Musings of a former chicken

HG:

In the name of democracy charlatans such as Ganji, Dabashi and some other pro-regime activists are given more time than they deserve. I don't deny the fact that in many cases like in the video above these cheats expose their real agenda!

rahmanian, give voa a

rahmanian, give voa a break.  actually, they picked a very good cast for the debate.  a person who in all liklihood was fully engaged in the 2008 uprising in iran (ghaseminejad) and two who are trying to highjack the uprising dubbed green movement (ganji and dabashi).  here's a picture of them with their green sashes like beauty queens: //www.flickr.com/photos/strike4iran/3747979285/

divaneh, your theory is not far-fetched.

lol! Islamic Intellectual another great Iranian Oxymoron

I prefer Eslam Fokolie. 

Mr. Fozolie

اين هم سزاي لوس بازيهاي "وي او اي!"

Can't they find anyone better? Someone who doesn't go up the wall each time he hears something negative about IR? Who runs VOA, anyways?

Dabashi watches too much porno

I know he blamed it on VOA but as he is in his office they must be using his own equipment. My guess is that he has been watching too much porno infecting his pc with all sorts of viruses. This is of course still at the theoretical stage.

Past the theory, thanks to Saeed for a good argument and no thanks to the other two for repeating themselves like the broken records. They keep going on about Israel as if the rest of the ME countries are full of free people who live in free lands , and not cruel and oppressive tribes and family networks who suppress the nations in each country. As if Saudi, Syria, Iran and the rest are not invaded lands. It shows that their only yardstick is religion. Using the word intellectual for these people is an abuse of the language.

Finally, why is Dabashi apologizing for appearing in VOA who has given him the opportunity? That is not nice. It is like going to someone house and cursing them every time before eating their food. Can't believe they let him teach.

Demagoguery!

Dabashi And Ganji Are So Furious they are not making any sense! If these are Islamic Intellectuals, one can easily tell what the very illiterate Basijis or IRGC members do to intelligent Iranians inside Iran. Ganji is as ridiculous as always. The topic is Iran and its national interests, but he goes on talking about what he is doing as a human rights activist for the Palestinians. Dabashi seems to have forgotten what his position vis-a-vis the regime was until recently. He is still doing the same thing under different pretexts. He lost it completely and sounded so desperate. Dabashi and other demagogues who rend their clothes in grief for Palestinians must remember that there are more Iranians living in exile than the Palestinian population. And Palestinians have told IR clowns to mind their own business. The young man, Ghaseminejad, came up with great arguments and all Dabashi and Ganji could do was, hypocritically, use the same old rhetoric about Palestinian issues. Rhetoric the regime in Tehran is using to divert attention from Iran's problems. Iranians came out in millions and shouted slogans condemning regime's hypocrisy in dealing with Palestinian issues while killing Iranians in thousands and tens of thousands.

Saeed wins

Saeed Ghaseminejad was most efficient in making his points. Not all of this was due to the sound problem. For example, Dabashi could have used his time to mention the specific Haaretz articles he has in mind backing his claim about the Israel protests going beyond cost of living issues. Instead he used the time to direct a personal insult at Ghaseminejad to the effect that he is not well read. This lost Dabashi several points in the discussion because it revealed a heirarchical--therefore undemocratic-- mindset about the older/younger and Professor/student relationships.

Whatever the merits of each guest's points, in terms of persuasion techniques--a critical tool for democratic leadership-- Ganji and Dabashi came across as primitive relative to Ghaseminejad.

Ghassemi is right

Iran should have a policy that works for the people by the people. All decisions made by the government must be beneficial to the Iranians. The Palestinian and Israeli issues are their problem not ours. Mr. Ghassemi said it correctly “in the Iran-Iraq war, Palestinians and other Arab countries were helping Iraq”

Extremes and extremism

One of the most common misconceptions in our political circles is assuming the Palestinian/Israeli issue as a zero-sum game. In fact, such an assumption can not be further from the realities and the situation on the ground. For denouncing terrorist methods employed by Palestinian groups such as Hamas is not tnantamount to automatic condoning of Israel and its expansionist policies, let alone considering it a democracy!

Without any intention to get into the tiresome chicken-and-egg argument, I believe that neither views expressed in the interview above is based on the realities of a volatile region as Middle East. While considering Palestinian territorial dispute as our priority is a view of those who do not have a good grasp of our nation's interests, calling Israel a democracy is an insult to democracy itself! For the concept of democracy puts the emphasis on the rights of minorities being protected without exceptions. Something noneexistent in Israel, which is a country based on religious doctrines!

However, as no country is an Island in this rapidly shrinking global community, we can not be immuned from repercussions of the ME conflict. As a matter of fact, pursuing a fair and just resolution for this dilemma is imperative to our national interests if we care for a democratic Iran's role as a major player in the future regional developments!

افکار سوخته اسلامی و افکار نوین جوانان ایران

دباشی و گنجی دو مهره های سوخته سیاسی هستند که نه از رژیم اسلامی میتوانند دست بکشند و نه میتوانند با واقیعت امروز ایرانیان جوان و دنیای امروز سازکاری کنند. دباشی و گنجی منفعت ملی برایشان مهم نیست چون با افکار ضد اسرایل و دنیای غرب زندگی میکنند و در حالی که در کشوری زندگی میکنند که با ان دشمنی دارند. ازادی و دمواکرسی در اسرایل را اقای دباشی قبول ندارد چون برادران ناتنی ایشان هنوز یهودها را قتل اعام نکرده اند. ایا مردک دباشی و گنجی اینده ای در این گستاخی می بینند.

 تقلیل و تحدید

 تقلیل و تحدید مطالبات مردمی به آرمانهای تنگ نظرانه ملی‌، با ساختار رو به گسترش دهکده جهانی‌ سازگاری ندارد و بر خلاف منافع همان ملتی میباشد 

The omniscient and omnipotent Nik Pendari, please elaborate for us simpletons? Do we need a Russian tutorial???

Reform requires the consent of the corrupt

Cool as a Cucumber!

The last 7 minutes of the second clip was excellent.

The young guy was very articulate and had a good grasp of what is important to the Iranians, especially the youth. The other two kept rehashing the old stuff. That’s why these Reformers that are hiding behind the Greens have become more and more irrelevant.

interesting exchange of

interesting exchange of ideas in the video.  well-said reality bites as well as the young iranian from paris.  i think that ganji should label himself as "palestinian human rights" activist and not a human rights activist since he did not give a shout out for the iranians being repressed by lebanese hezbollah or the iri in the "iranian spring!"

i also thought it made it interesting that the participants didn't fully hear each other's argument due to technical difficulty.  someone should tell dabashi that iri is sitting on the "gordeyeh" iranian people to prolong the israel palestinian conflict.  what a douchebag!

Roozbeh G & R-B You said Well

about this babaric IRR/IRI.  The only way to bring peace to region is to eradicate IRR/IRI.  This regime has been living with crisis and survives on these crisis. 

Mr. Ghasemi,  Shows what IRANIANS young & old want for IRAN & IRANIANS.

The reality is

The Islamic Republic by sticking its nose in the Palestinian/Israeli conflict has actually hurt the rightful cause of the Palestinians.

IR's continued interference and its threats against Israel have enabled right-wingers like Netanyahu to exploit the situation by telling Israeli voters and others within the international community (principally the Americans) that Israel needs to take a hardline against the Palestinians because they are being supported by the hostile Islamic Republic.

This has also resulted in the side-lining of the peaceful Israelis who are against the Netanyahu/Likud policies and wish to make a permanent and just peace with the Palestinians. Even the Palestinians, at least the non-Hamas/Islamic Jihad ones, have told the IR to stop interfering in their affairs.

Of course the Islamic Republic knows this and WANTS this state of affairs, i.e. permanent conflict between Israeli and Palestinians to continue because it suits the whole ethos this regime. The IR thrives on creating and maintaining external enemies.

Anti Palistinian, anti Iranian west residing moftkhors....

The terrorist islamist regime has brought misery not only to Iranians but also palistinians, by using them as pawns in their campaign of hate and terrorism  against Jews, preventing them from living in peace and harmony with their jewish neighbours. The policies of racism, hate and terrorism pursued by the islamist regime has also created hostility amongst young Iranians against palistinians, due to their perceived associations with the islamist regime.

The fact is though that Iranians, palistinians and Jews, have one common enemy: the islamist terrorist republic and their gangs of terrorsit allies, Al_Qaeda, Hamas and hezbullah. Until the islamist regime is eradicated, there would be no peace in Middle East  

"Personal business must yield to collective interest."

مغبچه ای می گذشت راهزن دین و دل

ایکاش دوست دانشمند ما "فرد" نازنین که ظاهراً پرونده اجداد و آباء کلیه فعالین سیاسی و اجتماعی و هنری و غیره را زیر بغل مبارکش دارد، ما را از چند و چون ظهور ستاره جوان، قاسمی عزیز، آگاه کند. این سازمان دانشجویان لیبرال ایران که این هموطن از جان گذشته و زیباروی ما، سخنگوی آنست از کجا آمده؟ منبع درامدش از کجاست؟ اساسنامه‌اش کدامست؟ کجا ثبت شده؟ رئیس آن مادام العمر است یا انتخابیست؟ و بقیه قضایا...

در مورد این ویدئو هم یک فضولی کوچک بکنم و مرخص شوم: تقلیل و تحدید مطالبات مردمی به آرمانهای تنگ نظرانه ملی‌، با ساختار رو به گسترش دهکده جهانی‌ سازگاری ندارد و بر خلاف منافع همان ملتی میباشد که عوامفریبانه سنگش را به سینه میزند.