'Modern Islamic' Iran

[Byzantine Prince]

modern islamic iran - CNN - link

TEHRAN, Iran -- In his first public statement since his landslide victory, Iran's President-elect Mahmoud Ahmadinejad has said he wants to create a "modern, advanced and Islamic" role model for the world.

I, for one, am excited. Discuss. Yes right NOW!!!

[JAG]

I am slightly worried, mainly due to his seemingly disgust at America and the west in general and his seemingly want to be in isolation and have no contact / talks with the west.

Hmmmm. :/

[Proletariat]

Not content with fixing the entire process by eliminating any real candidates, not content with fixing the first round of balloting to eliminate any half real candidates, the Mullah's have fixed the whole thing in order to take Iran back to the dark ages.

What a f*cking joke.

[GoreBag]

I'll give him the benefit of the doubt. I look forward to seeing a modernised Iran.

[Proletariat]

A big step back. I fear that people will just lose the will to fight. Untill the supreme leaders drop dead. Iran will stay the way it is...a nightmare. Imagine being a 22yr old Iranian liberal... talk about a blow to the gut. Sometimes we forget how good we have it and something like this just reinforces it.

[caesar44]

I belive it is all a conspiracy of the jews to make the iranians look's bad in the eyes of the west



"Before attacking , make sure you know who is your enemy" (some one , i am sure some one said it)

[Byzantine Prince]

Not content with fixing the entire process by eliminating any real candidates, not content with fixing the first round of balloting to eliminate any half real candidates, the Mullah's have fixed the whole thing in order to take Iran back to the dark ages.

What a f*cking joke.

For one thing the opposition is a mullah and a favorite of Khomeini since the beggining. This guy was democratically elected, or as democratically as it gets. Of course there are mistakes and little slip ups, but overall he would still get more votes.

Secondly, it would be great if they went back to the dark ages. If you recall the dark ages were the time when the islamic world was at it's height of civilization and yes even *tolerance* for others. It has gone downhill since then though, to be honest, with extremists taking the word of the Koran to match their own dictatorial views.

[PanzerJaeger]

For one thing the opposition is a mullah and a favorite of Khomeini since the beggining. This guy was democratically elected, or as democratically as it gets. Of course there are mistakes and little slip ups, but overall he would still get more votes.

The real opposition was removed long before the election.

Ask yourself why the race was so close at first - close enough to have a run off, but then the winner of the run off got over 60% of the vote. Did all those people have a change of heart?

Yet another "People's Republic" that isnt the people's and certainly isnt a real republic.

[bmolsson]

As long as there are not better alternatives, what should the Iranian people do ??
Does anyone here actually believe that a west friendly candidate would have a chance with Iraq invaded and everyone talking about invading Syria or Iran ???

[Tribesman]

Ask yourself why the race was so close at first - close enough to have a run off, but then the winner of the run off got over 60% of the vote. Did all those people have a change of heart?
Simple mathematics or evil conspiracy ?
Lets see , when there are more than two candidates then people vote for more than two people but two people get a similar number of votes , then a rerun with only two candidates and one gets more votes than the other .
Yep definately an evil conspiracy.

Though your are right with this part ...
The real opposition was removed long before the election.
But then you should add that some of the real opposition (albeit only a very few) were allowed to stand after the supreme leader intervened and made the council reverse their descision on the list of excluded candidates .

Now for the intermission .....
Don't you think its great that a humble lowly blacksmith can , through hard work and dedication , rise above his station and achieve high office in the service of his country . It's just like the "American Dream" but with more sand

[Papewaio]

All women candidates where removed from running as where quite a few other candidates who did not meet the requirements of the ruling theocracy. A lot of people did not vote out of protest.

Add to it that the person who was the prior President was know as a stronger reformist, it is not a step forward.

[doc_bean]

The former president was accused of keeping a lot of oil money for himself. The new president promised to share the wealth. He's a bit like Chavez I guess.

From the CNN interviews it seems like people accept his victory and that the election was probably not fixed in this stage. Although most people probably didn't even vote because of the limited choice.

The new president has said that he didn't want a 'stronger' Islam, he wouldn't force the women into a burka. At least that's something. I think we should judge him after he's been president for a while, it's not like the previous 'reformer' president managed to do much...

[bmolsson]

Add to it that the person who was the prior President was know as a stronger reformist, it is not a step forward.

So if the conservative Republicans win a president election in US, it's a step backwards.....

[bmolsson]

The new president has said that he didn't want a 'stronger' Islam, he wouldn't force the women into a burka. At least that's something. I think we should judge him after he's been president for a while, it's not like the previous 'reformer' president managed to do much...

Actually if he forced womens to carry burka or not is irrelevant. The important part is his stand on terrorism and nukes.......

[Tribesman]

Although most people probably didn't even vote because of the limited choice.
In truth doc , voter turnout was quite high , by any standards, they even had to extend the opening times of the polls to accomodate them all .

[Proletariat]

If anyone thinks this is anything other than a stepback for the liberalization of Iran, you've taken leave of your senses.

You can't really be doubting whether the Iranian election was fraudulent.

www.denverpost.com/nation...ci_2811195

www.iranfocus.com/modules...oryid=2444

en.wikinews.org/wiki/Iran...eges_fraud

Khatami clearly wants to move forward, as do the people of Iran, but the populace seriously needs to grow a spine and start agitating for more change.

[Byzantine Prince]

Khatami clearly wants to move forward, as do the people of Iran, but the populace seriously needs to grow a spine and start agitating for more change.
Oh please, Khatami is mullah for Pluto's sakes. He won't ever reform anything as long as the 'bosses back home' give all the orders.

I think this new extremist guy will be good. He out to enrage everyone there even more so there is a US-backed counter-revolution, and this whole thing will be fixed.

[ICantSpellDawg]

Khatami clearly wants to move forward, as do the people of Iran, but the populace seriously needs to grow a spine and start agitating for more change.
Oh please, Khatami is mullah for Pluto's sakes. He won't ever reform anything as long as the 'bosses back home' give all the orders.

I think this new extremist guy will be good. He out to enrage everyone there even more so there is a US-backed counter-revolution, and this whole thing will be fixed.

id tend to agree more with this - as country becomes more hardline it can either become a nightmare or break under pressure

and im really uninformed as it goes - the opposition was a former president? what makes us think that he would have definitely opened iran up? the elections seem to be a model for how to use democracy as a front for a theocratic dictatorship, but i am not too sure that any outcome of an officially sanctioned iranian election would have done much to change status quo any time soon

iran isnt my specialty, to be honest

[Gawain of Orkeny]

Does anyone here actually believe that a west friendly candidate would have a chance with Iraq invaded and everyone talking about invading Syria or Iran ???

Yes. The question is would the Mullahs ever allow one to run. Have any of you heard how political dissidents are treated in Iran? Anyone who believes this guy is who most Iranians would pick if they really had a choice needs their heads examined. Didnt they have a little test on all the candidates to make sure they were good Muslims? And wasnt it up to some Islamic council to determine this?

[BDC]

Well if he's closer to the real religious theocracy then something might actually happen (unlike the past few years where everything has been blocked). Of course he might do something stupid, like test a nuclear bomb. Then it won't matter because Iran will be a big radioactive crater.

And he brushed aside questions on human rights in the Islamic republic, accusing European nations of suppressing religious rights and "other countries" of seeking "world domination".

Oh that's funny. Accusing Europeans of suppressing religious rights whilst being head of state of a theocracy.

http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/world/mid...st/4624193.stm

[Don Corleone]

I'll bet cash if you did a poll, like the China one, most Europeans feel more warmly towards and support Iran's policy's over the USA's. Not sure where Canada would line up, they're pretty sore with us these days, granted, but that sore?

Guys, it matters not a whittle who the President over there is. Khatami has been in power for years, and if anything, it's caused a backlash among the religious police.

We in the West have to accept that the Islamic Revolution was not a transitory event. There is a cadre of hardcore theocrats who hate the West and everything we stand for. They are not going anywhere. Which puppet they put out in front to dance for them makes very little difference, except that the way I read the chicken bones on this, it signals that at least in their minds, the Iranian mullahs thought they had been cooperating with the world, and they intend to pull back from that.

[BDC]

I'll bet cash if you did a poll, like the China one, most Europeans feel more warmly towards and support Iran's policy's over the USA's. Not sure where Canada would line up, they're pretty sore with us these days, granted, but that sore?

Yeah probably. But you never take European public opinion at face value. You try not to acknowledge it at all if possible. Hence the constitution falling apart because the politicians foolishly allowed referendums on it.

[Ice]

Nuclear program

"Acquiring peaceful nuclear technology is the demand of the whole Iranian nation, and the rulers as representatives of the people must put all their efforts into realising this demand."

"Those who are in negotiations are frightened and do not know the people ... A popular and fundamentalist government will quickly change the country's stance in favour of the nation."

U.S. relations

"Relations with the United States are not a cure for our ills."

"The Islamic Republic of Iran has no fear about restoring ties but ... how to carry it out must be studied so that the independence, pride and self-esteem of the Iranian nation will not be harmed."

Oh goody, another winner. God, i really did hope the reformist would have won, but no the ulta conservatist has to. I find this quote really funny:

"We did not have a revolution in order to have a democracy."

[doc_bean]

"We did not have a revolution in order to have a democracy."

Isn't that true ?

Also, better ties with the US will sooner happen if you make it seem like you're using them rather than complying to their demands, I've seen worse statements made by Western politicians.

[Dâriûsh]

What a sham!


The military was involved in the electoral process. They (the Basiji and the Revolutionary Guards) went from door to door to ‘mobilize’ voters. Sadly, I suspect that the resent towards the United States also had something to do with it. They talked about ‘humiliating America’.


Ey Irân.

[Ice]

A big step back. I fear that people will just lose the will to fight. Untill the supreme leaders drop dead. Iran will stay the way it is...a nightmare. Imagine being a 22yr old Iranian liberal... talk about a blow to the gut. Sometimes we forget how good we have it and something like this just reinforces it.

Agreed.

[Dâriûsh]

Anyone remember the terror bombings in Ahvâz, just five days before the election? Though Arab separatists claimed to be behind the attacks, the authorities blamed the People's Mujahadin, a group supposedly funded by the Americans. Everything goes in the propaganda war.

A big step back. I fear that people will just lose the will to fight. Untill the supreme leaders drop dead. Iran will stay the way it is...a nightmare. Imagine being a 22yr old Iranian liberal... talk about a blow to the gut. Sometimes we forget how good we have it and something like this just reinforces it.

This whole thing could end badly. Half the population of Iran is under the age of 25, and it seems people are getting a bit fed up with the tyranny of the Clergy. Violent reactions are no longer uncommon, there have been incidents of mobs torching police cars and using homemade bombs against authorities and vigilante crowd-dispersers.


Not to mention vandalism against mosques and attacks on regime figureheads, of which you will find no mention in the official press.

[Steppe Merc]

Heh. I'm agreeing with Proletariot on this one. I really don't think this is a step foward at all. But I hope I'm wrong...

And it is sad that many of the ones that actually want change turn to violence... it may seem like there is nothing else to do, but it is always sad when people resort to violence.

[Proletariat]

This whole thing could end badly. Half the population of Iran is under the age of 25, and it seems people are getting a bit fed up with the tyranny of the Clergy. Violent reactions are no longer uncommon, there have been incidents of mobs torching police cars and using homemade bombs against authorities and vigilante crowd-dispersers.

Do you believe there is actual change possible? I've been hearing these rumblings about Iran's youth for ages.

[PanzerJaeger]

How can you talk like that Dâriûsh? Arent you afraid for your safety? You're in the belly of the proverbial beast!