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.

Freedom to Choose to Wear the Veil

Aljazeera report, earlier this week, showed a Kosovan girl, Njozma Jashari, who was expelled from her school for choosing to wear the headscarf at school. The report also showed her classmates and friends refusing to attend their lessons in a show of solidarity for Njozma Jashari’s right to choose to wear the hijab.

People should be free to live according to their spiritual beliefs or choose not to be spiritual, so long as others are not harmed. A schoolgirl choosing to wear the headscarf is not harming anyone and she should not be expelled from her school on that basis alone.

So kudos to Njozma’s classmates who stood up for her, but I wish there were examples of veiled women who would stick up for the rights of those women who do not wish to wear the veil but are forced to do so.

Njozma's classmates rightly stood up for their friend's right to wear the veil but would women who wear the veil stand up for the rights of those who choose not to wear the veil?

Cuddling up to God's "Representative on Earth" gets you nowhere

The image on the left is a scan of Kaar newspaper from the 1980s. Kaar was the weekly publication of the Fedayeen, the Marxist-Leninist guerrilla group which started the armed uprising against the Shah from a town in North Iran, called Siahkal.

The headline says "Fedayeen (Majority), More Resolute than Ever, Under the Leadership of Imam Khomeini, Battle Decisively Against the Criminal America. This is Our Hard Punch in the Mouth of Imperialism's Lackeys"

After the revolution, the organisation split into two, mimicking the Russian Communists, one group called itself Fedayeen Majority (Bolsheviks). The other group never referred to itself as Fedayeen Minority (Mensheviks), for obvious reasons, but the name stuck with them.

The Fedayeen Minority stuck to their founding principles, but the Fedayeen Majority, influenced by the Soviet backed Tudeh Party infiltrations into their organisation, chose a more conciliatory approach with Ayatollah Khomeini and the hardliner religious elements. Their justification was that Iran's main "enemy" was none other than, the American imperialism. They had found a quote from Lenin, which said "petti-bourgeoise was the natural ally of the proletariat". Unable to fully understand the true nature of the Islamic Republic, the Fedayeen Majority, classified the clerics as petty-bourgeoise and concluded that they were the natural ally of the proletariat in the war against US imperialism. A naive and childish interpretation of the world, which is sadly all too familiar with many leftist organisations in the West today, like the SWP or whats left of it.

Since the split, the Fedayeen (Majority) did everything they could to get into bed with the hardline clerics. They even went as far as turning into informants for the regime and informing on their former comrades.

Needless to say all this cuddling up and performing mating rituals got the Fedayeen (majority) to nowhere. Once the Islamists had finished with everyone else, they came for the Iranian Fedayeen "Bolshevik" pretenders too,  and completely annihilated them.

Spiegel, Hook, Line and Sinker on Fordo Explosion

I don't have any information about Iran's nuclear plants other than what is in the public domain and I would have no way of verifying if an explosion occurred inside a nuclear plant in Iran, unless tangible reports such as radioactivity being reported by experts or official statements and witness reports suggest so. What I do have however, is extensive experience of bullshitters and I am usually pretty quick at detecting there is some BS in the air, when it comes to Iran related news on both sides.

That is why when I read the Spiegel report about an explosion at Fordo nuclear plant near the holy city of Qom, I did not need to google for geiger counter readings of Qom, I could tell straight away that Spiegel had fallen hook, line and sinker, since its only source for the explosion story were two publicity seeking untrustworthy individuals Hamid Reza Zakeri and Reza Khalili.

The former, I have known about since ten years ago. Hamid Reza Zakeri, claimed back then to have worked for Iranian intelligence and had fled Iran to Holland. There is nothing this man will not comment about or not know about. Whether it is about the murder of Zahra Kazemi in Evin prison or how IRGC will close the straits of Hormuz or inside an Iranian nuclear plant, Zakeri has been privy to them all and even after ten years, his "contacts inside the Iranian intelligence services" inform him of the lastest developments! Perhaps his contacts would do a more worthwhile job if they taught him not to make basic spelling mistakes when writing in Persian.

Even if someone has worked for Iranian intelligence, they would not be privy to everything but Zakeri with his basic literacy is never shy to be in the news and will make out he knows everything. Over the ten years, I have known about him, I have been studying his stories and seen his amateur forgeries of so-called top secret documents.

Here on the left, is one such amateur document he has produced in the past. The forgery is so bad, even an Iranian school boy would recognise it as a forgery, but his sponsors like Kenneth Timmerman, another dubious character, have no problems promoting him to the unknowing Western public and news channels that crave for titillating news.

Zakeri's predictions have also been no better than his forgeries. Ten years ago, he was a regular guest on many Iranian satellite channels in LA and he claimed he had been shown documents by the CIA and the Pentagon that the US will invade Iran within a maximum of six months. That was ten years ago!

The other Spiegel source, is Reza Khalili, who has written a book called, Time to Betray. The book has no significant information in it for an avid Iran watcher. Basically it is a collection of public domain facts and rumours in the 1980s Iran, told in a nice narrative format suitable for bedtime reading. Khalili has also come up with all sorts of claims that have been proven to be mere figments of his imagination, but whether it is an impending EMP attack on US by the Islamic Republic or an IRGC general who has been arrested for his support of the opposition, who later appears standing loyally next to the Supreme Leader, such news stories are always an opportunity to plug his book, Time to Betray.

In fact, if I had access to the sales figures of his book, I could have probably come up with a BI graph which showed every time the sales dipped, he came up with a new sensational news story!

Apart from my sceptism about the sources of the hoax in Spiegel, there is a matter of common sense and logic. How has Zakeri & Co. come up with an exact number of 240 personnel trapped inside the nuclear plant? The 240 personnel surely have families, but none have been vocal about the situation. The blast shook facilities within a three mile radius, highway was supposedly closed for hours and rescue workers have been working frantically, so even more people must know about something happening at Fordo, but they have only notified Zakeri and Khalili?

The explosion  is supposed to have taken place one day before the Israeli elections and was a joint Mossad operation, so surely the Israeli Prime Minister, Netanyahu must have sanctioned it and known about it and the news would have been a great boost to his poor election prospects, but strangely, no word.

And those who want to believe such stories keep saying, "intelligence sources" have confirmed it. Where? Its enough for an Israeli official to make a usual, on the fence, generalised comment, neither deny or confirm the story and you see the tabloids quote one another, intelligence sources have confirmed it! :)

Gary Sick, A sick Leftover from Carter's Administration

The first time and only time I ever met Gary Sick, I was inches away from punching him on the chin. Sick was justifying the Islamic Republic's massacre of political prisoners in 1988 by saying "those who were executed were MeK members who had sided with Saddam and invaded Iran".  Having lost three of my dear friends in the 1988 massacre, who were not MeK, and were imprisoned well before Saddam invaded Iran, I felt this deluded old fool deserved to have his dentures knocked down his gullet. Fortunately for him however, I don't have it in me to hit senile octogenarians, but Sick really ought to shut up and retire.

So with some regret, rather than punching the lights out of him, I just reminded Sick that MeK members were not the only victims of the 1988 massacre, many of those who were executed were kids, mere teenagers who had been imprisoned for just handing out leaflets or selling newspapers well before Saddam declared war on Iran. Many of those executed in the 1988 Massacre had even finished serving their sentences and should have been freed. In fact what determined whether the prisoners faced summary executions by the Kangaroo courts, set up to wipe away any remnants of the opposition for the post-war era, was not whether they were MeK or not, as Gary Sick wanted to believe, but whether they answered Yes to one of these questions:

1- Do you believe in God?
2- Are you prepared to publicly denounce your affiliated organisation?

And when they were asked these questions, they had no idea what the consequences of their answers would be. Those who answered 'No' to one of the above were taken out of the room and executed and all this was justifiable for Gary Sick, Jimmy Carter's former national security adviser.

I recommend watching the film, The Tree that Remembers or reading reports of the recent symbolic tribunal of the 1988 massacre to find out more about the subject for those who want to know more about the subject.

Since that irritating encounter with Gary Sick, I had been urged by many friends to join Sick's Gulf2000 forum. I was told Islamic Republic lobbyists and apologists are very active in this forum and sadly many policy makers are influenced by the information posted there. Frankly however, I had no spare time to get into endless cyber forum discussions with people who either have vested interests or people who just don't want to wake up. Debating with these people is a waste of time and I rather spend my precious little spare time with my loved ones.

It did worry me though every time I was reminded that journalists and policy makers were members of this forum too. Finally, a few weeks ago, I succumbed to requests by friends to join the forum. I thought if I can have even a small contribution to stop some hapless Western politician repeating the Andrew Young syndrome, it may have been worthwhile. Andrew Young was Jimmy Carter's ambassador to UN, who perceived "Ayatollah Khomeini as being Iran's Gandhi".

After some initial resistance and delay by Gary Sick, I was finally given an account to post my stuff on the forum. It was obvious from start that Gary Sick was reluctant to include me. The first thing that became obvious was that Gary Sick himself was the sole moderator and Supreme Leader of G2K, who decided what got circulated to the mailing list and what didn't.

I had posted the recent Times articles on the medicine crisis in Iran, which described how luxury cars and other non-essential items are being imported to the country with government subsidised currency, while the incumbent Iranian health minister at the time, complained how the Central Bank of Iran denied the health ministry the much needed currency for importing medicine with. I also posted  the Times article that exposed the lie which was printed in the Guardian about a haemophiliac boy having died as a result of the hospital not having his drug because of the sanctions - the boy had in fact died in a tragic hiking accident before he even got to the hospital. I also posted my own recent post on this subject. Yet none of these posts were being circulated to the G2K members. Instead what was being circulated was one side's arguments only, the side that claimed sanctions are killing Iran's sick.

The Times articles had also told of a concerted effort by IR to blame the medicine crisis on the sanctions in order to vamp up a grass root campaign in the West against the sanctions and on the G2K forum, I was seeing the regime lobbyists and apologists, hard at work,  doing everything they could to induce the people in the West into thinking that it was the Western sanctions which were killing the sick in Iran.

When the Guardian came up with yet another cock and bull story about the medicine crisis which completely ignored their previous lie about the haemophiliac boy tragedy, Sick was quick to circulate the article again. I complained strongly and cc'd some other members on the forum asking why Gary Sick is just circulating one side of the story to his mailing list?

Sick made up an excuse that the Times articles were protected by a pay wall and he did not have subscription to the Times. It was of course a feeble excuse, my blog posts were not protected by a pay wall and they were not circulated either and in any case, I had copied and pasted the entire content of the Times articles. At the end of a lot of wrangling and emailing, Sick was forced to circulate just one of the Times articles I had posted, which resulted in this reaction against the Times journalist Hugh Tomlinson, by one of the Forum members, Grant L. Hopkins:

"Mr. Tomlinson should get a grip & consult a medical professional-- or spend some of the Times quid and buy an opinion on Harley Street..And check his emotions at the door. Or perhaps should have called the midwife.Lying is a matter of state practice. Hypocrisy inbred from a 100 year gruel of "royal" dna. Cowardice and intellectual dishonesty a matter of daily behavior.Let us all remember that 15 year old Kuwaiti Ambassador's daughter testifying in front of Congress about rape of Kuwaiti nurses by Iraqi troops.Grant L. Hopkins"

The G2K forum rules stipulate "comments or materials that are offensive, demeaning or ad hominem" will not get posted, yet Grant Hopkins's reply seemed to be just those thing and yet were ignored by the Supreme Moderator, Gary Sick.

Grant Hopkins's reply was followed by Michael Metrinko, who said "The effects of sanctions can really only be understood by people on the ground" to which I replied "Exactly! and one of the people who was on the ground until a few days ago, was the former Iranian health minister who repeated time and time again that sanctions were not the reason for the medicine crisis but that

the Central Bank of Iran was instead giving the money that should have been allocated to import medicine with to non-essential and luxury goods like cosmetics, shovel handles and horse saddles. Yet some people who are NOT on the ground, but have a vested interest, insist that the medicine crisis in Iran is because of sanctions!!"

Then came Farid Marjai, who seemed to think everything written by the Guardian was the gospel truth . This was Farid Marjai's reply which was circulated by Gary Sick:
"I wonder if Mr. Azarmehr would include the Guardian newspaper as part of the Western elements that have vested interest?  The article by Julian Borger, titled "Iran unable to get life-saving drugs due to international sanctions"
"

So, I replied :
"Dear Seyyed Farid Marjai

I don't think the Guardian have a vested interest other than they try

to please their  readers and to appeal to their niche market, but the

people who have manipulated Saeed Kamali and Julian Borger to write

these articles certainly do have a more sinister vested interest. In the latest Guardian article that you

refer to, one of the sources mentioned is, Siamak Namazi (AKA Atieh

Bahar :) ), who certainly has vested interests and connections to the

Rafsanjani faction.

In fact propagating the myth which blames sanctions for the medicine

crisis in Iran, all seem to originate from sources who have

ties/connections to Fatemeh Rafsanjani. Readers may be interested to

know that Fatemeh Rafsanjani has been in charge of importing specialised

medicine into Iran since 1995.

For example, the Guardian lie about the haemophiliac boy dying as the

result of sanctions on Iran, was propagated by Ahmad Ghavidel, former

class mate of Manouchehr Mottaki and now a crony of Fatemeh

Rafsanjani. Similarly, Atieh Bahar, which has conducted the "on the

ground" research :)),  is well known for its connections to

Rafsanjani.

In fact this lobbying and manipulating of Western media to blame the

drugs crisis in Iran on sanctions, for me has become a litmus test to

see who is connected to the Rafsanjani clan.

Manoto TV, which is the most popular Iranian TV watched in Iran, did

an excellent news VT on the day the Guardian article you refer to was

printed. They talked to people "on the ground", health workers and

companies concerned, who clearly indicated the medicine crisis was

nothing to do with sanctions as explained by the former Iranian health

minister.

I am new to this forum,  but I am told a lot of policy makers are

here. I sincerely hope they don't consider newspapers like the

Guardian as Gospel, as Seyyed Farid Marjai seems to do, and base their

information on Guardian articles."

and gave just one example of how wrong the Guardian have been in the past:

"Just one example on how wrong the Guardian can be, is the Haystack

hoax which the newspaper extensively publicised. Haystack was a

non-existent software that claimed to be used by Iranians to by-pass

the Islamic Republic internet filtering. Guardian was full of praise

for this non-existent product and even awarded the fraudster, Austin

Heap, who was spearheading the Haystack project, with their Technology

Innovation Award :)). Even the gullible US state department people

were fooled and issued special export exemption for this

anti-filtering tool that did not exist. At the end, the whole saga was

so embarrassing that the US State Dept had to carry out a damage

limitation exercise by saying there were "security holes" found in

Haystack's software. THERE WAS NO Haystack and I am proud that I was

the one who proved Guardian wrong by exposing the fraud. At the time

people similar to Seyyed Farid Marjai must have also been saying "but the Guardian

can't be wrong!"

I had told Guardian's Saeed Kamali about Haystack and Austin Heap too,

but sadly he ignored me and featured the fraudster in his HBO

documentary about Neda. He is very embarrassed when I remind him of

that."

Well that was it! This reply was somehow too much for Gary Sick and I was removed from his G2K forum immediately without my reply to Farid Marjai being circulated to the forum. The sick leftover of Carter's administration who naively continues to recommend diplomacy and dialogue with the Islamic Republic has no stomach for hearing an opposing view to his deluded misconceptions of the Islamic Republic, in particular when something is mentioned about the Rafsanjanis. Gary Sick seems to be more concerned about protecting Rafsanjani than the interests of his own country, perhaps he thinks Rafsanjani is the new Gandhi of Iran :))

The Joy of Having a Mother for a Moment

There were many people today who were overjoyed with the news of jailed Iranian Human Rights lawyer,  Nasrin Sotoudeh having been granted a three day leave from Evin prison, and this picture of Nasrin Sotoudeh with her son, Nima, topped it all. A moment of sheer joy worth a million words that both the mother and child are dearly clinging on to and hoping it would never end.

The picture reminded me of a Persian poem I had to recite in front of the whole school in Iran on Mother's Day.  I was barely nine years old and two things worried me most on that day;  the natural fear of forgetting the verses while standing up in front of the whole school and even a greater concern about how a class mate of mine, who had lost his mother, would feel when he heard the words.

At the end, the whole enormity of the occasion engraved the verses of the poetry in my mind forever. As usual when translating Persian poetry, all I can say is, it never sounds as good as the original, its the best I can do.

To have a crown that dazzles to the end of the horizon
To be able to wear that crown for ever

To be surrounded by gifts and lures during the day
and to have a lover as beautiful as the moon by night

To have the affluence and esteem of Solomon
and to have the glory and the splendour of Alexander

To live at the pinnacle of power forever
and to be able to mock the world at your feet

Are all utterly worthless in comparison
with the joys of having a mother for just a moment

Whatever This Man Suggests, Do the Opposite

As the revenue pot in the Islamic Republic is getting smaller and smaller, the factional fighting is getting more intense. This factional fighting is real and it is serious but there are still limits and boundaries which the ruling factions will not cross. These limits and boundaries are still what is keeping the system more or less afloat. The regime’s security projects for its survival are paramount amongst these limits and boundaries that must not be crossed.

The return of Mehdi Hashemi, Rafsanjani's son, to Iran and his subsequent arrest was one such manifestation of factional fighting in the Islamic Republic. To fully understand each faction's motives, one must go back to the time Rafsanjani was Iran's strong man.

During the peak of Rafsanjani's power, Hossein Taeb, worked as an interrogator in the regime’s prisons. Some of the prisoners who came his way had information about the extensive corruption of the Rafsanjani clan. Taeb, in order to endear himself to the Supreme Leader, passed his interrogation findings to  Ayatollah Khamenei, who at the time, was steadily putting together his power bases.

Taeb eventually suffered the Rafsanjani wrath for his cloak and dagger mischiefs and was put in prison. The man who once made prisoners suffer was now at the receiving end himself. The pressure on Taeb was so great that at the age of thirty, he suffered a stroke in prison. Taeb's future seemed doom and gloom until Khamenei intervened and he was released. This was the foundation stone of what became Taeb's intense hatred towards the Rafsanjanis and his un-wavered loyalty to the Supreme Leader and especially towards the Supreme Leader's son Mojtaba.

When Rafsanjani's son, Mehdi Hashemi made a misjudgement to return to Iran to escape a $13 Million court judgement made against him in a civil suit in Canada, he was arrested and taken to prison. According to Islamic Republic law, a prisoner can be detained without being charged for a maximum of one month, but when did they even observe their own laws in the Islamic Republic? Especially now that Mehdi Hashemi was in the hands of Taeb's gang, who were determined to extract enough information from their prize catch to throw the key away for good. Instead rumours started circulating that Mehdi Hashemi will soon be released.

Following these rumours, two audio files were released on the cyberspace. These were taped conversations of Mehdi Hashemi, when he was outside Iran, with a dissident exiled journalist and famous Iranian cartoonist, Nikahang Kowsar. The tapes were handed to the Canadian courts as evidence, after strangely enough, Hashemi’s lawyers had requested them.

The audio tapes did not receive much publicity in the Western press but they went viral on the Persian cyberspace in no time. They revealed clandestine efforts by the Rafsanjani clan to regain much of their lost power and their role in the Green Movement. The anti-Rafsanjani factions, known in the West as hardliners or “The Principal-ists”  were delighted with the contents of the audio tapes.

Many theories started to circulate as to who was responsible for releasing the audio tapes. Some said it was the work of Rafsanjanis themselves, in order to make themselves more popular with the people of Iran by showing their efforts in opposing the Supreme Leader and hardliners. Some argued that it must have been the rival factions, who feared Rafsanjanis were still powerful enough to get away and needed more damning evidence against them in the public domain to ensure the Rafsanjani’s were finished. Regardless of the these different theories, everyone eagerly awaited the next audio tapes. When the first two were released, it was claimed there were twenty audio files altogether.

The third audio tape that was released was just as damning. That too went viral and the anti-Rafsanjani factions within the regime were delighted. A week later, the fourth audio tape was released too. Mehdi Hashemi, in this fourth audio tape, was giving information about Ahmadinejad’s trip to New York and sharing a joke about Ahamdinejad buying a vibrator. If it was any other Iranian dissident, this last audio tape would have meant the end, yet amazingly, even the hardliners, even the most vocal anti-Rafsanjani of them were silent! Even more amazingly, Mehdi Hashemi was freed albeit on bail!

What was in this tape that made even the hardliners go mute? The fourth audio, as well as information about the shopping sprees of Ahamdienjad’s entourage to UN and jokes about him buying a vibrator, contained information about Seyed Hussein Moussavian’s mission in America.  This former Islamic Republic ambassador in Germany during the peak of Islamic Republic led assassinations in Europe and a member of Iran’s nuclear negotiating team is now in Princeton university in US. He has been charming the pants off Obama’s Iran policymakers and advising them on how to deal with the Islamic Republic.

The best advise however, may be, whatever this man tells you to do; DO THE EXACT OPPOSITE!

Tehran Yearns for a Fresh Breeze

 Once again, Tehran was shut down today as air pollution  reached dangerous levels. The shutdown today, included all schools, educational places, government offices, banks, factories and production units that burn oil to operate with. All sporting events and exercises in open air were cancelled. Only one university, Payam Nour, was allowed to hold its exams but the rest of universities postponed their exams. Only staff at medical emergency places were required to go to work.

Earlier this week, the authorities had once again introduced the "odd/even number plate" plan. This plan requires vehicles with the licence number plates that end in odd or even numbers to be driven only on alternate odd/even days. It was hoped that the reduction in the traffic would reduce the air pollution, but it was not enough.

Ambulances were stationed in 5 main squares throughout Tehran to cater for people with heart or respiratory problems who were affected by the pollution. The casualty figures as a result of the air pollution are horrendous. Hasan Aghajani, an advisor to the Health Ministry, in an interview on state TV said, "in the last few days, 30% more patients were admitted into hospitals as a result of pollution related problems in Tehran" Aghajani also stated 4460 deaths were related to the air pollution in Tehran.

Massoumeh Ebtekar, known as Mary to the rest of the world, as the spokesperson for the US embassy hostage takers in the eighties and  now head of Tehran Municipality Environmental Committee, said most of Iran's major cities are suffering from dangerous levels of pollution.

She also said there are solutions available to combat the pollution but the will is not there.

Ahmadinejad's first deputy, Mohamad Reza Rahimi, is not happy about the emergency steps to reduce traffic. "We can not stop people from earning a living by driving their cars just for the sake of reducing air pollution" he told reporters.

This is a failed revolution on ALL levels. Iran's natural resources are being squandered, lakes are drying up, economy is in a downward spiral, historic heritage and landmarks of Iran are being destroyed and the country is facing an environmental catastrophe.

In the old days, it was a pleasure looking north and seeing the magnificent Alborz mountains, I was told today by a friend in Tehran, that he couldn't even see the end of his street, let alone the mountains to the north.

The two pictures above show how the Milad Tower, built after the revolution as a landmark to signify the greatness of the 1979 revolution, has disappeared from the view as a result of the pollution and the video below shows the cracks and the dilapidation of another iconic landmark in Tehran, the Shahyad or as they renamed it after the revolution, the Freedom Tower. The engineer who managed the original project, pines with bitterness at how the iconic landmark is facing ruin as a result of neglect and mismanagement. Even the thick waterproof slabs around the tower were taken out and replaced with porous thinner slabs which are now allowing water to leak and flood the foundations of the tower.

The longer this regime remains, the more likelihood that there will be no Iran left to rebuild.