FG

Wednesday's episodes of Newstalk are very popular in Iran (8 PM to 9
PM). Wednesday's popularity is because of the two regular guests: Alireza Nourizadeh and Mohsen Sazegara.
Nourizadeh is the director of the Center for Arab and Iranian Studies
in London. Sazegara, a founder of the Revolutionary Guards, became a
regime opponent and runs the Washington Institute for Near East Policy.    You can find the full English transtlation here as well as a link to the original broadcast here:

//homylafayette.blogspot.com/

Here are my favorite passages.

[I]Mohsen Sazegara on the Assembly of Experts: [/I]

As far as the Assembly of Experts (majleseh khebreganeh rahbari) goes... you know, [B]people have been coming up with new names for it on the Internet[/B]: The Assembly of Sleepers (majleseh khoftegan), the Assembly of the Flatterers of the Leadership (majleseh chaplousan rahbari)...

Looking back on history, I don't think that a more useless council has ever existed. In the Shah's day, the National Majlis and the Senate at least did something. This Assembly of Experts has one duty: To appoint and oversee the Supreme Leader. As Mr. Karroubi said, If you're going to release statements that look like they're coming from Khamenei's secretariat, why spend all that money to convene. Just stay at home and release the statement.

...The regime keeps trying to convince people that everything is back to normal. But as soon as two demonstrations took place earlier in the week, the regime rushes its troops and henchmen to the streets. The regime knows full well that [B]the crisis is deep-rooted. No one is investing, no one is building anything...[/B]

For three months, the country has been ablaze: Crisis, killings, torture... [B]Organizations under the supervision of the Leader have committed whatever crimes they could[/B], and the accusation can also be leveled at the Leader himself...

[I]Alireza Nourizadeh[/I]:

...we have reached a point of no return. Mr. Khamenei thinks that if he succumbs to the will of the people, it will diminish his grandeur. And on the other side, the people who have lost their children, who have paid a heavy price and suffered, well they won't take a step back either. When you talk to young Ebrahim Sharifi (NB alleged victim of prison rape) and discover the horrors that he has experienced, when you see the pain of so many others, you can't expect them to just go back home if Mr. Rafsanjani declares that an agreement has been reached...[B]Despotism of the ugliest kind has taken over our country and until this tryannny is eradicated the people will not stand down.[/B]

[I]Mohsen Sazegara:
[/I]

... this nation has been put to the test. [B]The people will paralyze the country[/B]. It is impossible for such a regime -- forget about the Islamic Republic, even the worst Stalinist government would not be able to stand up to the people.