Monday, June 08, 2009

Moussavi v Karroubi Debate

Moussavi v Karrubi debate turned out to be an opportunity for both Moussavi and Karrubi to have a bash at Ahmadinejad. Karroubi started off by reading out straight form a text in which he answered some of Ahmadienejad's questions from the previous debate. Ahmadinejad had claimed that Karroubi's newspaper, Etemad Meli, had insulted his wife and when Karroubi had said he was not aware of such thing, Ahmadienjad had snapped back at him saying 'if you are not even aware of what has been said in your paper, then how can you become a president?'. In the debate with Moussavi, Karrubi showed the article Ahmadienjad had referred to, was in fact printed in Etemad daily and not Etemad Meli daily and so had nothing to do with Karroubi's paper. Karroubi still struggled to explain why he had accepted the money from the financial convict, Shahram Jazayeri, saying at the time when he accepted the money, Jazayeri was not convicted.

Moussavi also used his time to counter the charts shown by Ahmadienjad in the previous debate. Moussavi put two charts together, one shown by Ahmadinejad during the program and the one he claimed was the correct chart produced by the Central Bank and told the viewers, 'we have a president who sits here, looks into your eyes and lies with such confidence that some people may be taken in by his lies'. Moussavi claimed, the danger he sensed from a government that so blatantly lies to the people, was the main reason why he felt he had to join the race and save the country [the regime] from collapse.

The highlight of the debate was right at the end. The moderator who looked uncomfortable throughout the debate, must have finally been instructed to stop Moussavi from having a go at Ahmdienjad. He sheepishly reminded Moussavi that he should not go on about candidates who were not present at the debate. Moussavi stood up to the moderator with much decisiveness and said he had the right to criticize the policies of Ahmadinejad's government and explain the underlying reasons for his bid to become the president. When the moderator tried to justify his instruction, Moussavi cut him short and slammed his fist on the table and said 'when the other person [Ahmadinejad] sat here and talked down others who were not here, including my wife, you didn't utter a word now you want to stop me?'

Pro-Moussavi and Pro-Karroubi papers today have also continued to expose Ahmadinejad's lies in the debates. Entekhab Daily produced figures from Central Bank which showed the latest inflation figures to be 23.5% and not 15% as claimed by Ahmadienjad's charts and another article showed 12 official statistics not matching what Ahmadienjad had shown the viewers in the debate. Karrobi's deputy and former mayor of Tehran, Karbaschi, accused Ahmadienjad's son of embezzlement in Kish island and others have questioned Ahmadienjad's sister's academic qualifications.

In short, the televised debates which are attracting audiences of 35 million upwards are displaying the extent of corruption, nepotism and incompetence throughout the whole establishment. With the rising levels of anti-Ahmadinejad feelings amongst the public, if Ahmadienjad somehow becomes the next president again, there will surely be eruptions amongst the population that will threaten the very survival of the Islamic regime.

1 comment:

Winston said...

Mousavi seems to be backed by Rafsanjani's Mafia and Karubi seems to be a plain idiot cleric as always.