Pro Democracy Movement of Iran (PDMI)

Ahmadinjed's military oligarchy dictatorship

The Ahamdinejad's military Junta runs like a mafia criminal organized crime organization. Corruption Without End by REIHANEH MAZAHERI in Paris 23 Apr 2010 23:4118 Comments

Embezzlement, kickbacks, coverups define the Ahmadinejad administration.

During his first term in office, President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad made anticorruption a central theme, promoting his administration's fight against financial misconduct. Today, not far into his second term, the government that claimed to be the most egalitarian and most pious since the 1979 Revolution now leads and embodies a financial mafia.

This, only two years after the president declared, during a trip to Mashhad, "The government's determination to uproot sources of corruption is resolute, and because of the action already taken, the possibility of any corrupt mark on the body of this government is zero." This, after a half-decade of promises that his government was devoted to crushing financial crime.

//www.pbs.org/wgbh/pages/frontline/tehranbureau/2010/04/corruption-without-end.html

Mammad

1) The ideas are alive and kicking Iranian people in the face all the time. Yes that is very unfortunate. Good news is that people after getting kicked get wise. The ideas don't hold water anymore. If you want to know about Marxism ask Rea or any other person who lived under a Soviet system. They will tell you about it.

2) Do you as a practicing Muslim feel Islam should be in the government? Do you think I should be forced to live by Islamic rule. What if I don't want to, do you want to kill me. That is what Muslims do. They force other people to live by their rules and kill any one who says no. That is why the Islamic state will fail.

If you don't believe me go see for yourself. What happens to a woman who does not put on hijab in a Muslim nation. What happens to a man who eats in Ramadan or drinks a beer or is gay or decides to criticize Mohammad. Islam is intolerant and an Islamic state is intolerant. No way around it and that is why it will fail.

If the West treated Muslims the way Muslims treat non Muslims they would be screaming racism and discrimination. As evidenced by the Swiss vote and any other time a Western nation dared try to reclaim its own heritage.

VPK

That Said I do not see Moussavi as a "Marxist Eslami" but rather

An Islamist pragmatist ...

The question remains is religion compatible with pragmatic thought ? ...

All the more that prior to the elections all these pragmatists belonged to the same camp: The Reformists ...

only to be split amongst themselves since the last Post Election Protests and Clampdown between Pro and Anti Government :

DOCUMENTARY: Training of the Future IRI Political Elite ( ARTE TV)

After all So called left wing sensitivities or let's say compassion for the poor and needy are after all inherent to all religions and was included it on the Islamic Republic's ideological rhetoric at a very early stage when they tried to divide Iranians in two categories: Mostaazaaf ( poor/needy) and Taghouti ( Rich/Royalists) which led to the radicalization of the post revolution trials in the aftermath of the revolution's success and to a Cultural Revolution for which Moussavi's wife Zahra Rahnavard ( herself studied in the Great Satan's American Universities prior to the Revolution) is criticized as having masterminded or participated to an important level in purging Universities of Western influences after being named on the High Council of Cultural Revolution.

That she or her husband may have evolved towards more tolerance for cultural diversity and regret some of their past revolutionary zeal over the past 3 decades is quite possible ... However they Yet have to admit it publically ...

I personally see a much more bold and less ambiguous stance in Mehdi Karroubi who in contrast is a cleric and should normally be much more of a conservative that this so called "open-minded" couple.

My Humble Opinion,

DK

Practicing Islamist lefties

Practicing Islamists always forget to add while they practice a Capitalist life to the fullest themselves as part of their struggle for “social justice” lobbying for the Islamist Rapist Republic to have nuke tops the list of ideals of the Islamist lefties.

Them charlatan Ali Shariati followers are just funny.

FYI/Shah's definition of the Islamic Leftists ...

Since someone brought about this issue in the threads below ...

Shah speaks about The "UnHoly Alliance of Red and Black" aka  " etehade Sorkh va Seyah":

//www.youtube.com/watch?v=SICjWjGoaRE

More Here:

THE RED AND THE BLACK: Shah of Iran denounces the Unholy Alliance (1977/78)

Pari:

Since someone else tried to interpret for you what I had said and did a terrible job of it (perhaps he thought that because he is a prophet he knows everything!), let me explain to you what I meant by Islamic leftist.

I am a practicing Muslim. I deeply believe in Islam as spiritual guide. I also believe that religion should be a private matter, and not mixed with the government.

Now, a leftist believes in social justice: opposes exploitation, believes in redistribution of wealth, opposes colonialism, neocolonialism, empires (such as the US) and wars (unless they are patriotic wars in defense of the homeland), believes in universal health care, believes in affordable education and housing for all, believe in democratic political system, etc.

Therefore a practicing Muslim who believes in social justice as I defined is an Islamic leftist. The Islamic part is emphasized to avoid confusion with Marxism whose base was materialism.

And unlike what the prophet said, the above ideals are very much alive, well, and kicking! 

Mammad

What is Islamic Leftist?

Islamic Leftist (like MKO) is an oxymoron and  is much like (choob e do
sar gohi, az injaa maande va az anja raandeh, Sadegh Hedayat)

Sorry for the choice of words, I am just quoting Hedayat!

Thank you Veiled Prophet of Khorasan

Thank you for that wonderful explanation. That is exactly what I thought an Islamic Leftist was but I wanted to hear it from Mammad since he still seems to believe in it after an obvious failure.  It would be good to know his explanation.  Don't get me wrong.  I don't think we should attack Mousavi as he seems to have stood by what he believes in which is not an easy thing to do considering this brutal regime.  The issue for me is that most of us who claim to want to have a secular democratic system insist that Mousavi does not mean what he says which is 'jomhori eslami na yek kalameh kamter na yek kalameh bishtar'.  We are doing exactly what we did in regards to Khomeini back in 1979.  He kept talking about an Islamic democratic system of government but we just assumed what he meant by that was the same as what we considered to be a true democracy.  Nobody ever challanged him and asked tough questions and we all know the price we paid for it.  Why are we doing it again?   We should not be afraid to debate these kinds of issues.  It has to do with the future of our children. 

Muhammad...you are in denial

"It is Islamic Republic decree that whoever confronts the institute of the judicious Imam, It is mandatory to kill him."
Mir Hossein Mousavi in Keyhan publication, September 20, 1981.

Frankly when it comes to intelligence, I trust Robert Baer a lot more than you.

What do you think Mousavi means by "Islamic republic, not a word more, and not a word less?"

To me it signifies:

31 of above 25% unemployment, 31 years of 30% annual inflation, 31 years of killing, 31 years of corruption, 31 years of lies, 31 years of rape and torture, obviously you have your Green Colored glasses on and are not willing to accept proof and logic.

Do you think Mousavi is a better reformist than Khatami?  Why do you think Khatami could not implement any reforms with all his charm and power?  What makes you think that  lackluster Mousavi has the magic touch to reform Islamic republic?  What is wrong with Islamic republic is the Constitution and the Supreme Leadership and Mousavi supports both.

You might want to read  Abbas Milani's book.  I believe around page 70 where he talks about Mousavi, Ali Akbar Mohtashemi-pour and Hamas... I assume your will not dispute Abbas Milani.

Mohtashemi studied in the holy city of Najaf Iraq,
where he spent considerable time with his mentor the Ayatollah Khomeini. After the revolution he served as
Iran's ambassador to Syria and later became Iran's Minister of the
Interior. While ambassador to Syria, he is thought to have played a
"pivotal role" in the creation of the Lebanese radical Shia organization
Hezbollah,
working "within the framework of the Department for Islamic Liberation
Movements run by the Iranian Pasdaran." Mohtashemi "actively supervised"
Hezbollah's creation, merging into it existing radical Shi'ite
movements: the Lebanese al-Dawa; the
Association of Muslim Students; Al-Amal al-Islamiyya.[5][6][7]
In 1986, when the Office of Islamic Liberation was reassigned to Iran's
Ministry of Foreign Affairs, and his "close supervision" of Hezbollah
was cut short.[8]
He is also described as making "liberal" use of the diplomatic pouch as
Ambassador, bringing in "crates" of material from Iran.[9]

In 1984, after the Beirut bombings, Mohtashemi received a parcel
containing a book on Shia holy places. As he opened the package it
detonated, blowing off his hand and severely wounding him. Mohtashami
was medevaced to Europe and survived the blast to continue his work. The
identity of the perpetrators of the attack is unknown.[10]

In 1989 [11]
the new Iranian president Akbar Hashemi Rafsanjani ousted
Mohtashemi from the Lebanon desk of the Iranian Ministry of Foreign
Affairs, replacing him with Rafsanjani's brother Mahmud Hashemi.[12]
This was seen as an indication of Iran's downgrading of its support for
Hezbollah and for a revolutionary foreign policy in general.[13]

In August 1991 regained some of his influence when he became chairman
of the Defense committee of the Iran" class="mw-redirect">Majlis (parliament) of Iran.[14]

More controversially, Mohtashami is thought

to have played an active role, with the Pasdaran
and Syrian military intelligence, in the supervision of Hezbollah's
suicide bomb attacks against the American
embassy in Beirut in April 1983, the American and French
contingents of the MNF in October 1983 and the
American embassy annex in September 1984.[15][16]

and to have been instrumental in the killing of Lt. Col. Higgins">William Higgins, the American Chief of the United Nations
Truce Supervision Organization's (UNTSO) observer group in Lebanon
who was taken hostage Feb. 17 1988 by Lebanese pro-Iranian Shia
radicals. The killing of Higgins is said to have come "from orders
issued by Iranian radicals, most notably Mohtashemi," in an effort to
prevent "improvement in the U.S.-Iranian relationship." [17]

While Mohtashemi was a strong opponent of Western influence in the
Muslim world and of the existence of the state of Israel,[18]
he was also a supporter and advisor[19]
of reformist Iranian president Khatami">Mohammad Khatami who was famous for championing of free
expression and civil rights. Mohtashemi was in the Western news again in
2000, not as a hardline radical but for refusing to appear in court in
Iran after his pro-reform newspaper, Bayan, was banned.[2]

Islamic leftist

is a person who tried to marry two failed ideologies together. It is left over from the 60's when this was a popular movement. People like Al Ahmad and Shariati came up with the nonsense. Their excuse was that it had not been tried. Now with hindsight we know both ideologies have been monumental failures. 

Therefore in order to be an Islamic leftist one needs to be particularly stubborn. It requires either total stupidity or utter close mindedness. Neither is a good character for a leader or in fact for any person. 

An example of Islamic left is the MKO. Other examples are hypocrites who live in the West; use all it has to offer and shill for the IRI. 

Basically if you want something worse than the Mullahs then go for Islamic left. What the mullahs did not screw up the Islamic left will.

Mammad - What is exactly an Islamic Leftist?

What is the definition of an Islamic Leftist?  I don't have any issues with people with leftist views but I do take issues with people who still want to have a government based on Islamic Laws.  We have tried it for the past 31 years.  IT HAS NOT WORKED.  Look at the mess that the Islamic Regime has created in our country.  And please don't tell me that if people like Mousavi were in power, things would be different.  I would strongly disagree. 

I know that a big part of the issue with the current regime is with having a Velayat-e-Faghih position (though Mousavi has never opposed to that position) but you have to agree that an Islamic government even without V-e-F would still be based on unjust laws.  The Islamic laws are not designed to deal with the complex issues of the current times.  I don't understand why some people insist on having an Islamic government seeing first hand that it has not ever worked.  Please show me an example of a successful regime ever that has been successful!  Why not use modern methods that have proven to have worked; s secular system based on democracy guarantying human rights? 

Arash

Let me first point out that the very fact that you say he was vice president goes to show the depth of your knowledge (no disrespect though). He was the prime minister, not the VP.

Secondly, It is not a proven fact that Mousavi provided Ayatollah Khomeini with financial support, as you claim. As a practicing Muslim he might have given him "sahm-e emam," which the Shiites do, although I highly doubt even that.

But, even if he did, so what? This was before the revolution, Mousavi was opposed to the Shah, was active in the opposition, and the Ayatollah was an important figure in exile. Yes, if you are a monarchist, I can see how you might consider this as some cort of crime.

I did not say that I agree or disagree with khaanoum Aghdashlou's characterization of Mousavi, but I certainly respect Mousavi; have done so ever since I learned about him which was right after the revolution, when he wrote editorials and articles in defense of Dr. Ali Shariati, against the huge pressure by the reactionary mullahs. At that time, I would copy those articles in large numbers and distribute them. 

Mousavi was the PM during the war. His task was to run the day-to-day affairs of the country during a long war. So, expecting him to build universities, hospitals, etc., in a country under savage bombardment of Iraq is absurd. As soon as war was over he left politics. But, he did do many good things:

1. He kept prices and inflation under control during a long tough period from 1981-1989. When he left office, dollar was 85 toumans, with no shortage of anything. This was despite enormous cost of the war, and sanctions by the West. 

2. He established centers for strategic studies, out of which came the future reformists.

3. He prevented the reactionaries from destroying Iran's modern bureaucracy, especially the budget and planning organization (see the article about him whose link I gave you).

4. He was a leading proponent of ending the war with Iraq. There are so many documents about this (see the article).

5. His Ministry of Interior always held elections that were clean (I am not saying that they were democraticv), i.e., with minimal irregularities.

I can go on and on with this.

Now, the two links to Time do not say anything of the sort you say (I had seen them). The third link belongs to monarchists, and it is full of nonsense. The whole thing about Hezbollah is based on an e-mail by an unnamed person, supposedly from Lebanon. And that is your document? Just because someone said something (including what I say; you should check what I say), does not mean that it is correct. It must have corroboration.

Regarding the take over of the US embassy in Tehran, what Mousavi supposedly said at that time was the prevailing view among a large majority. But, times have changed, and so has Mousavi, just as the leaders of the embassy take over do not hold the same views as what they had when they took the embassy over.

Regarding Reagan and Oliver North: This is absolutely nonsense. Mousavi was opposed to trip to Tehran by Reagan's representatives. It was Rafsanjani and his group who wanted it. As soon the "khat-e Emami haa" (the leftists of that era) found out about it, they scuttled the whole thing.

But, let's say that Mousavi was involved. Why is this a bad thing? Rafsanjani wanted to re-establish relation with the US (he has always wanted that), and re-establishing the relations is, and was at that time, in Iran's national interests. So, why is this held against him?  

Mousavi is a leftiist - an Islamic leftist, not a Marxist one - and so am I. Just so that there would be no doubt, let me say that I am absolutely positively proud to be a leftist of this sort, whatever leftist means to you.

Mammad

Reply to Mohammad: You do not know what you are talking about!!

Please read carefully, I said Khomeini not Khamenei...it is a proven fact
that Mousavi helped finance Khomeini's campaign inside and outside
Iran...actually when the regime was trying to showcase Mousavi as a villain
(last year) and find an excuse to throw him in jail or to silence him...one of
the ayatollahs (Yousef Sanei see minutes 7:00-9:00 link below) ...recorded and
exist on youtube..., came to Mousavi's rescue and called Khamenei and
Ahmadinejad out of line for discrediting one the revolutions sons and spoke of
Mousavi's relationship with Khomeini and his financial support to Mr. Khomeini.

//www.youtube.com/watch?v=_-0Mz-oMiVA&feature=related

Do you really think that Mousavi became the Vice President for his oratory
command, ideas, and charisma?  Islamic Republic has routinely rewarded its
devout supporters (in circles=khodi) with various lucrative posts, Mousavi is
and was no exception.

Can you name three good things that Mousavi did for Iran during his VP
period that would merit him rank with the likes of Gandhi, MLK, or Amir Kabir?
Please give me concrete examples: legislative reforms, building
hospitals...roads, universities, dams, changing laws to make life better for
Iranians, fighting corruptions, addiction...just something...anything… ..please.

Mousavi's involvement with Reagan and Republicans (Oliver North) etc.
is ancient history but a documented fact.  Mousavi’s support for Hezbollah
is a documented fact, he sat on Hezbollah Council and was one of its
architects.  Maybe you need to do some research, not me.... here are some
sources for you …

//hakemiat-e-mardom.blogspot.com/2009/10/robert-baer-dont-forget-mousavis-bloody.html

//www.time.com/time/photogallery/0,29307,1905040,00.html

//www.time.com/time/world/article/0,8599,1904343,00.html

Thank you for admitting that he is a leftist ..have you
considered  what being  a "leftist" means?

I did not questions Ms. Aghdashloo’s personal credentials ..she is actually
an Oscar nominee and Emmy winner ...good for her and good for Iran and Iranians….but
that does not qualify her to call Mousavi a hero and rank him with the likes of
Dr. Martin Luther King.  The question to ponder is why would a liberated,
free, educated and famous women living in the United States and witnessing the
crimes committed by the Islamic republic should support one of its criminal architects?
Should we not expect more of Ms. Aghdashloo?  Did she just do movies like
Stoning of Soraya for money or for the message?  If she believed in the
message...then how could she raise the stature of one of its criminals
(Mousavi) to a hero? 

I look forward to hearing your comments and responses to my questions.

p.s. I did a lot of research before I decided to write this
article...if you are kind enough to provide me your email address, I will be
more than happy to send them all to you.

More On Ahmadinejad's oligarchal Military Empire:

Radio Farda / نادر وکیلی

LOL, no fear: What would

LOL, no fear: What would you call IRGC's oligarchy/empire?? Military Oligarchy? Secular Oligarchy? You are right about the reformers though, they are just as corrupt as ahmadinejad's military junta.

You just proved and gave ample reasons as to why there needs to be a complete overhaul of the entire system of the Islamic Republic. Thanks for that.

//ipsnews.net/news.asp?idnews=49844

No Fear

Look at Mir Hossein's life. As Dr. Abbas Milani pointed out, the man married a woman who is probably sharper and smarter than him. How is that for the ultra-traditional Iranian society of 1960s? Look at their association with political groups. They were associated with the leftist group of Dr. Habibollah Payman who was and still is against velaayat-e faghih. Look at his management of the economy during the 1980s. Look at his life over the past 20 years that has been devoted to art. Look at his campaign, and read his positions since.

I recognize that you and I may have different definitions of progressive, but in my book he is, particularly within the context of the Iranian society that you seem to ignore.

Mammad

Abarmard,

You said;

"Let's assume that you are correct and Ahmadinejad wants to lift corruption. I believe that there is a divide between meaning well and having the knowledge to implement well"

No, there is no way to sugar coat corruption. You have to distroy the public image of any politician who is corrupted. It should be done on national TV , and said face to face. Ahmadinejad did it the right way.

"Currently in Iran, if you were not aware, criticizing Ahmadinejad is not allowed."

Thats a bold statement. Have you watched any political debate on IRTV recently? Ahmadinejad economical plans were debated and critisized regularly. Ahmadinejad foreign policies are debated on regular basis. However, based on our constitution, the use of profanity or accusation against the president is not permitted. This means, you can not personally attack him, but you can question his policies and debate them.

"What would benefit the Islamic Republic is diversification of thoughts and political parties rather than homogenization, which is the unfortunate route that they are taking today. "

Yes , I agree with you on the diversification of thoughts. Political parties are permitted in Iran to be active within the constitution of the Islamic Republic. There are almost the same numbers of political parties in Iran today that there are newspapers. I don't understand your use of the word " homogeny". Are you implying that all these political parties are the same and similar in nature? If thats the case, you are wrong. Their are great differences to them.

"Intentions are not enough when the know-how is lacking"

This statement suits Mousavi's camp better.

" He is a divider and his politics works by creating those divisions, something that he does in the UN also."

I agree with you on his polarizing effect on people or events. This is his style and it has worked in his advantage so far. Don't forget, he is still a politician. While you question his tone with the green rioters, may i remind you that those who were apprehended during the riots are being freed , one after another. Lets leave the smiles and nice talks to the incompetent reform leaders who are craftier  than Ahmadinejad.

"In some of your comments you speak as if Ahmadinejad is part of the future secular Iran! That is a strange way of looking at Iranian system today"

It is the correct way of analizing the eventual direction that Ahmadinejad policies are leading Iran to.  Ahmadinejad has cleaned the government from any religious entity, period. This is a fact and a strong secular action. His disobedience toward the supreme leader is another strong secular statement. Look at his actions and not his words.  Ahmadinejad has completely changed the political playing field and the way politic is practiced in Iran. When the supreme leader told him to go easy on the " subsidy bill", he called for a referendum!  A genius political move, but he also let the genie out of the bottle, do you get it?

"not to return to similar one party style, harsh environment, and backward policies that draws a line between the intellectuals"

Vote for reform for the next election and that is exactly what you are going to get. You will be voting for the same oligarchy who is ruling over Iran since the begining of the revolution.

"If you show me one critic of Ahmadinejad policies in the last month, in any Iranian media published in the Islamic Republic of Iran, then I am willing to accept your argument here."

I come across such critics all the time. Recently i saw the press release from " Ansareh Hezbollah" who were critisizing Ahmadinejad social freedoms. The " Monkerat bill" which i mentioned earlier has been blocked by Ahmadinejad for 6 years. Below is a link by this party which ( Without the use of profanities ) is critisizing the government policies rather harshly.  Read the entire press release.

//www.jahannews.com/vdchvwnzq23nvxd.tft2.html

Okay Abarmard jaan

but you have to admit at best the sentence the way it is presented is ambiguous from whose perspective it is speaking.

Who is going to investigate

Who is going to investigate corruption and crimes of Ahmadinejad's adminstration and the IRGC??

Mehrban e aziz

I was merely speaking about Mr. Mousavi's point for running. If he did win, I for one would have had more hope to see a freer Iran. I still do.

No Fear

Let's assume that you are correct and Ahmadinejad wants to lift corruption. I believe that there is a divide between meaning well and having the knowledge to implement well. Currently in Iran, if you were not aware, criticizing Ahmadinejad is not allowed. I would like you to show me any article from last month that was published in any Iranian media that criticized any of Mr. Ahmadinejad's policies.

What would benefit the Islamic Republic is diversification of thoughts and political parties rather than homogenization, which is the unfortunate route that they are taking today.
Intentions are not enough when the know-how is lacking. Even the events after the elections could have been handled better if Mr. Ahmadinejad spoke to Mousavi supporters in a calm and intelligent voice rather than calling them names. He is a divider and his politics works by creating those divisions, something that he does in the UN also.

In some of your comments you speak as if Ahmadinejad is part of the future secular Iran! That is a strange way of looking at Iranian system today. I won't argue or debate that point, you may know something that I don't. However, Mr. Ahmadinejad did not come to power at the right time for Iran. This is not to say anything about the green movement. The fruits of the "revolution" needed to ripen and tangible benefits from suffering for thirty years needed to be realized; not to return to similar one party style, harsh environment, and backward policies that draws a line between the intellectuals (artists, thinkers, political philosophers) and common religious worker.
In fact, the country needs all those voices to be at the service of the Islamic Republic. Those who spoke against Ahmadinejad are part of the most important portion of the society that the country as whole has spent huge amount of capital to educate and train. Now they all will hide, leave, or become non-existent until the future batch! This is sad and unproductive.

If you show me one critic of Ahmadinejad policies in the last month, in any Iranian media published in the Islamic Republic of Iran, then I am willing to accept your argument here.

Abarmard jaan,

My point is with the argument that ["Keep in mind that the Islamic Republic is still in its youth and has not fully matured."].   Change the word "infancy " to "youth" in my comment, the argument still holds.  12 years for Germany to climb out of the devastation of WWII and become a world economic power.   30 years is a long time, a lot can be achieved by a competent non corrupt government. Not to mention the wind fall of the oil money pouring into its hands.   

Mammad,

You are correct to point to the fallacious claims by the original poster. There are a few others too which led me to completely ignore his thread alltogether. However,

I have a problem with this statement that you made;

"True, Mousavi is a leftist. But, so what? Any progressive person will be to the left of the political spectrum. "

You can't possibly be taken seriously with statements like that. You know very well that Mousavi hasn't made any " progressive " contribution for Iran when he held office. Aside from hollow slogans about freedom, he lacks the credentials in his resume to show he walks the talks. This coming from a person who has been with the creation of IR since the begining. Who are supporting Mousavi? The other IR founders like Rafsanjani. Now this segment of the ruling class which has failed us in so many ways ( Including the economy with their adoptation of socialism ) all of the sudden, has became " progressive" and for democratic change! ....  surely, my simple minded friend....

The real reform is happening in Iran right now.

Politician are becoming accountable , corrupt politicians are questioned on national TV, Akhound has been evicted for holding administrative positions within the government, everything is allowed to be debated ( without accusations or profanities ofcourse ) even " velayateh fagih" is being debated now, Women have became ministers of our government for the first time, real attempts to fix the economy based on a free market model has been started by eliminating subsidies as the first step ( Not just an empty slogan from previous admins ), the " monkerat" bill which would make the lives of our youth more difficult has been stalled and blocked by Ahmadinejad for 6 years now despite Khameneie emphasizing on its speedy implementation. and many more....

Each of the above is a tremendous accomplishment by itself. A true and objective observer can not deny these real progressive steps that has been taken during Ahmadinejad's administration.

I guess this doesn't fit in to your definition of the " progressive right" since you claim it does not exist.

Will you point to some of Mousavi's Progressive steps, then?

Thank you Minadadvar

You are very kind. You understand well because you read with open/clear mind.

Mehraban, I said "youth" and not "infancy", explaining why Mousavi took the challenge. He would have not if he believed that the system is matured and can't be changed/directed to "right" path.

COP: don't also forget that

COP: don't also forget that the concerns of Ummah is first and foremost in the minds of religous fundamentalists and their devout followers who hold all the levers of religious  power (those hardly known clergies who appointed Khamenie)  in Iran.

I venture a guess that some of these militant radical Islamist fundamentalist constituents/group are even more radical than their  official representatives.

more importantly....

Why is mousavi the "leader of green movement"? The answer is that Islamic regime just like shah's regime has crushed all organised means of opposition to the regime. The real opposition leaders, the best and brightest of Iranian youths are burried in khavaran or other unknown, secret cemetries. This does not of course crush the people's resistance to the the dictator, quite the reverse. The danger though is that in the abscence of a credible organised oppsition party, routed firmly within the most oppressed and militant section of the society, the ONLY section of the society capable of leading the next revolution, namely working classes, people could follow a new dictator in order to get rid of the old one, just the way it went during the shah.

The final authority

The know-it-all Islamist followers of charlatal Ali Shariati are hilariously funny, to back up their ridicules rewriting of history they cite, who else, their own rewrite of history.

Areh Vildemose

Some of these people still believe in the promise of the Islamic Eutopia WHICH NEVER MATERLIAZED - because there can be no such thing. These are worse than blatant supporters of the regime of the unelected clergy cause they really don't know what they want. 

Meanwhile, Iran is being looted of all things decent.

Nice going folks.

____________

IRAN FIRST

____________

cop: You hit the nail on

cop: You hit the nail on the head. It's "religious upbringing" and also fear of losing the power that comes with being "religious" in Iran. Nothing else can explain the internal incosistencies and incongruity of most of their argument. It is also understandable to want to keep that power and all the other fringe benefits that comes with it intact.

One's own persoanl interests trumps the good of the collectives', especially among us Iranians.

You do not know what you are talking about!!

Mousavi allied with Khamenei in the 1980s? That is the most ridiculous claim! Khamenei opposed Mousavi as PM. He almost resigned over it.

Mousavi giving money to Ayatollah Khomeini? Where is the evidence? Read and educate yourself about both issues.

//www.pbs.org/wgbh/pages/frontline/tehranbureau/2010/02/the-political-evolution-of-mousavi.html

Mousavi was rewarded "handsomely?" What does handsome mean here? Financial? The man lives in a rental apartment and has been driving the same old car for 12 years! Political? If they could, they would kill him.

Mousavi did a great job running the day to day affairs of the nation during the 1980s, one of the bloodiest periods of time. He opposed the continuation of the war with Iraq, and in fact it was him who played the key role in stopping the war. You just do not know what the heck you are talking about. Your reference is your own piece of nonsense posted previously!!

Mousavi involved in the creation of Hezbollah? Mousavi working directly with Imad? Aside from lack of any evidence, Imad was 19 years old at that time!!!! Thanks for the laugh. Read this article to learn and educarte yourself:

//www.pbs.org/wgbh/pages/frontline/tehranbureau/2009/10/the-1983-beirut-bombing-attack.html

True, Mousavi is a leftist. But, so what? Any progressive person will be to the left of the political spectrum.

There is no shame in this "Irandoost," also known by several other names, both male and female!!

Aghdashlou is an artist and knows history of Mousavi, also an artist and great supporter of arts in Iran (read his profile above). Educate yourself, particularly about honesty.

Mammad