US Mideast democracy plan backfiring: Iran president

[bemildred]

Washington's push for Middle East democracy is resulting in across the board victories for militant Islamic movements, Iran's hardline President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad has boasted in an interview.

Ahmadinejad also branded Western democracy as a "lie", said Islamic militants would not be disarmed and predicted the defeat of the "myth of an invincible and eternal Zionism" enshrined by the state of Israel.

The comments came as US Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice left for a Middle East tour to push efforts to spread democracy and counter what the United States views as an increasingly aggressive Iranian policy.

"The American slogan of democracy has had the reverse effect in Iran, Iraq, Lebanon and even Palestine. Everywhere in the Islamic world, when there are free and fair elections, the Islamists and groups favouring resistance are winning," the ultra-conservative president told the official news agency IRNA Sunday.

Turkish Press

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1. Ahmadinejad on the warpath

An interesting exposition on what Ahm-an-idjit is up to.

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A controversial president

Ahmadinejad's first six months as president have had a mixed reaction. Domestically, he has tried to buttress his position among his core constituency, namely the urban poor and the lower classes who rallied around his calls for the revival of the Iranian revolution's egalitarian message.

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Lack of progress on the economic and social-justice front notwithstanding, Ahmadinejad has introduced massive changes to the face and operations of the executive branch. Virtually all provincial governors have been replaced by Ahmadinejad loyalists, who tend to be young and hail from the Islamic Republic's security establishment, in particular the Islamic Revolutionary Guards Corps (IRGC - or the Sepah-e-Pasdaran).

Moreover, Ahmadinejad has replaced most senior bankers and other important figures in charge of the country's finances. Furthermore, many of the country's most experienced diplomats have been recalled from abroad and replaced by less experienced figures, with backgrounds in the Sepah-e-Pasdaran and other security outfits.

At a superficial level it appears that the Ahmadinejad government is preparing for conflict and is reordering the entire machinery of government accordingly. But the changes introduced since August have a deeper meaning; they signify the coming of age of so-called "second-generation" revolutionaries who were propelled into a position of leadership by Ahmadinejad's surprise election victory last June.

http://www.atimes.com/atimes/Middle_East/HB18Ak02.html

[MrPrax]

8. You know...

If you change the names and countries, this method is the same in the West; consolidate power after a win to ensure you can sow seeds to enure future wins. The appointing of political loyalists is standard practise.

Neo-Cons for instance have done this since the 70s by using much more popular right of center parties as a vehicle for their extremist policies.

Both the Reagan and Thatcher revolutions were accomplished by this method; part of the method includes fueling religious 'hotpoints' and nationalist jingoism.

I think people should generally re-examine their own political education in light of what is happening in the world and not be so quick to point to the slight differences and focus on the similarities.

[bemildred]

12. Yes, same everywhere, and since way back when. nt

[heidler1]

13. The Bush Bunch is very good at getting problem governments to

become even bigger problems. Staying home and shutting up for the next three years sounds advisable. IMO This was true for the previous 5 years, too.

[saigon68]

2. LOL

[bemildred]

6. Heh. Yeah, this seems to have gotten out of hand, doesn't it?

A bit of muslim-baiting in Denmark turns into a global crisis.

[meganmonkey]

9. Or, a global crisis gets blamed on "a bit of Muslim baiting"

Kinda helps reinforce the convenient-for-bushco view that Muslims are crazy, huh?

:shrug:

[ronnie624]

10. I think you are much closer to the truth. n/t

[bemildred]

11. I doubt anybody cares about Bushite propaganda lines at this point.

Those that believe, believe; and those that don't already
recognize that their propaganda is propaganda.

And I expect Muslims will be called crazy whatever they do,
so they might as well make their feelings known.

The thing I find interesting is that this has risen to the level
of discomforting governments, of perhaps having long-term consequences.

[Pavulon]

3. works well in Turkey

Where the article is printed. Ataturk led them into a functioning state, where they remain today.

[no_hypocrisy]

4. He has a point. Mid-East democracy is in the form of majoritarian

democracy, not a constitutional democracy which provides for the protection of minorities within the countries (political, economic, religious, ethnic minorities). What * and his hotshot academics didn't calculate was the form of democracy that would likely formulate and develop.

[wtmusic]

5. Except for the "defeat of Zionism"

he's not too far off the mark.

[leesa]

7. Pretty predictable, I would say.

Or wait...didn't hundreds of thousands of us say just this prior to the Boy King's wars?