Ultimate Humiliation for the Post of Presidency in the Islamic Republic

The live televised Islamic Republic presidential debate, shown on state TV today, quickly turned into a hilarious farce that made many viewers laugh aloud as they watched something which was more like a game show than a presidential debate.

Eight approved candidates were asked random questions about their plans to sort out the economy and none had any specific solutions but merely described the problems and hardships as they stand now.

There was a glimmer of hope that Aref would transgress the red boundaries and spice up the bland debate when he talked about the necessity for freedom of speech, the freedom to criticise and the benefits of using experts regardless of their factional loyalties, but Velayati quickly dashed these hopes by saying experts should all be loyal to the regime and obey the Supreme Leader. A pre-condition that all candidates had to nod and agree to immediately.

Tehran mayor and one of the presidential candidates, Mohamamd Bagher Ghalibaaf, had a  laptop in front of him but it was unclear what use he was making of his laptop. He started almost everyone of his replies with the "In the name of Allah, the most compassionate and the most merciful" and plugged his successes as the Tehran mayor. For example he boasted about setting up the 110 emergency telephone number which gave equal access to all citizens without any discrimination to call the police as an example of equal opportunity for all and a precursor to his economic fairness policies.

Jalili seemed to think the answer to all problems was to continue with the revolutionary dialogue and endeavour.

Seventy Two Year old Gharazi boasted about his generation having secured the support of 98% of the population for the Islamic Republic and pined at how that support over the years had dwindled by his successors and their mismanagement.

Aref and Adel exchanged success and failure stories of reformist factions versus principalist factions when in government.

Rezaei suddenly deemed the un-Islamic architecture of the new buildings to be a problem of high priority. All were critical of Ahmadinejad's years as president with Jalili being the least critical and promising to continue with much of Ahamdinejad's policies but in a better managed way .

Hadad Adel thought Iranians should change their Western lifestyles to an Islamic life style and hence reduce consumption and the need for the present uncontrolled chaotic imports.

All said they would continue with the subsidy cash handouts and either increase it or include basic commodity hand outs as part of their plans but admitted that the cash liquidity injection in the economy by the payments is causing soaring inflation which means less purchasing power for people and difficulties in government's balance of payments.

And so the first half of the program went on with the candidates racing against each other, within the three minutes time they each had allocated, to say nice things like meritocracy, fulfilling the potentials, support for production, turning threats into opportunities, making Iranians proud etc.

The best was to come in the second half however. Candidates were suddenly shocked into thinking the multiple choice questions the presenter described they were going to be asked was a general knowledge quiz. Aref displaying the most fear and outrage said last time he answered multiple choice test questions was when he was a student 40 years ago and he was not going to take part and answer the questions. Other candidates also backed Aref. The presenter had to go out of his way to say the format was a joint decision by the lawful bodies within the state TV and the Guardian Council and that it was not a general knowledge test. With that reassurance by the presenter, other candidates calmed down but it was too late  for Aref who had categorically stated he would not answer the questions.

Gharazi complained that the presenter missed asking the first question from him. Presenter asked him the first question again and asked him to answer the second question too. Gharazi said he didn't understand the second question and was just keen to answer the first question.

Next shock came when the presenter said the multiple choice questions will now be followed by a picture round. Aref back tracked and said he will take part in the picture round. Eight pictures were shown in total and each time, candidates were asked what was the first thing that came to their mind?

Picture Caption Question from Presidential Candidates

A picture of a US mine in Utah was one of the eight pictures that was shown. Aref thought it was a valley in Iran with the potential to become a tourist attraction while Gharazi thought it was an abandoned mining project in Iran where the owner had already fled or had been imprisoned. Rezaei confidently said he recognised the mine to be somewhere in Yazd, Central Iran. Rowhani thought he had visited the place recently and Velayati too thought it was another unfinished government project. Jalili expressed regret at how this abandoned mine demonstrated not using the full potentials of the country.

A picture of a traffic jam brought up the air pollution problem for the first time in the election campaign. Ghalibaaf said during his time as the Mayor of Tehran he had asked everyone, who has the "ownership" of this problem and no one knew. Gharazi simply sufficed by saying "May God have mercy on all of us".

Another picture of a crowded bazaar prompted replies like "it shows there are a lot of people but no one is spending because they have no money in their pockets and instead are getting in each other's way".

The most entertaining program ever to be shown on Islamic Republic state TV ended with the last picture question displaying a clock that showed the time to be at 7.15 and the presidential candidates having to say what it made them think of!!!

Mohamad Reza Aref, Before and After the 1979 Revolution

Picture of Mohamad Reza Aref on the left, in 1976 while studying in US on a scholarship from the Pahlavi foundation and the same Mohamad Reza Aref, running as a reformist presidential candidate this year.

What the Morality Police would do with Mohamad Reza Aref, if he caught him today, walking in the streets, with that long hair and those tight trousers!

The People United, Will Defeat Terrorism

What makes people from all different walks of life, opinion, race, colour and creed unite every now and then?

One of them, as it was evident on Sunday in Woolwich, was the common threat of Islamic extremism. A very serious threat that concerns all of us who value our freedoms and privileges and was manifested once again in the brutal killing of Lee Rigby in Woolwich.

The threat of political Islam is made worse by spineless politicians, who refuse to take necessary measures, and therefore requires the ordinary people to come together and rout out this hideous menace.
That is exactly what happened on Sunday in Woolwich.

I first met with some friends from "March for England" in Waterloo. I have known the MfE supporters for a few years now. They are decent patriotic people with whom I share many values and we have stood together on many occasions against extremists who want to impose their way of life on the rest of us.

The march started from Charlton station in South London. It was supposed to be a silent march in respect for the occasion. On a few occasions however, some sections of the crowd started chanting but fortunately, they were quickly reminded by the stewards and others that this was not the time and place.

As the marchers continued along the route, the original core of a few hundred grew to a thousand and they were cheered and applauded by passers by and residents of Woolwich.

The best thing about the march was that everyone was there. If the terrorists thought they had subdued people into fear, it was in fact the very opposite that had taken place. Their brutal barbaric murder of Lee Rigby had demonstrated to everyone what threatens us all if we remain silent and that we must stand together to preserve the peace and freedoms we enjoy in England.

As the courageous woman, Ingrid Loyau-Kennett, told the blade wielding maniac, "You are going to lose. It's only you versus many" and we had to show on Sunday that there were many of us and that they are going to lose.

   

Ghalibaaf's Badge of Honour

In any normal presidential elections, you would expect the candidates to talk about their plans and policies to improve the lives of the voters, not in the Islamic Republic however.

There are many problems in Iran that the next president will inherit. Apart from the worsening economic conditions and people's living standards dropping on a daily basis, there is killer air pollution in major cities, there are looming environmental catastrophes to deal with, unemployment and social malais like increasing drug addiction and prostitution etc. Yet the candidates are not talking about how to resolve air pollution or bring down unemployment, there are other issues which seem to have priority for the candidates in the Islamic Republic. For example, Tehran Mayor, Mohamad Bagher Ghalibaaf, a former pilot trained in North Korea, speaking at a gathering of Baseej, proudly claimed as his badge of honour, his role in putting down the student protesters in 2003 and in 1999.
"I was the head of NAJA [Law Enforcement Forces] at the time [2003] and I went to the national security meeting of the interior ministry. The reformists were dithering on giving the permission for the security forces to enter the university. I spoke to them very harshly there, even used profanities which I shouldn't repeat here and I forced them to give me the permit for security forces to enter the university and to shoot"

Ghalibaaf also proudly tells his audience that during the student uprising in 1999, he was on the back of his 1000 cc motor bike beating up protesters with a stick.

Of course Ghalibaaf is a shrewd man, its not that he doesn't care for votes. He knows the audience he has to appeal to are not the voters but the establishment figures, the Revolutionary Guards and the Baseej chiefs who want to be reassured the candidates will defend the system if the going gets tough. Thats where the votes will come from not from the voters.

Rafsanjani's Wife v BBC Persian Employee Massoud Behnoud

The picture on the left is that of Massoud Behnoud, BBC Persian employee and the recipient of many grants and funds from European bodies. Throughout his entire life, Massoud Behnoud has  switched sides and changed colours to remain close to whoever the ruling elite in Iran has been. This school drop out who used to flatter former Empress, Farah Pahlavi, when the Shah was in power, became a supporter of the revolution in 1979 and later a close associate of the Rafsanjanis and personal adviser to Mehdi Hashemi in London.
The man, if thats the right word to use when referring to him, is an absolute disgrace in every way. Yet his boyish looks and his glasses coupled with his skill in story telling have made him the intellectual icon for many superficial Iranians who are struck by appearances and media celebrity status.

I have heard Massoud Behnoud lie so many times through his teeth and twist facts as he pleases, but here I just want to mention one of his profound intellectual statements in a meeting I attended shortly before the 2009 disputed elections. Behnoud who was one of the panel members speaking at SOAS, refuted any suggestions that the Islamic Republic would cheat in the elections and categorically stated "The Islamic Republic never cheats in elections". There you go, that's what the British tax payer is paying to keep in employment and Europeans are funding with their unaccountable and unmonitored grants.

The reason I remembered that meeting and Behnoud's claim in the integrity of the Islamic Republic in counting votes was a report I came across yesterday in this Iranian news website about Rafsanjani's wife, Effat Mar'ashi.

Effat is known by friend and foe to be a staunch steadfast woman, "worth ten men" often described by many who know her. The hardline Young Journalist Club, YJC, quoted her telling reporters that "My husband will not stand as an election candidate. There are no elections here. It is no bother for them to switch the votes"

So there you go, BBC Persian employee tells the public about the integrity of the Islamic Republic in counting votes and the wife of the head of the Expediency Council and former president of Iran believes elections in Iran is a farce. What an irony!

The Eight Million Vote Tape

An amazing story appeared on the Iranian Baztab Emrooz website yesterday, which was quickly removed.

There has been widespread rumours in Iran ever since Ahmadinejad stood up to the Supreme Leader, that he has some explosive revealing tape on Islamic Republic's unelected ruler. The justification for this rumour was the very fact that Ahamdinejad had dared to take on the Supreme Leader and his people.

Of course, Ahmadinejad did have some secret tapes on the economic misdemeanour of some of the Islamic Republic officials, like the one he revealed in the Majlis against the corruption of the Larijani brothers, but since the corruption of the officials in the Islamic Republic is an accepted fact, it seemed to have made little impact.

Baztab Emrooz's article which was quickly removed yesterday suggested another tape existed, one of a different nature to the run of the mill corruption tapes of the establishment figures. The article referred to it as the "8 million vote tape" which Ahmadinejad has threatened to reveal if the father-in-law of his son, Rahim Mashaei, is not approved as one of the next presidential candidates by the Guardian Council for the coming June elections.

In this tape, Ahmadinejad is contacted by some officials in the early morning hours following the election day and told that he had won the elections by a narrow margin, his total votes he was told, were 16 Million but they will add an extra 8 Million votes and say he got 24 Million votes to make sure there is no scepticism about the final count and to ensure there are no calls for a recount. Ahmadienjad however insists in the tapes that since he has won the elections any way, albeit with a small margin, that the real figures should be announced. The tape then continues with Ahamdinejad contacting other officials and arguing with them that the voting results should not be tampered with.

The Baztab article finished by also referring to a conversation between Majlis deputy and this time round presidential candidate, Alireza Zakani and secretary of the Expediency Council, Mohsen Rezaei. Zakani quotes Rezaei as having said the total number of votes counted is 32 Million and the other 8 million claimed is pure fabrication. Rezaei's reasoning, according to Zakani, was that only 17 million voting slips had been consumed by 5 pm and there was no way that by the end of the voting deadline that night another 22 million votes could have been cast.

If the claims about this tape published in Baztab website, which is connected to Mohsen Rezaei, is true, then this must be the most amazing story from Iran this year so far. Four years after the disputed election results, all that brutal crackdown, the murders of so many innocent peaceful protesters, the arrests, prison sentences and rapes, the man who finally proved the election results were fabricated turns out to be Ahmadinejad himself.

The Overdue Municipality Election

As the next Islamic Republic presidential "elections" approaches, the international media is slowly preparing to focus its attention on this event. This year there seems to be more candidates than in previous elections, something that is confusing most of the Iran pundits, particularly as  the Supreme Leader still remains undecided as to which candidate to back.

For some people like me, the very fact that the candidates are vetted and have to be approved by a non-elected body, makes the entire process void and worthless, regardless of how many people take part in it. Others still do regard the number of participants in the elections as a benchmark for the legitimacy of the elections and that of the regime. With no independent supervisory board that will monitor the counts and the way the regime controls the national media and restricts the foreign media by taking the foreign reporters to pre-designated polling stations, I have no idea how the number of participants will be independently verified to be used as a useful benchmark, but another factor which will help the polling stations look busy is that the presidential elections and the Town Municipality Elections will be held simultaneously at the same time.

The Municipality Elections were in fact due to be held three years ago but after the last presidential post-election protests that erupted in 2009, the regime, in contravention of its own constitution, delayed the Municipality elections until now.

The regime's other tactic to bring the crowds to the ballot box is to present the voters with a choice of bad and worse candidates, hoping that many will be resigned to think that the best they can do is to choose the bad candidate over the worse candidate.

Whatever happens in June this year, what is certain is that the elections, even as they are i.e. controlled and restricted, are becoming a headache for the Islamic Republic and soon, even the mockery as they are now, will become more limited.

A Huge Flop

Yesterday's government organised rally at the Azadi stadium in Tehran turned out to be a huge disappointment on all fronts. The expected one hundred thousand crowd that was talked about never materialised, footage and pictures suggest a maximum of fifty to sixty thousand struggling to fill parts of the stadium.


The crowd that turned up were either government employees, who either had to go, or people who were there for  some fun and freebies. Even so the organisers were unable to use them for their propaganda purposes. People chanted "Where is our lunch?" just when Ahmadinejad was being introduced as the next speaker and when he did start making his speech, some started booing him and leaving the stadium or chatting amongst themselves. There were hardly anyone who was paying any attention to his usual rhetoric of "global justice" and the need for "collective management of the world".

Ahmadinejad's deputy, Mashaei, who was expected to announce his candidacy didn't even turn up.
Perhaps all that was worthy of the event was that for the first time since the 1979 revolution, men and women sat next to each other in the stadium and danced and cheered together as various musical bands performed for them. Yet as much as Iranians crave for some rejoicing and happiness without consequences, the whole event with all its expenditure; was a total flop.

People rushing for their freebie sandwiches:

Mistaking Interpol for Guidance Patrol

Islamic Republic's deputy police chief for social affairs, Commander Montazerolmehdi, said in a press conference on Tuesday, that Iran's police will be going after those Iranian actresses who do not observe the Islamic dress code abroad, via the help of the Interpol.

Commander Montazerolmehdi's real name is in fact Saeed Artimani, which he later changed to Montazerolmehdi. He was a simple Baseej member during his youth and lived around Ghassr Firoozeh district. His main hobby then, was to stop school children younger than himself and search their bags for illegal CD and DVD tapes, which he confiscated and kept for himself.

Those who remember him from his Baseej days, wonder how he was ever promoted to such a position in the police force. Clearly however, whatever police academy he attended, didn't teach him that the Interpol and the Guidance Patrol, were two entirely different entities.

Then They Came for Me by Maziar Bahari

I am often asked by non-Iranians who are interested to know more about Iran, to recommend them a book in English on what is going on in Iran. As of today, here is my top recommendation: 'Then They Came for Me' by Maziar Bahari.

The book is a candid tale of what the Iranian film maker and journalist, Maziar Bahari experienced during the 2009 disputed elections in Iran and his 118 day imprisonment in Evin prison.

It is a very honest book and it is not just a prison diary. Maziar admits that before his arrest, he had to tone down his reports, so that the authorities continued to allow him to return to Iran and report from there.

Through his own family history, Bahari provides a background of the idealistic generation who took part in the 1979 revolution. The family history parts, provide a short contemporary history of Iran that explains why the previous generation of Iranians took part in the 1979 revolution, what they imagined a post-revolution Iran to be, how they were let down and how they suffered enormously from the very revolution they took part in, to bring about the Islamic Republic.

Bahari's book also gives insight to the psychology of the henchmen who keep the Islamic regime afloat and the methods they use to break the will of the prisoners of conscience in Iran as well as what can be done by the outside world to help the dissidents in Iran, so that they are not helpless and alone in the hands of their tormenters.

Islamic Republic's complicated factionalism also becomes more understandable through the various real life characters in the book but as well as these real characters, there is also another character; Amir, whom Bahari refers to as a "composite" character. The reason 'Amir' is a composite character, is partly to protect the real identity of 'Amir' but also to sum up the former zealous revolutionaries and former officials who now see the errors of their judgements and live their lives with much regret about their actions in the past.

Despite all that Maziar Bahari suffered however, he is not a bitter man, he is not after revenge and he remains realistic. Even if you don't see eye to eye with him on everything, you have to accept that he is well informed on Iran and he is worth listening to.

Celebrating Nowruz by the Tomb of Cyrus in Pasargadae

The Islamic Republic has never liked Cyrus the Great. Not only does Cyrus represent the glory of the pre-Islamic Iran, but the values that Cyrus stood for; i.e. tolerance, freedom of choice, freedom of religion etc. are all but the nemesis of this theocratic regime.

The mad cleric, Sadegh Khalkhali, as a result of his illiteracy and stupidity even misinterpreted a word in a book about Cyrus's youth and happily concluded that Cyrus was as a transverstite and thus thought he had demolished the reputation of the great founder of the Persian empire; of course little did he know that he was only making a fool of himself.

Thirty four years after all the animosity of the clerics towards Cyrus, the father of the Iranian nation , he is still revered by his descendants.

The following footage shows a gathering of young Iranians last week, celebrating the Iranian new year, Nowruz, by the tomb of Cyrus the Great and chanting:

Iran is our Country/ Cyrus is our father
Neither Gaza or Lebanon/I die only for Iran

Nowruz

Nowruz is the eternal symbol of rejuvenation. The revival of nature, when the new replaces the old

Hope the Good will not stay silent and evil will not triumph

Happy Nowruz friends. 

The Gathering of Misfits

Ahmadinejad embracing Chavez's mourning mother, must be one of those rare occasions where you would hear me say kudos to Ahmadinejad for doing so.

While the cleric accompanying Ahmadinejad. Mir-Tajedini, was trying to pull away Ahmadinejad's arm and remind him that the Islamic Republic's warped and archaic protocol requires Iranian diplomats and officials to avoid any physical contact, including a simple handshake with women; Ahmadinejad ignored Mir-Tajedini and went ahead to fully embrace Chavez's 75 year old mother.

Imagine how embarrassing it would have been if Ahmadinejad shunned away from a grief stricken 75 year old mother who needed a moment's comfort from her dead son's best friend. Kudos to Ahmadinejad for showing courage and defying a silly and hypocritical protocol.

Lets not however forget the gathering of so many misfits under one roof in Chavez's funeral, as shown in the symbolic picture above. The mad Belarus president, Alexander Lukashenko, with his little mini-Lukashenko, or his "Talisman", as he calls him, always by his side at all events, facing Ahmadienjad across Chavez's coffin.

Lukashenko, an unrepented Stalinist, calls himself an "orthodox atheist". Across the coffin is the messianic Mahmoud Ahmadinejad, who sincerely believes he is paving the way for the return of the  "Hidden Imam" to establish the most pious world order. Inside the coffin and under the cross of Jesus, lies Hugo Chavez, who Ahmdinejad thinks will accompany the Hidden Imam and Jesus Christ as they return to establish the new world order.

Ahamdinejad’s Message of Condolence for Hugo Chavez

Ahmadinejad, in his message of condolences for Hugo , published on his official website, referred to Hugo Chavez as a "Martyr of service to the people of Venezuela, who died as a result of
a suspicious death"


Ahmadinejad added "I have no doubt, Chavez will return with Jesus Christ and all the other righteous ones, along with that only one remaining from
the generation of the pure, that complete human being [the Hidden Imam] and Hugo will help the human society bring about peace, complete justice, kindness and perfection. "

"until justice and love is alive, Hugo is alive. Until faith, pureness and humanity is alive, Hugo is alive too”

“He was deeply monotheist and committed to divine and human values and believed in the path of God’s messengers and the global rule of justice and love under the leadership of the righteous ones"

Sanctions Are not the Cause of Iran Medicine Crisis

Here is yet another example of Iranian medicine officials spelling out the problems and causes of the current medicine crisis in Iran.

Mehdi Mohamadzadeh, Head of Iran's Association of Pharmaceutical Medicine Economics in an interview with the official Fars News Agency said "Of course we are in a dire economic situation, but with regards to medicine, there are no sanctions against us and the world's large pharmaceuticals are not reluctant to sell medicine to us. They are willing to co-operate, so long as they get paid"

Mohamadzadeh who is also a member of the Medical Sciences Scientific Committee at Beheshti University added "The cause of the crisis is that either very little government rate currency is allocated or it is paid late."

Mohamadzadeh's statements are in tune with what the rest of Iranian medicine officials, including the former Health Minister, Marzieh Dastjerdi, have said repeatedly. "Medicine crisis in Iran is nothing to do with sanctions" as former Health Minister kept saying before she was sacked by Ahmadinejad.  All the officials who are involved in the medicine import to Iran have been pinpointing the problem at medicine import companies, not receiving the allocated government rate currency to import the drugs with. The government rate currency is instead used to import luxury cars and non-essential goods like horse saddles, cosmetics and spade handles.

Yet if you just google for "Medicine Crisis in Iran", you will see sensational headline after headline on how people are dying in Iran as a result of sanctions.

"Iran unable to get life-saving drugs due to international sanctions" - Guardian
"Zionist-devised US sanctions bar medicines from Iran" - Press TV
"Iran sanctions disrupt the medicine supplies" - BBC
"US led Iran sanctions blocking medical treatment to thousands of Iranians" - antiwar.com
"US led Iran sanctions put millions of lives at risk" - Stop the War
"Iranian Mothers for Peace alert the world on sanctions and critical shortage of medicines" - Farid Marjai and Mehrnaz Shahabi in Stop the War Coalition - [they also quote the Guardian hoax on the Iranian haemophiliac boy ]
"In Iran, Sanctions take their toll on the sick" - Washington Post

There is just an unbound amount of unfounded and uncorroborated material in the Western media on how sanctions are killing Iranians by denying them vital medicines and yet the people in Iran know who is to blame and the officials involved in Iran's pharmaceutical industry have said the medicine crisis is nothing to do with sanctions.

Iranian regime lobbyists are hard at work in the West however. They are trying to influence the media, the think tanks, the peaceniks and policy forums and sell a story to the world which has nothing to do with the facts on the ground.

Gary Sick's cronies and paid lobbyists made sure I couldn't disseminate what was being said by Iranian pharmaceutical officials and media to the G2K mailing lists.  The aim is to suppress the truth and appeal to the useful idiots around the world, people with good intentions who are short on facts.

Why the Islamic Republic is not giving priority to importing medicine can be summed up in one sentence "the sick don't riot".

"Defending Syria is More Important than Defending Iran" - Mehdi Taeb

"Syria is our 35th province and a strategic province for us. If the enemy attacks Syria and Khuzestan [Iran's oil rich South West province] simultaneously, our priority will be to save Syria"

These revealing words were uttered by Hojjat-ol-Islam, Mehdi Taeb, the head of the Strategic Ammar Base, an institution set up to co-ordinate the active forces against the "Soft Ovethrow" plans of the "enemies of the revolution" and to monitor the activities of the counter revolution.

Taeb who was speaking to the gathering of Basij student officials, emphasised the importance of Basij forces in managing urban warfare by saying "Syria had an army, but this army was not able to deal with urban warfare, therefore Iran suggested to the Syrians to set up their own Basij. Syria then set up its own Basij with an initial force of 60,000 Hezbollahi forces and they replaced the regular army in dealing with the urban warfare"

Taeb's words have caused outrage amongst Iranians. Assieh Bakeri whose father and uncle are two of Iran's prominent war martyrs,  reacted by saying
"My father's body and my uncle's bodies still lay in the waters of Hoor. The land of Khuzestan is still the only source of comfort for us..Khuzestan is the resting place of my father..Mr. Taeb,  wherever your priorities may be, our priority will always be the soil of Iran"

Poor Bashar, if only he knew he was just another provincial governor and not a president.

The Pilot Cleric, Latest Presidential Candidate

So far, two candidates have officially announced their candidacy for Iran's next president. The latest one is the pilot cleric, Mohammad Bagher Kharrazi, the head of Iran's Hezbollah Party.

Mohammad Bagher's father, Mohsen, is a member of the Guardian Council. One of his brothers, Kamal was the Iranian foreign minister, under Khatami and his other brother, Sadegh, was Islamic Republic's ambassador to France under Khatami. His sister, is also    the Supreme Leader's daughter-in-law.

Last week, Mohamad Bagher, chairman of Iran's branch of Hezbollah declared his candidacy to be Iran's next president, during a press conference in Iran's southern port of Bandar Abbas. In his speech he said
"Everyone knows I am a pilot and I have a Master's Degree, and God willing, I will soon have a PHD too. Hopefully I will arrive at the Presidential Palace with a plane that I will pilot myself. I want to do this so that people don't think I am one of those two to a penny clerics from the outbacks.
"

He rebuffed the way some Iranian officials go out of their way to show off their humble living and said there is nothing wrong with being wealthy and called himself a "de-lux cleric".

So far so good, and what about his plans and manifesto? Well these are what some of his plans are if he becomes Iran's next president:

- To build the biggest aeroplane factory in the world which will provide Iranians with Air Taxis.
   He also said that to have a private plane is not a luxury
-  Iranians must live in houses that are at least 1000 Metres [squared?]
- Iranians must drive the best and most beautiful cars, not these crappy cars that are currently assembled by Iran's two car making factories
- Every unit of Iran's currency will be equivalent to one Dollar
- He will change the capital from Tehran, but is not going to announce where the new capital will be yet, because speculators will go and buy land there and inflate the prices
- The Island of Gheshm will become Iran's Hong Kong and Iran's port of Chah-Bahar in the deprived South East province of Sistan and Baloochistan will become Iran's Singapour

Mohamad Bagher Kharrazi also said, there will be no "red lines" that he will not cross in his government other than that of the Supreme Leader. He said he has one and a half million activists to help him with his election campaign.

How to Ensure a Large Turnout

Behind the scenes during the regime sponsored anniversary of the revolution last Sunday 

See also previous occasions

Islamic Republic’s Mafia Elite

Iran's post-election protests in 2009 were a perplexing puzzle for Europe's Champagne Socialists. "Why would the Iranian population pour into the streets against a regime which is fighting the bad West that supports Hezbollah and Hamas? Why would they chant, 'Neither Gaza and nor Lebanon, I Die Only for Iran?' " The Left asked themselves in 2009.

As with all ideologues, when a phenomena does not fit within the framework of their ideology, they simply invent fantasy justifications. "It must have been the affluent Iranians protesting!" was the idealogical rationalisation of these la-dee-da Leftists who wouldn't recognise a working class man if they ever met one.

George Galloway dismissed the protesters in Iran as "North Tehran affluent kids" and Stop the War which was outside the Egyptian embassy every day during the protests against Hosni Mobarak, sided with IR stooges in CASMII and thought the protesters in Iran were simply "bourgeoise dissidents".

Of course, none of their nonsense was true. The post-election protesters in Iran were in fact mainly lower middle-class and working classes of Iran, it was a protest by decent courageous people who were standing up against a terrible tyranny and the super rich elite in Iran feared the collapse of the system, which has allowed them to become over night billionaires, most.

One of the figures which was identified during the protests and I wrote about him back then, was the gun wielding man on the back of a motor bike, chasing the protesters, Hassan Mir-Kazemi, seen in the picture below.

Mir-Kazemi is the head of the Baseej in Al-Haadi Mosque in Shams Abad, Tehran and also the proprietor of World of Metal factory in Karaj. I also showed a document which showed he had taken an unsecured loan worth 175 Million Dollars for his three factories from the Bank of Agriculture without returning a penny on the loan.

After last Sunday's fracas at the Majlis between Ahmadinejad and the Majlis speaker, Ali Larijani, another wealthy Iranian by the name of Babak Zanjani has come under limelight in Islamic Republic's endemic factional corruption saga. Babak Zanjani, who is said to have a Danish passport too has become a multi-billionaire in just under five years. He is involved in everything, buying and selling oil, football club, airline and all the usual lucrative deals. He is seen in the picture above in his private jet with the gun wielding head of the Baseej in Al-Hadi Mosque.

Babak Zanjani is not shy to be pictured with guns himself neither. See pictures below. This is how he describes himself however: "I am a businessman looking after the interests of my country and I work under the banner of our Supreme Leader. If necessary, I will sacrifice all my companies, and myself included, for the country"

Babak Zanjani is listed in the sanctions, but the Left in the West seem to think sanctions are only hurting the poor in Iran :)

The Impeachment of the Labour and Welfare Minister Today

The impeachment of Abdolreza Sheikholeslami, the Minister of Welfare and Labour in the Islamic Republic, today quickly turned into a farce and became a slinging match between Ali Larijani, the Iraqi born speaker of the Majlis and Ahmadinejad.
While Ahmadinejad revealed an audio tape that showed the corruption of the Larijani brothers, Larijani went as far as accusing Ahmadinejad and his associates of having ties with MeK! Majlis also voted for the removal of the Welfare and Labour Minister.

Background to the Impeachment:

This was not the first time, Ahmadinejad's minister of Welfare and Labour, Sheikholeslami,  was facing an impeachment. In April last year too, the Majlis tried to impeach Sheikholeslami. The reason for his impeachment was the appointment of Saeed Mortazavi, a former prosecutor with a long list of charges and accusations against him ranging from murder, rape and embezzlement, as the head of the Welfare Ministry's Social Security Funds, a fund awash with money from pension funds of working people.
A deal was struck at the previous impeachment of the minister between the government and the deputies. The Welfare minister promised to remove Mortezavi from his position in return for the MPs revoking their signatures from the impeachment.

Saeed Mortezavi, even wrote a letter which was read by Hadad Adel, whose daughter is married to the Supreme Leader's son, to the Majlis deputies. In the letter, Mortezavi swore on his honour that he will go if the MPs revoked their signatures. The MPs revoked their signatures but Mortezavi remained in his position and simply moved his furniture into another room :)

Mortezavi's troubles were not over however, not only the Supreme Audit Bureau said his stay as the head of the Social Security Fund was illegal, the executive board also voted him out. Mortezavi ignored the board and the audit bureau and remained in his position with the firm support of Ahmadinejad.

Today, the Minister of Labour and Welfare had to face the Majlis deputies again for impeachment. Ahmdinejad gambled on his usual tactics, i.e. "if you go after my cronies, I will spill the beans on you!" A tactic which so far seems to have worked with the Supreme Leader.

Ali Larijani was warned by an Ahmadinejad associate before the session started that if the impeachment went ahead, Ahmadinejad will play an audio file. In a repeat of Ahmadinejad's pre-election televised debate with Mir Hussein Moussavi, he kept asking Larijani "Shall I tell? Shall I tell?"
Ali Larijani seemed to be at the end of his tether with Ahmadinejad however and risked to let Ahmadinejad play the audio file.

Ahmadinejad tried to put Larijani under pressure, saying members of the Majlis board had asked him not to play the audio because it was so explosive, but Ali Larijani ignored his threats and said "Go Ahead, Say it all and don't miss out on any bits".

Ahmadinejad said the audio file was only a snippet of the entire meeting between Ali Larijani's brother, Fazel with Saeed Mortezavi, a mere 25 minutes from a 24 hour recording. As the audio started, some MPs started to protest, the audio was not clear, so Ahmadinejad started to read a transcript of the audio. The transcript is too long to quote here word by word, but basically Larijani's brother, Fazel, wanted some quid pro quid favours from Mortezavi for some lucrative financial opportunities, giving examples of how in the past he had exploited the positions of his two powerful brothers, one as the head of the legislative powers and another as the head of the judiciary to pave ways and smooth things over for others. The transcript is like dynamite, it shows corruption, nepotism and cronyism spread to every core of the Islamic Republic. In any accountable and democratic country, this transcript alone would bring down the entire establishment.

Larijani however seemed unmoved by Ahmadinejad's audio and spoke after Ahmadinejad had stepped down from the podium. He accused Ahmadinejad and his clique as acting like Mafia and said "what if I had filmed your brother's meeting with me in which he talked about the corruption of your associates and their ties with the MeK!" - listeners who were following the live Majlis sessions on the radio, must have grasped for air at this point. This was Punch and Judy, Islamic Republic style. MeK or PMOI are the exiled organisation who sided with Saddam during the war and assassinated tens of Islamic Republic figures in the eighties, paying a heavy price with thousands of their members and supporters having been executed in retaliation by the regime. To accuse the associates of the head of executive power in Iran to have ties with the PMOI is no light hearted matter.

Larijani went on further and addressed Ahmainejad by saying "You do not even adhere to the elementary principles of ethics and it is such behaviours by you that are destroying the traditions and norms of the country"

Ahmadinejad wanted to get back behind the podium but Larijani said he had his chance. Ahmadinejad threatened to leave and Larijani said "please do". The vote was cast: 24 abstentions, 56 against the impeachment and 192 voted for the minister to be removed from his post.

Potentially this could lead to Ahmadinejad having to ask for a vote of confidence for his entire cabinet all over again. The constitution demands this if more than half of the cabinet ministers have been replaced. Ahamdinejad however has muddied the water by merging some ministries together and the Guardian Council will have to decide soon.

And what will the opposition outside Iran in receipt of all sorts of grants and fundings from various Western bodies do now? Hold yet another conference? light candles? Islamic Republic continues to survive because it has the most incompetent and most unimaginative opposition outside Iran.