They were a minority of the whole crowd – but, all the same, this is unprecedented. Is this a sign his government headed for trouble?
In other news, at a Holocaust-denial conference, Ahmadenijad predicted Israel “will soon be wiped out” – but then, it’s not the first time he’s said that.
(The neocons, meanwhile, seem to have found their Iranian Chalabi. :rolleyes: )
Smelling a rat, *agent provacatuer * like.
An agent provocateur is (usually) an undercover agent who infiltrates a political group and goads them to commit some crime for which they can be arrested. So, are you blaming the Iranian secret police or whatever they call it? There’s nothing in the story to indicate the protestors have been arrested.
“Unprecedented” how? Iranian students have certainly protested repressive government before this. It’s true that it’s the first student protest directly against Ahmadinejad himself since he took office.
Can-ny. But somehow I wouldn’t be surprised if something happens to them later, after the present fuss dies down.
But how many times since the 1979 revolution?
Numerous occasions… Both during this administration and further ones. Iranian society has plenty of problems but by middle eastern standards (none too high ones mind you) its pretty open and democratic. Its certainly not a dictatorship…
Several. What about the 1999 Iranian student riots, for instance? And the massive student protests of 2003?
Yesterday I posted a thread on MPSIMS that went like a lead balloon
My comments still stand though
I can’t judge how accurate it is, but in our media there is a very common view that the long-term outlook of the regime is very bleak because of the significant and growing disconnect from the younger generation. Ahmadinejad’s recent trolling is seen as a desperate attempt to reunite the country against some common external enemy.
Here is his latest exploits:
Maybe some of the students are getting the same hinky feeling I am every time I hear this kind of crap spoken by a supposed head of state. Sure seems alarming to ME that a state that is trying to aquire nukes so stubornly is also ratchetting up the rhetoric against Israel (and the US)…but I’m sure I’m jumping at shadows. :dubious:
-XT
It is one of the eternal ironies of the world to me that, having known a godawful number of Iranians in my day (my mom’s second husband is from Ahvaz), the nation seemingly leading the ‘Great Satan’ charge is, in reality, one of the better educated and liberal (no kidding compared to the others) middle eastern states with a relatively strong tradition of elections, freedom, and open thought and discussions.
In fact, disregarding Israel for the moment, it might not be too much to say that Iran is the most ‘western’ of the middle eastern nation-states.
But you’d think that would eventually open up the door for some sort of deal to be struck. Don’t know that it will but you’d think it would.
Turkey.
Ahmadenijad is President of Iran today due solely to the fact that the Bush administration could not pull its head out of its ass and recognize the reality that Iran was ready for change. Our ignorant bluster - the “Axis of Evil” stuff - directly led to an understandably defensive attitude from the Iranian voters. We had our chance to strike a deal, and we blew it.
“Ahmadinejad, who has sparked international outcry by referring to the killing of six million Jews in World War II as a “myth” and calling for Israel to be “wiped off the map,” launched another verbal attack on the Jewish state.”
I never understood the contradiction stated here (and repeated ad nauseum throughout the
decades since the Holocaust): why wouldn’t a dedicated anti-Semite just acknowledge that
“Yes Hitler killed them all and I’m glad he did! Hahahaha!”?
I imagine that some do.
But the Holocaust still generates sympathy in non-jews for the jews. Maybe by denying it, or minimising it, some of that sympathy (and support) will fade in regards to the jews, and Isreal.
AFAICT, since Israel was created in the wake of the Holocaust, if it didn’t really happen, then neither did the creation of Israel.
No, I don’t undertand it either.
Did the Soviet Union get nuked? No. So you cannot draw your conclusion from his analogy. He’s calling for the State of Israel to go, not for the extermination of the Jews.
That could be through repatriation or subsumation within Palestine. And as yet there is no solid evidence Iran is pursuing a nuclear weapons as opposed to a nuclear power option.
White house brushes off CIA reprt
My guess is they probably are but having been lied to once I’m not believing one word the US or the UK say on the matter. Particularly if they once again ignore any contrary evidence.
And if they are, who can blame them with the example of their neighbour before them.
He’s still a nasty, ignorant lunatic though.
Don’t call Jonathan that! No flaming in GD! 