to China also.
That may be true for the "above criteria", but does any other body in the world use that criteria? Like the UN, World Court or just anyone who can say what's legal or illegal? or Or is this just something you made up for yourself?

I really should start making a list of all your lies. People will lose track after so many of them. The only problem is I just don't know if you are genuinly ignorant or willfully lying. If it's the first, I would stop making so many blanket statements when you have no idea if they are factual.

sdf

I "grew up," so to speak, with the great teacher Dr. Ali Shariati. My father took me to his speeches at Hoseiniyeh Ershad. I have read, many times, his 30,000 pages of writing. He was my idol during the college years. I personally participated in the huge demonstrations at Tehran university in June 1977, the day it was announced that he had passed away.

I still consider Dr. Shariati a great Islamic/leftist teacher/thinker, and although some of his thoughts are no longer applicable to our era, he still has my great admiration and respect. He wanted an Islam WITHOUT Rouhaniyat, which is very much applicable today. 

I have never ever hidden anything that I believe, or believed, in. One either truly believes in something, in which case one should be prepared to express publicly one's beliefs if necessary, or one should not claim it at all.

Mammad

Hindi ... Jameson Hindi

//tinyurl.com/6e9tl3
//tinyurl.com/5kavqm

//www.haji-williamson.com/gallery.php

//www.aref-adib.com/archives/khomeini_connery...

//www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ii1tc493bZM

Q, Rosetta already

Q, Rosetta already explained why IRI is not legitimate, here’s a few more reasons. We can go on for days:

   - IRI has an unelected leader that serves for life who is only to be address as “Ayatollah Khamenei” or “Hazrat Ayatollah Khameni”, can’t even be called “Aghayeh or Mr. Kahameni”; that’s the extent of their tolerance.

  - There are no political parties in Iran.

  - IRI appoints a few hundred of their loyalists every year and let people “elect” from      them for positions that are insignificant and powerless comparing to the leader, the clergy establishment and the revolutionary militias like Sepah and basidj. This is one of the biggest electoral schemes in the world, if they are to even be called “electoral”or “elections”.

  -  IRI, unlike countries such as U.S, France, England, Japan, and even Palestinian authority, Iraq and Afghanistan, is one of the few counties in the world that does allow U.N election observers to monitor their so called ”electoral process”; obviously, because there is no such thing called “electoral process” in Iran. What do they have to hide? Even Hamas let a former U.S president and the United Nations monitor the elections. So, obviously, if the U.N cannot observe their election and approve it, you really can’t call it legitimate. The U.N, right now, is the best source we got to measure an election with.

  - IRI is the biggest threat to world peace, has one of the worst records in human rights and freedom of speech and one of highest rates of political prisoners.

As far China and Russia goes, Chinese government is absolutely illegal, the above mentioned criteria applies to China also. Russia has a corrupted system of politics, but U.N observers did go there and although they had serious concerns about the last elections, the fact is that Putin is very popular in Russia.

Mammad, as I said before, different political ideologies are different in various countries depends on the socio-political and cultural traits of that country. A right winger in the U.S is not the same as a right winger in Iran. Same term applies for leftists and conservatives and liberal and others. I will never let my arguments be about me, and I will never make someone’ arguments be about them personally. This article is about the blind hatred of Iran towards Israel. If there would be an article about abortion, I will give my opinion on that. You can add all these up and conclude to what political spectrum I belong. Not all right wingers are anti abortion and not all leftists are communists. You can either take my word that my views are in contrast to right wingers both in U.S and Iran, find out based on what I write how you want to define my political position, or you are obviously free to believe that I am, like Anonym7 said, “pro AIPAC”.  

Mammad, Not an Islamic

Mammad, Not an Islamic Revolutionary a la Shariati??? You could've fooled me!!!

Farhad Kashani, not a right winger?

You could have fooled me. 

With all due respect FK, when you repeat again and again that you are NOT a right winger, I chuckle. Your political positions are, in the vast majority of cases, identical with right wingers in the US.

In fact, you are so much to the right of the political spectrum that, if you are not careful, you might end up in the extreme left. As V. I. Lenin said, the ultra-left is actually extreme right. Since you do not like leftists, you should be careful.

Mammad

IRI is not legitimate

IRI is not legitimate because it was founded on deception, lies, violence, and blood of thousands of innocent people.

IRI is not legitimate because it does not truly represent all Iranians of all backgrounds.

The IRI is not legitimate because it is utterly corrupt and is embezzeling/squandering the limited national resources to enrich the clergies and the Khodies and to build an imaginary expansionist Islamic Caliphate in the region;

IRI is not legitimate because it is Imperialistic and a threat to the world peace;

IRI is not legitimate because it has shown that it does not represent the will of the people, only the will of the ruling elite;

IRI is not legitimate because it won't allow a referendum for people to decide their form of governance based on several choices unlike the phony refrendum in 1979 where the only choice was the Islamic Republic;

the IRI is not legitimate because it does not serve its citizens;

The IRI is not legitimate because it has made Iran the client state of Russia, China, and Europe;

IRI is not legitimate because it is anti-Iranian and is committing cultural genocide

IRI is not legitimate because it serves the interest of the Imperialists of all stripes...

Please feel free to add to the list.

One missed point

Israel was one of the very few countries that supplied Iran with military weaponry during the Iran-Iraq war.

The Iran-Israel issue is a very complex and enigmatic tapestry that can't be understood by just looking at a few individual threads but rather assessing the whole piece with a pinch of historic reminiscence and a stable mind, none of which I believe is present in this forum. :D

Anonym7

Point well taken. Although I like IRI foreign policy, there's a lot Iran can do internally.

Jaleh

Kashani, what is this mozakhrafat?

Although the IRI regime is illegal, Iran is a sovereign country,

How is the IRI regime "illegal" ? The revolution that brought it to power was supported by the vast majority of Iranians. Where do you get this mozakhrafat? Is China's government "illegal?" Russia's? Cubas? What "law" is it that determines this?

“IRI has no problems with the Jews”, really? Then how come their population shrank from 300,000 in 1979 to about 30, 000 now, when the country’s population doubled?

this is a lie. Since the inception of Israel Jews have been moving out of Iran gradually every year. We did not have "300,000" Jews in Iran in 1979. Are you dreaming? more Jews left Iran before the revolution (since '48) than after.

This is complete Zionist propaganda and you are repeating it like a professional.

By the way, as someone who actually reads very carefully. I did notice that you told A8 you had said "US Tax Payer money should not got to Israel" but that was a lie too.

You wrote a somewhat reasonable article. I'm sorry that you have to ruin it by these fictional accounts.

You are being too technical

There is no doubt that Iran does not like Israel (they are careful to make the distinction between Zionism and Judaism, even though I think in general Jews are considered lower than Muslims ) They also are very barbaric toward homosexuals, even though surprisingly they accept sex change. (This is more progressive than Vatican), however there is no doubt that both and Europeans exaggerate Iran's might. Israel by itself can take care of Iran let alone with the help of USA and Europe. In all, I think the Americans and Israel are hypocrites.

"LEGITIMATE role as a main

"LEGITIMATE role as a main power to reckon"

LEGITIMATE??? ROLE??? MAIN??? POWER???

INDEPENDENCE??? independence from freedom and prosperity???

Iran is bascically a client state of Europe, China, Arabs, and Russia and you talk about Independence??

What mythological fantasy land do you come from??? How long are you goint to spew your 3-decade old bolshevik/Jihadist propagnada??

Anonym7, thanks for

Anonym7, thanks for defending me against the brutal personal attack, and also saying I say “ a few” good things!!! I guess a few is better than none! Also, I’m not right winger!

Mammad, I agree with most of our points, but remember, I said I’m revealing the reasons that IRI “claims” to be against Israel, are all nonsense. I think only a few Isalmists and misguided leftist would disagree with the fact that this regime is fundamentalist, and because of its fundamentalist ideology, our country has been ruined.

If you believe that IRI’s position is based on those things, then , you shouldn’t blame Israel for “its actions in the last two decades”, which I don’t. We all know that it was the IRI who started this irrational animosity.

Mehdi palang aziz, I blame it on the IRI.

Farrad02, excellent points.

Anonymos8, thanks to the leftist and Islamist ideologues, the definition of Esteghlal has been lost in our political literature. Although the IRI regime is illegal, Iran is a sovereign country, recognized as “Mostaghel” (i.e. has Esteghlal), or “independent” by the United Nations and the world. Just because you have an illegitimate regime, doesn’t mean the country is not independent. Having good relations with different countries, does not take your sovereignty away. The U.S has political bases, military counselors, soldiers, huge cultural presence in France,  but France opposed the Iraq war, and takes many anti U.S foreign policy stances, so is France independent or not? What are the criteria?

“IRI has no problems with the Jews”, really? Then how come their population shrank from 300,000 in 1979 to about 30, 000 now, when the country’s population doubled? How come they can’t run for president? How come their women are forced to wear Hijab, like Muslim women? How come in every Friday prayer, some uneducated, fascist Imam bashes the “Jews”, not just “Zionists”…I would refer you to read their speech. Please be real.

Like I said in the article, there is a difference between “opposing” something and “blindly and illogically opposing” something. That’s the whole point of my article.

Maryam jaan, thank you.

Mr. Rashidian, thank you, and great points as always

Killjoy, thanks. 

Re: Article misses the only reason (To: jaleho)

Bravo man.

Us Iranians having witnessed events such as coup of 1953, and other hegemonic acts of US and Britian in our history and in the greater ME, still  need a bit of refresher at times . The role of imperialists in the region needs to be understood by Iranians in order to be able to understand the events and consequences of "submission" or "independence" by our nation.

I truly appreciate your coincise and great short refresher.

B/M

....And one more reason

This article is one of the best I have read about this sensitive subject for a long time. The analysis and the reasoning is so correct. However, I must add another important reason that I dont think Mr. Kashani mentioned. The underlying anti-semitism which is prevelant in the religious right in Iran and the IRI government has a lot to do with their preoccupation and hate of Israel. Anti-semites can not directly vent their hateret, so they talk about palastinian cause,...occupation, cruelty of Israelis...etc. Just reading some of the comments by a few on Mr. Kashani's article, proves my point and shows how irrational and biased they are. Instead of addressing the issues that Mr. Kashani listed they go on the usual and tired rants. Growing up in Iran, I witnessed the depth of their feeling among the Bazaris and religious leaders. The Iranian anti-semites showed their true colors during WWII and how they were waiting for the Nazis to come to Iran. In Kermanshah they had gone so far as dividing the properties and the houses that belonged to the Jews among themselves. Well, things did not turn out the way they wished for and in a decade or so later their feelings were focused on Israel.

How about Iranian MASSES? (to Jaleho)

Jaleho says: "The only regional ally that Iran has are the MASSES in the ME, and thus Iran must have a perfectly humanitarian and pro-Islamic-mass foreign policy."

Jaleho, like you, I am proud that IRI has made a stand against those who hate Iran and Iranians during the Iraq war and specially past several years. I believe IRI should be given a lot of credit for keeping the Lords of War and the War Lords out and not letting them do what they have done to Iraq.
However, I believe IRI has lost the support of MASSES in Iran by neglecting the poor for many years. That neglect is the best friend of those who are committed to break our pride and our native land.

Jalil Bahar: I think you

Jalil Bahar: I think you have hit the nail on the head. Please publish your comment as a blog.

Thank you for your insightful commentaries.

Article misses the only reason

that IRI opposes Israel.

Israel is created in the Middle east as a base for the western countries to facilitate  stealing the natural resources of the region.

Up to 1956 Israel has been the Europe's bitch as such, and following the emergence of the US as the world power post WWII, Israel has acted as the US representative.

The Islamic revolution challenged the US hegemony in the region, and as a consequence challenges the Israel's role as the main power in the region. Us has spent $TRILLIONS in keeping Irsrael as the main power, and Iran can not achieve its LEGITIMATE role as a main power to reckon  with while US and Isreal constantly undermine it and try to prevent its advancement.

The only regional ally that Iran has are the MASSES in the ME, and thus Iran must have a perfectly humanitarian and pro-Islamic-mass foreign policy.

IRI is acting with amazingly brave and smart policy to acclaim Iran's natural power status in the region. The same type of bullying that we now see against Iran's legitimate mastery of nuclear technology happened in 90s against Iran's mastery of missile technology.

IRI recongnizes that neither US nor Israel can do a thing to prevent Iran's achievements and force it to give its oil for cheap and buy US military junk in return like US installed puppet Shah used to do, and like all the Arab lackeys still do. 

Iran has only its own interest in mind and that interest at times has made it even deal with Israel during IRI.

Israel did take Arab lands...

during battles...as other nations have done for all of time.  Iran has territories where the Khurds and Arabs live.  Did they volunteer to be ruled by Tehran? 

 We can't change the timeline, but we can make the lives of Palestinians better.  If only Iran would help build schools, businesses, and create prosperity inside of the Palestinian Territories.  Why haven't the Arab nations done the same? 

This was a good article and many of the posts were thoughtful too. 

As to American dollars going to Israel for arms..... I don't know what else American and Europe could do.  We do have an obligation to prevent a Second Holocause.  No people should be erased from the Earth.  Many of you were too young to remember the Six Day War, but Egypt had it's planes on the runway gassing up to bomb and destroy Israel.  Jordan and Syrian were a part of the war too.  Some  territories were lost.  If Syria and Egypt had won, would we be asking them to give land to the Jews to make it up to them for their loss to the Arab nations?  I think not.  Rarely, do the winners condede to the defeated. 

Mr. Kashani,

A very well-reasoned article. Enjoyed reading it.

too extreme and not fair Shiny Head

Shiny Head, by no means I am Kashani fan, I believe he is an extremist of neocon/AIPAC right wing (currently the worst enemy of Iran and Iranians). However your statement about him: "Most iranians unlike you are HUMANS, that is why I think you are not Iranians."
is not fair.