Category Archives: Iran

Of Iranians, Eschatology Issues, the Mahdi, End of Time Films, and Drones………..

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      BFF

“Q: What are the main reasons for producing “end of the world” films in the West? Do these films show the whole truth?
A: I think there are several reasons why there are a number of “end of the world” films in the West. One reason has to do with Christian eschatology (the theological study of the end times). Many Christian theologians and pastors and priests have taught and do teach that Jesus Christ will one day return to the Earth to rule humankind in righteousness. On some widespread interpretations of the last book of the Bible—the book of Revelation—there will be a great battle between good and evil in the eschaton and this battle will usher in the end of the world as we know it.
Another reason has to do with the fact that on the Western calendar, we are now at the beginning of the second millennium (the Western calendar is based on the birth and death of Jesus). In biblical chronology, it seems that major events occur every couple thousand years, so many people have concluded that the time is ripe for something significant to happen—something of biblical proportions. Added to this was the Y2K scare in which many computer engineers and others believed that computers would crash when the year 2000 CE occurred, and in some quarters there was widespread panic about this. This fueled an end-of-the-world hysteria………..Taken together, these add up to the predicted doomsday date of 21 December 2012. Though these are simply fables, the truth is that apocalyptic films do well at the box office. In fact, the recent film 2012, which graphically depicts the end of the world next year, was enthusiastically viewed in the West.
Most serious Christian scholars maintain that the Bible does not predict a specific timeframe for the end of the world………….Mehr News Agency (Iran)

Nothing here about the appearance of our long-awaited Mahdi nor about the re-establishment of the Kingdom of Israel. Without the “Rapture” and the hoped for conversion of all the Jews, many of the Christian right would have no hope, and no reason to hitch their horses to the Likud wagon. The Iranians here are not saying what ‘they’ think of all these eschatological issues. They do, however, claim to have shot down an American drone in the eastern part of the country.

Cheers
mhg



m.h.ghuloum@gmail.com

Breathtaking Hypocrisy: the UN and Human Rights Violations, the Prince and Kardashian……….

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      BFF

Of the 47 members in the Geneva-based Council, 37 countries voted on Friday for a resolution “strongly condemning the continued widespread, systematic and gross violations of human rights and fundamental freedoms by the Syrian authorities”. Six countries abstained, while four countries- Russia, Cuba, Ecuador and China- voted against the resolution. The text called for the “main bodies” of the UN to consider a UN report, published on Monday, which found that crimes of humanity had been committed and “take appropriate action”. It also established the new post of a special human rights investigator on Syria………

I know the Syrian regime is repressive and that its security forces have killed many of its people. It deserves a UN human rights investigator. I know that the Iranian regime is repressive although it does not kill its own people as often as Syria. In fact, the repressive Iranian regime does not kill as many Iranians as the Western powers and Israelis do when they kill scientists and blow up installations inside Iran. If these acts occurred anywhere else the same Western powers would consider these incidents terrorist acts and call the UN Security Council to do something, and it would..
I also know that other Middle East regimes, not all but most of them, daily violate human rights, be it of their own citizens or of foreign laborers. I also know that most Middle East countries, especially Arab regime, expropriate, steal, embezzle, and mismanage the public wealth of their countries. They are veritable kleptocracies.
There have been credible reports that the late Saudi crown prince, Sultan bin Abdulaziz, left a personal fortune of over US$ 250 Billion (yep, with a capital . He didn’t exactly get that wealth by starting and re-inventing Apple or Microsoft. Nor was he a Warren Buffett. Nor was he an international celebrity like Kim Kardashian or Newt Gingrich.
Syria and Iran deserve investigation by international human rights groups, preferably non-government groups, unlike the UN which is a totally government group. Then they would appoint only one or two or three HR investigators for the whole Middle East, including Bahrain, Saudi Arabia, Israel, Egypt, UAE……… et al.
Remember: Libya under Qaddafi was admitted to the UN Hman Rights Council.

Cheers
mhg



m.h.ghuloum@gmail.com

Rude Iranians Threaten to Retaliate if Attacked! White Folks Rights and Colored Folks………

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A senior commander of Iran’s powerful Revolutionary Guard says the country will target NATO’s missile defense shield in Turkey if the U.S.¬ or Israel attacks the Islamic Republic. Gen. Amir Ali Hajizadeh, the head of the Guards’ aerospace division, is quoted by the semiofficial Mehr news agency as saying the warning is part of a new defense strategy to counter what it sees as an increase in threats from the U.S.¬ and Israel. He says Iran will now respond to threats with threats rather than a defensive position. Tehran says NATO’s early warning radar station in Turkey is meant to protect Israel against Iranian missile attacks if a war breaks out with Israel. Turkey agreed to host the radar in September as part of NATO’s missile defense system. Earlier Saturday, another Iranian defense official threatened retaliation against Israel if any of its nuclear or security sites are attacked. ………

Rude and uncivilized, is all I can say. The Iranians threaten to strike back if attacked. That is unheard of among civilized nations. Even the Bush administration did not wait to be attacked: they invaded Iraq ‘long’ before that. But then these are white folks, and some of their Arab sidekicks are helpful. White powers are white, they have the right, along with their brown helpers.
FYI: I don’t think the Iranians will attack Turkey. Nay, I am certain they will not attack Turkey. I don’t think they will even attack some of the Arab monarchies that host U.S. bases, unless attacks on Iran are initiated from these bases. All the talk of attacks on Gulf states are legends created and spread by Saudi media and their fifth columnists among the Salafis and Wahhabi faux-liberals of the Persian-American Gulf states.
The mullahs don’t want to give the West an excuse to annihilate their country, and they don’t want o be like Iraq’s Saddam, attacking neighbors. Contrary to Wahhabi propaganda, they will also antagonize the Arab Shi’as. They will never live all that down.
Cheers
mhg



m.h.ghuloum@gmail.com

Follow-Up on Baha’is, Muslims, Jews, Christians, and Elvis……..

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      BFF

A follow-up on yesterday’s post on the persecution of Iran’s Baha’is. There is a shrine that may further complicate relations between the mullahs and their Baha’i subjects. The shrine of Baha-ullah (Mírzá Ḥusayn-`Alí Núrí), founder of the Baha’i faith, is in Acre (Akka in Arabic, Akko in Hebrew), now part of Israel. (WTF did the word ‘Acre’ come from?). He died an exile in Ottoman-controlled Palestine and was buried there. Most Iranians call the faith ‘Bab-ism’, a reference to the Shi’a man who started it all, Siyyid `Alí Muhammad Shirazi. He presumably foretold of the coming of Baha-ullah, was executed for his troubles and many of his followers killed.
The location in Akka/Akko not only makes it difficult for any of them to visit the shrine, it also makes them suspect in the eyes of the Iranian theocracy and most Arab and Muslim governments, and some media types. Even the Baha’is of Egypt also had a hard time under Mubarak’s regime on Egypt over the past few years
. They will most likely have a harder time under a regime influenced by the Muslim brotherhood or, worse, the Salafis.

Now the Baha’is have one more thing in common with Muslims: both have one of their most important shrines controlled by Israel. Come to think of it, that is also what they both have in common with the Jews and the Christians. Graceland in Memphis is not under Israeli control, but contrary to legend it is not a Christian shrine. Not yet.
Cheers
mhg



m.h.ghuloum@gmail.com

Of Uranium Enrichment and Balance of Power in the Gulf………

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      BFF

The significance of this aspect becomes especially clear upon realising how much popular support the nuclear programme enjoys. Even if much of this popularity can be attributed to state propaganda, it can still be concluded with some certainty that Iran’s citizens stand behind the – ostensibly peaceful – nuclear programme. As a matter of fact, it is probably the only project for which the regime enjoys the support of broad segments of society……….. The so-called “right to uranium enrichment”, in other words, the right to utilise the full fuel cycle, has been elevated by Tehran propagandists to a matter of national honour. This right is not in fact documented in the Nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty, but many nations, primarily those in the developing world, infer this entitlement from the right to peaceful use of nuclear energy. The problem is that uranium enrichment is the key technology that opens the gate to the production of weapons-grade fuel, i.e. to a nuclear weapons programme, and that fact alone can indeed be used by the Islamic Republic to support its claim to leadership in the region, even without producing a single nuclear weapon. A nuclear-arms-capable Iran would have to be accepted in the region as a de facto nuclear power and hence as the dominant regional power. This would have a number of consequences for the region’s nations. First of all, it would deal a severe blow to Saudi Arabia, which would then clearly fall behind in the leadership ranks. Furthermore, the small countries lining the Gulf would be forced to align their foreign and security policy to Iran’s “virtual” nuclear power, which would also prove detrimental to Saudi influence…………

Interesting piece, but does not make a good case for why having the nuclear technical “know how” makes a country the leader of the region. Israel and Pakistan (and North Korea) have had actual nuclear weapons for years, and they are not regional leaders. Germany has no nuclear weapons There is no reason why shoring up the influence of the Saudi oligarchy should be a goal of the “international community”. Saudi regional influence is not through direct military prowess, but through money and the sway the kingdom holds over the West and its Gulf policies. Besides, there already is a “virtual” Western (mainly American) protective umbrella over the whole Gulf already, which is why I call it the Persian-American Gulf.
Cheers
mhg



m.h.ghuloum@gmail.com

Human Rights and Education: Iran and her Baha’is……….

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      BFF

“People apply for university and their applications are turned down, even though they have strong results from secondary school,” said Elise Auerbach, Iran specialist for Amnesty International USA. “They can’t get credentials, so they’re barred from pursuing all sorts of professions. They can’t be doctors, lawyers, university professors or scientists.” In response, Baha’is have improvised a decentralized, semi-underground college known as the Baha’i Institute for Higher Education (BIHE). Since 1987, BIHE has run classes in the living rooms and kitchens of Baha’i homes, on the sweat of volunteer Baha’i professors, many of whom lost their jobs in Iranian universities over their religious beliefs……….. According to David Hoffman, founder of a campaign to support Iran’s Baha’is in their quest for higher education, the college has produced about 2,000 graduates, one-in-ten of whom have gone on to postgraduate study abroad at one of 60 universities outside Iran recognizing BIHE coursework………… In May, more than 30 Baha’i homes across Iran were raided as part of a crackdown on BIHE. The institution was subsequently declared illegal, according to human rights groups, and seven professors and administrators were last month sentenced to four and five years each, for being involved in an illegal group intending to commit crimes against national security…………..

Bahai’s are the most officially discriminated against religious minority in Iran. Christians and Jews predate Islam and they are recognized as such. Zoroastrianism is the original religion of ancient Persia and it also predates Islam and Christianity and is recognized as such. Zoroastrianism is sort of like the “Red Indians” of Middle East religions, mostly displaced by Islam and Christianity. Bahai’s seem to receive most of the ‘religious’ wrath of the regime because they were Muslims until the new faith was create in the 19th century. The mullahs consider them apostates, and Muslim clergy, be they Shi’a or Sunni or Salafi or Tea Party, hate apostates. Come to think of it, all clergy from all faiths dislike apostates, or at least frown upon them.
Cheers
mhg



m.h.ghuloum@gmail.com

Iran and Yukia Amano: no Chemistry, no Love Lost…………….

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      BFF

An Iranian lawmaker says the Director General of International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) is endangering global peace through his biased approach towards Iran’s nuclear program. “It appears that [Yukiya] Amano has become an anti-peace element who is dangerous to global peace,” Member of the Majlis (parliament) National Security and Foreign Policy Committee Javad Jahangirzadeh said. The lawmaker advised the IAEA to reconsider its communiques and statements and to speak based on accurate information, Mehr News Agency reported on Monday. “Naturally, if the Agency continues on the current path, [if it still] releases political reports which do not conform to realities and [if] the agency [continues to] act as a [US] State Department think tank, we will definitely see new decisions with regards to [our] relationship with the IAEA,” ……………

No chemistry (no pun here), no love lost, no more comment.
Cheers
mhg



m.h.ghuloum@gmail.com

GCC Breaking News: Plots in Bahrain, Plots in Kuwait, Hezbollah under Every Bed, Shi’as Occupying Mecca……….

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      BFF

Breaking News: the government of Bahrain has not announced the discovery of any new Iranian or Hezbollah terrorist plots today. They have not identified any installations or individuals who may have been targets of today’s uncovered plot. This is an unusual development for Bahrain.The regime and its imported mercenarise are slowing down
On the other hand, the Kuwaiti-Saudi daily rag alseyassah is taking up the slack. (I find alseyassah entertaining, although not as humorous as, say, The Onion). It reports that Hezbollah has put its sources on alert around the region, and that there was in fact a terror plot in Bahrain and added an extra-credit bonus: that the latest Bahrain plotters got financing from some Kuwaitis, meaning Shi’as in Kuwait (apparently the Iranians and Hezbollah ran out of money!).
Alseyassah
, like a couple of other rags in my hometown, fits well into its Saudi patrons’ propaganda drive to divide the Gulf region along sectarian lines.
It also dropped a bombshell that only our overfed “faithful” would believe: it reported that Iranian and Syrian agents were plotting to assassinate three Gulf GCC foreign ministers, no less! Alseyassah has not yet report that Hezbollah and Iran are planning an invasion of Mecca to take over the Kaaba, after blowing up the Vatican. Not yet, but stay tuned.
Saudi media are not as dumb as their Gulf surrogates. They have become smarter, more subtle, with the exception of Alarabiya which is openly sectarian on its Arabic website.

Cheers
mhg



m.h.ghuloum@gmail.com

Insanity Joins Stupidity and Greed: Republicans and the Mother of All Middle East Wars, new Pearl Harbor………

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      BFF

Insanity combined with intelligence can be
defined as “genius” in some cases. Insanity combined with stupidity can
be defined as “Republican candidate” these days.
Me

Saturday’s Republican debate, sponsored by CBS and the National Journal, revealed a Republican field that is promising war on Iran and a revival of the use of torture, as well as horrible relations with the new governments in Tunisia, Egypt and Libya (according to Herman Cain, they have gotten “out of hand,” and he and Gingrich want to deal with them by supporting a muscular Christianity)………. The only adults in the room were John Huntsman and Ron Paul, who have no realistic chance of being the standard-bearer. They denounced water-boarding as torture and generally punctured the warmongering of the others. But it is shameful that potential US presidents are even talking about torturing people and launching wars of aggression………..These people just like the idea of war. War is good for munitions firms and security firms, who give a lot of money to Republican candidates. They’re actively looking for a war. It is good for business, for them……….Juan Cole

These people must be a mix of insane and/or stupid, most likely a combination of both. Insanity combined with intelligence can be defined as “genius” in some cases. Insanity combined with stupidity can be defined as “Republican candidate” these days. (One exception is John Huntsman and maybe Ron Paul to some extent). It is like watching an old film reel of the rise of fascism and Nazism in Europe. Minus the beer halls and minus the brownshirts and blackshirts. Is Iran the new Czechoslovakia? Or is it the new Poland? How about Danzig and the Persian Gulf Corridor? Or will it be a Pearl Harbor in reverse? After all, the Japanese attacked Pearl Harbor for ‘nearly’ the same reasons these candidates want to attack Iran.
Cole is also right: maybe these people are smart after all. There is a lot of money to be made by corporations in a war. On the backs of the American people, who will see their services deteriorate as the deficit grows to a few trillion more from a possible “Mother of all Middle East Wars”.

Cheers
mhg



m.h.ghuloum@gmail.com

Iranian General Killed in Explosion, Unlikely Spies in Abadan, Bahrain……………

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A commander of the Revolutionary Guard killed in an explosion at an ammunition depot west of Tehran was a key figure in Iran’s missile programme, the elite military force said. General Hasan Moghaddam was killed alongside 16 guard members on Saturday at a military site 25 miles south-west of Tehran. The Revolutionary Guard said the accident occurred while military personnel were transporting munitions……..

Time Magazine reports, quoting intelligence reports, that the Israelis were behind the explosion.
Meanwhile, the tit-for-tit of espionage and arrests continue. Bahrain has announced yet another of their weekly Iranian plots. I think soon they will start discovering Iranian plots on a daily basis (maybe even more often if Hezbollah is thrown in as well).
WTF of the week: Iranian authorities have arrested an Iranian who reports for the BBC. They must consider correspondents for foreign media as spies now. The shocker is that the Iranians also claim they have arrested two Kuwaitis (reportedly journalists for a Kuwait TV network) who they claim were spying in the oil center city of Abadan on Shatt al-Arab. It is hard to believe: Kuwaiti spies? Highly unlikely. The charge is almost as ridiculous as the weekly (soon to be daily) Bahrain regime claims
.
Cheers
mhg



m.h.ghuloum@gmail.com