IDEAS

Lebanon/"Far Left"

Dear Rosie,

Reply to your 3 questions:

1) I am not from Lebanon. I was Born I Iran.

2) I am open to a reexamination of you as "Far left". Maybe "President Carter Left with Good Intentions". I do not know if its moderate anymore but maybe it will be quite less harsher than far left for the purpose of this discussion.

3) I don't curse and abuse unless I am cursed at and I get excited. You know its that middle eastern blood in me:)

Lebanan/"Far Left"

Dear Lebanon, Obviously I touched a nerve with my comment about Lebanese democracy and maybe it is a good thing. This is a crucially important discussion, and seminally related to the current IRI government as well, and so I am eager to begin to tackle it here, but before I do I need to clarify a few things:
1) Are you willing to tell me if you are Lebanese or have special ties with Lebanon? If no your opinion is of course valuable but if yes, I will have to defer to you on specific factual issues as they arise, and so I'm entitled to know.
2) Are you open to at least a reexamination of your characterization of me as "far left?" I consider my political leanings to be something like an old-style (Euro) Social Democrat/Labor cum Green and my REAL far left friends and acquaintances (yes I have them and Centrists and Conservatives too) consider me a moderate. In Europe my political leanings are, historically, just a tad to the left of what in the US is onsidered "liberal", and they are a far cry from the Communists and Anarchists who constitute the true far left. Tudeh was far left. I don't see myself that way. Only in the US, where the Clintons are considered "on the left" due to a process of media disinformation which began in the McCarthy era to obliterate the ENTIRE left, am I periodically refered to as Far Left. I voted for Bloomberg, a billionaire by then on the Republican ticket, and supported by Giuliani, for mayor of NY in 2002 against two Democrats: one liberal and one more left-leaning, because I thought NY needed an economic boost. I can't imagine Chomsky or Hamid Dabshi (both whom I admire and both pretty far left) doing that in a million years.
3. Do you promise not to curse at me, intentionally insult me, or accuse me of being an agent of any third party such as Fidel Castro (also far left), the Hariri family, Hezbollah, or perhaps Reza Pahlavi II paying me to make this so-called "far left" sound stupid?

If your answers are affirmative to all three of my concerns, I would love to dialog with you about Lebanon.
Rosie PS WHen have I attacked Ben any more than he has attacked others advertently or inadvertently? I said I often find him "endearing" and called him "Gentle Ben", (although I confess I got the latter from another poster...wish I'd thought of it myself, though....)

Brick: US/West

Actually I devoted quite a bit of space at the beginning of my post to critquing the US and Israel in response to Ben's continued blanket, black and white defense of these two countries (both close to me by the facts of my birth since I'm a born US citizen whose uncle was in the Irgun). After that I said the "WEST" was responsible for various ills, e.g. two World Wars. It is BEN who continually conflates the US with the "West", not I. :D. Anyhow I have serious issues with the use of the terminology "West" (another conversation though, not for now) and that is why I try to always put it in quotation marks when I am meticulous enough to rememer.
Anyhow, thanks for the reply!
Rosie

Israel Vs. Canada & West

Mr. Uri Avnery- Please. Please stop with the leftist crap. Please read the emails below. No body said Israel was perfect. Someone even said that the Israelis discriminate against Sephardic jews. But again, the is unequeal rights in every western country. You want to compare Israel to the west? Israel is in existence for only 60 years and she has been in a constant state of war with her neighbors. This is not the case for Canada. How many times was Canada invaded?

The west? How about the muslims in France? That is a nice western socialist country for you. Look how they treat the muslims like garbage in France. France is the most discriminatory country with the highest population of Muslims.

You say:
"Discrimination against Copts in Egypt, or Bahais in Iran does not make the occupation Palestinian land less evil."

Assuming you are right (and there are far more displaced people in the world than Palestinians- see Africa, Tibet, Kurds......), The point Ben was making is that All Arabs do is cry and complain "Israel" but they treat each other much worse and they have progressed very little. Again, Israel is only 60 years old.

The Arabs have made Israel the excuse - but if you look at very recsent history you see that Arabs have killed each other 10,000 times more and the French have killed about a million Algerians just in this century. If we talk about numbers and injustices, then, Al jazeerah (and the rest of the Arab world) should be talking about the French and each other except just the poor Palestinians. Additionally, Israel is not the only party to be blamed for the Palestinian plight. Somehow, the ultra leftist (such as yourself) and Islamist, blame Israel for everything.

Israel vs Canada and the West

Stop comparing Israel to her Arab neighbors. Israel may be the most advanced democracy in the Middle East, but she is the most politically and socially backwards country in the entire industrialized world.

America, Canada, and the other Western countries give Arabs (and all minorities) far more rights than Israel ever does or did. There is nothing in the American anthem or constitution about Christians or Christianity, or being a European. (Compare that to Hatikva, which is all about Jews).

The Israelis want their country to be treated like a Western country without living up to western standards.

The fact that the Arab countries are basket cases does not absolve Israel of anything. Discrimination against Copts in Egypt, or Bahais in Iran does not make the occupation Palestinian land less evil.

Israelis can win a gizzillion Nobel prizes, it's all worthless so long as their society is founded, as it is, on the oppression and disenfranchisement of a people on their own land.

Corruption at its all time high in Israel

Ben, as you may know we every country in the middle east suffers from corruption, in particular per an Israeli person (interviewed by US NPR today) corruption in the Jewish state is at its all time high, and has not only grave consequences locally but also regionally. Do you want to blame Judaism for that? The three Judeo Christian religions have been the catalyst for many problems, but are they the cause?

The Best Arab Demcoracy Lebanon?

Rosie,

The assertion that Lebanon was the best Democracy is just ridiculous. How could a country that did not have a unified army and a state within a state (called Hizbollah) be called a better democracy than what the Arabs are offered at in Israel? Ben was saying that the Israel Arabs have it better than the other Arabs in the rest of the world. Additionally, as soon as the shiites (who are popping babies left and right) have a majority, they will create a fascist theocracy just like the Islamic Republic.

Did you see any Arab countries upset at what Israel did
to the Hizbollah? Even at the cost of dcestroying every bridge in Lebanon? No. Please go see the news reports of how the Arabs lashed out at the Hizbollah. They (the Arab countries) know that Iran is behind all this nonsense (Hiabollah) and they prefer the jews over the Shiite Muslims. If Lebanon was a Democracy, it could stop a the none sense that
Hizbollah is pulling in the country.

Also, have you forgotten the Lebanese civil war? Was that because of Israel as well?

Ben has made an excellent point here. But all the typical far leftist (who hate America and any American ally) and the Islamic Fascist supporters are ganging up on him. The fact is that Israel is 50 times ahead of Arabs states (and the Islamic Republic of Iran) in economy, technology and civil rights (and its not because of US aide either) while the Arabs are still struggling, notwithstanding their oil wealth and far superior numbers.

Instead of attacking Ben personally- Please analyze the situation.

Need to correct something Rosie

The U.S. never started WWI or WWII. In the first World War it was because of Austria- Hungary annexed Serbia which russia had promised to aid because they were allies .Germany created the triple alliance which included italy and Austria-Hungrary. So to negate that the French and the Russians created the Franco- Russian Entente which the russians later formed one with the British. Well long story short in the balkan peninsulea (aka time bomb of Europe) , the assassination of the Archduke Francis Ferdinand who was an heir to the austria-hungary throne was the incident that started the war.

World WarII started because of Germanys attack on Poland. The treaty between the germans and the soviets made it possible for Germany to focus its attention on the Western European nations. (eventually Germany broke the treaty with the Soviet Union which eventually led to the end of the war).

In both wars America stayed out of until the cruise ship incident in WWI and the Pearl Harbor attack  which dragged us into warII. We wanted to stay out of both but were dragged in. The monroe Doctrine kept us out of the first world war till we were dragged in by the attack on a Cruise ship by a german U-boat which had several American passengers. Of course the story was exaggerated somewhat but yellow journalism enraged Americans enough to join the war.

Just some history on both wars.

P.S.-fun fact United States- U.S. and the Soviet Union- S.U.

guess we both thought we were backwards.

P.S.S- I too noticed Rosie that the math standards were raised. By the next standard rise there might only be half the usual people on here.=)

Gentle Ben :D

Ben is no scholar, and no great writer or philospher, as he himself freely admits. I think you take him far more seriously than he takes himself. Sasha you are right of course. There is a big problem on this site called Toilet Bowl Mouth. But I don't think the offenders should be censored, I think it is best we just ignore them (although for anyone who was privy to it, I did find my dialogue with one Colonel Hemayat, the King of Toilet Bowl Mouth, to be enlightening in an odd way). When I say "we" should ignore these comments, I am completely non-partisan. You could be member of the Council of Guardians, or Reza Pahlavi himself, or Maryam Rajavi, the Coco Chanel of the Desert--as long as you don't curse and try to DIALOG intelligently, you are part of "we" in my book.

Now, Ben, just for the record, the "best democracy Arabs could buy" was not Israel, it was Lebanon, until it more or less ceased to exist last year thanks to Israel, with weapons expedited by the US (your two best friends) specifically to target civilian EVACUEES on roads and destroy the entire infrastructure of the country (not one bridge left standing) while the ENTIRE WORLD was calling for ceasefire. Some of your comments on Arabs would be funny if delivered by a brilliant stand-up comic but then it is understood that they are tongue in cheek. As they stand, they ARE offensive. How do you know for example what Arabs talk about if you don't speak Arabic? Etc. As someone mentioned, the "West" has brought us the Holocaust, not to mention two world wars, global warming, lynch mobs, Paris Hilton and more. The "West" has good things and bad things. So do Arabs, Persians, and everyone else. I know you are not a pan-Turk or an Israeli agent (as you once pointed out, who would pay you to infiltrate for them?). Sometimes I find you very endearing but you are very simplistic on this "West/Israeli" thing. And your...er...critique if it may be so called, of Arabs reflects the very attitude you most decry in your articles--that special brand of smug superiority that SOME Persians have, and vent on the Arabs more than anyone else. Rethink this stance. It's unwholesome.
My two cents,
Rosie PS I think JJ is already trying to weed out the offenders. I notice he is making the math problems more challenging. They now verge on subtraction.

Proof

The proof is obvious, self-evident and speaks
for itself:

After 29 years of absolute power in Iran,
the best they could produce is that subhuman
Apenejad!

Just think about the vast contrast between Putin
and Apenejad standing next to each other!

Draw your own honest conclusions!

Islam v.s. Christianity

Neither Islam nor Christianity is the problem rather the men who use it to pursue their own agendas. I certainly doubt that it was God's intentions for all this mess in the Wolrd to occur. It was not God who wanted to put men as Kings above other men. Rather humanity that insisted on having someone reign over them on earth. Ben, I do not know how much more Islam bashing I can take from the comments left. It truly is sadning that these individuals can not express themselves in an intelligent and educated manner. I am certain that their parents taught them better manners than what some of them have displayed here.

FUCK HEZBOLAH VA RUHOLAH VA ALAH!

But what kind of jackass, living in the west in the year 2007 still follows the goddamne muhamed, ali or taghi. Get the fuck over it you bunch of brainwashed arabzadeh. There're two possibilities, either you havn't yet noticed the 'kososher' said in your quran or you're just so fucked up that cannot see anything but your fucking islam. Grab your religion and showe up it up your ass!

Ridam too ruholah va be hamchenin hezbolah va harchi alah. 30 sale darid mirinin be mamlekatemoon va kafitoon nist? Ziadam zer bezanid oon emam rezatoon ro mifrestim roo hava, koskeshhaye nime arabe goh!

Fuckers!

Ben, you are right, Islam has infested Iran for 1400 years....

Read the Quran, the core culture of Islam is rotten which is the reason for the fucked up Islamic world.

Islam is garbage,waht do you expect from human garbage followers

Of course the Islamic world is fucked up, what do you expect from a satanic religion which their prophet Muhammad would have been considered a pedohile for fucking a 9 year old as his wife... he is the top of the shit forget the rest of it....

Leave the families out of it

I only agree with Ben in that the families should be left out of it. They did not write the article.  Using foul language and any derogatory comments toward family members is a sign of lack of self control, poor manners and an uneducated person.  I think we need to start flagging these comments as offensive until they are removed.

...

Sorry, the anon guy had also insulted the family. My mistake. That is wrong anyway :) Please people, no family insults. Just insult the person, his ass, his mouth etc (I don't mind myself), but don't go to the family ;)

Daryush...

It is his language because from the way you write you only know some words and you don't know them well. You had insulted me, I did not insult you back. He insulted you not in English, only three or four words, and you poured so much cursing about his family. I think the site admins (or JJ) must do something about these family swearings at least.

Who Cares!!!

People...people....calm down! Who cares about what "Ben Madadi" writes. He's just and uninformed, uneducated enthno-racist who deosn't have a clue about Iran, its history or its people. While it's fun to point out facts to him (especially historical facts) which totally contradict his view of the world, on this particular subject, though I think you're giving him too much credit. Now he'll think he's too important, and will annoy us with more of his nonsense!

Bad energy

Ben, I think you have bad energy because whenever I read any of your so called articles I see a lot of nasty responces. Doesn't that tell you something about you and your writings? hate creates hate.
Peace

Let’s be fair Ben!

Ben,
I think you are not giving enough credit to the US right wing fanatic Christians, not only for the problems they have created for US but also for their disastrous projects in middle east. A concrete example of it was last year’s war between Hezbollah and Israel. I don’t want to get into who won, who lost, but if you followed the CNN and other major US media you would remember that when the war was over, neither Israelis nor the Lebanese were as unhappy as the right wing Christians and their necon allies in the US. They wanted that war to go on and put the whole middle east in flame. The very same reactionary fanatics under Reagan, went too far with their anti communist, and anti Iranian obsession during the Afghan war by pumping $billions to vahabi islamists who later become known as Alqaida. I am not even going to go into the latest Christian fanatics/neocon masterpiece (Iraq war)… Let’s be fair!

Ben

Ben, I've read some of your comments and I can easily tell that you're a very unpatriotic, simple-minded yet sarcastic smartass. You can not view things as a whole and your judgements are childish and on the surface. If West is financially prosperous it's mostly because of free economy and because of people like us who bought America's fraudulent marketing worldwide, came here and brought our money and brains to this country. Other side of western-style freedom is the dark side. Crime, prostitution, breaking families, destruction of moral values, racism, individualism, ignorance, materialism, and many more.
WE WERE AMERICA, 2500 years ago. We had a central power of a king and a local khalifeh for each state, a federal government with free economy. We did try that too. We did become a financial giant with all of the expansionism, arrogance and greed that came with it, but it was the same people who decided it's better to be morally prosperous before becoming financially prosperous, so they chose Islam.
As 20th century came, the western nations, headed by UK, started stabbing moslims and moslim nations out of religious bigotry, expansionism, and greed. Meanwhile they cut off all financial relationship with the moslim nations who were not their puppets. Then they found oil and it got even worse. Now it wasn't islam and Christianity anymore. It was hunger for cheap oil, aggression, war and destruction.
If you look back at Middle-east since WWII, no independent government survived, it wasn't the matter of democracy or islam, it was "If you own oil, be a puppet or else". Few of us may see that day but when Middle-east runs out of oil that's when it's gonna be prosperous again because that's the time West may start treating us fairly, with or without Islam.

answer for Daryush

Sikin damir sox gotuve
Son of bitch
Dont touch my language ,u piece of shit

DON'T WORRY

EVEN IF THIS SITE BELONGS TO THE NASTY MULLAHS, DON'T EVEN WORRY GUYS. THE JACKASSES OF MULLAHS ARE DONE, HAVE EXPIRED AND THAT'S IT. THE RETARDED REGIME IS OVER, NO MATTER IF THE MEDIOCRE PUTIIN AGREES OR NOT. FUCK PUTIN, FUCK THE RUSSIANS AND FUCK ALL ISLAMIC-FASCISTS. LONG LIVE IRAN, LONG LIVE AMERICA. WE IRANIANS ARE PRO-AMERICAN NOT PRO-EX KGB ASSASIN, NOT PRO-HUNGRY RUSSIAN REDNECKS.

WE ARE PRO-AMERICANS

Why all these personal Attacks?

Every Iranian has the right to his/her opinion. Even if one is from Israel. Israel is part of the greater Iran, so we have to give their citizen Rights to express themselves. Don't attack me, just kidding ;)

Such lovely comments!

Comments don't bother me at all, no matter their nature. So, don't worry! But many of them do pollute the pages of this site and waste a lot of the readers' time because they are not arguments or anything but personal attacks. Anyway, that's life :) Keep them coming ;)

Mr Daryush, thank you for you intended poem but from what I understood you wanted to write this:

Sikim demir (or damir, depending on the style)!
Gel Bunu gemir!

I have no reply for the above. Read it for yourself in its more correct pronounciation and if you do not understand what it means e-mail me and I will translate it for you :)

A Poem for Ben

sikim damir

gah booneh gamir

Waiting for your Azeri reply.........

Don't ever bring the name IRAN in your filthy mouth

Hey Ben, fuck your Nazi Regime in Israel. Go fucking brag about Israel to the people who don't know shit. We Iranians saved your ass four times during the history and gave you the option to be free and live. Now your Nazi regime is trying to do what Hitler failed. And you think that you will be successful? Don't ever, EVER bring the beautiful name of Iran in your filthy Zionist mouth. You have killed millions of innocent people and come here and brag about Israel? If you say one more time that you are from my pure land of Iran, I will make it my mission to find your ass and wash your mouth with soap. fucking Zionist pig.

BEWARE: Israeli Ben will appear once in a while

The job of bastards like Ben is to monitor the internet and create confusion and chaos where there might be a hambastegi. He can't understand any Iranian based languages and claims to be from Iran. He is "passionate" about a country that he doesn't know. But every once in a while he can't hide too long and comes out of closed dark rooms to show that he is from Israel. Unlike any country in our earth, Israelis today hide their crimes by having people like Ben do the PR and divert the attention from the real issues to anything else. Zionists know that the world is beginning to understand the Israeli Nazi mentality and bring (And pays) people like Ben to come here as an Iranian to create separations among the Iranian citizens. they have been doing that for over 65 years, mostly with Arabs. These guys are dangerous and their mission is inhuman. Be aware. If you want to ignore Ben and like him, publish your work and/comments in Persian.

Ben the hell with your Israel

Ben, man go freaking live in your section of the country, what the hell you were doing in the Muslim part of Palestine? The hell with your country (Israel) It will vanish, whether you like it or not. The Nazi Zionists will gone for good and that time we all celebrate.

RE: Iranian.com exposed …

Ay nAderest “untrue Ironi”! Stop these baseless personal attacks. iranian.com publishes all kinds of views some like this are fairly right, some are left and many are somewhere between. Ay nAdereste nAderestest!