Current Events

Well said JJ

One of the main contributory factors to failure of democratic periods in Iran was not "Johnny Foreigner" but politics through innuendo and defamation. It is the Iranian way without a question.   

Mr. Fozolie

The most comprehensive interview that I have seen with Mr.

Trita Parsi on IC. Thanks to Ms AAsemi the interviewer and Ghormeh Sabzi for posting it here.

I believe anybody who wants to know about what NIAC is all about must watch this interview in its entirety. Mr Trita Parsi proves  once again to be an interesting person to watch. He is at ease when she asks her highly charged questions, he is at ease with her as well as with himself.

We Iranian Americans are lucky to have someone like him around, someone who started as an intern observing the political games being played inside the centers of power in Washington.

We Iranian Americans are lucky to have, among other Iranian American organizations,  The National Iranian American Council (NIAC). And I claim this as someone who's been aware and following the activities of NIAC for the last 10 or so years.

You should be living in the United States to understand what Mr Parsi is talking about. If you live in Canada, U.K, or Paris you probably would not understand the depth of arguments he's making here.

Those who attack Mr Parsi on IC have a track record on this website. A quick read of their writings will reveal to the reader they are all words and no actions. Reading their ideas and diaries here shows a lack of a real social activism. In another words you find nothing of value for the improvement of Iranian living conditions. They are about words, claims and manifestations but when it comes to action they have offered us nothing.

I'm just saying.

Iraj

I dont understand why people bash such a great guy

If you exclude all the none sense rumors which are made by our very own melate "jahel"  you begin to see Trita's vision.
he is a great social critiq, a capable community activist and mind you a credible opponent of the regime. unfortunately he is born an iranian, and we tend to kill bright people, because they are better than us.

In hope of a Free, Democratic, Independent and Secular Iran

What I learnt from listening to him with half of my attention!

1. The concept of accidental war. I guess this is like the accidental shooting of the Iran Air Airbus airplane over the Persian Gulf in the late 1980s!
2. That the Mojaheddin use lots of noise to drown out the voice of other opposition groups and also use strong-arm tactics to scare them off.
3. Trita Parsi should improve his Persian language drastically if he wants to reach the audience inside Iran as well. I think someone with his intelligence calibre should be easily able to accomplish that.
4. Through his talk about the Libyan situation and other examples one comes to the conclusion that there is no logic to politics. Logic is just another tool in politics. It appeals to certain "antellectuals".
   
5. And this is for Jahanshah: The reason that conspiracy theories are so prevalent amongst Iranians and embedded in their minds is that they are a smart but impotent people. They are impatient and incapable of long-term planning.This is just a kind of defense mechanism to blame others instead of researching and understanding the root causes of one's collective misery and how that affects each and every one of us. We have too many Dr. Holakouiee's but no one to tell us why we have them in the first place.The reason is that we have not had any bright kings in the first place. We have not had dynastic continuity in order to pass on that critical proprietary secret top-knowledge.

Just my two cents!

Ostad Faramarz

There are exceptions to every rule. You and the likes of you don't follow the Iranian way. But I, obviously, do :)

J. Javid: "I'm a cyber army terrorist for NIAC."

بر منکرش لعنت!

JJ

Which blog are you reading? Not this one

I went through all the comments here and only Fred posed some questions regarding Trita's financial affairs. The rest of the comments are valid assessments and opinions. Should we not do that and just say

صحیح است احسنت!

!You of all people

conspiracy theories

Oon yaroo, I don't just defend anybody for any reason. I defend Trita Parsi because he pays me from the tuns of cash he gets from the IRI and the CIA. I'm a cyber army terrorist for NIAC.

***

agha jan, conspiracy theories are embedded in the Iranian mind. It works in all cases, whether we are attacking Reza Pahlavi, Khomeini, Googoosh, or our co-worker. Read:
//iranian.com/May96/Opinion/Conspiracy.ht...

Agha JJ, have you ever come to the defense of Reza Pahlavi when

they accuse him of similar baseless connections (e.g., CIA, AIPAC, Israeli Stooge!?)

PS - I am not necessarily a supporter of RP. I am just for consistency!

Shohreh jan: Please read

Shohreh jan: Please read the article below and the comment made by Parthian:

After reading the article pleas read the response made by Parthian in the comment section. Old one but very inisghtful.

"We can have democracy in this country, or we can have great wealth concentrated in the hands of a few, but we can't have both." - Louis D. Brandeis

The Iranian Way

I get it. Some of you don't like Trita Parsi. But the accusations thrown at him are so ridiculous that it makes me wonder whether there's actually any rational thought behind them.

It's one thing to say you don't like Parsi because of this or that statement, or this or that article, or this or that position by NIAC. Those are fair and reasonable.

But trying to paint him as an agent/lobbyist for the Islamic Republic or a CIA mercenary AND a British spy or an Israeli stooge or an alien infiltrator trying to destroy humanity is just typical Iranian conspiracy talk.

The point is, he may indeed be one or all of the above. But we don't need proof to believe any of them. To us, proof is not what's in front of us. It's what's behind the curtain, poshteh pardeh. We are already blessed with x-ray vision. We KNOW what goes on behind closed doors. We are sure and positive what Parsi is REALLY thinking and doing.

Why waste our time by saying Parsi's obsessed with American interventionism and too shy to criticize the Islamic Republic? That's not enough. That's stupid! We have to throw some real dirt. We have to reduce those we don't like to liars, cheats, spies, mercenaries, Islamists, Bahais, Zionists...

That's the Iranian way.

Faramarz: Spot on.I also

Faramarz: Spot on.

I also noticed something else. He view Iran and Iranian through a "western" lenz since he did not really grow up in Iran and has not internalized a typical socializaion in that society.  He does not really know Iran or Iranians. That explains all his actions to me now.

He is definitely not a lobbyist or an IR agent. He is not too bright or self-aware.

"We can have democracy in this country, or we can have great wealth concentrated in the hands of a few, but we can't have both." - Louis D. Brandeis

I did listen to about half

I did listen to about half of the interview, and these are my conclusions.

1.  I really think that Tahreem of Iranian oil is an effective tool and that is why Parssi is agianst it.  Remember that the strike in Iranian oil indistry was instrumental in bringing the former Estebdad down.

2.  He says that we do not understand the process, and if a new secular and democratic government comes to power in Iran, Tahreem will not be lifted.  He is very wrong on this.  In Lybia the Tahreems have been lifted or they are in the process of being lifted so that the new government can succeed.

3.  Tahreem will weaken the regime in a sense, it has to keep the ordinary people stisfied (something that the regime is incapable of doing it) plus the oppsition to the stupidity of the regime will grow against the regime even among the suppoerters of the regime.  The Tahreem is a powerful tool and that is why Mr. Parssi is so NEGARAN.

4.  His comparison of Iran to Iraq is also another fallacy that should be dismissed.  Iranian and Iraqi societies are totally different socially and politically.  Nature of Estebdads at one hand and the oppostions on the other hand in Iran and Iraq are different.  Furthermore if US has given more time to Tahreem against Saddam, then the world could have seen the fruits of the Tahreem, but unfortunately, Bush adminstration had other plans.

An Insight into Trita

A reasonable interview by Ms. Asemi although she did not follow up on some of the critical questions and let Trita frame his answers by the way he sees the world.

In my opinion, Trita’s views are formed by what he had experienced in the 2001-2005 timeframe when two unfortunate events took place; one was Khatami’s presidency that created the illusion that the Regime has a gentle face and is reformable and thereby gave the Regime an extra 8 years to solidify its hold over Iran.

The other event was the poor execution of the war in Iraq by Bush and Cheney that while it benefited the Regime by removing Saddam and replacing it with the Shia folks, it has created a notion and attitude that strong action shall be avoided at all cost, notwithstanding the fact that the lack of strong action means preserving the status quo which translates to the ongoing detention, torture and killing of the Iranians by the Regime and acts of terror elsewhere.

Trita says a lot of things as if he wants to make sure that all the bases are covered, but his core belief is the avoidance of strong action against the Regime, and as a result he advocates dialogue with a Regime that at its core rejects the West and the western values like democracy, freedom of speech and religion and the women rights. His explanation of the rejection of the hot line between US and the Regime gives it all away. He states that the rejection by the Sepah is just public posturing and not official policy. That’s totally absurd. The head of Sepah basically said that the problem is America’s presence in the Persian Gulf and once the US leaves, there won’t be a need for a red phone.

Trita should update his beliefs by learning from the two important events that has taken place since 2008. First is the overtures by Obama towards Khamenei and Regime that were rejected, and the second one is the Iranian protests of 2009 and the way the Regime dealt with them. Those two events show that the Regime change is the right policy and strong actions, including the oil cutoff and the military challenge of the Regime should be on the table.

 Shohreh Jan, You failed

 Shohreh Jan, You failed to mention IRI's reluctance for any compromise or negotiation and the rationales behind it. You did not do your homework well. Very disappointing.

"We can have democracy in this country, or we can have great wealth concentrated in the hands of a few, but we can't have both." - Louis D. Brandeis

My name is Parsi. Trita Parsi.

He did not sound like an IRI agent, but he sure admits talking or interviewing the IRI officials. 

Also, attention conspirator theorists: He talks with the American agencies of all types as well as taking trips to Israel and talking to the Israeli officials.  Any new labels, as in 00TP perhaps?

I hope you watch the video before start labeling.....

I dare say...

I didn't watch the whole video ( the interviewer too friendly, yet nervous at times ) and don't know if the subject of NIAC's financial transparency and democratic structure ( internal voting system ), or lack thereof, ever came up.

We all know dear Fred and where he stands;I don't share his accusatory tone, but I find his point on the financial transparency totally valid which seems applicable to all, including MKO (MEK, whatever).

Missed opportunity ...

Missed opportunity ...

Too Bad Mrs. Asemi everyone including your humble commentator knows and appreciates the quality of your in depth interviews which I watch regularly ...

But here you were clearly not prepared ... 

Better Luck Next Time ... 

CIA or IRI, which one is it then?

Yesterday NIAC was IRIs agents and on their payrol, today they are CIA's. What will they e tomorrow I guess? KGB or Mosad or Al qaeda?

پول دولت خارجی

رئیس مادام العمر لابی نایک باید برای ادعاهای خود مدارک و سند ارائه کند. اینکه مقام منتخب آمریکایی به او این و آنرا گفته و نام آن مقام را نمیتواند اعلام کند بدرد نمیخورد.

 طبق مقاله روزنامه کثیرالانتشار در واشنگتن؛ رئیس مادام العمر لابی نایک به سازمان جاسوسی سیا رفت و آمد داشته و طبق ادعای علنی دیگری؛ او از سازمان جاسوسی سیا حق الزحمه دریافت کرده که این دریافتی در اظهار نامه مالیاتی او است.

چرا رئیس مادام العمر لابی نایک اظهار نامه  مالیاتی خود را منتشر نمیکند ؟

چرا رئیس مادام العمر لابی نایک از دولت خارجی پول میگیرد ولی همان کار را بر دیگران منع میکند؟