Iran will not unclench its fist, Mr President

Oliver Chettle

So what would you do to change things? What could give moderates in Iran reason to respect the West more than they do now? What can the West do to make it more likely that moderates will come to power at some point?

There is only one thing that I can think of: the West could stop supporting Zionism. Imagine the difficulties Islamic radicals would have shoring up their base if their people saw pictures of Western troops demolishing Israeli settlements and destroying Israel's nuclear arsenal. Best of all, such actions would be morally right and fully in accordance with enlightened, secular, democratic Western principals.

Bob T

"Britain’s Secret Intelligence Service, ably backed by Kermit Roosevelt, the CIA’s resourceful hitman, sorted out the mess." Trans: The UK and US engineered a coup d'etat to regain control of Iran's oil. "... wherever one looks these days at the landscape of the modern Middle East, most of the turmoil, whether in Gaza or Iraq, can be traced back directly to the activities of Khomeini’s heirs." Trans: It's easier to blame this convenient bogey man than admit that we've painted ourselves into a corner with our cack-handed 'post-colonial' pursuit of oil interests and purblind neo-con support of the region's only actual nuclear power.

Jak

Whilst you have gangsters like the UK and US with clenched fists (having used nuclear weapons against women and children in the past, chemical weapons, undertaken illegal wars in Iraq, supported slaughter of innocents in Gazza), why do you expect Iran or any country (Venezuala, Cuba etc) not to keep their fists clenched???

Farhad Nadjm

The writer is a liar, and I can think of no greater insult.

The Shah's regime is "one of the most repressive autocracies of the modern age"?

No, this is a foolish and irresponsible thing to write.

I would go further: it is ignorant and disingenuous.

I would go further still: it is pig ignorant.

Leaving aside whether the author intended to make a trivial point of detail with the word "autocracy" let us list some of the filthy regimes of the modern era: Stalin's USSR, Hitler's Nazi Germany, the Khmer regime, the current theocracy in Iran, quite a few banana republics, Pinochet (supported by the west), the "democracy" in the UK which, together with the plutocracy in the USA, toppled a democratically elected government in Iran in the 1950s. The same two governments kept Saddam in weaponry throughout the 80s, and also egged him on, and are directly responsible for the death of hundreds of thousands of Iranians in that pointless war.

Not content with egging the Iraqis on, these powers subsequently decided to do a spot of smiting in Iraq too. These idiots CHANGED THEIR MINDS, and executed their former poster boy Saddam. Then they stood back from Gaza whilst the top equal most-vile-state-in-modern-history returned to it's traditional, historical hobby of jolly good old-fashioned Old Testament Smiting of its foes.

Corruption, liars, lies, betrayal, hypocrisy, lies, liars.

Not the Shah's regime, but Britain, USA, and above all Israel.

I have been a British citizen since birth, and am ashamed of Britain as much as I am of the Islamic Republic. To my mind the Shah was better than either.

Vescere bracis meis

Oliver - while we're at it shall we also veil our wives, circumcise ourselves and altogether chant "lā ilāha illā allāh"?

That should get I'm-a-dinner-jacket and his mad mullahs off our backs.

Andre

"... wherever one looks these days at the landscape of the modern Middle East, most of the turmoil, whether in Gaza or Iraq, can be traced back directly to the activities of"... Israel and pro-Israeli Western policies

BALDEVINDER CHEEMA

IT IS THE WESTREN POWERS ACTING AS SELF APPOINTED WORLD POLCE MEN THAT ARE THE CULPRITS OF ALL THE PRESENT KILLINGS AND SUFFRING IN THE REGION THAT IS HOME SOME OF OLDEST HUMAN CIVILZATIONS. MIND BOGGLES AT THE NUMBERS OF IRANIAN AND IRAQIS KILLED, MAIMED AND WOUNDED.AND ALL THIS IN THE NAME OF ESTABILISHING PEACE. PEACE OF THE GRAVE YARD.IT TIME TO TALK WITH WORDS AND NOT WITH GUNS. ONE LOOKS TO PRESEDENT OBAMA TO CHANGE THE TRACK THAT HAS CREATED SO MUCH SUFFERING NO ONLY IN THE MIDDLE EAST BUT HAS ALSO LED TO ECONOMIC MELT DOWN THE WORLD OVER.

Linda Smith

Israel is the central front in the Islamic global jihad for world domination. Israel is fighting a ward against militant Islam on behalf of the world. Anyone who does not support Israel in its fight against militant Fundamentalist Hamas and Hezbollah, Iran's proxies, is either an Islamist or a fool.

David Preiser

Hey Oliver Chettle, why not just have the Western troops kill all the pesky Israelis while they're at it? I mean, it would certainly save you having to wait around for the Iranians to do it the minute your enlightened principles turn their backs.

Or are you one of those who thinks Iran is merely doing all this to defend themselves from big, bad Israel, and will be all sweetness and light once the hated Zionist entity is put in its place? On what evidence do you base your assumption, besides your own emotions?

Gil

Farhad, if you don't like it here and you are ashamed of beign British then why don't you leave? Judging from your anti-Semitic post you have no idea what you are talking about.

James Canning Seattle WA

Iran deserves respect for helping the oppressed Palestinians. The scaremongering regarding Iran's domestic nuclear power programme is worthy of contempt. Only and idiot would think Iran would try to hit Berlin or London with ballistic missiles.

Linda Smith

The Islamic fundamentalist Iranian President has called for Israel's annihilation whilst at the same time pursuing a nuclear programme; The self-proclaimed overarching goal of Islamic fundamentalists is not just to destroy Israel but to conquer the world and impose islamic theocracy on us all. Israel is a red herring; Algeria has been involved in violent internal Islamic fundamentalist strife for decades - nothing to do with Israel. The threat to them of Islamic fundamentalism has made many Arab regimes realise that Israel is now a lesser danger to their own survival than is Islamic fundamentalism. Although the Arab regimes traditionally focussed their own populations' attention outwards on to hatred of Israel to distract them from criticising their own oppressive regimes, criticism by Arab countries of Israel's attack on Gaza has been muted; the Egyptian President went as far as to say that Hamas invited the recent attack.

John Hutton, Secretary of State for Defence, described Iran as "an international pariah state" and said "..its influence remains malign and it poses a significant threat not just to global security, but to regional security...there can be no regional security as long as Iran continues to support not just terrorist organisations in the middle east, but, for example, Taliban elements in Afghanistan, and as long as Iran continues to have active and close links with some of the terrorists and insurgent groups in Iraq." (House of Commons Questions on Defence, 12 January 2009)

Andrew

Yeah, let's feed Israel to them. I'm sure that'll appease them. I mean it's not like they're a bunch of eschatological clerical fascists or anything.

No, once we disarm Israel and allow it to be wiped off the map, the Iranians will cease their bad, Islamic craziness, and join us modern enlightened democracies in the 21 st century. Yep.

RobHK

A poster here told another poster that if he didn't like Britain he should, in effect, go back where he came from, although he was born here.

he then went on to accuse the first poster of antisemitism, because he criticised Israel once at the end of quite a long post.
I defended the first poster, and suggested that unwarranted accusations of antisemitism should be avoided as they in fact generate real antisemitism.

The offensive remarks are still there but my objections have not been allowed. Why not? What posting rules have they breached?

RobHK

A poster here told another poster that if he didn't like Britain he should, in effect, go back where he came from, although he was born here.

he then went on to accuse the first poster of antisemitism, because he criticised Israel once at the end of quite a long post.
I defended the first poster, and suggested that unwarranted accusations of antisemitism should be avoided as they in fact generate real antisemitism.

The offensive remarks are still there but my objections have not been allowed. Why not? What posting rules have they breached?

Gil

RobHK, you really need to read more carefully:

1. The poster in question was NOT told to go back to 'where he came from'.

2. The poster in question actually demonised Israel. Read the whole post.

Ashar Pervez

If history has taught us anything it is that might is always right.

The peace loving, democratic and champions of human rights' western nations do not have to look very far back in their past to come with a few examples. Just to refresh your memory I will mention the American terrorists of the 18th century, Australian terrorists of the 19th century, Spanish CONQUESTS of Latin America......

If you are beginning to feel offended, may I ask why? After all what the above three PLAYERS did is not very different to what the terrorists of today are doing?

Would you classify your own ancestors as terrorists or are military conquests a separate matter in your intellectual world?

The West simply can't stand the though of anyone standing upto them. Thank heaven that you the west can never stand upto China or Russia (as much as I am not a fan of Russia, I still take great comfort in the fact that there are nations that can look you in the eyes and giv eyou a piece of their mind).

Now before you start labelling me a fanatic, mindless barbarian think over what I have written in a calm and composed manner (which surely your western intellect must have granted you).

What goes around comes around and seriously, the west needs to accept that their colonial days are over and will never return.

1991

You have the audacity to spout such utter lies and stir-up anti-iranian sentiment yet neglect to discuss the fact that the United States has openly admitted to the support of armed insurgent groups within Iran.
You also make the ignorant proclamation that Al Qaeda, a sunni wahabi terrorist organisation and the Revolutionary Guards a shia fundamentalist terrorist organisation collude on attacks, you are nothing but an uneducated scaremongerer that seeks to propogate hate of Iran.
Iran has not invaded a nation for centuries, nor called for the wiping of Israel from the map - "Zionism must be wiped from the pages of history." There are 25,000 jews in Iran, free to visit Israel as they wish. I do not disagree that wars are conducted in proxy by both sides of the spectrum.

Nuclear energy is the right of any nation. Iran lacks the refining capacity for its own needs, it is a net importer of petrol. Tehran often suffers rolling-blackouts for 2 hours, twice daily.

Ahmadinejad is viewed as a figure similar to that of George Bush, he is a puppet of the Guardian council.
Instead of undertaking actions that serve to strengthen the iranian regime, sanctions, invasion of Afghanistan and Iraq, never-ending support for Israel's actions (often warranted)and scare-mongering propaganda, I beg of the international community to call Iran's bluff; today's militant objectives are a product of the continued stance of the West as much as of the revolution of 1979.

Jak

Unbelievable propaganda! Why can't you just accept the majority of the world's population don't want your broken capitalist ideology that simply does not work.

Jak

Gil: You are spouting institutionalised racist British views that appear when there is any critique.

If one is ashamed of being british surely one does not have to leave but to protest or speak out?

Dave Grayson

G'Day All
The easiest way to start to get some order and peace with the Islamic Nations of the Middle East is to begin to treat them with Equality. While ever the US, Britain, Australia and the rest keep denying what Israel is doing and letting Israel continue to run rampant over the Palestinians then we will all have trouble It is time that we told Israel to get the hell back to their own turf and stop this idea that it can just keep building where ever it likes

Thanks from
Dave
Down under