Wednesday, February 23, 2011

Star-Tribune:

Iran's president predicts wave of unrest in Middle East will spread to Europe, North America
By ALI AKBAR DAREINI , Associated Press
Last update: February 23, 2011 - 7:36 AM

TEHRAN, Iran - Iran's president said Wednesday he is certain the wave of unrest in the Middle East will spread to Europe and North America, bringing an end to governments he accused of oppressing and humiliating people.

Mahmoud Ahmadinejad, whose own country resorted to violence to disperse an opposition rally earlier this month, also condemned Libya's use of force against demonstrators, calling it "grotesque."

Iran's hard-line leaders have sought to claim some credit for the uprisings in Arab nations, saying they are evidence that its 1979 Islamic Revolution, which ousted the U.S.-backed shah, is being replayed.

The embattled movement calling for social and political reforms in Iran has labeled that view hypocritical — and to prove it the opposition tried to stage its own rallies in solidarity with the anti-government protests in Egypt last week. Clashes between security forces and demonstrators left at least two people dead and dozens injured.

"The world is on the verge of big developments. Changes will be forthcoming and will engulf the whole world from Asia to Africa and from Europe to North America," Ahmadinejad told a news conference Wednesday.

The tone of the remarks seemed to draw on the belief by Shiite Muslims that a revered ninth century saint known as the Hidden Imam, will reappear before judgment day to end tyranny and promote justice in the world.

Ahmadinejad said the world was in need of a just system of rule that "puts an end to oppression, occupation and humiliation of people."

"It's a wave that's coming," he said.

Even while denying his own opponents the right to demonstrate, the president urged Libya's Moammar Gadhafi to heed his peoples' demands. He sharply criticized Libya's leaders for their use of force.

"This is very grotesque. It is unimaginable that there is someone who kills and bombards his own people. I strongly advise them to let nations have their say and meet their nations' demands if they claim to be the officials of those nations," Ahmadinejad said.

"Of course anyone who does not heed the demands of his own nation will have a clear fate," he added.

Iranian police and paramilitary groups brutally put down protests on their own streets after Ahmadinejad's disputed re-election in 2009. The opposition claims the vote was rigged and hundreds of thousands of protesters poured into the streets, posing the most serious challenge to Iran's ruling system since the 1979 revolution.

The opposition says more than 80 demonstrators were killed in the crackdown. The government puts the number of confirmed deaths at 30.

The opposition has compared the uprisings in Egypt, Tunisia, Libya and elsewhere to its own campaign for change.

Mir Hossein Mousavi, who claims to have been the real victor in the 2009 vote, said last month that Iran's protest movement was the starting point and that all popular protests in the Middle East aimed at ending the "oppression of the rulers."

Mousavi and Iran's other senior opposition leader, Mahdi Karroubi, have been under house arrest since earlier this month after they called their supporters to attend the Feb. 14 rally.

Security forces also raided Karroubi's house, locking him and his wife in separate rooms and confiscating books and documents, according to Karroubi's website.

12 comments:

Pastorius said...

For once, I find myself on the same page as Mahmoud.

Alexander Münch said...

The M/F is going to end up like Mussolini !

http://goo.gl/Orf8a http://goo.gl/qflSm http://goo.gl/e35iZ

Anonymous said...

i read there are people in angola threatening to do the same as in egypt

Pastorius said...

How much of it is coordinated?

Anonymous said...

In my opinion, the whole thing is coordinated. One day they chant, "we want democracy and we are hungry" and crap like that and the next day "death to Israel and Jews".

Hey, if you're hungry and want democracy, you don't want to kill people right away when you have already gotten what you wanted.

I already said it before, these protests are not about democracy but about Islamic rule over the Arab world and then over the Western world.

There was a protester in Egypt who was photographed who said the Egyptian people support the protests in Wisconsin (is it?).

Yeah, I can see these protests spreading. They have already spread to India and who is protesting there? Not Muslims, but communists. Who is protesting in the US? Socialists!

'Nuff said.

Pastorius said...

AA,
You write: There was a protester in Egypt who was photographed who said the Egyptian people support the protests in Wisconsin (is it?).


I'd like to get my hands on that interview.

Anonymous said...

It wasn't an interview. It was an Egyptian dude holding up a placard that read something like "Egyptians are with the protesters in America" or "Winsconsin". I will look for that photo and send you the link.

The point I am making is not that these same protesters are responsible for the protests everywhere. What I am saying is that people that are protesting hold onto similar ideologies.

Communists/Socialists have historically sided with Muslims. NAZIS are the biggest example. Then is USSR and their support of Muslim countries aginst both Israel and the US. Argentina and other Latin American socialist states just recognized the (non-existent) state of Palestine.

So yeah. I see these events as coordinated at the highest levels. There probably isn't just one person you can blame for this. I am sure there are scores of individuals working behind the scenes.

Haven't there ever been protests before in Egypt and Tunisia and other countries in the region. We know there have but the effect these recent ones have had is different. It took these protests and a matter of a couple of weeks and Muslim Brotherhood became a political force to be respected in the Western world because hey, "they are giving their people democracy".

We have all been fooled and whoever did it, did a great job at it too. I see so many people singing praises that "Hosni Mubarak, the dictator is gone...now there will be freedom for all, Muslims and Christians, alike."

I am just saying we'll regret this.

Pastorius said...

For my part, I am seriously considering the idea that the Muslim Brotherhood, Iran, and the Communists/Socialists of the world may be united in these endeavors.

Of course, I have no evidence.

midnight rider said...

Pasto - I saw the sane placard AA talks about and it was specifically Wisconsin Egyptians were united with. I saw it on a news report on Fox on tv. I'll see if I can find it as well.

midnight rider said...

Found it. Posted it sticky for a few hours.

Anonymous said...

MR,

Thanks for that. That is the exact photograph I was talking about. Can't remember where I'd seen it but that was it.

Pastorius,

I am thinking the exact same thing. MB fuels the protests in Egypt, Iran praises the protests, Iran gets their warships through Suez with the consent of the Egyptians. I mean, I am no Navy expert but I am sure it takes time to arrange for an operation like that, especially one that is, reportedly, loaded with weapons for HezbAllah.

At the same time, we see protests in Bahrain, its shiites protesting against the Sunni regime. That has Saudi Arabia so scared (and for the right reasons) that the King just ordered distribution of 35 billions dollars, amongst the Saudi citizens, in different forms. That is a lot of money for 18 million of Saudi citizens. What does the King know that we don't?

He is afraid that the protests could also start in his own country. 15% of the Saudi population is shiite, you know where I am going with this, don't you?

At the same time, we have protesters in Delhi. a lot of them (all of them?) carrying communist flags.

Then there are the people in Wisconsin.

Here is where I am making the connection. 1) All of this happened way too close together. 2) Iran seems to be pulling the strings, at least in the Middle East (when Israel didn't act against the ships that were crossing the Suez, they just showed that they were weak against the Iranians). 3) They are all protesting for more or less the same reasons. Jobs, food, prices, etc. etc. 4) Most, if not all, of these protest movements started online (facebook, youtube, etc.)

Anonymous said...

I don't know how plausible it all sounds. I will have to do more research but whatever I am seeing right now, IT JUST DON'T LOOK GOOD.