Iran

Friday

Alex Massie

Mahmoud Ahmadinejad: SNP Sympathiser or Labour Agent?

Crivvens. Whatever next? An apology for 1978? IRAN sought to ally itself with Scotland last night, praising Alex Salmond’s administration for its anti-war stance and suggesting Tehran has more in common with Holyrood than Westminster. Rasoul Movahedian, the ambassador of the Islamic Republic of Iran, told The Scotsman that Scotland and Iran shared “similar views” on many issues, such as the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan and nuclear non-proliferation. And he said there was “fertile ground” for a stronger relationship with the controversial government of Iran’s president, Mahmoud Ahmadinejad. “I think that Iran and Scotland enjoy similar views on many regional and international topics and issues,” he said. “The views

Monday

Alex Massie

Yanks: Iran Nixes Nukes

If true, this is the best news to come out of Washington in a long, long time. Turns out the Iranians may not be nuts after all. Who knew? The NYT reports: A new assessment by American intelligence agencies concludes that Iran halted its nuclear weapons program in 2003 and that the program remains on hold, contradicting an assessment two years ago that Tehran was working inexorably toward building a bomb. The conclusions of the new assessment are likely to be a major factor in the tense international negotiations aimed at getting Iran to halt its nuclear energy program. Concerns about Iran were raised sharply after President Bush had suggested

Monday

Monday

Alex Massie

Columbia’s Persian problem

I would not have invited Mahmoud Ahmadinejad to speak at Columbia University today, but now that the invitation has been made it should go ahead. In general, however, I agree entirely with Daniel Larison: Manifestly, the man’s views are very often ridiculous, and he is a ranting demagogue, an Iranian Huey Long with less common sense.  He is, however, a shrewd political operator who knows how play the angles.  To give him a forum is to play into his hands and to treat him as the world leader that he would like to pretend to be.  It flatters his ego, builds up his reputation around the world and strengthens his

Alex Massie

Ahmadinejad and Irving

Reasons why jailing David Irving for “Holocaust Denial” was a bad idea, cont.: It allows Mahmoud Ahmadinejad to say that clearly there must be something to this point of view if “researchers” can be imprisoned for pursuing research from a “different perspective”. And, of course, implicitly he’s arguing that despite all your fancy, high-falutin’ talk, you in the west are no better than the rest of us. You censor too.  Tend to the beam in your own eye before looking to the mote in mine etc etc.

Alex Massie

Department of Problem Solving

Ahmadinejad at Columbia: A) Question: why do you execute homosexuals? B) Ahmadinejad answers that, well, the US has capitol punishment too… C) The President then boasts of the efficiency of Iranian government policy: “We don’t have homosexuals in Iran like in your country”. UPDATE: CSPAN caller now: “Get some research on this so we can implement it in America…”