A day does not pass in Iran's state-controlled media without constant glorification of developments in the country’s ‘home made’ nuclear programme. A vast national project started before the Iranian revolution in the 1970s, and then restarted in late 1980s, like many others, is only now beginning to bear fruit.
While on the international front, Iran remains compliant to its obligations under the NPT, domestically, in many corners, the nuclear project is received rather sceptically.
This scepticism is not sourced in technicalities or as a result of western demands that Iran halts enrichment, but instead in how through masterful exercises in public relations, the government of Mahmoud Ahmadinejad has turned this costly national project into a key feature of his own image as a courageous leader against bullying powers ganged up to deprive yet another third-world country of its "rights."
Throughout the past eight years while the US and EU have been busy developing and implementing their punitive measures against Iran, ranging from sanctions to threats of annihilation, Ahmadinejad has been gaining more popularity not only inside Iran in a society with a fresh collective memory of its historic failures and recent shortcomings, but also beyond Iran's borders across the Muslim world.
Despite having seen no tangible benefits yet in the development of various nuclear technologies (as opposed to its tangible costs) Iranians at large remain very supportive of this project. This support however is not accidental and is largely down to a monopolised media which lacks dissenting voices and opposing views regarding the costs associated with Iran’s defiance against the west.
One can understand Iran’s sensitivity towards foreign interference in this matter. With a history of betrayal and deceit from the west, few support compromise solutions. However such routine censorship of views opposed to the official narrative, may seem unusual if not seen in context.
Indeed a pattern can be found in how Iran's new status in nearly every field from science to political influence is framed such that it is directly linked by the state media to Ahmadinejad's persona in contrast to his predecessors’ moderate –- read weak -- approach.
As Iran nears its presidential elections, Ahmadinejad's team who were so far acting rather low-profile in gathering support for his second-term, are slowly beginning to make public one of the largest and most coordinated media campaigns in Iran's history. Perhaps interestingly not a single private donor will contribute to this campaign. Nor will Ahmadinejad need any local campaign offices, according to himself. Costly bill-board adverts? Why bother when you have the combined resources of the country's largest newspapers, hours and hours of unchallenged airtime on state TV and radio stations, coupled with analysis that often only adds insult to injury.
This campaign however began quite a while back. That is when Ahmadinejad started distributing cash from Iran's vast oil revenues amongst the more deprived sections of the society. He ignored plans for a comprehensive social security system (which had not materialised in lack of funding) and instead dissolved the “National Office for Planning & Budgeting” and distributed cash to those who attended his provincial meetings or sent him personal pleas for help with rising inflation.
People in villages and small towns who had not once seen a high-ranking official visit them, are suddenly confronted with Mr President who incidentally has a very deep pocket. In the past four years Ahmadinejad and his whole cabinet have travelled to every corner of Iran, not once but twice, to "resolve local issues." Media reports after every trip are littered with numbers of local cases discussed by the cabinet, hours of meetings that took place or the thousands of letters handed to the President accompanied by pictures of locals running after his vehicle in joy and fascination.
He has introduced “Justice Shares” where people are given free shares in state-owned industrial units and get direct payment as profits. But given that few industries are profitable to that extent, these payments are again funded by oil revenues. Further, the so-called shares are of course managed by the government; even though ironically classed as privatisation.
With just over six weeks to presidential elections, Ahmadinejad has not yet announced whether he will run again. But every indication is that he will indeed run for a second term. By leaving everything to the last minute perhaps he is trying to avoid serious debate with other candidates about his four year record.
Meanwhile, every speech that he or his ministers make is nothing short of a campaign speech in a full flare election season. They all follow the same pattern and on the way question not only the policies but also the integrity and patriotism of those before him. His speech on the 30th anniversary of the Iranian revolution in front of millions in Tehran was a list of several comparisons of what Iran was like in 2005 (not 1979) and what it is like now. Much of the statistics were flawed of course, but what is more damaging is the cocktail of mistrust and suspicion that is injected during his four years in office into Iran's previously clear divisions of power.
There are other presidential candidates that have announced their candidacy along with relatively detailed plans. While they are so far almost completely ignored by state media, Ahmadinejad is effortlessly getting all the attention he needs; plus he has the means to prevent those few activities by his competitors from taking place. Whereas they must fight tooth and nail for donors, his budget is virtually limitless.
Those key figures from across Iran’s political spectrum, who are desperate to get rid of Ahmadinejad have one choice: To run en masse as candidates in order to create a two stage election. If they can prevent him from winning the first round, only then they may be able to attract enough support for a single candidate against Ahmadinejad in the second stage. But with Iran’s supreme leader and officials in charge of managing the elections, openly supporting Ahmadinejad, few can doubt what the next election will bring.
AUTHOR
Mohammad Kamaali is board member of the Campaign Against Sanctions and Military Intervention in Iran (CASMII).
Person | About | Day |
---|---|---|
نسرین ستوده: زندانی روز | Dec 04 | |
Saeed Malekpour: Prisoner of the day | Lawyer says death sentence suspended | Dec 03 |
Majid Tavakoli: Prisoner of the day | Iterview with mother | Dec 02 |
احسان نراقی: جامعه شناس و نویسنده ۱۳۰۵-۱۳۹۱ | Dec 02 | |
Nasrin Sotoudeh: Prisoner of the day | 46 days on hunger strike | Dec 01 |
Nasrin Sotoudeh: Graffiti | In Barcelona | Nov 30 |
گوهر عشقی: مادر ستار بهشتی | Nov 30 | |
Abdollah Momeni: Prisoner of the day | Activist denied leave and family visits for 1.5 years | Nov 30 |
محمد کلالی: یکی از حمله کنندگان به سفارت ایران در برلین | Nov 29 | |
Habibollah Golparipour: Prisoner of the day | Kurdish Activist on Death Row | Nov 28 |
KoorooshS
by Meehan (not verified) on Thu May 07, 2009 07:13 PM PDTthank you.
come on mehrnaz...:-)
by anonymous fish on Wed May 06, 2009 11:00 AM PDTjust how many americans do you think there ARE on iranian.com? and how many on this blog? and how many times HAVE you directed your dislike of americans towards me in particular.
so... i don't think i'm being the least bit assumptive to think you were talking to me. :-)) you think you and jaleho are being subtle? LOL
kourosh is right. at least have the balls to stand behind your insults. you name call with the best of them. :-)
Mehrnaz
by KoorooshS (not verified) on Wed May 06, 2009 09:22 AM PDTHonestly. I am not totally sure what meehan is trying to say, and i do not want to make any judgements before i comprehend correctly. He does have certain facts in there that i find very interesting, but i am not quite sure i agree or disagree with him entirely.
Interesting that you have chosen to employ terms such as
Racism and A half-illitrate dimwit... Hmm... Unless you and mr/ms meehan know each other personally, then i am sorry to inform you that the only form of racism that i see here, and the only strong case for coming across as a dimwit that i see, comes from your end of the bargain!
With or without blinkers... hmm... well to tell you the truth, i do wear them every so often, but i just had themm cleaned, nice and shiny, so i can see through them a whole lot better! and it worked! you know how i can tell? because i see you doing the same labeling that you accuse others of doing. Just reading the first two lines of your second paragraph, tells me all i need to know about you, ma'dam. Well, maybe not all, But most of it.
If you are in a hurry to leave the blog...because you may have something cooking in the oven, or your mailman is at the door, serving you papers from your local tax office, then go! But I know when and how to spot insults being hurled at me, without your professional assistance in informing me of it.
KouroshS
by MEHRNAZ SHAHABI on Wed May 06, 2009 08:05 AM PDTYou ask me whether you "should pay for it". As a matter of fact, I am writing these comments to alert you of the heavy price. You do pay for it by having a half-literate dimwit telling you what your identity is and throwing racist insults at you. What are YOUR views on what this so to speak Meehan is saying? If you agree, then you have paid the price.
As for Anonymous Fish, There ARE Americans who are dumb and arrogant, as there are Iranians who are dumb and arrogant. I am sorry that Anonymous Fish has chosen to believe I was directing my comments at her. I wonder why? Likewise, if you, following her track, wish to believe I was directing my comment at individual people here on this website, I am sorry for this identification. If you had read my comments without your blinkers on, you would seen differently.
When I first made the comment about this fake "Meehan", I said there are people who are always ready for name-calling other Iranians but would have nothing to say about a non-Iranian making a fool of them and insulting them right into their face on this site. Well, I am sorry that you provided evidence for that comment. My purpose for that contribution is served and I have no more to say on this thread.
Mehrnaz
by KouroshS (not verified) on Tue May 05, 2009 06:51 PM PDTOh so now,
You have decided to go Drs. Holakouee/ Phill on us. ha?
Is the list of those dumb iranians and aemricans who need to Eslah themselves free or should we pay for it?
Thank you for your generosity indeed, and spotting the problem before it gets way out of hand! I sure hope that moderators are watching this and devise a plan to follow your instructions as to how those people can "behave" themselves".
Ananymous Fish:
Sometimes when i read certain comments from that certain chief-comment writer, you know...I have to rub my eyes several times and make sure i am fully awake and not dreaming.
You have insulted me over
by Meehan (not verified) on Tue May 05, 2009 06:00 PM PDTYou have insulted me over and over again. I will really appreciate it if you would write like human beings but not like your brainless Ahmadinejad. You are free to suppor Ahmadinejad, all the mullahs, Bin laden or whoever that you like but if you can not argue like rational human beings, at least have the courtesy not to insult me. I never insulted you.
Thank you in advance.
Listen Meehan
by MEHRNAZ SHAHABI on Tue May 05, 2009 04:22 PM PDTYou have caused me hours of laughter. Every line that you have written stinks of a rat, in ways you would not know! Any Iranian can see through it. Just do yourself a favour and shut up! Go and read for a change ...
Oh, by the way, Slandering
by Meehan (not verified) on Tue May 05, 2009 12:07 PM PDTOh, by the way, Slandering the accusing Iranians to be Americans, Israelies and their spies is nothing new. The Mullahs have been accusing the Iranians to be American and Israeli spies for years. You are no different than your Arab Mullah leaders AKA Khamenei and Ahmadinejad.
Wrong again
by Meehan (not verified) on Tue May 05, 2009 11:34 AM PDTYou think that I am an American. How funny. You guys must be paranoid.
No one is more familiar with the concept of terrorism in the name of God and Islam than us the Iranians, who for many years have been the biggest victims of Islamic Terrorism. Iran has been invaded twice by Islamic Mafia barbarian invaders.
Do you really think that we are of the same race as Zoroatsrians? As I said, with the Arab invasion which introduced rapes, and forced marriages, we are no longer a pure race. The ones that you can identify are the Sayeds who are descendents of Prophet Mohammad As for the rest it is hard to tell.
Ahmadinejad although not a sayed, he acts and talks more Arab than the Arabs themselves. If you talk like an Arab and look like an Arab, the chances are that you are Arab.
The Arab terrorists who murdered thousands of people on 9/11, who were still living their old dream of many wives similar to the Arab barbarians who invaded Persia with the slogans of allaho Akbar, but delivered only hate, burning,, raping of women (non-believers) and forced marriage in the name of Islam.
The Second Invasion of Islam was by Khomeyni (A sayed AKA Arab) in 1979 which has brought nothing but misry, rape and execution of young girls in prison, the stoning of women, theft and terror. founding the first declaration of human right. Now you dare to tell me that Ahmadinejad who kisses Shikh Nasrallah of Hezbollah as if they are lovers, not an Arab(AKA semite)?
kourosh
by anonymous fish on Tue May 05, 2009 11:00 AM PDTi know.. i know... :-)
what's funny is that he/she/it comes back to actually clarify what was so obvious before! like there are so many americans on iranian.com! you can easily see that birds of a feather flock together on this thread. the use of language is so similar. could it be... do you think possibly... NO! are they one and the same? they have formed their own little mutual-admiration society...:-)
i have concluded that an insult from these two is a compliment indeed.
Jaleho jan
by MEHRNAZ SHAHABI on Tue May 05, 2009 07:39 AM PDTNo, it's not hard to find a replacement!! LoooL.
But really, I don't give a damn whether Ahamdi-NedJad or Iranians are Semite or Huns. I was twisting his/her ears, firstly, so that when someone makes a comment about an issue at least they make sure that they have a modicum of knowledge, and secondly, to expose someone who is pretending to be Iranian, whilst not knowing the most obvious fact about the country.
We seem to be getting 'leaders', 'educators', 'supervisors', telling us who we are and what we must do!
Anyway, I had enough fun, for now and better get on with some work!! Jaleho, thanks for brilliant comments on threads, I always enjoy reading your posts :)
KouroshS
by MEHRNAZ SHAHABI on Tue May 05, 2009 07:27 AM PDTRe Americans, I didn't mean ALL Americans, I said SOME, who have made a REPUTATIONS for themselves!!! Do you want me to name some, perhaps?!! Those who don't like it then should strive to challenge the rumours by behaving themselves! LoooooooL I must say, there are a good few dumb Iranians around too. So I was not being prejudiced!
As for Meehan (sick) she/he is not joking, (Read the first comment and the follow up!) rather trying to scuttle away into the hole but her/his bottom is stuck so I am whacking it hard with the toilet brush.
Mehrnaz jan,
by Jaleho on Tue May 05, 2009 06:05 AM PDTWhy don't you just accept Meehan's definition of "Semite," that is: every time a person's race needs to be categorized according to her, have her personally come and take a look, and she can decide by "looks," or "history of invasions," or maybe the type of breakfast she had that particular morning, and then she can determine who is of what race, OK?
The only problem is that when Meehan is not around, we have to find someone equally ignorant to get a consistent result! That shouldn't be hard to solve here ;-)
This thread has been hijacked by Mehrnaz!!!
by KouroshS (not verified) on Tue May 05, 2009 02:25 AM PDTPeople!
If you honestly feel like there is no more to be said, please, just go and contribute to other sections!
Meehan:
Please! are you making jokes? We were invaded 1400 years ago... and look at ahmadinejad... Come on. Non of this has anything to do with being a semite!
Ananymous Fish.
Please don't mind the Hijacker. Our British friends like to have fun every now and then:)
oh no!
by anonymous fish on Mon May 04, 2009 11:44 PM PDTi'm shivering in my boots...LOLOL
Don't embarrass Americans more than you already have!
by MEHRNAZ SHAHABI on Mon May 04, 2009 05:39 PM PDTSome Americans have created an unfortunate reputation for themselves of being not just arrogant but extremely dumb. You are setting a new record!! Do your people a favour. Say no more!
MEHRNAZ SHAHABI
by Meehan (not verified) on Mon May 04, 2009 03:20 PM PDTI am going to say this over and over again. Ahmadinejad himself is a semite. Most of us Iranians are semites because of the Arab invasion 1400 years ago. Does Ahmadinejad look Iranian? Does he think like a true Persian ?
iyzad
by anonymous fish on Mon May 04, 2009 01:51 PM PDTdo you need any more proof of what you say....:-)
Listen so to speak "izad"!
by MEHRNAZ SHAHABI on Mon May 04, 2009 01:15 PM PDTIf you think saying to "Meehan" that he is not Iranian and is masquerading, is a name-calling it means you are either "Meehan" (sick) faking as "Izad" (sick), or that you yourself are not Iranian! Any Iranian child reading that comment would know why Meehan is not an Iranian! There is no doubt that you are uneducated but that is not the issue here, you are MASQUERADING under an Iranian name. You are a fake.
"Now explain this Meehan (sick):
""Milltant Islamists such as Ahmadinejad and his like are NOT anti-Semetic. For they too are Semites"".
So much for listening to each other
by iyzad (not verified) on Mon May 04, 2009 11:08 AM PDTis this the Iranian civil society????
because by far all the posts are people accusing one another for being non-Iranian and unpatriotic.
I think it doesn't matter who wins Iran's elections
any undemocratic regime is bound to fall
what matters is that we as a society learn to discuss alternatives. This forum is just full of ad-hominem comments with no real evidence.
Comparing Iran to U.S or trying to establish Ahmadinezhad's ontological perception (if there is one) wont get us anywhere.
I think the primary thing in regards to this election is the massively growing amount of "open" dissent. That means politicians are no longer talking in general terms, they are directly attacking each other by citing the budget, current police-state situation etc...
This means that civil society is slowly growing in Iran, which is rather important because the moment that this regime falls or alters itself, our civic institutions should be strong enough to transform the current oligarchy into a democracy.
feel free to flame me and call me uneducated now
this seems to be the Iranian trend.
....
Masquerading as Iranian
by MEHRNAZ SHAHABI on Sun May 03, 2009 01:30 AM PDTThe whole of your comment. Any Iranian, right, left, monarchist, Islamist, liberal, devil or angel could see through it. Although some choose to be silent about this whilst labeling their own compatriots ...
Now explain this Meehan (sick):
""Milltant Islamists such as Ahmadinejad and his like are NOT anti-Semetic. For they too are Semites"".
The fact that you don't know what you "said wrong" is itself most telling. Go educate yourself before sneaking into our site trying to educate us about our country and region.
MEHRNAZ SHAHABI
by Meehan (not verified) on Sat May 02, 2009 06:33 PM PDTWhat are yoy talking about? What did I say that was wrong?
Andy Hormuz, re. Anonymous Fish
by Jaleho on Fri May 01, 2009 09:32 PM PDTignorance of Darabi's case, AND the case of many Americans who were executed. From well over THOUSANDS of people who have been executed in the US, 22 of them had commited their crime while under age of 18. Scott Allen Hain of OKlahoma was one of the more recent ones.
This woman just repeats whatever propaganda she's brainwashed with, without any actual knowledge of either the Iranian case, or the American ones. In fact, Darabi's case was set in motion because her own family did not want her to escape capital punishment as she refused to even apologize the children of the woman that she was convicted for stabbing to death.
anonymous fish, you are wrong, please don't make things up
by Andy Hormuz (not verified) on Fri May 01, 2009 07:07 PM PDTDelara was convicted in court after she said that she was innocent and her previous confession was a lie.
Every legal system has a legal procedure for admitting new evidence. This evidence was not admitted by the court, based on legal review. It's completely legal.
What people are outraged about is her age at the time of the crime. It is because she was 17 at the time. Either way she committed Murder 1 or Murder 2 degrees.
god... never mind!
by anonymous fish on Fri May 01, 2009 03:13 PM PDThow pointless it is to even discuss this! you call it a nonsensical argument? how obtuse can you possibly be? in your rush to defend the iri and it's evil actions, you continue to misrepresent the issue. has it not been said time and time again that she was unfairly convicted. has it not been said over and over again that certain evidence was not allowed to be introduced?
now. continue with your defense of the iri. you want to believe she was fairly convicted and fairly executed? go right ahead. god help you.
Are you sure, "this young woman" was not legally convicted?
by Ostaad on Fri May 01, 2009 05:01 PM PDTIf that's what you're arguing, then we are not even on the same plane. you may like the sound of your puny arguments, but unfortunately you're basing them on sheer ignorance of what's going on in Iran.
One of the hallmarks of the current regime in Iran is that they have "laws" and a pretty elaborate "judicial" system - I use quotes because I personally don't believe in those laws, the judiciary AND the constitution they are based on.
BTW, among the things that I don't give a shit about are nonsensical arguments.
ostaad
by anonymous fish on Fri May 01, 2009 01:56 PM PDTif you're not paying attention... don't comment. if you BOTHERED to read anything you'd know that the DI was referring to and POSTED a link to death row inmates in the US. she therefore implied a CORRELATION between the MURDER of this young woman and those legally convicted within the US system. so listen and listen carefully. you can shift the blame away all you want. you can blame everyone else for the CRIMES of the iri. you can IGNORE that these criminal acts are going on TODAY. they are killing YOUR hamvatans. why do you pretend to give a shit about americans or anyone else for that matter. you don't. you and the DI think that by shouting about everyone else it's going to blind people to what's going on in iran NOW?
same thing to you merhnaz. why don't you focus on YOUR vatan and not focus on the US. we've got plenty of people to point out our mistakes and we're quite aware of them. you however seem to think your beloved IRI is above the law.
why are you so busy deflecting the evil of your IRI?
Great minds think alike,
by Ostaad on Fri May 01, 2009 01:32 PM PDTCondi Rice and our anon... fish must be channeling each other. Condi just opined that torture is legal if the president, in this case the goat herder and tortured from Texas, did it. To rival Condi's moronic logic, Fishy believes it's not murder but an "execution" if the US did it! How pathetic!
I am absolutely for the abolition of death penalty, period. But even in this case the convicted person could have avoided being executed if she had convinced the victim's family members to forgive her. Unfortunately this did not happen and a young life was wasted along the life of her victim who, according to her children, was a loving mother and a teacher.
Please read the victim's family members letter:
//iranian.com/main/news/2009/04/19
Dear Manoucher/Jaleho
by MEHRNAZ SHAHABI on Fri May 01, 2009 01:05 PM PDTThank you for your comment on the Conference on Racism. When the genocide of 1400 unarmed and trapped civilians in a concentration camp with the use of non-conventional weapons and the destruction of lifeline infrastructure by an apartheid state is allowed to go by and when any mention of this most heinous racist crime is banned from the World Conference on Racism, what does this say about the humanity and morality of the perpetrators and their supporters.
Speaking of denial, I wonder whether there were any children amongst millions of innocent civilians killed in Vietnam, Indonesia, Afghanistan, Iraq, Chili, Nicaragua, Palestine, Lebanon, just to name a few .. John Pilger has a term for that mass of humanity that can't be named and counted: UNPEOPLE
LOLOL
by anonymous fish on Fri May 01, 2009 12:23 PM PDTcan't you come up with something original for a change??? you think by calling ME in denial it's going to lessen the fact that YOU are or that your glorified regime is evil?
can't you even come back with something a bit more ingenious about the difference between MURDER by the iri and executions in the US? tell me. how many are children are on death row in the US? how many were executed in secret? how many appeals and years have they sat trying to overturn legal rulings going through every single avenue they can go through legally?
"stupid is forever, ignorance can be fixed".