Iranian of the Day

transparent and pathetic

Look at the attacks on Parsi on this forum. It's clear it's coming from a very small number of people, who cannot take on Parsi so they attack him on circumstantial and nonsense grounds:

1. They don't like his hair

2. A fake poster pretends to be from the Grawemeyer jury and says he opposes the award

3. Parsi hangs out with the Leveretts, another post said. Never mind that Parsi has been one of the most consistent critics of Ahmadinejad and the stolen elections. They cant refute that so they claim he hangs with the Leveretts...

4. Another post says that Parsi isn't Iranian...

The commonality of all these posts? NONE of them have any basis or evidence for their accustaions. Rather, it's all about attacking Parsi, making up stuff or use MaCarthurism - he hangs with the Leveretts or a nonsense guilt by association accusation like that. 

Thank G-D Parsi doesn't seem to pay attention to the neo-con inspired attacks against him.

What a great loss to the Iranian-American community if we lost Parsi!

report from Grawemeyer

My former college roommate is a faculty member at the University of Louisville. He was at the award dinner tonight and emailed me that Parsi brought down the house and that the jury of almost a dozen prominent academics and policy makers motivated their choice of Parsi's book by stating that it had helped avoid a third disastrous war in the middle east!

Parsi is the only Iranian to have won the prize.

Best Chance for Peace, IRI Regime Change

The best chance to advance the cause of democracy and peace in Middle East and surrounding regions is to help Iranian people replace the IRI dictatorship with a secular democratic government in Iran. The benefits of this small investment will be:

1. Elimination of a major source of financial and ideological support for Hamas and Hezbollah who actively oppose a fair and just resolution of the Israeli-Arab conflict.

2. Removal of IRI support for the terrorist groups who undermine the political stability and growth of the nascent secular democracy in Iraq.

3. Elimination of IRI support for Taliban sympathizers in Afghanistan and destabilizing forces in Pakistan.

4. Establishment of human and democratic rights for the Iranian people who have suffered millennia of secular despotic rules topped with the past thirty one years of a brutal religious dictatorship.

5. Achieving the nuclear arms nonproliferation objective by removal of the IRI religious ideologues that have no regards for human rights and international laws and actively pursue nuclear weapons.

So any compromise and negotiation with IRI or acceptance and legitimizing of IRI is helping the enemy of Iran and Iranians.

Aside from politics

Granted that their primary mission is politically defined However he would have been able to gathereven more support/legitimacy among iranians had he concentrated on some issues that would concern iranians who live in the states and would have had a positive immediate impact on their lives. Would it have killed him to lend NIAC's support to the massive movemnet under way for the Immigration overhaul...

I know .. i know. he already has too much on his plate...

He's a great advocate for Iranian-Americans

Intelligent, reasonable, and original. I really like him. His book was a great read. Congratulations to him on his successes. He has worked tirelessly and it hasn't been easy.

nmirdamadi

Pay closer attention when you read an entry before you comment on it. I said I am a RETIRED professor of that Department (Pol.Sci.) and had been on the Grawmeyer committee. I am not there any longer since my retirement and left Louisville for good. How do you determine whether a person is a "fake"? Personal insults do not make a good arguement do they?   I made my judgement based on my knowledge of the system there.  Furthermore, the committee is not a JURY, it is composed of 3 members of that Department and each year, based on what is offered, they make the selection. Some years, a distinguished person is on the list and is selected but sometimes, like 2009, someone with questionable qualifications is chosen, unfortunately. 

Triat hangs out with the Leveretts

Thats how he improves world order, by hanging out with the most anti iranian people in the world the Leveretts.

 HOpe those dinners and meetings went well, and now you are for sure going to distance yourself from them because it looks bad.

all i want is a free iran and he does not help.

Undoubtedly, NIAC has

Undoubtedly, NIAC has given the Iranian-Americans a voice in Washington that was literally non-existence and that by itself is a great accomplishment. I have watched Mr. Parsi's interviews and find him very informed, articulated and sincere. I respect what he has done for us Iranian-Americans and have supported him all along. In fact as the smear campaign against this organization has got stronger, so has my support and donation to this organization. This support will continue till an alternative to NIAC has been created and proven to be more effective.

Mehrdad

One of the few intelligent critical comments is that of DK

Some people on this thread are just opposed to NIAC and Trita Parsi.  I have been member of NIAC for few years but I share DK's view that NIAC underestimated brutality of IRI.  That said, from June, I have seen so many encouraging signs from NIAC such as asking US government not to rush into negotiations with IRI last summer and some other positions that I liked. 

Vildemose, NM, Khar

Vildemose, NM, Khar,

We are not going to change anyone's mind here, but if interested, take a look at the documents below to see who is attacking NIAC, namely MKO/AIPAC/neo-con axis.

BBC on neo-con attacks on NIAC

And pages 18-22 of the filed document in the courts.

But even if they like his ideas (or rather do not understand it), they object to Trita's face.  How pathatic.

He is not Iranian

and I don't think his name is not Trita Parsi !! (just a guess) - this is how lobbyists are made - especially lobbyists who work with zero concerns about Iran.  Acoording to Parsi!! he left Iran when he was 4 - yeh in those 4 years he developed a great love for Iran and Iranians !!   If he dares he would give us the name of elementary and middle schools he attended in sweden.   I am willing to wager he attended school with a different name - his real name!!

What is funny is he is not yet American either - funny how the President of the national Iranian/American Council is neither Iranian nor American. 

How has Trita Parsi

How has Trita Parsi "improved" the "World Order"?? How can anyone do that by writing only one obscure book??

Video interview with Trita Parsi, winner of the 2010 Grawemeyer Award for Improving World Order

Khar - did you attend a NIAC workshop?

Would love to hear about it. Does Parsi conduct these himself? How is he as a person? I've never met hm, but have heard great things. And how did you get invited to the workshop?

the character assassination campaign becomes more transparent!

The efforts to attack Parsi and and his persona is getting more transparent. A person - Fussygorrila - PRETENDS to be a former professor on the grawemeyer jury, and says he is disgusted. But his email reveals that he is a fake.

The jury of the award remains anonymous, but their characteristics are known - they are the top people in their fields, and some of teh winners have also been on teh jury. And teh jurors NEVER speak publicly about the awardees!

so who are teh other winners among whom jury members possibly can be found? Well, how about Australia's former foreign minister - Gareth Evans? Norway's primeminister Gro Harlem Bruntland? Or Mikhail Gorbatjov?Harvard Professor Samuel Huntington?

Would a former jury member of this prestigious award really say that it "has no impact on the "World"."

Hardly!

Reality is that Trita Parsi is now a name among such prominent people as the former leader of teh Soviet Union, Harvard professors and key thinkers in international relations. They have all had a MAJOR impact on teh world, and the jury felt that Parsi's efforts to prevent war between teh US, Iran and Israel fell in that category.

As an Iranian, that makes me soooooo proud! 

The haters will always be haters - jelous an dmarginalized. And desperate to come across as credile, even when they create fake profiles on Iranian.com. 

Learn more about Grawemeyer here - //www.grawemeyer.org/

fussygorilla: Why do you

fussygorilla: Why do you think he was chosen by the committee to receive this award?

DK: Agreed with your take on

DK: Agreed with your take on Trita, with one exception! I don't find him either handsome or Suave. He looks awkward and geekish. The suit doesn't help either...lol

MM Jaan Were You Trying to say Something ?

Your Comment seems to have been deleted ...

some award!

As a retired professor and member of the Grawmeyer award committee, I am absolutely disgusted with Parsi's selelction. Grawmeyer is a local Louisville, Kentucky award where a small group of faculty in the Political Science Department make the selection and has no impact on the "World".  This same Department has a program sponsored and in the name of one of America's WORST senators, Mitch MacConnel, the rightist, racist, ultraconservative Republican fanatic representing Kentucy. You can read the rest.

DK - this the first!

.

MM What's Wrong with You ? I speak for Myself !

So Cut Your Hypocrisy !

Besides I READ Trita's Book and My Criticisms are Of a Different Nature than a question of Cheshmo Saligheh !

Even a Brilliant Man with Tons of Diplomas can make Mistakes in his assessments no ?

I share Trita's Global View on the Region NOT His Local View on Iran:  He has made some interesting and valid observations on the Region's Geo Political Dynamics and particularly regarding that the feud between Israel and Iran are triggered by conflicting interests.

I've always thought that which explains as a matter of fact why some on this site start Spilling Crocodile Tears for the Palestinian Cause it is Not Without Reason.

Where Trita and I differ is on the Type of Response that should be given to the IRI's attempts as a regional Power as well as his outlook on a Regime which he clearly UNDERESTIMATED it's Cruelty as well as the TRUE Nature of those in Power.

His Critics of Reza Pahlavi Were TOTALLY UNFOUNDED and WRONG !

As Such he was an IRI APOLOGIST at Worst up to Last June but I have NEVER Seriously considered him as an AGENT of the IRI.

UNLIKE Houshang Amir Ahmadi and his Poor English :

//www.youtube.com/watch?v=4m_KubPCEog

Who did not hesitate to meet Ahmadinejad in Person and shake hands with him despite his organizing the Tehran Holocaust Conference.

Other than That, Trita is a Brilliant and Talented Guy and Given his reassessments of his judgments towards the IRI since, I tend to forgive some of his past reasonings and misjudgments.

But it takes more than a Handsom Looking Suave Speaking Person to Convince me to Trust the implications of what he says or supports.

If You expect me to change my Opinion Based on someones Academic Credentials ... Well You Are going to be dissappointed !

Politics is not a Child Game on a Sunny Saturday Afternoon. People Live and Die for It and People's Lives and a Nations Future depends on what those in positions of Power or Influence can do or say.

I don't think Trita Slept Very Well during last Summer ... It must have troubled the Young Man who was only 5 when he left Iran to think that much of his assessments on the Flexibilty of the IRI were overestimated Intellectual Bolony !

That Said I Read and Follow His writings and Interviews with Great Interest and I do see an evolution and constructive shift in Trita and NIAC's Standpoint in recent months.

Who Knows Maybe in a near future RP and Trita may even Find Common Ground and surprise us all !

Anything is Possible with Politicians !

For the Rest :

Che Sera Sera

//www.youtube.com/watch?v=xZbKHDPPrrc&feature=fvst

Tim

During 2009, especially towards the end, the neo-cons and AIPAC wanted chocking sanctions (towards war!) on Iran, while Trita Parsi argued for targeted sanctions on IRI and its agents as well as lifting of certain sanctions such as communications software/equipment and others.

While the congress partially supported both Trita's and AIPAC/neo-con's positions by lifting communications software sanctions & placing gas sanctions, the White House fully agreed with NIAC's position.  After all, now, the neo-cons have changed their position as well and support targeted sanctions, e.g., see recent speeches on Iran by Richard Haass and Michael Ledeen.

The far left and the far right hate him - OK, so be it

DK's crowd too.  Again, so be it.

.

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Trita should look at khatami's experience

Trita says ;

"The rivalry between Iran and Israel is driven more by a quest for regional power rather than by conflicting beliefs, Parsi says. Instead of trying to isolate Iran from the rest of the world, the United States should rehabilitate Iran into the Middle East’s economic and political order in return for Iran making significant changes in its behavior, including ending its hostilities against Israel."

Isn't this what Khatami tried to do with his offer of a grand bargain to the US administration on a variety of issues including the mid east peace process? How did that turned out, Trita?

"His English sucks too!! "?????

Seriously, could the people jelous of Parsi - or who hate him because he his organziation defeated AIPAC in 2008 and helped prevent war - be more childish and pathetic?

I am so embarssed by my community. When we finally have articulate, dignified, super intelligent leaders emerge in our community, they do everything they can to destroy them.

It's as if some in our community wish for nothing more than the failure of the community as a whole. Perhaps they work for another community...

Thank G-d for leaders like Parsi!

blind already!

.

so were are the haters?

It's only a question of time before the jelous haters will start bobarding this page with neo-con inspired lies about Parsi.

But as MM said, cheshme hasoud kor!

Reality is that few Iranian - Americans have achieved as much as Parsi and NIAC,and for that they have earned the support and respect of thousands, and the jelousy and hatred of a few radicals and many no-conservatives.

Trita - not bad for two prestiges awards - $$$ ain't bad either

چشم حسود بور.

Aslan and Parsi are good friends!

Reza Aslan and Trita are good friends and support each other's work. Aslan is also a Board member of NIAC. So i don't think either would like to replace the other - they work together and support each other!

In fact, our community should be so proud that we have both of them!

Thank G-d we have some in our community that are sane, articulate, realistic and pragmatic - and successful! Parsi is an inspiration to us all, as is Aslan!

I say replace him with Reza Aslan

Reza Aslan has entered politics. He is no longer an academian.

Reza, put your glasses back on and head over to DC NOW!