Question I asked at the Frontline Club in Jan 2014

Question I asked at the Frontline Club a year ago, on how the new oil exploration technology will change the supply and demand of oil and how it will effect Iran's economy:

The Cartoon that Resembled Ayatollah Khomeini

In 1990, a young 19 year old Iranian cartoonist by the name of Hasan Karimzadeh drew this cartoon which was published in a magazine called Farad.

The young cartoonist had intended to make a statement about the budget cuts in football and Iran's football players being at a disadvantage compared to their competitors. Instead his cartoon sparked the wrath of Islamic fanatics who thought the cartoon resembled Ayatollah Khomeini and the mob demanded the 19 year old to be executed.

Karimzadeh was eventually sentenced to 10 years imprisonment, as well as 50 whip lashes and a financial fine. The magazine officials also received prison sentences, whip lashes and financial fines and the magazine was closed down.

And this saga of cartoons offending some people continues ...

"Islam Does Not Allow Killing"

There seems to be no end to the naivety of some simpletons in the West. Listening to the LBC radio talk show after the cold blooded terrorist attack on the Charlie Hebdo headquarters in Paris, I was dismayed to learn the penny has still not dropped for so many people here in UK.

One listener, who described herself as a homosexual teacher of religious studies at a school in London was more concerned about the imminent Islamophobic backlash on her "Muslim brothers and sisters" than the danger the Western civilisation faces right now from radical Islam. 

Another non-Muslim listener phoned and pretended she understood Islam better than the terrorists who carried out the attack, by saying "Islam does not allow the killing of another human being".

Honestly I know these people wish well but they really have not got a clue. They have not got a clue about Islam and they have not got a clue about where the real danger lies and they have not got a clue how to tackle this serious threat to the Western way of life that so many people have benefited from living under, since the second world war.

There is no Islamophobia in the UK. If there was, then there wouldn't be so many Muslims wanting to come to UK and instead we would be witnessing Muslims leaving UK in large numbers. British Muslims enjoy equal opportunity policies like others and are in all key employments, just take a look at who works in the Home Office and the many Muslim case workers in the Home Office who decide the fate of asylum seekers coming to this country.

Does the non-Muslim Westerner, who thinks she knows Islam better than these Muslim radicals and claims Islam does not allow the killing of another human being, really think any potential Muslim radical will be impressed by their ignorant assertions?

The fact is that Islam does allow killing and even encourages killing of infidels. A potential radical Muslim studying Islam in state authorised religious schools and madrassas up and down England will learn that up to 900 men of the Banu-Qurayza tribe were beheaded in one day and their women and children were sold as slaves by the direct orders of the prophet of Islam.  

The potential Muslim radical will also learn about the dissident poetess Asma Bint-Marwan, who was put to death by the direct orders of Mohammad for her poems which mocked the prophet and his followers.

Does the non-Muslim Westerner who knows nothing about the religion of Islam and its history really think he or she can impress the potential Muslim radicals more than what they will learn from reading the Islamic scriptures and from listening to the Imams preaching from mosques and madrassas throughout England?

It really is time to wake up for those who want to remain in a state of denial. The Western way of life is under real threat and the way to combat this threat is not to delude yourself by thinking Islam is a religion of peace and that Islam does not allow the killing of other human beings. You will impress no one by making such apologetic statements. 

The Missing $4.1 Bn from the National Development Fund

Rouhani's cabinet members at first flatly and explicitly denied the recent accusations by Iran's Majlis over the illegal withdrawal of $4.1 Bn from the National Development Fund. The row between the two bodies got so heated up that each side threatened the other with legal action.

What further added to the confusion and unclarity of the situation was the different and at times, conflicting statements by two of Iran's supervisory bodies, the Audit Institution  and the General Inspection Organisation.

The threats of legal action however, now seem to have subsided to reach a compromise instead, with the government no longer denying the withdrawal, as it did so explicitly to begin with, but claiming that the withdrawal from the fund did take place although it was not illegal. 

The government spokespersons now use words like"secret" and "special" to justify the legalities of the withdrawal without giving more specific details.

It is clear for Iran observers however that the government finances, after the falling price of oil, are in deep trouble. The entire budget of Rouhani's administration was based on two assumptions that sanctions will be lifted and the oil price will remain above $100 per barrel.

This "secret" and "special" withdrawal from the National Development Fund to make ends meet follows other recent unprecedented measures by the government to bring in much needed cash, such as the %30 rise in price of bread, conscripts being able to buy their National Service and IRGC affiliated companies including the holdings and foundations under the Supreme Leader's control having to pay taxes.

For more than three decades, the Islamic Republic's closed and uncompetitive economy has managed to survive on the huge windfalls of petro-Dollars, now it seems finally the good old days are over and unless some drastic changes take place, Iran's rule of theocracy  will face a similar collapse to that of the Soviet Union.

Iran Police Shoots Himself in the Foot

It was supposed to be a show of prowess in shooting skills by Iran's anti-terrorist special forces [NOPO]. To begin with, everything was going well. The balloons were going up and between the three of them, they were managing to shoot down the balloons with precision shooting and ease. 

Just when it was all about to finish well and the special forces were about to leave the crowds dazzled and overawed however, one of the special forces policemen, shoots himself in the foot!

In a way, very  symbolic of the Islamic Republic itself. On the surface it looks strong and invincible but given time, it will soon manage to shoot itself in the foot!

Still, the good thing is, no one in the crowd got hurt. Safety of the innocent bystanders not usually the top concern for the regime.

Link to the original video :

https://www.facebook.com/video.php?v=1005167926166563&pnref=story

For they will open the doors of deceit and hypocrisy instead

The compulsory fake cries of Rouhani's cabinet members as he recites a eulogy for Ashura.

"Lord, do not admire them for closing down the wine taverns/ For they will open the doors of deceit and hypocrisy instead"

#EUIranForum - Islamic Republic Needs More PR!

I was following via twitter, the Europe-Iran Forum that was held in Grosvenor Square Hotel in London, over the last couple of days.

Although the claim was that the Forum intended to gain "practical insight from experts" and get "most relevant, up-to-date information from Iran and Europe", the tweets suggested most speakers were painting an unrealistic super rosey picture of the Islamic Republic.

Not once did I see a tweet about how the IRGC are putting a stranglehold on Iran's economy or the rampant corruption that has become so prevalent that it no longer surprises anyone, regardless of its astronomical magnitudes.

Nor did I see any tweets about leading businessmen in Iran frequently becoming escape goats for the country's malaise that so many of them have applied for St. Kitts & Nevis passports to safeguard them against a rainy day.

Nor was there anything about the endemic nepotism in Iran or the huge brain drain from the country or most important of all, the intrinsic animosity and suspiciousness by the Supreme Leader and the hardliners towards anything considered Western. At times it seemed the forum was about a different country altogether.

To cap this all, the selectiveness of the Forum organisers in which press organisations could attend the Forum did not help to inspire confidence. WSJ and TehranBureau for example were barred from attending the event, while Press TV, IRNA and IRIB [Iran state TV channels] were warmly welcomed to report from the conference.

But the one tweet I saw from Dina Esfandiary of IISS, made me laugh most:

So its the lack of PR that's the problem?! How much more spin is needed by these network of lackeys and lobbyists to make a backward theocracy and a religious apartheid that is run by a mafia economy to look like a normal country?

At the same time that the forum was going on and the attendees were being dazzled with the bright horizons ahead, the British-Iranian Ghoncheh Ghavami who went back to Iran after voting for Rouhani and was arrested when trying to go and watch a volleyball match, was tried behind closed doors charged with "propaganda against the regime". Not once since her arrest, has she been able to see her lawyer.