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#1 Iran's new President, a blast from the past.

Posted: Thu Jun 30, 2005 8:59 am
by frigidmagi
BBC
The surprise victory of Mahmoud Ahmadinejad in the Iranian presidential election means that religious conservatives now have a monopoly on power controlling all of the elected and appointed institutions that govern the country.

But what does Mr Ahmadinejad's victory mean beyond Iran's own borders and what does it imply for European Union-led efforts to halt Iran's nuclear enrichment programme?

The new president has had little or no experience in foreign policy matters.

He waged a domestically orientated populist campaign focusing on poverty, social justice and the distribution of wealth inside Iran.

He did make it clear that he would fight for Iran's right to enrich uranium for a civil nuclear power programme, but this has become almost a nationalist credo on the part of many Iranians who feel that the international community is trying to deny their country a capability enjoyed by many others.

So in this sense the outside world has little to go on. Indeed how this election outcome is assessed depends very much on the expectations held when the campaign began.

Hopes on Rafsanjani

US President George W Bush dismissed the election out of hand before a single vote was cast.

Despite offering diplomatic support to the EU effort to negotiate away Iran's nuclear programme, many in Washington still believe that Iran is bent on developing nuclear weapons.

This school of thought may paradoxically welcome Mr Ahmadinejad's victory since it may clarify the Iranian position.

But in many European capitals, hopes had been pinned on the man Mr Ahmadinejad defeated, Ali Akbar Hashemi Rafsanjani.

He was seen as potentially a more moderate figure who might open the way to a rapprochement between Iran and the US.

Either way Iran's next diplomatic steps are going to be watched very closely, not just in the US and Europe, but also in Iraq where the Tehran government remains an important regional player.
Yup, the clerics had enough of pussy footing around with moderates and backed a man after their own hearts. An old fashioned Iranian revolutionary, how old fashioned? Wellll....

BBC
Three Iranians involved in the 1979 seizure of hostages at the US embassy in Tehran have denied allegations that the new president took part.

Some of the former hostages have said they recognise President-elect Mahmoud Ahmadinejad among their captors.

Mr Ahmadinejad's office has strongly denied the reports.

Mohsen Mirdamadi, who was the leader of the hostage takers, told the BBC that Mr Ahmadinejad had never been with them even for one minute.

Another top student leader, Abbas Abdi, also denied the allegations as did Hamid Reza Jalaiepour, another hostage-taker.

Mr Jalaiepour said the president-elect was a student from the science and technology university which was more radical than them.

The three former students are now reformists who oppose hardliners like Mr Ahmadinejad, and would have no reason to hide his involvement now.

Photographs have appeared on the internet showing a young bearded man leading a blindfolded American hostage - alleging that this was Mr Ahmadinejad a quarter of a century ago.

But the man in the photograph appears much taller than Mr Ahmadinejad, and looks nothing like other pictures of him as a student which can be found on his website.
So how's the Iranian people feeling about this? Guys?

BBC
Iranian bloggers have been reacting to the landslide victory of hardliner Mahmoud Ahmadinejad, with a mixture of shock, anger, despair, cynicism and irony.

Some acknowledge Mr Ahmadinejad's success in reaching out to the country's poor, while others doubt that the vote could have made any difference to the country's future.

Iran's weblogs, which represent one of the largest web communities in the world, are seen as mainly the preserve of the urban middle class and liberal-leaning people both inside and outside the country.

Their voices are not heard by the mainstream conservative media and the blogs have become a popular forum for dissent. It is the first time that the Iranian blogs have had the chance to be involved in a presidential election campaign.

As an outsider, Mr Ahmadinejad had been virtually ignored by bloggers until he came second in the first round of voting a week ago.

Humiliation and disgrace

But there was no mistaking the feelings of many in the community about the new president.


I have already left depression behind and I do not care any longer - but this is a disgrace
Ali Moazzami in Inja va aknun
"Iranian Taleban are coming!" writes Vahid on Iran Scan.

"It happened! What we were all afraid of," complains the blogger known as Mr Behi.

"Look who is leaving, Khatami, the intellectual that we were proud of, and see who is coming, a hard line conservative, who makes it humiliating to be Iranian."

Mr Behi suggests that the hardline victory will play into the hands of Iran's enemies.

"I think those who would like the US to attack Iran are loving this most," he says. "The stupid ideas of these conservatives will make it easy to justify it."

For some, there was deep depression, or worse.

" I can still analyse the situation. But the problem is that I can no longer understand my own analysis... I have already left depression behind and I do not care any longer. But this is a disgrace," says Tehran-based Ali Moazzami in Inja va aknun.

Inevitably, many bloggers have been trying to inject humour into the situation.

"Ahmadinejad wins big. True to form, one of our more prominent writers characterises this seminal event so memorably as the victory of ignorance over injustice!" writes "h" on the Brooding Persian site.

Nema, on Iranian Truth, points out one of the additional problems the new president may have created for the West:

"It's official - I guarantee [US President] Bush will never mention Ahmadinejad by his name simply because he won't be able to. Although at least now news commentators on CNN won't be struggling when they say 'Khamenei, Khomeini and Khatami'."

Who to blame?

Farideh Nicknazar, writing on Iran Scan before the result was announced, says the election is a victory for the ruling clerical elite and in particular Supreme Leader Ali Khamenei.


Rafsanjani should have realised that a defeated politician should leave the scene or come back with a facelift
Mehdi Jami in Sibestan
"The true winner is Khamenei himself," he says. "He played the game of politics better than anyone could have imagined. He is now the spiritual leader in control of the presidency.

"In a nutshell, Iran is once again on the verge of falling into yet another dictatorship."

The reformist movement became a target of bloggers for its perceived failures under the last president, Mohammad Khatami.

"Dear Mr Khatami! Thank you for failing to understand the people and shortening the gaps. Your reluctance created a situation in which reformists were no longer a choice and their rivals won the nation's confidence," writes Canada-based Niakahang Kosar.

'Back to the revolution'

Others blamed another former president, the losing candidate Ali Akbar Hashemi Rafsanjani, who for many Iranians seems to represent corruption and economic failure.

"Rafsanjani ... should have known that Ayatollah Khamenei had made up his mind," says the UK-based Mehdi Jami in Sibestan.

"He is too proud to know that it was not a matter of people's choice. He should have realised that a defeated politician should leave the scene or come back with a facelift."

Mr Rafsanjani's failures were clearly exploited by his opponent, says the Toronto-based Hossein Derakhshan of hoder.com

"Rafsanjani is facing the outcome of his own carelessly designed economic policies which also continued during Khatami's term," he says.

"Ahmadinejad ... represents frustrated people who have to work at least two jobs to make a basic living, let alone sending their children to universities.

"They seek help from a man who not only looks like early revolutionaries, but also promises a return to the early principles and methods of the revolution, in a bluntly old-fashioned way."
Yippie fucking Doo.