Iranian President selection thread

[DireStraits]

I have a humble request for those who said we should boycott the election, I did a search on the net (You might want to try it yourself and see) about "result for boycotting national elections around the world in 20th century", I did it again for 21st century, I got 171 hits in which results indicated that in all of them the consequences were completely against those who abandoned them.

Inaction never brings action. Enfeaal hargez bAe's e fe'el nemishavd.

Rasul jan these people are so complicated that you can't be sure about anything about them. Rafsanjani supports Rohani but AN congradulates Rohani and his pic is on front page of all news papers that these two are good fiends. Obama is positive about Rohani but not sure.
Remember if the government reveals the correct numbers of votes it may give us true information about how many hezbollahi live in Iran compare to the rest. Those numbers are fake but truely reflects that most people want Rohani to win.
Many people in Iran can not bycotte the election since they may lose their job but everyone have seen what Zedeenghelab have posted

http://youtu.be/5gVJxp7C5f0
So they hope they can tel Rohani if you are really a green here are our demands. Freedom. They hope to guide him in that direction.

 

[Abedzaadeh]

This may have been true if the new generation that comes abroad was behaving similarly to the older expats. They are not. The new generation of folks who immigrated in the last decade are very different than those who immigrated 30 years ago in terms of their political behavior. Of course there are those who come abroad and don't care much anymore, but among those who remain politically connected and engaged you see a sharp difference in political philosophy with respect to the preferred way of interaction with IRI.

That is true. From all the people I know who recently immigrated (the politically engaged ones) only a couple didn't vote whereas from my expat friends who immigrated 20+ years ago, most of them stayed away. But they probably didn't vote 4 years ago for Mousavi or some of them even didn't vote for Khatami 16 years ago. Of course I don't mean to say they are unpatriotic (in some cases far from it actually) but IMO they are out of touch with the mindset of Iranians inside.

 

[Bi-honar]

Now we suddenly have all the confidence in the world that the regime will count and report the true count
BTW, Rohani's vote count was more than what was reported at 21.8m.

I don't! If you included the next sentence of my post in the reply, it already addressed that!

This may have been true if the new generation that comes abroad was behaving similarly to the older expats. They are not. The new generation of folks who immigrated in the last decade are very different than those who immigrated 30 years ago in terms of their political behavior. Of course there are those who come abroad and don't care much anymore, but among those who remain politically connected and engaged you see a sharp difference in political philosophy with respect to the preferred way of interaction with IRI.

Not sure what that particular statement had to with the expats. I was talking about people inside Iran. I have friends who actually moved back to Iran and when they come back to visit, they have the same "boxed" up mentality now. They think that sanctions are crippling the west more than Iran and for example all the layoffs in the auto-industry in France were the result of Iranians not being able to buy French cars! It's rather a simplistic view of the situation, which is the result of being exposed to only one perspective on issues and you can get a pretty good perspective of that viewpoint by watching PressTV or reading Mehr and Farsnews. In other words, it's pretty easy for us to be exposed to multiple viewpoints here, including the one from inside Iran, whereas people inside Iran are bombarded with the same view point over and over again, with every attempt being made to cut them off from these other perspectives.

As related to Rohani, he may be called a "moderate" in the confines of a box and within those confines, he may very well be. But that doesn't change the fact that he's NOT a moderate with the standards of 95% of the world population - in fact he would make for one of the most conservative, if not the most conservative, world leader when he takes office. That's what's going to define Iran's standing in the world, how we are viewed by everyone else, not just how view ourselves within the standards of our own society. It's really not that complicated.

 

[AFRIRAN]

isn't reading this thread ,even the rest of the political threads in this board make you sick ? it drives me mad,sick of this much stupidity , chetori mishe tojih kard inhame naadooni-e syaasi ro ...fuck all Iranians in whole history of diplomacy ...

so fly daash Chinaski... be tokhmam ke nemifahman

 

[shahinc]

Where is ASHTAR ??? He was so active before the election and he just disappeared ? Do we have another case of Simply-Ken in our hand ?

 

[Chinaski]

isn't reading this thread ,even the rest of the political threads in this board make you sick ? it drives me mad,sick of this much stupidity , chetori mishe tojih kard inhame naadooni-e syaasi ro ...fuck all Iranians in whole history of diplomacy ...

so fly daash Chinaski... be tokhmam ke nemifahman

Afri jaan, baavar kon bishtaresho aslan nemikhooonam. Injaa gheyr az 2, 3 nafar kessi harfi vaase goftan nadaare. Kessi chize mofidi vaase eraae daadan nadaare. Faghat vaase vaght koshi oonam az noe birabt o jafangesh miaan. Omidvaaram hamishe paaydaar o behrooz baashi refigh.

 

[Motori]

Helping to strengthen the regime both domestically and internationally with a high turnout and putting a stamp of approval on one of its candidates was the worst possible outcome for this election. None of the other 5 candidates (with the exception of Rezaei perhaps) could have "moderated" the situation the way Rohani will. If the aim of Iranians is to have a free and democratic society, a healthy economy, lower corruption, higher standards of living, etc., the only way to achieve that is outside the framework of the Islamic Republic and anything that shortens the tenure of that system is one step closer to achieving that goal - anything that helps strengthen it is one step in the wrong direction. On that note I would take people like AN, Jalili, Gharazi, Velayati and Qalibaf over the likes of Rohani and Khatami any day.

Mr. G

Looking at the ultra sensitive situation of Iran wrt outside specially the west Iranians needed to use a wide angle lens and I'm glad they did. What if any of those bozos got the seat of presidency and went out there and bought an all out war with NATO? Have you looked at it through that angle?
AN almost did it, the shadow of war have been hovering over Iran for past 7 years and still does and it only needs a kick which Jalili or GB could easily provide.

 

[Bi-honar]

Mr. G

Looking at the ultra sensitive situation of Iran wrt outside specially the west Iranians needed to use a wide angle lens and I'm glad they did. What if any of those bozos got the seat of presidency and went out there and bought an all out war with NATO? Have you looked at it through that angle?
AN almost did it, the shadow of war have been hovering over Iran for past 7 years and still does and it only needs a kick which Jalili or GB could easily provide.

I'm with that Mr. A, but do you really think AN was the person who set foreign policy? I look at IR presidents as having absolutely no sway in foreign policy and very little sway in domestic policy. In that sense, it's still the same puppet master but a different puppet and I'm almost certain the threat of war is directed at the puppet master who wants to create an Islamic caliphate from the borders of India to the Mediterranean. I've been seeing increased references to that lately and I highly doubt Khamenei and Sepah have decided to back down from that goal, they were simply convinced by people like Rohani that the goal is more achievable by putting up a friendly face and carrying on with business as usual behind closed doors. I haven't seen anything to suggest otherwise, nor have I heard anything from Rohani that would suggest that's not the case. He was already backing down from his campaign promises during his 1st speech!

 

[khodam]

I don't! If you included the next sentence of my post in the reply, it already addressed that!

This is what you said:

the only way out of which would have been to blatantly cheat like they did last time, causing the major fractures and infighting that we see until today

But that wouldn't happen unless Mr. "Blank vote" is ready to lead the revolution

Not sure what that particular statement had to with the expats.

It has to do with different generations in Iran showing vastly different political behavior. One big difference is that 30 years ago in families the father would tell his kids how to vote, or at least the father would have his own mind. Nowadays in Iran, it's the kids who tell their parents how to vote (or to vote). This is a very different generation politically and the exapt population is largely out of touch with this mutation in our society.

In other words, it's pretty easy for us to be exposed to multiple viewpoints here, including the one from inside Iran, whereas people inside Iran are bombarded with the same view point over and over again, with every attempt being made to cut them off from these other perspectives.

This is where you are wrong. First, being exposed to multiple view points is just part of being informed, the other part if being receptive to it. Again, I maintain the expat community are not receptive to the viewpoint of the new generations, as evidenced in this very thread. Second, how are we exposed to these views exactly? We have had 170 pages of discussion, please tell me who is representing the youth inside Iran, who are the most significant players in this? Who's representing them here, seriously? Please, I'm dying to know.

 

[khodam]

Mousavi edges Pahlavi ever so lightly to become Iran's president-elect, but reformists again get solid majority

http://we-choose.org/results-2/

 

[footballeirani]

Where is ASHTAR ??? He was so active before the election and he just disappeared ? Do we have another case of Simply-Ken in our hand ?

He gave his place to someone else instead.

 

[footballeirani]

If I went to this university I would throw my degree away in trash. How could this guy be even a Phd student at this Glasgow university in the 1990s when he was in Iran at the time holding government jobs???

http://www.gcu.ac.uk/newsevents/news/article.php?id=59642

Rohani was the secretary of national security council from 89-05
Deputy speaker of parliament from 92-00
President of center for strategic research since 92

and he was a Phd student at this Glasgow university in the early 90s and got his degree in 98????!!!

Anybody in UK or going to this stupid ass university outraged by this crap? And to make things even more hilarious Mr. Hassan Rohani was studying at this University under the name of Hassan Fereidoon!!! We are talking 90s when he was Hassan Rohani...lol

 

[shahinc]

If I went to this university I would throw my degree away in trash. How could this guy be even a Phd student at this Glasgow university in the 1990s when he was in Iran at the time holding government jobs???

http://www.gcu.ac.uk/newsevents/news/article.php?id=59642

Rohani was the secretary of national security council from 89-05
Deputy speaker of parliament from 92-00
President of center for strategic research since 92

and he was a Phd student at this Glasgow university in the early 90s and got his degree in 98????!!!

Anybody in UK or going to this stupid ass university outraged by this crap? And to make things even more hilarious Mr. Hassan Rohani was studying at this University under the name of Hassan Fereidoon!!! We are talking 90s when he was Hassan Rohani...lol

Not only that. This is the time that some IR officials are under investigations for human right violations and support of terrorism ( Hashemi) or their roles in torturing, prisoning and killing innocent people is well documented ....

Now, someone like Rohani gets to go to University in UK with a different name and complete s PHD program with that "Thesis" !!! The other thing that I find funny and strange is how he is called DOCTOR Rohani instead of Hojatoleslam or ... The man was in HOZEH and Qum since he was 13 years old !!! He wears Akhoond Clothing and somehow , the focus is on DOCTOR part ...

I always look another way when Masoud blames everything on Englis and consider it Daie Jan Napelon Syndrome but this makes me think twice.

 

[Bi-honar]

This is what you said:

But that wouldn't happen unless Mr. "Blank vote" is ready to lead the revolution

It has to do with different generations in Iran showing vastly different political behavior. One big difference is that 30 years ago in families the father would tell his kids how to vote, or at least the father would have his own mind. Nowadays in Iran, it's the kids who tell their parents how to vote (or to vote). This is a very different generation politically and the exapt population is largely out of touch with this mutation in our society.

This is where you are wrong. First, being exposed to multiple view points is just part of being informed, the other part if being receptive to it. Again, I maintain the expat community are not receptive to the viewpoint of the new generations, as evidenced in this very thread. Second, how are we exposed to these views exactly? We have had 170 pages of discussion, please tell me who is representing the youth inside Iran, who are the most significant players in this? Who's representing them here, seriously? Please, I'm dying to know.

It doesn't look like you're reading the posts carefully my good sir. Fractures and infighting have nothing to do with Mr. Blank vote wanting to start a revolution or not - hence "in" fighting!

In your next point, you keep repeating what's happening inside Iran and connecting it to the expats in total vacuum from what's happening outside that box. First of all, I really don't see the influence of the 20 something crowd on Iranian government policies - domestic or foreign. All I see is a bunch of dinosaurs dictating both direction and speed. Secondly, it's irrelevant in the bigger scheme how people inside Iran view their position in the world. They may very well think they're one of the most powerful countries in the world, the sanctions aren't fair, blah blah blah, but that doesn't change anything, does it?

And we don't need to be receptive to the viewpoint of those inside Iran - it makes very little difference to our lives whether we do or not. Our job is to let them know what the viewpoint of the world is. That makes a huge difference to their lives and ultimately failing to understand that viewpoint will have dire consequences that they have been and will be dealing with.

 

[Zob Ahan]

If I went to this university I would throw my degree away in trash. How could this guy be even a Phd student at this Glasgow university in the 1990s when he was in Iran at the time holding government jobs???

http://www.gcu.ac.uk/newsevents/news/article.php?id=59642

Rohani was the secretary of national security council from 89-05
Deputy speaker of parliament from 92-00
President of center for strategic research since 92

and he was a Phd student at this Glasgow university in the early 90s and got his degree in 98????!!!

Anybody in UK or going to this stupid ass university outraged by this crap? And to make things even more hilarious Mr. Hassan Rohani was studying at this University under the name of Hassan Fereidoon!!! We are talking 90s when he was Hassan Rohani...lol

Maybe its like University of Pheonix:dance3:.

 

[Motori]

I'm with that Mr. A, but do you really think AN was the person who set foreign policy? I look at IR presidents as having absolutely no sway in foreign policy and very little sway in domestic policy. In that sense, it's still the same puppet master but a different puppet and I'm almost certain the threat of war is directed at the puppet master who wants to create an Islamic caliphate from the borders of India to the Mediterranean. I've been seeing increased references to that lately and I highly doubt Khamenei and Sepah have decided to back down from that goal, they were simply convinced by people like Rohani that the goal is more achievable by putting up a friendly face and carrying on with business as usual behind closed doors. I haven't seen anything to suggest otherwise, nor have I heard anything from Rohani that would suggest that's not the case. He was already backing down from his campaign promises during his 1st speech!

Respectfully disagree,

All one needs to do just compare Khatami tenure to AN. Although foreign policy is on the hand of the leader (on the left hand of course ) still a wise politician sitting as president who heads the Foreign Ministry can not be non-influential.

 

[khodam]

It doesn't look like you're reading the posts carefully my good sir. Fractures and infighting have nothing to do with Mr. Blank vote wanting to start a revolution or not - hence "in" fighting!

Bi-honar jan I'm reading the post but I still fail to see your logic. You're saying that voting blank would have caused in-fighting like "last time" they cheated. Well, last time it caused an uprising, and I don't see "Mr. Blank being available leading another one. Then you talk about it causing in-fighting, which is not exactly what happened last time either, as in-fighting happened after things settled. Most importantly, why would voting blank cause an in-fighting but a vote to reject their candidates wouldn't? Sorry, but your theory is shaky at best.

In your next point, you keep repeating what's happening inside Iran and connecting it to the expats in total vacuum from what's happening outside that box.

First of all, your box is just an imaginary box. People in Iran are very well connected with what happens globally. The view that they are bombarded by state propaganda and brainwashed is another example that the expat community is out of touch with realities inside Iran.

First of all, I really don't see the influence of the 20 something crowd on Iranian government policies - domestic or foreign. All I see is a bunch of dinosaurs dictating both direction and speed.

What do you even mean? We are talking about the political behavior of the Iranian society and whether their support for voting is justified or not. Are you saying Iranian youth don't matter in that context because for whatever reason government policies are not driven by them? What is next, women don't matter because they're not represented in the government? I don't even understand what you're saying here.

Secondly, it's irrelevant in the bigger scheme how people inside Iran view their position in the world. They may very well think they're one of the most powerful countries in the world, the sanctions aren't fair, blah blah blah, but that doesn't change anything, does it?

Who said anything about how people inside Iran view their position in the world. Again, we are talking about their political behavior with respect to voting. What does this have anything to do with our discussion?

And we don't need to be receptive to the viewpoint of those inside Iran - it makes very little difference to our lives whether we do or not. Our job is to let them know what the viewpoint of the world is. That makes a huge difference to their lives and ultimately failing to understand that viewpoint will have dire consequences that they have been and will be dealing with.

So we don't need to be receptive to their viewpoint even when we are judging it with regards to their decisio. Why would they then be interested to see the world's viewpoint through our lens, when we make no effort to understand their viewpoint? There is a reason that the opposition outside Iran is subject of the mockery of people inside, and you just explained that reason perfectly.

By the way, you said that we are exposed to all viewpoints here, so I ask again, who is representing the young generation's viewpoint here?

 

[DireStraits]

If I went to this university I would throw my degree away in trash. How could this guy be even a Phd student at this Glasgow university in the 1990s when he was in Iran at the time holding government jobs???

http://www.gcu.ac.uk/newsevents/news/article.php?id=59642

Rohani was the secretary of national security council from 89-05
Deputy speaker of parliament from 92-00
President of center for strategic research since 92

and he was a Phd student at this Glasgow university in the early 90s and got his degree in 98????!!!

Anybody in UK or going to this stupid ass university outraged by this crap? And to make things even more hilarious Mr. Hassan Rohani was studying at this University under the name of Hassan Fereidoon!!! We are talking 90s when he was Hassan Rohani...lol

His final thesis is about "The Flexibility of Shariah". Did you get the Picture?Glasscow is not exactly best place on earth to study Shariah low.

 

[Zob Ahan]

khodaya in hafteh mardom keshvaram 2 shadi ra dashtand,shadi sevom ra ham nasibeman kon

میگن دیشب عزرائیل اومدس به خواب جَنتی، بش گُفتِس: اَحمد جون کم
.
.
کم آماده شو. خوشحالی سوم به تو مربوط میشه ))))

 

[Bi-honar]

Respectfully disagree,

All one needs to do just compare Khatami tenure to AN. Although foreign policy is on the hand of the leader (on the left hand of course ) still a wise politician sitting as president who heads the Foreign Ministry can not be non-influential.

Yes, IR had a different foreign policy under Rafi and the first few years of Khatami, but that was a long time ago. IR's stance and foreign policy completely changed in response to the wars in Afghanistan and Iraq. Those wars created power vacuums in the region that allowed the IR to pounce on the opportunity and continue its expansionist policies - those policies have been engrained in the minds of its founders from the very start, but were heavily dented by the Iran-Iraq war and then Rafi's friendly gestures to the international community in pursuit of business and economic opportunities. The Israel-Lebanon war in 2006 solidified those policies into this axis-of-resistance that you see today and the secretive Iran-Syria pact in 2007, with the hope that Turkey would at some point experience an Islamic resurgence after Erdogan's second term which is exactly what is happening.

What do you think initiated the fall out between the reformists and Principlists? That axis-of-resistance and revival of the great Persian empires of the past, but under an Islamic flag is the "principle" for the Principlists. That's the core ideological difference between the two camps that resulted in all the fractures within the regime and sidelined the reformists. To back down from that path would be ideological suicide for the IR at this point. Not having embarked on it on such a grand scale in the first place would have been a totally different story, but we can't just turn the clock back to Khatami's era. Rohani has to work within the current framework of IR's highly rigid and inflexible foreign policy and with the highly suspicious and paranoid Arab leaders and Sunni muslims surrounding us - not to mention the international community as a whole. Times have changed Mr. A, the region has changed and the world has changed. We can't simply hope that what worked 16 years ago before we crossed a lot of lines would still be workable today and we could just carry on pretending that we didn't cross those lines or that we're not crossing them every day IMHO.