The Worst Option

Ever since Ahmadi-Nejad became the president, we have feared a military attack on Iran as the worst option. Instead we have presented the pro-democracy movement in Iran as the most viable option to bring peace and stability to Iran, the region and to the world.

Sadly the Islamic Republic apologists, individuals like Ray Takyeh, Fareed Zakaria, Hossein Nasr, Laura Rozen etc. and organisations like CASMII, Iran Action, SWP etc. have consistently tried to diminish the strength of desire for change from the current theocracy to a secular democracy amongst the young dominant Iranian population and have tried to present the Islamic Republic as an acceptable form of government and even a 'shining beacon of democracy'. Their efforts with the help of funding they receive from the Islamic Republic petro-dollars and the misguided support of 'useful idiots' has meant that the pro-democracy movement in Iran has not been able to enjoy the support and the recognition it deserves and hence not count as a credible alternative to the ever increasing menace of the clerics ruling Iran.

Yet there now seems to be an even worse option on the table. Limited strikes on military and nuclear targets which will destroy much of Iran's infrastructure but keep the clerics in power!

In fact the Ayatollahs in Iran seem to be welcoming the limited strikes, and as always their biggest fear has been regime change from within.

Well for those who have consistently defended the Islamic Republic and turned a blind eye on the human rights abuses by the religious dictatorship in Iran, and repeatedly played down the potential of the pro-democracy movement in Iran, here are photos from the students at Alameh University today protesting against the arrests and expulsions of their student colleagues. The pro-democracy movement in Iran despite all the obstacles in its way is still alive and kicking, it just needs more help and publicity.

The Good News and the Bad News

The bad news, or I am sure for some people the good news, is that I have injured myself in an accident. See the lovely bruises in the picture :) I need to have an operation to stitch my pectorial tendon back on again and then some time before hopefully a full recovery.



The good news however is that Fakhravar's speech at DePaul University in Chicago, seems to have been a huge success.

Shame that none of the useless incompetent ex-pat Persian media we have, reported anything of the event at DePaul university.

I am sure many Iranians inside Iran would have found Fakhravar's speech and the event at DePaul university much more interesting than VOA Persian's typical report on car traffic in Karachi!

Oh, but VOA is getting a little bit more responsive to criticism, if you now send them an email criticising their "we are a news broadcasting only" policies and programs, they will send you a standard stereo reply below, but it does not matter what you send them, the reply is the same to whoever writes it and whatever you write :))

'Dear Listener:

Thank you for your comments. Our announcement for the present inspection noted that it will address the Board’s structure, its guidance and management processes, relations with broadcasting entities’ management, and legislative foundations for these roles. Although you observations do not fall in this range, we will keep them for future reference.

Sincerely,

Tom Carmichael
Deputy Team Leader'

150 Years Under Putin

Putin in Persian means the boot, and '150 Years under Putin' is the title of an article by Iranian satirist, Ebrahim Nabavi, meaning 150 years under the boot and with obvious reference to Putin's visit to Tehran.

Nabavi himself was an active revolutionary who helped bring the clerics to power in 1979. In return for his revolutionary efforts, Nabavi enjoyed a series of official positions, amongst them, in the Ministry of Culture and Islamic Guidance, the Ministry of Interior and he was also the chief executive of channel 2 in the Islamic Republic of Iran State TV Broadcasting. However revolutions devour their own children, and Nabavi in the late 90s became one of those devoured children.

In '150 Years Under Putin', Nabavi re-examines how his generation were always encouraged to shout 'Death to America, Death to England and Death to Israel' but never anything against Russia and he lists a series of historic facts on how Iran has suffered so much from her Russian northern neighbour.

The gist (not a word by word translation) of Nabavi's article is this:

- Iran lost a great part of its territory to the Russians after years of war between the incompetent Qajar kings and the powerful Tsarist Russian armies.
Conclusion: Death to America, Death to England, Death to Israel

- During Iran's constitutional revolution that demanded to put a limit on the king's powers and establish an elected parliament, the constitutionalists seeked refuge in the British embassy. The Russians on the other hand, allied with the new despot Qajar king, bombed the newly built parliament building while the deputies were inside. Further support for the despot king meant Russian troops pouring into Iran and killing thousands of Iranian freedom fighters.
Conclusion: Death to America, Death to England, Death to Israel

- The Communists came to power in Russia and decided to establish a republic in Gilan, a northern province of Iran. In effect they tried to secede another part of our integral territory.
Conclusion: Death to America, Death to England, Death to Israel

- Reza Shah, the 'bloodthirsty dictator' - as Iranian Communists refer to him - founder of the new Pahlavi dynasty, arrested 53 Communists in total during his 16 year reign. One of them, Dr. Taghi Arani, was killed in prison but the other 52 went to Russia and there they were either killed or exiled or lived in misery and poverty for the rest of their lives and yearned to return to Iran.
Conclusion: Death to America, Death to England, Death to Israel

- During the Second World War, Iran was occupied by allies and was used as a bridge to send aid to Stalin. When the war ended, Americans and the British left as was agreed, but the Russians stayed and wanted to secede Azerbijan from the rest of Iran this time.
Conclusion: Death to America, Death to England, Death to Israel

- Mossadiq was appointed by the 2nd Pahlavi king, as the Prime Minister, and he led the drive for nationalisation of Iranian oil. Because Mossadiq was anti-Soviet, the Russians labeled him as an English lackey, and when it was too obvious that Mossadiq was not an English lackey they labelled him as an American lackey. The Soviet backed puppet Tudeh Party, demanded all Iran's oil should be nationalised except that in the North which was run by the Russians! After Mossadiq was toppled, the Soviet Union was the first to recognise the new government. Many Tudeh Party members fled to Russia. Again they encountered desperate conditions, some were imprisoned and some had to toe the Soviet Party line to the letter in order to have a basic living standard.
Conclusion: Death to America, Death to England, Death to Israel

- The White Revolution or the Shah's program of reforms took place. Women were given the right to vote and feudal landlords had to pass the ownership of their land to the peasants and divide it amongst those who worked on the land. Workers were given a share of the profits on top of their wages. Army recruits were given the choice to serve as literacy corps, Health and Hygiene corps or Agricultural corps. The reforms were backed and encouraged by the Americans.
Conclusion: Death to America, Death to England, Death to Israel

- Shiite clerics came to power in 1979, US embassy was occupied, Israeli embassy ceased to exist but the Russian embassy got bigger and bigger. The Soviet backed puppet Tudeh Party were told to back Khomeini and the clerics. The new theocracy started a mass arrest of Iranian Marxists including the Tudeh party leaders and members and most of them were executed. Russia maintained good relations with the Ayatollahs and never complained about the massacre of Iranian Communists. Some Marxists fled to Russia where they suffered great hardship. Those who were lucky, managed to escape again and flee to Western Europe and America, where they now enjoy comfortable lives.
Conclusion: Death to America, Death to England, Death to Israel

- Saddam started a war against Iran. Saddam was pro-Soviet. His weapons were all Russian made. Iranians resisted the Iraqi aggression with the remnants of the US weapons they had from before the 1979 takeover of the country by the clerics.
While we shouted long live Palestine and death to American Saddam, Russia, the PLO, Cuba and the Socialist camp backed Saddam.
Islamic Republic resorted to buy arms from Israel.
Finally the US toppled Saddam.
Conclusion: Death to America, Death to England, Death to Israel

- The Soviet Union collapsed and the countries surrounding the Caspian Sea became many. Our share of the Caspian Sea was reduced further and further from 50% with the full backing of the Russians.
Conclusion: Death to America, Death to England, Death to Israel

Now Putin (the boot) comes to Tehran, so that we can be further trampled on by the Russian boots as we have been in the last 150 years.
Conclusion: Death to America, Death to England, Death to Israel
----

Precisely my thoughts when we organised this protest outside the Russian embassy last year on the anniversary of the liberation of Azerbijan from the Soviet yoke.
VOA Persian however declined to give coverage to our protest and the points we were raising. Perhaps many of their staff still believe Death to America, Death to England, Death to Israel :))

Mehdi Jami and Radio Zamaneh

I must admit, I have never listened to radio Zamaneh Persian radio broadcast from Holland. I have however met Mehdi Jami on two previous occasions, before he became the director of radio Zamaneh. My first impressions of him were, what an apology for a man and as I listened to him more, my impressions were what a disgrace for the human race.
A twiggy servile creepy groveller who would scrape the bottom of the barrel to justify and say something positive about the clerics in Iran, followed by 'and I am not a supporter of mullahs you know'. Get the idea? A pisspot just like Hossein Derakhshan. You want to lift them up by their collar and clubber them round the ears but then you think, is there any point in hitting this cockroach?

So when I read the translation of the article by Janny Groen and Annieke Kranenberg in de Volkskrant about the mess at Radio Zamaneh, I really was not surprised to find out what was happening there.

When President Ahmadi-Nejad made the famous statement 'There are no homsexuals in Iran', I didn't put anything on my blog, because it was widely reported and ridiculed by the mass media any way, but I did look around to see which of the usual Islamic apologists tried to do the usual window dressing job for their masters in Tehran, and I could not find any. Not even Hossein derakhshan, who has managed to enroll at SOAS without a BA but with the help of media studies scholar!, Annabelle Sreberny, had any bright sparks on how to help his beloved Ahmadi-nejad with this one.

I did not however realise that Mehdi Jami had managed this difficult task until I read the article by Janny Groen and Annieke Kranenberg :)

''Everyone knows that he meant to say that Iran does not have institutionalized homosexuality, no marriages between same sexes"

So there you go. You get the picture on what sort of a revolting lackey the poor Dutch tax payers are paying for. Another example of how Iranian dissidents are accused of receiving money from the West, but in reality, the only people who are receiving grant after grant, are the Islamic regime's apologists and lackeys.

My message to these Western governments is don't waste your tax payers money with such lame radio and TV stations. Iranians have enough of these inside Iran, and my message to the people in the West is, next time your government tells you there isn't enough money for your schools or hospital or community projects, it has probably been spent on promoting the Islamic Republic apologists and lackeys living in your countries without you even knowing about it.

Islamic Turks Still as Inhumane as when they Massacred Armenians

Islamist Turkish President Abdullah Gul, may condemn the US Congressional Committee vote on the 1915-17 mass killings of Armenians by the Ottomans, but the truth is the inhumane neanderthal behaviour is still inherent amongst many Islamist Turks who yearn for those Ottoman years.

Take the case of what happened to the 5 Iranian refugees, only recently, just prior to Abdullah Gul's visit to the city of Van. Iranian refugees, Arya (Abolfazl) Ajorloo, Ali (Mahan) Alemzadeh, Mojtaba Vatanpoor, Pejman Piran and Alireza Ranjbar had been stranded in the border city of Van for several years. Some of the five had already obtained refugee status from the UN HQ in Van and should have been allowed to leave Turkey already. Instead they were all called to report to the local police station, then taken into a separate room and beaten senseless by several armed savage Turkish police officers wearing bullet proof jackets. Turkish police is so brave and manly!

They were then stuffed into the back of a van and driven towards the Iranian border but at some point the victorious captors had to change their minds, when Ajorloo started having a seizure, and were dropped off few kilometers before the border with Iraqi Kurdistan. Of course the Turkish police were kind enough to give the five refugees a useful tip "If the Kurdish border guards start shooting, put your hands up and wave these white flags".

The five are now in Irbil. The UN at Irbil is about as useful as beauty make up on Debra Cagan. They are not allowed to leave the town and are extremely demoralized. 'We expected more from the international community. What have we done other than oppose the Iranian government?" Alemzadeh told me on the phone. "But I tell you something Potkin, at least the people in Irbil are ten times more humane and hospitable than the Turks. As comical as the UN here is, we are so grateful to the kindness of the local people. Many of whom were at one point refugees themselves and understand our plight."

Such is the true nature of bully Turks and their disregard for basic human rights. Do you want these Turks to be in Europe one day? No Thanks!

Tell the UN and the Turkish authorities what you think of their behaviour:
Turkish Embassy in London : +442073930202
UN Refugee HQ in Ankara : 00903124411696

Some More Pics from Al-Quds and Counter Demo

Hezbollah supporters marcing past the counter demo.



One counter demonstrator got behind the Iranian regime supporters with a placard saying oppose Government of Iran - Support People of Iran :))



One poster that said it all :

Ahmadi-nejad at Tehran University

Tehran University under military siege yesterday, during Ahmadi-Nejad's visit. Thank God we don't have to rely on Western media correspondents for news and pictures any more.
Here is a picture of protesting students which some Western correspondents referred to as a "couple of dozen":

Protests at Tehran University

Reuters reported scuffles at Tehran university today ahead of the speech by President Ahmadi-nejad. This picture grabbed my attention. The poster held by the male student asks for the release of three Tehran University students from prison and the one held by the female student asks "We have questions too, why just Columbia?"

The question is one asked by Iranians all the time. For the SS-lamic regime has one window dressing in order to impress the outside world but the reality of what happens inside Iran is always different from what is nicely packaged for outside of Iran.

Ahmadi-nejad is prepared to answer questions from Columbia students but not from Iranian students. The consequences of asking questions in Iran can lead to imprisonment.

Counter Demo to Al-Quds Rally

For the last three decades, Islamic Republic has organised Al-Quds rallies across the European cities on the last Sunday of Ramadan. In London, except on one occasion three years ago, the Al-Quds march has taken place completely unopposed. On that rare occasion three years ago, there were only seven of us then but we still managed to persuade a UK Left wing group not to join the rally.

The whole purpose behind the carnival is nothing but propaganda for the Islamic Republic of Iran. By arranging this annual rally, the Islamic Republic wants to pretend to be a friend of the Palestinian people and attempt to recruit from those gullible individuals who would believe such Islamic Republic misinformation.

The truth is of course very different. The clerical theocracy ruling Iran has brought nothing but misery, poverty, corruption, drug addiction, crisis and instability for the iranian people and it sure won't bring prosperity and happiness for the Palestinians or any other people.

The Al-Quds rally in London this year was different for two reasons however. There were much fewer participants in the Islamic government sponsored march. In fact the marchers were more than two hours behind the schedule, desperately applying their rent a crowd expertise before they could begin their march. More significantly, the rally did not go unopposed today. Not only it did not go unopposed, but this time we were joined by other British groups and individuals who felt it was time to stand up to supporters of Islamic terrorism marching in the streets of London.

Kudos to all the hard organising by Harry's Place in particular and the signatories to the Euston Manifesto, as well as Worker's Liberty and Class War who made it possible to finally show an opposition to the IRI lackeys in London. Today, thousands of people passing the Eros statue in Piccaddilly, realised that there are many who are prepared to stand up to the onslaught of Islamic fundamentalism in this country.

Hopefully we can now build on this.














A Che Guevara fan at the Al-Qods march. So many Iranian
kids of his age were executed in the 80s for admiring
non-Islamic Che and the infidel Fidel!














Does she realise what will happen to her
if she walks in the streets of Tehran like that??
Probably not, I imagine she only watches the BBC.

Debra Cagan Has to Go

It was only the other day I wrote a post on my blog on how much harm has been caused to our people by unthoughtful remarks made by US officials in the last three decades. Ever since the Carter administration, there seems to be some kind of competition amongst the white house staff, on who can come up with the most outrageous and ignorant statement that can bring about maximum damage. I mentioned Andrew Young calling Ayatollah Khomeini a saint!, Ambassador Sullivan referring to Khomeini as 'Iran's Gandhi', Clinton and Armitage calling the theocracy in Iran a democracy and so on.

Now to top this extensive list of uninformed ignorant official statements, we have the latest winner for the trophy of cretinous comments. The winner is Debra Cagan for her remarks in a meeting with UK MPs on how much she hates ALL Iranians.

Make no mistake, she/he - however you want to refer to this steroids overdosed 'ADVISER!!' - was not referring to the Iranian regime, it was referring to the Iranian people, and ALL of us.

When it comes to alienating friends and allies and promoting enemies, no one does it as good as the US officials. If its the so called 'Homeland Security' illiterates at US airports, you may take it with a pinch of salt. After all pay peanuts and you get monkeys but I doubt very much if Debra Cagan gets paid peanuts, she just looks like a monkey.

Debra Cagan has to be sacked immediately if the US has any interest in keeping the most pro-Western population in the Middle East on her side. Only her quick dismissal can reassure the Iranian people that she was just one rotten apple, one amateur diplomat or whatever her official job title is, who got a job she did not deserve and therefore was consequently dealt with.