AFSHIN

When Alexander conquered Persia,

he asked Aristotle, his teacher, how he will be able to govern persian people. And Aristotle told him that the best way is to give each one jobs they are not used to do. 

The reason why we iranians are so doomed now is also for the same reason. Our president is in reality an exorcist, our leader is a beggar ... and finally our politic analystes are car sellers who have the same lompenist kind of talk than Basijis! Na bishookhi, intor nist, did you see  Alinejad vs. Daei's debat @ VOA lastly?

Paykar

Apologies for my previous glib response.

Kazemzadeh

has two defaults:

1- He thinks that he's funny !

2- He wants to make us believe that he's a patriot !!

Before the June's election, he was the one here, jumping up and down and labeling others who wanted to vote as Naive, IRI agents, etc. After the election, RayBan Kazemzadeh wept crocodile tears for the noble people of Iran who were killed because they protested for their stolen votes. Now, go figure out!

Although the mission of the

Although the mission of the proposed lobby should be to improve relations between the US and Iran and open up opportunities for trade, the initial targets should be less controversial issues such as visas and racial profiling/discrimination. Since the lobby will be spared from creating a grassroots network of its own, the initial focus on non-controversial issues will only serve to establish credibility within the community, and not massive support (which would necessitate the complete avoidance of issues such as US-Iran relations). 

Dishonest, and deceptive...no matter how you look at it..The lobby could have gained much more credibility if it had stated its "real" goals and mission in an honest and transparent manner. There is no need or shame in watnting to trade and improve business/relation opportnities for trade. I'm certain, many more Iranians would have joined NIAC if they had not resorted to manipulation, deceptive tactics, etc. Why not be honest and risk losing your credibility in such a humiliating way.. So sad...

Dr. MK

Debate is something on which two sides agree on. Debate is also on a specific issue. It is not an interrogation, not randomly, and whenever you feel like it. And who says anyone who comments here wants to debate? I certainly do not. That is why I make a comment and almost all the time I do not come back to that blog. 

I never agreed to be interrogated by you, and I certainly never agreed to debate you. It is a slow Friday afternoon. I have turned in my daily report Iran's press to my website (already posted), I have turned in my piece about AN-Khamenei to my website (will be posted by tonight), and everything on the home front is good and dandy. So, I checked in the IC to see what is going on.

So, what if I were a member of NIAC's so-called response team? What would you be doing about it? The absurdity of your response is absurd by itself. Instead of impulsively responding, an academic like you should be a little more thoughtful, in my opinion. But, then again, you always talk about winning and defeating. So, if that is the goal, I can see where you come from.

Please do not put yourself on the same level as Nelson Mandela. Please do not even put yourself in the same sentence as Mandela. You are no Mandela. I mean no disrepect, but, please.

Oh yeah, everybody is in a conspiracy to prove "the patriots" of this website wrong. Kharmagas is an agent of MOI, but because he wants to fool us, he lies. The whole thing that NIAC has been doing over the past two years is also a conspiracy. TP sat down with his people and said, "We need to fool people, so let's pretend to otherwise and spend our limited resources on completely different things." It seems to me that in your view of the world, people cannot change. Their views are fixed in time. That is again very absurd. If you do not have a good answer, do not respond.

Thank you for calling me khaleh kherseh. Believe me, it is a badge of honor in the context that you have. Naive? Absolutely, because I thought you were a nationalist, but I see that you are anything but.I knew that, but one should always allow the possibility of being wrong. Unfortunately, there is now more evidence for it. So, yes, I was utterly naive; that I agree with.

Mammad

P.S.: I will not come back to read again. You want to praise bivatans and charlatans, be my guest.

Get to Know Sayed Hassan Daioleslam (AKA: Dai)

Perhaps Mr. Sayed Hassan Daioleslam is not as transparant as he claims, including using his real name.  For all I know he is the darling of Iranian Satelite TV's as an 'expert' on Iran as well as most 'neocon' media outlets.   The piece below is worth reading about his activities in U.S. and abroad:

He can serve Iranians better if he goes to Camp Ashraf to join his brother and sister Mojaheds fighting IRI;)

 //www.iranianneocons.com/Hassan_Dai.html

Farsi Version Here:

//www.iranianneocons.com/uploads/Hassan_Dai_artcile_scan.pdf

Thank you Ari

for all your concerns and a mature response. I am sorry to see that you chose to behave in a manner that you actually preach against.  Someday there will be a cure for hypocrisy.

P.S. I wrote this before I saw your last post. Finally a coherent response, although it approaches the problem at hand as if we are dealing with finance or a business. Optimizing vs maximizing has a channce when we  have a modicum of a democratic foundation. I am only addressing the approach towards the regime. Building a bridge to despots has one outcome, you will get pushed off of it.

NIAC is doing a great job for day to day concerns of Iranian- Americans, its supporters have made the point ad nauseum.

Mr. Daei, welcome to real world democracy!

The puritanism with which your comment conceptualizes a democracy is a spiritual system not a political system and it is as distant from a practical model than the initial Islamic no-interest-on-capital banking naivete.

What powers real democracies is the combination of idealism regarding individual freedom and realism regarding larger group interests that are part of the ecology of any society. The obsolete mindset directly or indirectly assigns this latter part to a benevolent entity who assumes and monoplozies the Universal Interest of the entire society.  That way to Khomeinism over and over again! The modern mindset recognizes diversity of interests and power competitions using the entire political ecosystem to optimize the quality of life, individual liberty and dignity. Note the word "optimize;" no claim to "maximize." Optimize means the best that can be done, not the best that can be imagined.

To see the positive effects of this mode of thinking, I quote some of the points made in the memo which you present as evidence against NIAC.

1.Organizatinal life within the Iranian American has tended to be scattered with no national umbrella available to facilitate networking.

Any attempt to remedy this is good for Iranian-Americans, regardless of the interest of the party who worked to bring it about.

2. Iranian Americans have not always been able to tell their story in their own words and on their own terms.

Any attempt to remedy this is good for Iranian-Americans, regardless of the interest of the party who worked to bring it about. 

3. Iranian-Americans have shied away from actively participating in civic life due to the difficult experiences they have had in Iran when attempting to from associations.

Any attempt to remedy this is good for Iranian-Americans, regardless of the interest of the party who worked to bring it about.

Let me summarize by quoting from the memo again:

"[The memo] explains the necessity of promoting a mature [boldface mine] political culture within the Iranian-American community in order for successful grassroots lobbying to be able to take place."

Any attempt to bring this about is good for Iranian-Americans, regardless of the interest of the party who worked to bring it about.

This is the reality of a working democracy: Good management of interconnected interests.

NIAC position in regard to Islamic Republic of Iran

• NIAC opposes broad sanctions that hurt ordinary Iranians.
• NIAC supports targeted measures against human rights violators in Iran’s government.
• NIAC supports removing restrictions on Internet communication tools, humanitarian relief, and human rights and civil society organizations.

For too long,

"US policymakers have focused exclusively on imposing broad-brush sanctions that fail to distinguish between Iran’s government and its people. Iranians have lived under a double burden for decades, suffering not only under the repression of their own government, but also struggling with hardships imposed by US sanctions. Even as Iranians have taken to the streets to bravely stand up to Iran’s rulers and demand their rights, US sanctions continue to deny Iranians critical tools and services to advance free expression, promote human rights and civil society, and connect Iranians to the world community."

NIAC is leading the call for a new US approach to Iran—one that decreases pressure on the Iranian people while simultaneously increasing pressure on Iran’s rulers. NIAC has worked to eliminate US restrictions that block Iranians from communicating via the Internet and prevent US human rights, civil society, and relief organizations from working in Iran. At the same time, NIAC supports precision sanctions focused squarely on human rights abusers who repress the Iranian people. By eliminating restrictions that punish innocent Iranians and tightening sanctions targeting Iran’s government, the United States can stand with the Iranian people."

//www.niacouncil.org/site/PageServer?pagename=Policy_iran_sanctions

Transparency

I have been following the debate and one thing is clear: some of NIAC defenders try to teach us democracy lessons. But to build a true democratic forum, we should be truthful, hence, I quote here Mr. Trita Parsi's letter to Washington lobbyist Roy Coffee (George Bush's close friend and his former assistant in Texas). In this letter, Mr. Parsi explains the true goal of his lobby: "open up the opportunities for business with Iran".

Please read this letter (obtained during the discovery process) and see how he wants to "give a human face to his lobby" and in the first stages "focus on issues like discrimination and visa to acquire credit in the Iranian community"

Here is part of the letter:  (To read the full text, please use this link //www.iranian-americans.com/docs/Part2/TowardstheCreation.pdf

Trita Parsi's letter:

POSITIONING

Although the mission of the proposed lobby should be to improve relations between the US and Iran and open up opportunities for trade, the initial targets should be less controversial issues such as visas and racial profiling/discrimination. Since the lobby will be spared from creating a grassroots network of its own, the initial focus on non-controversial issues will only serve to establish credibility within the community, and not massive support (which would necessitate the complete avoidance of issues such as US-Iran relations). 

Furthermore, it would bea wise strategy to mainly target Iranian-American businessmen for financial support. This group has both a higher propensity to support the lobby’s mission and it is also in a better position to underwrite the expenses of the lobby. Nonetheless, despite its predominantly business oriented constituency, it isessential that the lobby creates a “human face” for its aims and goals. AIPAC successfully painted the opponents of the Iran Libya Sanctions Act as “greedy businessmen who had no scruples when it came to doing business with terroristregimes.” The oil companies failed to characterize their campaign with “human concern for the well-being of innocent Iranians stuck with a dictatorial regime” or “support for the poor mid-Western family father who lost his job due the sanctions.”  The human element is essential both when it comes to attracting support among Iranian-Americans and when it comes to winning the debate and the votes on the Hill. "

Please note that the full letter starts with introduction about the necessity of creating a lobby and.... This beginning part has been entirely taken from a text written in 1999 by Siamak Namazi and Parsi. Namazi was the partner and managing director of Atieh Bahar, a consulting firm for multinationals doing business with Iran)

Why

many Iranian Americans support the National Iranian American Council?

Because NIAC knows what the needs of Iranian Americans are and it acts politically to fulfil them:

"The California Democratic Party voted overwhelmingly to build bridges between the American and Iranian peoples and to express its support for the nonviolent human rights and democracy movement in Iran at its annual convention in Sacramento this weekend." 

"The resolution calls for deepening connections between the American and Iranian people by increasing opportunities for Iranian students and addressing the Single-Entry Visa Policy, which prevents Iranian students from being able to leave the U.S. for the duration of their studies without losing their visas;

easing restrictions that prevent American non-governmental organizations from providing humanitarian relief to the Iranian people;

and by ensuring that the Iranian people have access to internet communication tool."

//www.niacouncil.org/site/News2pageNewsArticle&id=7330&security=1&news_iv_ctrl=-1

These positions reflect many of NIAC’s top policy priorities.

Again I ask the hatemongers and warmongers: What have you done for Iranian Americans to make their lives a little easier?

Paykar

You are forgiven.

Still compassionately concerned about the prevalence of the Daie syndrome among our population! Maybe a vaccine will come out some day.

Mammad

Mammad,

This is a forum for DEBATE. In debates, each debater asks other debater QUESTIONS. Once you enter this public space and make comments using my name, then I have the right to publically ask you QUESTIONS. The asking of questions is the essence of debate. Therefore, your view is wrong. It is totally appropriate in a debate to ask questions.

Good to know that you are not a member of the NIAC internet response team. :-)

In my judgment khar magas is an actual agent of the terrorist regime’s Ministry of Intelligence. In my opinion, he was lying to hide his identity that he is Jewish. He lied in order to fool people. Actually he said that he is a nationalist. Again, he lied. Khar magas is a fundamentalist and in my judgment an actual agent of the Ministry of Intelligence (MOI). To expect that an agent of the MOI would come here and state that he is the agent would defeat his purpose. NIAC is not publishing the names of its Internet Response Team, and you expect MOI to publish the names of its agent on this site????!!!!!!!! Khar magas would be effective only if he lied and pretended that he is Jewish or nationalist. The job of the opposition is to expose such agents.

On sanctions. You are 100% wrong. Nelson Mandela supported sanctions on the racist apartheid regime. I fully advocate the same policy towards the fascist terrorist regime that ANC-Mandela advocated against the apartheid regime.

If the terrorist regime is developing nuclear weapons, then there will be war. I do not think that the U.S. or Israel will accept the terrorist regime having nuclear bombs. The war will be either before the terrorist regime has completed its nukes or after. The only way (and the best way) to prevent war is for the Iranian people, ourselves, to overthrow the terrorist regime before war. In my opinion, sanctions is the best policy to weaken the terrorist regime, thus empowering and enabling the Iranian people, ourselves, to overthrow the terrorists.

If my analysis is correct, YOUR policies will lead to war. And MY policies will prevent war.

You wrote: "I do not believe even for a moment that you actually practice what you preach about supporting something when it is good, and criticizing it when it is bad. If you practiced it, you would change and moderate your view of NIAC, but you have not. This organization has done a lot of good things, as a commentator listed here, yet you show every symptom of vengence and hatred toward this organization. In particular, since the 2009 election, NIAC has completely readjusted its view of Iran, and has taken a lot of very good actions. Yet, you keep beating the same old."

The following is my OPINION. My opinion may be right or wrong, but it is my opinion. In my opinion, the "good" stuff NIAC does is to fool the naive people. In my OPINION, the primary goal of NIAC is to help the fundamentalist regime. Many criticized NIAC as being IRI lobby; in my OPINION, NIAC uses human rights issues to undermine their image as a lobby for the regime. This is my OPINION. That is why I do not trust NIAC.

There is also the possibility that NIAC was created to get rid of the sanctions, so that those involved could make deals and make millions of dollars. If this explanation is true then the "good" stuff is to fool the naive people, so that the leadership could make money after they remove the sanctions.

There is another explanation that NIAC was close to Rafsanjani. So the change of policies after June 2009 election is due to the hard-liners actions against Rafsanjani. I have no idea whether or not this explanation is accurate. I like to see evidence and argument on this. If this is your opinion, please elaborate. I would be interested on reading more on this.

It is naive to think that the terrorist regime does not have agent on this site. YOU yourself wrote "Regardless of what one thinks of NIAC, what do you expect NIAC do, when it is attacked? Just be sitting duck and take the attacks? Criticize NIAC as much as you want for its past. But, it is ridiculous to attack it because it has created a response team."

If it makes sense according to YOUR logic that NIAC should have secretly created a response team, why in the world the exact same logic would not apply to the fundamentalist regime to have created its secret response team. And who in IRI would be responsible for the creation of the IRI’s Internet Response Team?????? The Ministry of Intelligence, and the IRGC Cyber Army. Then, the logical question for the opposition activists is which posters on Iranian.com are the members of the IRI’s Internet Response Team (i.e., Ministry of Intelligence agents)?

By exposing such agents, those of us who have long experience against the terrorist regime have a responsibility to help the younger readers so that the Ministry of Intelligence would not be able to fool the naive people and use them as useful idiots.

I do not share your opinion that Mr. Dai is a charlatan. My opinion may be right or may be wrong. What I do see is the documents that he has exposed. And I thank him for exposing these documents.

I do not think that you are a charlatan. I think you are naive person. In my opinion, you are like khaleh kherseh who means well, but does harm inadvertently. By khaleh kherseh I am referring to the story of khaleh kherseh wanting to kill the fly by throwing a boulder on the head of his friend, which actually killed khaleh kherseh’s friend. You are a good person, but due to your naivete, you actually harm the Iranian people. This is my opinion of you. My opinion might be right or wrong.

I hope this is helpful.

MK  

Well Ari

Writing a treatise on cooperation and eradication of smallpox and other afflictions that plague Iranians has its own place, however the issue at hand is
whether or not it's kosher for an NGO to engage with the Islamic Republic of Rape and Torture. Spare us from your sanctimonious  sermons about building a community or developing a liberal democratic mindset.

Evidently the most prolific members here have no problem supporting "constructive" engagement with I.R., please forgive us for our primitive attachment to principals of dignity, full disclosure, and opposition to an anti human regime.

Massoud Jaan:

Thanks again. All is well.

Best wishes.

Amir

For those who defending

For those who defending NIAC with or without knowing anything about their policy and their agenda, for some ,might you read their policies and agendas in their websites and satisfy yourself and yes they are legally organized group as a lobbyist for those who support them and they are making millions of dollar every year and really they don’t give a hoop what you or I or any other Iranian think about them. For sure they are not in this business for your and my interest! Otherwise why they would lobby VOA or BBC to boycott the oppositions of IRI?  Why they would lobby American congress or the senate to build the relationship with IRI? And why they would go against sanction of IRI officials?

NIAC or any group like it, whether they are acting under name of Iran or American Iranian, for sure they are in business of making money and they are politician and end of the day they are made business transaction for their best interest and not in our interest, so those who still thinking politician could be honest think again, this doggy dog world and there is no mercy for the weak and ordinary and the poor people.

Regarding accusation about JJ (JAHANSHAH JAVID) I really don’t care, because this is the website that I could come in here and give whatever charandiat I could and no one is stopping me. So in my opinion IRANIAN.COM is free for anyone to make their point and sometimes praised by people or sometimes bullied and run over them like a train. Here is my chrandiat.  

As far as Mr. Daie goes I like him and he is true Iranian and he is with Iranian people and Idon't care what is he republic or monarch or comunist or mojahad or what ever, he is in our side and that is democracy and freedom and he is after the fact and whether he is right all the time or not, I will leave for your judgment. but he is not the person will suger code the wording and he is clear that he is with Iranian people. 

Vildemose jan, that is so not true

that the person writing it just lowers opinion of himself in eyes of others.

VPK: merci vpk e aziz.

VPK: merci vpk e aziz. khaili sepasgozaram. Ta hala ham esmi roye man gozashteh shodeh bood, be ghayr a terroist..lol Thank again for coming to my defense. I'm grateful.

Thank you Rostam, Amir, Roozbeh, and Vildemose

Rostam jaan,

Thank you.

Best,

Masoud

===================

Amir jaan,

Thank you my friend. I hope all is well.

Best regards,

Masoud

===========================　

Roozbeh jaan,

Thank you for your contributions to the discussion in this site.

Best,

Masoud

===============================

Dear Vildemose,

Thanks for your comments.

Best,

Masoud

More responses

Of course we may criticize whomever we want however I see some really silly accusations.

• Vildemose a terrorist? Is this some kind of a joke!! Let us drop silliness and get to facts. Terrorists blow things up and murder people. Just disagreeing with others does not make one a terrorist person.
• JJ has done nothing wrong here. When someone makes such a ridiculous accusation they just discredit themselves. That makes anything else they say also suspect.
• I do not normally agree with Mola Shotor. But his points regarding NIAC are right. Facts are there and speak for themselves. Is there anyone who will show me these are not right!

VPK

Dr. MK

First of all, I am not a member of anything (aside from scientific organizations), including the so-called NIAC response team, or the NIAC itself. But, if I were, I would proudly announce it.

Secondly, while I do not have to respond to your questions, and have no obligation to, I do not know why you think you can put yourself in a position that allows you to interrogate people. "Are you a member of this?" "Do you support this?"..... It is totally inappropriate, in my view.

Third, I am 57 and wrote my first political article at 15 in 1969 when I was a "columnist" for "rooznameh divari" of my school. I wrote it in praise of Che, for which I was beaten up badly by the principal, and was almost kicked out, if it were not for my wonderful late mother. I published my first English political article in the U.S. in 1979, 32 years ago. I do not know about you, but these do not give me any special sense as to whom is a member of MOI or anything else. You have only read what Kharmagas has said here. He is Jewish and from Esfahan, not even Muslim, and you claim that he is an agent of MOI! He is a leftist, and I have the highest respect for his sharp, concise, and to the point points.

You want war and destruction on Iran, in the name of toppling the regime. Sanctions that you advocate represent an economic war that, as Iraq's example showed, kill many more than a physical war. Sanctions are also used as an excuse to start the physical wars as many examples around the world showed. Advocating sanctions against Iran is not, in my opinion, the mark of a true nationalist.

While I am oposed to the regime, I am also opposed to what you want. The way you prescribe things here will lead to Iran's disintegration. That is not what a supposed nationalist like you should want, in my opinion. You consider yourself a follower of Dr. Mosaddegh and a member of National Front, but your "radicalism" has had no fruit whatsoever over the past 30 years, absolutely nothing.

In short, I am not willing to make a pact with Satan in order to get rid of another Satan, lesser or larger, as some in this site seem to. I will never thank a charlatan. I will never thank someone whose whole agenda is advocating war and destruction, even if he/she does that I agree with, because just as important as writing or saying something is the motivation for doing so.

I do not believe even for a moment that you actually practice what you preach about supporting something when it is good, and criticizing it when it is bad. If you practiced it, you would change and moderate your view of NIAC, but you have not. This organization has done a lot of good things, as a commentator listed here, yet you show every symptom of vengence and hatred toward this organization. In particular, since the 2009 election, NIAC has completely readjusted its view of Iran, and has taken a lot of very good actions. Yet, you keep beating the same old.

You say that, if such and such is good, why don't they announce it. Why should they? Who says NIAC is obligated to do so? There are thousands of organizations in this country about which we know practically nothing, yet they influence our lives every day, directly or indirectly. All the think tanks, all the foundations,..... They are the ones that advocate war, sanctions, increasing the defense budget, cutting the budget to the poor, cutting medicare, cutting health care, opposing abortion, opposing gay rights, ... They affect our daily lives in this country far more than NIAC ever could, yet in the pursuit of your hatred-filled agenda against NIAC, you say the same thing again and again, oblivious to all the facts.

A review of all of your post, or even a fraction of it, here on this site indicates that, in most if not all cases, anyone whom you do not like or disagree with, you label as an IRI agent, or if you are really "kind," you label them as misinformed, uninformed, etc. Say what you want - you are free to do so - but you should not, in my opinion, give yourself such "sweeping powers." What is the difference between you who constantly makes such accusations and an ardent Hezbollahi who also constantly makes the same type of accusations against his/her opponents?

Finally, my support of NIAC is NOT 100%, as you claim. I am the true practitioner of what you claim to be doing, namely, I only support those actions of NIAC that I consider to be in Iran's and Iranians' national interests. I do not have a brotherhood pact - aghd-e okhovvat - with anyone. I am a nationalist-religious Iranian, and proudly so.

Mammad

...

Who can Iranian Americans call

when they need help?

They can call some one like NIAC's Azadeh Shahshahani.

"Fighting anti-immigrant  laws, discrimination, and racial profiling in the United States is not an easy task.  Anti-immigrant prejudice coupled with constant discrimination facing our community due to events unfolding in the Middle East, does not provide an easy playing field for immigrants’ rights and civil rights lawyers in the United States. However, there is one person that continues to vigorously fight for Iranian-American civil rights and the civil rights of Muslim-American, Arab-American, and Latino communities"

//www.niacouncil.org/site/News2pageNewsArticle&id=7327&security=1&news_iv_ctrl=-1

I hate people who are against the War

  and go out of their way to make the war the fault of America's.Like we should have sat and waited to get attacked more.I hate them,they are my enemy,they are just the same as the terrorists who attack us,the ones who wish we wouldnt fight our attackers. They lie,they know nothing what is current,they only know the bad news,they have agendas-same as the terrorists.Ther journalists sat in hotels in Iraq and reported b.s. for years without going outside,they own networks,they own newspapers,they brainwash the world.I hate them.Echoing them and you will find my hate as well.I know from the ground how it is,when you give facts from people on the ground,these ignorants will tell you- Propaganda and then state some 6 year old propaganda themselves.I hate ignorance.I hate cowards.I hate terrorists.They can get out of my country or feel my heat and know what will happen to them when the day comes and it all goes down in this country,they will be the first to go.

I hate Liars who blame the problems of Iran on America.

I hate Anti-Americans,this is the greatest country in the world and has done more for freedom and peace than anyone,where is their respect? I hate them.

Yes, we need to learn to cooperate with each other

Dear Afsaneh,

Your point is valid that we Iranians need to learn to work together.  But having secret friendly relations with the regime high officals is not one of them.  These are separate issues.  We need to get rid of the terrorist regime.  It is wrong to collaborate with the terrorist regime.  It is wrong to have secret friendly relations with the high level officials of the terrorist regime.  It is wrong to help the terrorist regime.  These are my opinions.

And yes, we need to cooperate with each other in building our society, and learn to respect our diversity.

Best regards,

Masoud

HFB, well observed!

I support NIAC precisely for the reasons that causes Iranians with obsolete mindsets to suspect it: connection building, realistic politicking, active civic engagement, membership rallying, issue position development... As you put it, "Didn't 30 years of living in the West teach us anything?" These are requirements for a modern democratic organizaztion.  If NIAC didn't have contacts with Iranians of all sorts inside Iran and American organizations of all sorts here in the US, or even contacts with any variety of global organizations, I would say it better find some--and quickly!

Iran's traditional ghahr, sanad saazi, and  tohmat zani cycle of political engagement have led us further and further from our hopes for our nation. And it saddens me to see some of our otherwise intelligent scholars, artists, and community leaders still trapped by this destructive addiction to Mr. Daie's style of discourse. We should have eliminated such primitive practices along with smallpox, trachoma and kachali that used to plague our population until modern times.

This is not to chastize the person of Mr. Daie, but to point out a deeper problem: it is alarming that such a primitive political mindset still finds an audience. The fact that Mr. Daie has been able to create a busy market for suspicions and slander against NIAC indicates Iranians' continuing fear of democracy.   Call it democraphobia... or to give Mr Daie some credit for his contribution to identifying the disorder, call it the Daie syndrome.

Soccer and Chelo Kabob

Masoud: Thanks for your note. I was just posting to Fred, too - that it is a legitimate opinion out there - that Iranians can't come together over anything. It's the single biggest flaw I hear Iranians talk among each other about.

I just tried to introduce this new tangent - as a community, are we capable of  talking to those we disagree with?  I don't mean a government - I mean say, a monarchist, an islamist and a communist - can they sit down and have tea? They do in America. 

Otherwise, I'll leave it to the rest of the much better equipped politicos on this site to discuss the details of your post. My apologies if I can't give your question a more detailed response - this isn't even my Blog, and I don't want to further fill out AfshinAzad's space. Only coming together over Soccer and Chelo Kabob - How can we change that?

Afsaneh

This Just In: The Latest Developments in the JJ- NIAC File

//iranian.com/main/blog/faramarz/iranian-...

Dear Ms. Afsaneh

Dear Ms. Afsaneh, What do you think the New York Times would write if someone was able to get a document in which Ms. Clinton had sent an e-mail to David Duke, the former KKK leader in which she wrote to David Duke

==================

Dear Dr. Duke, It was a great pleasure seeing you in Holland for the meeting. I very much enjoyed our conversation and I look forward to remaining in touch. Hillary Clinton

Or the NYT published e-mail that one of the Republican presidential candidates had sent to former KKK leader David Duke and wrote him:

Dear Dr. Duke,

It was a great pleasure seeing you in Germany for the meeting. I very much enjoyed our conversation and I look forward to remaining in touch. Newt Gingrich

1. In YOUR opinion, would Americans say it is perfectly fine for Clinton and Gingrich to have secret friendly relations with KKK high level leaders???????

2. Will YOU have secret friendly relations with the KKK high level leaders?

3. Will YOU have secret friendly relations with the high level officials of the fundamentalist terrorist regime???????

4. Will you criticize the New York Times or me if we condemned Clinton and Gingrich for having secret friendly relations with the KKK?????

5. Has the KKK killed more people or has the fundamentalist regime killed more Iranians? Has the KKK raped more people or has the fundamentalist regime raped more Iranian political prisoners?

6. Shoud moral people support or condemn those who help the KKK or the fundamentalist regime?

7. Do you know in actual fact, what did George Washington and the American revolutionaries think of Benedict Arnold? Do you know that if Washington was able to capture Benedict Arnold, that Arnold would have been executed for his secret friendly relations with the British? I look forward to reading your honest responses. Best regards,Masoud

Escape: I have been labeled

Escape: I have been labeled a zionist, a jew, a neocon because I consider Hamas, Hezbollah, and IRI, and IRGC as terrorists. Now, you are calling me a terrorist and I don't give a flying foo foo if in your rage against Iranian, you call me a terroist. You are not even worth talking too. my bad for taking you seriously...You need to take some anger mangement coursed to calm yourself down. Why do you hate Iranians?? why do you hate Muslims? Why do you think all Iranians are like the Islamists terrorist IRI?? Why do you clump us all together?? What is your real agenda??

Afsaneh

I sincerely apologize if I came across as trying to “trap” you. That has not been my aim.

I understand and agree with the hazards of the black & white way of thinking which you point out; however, I also understand the hazards of being over zealous in prescribing the idea of there is a gray area in everything in life.

My point is what the regime does to Iranian men, women and children is point blank inexcusable and as such, NIAC lobbyist having friendly relationship with the representatives of this regime can not be defended.

Take care.

Chelo Kabob

Escape: I'm sorry people labelled you. 

Fred: You trapped me, and my bad for getting sucked in! It all started with me saying that Hilary Clinton is capable of speaking to her adversaries - and how shameful it is that Iranian can't do that. That we need to learn from that. You won with trapping me into a ridiculous paradigm. I'm happy to admit defeat.

I still maintain the massive need in the community to not think so Black + White the whole  "With us or Against us" - and allow for nuance. It's almost the silent disease in our community. The only thing we can come together over is going out to eat chelo kabob. You can't build a country that way.

Afsaneh