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Sun 8 May, 2011 08:37 am
I don't know if anyone's heard about this, and it's all a bit weird. Ahmadinejad is the President of Iran. People in the west probably know him best for his virulent anti-semitism, holocaust denial and the vicious suppression of protesters following a disputed election last year. Note, I am a passionate advocate of Palestinian self-determination, and as such I boycott all Israeli products. However, there is no excuse for anti-semitism, and holocaust denial is unforgivable.
Also, I will be writing about Iranian attitudes. Those are not my attitudes, and to avoid answering irrelevent postings, I will say now that I do NOT believe that Ayatollah Ali Khamenei is the voice of God. All quotations are from the Guardian, either Friday's edition or Saturday's. So they will be annotated Friday or Saturday.
Despite being the President of Iran following a (rigged) election Ahmadinejad is not the ruler, and in reality has very little power. The ruler is Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, he is the supreme leader, and is viewed as being God's representative on Earth.
Until now Khamenei and Ahmadinejad have been very close, but there has been a very public falling out. Ahmadinejad has refused to accept Khamenei's reinstatement of a cabinet minister Heydar Moslehi, Ahmadinejad had asked to resign.
'Although Khamenei is not constitutionally allowed to intervene in cabinet appointments, an unwritten law requires all officials to always abide by the supreme leader without showing any opposition.
Clerics close to Khamenei have launched a campaign to highlight his role in Iranian politics, saying that to disobey him is equal to apostasy as he is 'God's representative on Earth.' ' Saturday.
That's not the only thing they're arguing about.
' Khamenei's supporter's believe that the top-level confrontation stems from the increasing influence of ( Esfandiar Rahim) Mashaei, an opponant of greater involvement of clerics in politics, who is being groomed by Ahmadinejad as a possible successor.' Friday
Now here is where it gets really weird.
'Several people said to be close to the president and his chief of staff, Esfandiar Rahim Mashaei, have been arrested in recent days and charged with being 'magicians' and invoking djinns(spirits)
Ayandeh, an Iranian news website, described one of the arrested men, Abbas Ghaffari, as 'a man with special skills in metaphysics and connections with the unknown worlds.'
So there you have it. Ahmadinejad, a man rightly reviled in the West, looks like being the man prepared to start fighting to make Iran more of a secular state than a theocracy.
@ossobuco,
Very interesting. Thanks for the link, osso. I think the last paragraph was even more interesting.
Quote:In the face of these recent confrontation with Khamenei, Ahmadinejad has been left isolated, with only a handful of serious supporters.Iran's opposition, exhausted by the brutal crackdown of the green movement and the placing of its leaders Mir Hossein Mousavi and Mehdi Karroubi under house arrest in the past 80 days, has found itself watching these recent developments and wondering what will happen next.
@ossobuco,
Thank you for that. I read the paper version, mostly because I like to read it in the bath.
@izzythepush,
I might have missed it (Friday, I guess) in the online version. Sometimes when I read the guardian I'm more interested in their culture/books articles. Found it today not in general News but by clicking on World and then Middle East.
@ossobuco,
I've not seen it anywhere else. Not even on Channel 4 which is surprising, because they're usually very good on Iran. Everytime something new comes out about this part of the world it just shows how little we really know.
@izzythepush,
izzythepush wrote:So there you have it. Ahmadinejad, a man rightly reviled in the West, looks like being the man prepared to start fighting to make Iran more of a secular state than a theocracy.
But he is not looking for a secular state for the good of people, he is looking for a totalitarian state with him at the head instead of a theocracy with Khamenei in the lead. I haven't read anything that puts Ahmadinejad as a voice of freedom.
@engineer,
I used the phrase 'voice of freedom' to be a bit provocative. As I write this there's a report in The Guardian to say that Iran has been involved in suppressing protesters in Syria, also according to Al Jazeera, Ahmadinejad has flown to Turkey on a state visit, and all internal divisions have been 'swept under the carpet.'
If you had to make a choice between Ahmadinejad and Khamenei you'd be hard put, a bit like having to make a choice between Hitler and Stalin. According to reports though this spat seems to be about limiting the powers of Khamenei. Again it's a tough call to make, but I think a totalitarian, vicious dictatorship that has a secular basis is slightly more palatable than a totalitarian, vicious dictatorship that is a theocracy.
If you are speaking for God, you can always portray protestors as being godless apostates. If you are running a secular state which claims to have the people behind you it's harder to ignore protesters. Anyway, all the stuff about djins and witchcraft is really weird, maybe now would not be the best time to tour Iran with a new production of Arthur Miller's 'The Crucible.'
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