Is Wolf Blitzer under cover in the U.S? ;)

He does not much care for Ahmadinejad of Iran but leaves the impression that he is sympathetic to Mousavi who was a candidate for the Presidency of Iran in the bitterly fought election of this year.

Is Blitzer actually an Ayatollah and living under cover in the U.S? Because some Ayatollahs are sympathetic to Mousavi ;)

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Iran, Rafsanjani, Mousavi and turmoil

Rafsanjani

Right from the beginning I had my serious doubts about Faux News's reporting on Iran and about CNN's Wolf Blitzer going on non-stop about a reformist move in Iran and then kind of gloating about it. I stopped watching CNN during the Iraq invasion as it had become a propaganda organ for the Bush administration. Right from the beginning there was something not right about the Iraq war and it became obvious as time went by. I did not watch CNN for a few years to come and only started watching it again during the last Presidential election.

Rafsanjani and Mousavi reformists? I kept thinking, how could that be? Rafsanjani was president in the 1990s and very much a part of the Ayotollah establishment and ideology and of course Mousavi was Prime Minister from 1981 to 1989 under Ayotollah Khomeini. It is apparent that there is something more to it. It is a struggle for power between the hardliners and unfortunately young people are being used as pawns to obtain these objectives. Moreover, it is a golden opportunity for the US and other western interests to destabilize Iran. However, it is very hurtful to see that young people and the general public are paying the price.

In almost every society a few are in control and the vast majority is manipulated for the benefit of those few. That applies even more in emerging democracies like Iran. The current struggle looks like one between Rafsanjani and Ahmadinejad. Rafsanjani being a very rich and influential man has the capability to finance and stir up the trouble.

A fellow blogger Ken, who knows much more about Iran than I do, has great posts on these issues, which I would recommend reading:

The US has been trying to destabilize Iran.

The Nation magazine and the Iranian election.

Power struggle in Iran and Rafsanjani.

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Iran and its vulnerabilities

Given Iran's history and its exploitation in the past, will it accept foreign help? Would it not look at it as a Trojan horse? Where all the commotion in Iran is going to lead is hard to tell. One can only wish all the best to the people of Iran.

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Iran: Demonstrations

When Faux News and CNN are constantly and non-stop reporting about demonstrations in Iran using the dubious sources of twitter and facebook, then should we trust it? Is this a regime change in progress operation?

Another part which is hard to understand and swallow is that Mousavi is for change and reform. He was Prime Minister from 1981 to 1989 under the previous Ayotollah and very much a product of the 1979 revolution. Moreover he was opposed to the release of American hostages at the time and very much anti-American. So with Maousavi in charge US and the West do not stand to gain much, so why is he being promoted. Is it possible that only objective is to destabilize Iran and then move in? It is hard for the western public to understand the real going-ons in Iran. I, for one, do not believe Faux News.

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Mir Hossein Mousavi loses elections in Iran

Mousavi has lost the election and the US and other western nations are upset that a chance for a progressive Iran is lost. But is it? Mousavi was Prime Minister during first Ayotollah Khomeni and very much a conservative if not more conservative than Ahmadinejad. If Mousavi would have won, I do not think there would have been much change.

Azar Nafisi who authored Things I've Been Silent About, and is also a visiting professor and the executive director of Cultural Conversations at the Foreign Policy Institute of Johns Hopkins University's School of Advanced International Studies in Washington DC writes that:

"In order to win Mousavi had taken up the progressive slogans, which he had previously fought against. I was there at the beginning of the Islamic Revolution when he was the Prime Minister, and implemented many of the repressive measures which he now denounces.

I (like many others) was thrown out of the university that Mousavi helped to shut down as part of the Cultural Revolution."

So there you go, Mousavi was not much of a progressive as he is built up to be in the west. I believe as far as the US and Middle East is concerned not much has changed. The only way to settle instability in that part of the world is to deal with the Palestinian issue head on and solve it. That will take lot of wind from under the wings of extremists and fundamentalists in the region.

As far as the election in Iran is concerned, it seems the results are fair but then we do not know the details. However, I will say this much, that they do not seem to be as badly rigged as the Bush brothers succeeded to do in Florida in 2000 - remember those hanging chads. I believe that victory was stolen from Al Gore. If Al Gore had taken office in 2000, we would have a different world today. In my humble opinion a better world.

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