You know, when the country is suffering from a crippled economy, religious discrimination, school drop outs, teenage prostitution and drug/alcohol abuse... there are very few things than can "hurt" the country anymore. On top of that, these sanctions don't hurt the government. These impact of these sanctions are very easily and publicly being placed on the civilian population on Iran. It's something that I wish people would acknowledge - the Khameneis and Rafsanjanis and Ahmadinejjads aren't losing a dime. Everyone else is quickly descended into poverty and miseducation. I hope the plan is to frustrate the Iranian population, and I hope the plan works. Otherwise, you're taking away an advantage that Iran has over other unstable countries - it's people are actually very democratic, they dislike mass religion and they are extremely pro-education. They don't like gender discrimination either, which is fantastic. They have tons of non-oil resources, they can have one of the most awesome tourism industries in the world and they produce their own things (cars, nuclear power for example) which reduces their reliance on imports. If this plan doesn't work though, you will soon end up with another Iraq. Full of terrorists, violence, poverty, miseducation, etc. Terrorist activity in Iran is rare and, in fact, has only popped up recently with that group (Jund Allah I think? from Balochistan?). I don't see a problem with Iran developing nuclear energy. I also don't see a problem with Iran being a nuclear power. My problem is with this specific government, which is like a leech on the head of the Iranians, being in possession of any nuclear technology. Otherwise, Iran has a right to own weapons which are needed to protect itself from Israel, which has a giant nuclear arsenal. It's not fair to expect Israel to be armed with nukes and Iran to rely on others for protection. This is the only way Iran can protect its independence and sovereignty. The only condition I would place on this is - they have to demonstrate that the government is at least as responsible and ethical as Israel's government. In many ways, Ahmedinejjad can make a great case for his position. The problem is that he's a puppet and only cares about diverting attention away from the fact that he is powerless as president and likes to waste time on stupid things like holocaust denial when people are suffering in his country. I thought Larry King handled it well. I would've hit him with an uppercut if I was interviewing.
Did he actually deny the holocaust? From the transcript I read I remember him specifically saying he does not deny the holocaust but he wants more research done on it since the numbers on how many people so on are still varied, if thats the case for sake of history it doesn't sound as offending as the way it is said that he actual denies it happens. Its interesting even in his speech when he was talking about conspiracy theories, he actually listed that there are 3 thoughts generally on what happened, rather than assert that one happen or other, he said these are 3 theories that people say, but when I read on espn it just says he said that it was an inside job...Its kind of annoying to see the media do that even it is with a conniving guy like him. I do think its interesting that these people are supposed to be diplomats, yet if there is someone they really don't agree with or have a problem with they walk out. Isn't that the opposite of diplomatic? Where even if you have a different position, an issue with someone or what is being said, you hear it out as that is the first step to any progression. This is just doesn't seem like the place to do that, even if he is a wacko on many of his points.
2 of the theories involved the US purposely orchestrating the attack. Clearly his intent was to give credibility to those theories -- he even said that the majority of Americans think it was an inside job.
Because from my perspective, there are different level of positions and lines. IF Dinner Jacket wants to rant on various problems with say, American adventures in the Middle East, he can do that. If he wants to rant on just stupid crap like 9/11 Troof, then I don't see a point sticking around as having a productive discussion on a such a r****ded thing is impossible.
Interesting observation. I read an article that the powers to be in Iran never wear ties, even on formal occasions, as they consider it a Western trend and formality. To each his own, I guess.
