An election campaign built on terrorism? Welcome to Iran
The Telegraph / Con Coughlin
18-Feb-2012 (5 comments)
Iranian nuclear threats and bomb plots might win popularity in Tehran, but they will backfire...the candidates who adopt the most uncompromising approach towards the West are the ones most likely to succeed. And, in a country that is no stranger to intimidation, a sure-fire way to win a few extra votes is to threaten the West....Security officials tell me that, to strengthen his appeal with Iran’s voting public, Mr Khamenei has authorised the Quds force to conduct a new campaign of high-profile assassinations and other terrorist attacks. The authorities might not be prepared to acknowledge responsibility for the attacks in public, but back in Tehran Mr Khamenei would be more than happy to take the plaudits if one of the plots actually came off.....Iran’s politicians might think it fair game to bait the West in the run-up to the elections, but they should also be aware that, by using terrorism to win votes, they are playing with fire.          

 

 

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FG

Iranian Pilgrims in Saudi Arabia get a nasty economic shock

by FG on Sun Feb 19, 2012 07:21 AM PST

 Peyke Iran claims a nasty shock for Iranian pilgrims going to Saudi Arabia: the Saudi Rial has trebled in value versus the Iranian currency, moving from 320 to 1000 Toman, within a week on the "unofficial" market, and the pilgrims did not receive foreign exchange at the "official" rate at the airport.

 //www.peykeiran.com/Content.aspx?ID=44863

AN OBSERVATION: After 33 years of brutality and incompetence, the Iranian people are so sick of mullahs and so mosque-averse that I suspect the only type willing to undertake such a pilgrimage now--especially under such conditions--consists of fanatical religious die-hards who still back Khamenei and believe in him despite his self-exposure as one of the most corrupt, immoral and brutal leaders on the planet.   Such types deserve what they get.


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FG

Does this Russian whopper remind you of anyone else?

by FG on Sun Feb 19, 2012 07:13 AM PST

 From the NY Times story above

 ...deputy defense secretary, Anatoly Antonov, recently insisted that no Russian weapons were being used against the opposition forces in Syria — but he offered no basis for the assertion


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FG

Why Syria relies on Russia for Weapons and Food

by FG on Sun Feb 19, 2012 07:09 AM PST

MOSCOW — As the violence in Syria worsened in recent days, amateur video showed the forces of President Bashar al-Assad rolling through the besieged city of Homs in vintage Soviet battle tanks.

Other photographs, including satellite images released by the State Department, showed deployments of Soviet-designed truck-mounted rocket launchers and two models of a self-propelled howitzer whose sweet-scented names in Russian, Gvozdika and Akatsiya (Carnation and Acacia), are no reflection of their fearsome firepower.

 many analysts say that without Russia’s backing, including a steady supply of weapons, food, medical supplies and other aid, the Assad government will crumble within a matter of months if not sooner....

  //www.nytimes.com/2012/02/19/world/middleeast/for-russia-and-syria-bonds-are-old-and-deep.html?_r=1&ref=world

QUESTION: Will Russia provide similar assistance to Khamenei so he can continue to keep down is only people by force?

 


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FG

What they say on the streets, in the cab, at the dentist

by FG on Sat Feb 18, 2012 08:36 AM PST

From Tehran Bureau:

... A business owner tells me that workers who voted for Ahmadinejad back in 2005 are now all outspoken critics of the regime. Some who are young enough to be drafted in the event of a war say they will refuse to pick up a gun.

COMMENT: Doesn't that raise a question about how much equally disgruntled troops can be relied on to fight for a regime everyone hates?

 

His brother is doing his medical service [mandatory after graduating medical school] by treating people in some small village in the middle of nowhere. He said when the time comes for him to apply for a license to open up a medical practice, they will check his shenasnameh [birth certificate, which is stamped as a voting record], and if he has not voted, they will not grant him the license.

 

Comment: Thus, we can deduct from turnout figures a high percentage of voters who were compelled to appear via extortion like this.

 

...The drivers of all the taxicabs I have ridden in this past month expressed their opposition to the regime and how it is dealing with America and handling the nuclear issue. 

 

Comment: Is there anyone who doesn't complain about the regime?  ... Business that was being conducted through postdated checks is no longer happening. Put cash on the table; otherwise, no deal. People I owe money to have started court proceedings, and their phone calls are getting uglier by the day. I was surprised to get a phone call from the accounting department of a hospital I owed money to, as I thought the last place there would be financial problems would be a hospital, but it is a private hospital and has hundreds of personnel. The caller was hysterical and screaming at me to pay up or else. Comment: Again I must ask, why would anyone love this oppressive, incomptent, corrupt and isolating regime? .... People also really got pissed off for having their email cut off for three days. What has got people upset, as well, is the feeling that their assets have lost half their value, as a result of the rial losing its value against the dollar. One dentist who I know sold an apartment at half its value in order to get the money out to his relatives, but then he found out that, instead of paying 200 rials for each dollar to make the transfer, he had to pay 1,000 rials, and on top of this he is running out of imported [dental] materials and is considering closing down. If the most minor military confrontation with the outside world takes place, it will make it impossible to sell property and that will be when the economy will be shaken hard, whereas at the moment those with money are snapping up bargains and even people with money outside of Iran are buying as they are getting huge discounts. COMMENT: The only way to get rid of such misery is to get rid of the Islamic Republic and replace it with a secular democracy accountable to the people via open, free and honest elections. 

 

Read more: 

 

//www.pbs.org/wgbh/pages/frontline/tehranbureau/2012/02/dispatch-iranians-may-vote-but-would-they-fight.html#ixzz1jpPU44v7




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FG

A Precarious Grasp on Power

by FG on Sat Feb 18, 2012 08:16 AM PST

The last paragraphs of a National Post article contain these gems: BEST EVER DESCRIPTION OF UPCOMING ELECTIONS: (A contest between) "hard-liners and ultra-hardliners and with everyone else banned.
Question: Most Iranians see both as oppressors so why would they vote?
ON BUNGLED TERRORISM: In its fear, the regime reaches out to kill, ordering terror attacks against the Saudi ambassador to the United Stats and most recently against Israeli diplomats in India, Thailand and Georgia.   Yet these plots have mostly gone awry, suggesting a serious weakening of Iran's international terror capacities.
ON THE REGIME'S ALLEGED POPULARITY: ..the frightened and unpopular regime has turned deadlier than ever.  It murders in the hopes of intimidating and it intimidates because it has lost all legitimacy...(It) holds power only by terror and for terror. It kills because it is afraid--and because it has so much to be afraid of. //www.nationalpost.com/opinion/columnists/precarious+grasp+power/6173525/story.html

 


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