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TechnoratiIran Had a Democracy Before We Took It Away
Iranians do not need or want us to teach them about liberty and representative government. They have long embodied this struggle. It is we who need to be taught. It was Washington that orchestrated the 1953 coup to topple Iran’s democratically elected government, the first in the Middle East, and install the compliant shah in power. It was Washington that forced Prime Minister Mohammed Mossadegh, a man who cared as much for his country as he did for the rule of law and democracy, to spend the rest of his life under house arrest. We gave to the Iranian people the corrupt regime of the shah and his savage secret police and the primitive clerics that rose out of the swamp of the dictator’s Iran. Iranians know they once had a democracy until we took it away.
The fundamental problem in the Middle East is not a degenerate and corrupt Islam. The fundamental problem is a degenerate and corrupt Christendom. We have not brought freedom and democracy and enlightenment to the Muslim world. We have brought the opposite. We have used the iron fist of the American military to implant our oil companies in Iraq, occupy Afghanistan and ensure that the region is submissive and cowed. We have supported a government in Israel that has carried out egregious war crimes in Lebanon and Gaza and is daily stealing ever greater portions of Palestinian land. We have established a network of military bases, some the size of small cities, in Iraq, Afghanistan, Saudi Arabia, Turkey and Kuwait, and we have secured basing rights in the Gulf states of Bahrain, Qatar, Oman and the United Arab Emirates. We have expanded our military operations to Uzbekistan, Pakistan, Kyrgyzstan, Tajikistan, Egypt, Algeria and Yemen. And no one naively believes, except perhaps us, that we have any intention of leaving.
We are the biggest problem in the Middle East. We have through our cruelty and violence created and legitimized the Mahmoud Ahmadinejads and the Osama bin Ladens. The longer we lurch around the region dropping iron fragmentation bombs and seizing Muslim land the more these monsters, reflections of our own distorted image, will proliferate. The theologian Reinhold Niebuhr wrote that “the most significant moral characteristic of a nation is its hypocrisy.” But our hypocrisy no longer fools anyone but ourselves. It will ensure our imperial and economic collapse.
The history of modern Iran is the history of a people battling tyranny. These tyrants were almost always propped up and funded by foreign powers. This suppression and distortion of legitimate democratic movements over the decades resulted in the 1979 revolution that brought the Iranian clerics to power, unleashing another tragic cycle of Iranian resistance.
“The central story of Iran over the last 200 years has been national humiliation at the hands of foreign powers who have subjugated and looted the country,” Stephen Kinzer, the author of “All the Shah’s Men: An American Coup and the Roots of Middle East Terror,” told me. “For a long time the perpetrators were the British and Russians. Beginning in 1953, the United States began taking over that role. In that year, the American and British secret services overthrew an elected government, wiped away Iranian democracy, and set the country on the path to dictatorship.”
“Then, in the 1980s, the U.S. sided with Saddam Hussein in the Iran-Iraq war, providing him with military equipment and intelligence that helped make it possible for his army to kill hundreds of thousands of Iranians,” Kinzer said. “Given this history, the moral credibility of the U.S. to pose as a promoter of democracy in Iran is close to nil.
Especially ludicrous is the sight of people in Washington calling for intervention on behalf of democracy in Iran when just last year they were calling for the bombing of Iran. If they had had their way then, many of the brave protesters on the streets of Tehran today—the ones they hold up as heroes of democracy—would be dead now.”
Washington has never recovered from the loss of Iran—something our intelligence services never saw coming. The overthrow of the shah, the humiliation of the embassy hostages, the laborious piecing together of tiny shreds of paper from classified embassy documents to expose America’s venal role in thwarting democratic movements in Iran and the region, allowed the outside world to see the dark heart of the American empire. Washington has demonized Iran ever since, painting it as an irrational and barbaric country filled with primitive, religious zealots. But Iranians, as these street protests illustrate, have proved in recent years far more courageous in the defense of democracy than most Americans.
Where were we when our election was stolen from us in 2000 by Republican operatives and a Supreme Court that overturned all legal precedent to anoint George W. Bush president? Did tens of thousands of us fill the squares of our major cities and denounce the fraud? Did we mobilize day after day to restore transparency and accountability to our election process? Did we fight back with the same courage and tenacity as the citizens of Iran? Did Al Gore defy the power elite and, as opposition candidate Mir Hossein Mousavi has done, demand a recount at the risk of being killed?
President Obama retreated in his Cairo speech into our spectacular moral nihilism, suggesting that our crimes matched the crimes of Iran, that there is, in his words, "a tumultuous history between us." He went on: "In the middle of the Cold War, the United States played a role in the overthrow of a democratically elected Iranian government. Since the Islamic Revolution, Iran has played a role in acts of hostage-taking and violence against U.S. troops and civilians." It all, he seemed to say, balances out.
I am no friend of the Iranian regime, which helped create and arm Hezbollah, is certainly meddling in Iraq, has persecuted human rights activists, gays, women and religious and ethnic minorities, embraces racism and intolerance and uses its power to deny popular will. But I do not remember Iran orchestrating a coup in the United States to replace an elected government with a brutal dictator who for decades persecuted, assassinated and imprisoned democracy activists. I do not remember Iran arming and funding a neighboring state to wage war against our country. Iran never shot down one of our passenger jets as did the USS Vincennes-caustically nicknamed Robocruiser by the crews of other American vessels-when in June 1988 it fired missiles at an Airbus filled with Iranian civilians, killing everyone on board. Iran is not sponsoring terrorism within the United States, as our intelligence services currently do in Iran. The attacks on Iranian soil include suicide bombings, kidnappings, beheadings, sabotage and "targeted assassinations" of government officials, scientists and other Iranian leaders. What would we do if the situation was reversed? How would we react if Iran carried out these policies against us?
We are, and have long been, the primary engine for radicalism in the Middle East. The greatest favor we can do for democracy activists in Iran, as well as in Iraq, Afghanistan, the Gulf and the dictatorships that dot North Africa, is withdraw our troops from the region and begin to speak to Iranians and the rest of the Muslim world in the civilized language of diplomacy, respect and mutual interests. The longer we cling to the doomed doctrine of permanent war the more we give credibility to the extremists who need, indeed yearn for, an enemy that speaks in their crude slogans of nationalist cant and violence. The louder the Israelis and their idiot allies in Washington call for the bombing of Iran to thwart its nuclear ambitions, the happier are the bankrupt clerics who are ordering the beating and murder of demonstrators. We may laugh when crowds supporting Ahmadinejad call us "the Great Satan," but there is a very palpable reality that has informed the terrible algebra of their hatred.
Our intoxication with our military prowess blinds us to all possibilities of hope and mutual cooperation. It was Mohammed Khatami, the president of Iran from 1997 to 2005-perhaps the only honorable Middle East leader of our time-whose refusal to countenance violence by his own supporters led to the demise of his lofty "civil society" at the hands of more ruthless, less scrupulous opponents. It was Khatami who proclaimed that "the death of even one Jew is a crime." And we sputtered back to this great and civilized man the primitive slogans of all deformed militarists. We were captive, as all bigots are, to our demons, and could not hear any sound but our own shouting. It is time to banish these demons. It is time to stand not with the helmeted goons who beat protesters, not with those in the Pentagon who make endless wars, but with the unarmed demonstrators in Iran who daily show us what we must become.
The fight of the Iranian people is our fight. And, perhaps for the first time, we can match our actions to our ideals. We have no right under post-Nuremberg laws to occupy Iraq or Afghanistan. These occupations are defined by these statutes as criminal "wars of aggression." They are war crimes. We have no right to use force, including the state-sponsored terrorism we unleash on Iran, to turn the Middle East into a private gas station for our large oil companies. We have no right to empower Israel's continuing occupation of Palestine, a flagrant violation of international law. The resistance you see in Iran will not end until Iranians, and all those burdened with repression in the Middle East, free themselves from the tyranny that comes from within and without. Let us, for once, be on the side of those who share our democratic ideals.
138 Comments so far
Show AllThe Iranians are still furious at us because Mr. Roosevelt "organized" the overthrow of the Mossadeq government. He did not do this single-handedly but with the help of thousands if not tens of thousands of Iran's citizens.
oldcreditiste asks 'And which Roosevelt was this???' Teddy died in 1919. Franklin Delano died in 1944. Is there a secret Roosevelt that had such power in 1953?
If it was one of these it must have been inspired in heaven, or in hell!
oldcreditiste,
hope this helps....
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kermit_Roosevelt,_Jr.
{Kermit "Kim" Roosevelt, Jr. (February 16, 1916 – June 8, 2000), was an American intelligence officer who coordinated the Central Intelligence Agency's (CIA) Operation Ajax, which orchestrated the coup d’état against Iran's prime minister, Mohammed Mossadegh, and returned Mohammad Reza Pahlavi, the Shah of Iran, to Iran's Peacock Throne in August 1953. He was also the grandson of American president Theodore Roosevelt.}
...peace...
Did anyone watch Monica Crowley on The McLaughlin Group criticizing Obama for not speaking out in support of the Iranian protesters, while at the same time "criticizing" Israel (according to her anyway) for their settlements in the West Bank? If you dare to interfere in one case, what's stopping you in the other - that seemed to be her contention!
Spot on as usual Chris. One "correction" from my point of view is your suggestion that the rise of the Ayotollah's in the mid 80's was "unforeseen." Here are a few links that provide a viewpoint consistent with the history of US black ops and regime change throughout the mid east, central america, southeast asia, etc.
The Real Iranian Hostage Story From The Files of Fara Mansoor
http://www.venusproject.com/ecs/October_Surprise/1979_Coup_Iran_Revolution.html
Hostage Story (Iran): CIA Khomeini Bush connections
http://iranpoliticsclub.net/politics/hostage-story/index.htm
The article and all the comments posted are simply wonderful to read and see. We don't have a TV but on Sunday I decided to flip a few channels on my Dads TV set , wow CNN especially with its"continous propaganda" on Iran..it was sickening to watch this.
All of us with a sense of "real history" know full well the CIA has its dirty diseased hands in this and its sick. The people who do these things are sick, they are mentally ill.
After a 2hr presentation on the CIA and 911(Oct 11th 2001 in Portland Oregon), Mike Ruppert said , "you see, we are sick, we are a sick Nation and only when we have the courage to face the truth will the healing begin."
Another reference to "mental illness" was in the Oliver Stone movie "Natural born Killers" when the 2 psychopaths visit the Navajo healers hogan, the little boy askes. 'Grandpa what is wrong with them?...the Grandfather speaks.."Son they are very sick, they are living in the land of Ghosts, because of this do not move, because people like this are very dangerous. Little boy..Can you help them Grandpa?...I don't know but I will try".
This scene in particular is Oliver Stones "center piece" ..you can draw many,many conclusions from this scene.
Thanks to everyone here. great discussion and great reading.
Raila
Except far too many young Americans saw Natural Born Killers in 1994 and identified viscerally with the killers and missed the healer's message you try to convey today. Instead, Grandfather's message only confirmed what the viewer was feeling., "I'm a NBK and I'm going to cause some mayhem. Stay out of my way! I'm dangerous!"
That's a sad reflection of the film: the message didn't translate to a majority of the audience Stone was trying to reach.
Much like war films, too often the graphic violence and pornography dominates whatever social commentary the filmmaker thinks they just contributed.
Films like Fight Club's greater message are lost on those most likely to be impacted and revolutionized. The young, disaffected, misdirected people instead absorb the visceral material and go underground to start their own fight clubs for blood and dominance and vengeance.
chuk-
Hello? Wasn't the first rule of "Fight Club" not to talk about "Fight Club"?
There is no such thing as "Fight Club"!
Raila-
Great Oliver Stone analogy! The US corpstate is like a drug pusher keeping us addicted to the drugs of violence and greed in any way he can.
The majority of the population, even most "liberals" will do anything and everything to keep this reality from entering their consciousness.
Most people get very angry when you start to expose the far and wide reach of US brutality. Even those with sobering views will fight to protect their last vestige of hope in this US system of lies and oppression.
I think we all are very concerned at what will happen as more and more people awake and the government has no other choice to expose itself or to crack down on dissent.
http://www.guardian.co.uk/
commentisfree/2009/jun/22/
iran-election-voters-numbers
Some excerpts, the whole article is worth reading:
"Turnout may have been high across the board, but the just over 100% recorded in the conservative strongholds of Yazd and Mazandaran is particularly striking."
"Ahmadinejad claims to have gathered 13m votes more than all three conservative candidates combined managed in 2005. If true, this would be the biggest increase in a vote since the birth of the Islamic Republic"
"to have increased their vote by 113% would be quite spectacular."
"For the numbers to add up, in 10 out of Iran's 30 provinces, Ahmadinejad would have had to win the votes of all those who did not vote in 2005, all those who voted for the centrist Hashemi Rafsanjani in 2005, and up to 44% of those who voted for reformist candidates that year. For anyone who has experienced the polarisation of Iranian politics in the last decade, this is hard to believe."
"Instead, it seems Ahmadinejad recorded many of his greatest victories in rural, often ethnic minority, provinces that formerly supported the reformist cleric Mehdi Karrubi. Rural and ethnic minority provinces (contrary to much popular opinion in the west) have traditionally voted against conservatives. Most notable of these was Karrubi's home province, Lorestan, where his 2005 tally of 55.5% was cut to just 4.6%, with an overall increase of 296% in the conservative vote. In a province with a long history of supporting ethnic Lors like Karrubi, this is even more surprising."
Chris Hedges' article makes many good points, but I think it ignores at least two virtues of the U.S. These virtues have prompted many of us to defend this country against genuine enemies, and will motivate us to defend against terrorist attack, no matter how egregious U.S. behavior has been toward other nations.
The greatest invention ever, in my opinion, isn't language, the wheel, electricity, or government. It's the principle that the individual's instinctive drive to become religious and enlist others in his or her specific brand of religiosity must be kept separate from government. As best I can tell, this great idea was nurtured and flowered here beyond anywhere else in the world. The vitality of the disassociation of religion and state determines the vitality of democracy. Iran is an excellent example of what happens when religious belief infects electoral politics. U.S. foreign policy has been notable for its silence with regard to enlightening Middle Eastern nations, such as Iran, about the necessity for excluding religious dictates from government.
We also have pretty much shown the way to other nations, by example if not through foreign policy, when it comes to democracy. The one thing we know for certain about the situation in Iran today is that the desire to get an accurate vote count has sparked what could be a revolution. While the working out of very close U.S. presidential elections in 2000 and 2004 left much to be desired, it would be hard to find another nation that could deal with such problems as effectively.
So let's not forget what we're fighting for, and defending.
Manning-
PLUUUZZZEEE!
Excuse me while I sneeze, "Bull%$^%!"
“These virtues have prompted many of us to defend this country against genuine enemies, and will motivate us to defend against terrorist attack, no matter how egregious U.S. behavior has been toward other nations.”
Defending our virtues means living up to the lofty ideals you celebrate. That is not accomplished by meddling and killing people in far off lands. We need to challenge our own government, which is the biggest threat to our values (followed by an ignorant and apathetic citizenry and our own religious fundies). The so-called “War on Terror” has significantly eroded, not defended, our rights here at home.
Also, America’s egregious behavior promotes terrorist attacks and reverses progress in other nations. As has been discussed repeatedly on CD, America has overthrown democracy in Iran, Chile, Lebanon, and elsewhere and even today supports despotic regimes like Saudi Arabia. The corporate media deliberately attempts to trick people into believing our destructive policies somehow support lofty ideals. That is the job of prostitutes for the oligarchs!
The American government is not overcome by the same romantic, patriotic narratives it feeds to the public. State power is focused on the more sober goals of supporting short-term economic and political interests. I deliberately avoided “strategic” interests because those should be long term, and the US government seems pretty short sighted.
Iran was arguably trying to head the direction of secular Turkey when we interfered. If you are prompted by virtue to defend America’s ideals, stop indulging in self-congratulory history lessons and challenge your own government.
hello mr manning -
you forgot a third virtue: humane torture.
"Iran is an excellent example of what happens when religious belief infects electoral politics"
Iran is an excellent example of what happens when foreign nations repeatedly meddle in a country's domestic politics, overthrow a secular democratically elected leader, and prop up a repressive regime for decades.
And last I checked, the sky still hasn't fallen (in Turkey), even though the Islamists are now in power.
"U.S. foreign policy has been notable for its silence with regard to enlightening Middle Eastern nations, such as Iran, about the necessity for excluding religious dictates from government."
"God is in the mix"
-- Barack Obama
When Americans have learned to exclude Christian dictates from government, then MAYBE, they have grounds to go around "enlightening" others.
Awesome comments. vdb, rfloh, drew3000, Sanctuary and others on CD have made excellent counter points. I don't think I needed to bother with my own lengthy rebuttal. Thanks, CD, for bringing together so many thoughtful people to share and expand ideas. :)
Very true. And this is the thing that people can and should counter, that it is somehow Islam in and of itself. Nothing happens in a vaccuum. 200 years of direct western involvement in Iran has taken a toll, especially from the 1950s on. The U.S. has its own god squad as well.
I have to disagree with your view of US exceptionalism. Also the US, while not a theocracy, has religion embedded everywhere and has a very high percentage of religious followers, many of them unfortunately fundamentalist.
I don't think the US administration, the two major political parties that crush all others and who are at times indistinguishable, plus corporate influence -especially the arms industry, greedy banks, selective healthcare etc. are particularly representative of democracy anymore. The self-serving gunship democracy that the US exports is beyond the pale.
Manatee, vdb, rfloh, Sanctuary, et al. -- I don't disagree with what you're saying. It's just that after reading Hedges' article, I wondered what moral justification Hedges thinks we have for not siding with the terrorists. He says we should live up to our "ideals," but doesn't mention any way in which we've done or are doing that.
one does not need to justify opposing terror.
from your earlier comment:
"The greatest invention ever, in my opinion, isn't language, the wheel, electricity, or government. It's the principle that the individual's instinctive drive to become religious and enlist others in his or her specific brand of religiosity must be kept separate from government. As best I can tell, this great idea was nurtured and flowered here beyond anywhere else in the world."
In the 16th century, after the Dutch had freed themselves from the tyranny of the Spanish and their Inquisition, there were some who would persecute the remaining Catholics. The leader of the Republic, William of Orange, castigated these with the truth that freedom of religion was for all to enjoy. It is this climate which attracted the Pilgrim Fathers to seek refuge in the Netherlands. However, after some years they found that their children were becoming too tolerant and chose to leave for the Americas; where their descendents are now clamouring for a constitutional ammendment prohibiting same-sex marriage.
Holland, meanwhile, is still more tolerant than not.
"iowablackbird June 22nd, 2009 5:45 pm
...
i think pravda called this one corectly....
Genuine Protests or US Plan to Destabilize Iran?
http://english.pravda.ru/opinion/columnists/107819-0/
"Before leaving office, the Bush administration is said to have funneled hundreds of millions of dollars into a plan to infiltrate and destabilize Iran. On May 23, 2007, Brian Ross and Richard Esposito reported on ABC News: "The CIA has received secret presidential approval to mount a covert "black" operation to destabilize the Iranian government, current and former officials in the intelligence community tell...ABC News." On May 27, 2007, the London Telegraph independently reported: "Mr. Bush has signed an official document endorsing CIA plans for propaganda and disinformation campaign intended to destabilize, and eventually topple, the theocratic rule of the mullahs." It was to be called it the “Bush Black Ops Plan.”"
---------------
The video, below and made by AntiDefm, includes Brian Ross on ABC News speaking on the above CIA black ops, while this video at Youtube also includes partial graphic copies of the May 27, 2007, article at the Telegraph, UK, as well as headlines from other well known news media.
The dating shown in the video might be a little confusing to some people, for it was for myself and I posted on this in the Youtube page. This is because the ABC News piece with Brian Ross shows May 24, 2007, while the dates for the news articles shown (in part) are from May 27, 26 and 25, maybe also May 28, 2007. I had thought that it was Brian Ross who showed these headline copies, so the dating was screwed up, given his webcast is, again, on May 24th.
That happened because the Youtube user provided a compilation video, instead of strictly a copy of the piece with Brian Ross, while the confusion was only due to the user not providing a brief explanation for the text with the video. I posted on this confusion and AntiDefm responded with the explanation.
"CIA, Iran and the Election Riots - June 14, 2009" (9:28), posted by AntiDefm, June 14, 2009
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GRwUZ-u6KFo
AntiDefm additionally provides links to the various sources used in this above video compilation. I didn't bother to read these, for the telling (enough) headlines shown in the above video suggest that AntiDefm made this video compilation truthfully.
I just checked the ABC News blog page for this to make sure of whether, or not, it provides a link to the original video clip and there is a link for the webcast, which is entitled "CIA's 'Black' Operation In Iran". The blog article is entitled, "Bush Authorizes New Covert Action Against Iran", May 22, 2007. The webcast is dated May 24, 2007.
The blog article's linked in the above video page, while the following is a direct link to the webcast.
http://abcnews.go.com/Video/playerIndex?id=3206417
What Sort Of Society Will The Green Revolution give birth to?
"Depends on whether Iran's revolutionaries stay permanently engaged."
"If they do?"
"It'll be up to them, what Iran's going to be like."
"But if they don't stay engaged?"
"The moment they let up, lickety-split, it'll be back to before, only worse."
"Anything else?"
"No meddlying by outsiders, which means CIA, Keep Out!"
"Charles Martel June 22nd, 2009 7:55 pm
Iran has never been a democracy. They have been an autocratic power ever since the days of Darius. The clash of civilizations people. America has been handed the torch and sword that was once held by Athens, Rome, and the Byzantines."
THAT IS evidently untrue. While Iran has been democracy very little throughout its history, it has been a democracy, leaders elected by the population, since sometime around half way through the 20th century. Plenty of respectably informed people have written about this, and I've never seen anyone denying this part of Iranian history providing any resource links to back up their words. So anyone who denies this part of Iranian history and provides no resource links is fabricating stories while pretending to be an authoritative historian; and lying, since such pretense is to lie.
==================================
"plewis June 22nd, 2009 8:02 pm
I agree we should stop meddling, and I wish I didn't have to pay attention to foreign policy issues. But if I ignore what is going on, will the Neocons drag my own son into one of their senseless wars? Will they spend even more of my money on mass murder, instead of life affirming things like health care? I participate in an effort (seemingly futile)to STOP the US government's global mischief, not to encourage it...."
RE. YOUTH being forced into "senseless wars" of the USA, the youth can always dissent, refuse, including when the government re-establishes conscription. There are risks involved with such dissent when there's conscription, but it's far better to be imprisoned for some years for honourably dissenting against criminal orders, than it is to accept to obey such orders.
People of the U.S., Canada, Britain and other European countries can't really ignore the incessant crimes of these countries against others; not if they want to have their governments stop these crimes. There are ways to do that and some people have already posted some examples, such as not paying taxes to the U.S. government when it's for military, warfare purposes, and growing one's own food, living in economically modest ways, etcetera. But the USA is a democratic republic in terms of the Constitution and it also requires that citizens monitor the government and work on correcting it when it gets on the tracks of being rogue.
One thing people of these countries, perhaps especially in the U.S. and Canada, can learn from the present events in Iran is like what we can also learn from other strong democratic movements of populations where the rogue USA et al have caused great hardship, suffering, destruction of economies and considerably good governments. These populations have real ENERGY and it takes that to correct governments gone ... corrupt. The USA needs a very energetic population to democratically correct the government, for it's clear that it will [not] self-correct. The People have to do it.
People who disagree with that may as well do away with the right to vote. Democracy needs active participation not only on election days, but also every year inbetween. The absence of this necessary characteristic for there to be real, substantial democracy is why there's little to speak of in Canada, the USA, and other western, imperialist, oligarchic, ... countries.
Actually --
IRAN or ancient Persia -- IS the FIRST KNOWN CIVILIZATION - where , even during times that perhaps required societies to be built through kingships (i mean how LONG did it take for the s0-called "great enlightened democracy"of the USA to arrive, anyway?) - it was CYRUS the Great of Persia who FIRST practiced what can truly be described - at least in established nations - A DEMOCRACY.
how so? HE himself was a rather enlightened ruler - who after making the conquests of the surrounding areas - put in stone, literally - a CONSTITUTION declaring probably the first known "human rights" edicts.
people need to remember that Iran is CENTRALLY LOCATED - it is actually the very HIGHWAY of the legendary "silk road" between asia , europe and the middle east . and it was PERSIA that naturally became the highly coveted area for CONQUEST BY FOREIGNERS. as a result of this constant threat - the rise of Kingships became a necessity during those times.
HOWEVER , after CYRUS consolidated the regions of what they recognized as "PERSIA" - he used his power - reflecting probably the will of the people - to USE PERSUASION - by force as had been shown , but above all by diplomacy and trade...persuasion towards those conquered (who were the "foreigners" that always seemed to want to attack Persia proper to gain geostrategic advantages over the others) ...
and in that edict ...
he proclaimed: that SO LONG as others NO LONGER ATTACK PERSIA -- and acknowledge her sovereignty that way - the government GAVE BACK THE RIGHTS TO SELF_RULE to those neighboring regions that had been attacking persia.
and get this:
The edict actually , literally, OFFERED the CHOICE to those "nations" :
to either REMAIN UNDER the sovereignty of Persia - OR opt for TOTAL independence once more...
the only thing he asked of those neighboring nations - according to the Edicts - was to STOP MEDDLING in HER internal affairs (deja -vu about the US and western powers meddling everywhere, isn't it?) --
and to NO LONGER KEEP ATTACKING Her.
was that NOT a REASONABLE "request" from a kingdom that , in ORDER to KEEP HER SOVEREIGNTY from being trampled under by wave after wave of foreign powers attacking persia --
she HAD to make herself into an "empire?" if for nothing more than to SHOW that she is not to be messed with?
THAT EDICT - in STONE - is what is known in history as the FIRST
Charter of the Rights of Nations
Inscribed on a clay cylinder in cuneiform
discovered in 1879 now in The British Museum, London.
the USA -- with ALL its PRETENSIONS about being a "democracy" is a LATE COMER - that doesn't EVEN PRACTICE what it preaches...and is put to shame by a civilization - one of the longest continuous - that SHOWED its DEMOCRATIC NATURE again
in having Mossadegh as its leader decades ago - that the USA decided was not the "right" client .....far more than the Americans practice what they BRAG about as "democracy" .
if anything - what is becoming clear is - the constitution of the USA is ITSELF simply an elaborate CHARADE to HIDE its TRUE nature -- that of a PREDATOR NATION hiding behind a facade of
"democracy" and "nations' rights" and "freedom and justice".
CONSIDER the geography alone:
during times when "nations" or peoples warred and conquered each other - Persia is located in a very volatile region of competing powers and civilizations;
LIKE its NEIGHBORS connected by LAND and highly coveted "highways" for trade and control of those highways --
PERSIA would NATURALLY evolve political and military and economic systems - like the others - in competition - but ALSO for SELF-PROTECTION.
the USA is surrounded by FRIENDLY neighbors to the north and south that behave or are MADE to behave like SUBJECTS of the USA who DARE NOT oppose the USA in any threatening way.
to the east and west are the largest oceans in the world.
NO THREAT FROM ANY COUNTRY WHATSOEVER to the "homeland"
BUT WhAT DOES THE USA DO?
why -- it CROSSES the oceans to IMPOSE its WILL upon other nations and regions. !!!!
that alone makes the stark truth so apparent.
IT IS NOT other nations that are THREATENING peace OR the USA
on the CONTRARY -- it is THE USA that is threatening OTHER nations and regions and the peace of the world in ITS meddling for control and ABSOLUTELY -- UNLIKE persia and other landlocked nations with competing neighbors or "transients" (such as the nomadic peoples from central asia descending on persia or the competing egyptian or macedonian empires) - ABSOLUTELY has NO JUSTIFICATION for being ANYWHERE ELSE in the globe for the sake of "national security" or "defense" or "spreading freedom" ......
EXCEPT TO REMAIN WITHIN ITS OWN BORDERS where NO ONE from thousands of miles away
EVER threatened or MEDDLED in teh affairs of the USA.
it is a SICK NATION . SICK , HYPOCRITICAL , EXPLOITATIVE and PREDATORY and INSANE.
http://www.farsinet.com/cyrus/
==================
2500 Years of Persian Empire Celebration Gold Coin
Language: Akkadian
Medium: clay cylinder
Size: 23 cm long
11 cm wide
Length: 40+ lines of writing
(although broken)
Genre:
Date: 538 BCE
Cyrus's reign: 557–529 BCE
Place of Discovery: Nineveh, Iraq
Date of Discovery: 1879
Discoverer: Hormuzd Rassam
Current Location: British Museum
Inventory number: BM WAA 90920
(BM = British Museum;
WAA = Western Asiastic Antiquities)
ر
(Complete Text of Cyrus' Charter of the Rights of Nations in Persian)
In the Charter, after introducing himself and mentioning the names of his father, first, second, and third ancestors, Cyrus says that he is the monarch of Iran, Babylon, and the four continents: I am Kourosh (Cyrus), King of the world, great king, mighty king, king of Babylon, king of the land of Sumer and Akkad, king of the four quarters, son of Camboujiyah (Cambyases), great king, king of Anshan, grandson of Kourosh (Cyrus), great king, king of Anshan, descendant of Chaish-Pesh (Teispes), great king, king of Anshan, progeny of an unending royal line, whose rule Bel and Nabu cherish, whose kingship they desire for their hearts, pleasure. When I well-disposed, entered Babylon, I set up a seat of domination in the royal palace amidst jubilation and rejoicing. Marduk the great god, caused the big-hearted inhabitations of Babylon to .................. me, I sought daily to worship him.
He continues:
At my deeds Marduk, the great lord, rejoiced and to me, Kourosh (Cyrus), the king who worshipped him, and to Camboujiyah (Cambyases), my son, the offspring of (my) loins, and to all my troops he graciously gave his blessing, and in good sprit before him we glorified exceedingly his high divinity. All the kings who sat in throne rooms, throughout the four quarters, from the Upper to the Lower Sea, those who dwelt in ..................., all the kings of the West Country, who dwelt in tents, brought me their heavy tribute and kissed my feet in Babylon. From ... to the cities of Ashur, Susa, Agade and Eshnuna, the cities of Zamban, Meurnu, Der as far as the region of the land of Gutium, the holy cities beyond the Tigris whose sanctuaries had been in ruins over a long period, the gods whose abode is in the midst of them, I returned to their places and housed them in lasting abodes. I gathered together all their inhabitations and restored (to them) their dwellings. The gods of Sumer and Akkad whom Nabounids had, to the anger of the lord of the gods, brought into Babylon. I, at the bidding of Marduk, the great lord, made to dwell in peace in their habitations, delightful abodes. May all the gods whom I have placed within their sanctuaries address a daily prayer in my favour before Bel and Nabu, that my days may be long, and may they say to Marduk my lord, "May Kourosh (Cyrus) the King, who reveres thee, and Camboujiyah (Cambyases) his son ..."
And:
Now that I put the crown of kingdom of Iran, Babylon, and the nations of the four directions on the head with the help of (Ahura) Mazda, I announce that I will respect the traditions, customs and religions of the nations of my empire and never let any of my governors and subordinates look down on or insult them until I am alive.
From now on, till (Ahura) Mazda grants me the kingdom favor, I will impose my monarchy on no nation.
Each is free to accept it , and if any one of them rejects it , I never resolve on war to reign.
Until I am the king of Iran, Babylon, and the nations of the four directions, I never let anyone oppress any others, and if it occurs , I will take his or her right back and penalize the oppressor. And until I am the monarch, I will never let anyone take possession of movable and landed properties of the others by force or without compensation.
Until I am alive, I prevent unpaid, forced labor.
To day, I announce that everyone is free to choose a religion.
People are free to live in all regions and take up a job provided that they never violate other's rights.
No one could be penalized for his or her relatives' faults.
I prevent slavery and my governors and subordinates are obliged to prohibit exchanging men and women as slaves within their own ruling domains. Such a traditions should be exterminated the world over.
I implore to (Ahura) Mazda to make me succeed in fulfilling my obligations to the nations of Iran (Persia), Babylon, and the ones of the four directions.
teddy,
thank you for taking the time to share this information. i was unaware of 'Text of Cyrus' Charter of the Rights of Nations'.
"I announce that I will respect the traditions, customs and religions of the nations of my empire and never let any of my governors and subordinates look down on or insult them until I am alive."
if every human applied this truth to their daily mundane existence (life is a beautiful experience that necessitates tolerance and cultural diversity), as though their day to day experience encompassed their personal empire. many of the global crises we collectively experience on this earth would rapidly evaporate.
...peace...
Excuse one -- but for all its Bragging, self-congratulations and delusions about being "exceptional" as a so-called 'democracy' -- EXACTLY what has the USA Constitution = for all its calculated, complicated declarations - built during a time when the USA was BUILT UPON SLAVE LABOR and the suppression of the independence of OTHER nations - hypocritically so -
shown that EVEN COMES CLOSE to what the ancient Persians had achieved?.
EXACTLY where does the USA get its "righteous" indignation at the "lack of democracy" among other nations -0- where IT is largely the CULPRIT in MESSING UP other regions within their historical EVOLUTIONS as human societies that THE USA has NO BUSINESS MEDDLING with?
EXACTLY where does a Johnny-come-lately
in terms of "human rights" and "rights of NATIONS" (both SPECIFICALLY proclaimed in persia CENTURIES AGO)
get its bravado about "teaching" other nations how to be BEHAVE? when IT - the USA has behaved far more broadly and deeply LIKE the BARBARIC nation it REALLY is, anyway?
OK, so Iran experimented with a little democracy mid-way through the last century. I think I would prefer to judge their democratic proclivities by the historical record contained within the past two thousand years though.
but you should know that IRAN - or Persia has - for the last 500 years at least has NEVER attacked or invaded any neighbor .
HOW MANY NATIONS has the USA ATTACKED and INVADED, OCCUPIED, literally every one of them being PAINTED as THREATS - even if they were NOT in order to justify ITS criminalities in building its GLOBAL empire , crossing the seas , FAR BEYOND its own borders and THEN
professing to be OFFENDED that OTHER nations
far far away are "about to attack us and threaten OUR way of life?" ALL THE WHILE
"DESTROYING THEIR ways of life through ITS meddling where it doesn't BELONG?
whT RIGHT does the USA have to "instruct" other nations far far older than the USA in how to sort their own societies
when the USA ITSELF is FULL of VIOLENCE, EXPLOITATIOn, based its OWN growth, establishment and power through ENSLAVEMENT, GENOCIDE of Native Indians and criminal behavior as well as DISHONORING its OWN treaties?
the USA is like a Pastor - preaching on sunday - about morality and good behavior - while on the sly phucking every boy and girl in church and stealing everyone's money as he gambles every night while snorting cocaine!
It is embarassing to see the so-called "progressive" community going along with the chicanery going on in Iran now. This "revolution" has all the hallmarks of being orchestrated by Western provocateurs, and the Western media has been engaged in a virtual onslaught of propaganda aimed at the American people (why were some of the signs of the Iranian "protesters" written in English?).
The "protesters" in Iran can clearly be shown in their own videos throwing, burning, fighting, and causing widespread mischief, yet the Western media continues to play these people off as being the victims of a "dictatorial" government determined to quell free expression. I'm sorry, but if there were thousands of people marching around in the US wearing rags over their faces actively destroying property and acting violently, our media would not sympathize with them in the least.
My opinion of TV talking heads like Keith Olbermann and Rachel Maddow has taken a near fatal blow with their treatment of the events in Iran. They, just like all the Western media, right and left, are deliberately ignoring the obvious questions about this "revolution" and playing the role of mouthpieces for Western meddling and patriarchy. Gee, neo-cons and "progressives" united for a common, unjust cause.
"The "protesters" in Iran can clearly be shown in their own videos throwing, burning, fighting, and causing widespread mischief, yet the Western media continues to play these people off as being the victims of a "dictatorial" government determined to quell free expression. I'm sorry, but if there were thousands of people marching around in the US wearing rags over their faces actively destroying property and acting violently, our media would not sympathize with them in the least."
And how do progressives and leftists like you react, when people protest against Israel, against the G20, against nuclear power stations, against "clean coal" etc? And when police beat and assault those protesters?
Oh wait.
If elements within these protests start destroying property, setting up barricades, throwing rocks and burning things, the police react with force as they should. I support non-violent protest, not the mayhem going on in Iran. If you've seen the scant video from Iran, I don't see how you could come to any other conclusion than these people are rioting, and many of them are thinking they are having a "revolution".
I've participated in many marches, and if I decided to do the things many of these Iranian "protesters" have been doing, I'd deserve to be arrested. Pretty simple.
amandla, you would be surprised at how often in peaceful protests, some plain-clothes police join the march and then start the riot by throwing rocks, tipping over cars, starting fires, etc. Then it looks like the protesters are doing it. It gives them an excuse to bring in the riot squads. It's an old trick that city governments have been using for decades to break up the protesting.
Good point about operatives throwing rocks to instill riots in what should be a peaceful protest. I have also witnessed people who were not undercover police causing mayhem during permitted events and, in a few cases, have had said groups attempt to recruit us peaceful protesters to join "their cause". I always declined to carry out such mayhem like toss garbage bins, smash windows, and charge police lines. Chanting peaceful dissenting views and blocking roads and storming establishment buildings and having a sit-in blocking city hall is what I've been taught is acceptable.
Have you ever been to an unpermitted protest? If you stopped city traffic and clog the streets then spread onto the freeway stopping traffic there too -without a permit- is that excepted as peaceful?
We protesters did that years ago, and yet, the city and state told us what we did was not a form of peaceful protest even though we argued we were a non-violent resistances.
What say you? Peaceful or non-peacful under these circumstances?
Only with a permit and police escort is it a peaceful march or rally. Over the last 30 years national and local governments and the police departments have done all they can to make it impossible to protest because they know it works.
Mmmm. Thinking... I've been in critical mass bike rides stopping traffic in Missoula when I was living there in the 90's. I didn't know if it was permitted or not, but I assume it wasn't.
Missoula is a small city with a University of about 12,000 students. I was involved in every protest march or otherwise that presented itself. I have no idea whether we got permission or whether it mattered or not. Not once did I see any hostilities.
I missed the WTO shutdown in Seattle in '99 (?). I think that was a case where plain clothes instigated riot. At least that's what I read in Earth First Journal.
But to answer your question, I am guessing it is not accepted as peaceful to stop traffic, even if everybody is calm and smiling. I'm not saying I think it's not peaceful. I think it is a lot more peaceful to have traffic stopped. But on the other hand, it inflames anger, and there lies the rub.
If we want to be effective in our protests and demonstrations, I think we need to do more sit-ins, love-ins and things like that. We need to resist getting angry and creating anger. Even if you have peaceful intentions, if you piss people off, you've gained nothing. If you don't gain, you loose.
We need to grow our movement, by making more friends. It is counter productive to inflame peoples rage. Once anger arises, the peace is gone, and the action fails.
The police state thanks you.
Another example of people who don't actually get what living under constant oppression really feels like. How much live ammunition was fired toward the crowd in the marches you've attended? In the U.S. people have a funny way of demonstrating against the same authority they disagree with: they ask them permission. Get a permit. It's more like a ticker tape parade. It's no wonder they don't see anything we do as a threat. They don't need our approval in their tactics. We have no experience with their situation.
A lot of people had a lot of things before we took them away. Homes, lives, family, property, dignity,----it was not like stealing. It enriched the US not at all. It was worse.
We deserve the effects these senseless wars have had on us: economic and moral impoverishment, smiles, lies, and pain the lack of which we probably will not see the end in our lifetimes.
I hope it's over but I fear the aftermath.
Iran has never been a democracy. They have been an autocratic power ever since the days of Darius. The clash of civilizations people. America has been handed the torch and sword that was once held by Athens, Rome, and the Byzantines.
America today isn't a democracy (or constitutional republic)as it was meant to be. It is an oligarchy, and the "clash" is between our own oligarchs and the people of the USA. Iran is a distraction, and we have no legitimate quarrel with them.
Keep your torch in your own land if you are American. The struggle is right here.
The American people are too dumbed down to take on and defeat the oligarchs. However, even though many progressive types abhor the military and violence, it is precisely that forge which will produce the kind of risk taking agressive men and women who will face down the enemies of the people. I'am always trying to instill a more populist understanding of the issues we face into the minds of the young military men and woman I work with.
Charles-
I applaud your bravery but this is very foolish. First of all the military is full of "true believers" and you will be betrayed way before you start your militarized revolution and portrayed as a kook.
I know the person attacked you but a person in your position needs to display soberness and not just valor.
"The American people are too dumbed down to take on and defeat the oligarchs."
Judging by the quality of your posts, I'd say you have a point. So let me get this straight, oh devourer of History Channel fluff: you're a populist espousing Huntington's silly conception of empire? Charles, what you are is confused. Very confused.
No, I'm a marine using Huntington's conception as an excuse to kick their butts and take their stuff. Just like I want to redistribute the oligarchs wealth to the middle and working classes.
As for your comment about the History Channel. You anti-neocon metro-sexual freaks try to denigrate the intelligence of anyone who doesn't kneel at the altar of Chomsky.
Charles-
If you are talking about raping and pillaging other countries that is ridiculous.
I take great insult at the term metro-sexual but I agree with freaks.
I have stood up to more than a few marines in my day when they were bullying people much weaker than them.
I appreciate your input here but if you are the real deal then act like it and don't let a bunch of metro-sexuals rile you up sir!
Chomsky is a warrior. He has documented American imperialism like none other.
If you are cool you will find friends here. Just stay out of personal stuff. There is plenty of anger to go around.
We don't need a right-wing or left-wing revolution. We need a main street revolution. Don't play into the hands of the prop machine.
Women and children first. Reminds me of Van Halen! Rock on!
Good that you want to redistribute the wealth. The far-left does too. As for Chomsky, he advocates universalism which is in line with wealth redistribution so, what's the debate?
Duplicate - deleted
"glenn ford June 22nd, 2009 5:49 pm
...
Keep in mind the rioting is taking place during the time set aside for the Council to examine the record of voting.
More than one thing is happening at the same time -------- There are idealistic peaceful demostrators, there are violent idealistic demonstrators and there is all the covert means the USA has at it's disposal being applied to have the outcome be favorable to the USA's corporate desires."
GOOD POINTS, including those I didn't include in the above quote from glenn ford's post! Like others, I'll admit to not knowing with certainty that the U.S. has any covert ops relationship to anything that's going on with this Iranian presidential election, specifically; but as stated in my post just prior to this one, Seymour Hersh, Scott Ritter, and others have written about U.S. covert ops taking place in parts of Iran over the past several years and it's certainly not invalid to believe that some of these ops have been or are related to this election, specifically. And it's valid to keep in mind that the U.S. has been at this sort of "business" with Iran since it's plotting to overthrow the Iranian leader in 1953, if it wasn't 1951.
I guess it would've been 1953, for the following article, which provides a brief but important description of the events leading up to the overthrow orchestrated by the U.S., the CIA, states that Mossadegh became leader in 1951 after having well or excellently served in the Iranian parliament stating in 1944. During those years in the parliament, MP Mossadegh was already doing things the U.S.A.'s real ruling "elites" definitely disagreed with, due to their greed; and they tried to stop these very good things or changes. After he became leader in 1951, the U.S. "elites" decided he definitely had to be disposed of, or deposed; and he was.
That history is under the subheading of, "America's Post-WW II Meddling in Iran"; very interesting and important history.
"Iran's Election and US - Iranian Relations",
by Stephen Lendman, June 18, 2009
http://www.globalresearch.ca/index.php?context=va&aid=14017
Thank you Chris also for summarizing this article. I don't like to get into foreign policy discussions much because I think we have enough troubles here at home to worry about. I may sound like I'm coming to someone's defense but so what if I am? I believe in finding one's inner strengths that can help them overcome conflicts and attain happiness and stability and that's what needs to be done in this country first. When we learn to do that and stop meddling with Iran, Iraq, etc ... then our country will heel and so will others.
It seems that Hedges' experiences are so deeply bathed in reality and he has so closely faced death, that he can do nothing but pour out truth.
This is a smashing article. I wish every America knew this information. Watching the corporate media is like being on another planet.
Thanks for the harsh history lesson again, Chris Hedges.
Cygnus -- I also believe there is no escape from our actions. They may think they have defied man's law and gotten away with it, but their karma laughs cruelly in their face because there is no escaping Divine law. They will learn that they have escaped NOTHING and shriek with horror when they learn that in their future lives they will experience, as a victim, every single horrible crime they had committed in ignorance in their past lives.
The thing that scares me is the law of mass karma. And the US is in for a doosey of it at some point.
"glenn ford June 22nd, 2009 5:49 pm
Catgirl 3:43 --------- They have their fingers in their ears.
Besides all the funding , the CIA sponsored Sunni group out of Baluchistan surged their terrorist bombings one week before the election."
I HAD READ, over the past few days, about the bombing or bombings by that Sunni Iranian separatist group, but also recalled that the article said a little more and it does. It's the following piece; specifically, in the third excerpted paragraph.
"Iran: fear of foreign plotters may be justified",
by Simon Tisdall, The Hindu, June 21, 2009
http://www.globalresearch.ca/index.php?context=va&aid=14044
EXCERPT:
Although the problem can be overstated, Iranian leaders of all political complexions have reason to worry about the so-called minorities question in a country comprising multiple ethno-linguistic groups, namely Persians, Azeris, Kurds, Arabs, Baluchis, Turkmen, Armenians, Assyrians, Jews and Georgians. Recent reports from Iranian Kurdistan, for example, speak of 100 or more checkpoints being erected by Revolutionary Guards and the shelling of PJAK positions inside northern Iraq.
Iranian officials have linked the recent suicide bombing of a Shia mosque in Zahedan, in Sistan-Baluchistan, to U.S., British and Israeli support for the Jundullah Sunni Muslim separatist group. A failed attempt last month to blow up a domestic airliner in Ahvaz, in Arab Khuzestan, brought similar claims.
Iran said on Tuesday that members of a foreign-backed “anti-revolutionary group” responsible for fomenting unrest and armed with bomb-making materials had been arrested. Intelligence minister Gholamhossein Mohseni-Ejei said the group “wanted to achieve its goal through explosions and terror and in this connection 50 people were arrested ... They were supported from outside the country.” Given the current uproar in Tehran, the temptation for the supreme leader, Ali Khamenei, and President Ahmadinejad to deflect attention by hitting out at real or imagined foreign enemies, for instance by indirectly re-targeting U.S. forces in Iraq or causing problems for NATO forces in Afghanistan, is growing dangerously. But even such extreme measures may not work.
The moderate Seda-ye Edalat newspaper wasn’t swallowing the regime’s line about external threats on Tuesday. ...
END OF EXCERPT
The Seda-ye Edalat newspaper is well quoted in this above article, asking a wholly just, humane, understandable question. However, Seymour Hersh and (I believe) also Scott Ritter, among other people, have written about U.S. covert ops in Iran, and some of these writers wrote of some covert ops being to arm separatist groups, etcetera. So Seda-ye Edalat's question is fitting, but there's this other officially unacknowledged "business" to consider, too.
"Greg R June 22nd, 2009 6:09 pm
I'm telling you that the nation of Iran is more important than your fixation with gm food or growing your own food. ..."
TRUE, but as for the heritage seeds are good, while also are hybrids when derived from cross polination of heritage plants; iow, definitely not GMO crap from Monsanto and the other GMO seed cies. Hybrids began to be created long ago and I believe it may have been Pasteur or some nearly ancient scientist who is known for having done this very long ago. Who ever that was, I believe to recall the story of him having experimented with tomatoes and that he was successful. That is [good] hybrid; Monsanto et al are to be condemned, outlawed, and the CEOs taken to court and convicted for their efforts in trying to make humanity slave to them, their greed and insanity.
==================================
"suhail_shafi June 22nd, 2009 5:58 pm
Wow, this is an incredibly brave article. Chris Hedges is one courageous journalist....."
IT'S AN excellent article, but I don't see anything courageous about writing it. After all, he doesn't risk anything like being punished by the governments of the USA, f.e. And many other people in the U.S. have written just as well, while they also never were punished for this, either. Courage requires committing an act in which there's serious risk to onself.
Oh, come on. Hedges writes as if the U.S. doesn't have the god-given duty to oppress, slaughter, and exploit littler, browner people.
Wow, this is an incredibly brave article. Chris Hedges is one courageous journalist.....
The main reason we were in Iran,and England before us,was to cut off oil supplies to Germany during WWII and to deny an outlet to the Indian Ocean for the Soviet Union.
The Shah was perfectly happy to let the CIA run Iran, so he could be the "absolute" ruler of his people.
We rewarded Iranians with western education, with state of the arts weapons and commercial relationships such as Iran Air/Pan American Airlines. I remember that Iran was destined to be the third largest steel producer by the end of the 20th century.
What the CIA and the State Department did not understand was the anger of the "people" who truely suffered under the Shah - the US and western proxy.
There were no real freedoms in the 1970s. Far-too many had relatives disappear into prisons - never to reemerge.
The Shah and the US did not realize the power of the church and the power of the bazaari (business community)
They kicked our sorry asses out of Iran and told us to take the shah and his parasitic friends with him.
Just like Vietnam, and now Afghanistan, Iran was a CIA clusterfuck.
And now they are part of the axis of evil - how fucking dumb do they think we are?
ducksawce,
good post, the only countries that are targeted by our intelligence agencies are countries w/ state run economies (iraq/iran/n korea) -
notice how the cia describes iran's economy on their website.
https://www.cia.gov/library/publications/the-world-factbook/geos/IR.html.
{Iran's economy is marked by an inefficient state sector, reliance on the oil sector, which provides the majority of government revenues, and statist policies, which create major distortions throughout the system. Most economic activity is controlled by the state. Private sector activity is typically limited to small-scale workshops, farming, and services. Price controls, subsidies, and other rigidities weigh down the economy, undermining the potential for private-sector-led growth. Significant informal market activity flourishes. Corruption and shortages of goods are widespread.}
-------------------------------
i see a clear double standard being applied by the US govt. remember last week the indigenous activists blocking the logging road that were murdered by the peruvian govt (the same govt that will soon receive free trade status) or (as noted earlier) the slaughter in gaza last winter, or the ongoing atrocities in central africa and darfur.
the US govt has more influence on peru, columbia and israel (all countries that kill people, marginalize the opposition and violate human rights). if obama wanted to uphold human rights - democratic principles - he could have stopped arms shipments to israel and isolated peru. didn't happen.
notice the week long uproar on nbc and cnn about the deaths of activists in peru ?
(many of the bodies dumped in a river) and the possibility that the US government could positively influence the outcome (say by endorsing regime change).
ben netanyahu, bill bennet, pat buchanon, george will all vilified iran this weekend - where were these people last week when the indigenous activists were being slaughtered in the rain forest ? (they were eco terrorists preventing economic development).
yeah, it's true i'm reluctant to hitch my wagon to a team of horses that lied about the invasion of iraq for political purposes. these clowns don't care about democracy or human rights - they care about money and power.
i think pravda called this one corectly....
Genuine Protests or US Plan to Destabilize Iran?
http://english.pravda.ru/opinion/columnists/107819-0/
"Before leaving office, the Bush administration is said to have funneled hundreds of millions of dollars into a plan to infiltrate and destabilize Iran. On May 23, 2007, Brian Ross and Richard Esposito reported on ABC News: "The CIA has received secret presidential approval to mount a covert "black" operation to destabilize the Iranian government, current and former officials in the intelligence community tell...ABC News." On May 27, 2007, the London Telegraph independently reported: "Mr. Bush has signed an official document endorsing CIA plans for propaganda and disinformation campaign intended to destabilize, and eventually topple, the theocratic rule of the mullahs." It was to be called it the “Bush Black Ops Plan.”
Therefore, it is not surprising to see “demonstrators” with the latest cellular phones using Twitter and Facebook, and Twitter doing somersaults to accommodate US intelligence services to delay maintenance and then Google doing somersaults to be certain Farsi translation is available as well, as though it’s necessary for the English fluent demonstrators on Twitter and Facebook. It is obvious that all of this sophisticated, expensive communications equipment had to have come from the CIA’s budget of hundreds of millions of dollars allocated for the destabilization plan."
-----------------------------------
funny b/c that's exactly what bill bennet said on cnn sunday, that the intelligence agencies should provide the demonstrators with photocopy machines, computers - cell phones.
400 million dollars buys a lot of equipment, let alone the billions of dollars the CIA has access to off the books ($8 billion lost in iraqi reconstruction, $65 billion dollar global heroin trade).
...peace...
The New Political Dispensation:
Henceforth, anytime we feel disappointed in the outcome of an election and there is some indication of voting irregularities like occurred in Ohio and Florida not too long ago or the Supreme Court feels obliged to settle a dispute without sending it back to the voters, going down to D.C., burning some shops, overturning buses, throwing rocks at the cops and mounting the tops of government installations to scream out "God is Great, Down With The Dictators" will be considered by Congress and the President as perfectly legitimate protest, well within our rights as citizens under the Universal American Charter of Human Rights and we will count on their unqualified support.
I am very excited about this. Finally, some real "Change". Thanks alot Mr. President and you noble jackasses in Congress.
Iranians do not need or want us to.....
Which Iranians to which of us? The populations' relation to its respective governments is the same. The system there is as religious as this one democratic. We are dealing with just two of the many business making methods.
edweg
Those who are so keen on attacking as wild "conspiracy theories" Paul Craig Roberts take on Iran need to look at the fact which I've already noted of no less than the New Republic doing a hatchet job on Naomi Klein last year calling what she said in "The Shcok Doctrine" a "conspiracy theory" and that she was a "conspiracy theorist." They also need to take account of the fact that such very solid progressives as Noam Chomsky, Alexander Cockburn, and others have said the US Government through the CIA plotted more than a few times, the record on file now is since and likely beginning during Dwight D Eisenhower's time in the White House going up to and including into the 1990s. A plot, political fans by any other name is a conspiracy. Now this doesn't in the least say "conspiracy theories" are always right. Many times they can be outright paranoid, but engaging "coincidence theories" can be equally delusional when applied to Watergate, the Iran Contra affair, the way the USA got bamboozled into the Vietnam and Iraq wars as well many other military actions since the Second World War. As Norman Solomon points out in "War Made Easy," a documentary, and pardon me if these aren't his exact words, "War rarely just falls from the sky. . ." "A foudation has to be built. . . often with lies and deceit." Wouldn't that mean some very high in the US Government were plotting and thus engaged in conspiracy, thus now opening up
a great progressive such as Solomon to all this garbage about being a "conspiracy theorist"? You better bet the right will use just this kind of ;thing when they determine it will have the most effect on dividing progressives. Let's not let the bastards get away with it! We would also do well to consider that "conspiracy theory" is just the flip side of
"coincidence theory." Either may be valid depending on how well it stands up to scrutiny. Neither is at all the gospel, and neither is absolutely false all the time. Sometimes things are simply coincidences such automobile accidents, plane crashes, and people simply running into each other on the street when in a hurry. But sometimes, those who have so much power, privileges, money, and the other that goes along with it such as US and other Western elites will plot keep same, as that's the way they play game when it looks like they might lose their "precious hegemony."
Furthermore, a theory in the strictest sense is a hypothesis which has withstood some solid scrutiny. Take for examples the theories of Evolution and of Relativity.
AD
You have down the line Military Army, Private Military Contractors, CIA Army with Prison Network, FBI cell phone and e-mail x-rate Force creating 24/7 citizens' lists, Home Security Private Contractors Network, State, County and City Police Force, and themasses employed to watch every gate, store and office in the country. How anyone can suggest conspiracy in democracy?
edweg
What the USA did to Iran in 1953 is one of the most important history lessons never taught in US schools.
The secret history of the US is long: Iran, NoGunRi, Panama, WoundedKnee, The Hudson River Indian Tribes, The Philippines, Hiroshima, Grenada, Dresden, Cuba, ElSalvador,.......
Shame on the USA
How many babies did you kill today
Clones and drones
And babies moans
An Empire struggling with its own suicide
Has too many war crimes for history to hide
RMJ
What the USA did to Iran in 1953 is one of the most important history lessons never taught in US schools.
The secret history of the US is long: Iran, NoGunRi, Panama, WoundedKnee, The Hudson River Indian Tribes, The Philippines, Hiroshima, Grenada, Dresden, Cuba, ElSalvador,.......
Shame on the USA
How many babies did you kill today
Clones and drones
And babies moans
An Empire struggling with its own suicide
Has too many war crimes for history to hide
RMJ
Oh dear Give this monster fenatic regime few more years to have more allies around the world and build the same power as USA enjoys now then you will see that they could do equal (or even much worse) to hurt the world as Amercian goverment down in years towards Iran and rest of the south nations...
Washington has never recovered from the loss of Iran.
Oh, this is so so true. It certainly had a part to play in invading and occupying Iraq.
Oh, so this is where everybody is.
I'm noticing a pattern here. People, even regular posters on CD are fixated on Iran, and could hardly give a rats ass about school lunches or genetically modified organisms, or growing your own food.
The only way we'll ever have peace in this world is to create it. You people don't give me much hope.
I'm going back to my radishes now. Bye-bye!
Thanks for the laugh moondoggy. Gm food more important than the future of Iran, LOL. (I hope you got some Bright Lights swiss chard and other such goodies out there and not just that tired old hair loom stuff.
I don't get it. What are you telling me, Greg? Can you be more specific?
I'm telling you that the nation of Iran is more important than your fixation with gm food or growing your own food. I am somewhat sympathetic since I have quite large gardens and think growing my own is fabulous. I don't know if your an 'heirloom seed' fanatic or not, but I threw a light-hearted dig at you if you are. There's no way I'll limit myself to old-timey seeds when there are so many marvelous hybrids available.
This is exactly why I don't bother much with foreign policy articles too deep into all that foreign political activism. Are you telling us that starving ourselves and allowing your health to go waste all the while watching Iran which you have no control over is that important? The USA played a large role in creating Iran the way it is and the least we can do is get our country to first find its inner strength of love and peace and stop meddling with other nations. Iran will heal itself when we BUTT OUT ! It's time to try growing your own food and even though I own nothing but a small condo, I'm enjoying growing at least a few vegetables to cut down on frequent trips to the grocery store. Think of how much fuel that will save if millions others followed the idea of even a little trying. How long are we going to rape Iran, Saudi Arabia, Iraq, etc ... for oil only to sit here and watch those countries rot in hell because of our own sins. It's time we listened to what Moondoggy has to offer and I believe he has some spiritual wisdom we can learn from. Sioux Rose herself has warned us of the dangers of staying the unsustainable course as well. Please open your heart and mind to reasonable thinking. Thank you.
I agree we should stop meddling, and I wish I didn't have to pay attention to foreign policy issues. But if I ignore what is going on, will the Neocons drag my own son into one of their senseless wars? Will they spend even more of my money on mass murder, instead of life affirming things like health care? I participate in an effort (seemingly futile)to STOP the US government's global mischief, not to encourage it.
I do grow some of my own food also, and support local farming. I don't think the two issues (food and foreign policy) are mutually exclusive, or even particularly related. As long as I live in an Empire, I have to challenge it.
The neocons will lose their power when we stop giving up our quest to find our country's inner strength and allow the power of love and unity to overcome the neocons' bullying ways. For example, if more progressives and liberals paid attention to the beauty of hemp and algae for oil and united to end the drug wars and push for local production of biocrude and decentralize production to reduce the costs and make it competitive against drilling and bombing for oil, the neocons would be unable to drag our sons and daughters into these bloody wars for oil. No, these issues are NOT mutually exclusive and until we progressives and liberals unite and connect the dots, the neocons will win. They want you to treat these issues as separate laundry issues and stay divided.
Your reply here is brilliant, Jennifer, absolutely spot on. Yet it should be just common sense. I guess not so to a public grasping at straws.
I really appreciated the article on hemp you posted the link to. Hemp is the answer, or at least a big part of it. We definitely need to pay better attention to the solutions or the problems won't go away. We loose our focus with all these media distractions. Let's turn off the MSM and work together for a sane future.
Here again is the hemp article, a must read:
http://www.alternet.org/environment/140739/help_save_the_earth%2C_time_to_subsitute_hemp_for_oil/
And thanks for the sweet encouragement! Now I have baking to do. Cheers!
Thanks for the reply. There are just so many wonderful ideas and yet they're all being shut out.
PS: I forgot to mention expanding and improving public transportation and even building biking path infrastructures so that more people can bike and/or take the trains longer distances and make it possible for shorter time waits. I would love to give up driving and not have to wait 30 minutes to an hour just to catch my next bus or train any day. If you have heard about the public transportation service cuts and fee increases in the St Louis area, you'll know what I'm referring to.
Hi there! Since the federal government is such a pain in the ass, we should just forget them and try to accomplish these things at a more local level. If states would raise tax on gasoline, for example, there would feasibly be more money for the improvements you mention such as bicycle paths and public transportation.
I have heard the idea passed around advocating free public transportation to encourage more riders. There wouldn't be so many empty, or nearly empty buses and trains if it were free. And freeways traffic would finally ease up. There would be less need for infrastructure expansion if there were less cars on the road.
Of course the auto industry, tire companies, oil companies are against allowing these necessary changes. They have actually kept this from happening. That needs to change. Things like car domination need to change. These are among the great ideas, solutions, that are being shut out. We need to rattle the cage of the establishment.
These changes will be and are being made, but if we can do it at the local level, then we've set an example that, if it's working, other municipalities will eventually follow.
What is happening in St. Louis is an unfortunate regression. It seems to be epidemic. Should be the other way around. 3 steps forward, two steps back.
I just hate driving and traffic. I would LOVE to have available an efficient European or Japanese style train system. I wouldn't even mind waiting 30 minutes for the next train. I'd have my laptop and/or a book with me to pass the time.
"Washington has never recovered from the loss of Iran - something our intelligence services never saw coming..... Washington has demonized Iran ever since, painting it as an irrational and barbaric country filled with primitive, religious zealots."
Strangely missing from Chris Hedges' otherwise fine and comprehensive commentary on the dynamics of US-Iranian relationships over the last half century is reference to the role the Ayatollah played in throwing the 2000 presidential election from the incumbent "Great Satan" Jimmy Carter to Ronald Reagan and his jolly neocon friends.
It was of course no coincidence that the US embassy hostages were freed just moments after Ronnie was sworn in. Popular neocon mythology attributes the timing of the release to respect for the new American sheriff in town, replacing the old, wimpish Democratic appeasing one. Yet as the Iran-Contra scandal unfolded at the end of the Reagan era, we learned how back channel contacts made by Reagan campaign chief Bill Casey (later head of the CIA), and veep candidate George H W Bush (previously head of the CIA) manipulated the time line and the price terms (in future military hardware deliveries) for the hostages' return to US soil. Among the other historical figures peripherally or directly involved in this smarmy gentlemens' handshake agreement between high level US and Iranian intelligence and political figures were Mr. Mousavi of Iran and Mr. Robert Gates, Langley career professional and the current holdover Secretary of Defense for the Obama administration.
Iranians laughed for a very short while among themselves about how the Ayatollah had suckered the infidels, but covert US support for the Iraq-Iran war was payback time, big time. And there is a straight line from there to the axis of evil to today's black-ops regime destabilization efforts.
Iran, of course, never belonged to the United States to "lose", of course. But Hedges' piece is a timely reminder for amnesiac Americans who take their history from the mainsteam media that there is an exceedingly rich, recent history here of partisan scoundrels and career spies interacting and messing with each other behind closed doors at the very highest level.
Let us no longer omit the ascendancy of Ronald Reagan into the Oval Office with Bill Casey, Robert Gates, and George H W at his side from this important public narrative. Something good could still come from today's latest confrontation with the mullahs of Tehran.
Bill from Saginaw
odoco
Thanks Bill - I had forgotten about the Reagan / Hostage affair. More directly, Reagan's surrogates manipulated the release process (as you allude to) so that such a transfer would not occur BEFORE the American election. One could legitimately say that the hostages were held longer than necessary due to US political reasoning. One could also make the argument that Bush Sr., Gates, Reagan men were deeply involved in illegal and totally unauthorized contact with a foreign state at a time of national emergency.
And of course - no one was ever held accountable.
Well said!!!
Those who are so keen on attacking as wild "conspiracy theories" Paul Craig Roberts take on Iran need to look at the fact which I've already noted of no less than the New Republic doing a hatchet job on Naomi Klein last year calling what she said in "The Shcok Doctrine" a "conspiracy theory" and that she was a "conspiracy theorist." They also need to take account of the fact that such very solid progressives as Noam Chomsky, Alexander Cockburn, and others have said the US Government through the CIA plotted more than a few times, the record on file now is since and likely beginning during Dwight D Eisenhower's time in the White House going up to and including into the 1990s. A plot, political fans by any other name is a conspiracy. Now this doesn't in the least say "conspiracy theories" are always right. Many times they can be outright paranoid, but engaging "coincidence theories" can be equally delusional when applied to Watergate, the Iran Contra affair, the way the USA got bamboozled into the Vietnam and Iraq wars as well many other military actions since the Second World War. As Norman Solomon points out in "War Made Easy," a documentary, and pardon me if these aren't his exact words, "War rarely just falls from the sky. . ." "A foudation has to be built. . . often with lies and deceit." Wouldn't that mean some very high in the US Government were plotting and thus engaged in conspiracy, thus now opening up
a great progressive such as Solomon to all this garbage about being a "conspiracy theorist"? You better bet the right will use just this kind of ;thing when they determine it will have the most effect on dividing progressives. Let's not let the bastards get away with it! We would also do well to consider that "conspiracy theory" is just the flip side of
"coincidence theory." Either may be valid depending on how well it stands up to scrutiny. Neither is at all the gospel, and neither is absolutely false all the time. Sometimes things are simply coincidences such automobile accidents, plane crashes, and people simply running into each other on the street when in a hurry. But sometimes, those who have so much power, privileges, money, and the other that goes along with it such as US and other Western elites will plot keep same, as that's the way they play game when it looks like they might lose their "precious hegemony."
Furthermore, a theory in the strictest sense is a hypothesis which has withstood some solid scrutiny. Take for examples the theories of Evolution and of Relativity.
AD
Evolution was a Conspiracy????!!!!
And a hypothesis is a proposed explanation made on the basis of limited evidence as a starting point. Of which, as of yet, we haven't seen in the comments on this website, at least those which would actually counter the notion that there is evidence (or signs, indications, pointers, marks, traces, suggestions, hints, whatever you kids are calling it these days) of election fraud, or that the protests are anything but an internally inspired event. We've shown ample proof that there is evidence of vote tampering. Provide us with some independent observation that can be supported of the vote counting and verification process.
Funding for pro-democracy programs began in 2004, when Congress earmarked $1.5 million of the State Department budget for educational, humanitarian, and non-governmental organizations and individuals inside Iran to support the advancement of democracy and human rights in Iran --- Yeah right "Democracy" = Do what the US says.
The funding ramped up dramatically in 2006, when Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice requested $75 million for pro-democracy programs. More than half of the $66.1 million Congress finally appropriated went to expand U.S. government-funded Persian language broadcasting services at Voice of America and Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty.
Even MORE funds were allocated in 2008, but I can't find out who got the money, and it's not like black-ops have their own line item in the budget now do they.
Catgirl 3:43 --------- They have their fingers in their ears.
Besides all the funding , the CIA sponsored Sunni group out of Baluchistan surged their terrorist bombings one week before the election.
This lead me at the time to predict that the USA was starting a big push for destabilization.
That said, it does in no way deny that there are thousands of Iranians fighting for civil rights.
Also it does not mean support for Ahmadinejad, but according to Ghobady and according to Mousavi's past crimes Mousavi is no improvement.
One point people ignore is that Mousavi claimed victory BEFORE Ahmadinejad was declared the winner. How can an earlier claim by Mousavi be valid if he claims a later claim by the government giving the election to Ahmadinejad was too early?
Also Mousavi was offered a random sample recount and contray to Hedges the reports at the time said he demanded a whole new election NOT a recount.
Keep in mind the rioting is taking place during the time set aside for the Council to examine the record of voting.
More than one thing is happening at the same time -------- There are idealistic peaceful demostrators, there are violent idealistic demonstrators and there is all the covert means the USA has at it's disposal being applied to have the outcome be favorable to the USA's corporate desires.
"We've shown ample proof that there is evidence of vote tampering. "
Twitter AND Facebook.
Yes. Twitter revolution....
"Twitter Revolutions".... in Moldova "flash mobs" created using social media-marketing technology to secure 20k protesters to storm Moldova's parliament. Much like cels and text-messaging were used in orange revolution in Ukraine.
Why did the US not make the Moldova elections into a front page, 24/7 coverage? Interesting....
moldova example of "twitter revolution" only leads to a "recount" ...and what do we see so far in Moldova?
h**p://www.guardian.co.uk/world/2009/apr/15/moldova-activist-hiding-protests
And here is a summary of the riots and burning in Moldova while questioning the primary antagonist for the violence.
h**p://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2009/04/20/AR2009042002817.html
quoted from above WaPo:
"...What we witnessed on YouTube, in other words, was not a new kind of Twitter Revolution but, rather, a new kind of manipulated revolution; not an Orange or a Rose Revolution, but a revolution deliberately led astray. There were special circumstances, of course: It's relatively easy to make people angry and get them to burn down government buildings in the world's unhappiest country. Still, I predict this is a sign of more such "revolutions" to come. A scenario like this one is too good to waste on Moldova alone. "....
I think trying to draw parallels between Iran 2009 and US 2000 is a weak part in Hedges article. There are far too many dissimilarities than there are similarities between the two political elections, including prep and post events.
When these events are forced together to make Chris' larger criticism of the US populace --which is that he is frustrated by the lack of protests stateside (although I'm certain any violent aspect would be rebuked by Chris)-- he risks having to also compare Al Gore to Mousavi, which begs Chris' point.
Chris effectively argues there wasn't a passionate leader challenging the establishment, because Gore was/is the establishment. But Mousavi wasn't passionate, at least in the last televised debate. He came off, to me, uninspiring and, by all purposes, lost the debate and the vote. Where does this image of Mousavi as charismatic protest agent challenging the system come from in Hedges parallel? It doesn't exist. What Hedges unfortunately accomplishes in this section is to interject modern Western politics of the personality into Iranian politics which is about systems (clerics being a rather Byzantine section). So why not just cut to the chase and drop forced parallels when really all he wants to say with these two paragraphs is, we Americans don't protest well enough against the establishment.
OKAY BRO...We americans don't protest well enough against the establishment.
Said... and?
It must feel good not to pay taxes that you know will go to fund The Empire and all its morbid weapons. I hate thinking that I am subsidising that, and have seriously considered leaving.
What is really scary is that, for all of our carrying on about the right to protest in Iran, that right is in danger here. I have been protesting in American streets for over 20 years. We did not used to have our permits denied, or to be penned into tiny areas and surrounded by police officers armed with tasers (and a little too eager to use them). Camera phones are our counter weapon, so at least we can broadcast what they are doing.
We used to get media coverage, too, or at least a little. Some of us have literally been rounded up and questioned, and our groups have been infiltrated. It has gotten less intense since 2001, but it hasn't gone back entirely(nor would I expect it to). We are PEACE activists, dedicated to non-violence, but they treat us as some kind of "threat," like we are criminals.
One nice thing about being a rabble rouser, closer to margins of society, is that you see the changes first. To me, the changes are obvious and frightening. I live in a city of over 1 million people, but it's the same 30-50 activists I see at almost every event. Where are the rest of my republic-loving Americans?? I wish they'd wake up!