Iranian president claims he was surrounded by 'holy light' during UN speech.

[Divisive Cotton]

I do think Bush and this Iranian guy are as bad as each other.

However the Iranian President's speeches are alot more extreme, probably due to the nature of his country. I'd say he was slightly more mad than Bush is.

Maybe we should have a vote and settle it now....

 

[Hanoipete]

Iran is very similar to the US but with one exception, less subtlty. Also the US is far more violent internally - they do sixteen Iraqs a year at home - and has killed millions more externally. 5.5 million in the South East Asian holocaust alone.

Also there are no democracies on planet earth, only different forms of oligarchy. The US is an oligarchy in which power rests around capital, in Iran it rests around capital and interpretation of religion.

The political class of both countries are backwards and self righteous and should be executed. Debating with them is a waste of time. Kill them all.

 

[slaar]

Don't hold back Hanoipete, tell us what you really think.

 

[Hanoipete]

if debate got us anywhere we'd live in paradise.

the only language the political global elite understands is violence.

they should be exterminated. all of them.

and no i dont care who does it, why or how.

 

[Roadkill]

Oh Christ, not another nutjob obsessed with some mythical global elite that pulls all the strings...

 

[oi2002]

Kind of an uneven segue into the Cheney story.

Yup, and this isn't much related either UPI .

 

[sparticus]

Are british elections rigged also?

They are certainly a sham that give the pretence of choice and accopuntability whilst totally removing any possibility of anything too dangerous (to the ruling elite's interests) from being elected, but they would appear not to be rigged in the same blatant way that the 2005 Iranian elections and 2000 and 2004 US elections were

 

[sparticus]

Oh Christ, not another nutjob obsessed with some mythical global elite that pulls all the strings...

FYI the world does have a powerful elite and it does make decisions that affect us all. Nothing mythical about that

 

[sleaterkinney]

Has no-one mentioned William "Jerry" Boykin, the deputy undersecretary of state of defence?

He also emerged from the conflict with a photograph of the Somalian capital Mogadishu bearing a strange dark mark. He has said this showed "the principalities of darkness. . . a demonic presence in that city that God revealed to me as the enemy"

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/main.jhtml?xml=/news/2003/10/17/wboyk17.xml

 

[nino_savatte]

Has no-one mentioned William "Jerry" Boykin, the deputy undersecretary of state of defence?

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/main.jhtml?xml=/news/2003/10/17/wboyk17.xml

He's been promoted??????

 

[Roadkill]

FYI the world does have a powerful elite and it does make decisions that affect us all. Nothing mythical about that

Makes decisions that affect us all - not pulls all the strings.

Of course there's a global elite - it's called the ruling class. But that's visible and identifiable, and rather different from the fantasy about some shadowy small cabal of people who plot everything from 9/11 to the framing of Ian Huntley (yes, that was suggested by some lovers of conspiracy...)

 

[Streathamite]

Makes decisions that affect us all - not pulls all the strings.

Of course there's a global elite - it's called the ruling class. But that's visible and identifiable, and rather different from the fantasy about some shadowy small cabal of people who plot everything from 9/11 to the framing of Ian Huntley (yes, that was suggested by some lovers of conspiracy...)

may have misread him but I don't think hanoipete was suggesting that...

 

[oi2002]

It's that man again! Haaretz:

DAMASCUS - In a new attack on the existence of Israel, Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad has challenged Europe to take back the Jews who emigrated to Israel, adding that no Jews would remain in Israel if Europe were to open its doors."

 

[nino_savatte]

He's a loon for sure.

 

[spring-peeper]

Nonsense, Bush and Blair are in the business of myth-making...

and you guys are the myth-busters

(sorry - I have a bizarre sense of humour this morning)

 

[nino_savatte]

and you guys are the myth-busters

(sorry - I have a bizarre sense of humour this morning)

You can laugh all you like, peeper but would you be able to spot a myth if it poked you in the eye?

 

[spring-peeper]

You can laugh all you like, peeper but would you be able to spot a myth if it poked you in the eye?

oh my, somebody is grumpy this morning, n'est pas?

what's the matter? running out of things/posters to attack?

 

[nino_savatte]

oh my, somebody is grumpy this morning, n'est pas?

what's the matter? running out of things/posters to attack?

I could say the same thing about you, peeper. No one's grumpy but I'll tell you what, don't give up your day job.

 

[oi2002]

The Christie article here is interesting perspective on Ahmadinejad:

And there are plenty of conflicting centers of gravity in the Iranian political system. The new Iranian President, Mahmoud Ahmadinejad, has his power center in the Iranian Revolutionary Guard Corps, the SS to the regular Iranian Army’s Wehrmacht. He was elected in opposition to many of the mullahs of the ruling religious establishment, and his main political platform is a vow to take on official corruption—a dagger aimed directly at them.

That being the case, it’s significant that on January 9 a plane crash killed 11 top commanders in the Revolutionary Guard, including the commander of its ground forces. The Iranians have blamed the crash on bad weather and poor material condition of the aircraft as a result of U.S. sanctions. But the aircraft was a French Falcon business jet, and such a VIP aircraft would be expected to have the best of maintenance.

Also, one of President Ahmadinejad’s top security guards in the Revolutionary Guard unit responsible for the personal security of senior Iranian officials was killed on December 14 in an ambush of the presidential motorcade in Sistan and Balochistan province.

I’m not implying we are responsible, mainly because I’m highly skeptical of our competence in this area. But it’s quite possible that there is brewing conflict within the Iranian religious/political establishment.

Flapping his big mouth at the Joos is almost certainly playing to his base.

Pat Lang on the quieter anti-Semitism of many in the ME:

It will probably surprise a lot of people that the notion that the West invented the story of the Holocaust as an excuse for the creation and continuing support of Israel is believed by many in the Arab and Islamic Worlds. There are also many in those parts who think that the "Protocols of the Elders of Zion" is a historical document which somehow "leaked" from within Jewish circles.

The president of Iran is not universally thought of as a "nut" in the Middle East. Many think he is merely indiscreet.

Lang is certainly right about Gulf Kingship Arabs but I haven't found Iranians any more prone to reflexively loath Jews than the French but then the few exiles I know are all Lefties who anger is directed at the Mullahs.

Here's some Iranian TV. Some eigit batting on about the Protocols and another denying the holocaust.

 

[mellowmoose]

What worries me more is the intentions of the people who control Iran who are letting him be there.

The middle east is awash with puppet governments and some very serious behnd the scenes interference from the west. This has been going on for at least the last two centuries.

Western powers have a long history of manipulating the politics of Iran and of supporting the rise of militant Islam. With the neo-cons needing a create a phoney bogey man and rapturists openly welcoming anything that brings

Very true & whats really sad is that all of the puppet governments have long been violating the human rights of its own people.

According to Ahmadinejad, they were probably manipulated by divine forces.

You'll find most leaders talk bollocks and the middle eastern ones are just as manipulative as their western counterparts with the exception that we in the west have far far more blood on our hands.

I think a big part of it is playing to the gallery at home, by taunting the 'Great Satan' ......

Yup, people in the middle east are dissenting in increasing numbers against their own governments. Anything which will deflect attention away is a gd thing.

It's not as if the Iranian regime is exactly loved by its own people, so this could be an exercise in deflecting people's criticisms away from a thoroughly shit government and onto external enemies.

Hardly the first time that's been done, whether in that part of the world or any other...

Very true.

 

[lewislewis]

The political class of both countries are backwards and self righteous and should be executed. Debating with them is a waste of time. Kill them all.

Haha.

 

[Johnny Canuck3]

You'll find most leaders talk bollocks and the middle eastern ones are just as manipulative as their western counterparts with the exception that we in the west have far far more blood on our hands.
.

Talking bollocks is one thing: thinking that you're surrounded by a holy light, is another thing entirely.

 

[oi2002]

Via Armchair Generalist Dubya strokes his base:

You see one of the things that -- (applause) -- one of the inherent parts of my foreign policy is my strong belief that liberty is universal, that everybody desires to be free, that freedom is not just a Western idea, or an American idea, freedom is lodged in the soul of every person. I used -- I put it -- let me put it another way to you, I believe there's an Almighty. And I believe the Almighty's gift is freedom to every single person in this world.

Cunning Realist fails to see the holy light:

But after hearing the crowd of unquestioning Bible-Belters erupt in lusty applause at the president's messianic vision, I understood a bit better why Iran and other nations would be interested in owning the ultimate deterrent.

 

[nino_savatte]

Talking bollocks is one thing: thinking that you're surrounded by a holy light, is another thing entirely.

So is the claim that one "talks to God" or has been "told by God" to go to war.