The Power Struggle in Iran

Iranian/Azeri Quote: "To be accurate most iranians have been sheepish and khaaen sefat even at times of khoramdin o maziar. Those guys were fighting arab accupiers and invadors and yet they could only rely on some hundred close friends in azarbaijan and Mazandaran while arab armies who got sent to fight them were filled with iranian mozdoors from other parts of iran."

Translation: He is saying that Azeri Turks lived in Azerbaijan-Iran in 6 century. When Azeri Turks were fighting Arabs together with Mazandaranis who are natives of Caspian Region, the rest of Iran worked as mercernies for Arab armies. With the exception of Azeri Turks and Mazandaranis, the rest of Iran are traitors. In reality there were no Azeri turks in Iran at the time and Azeri Turks came to Iran in 14 century. Arabs had left by 8 century so Azeri Turks never saw any arabs.

The natives of Azerbaijan who spoke Middle Persian or Pahlavi were murdered by Azeri Turks and both the real natives of Azerbaijan with their language disappeared from Western Iran and replaced by Azeri Turks. Also the natives of Mazandaran are no friends of Azeri turks. The poster is actually talking about Azeri Turks who have been recently moved to Mazandaran by Ahmadinejad regime and call themselves "Mazandarani". Those are friends of the poster.

The quote is important as it points out the key to the formation of power struggle in Iran in modern times. It points to the existence of two Irans. Two different countries which are called Iran.

Since 14the century with the arrival Azeri Turks into north West Iran, Iran has been divided into two countries with inivisible borders. Iran is a general name for western Iran and Eastern Iran. Western Iran includes Tehran, Azerbaijan and Isfahan. The so called "Iranians" actually refers to the people of Western Iran or Azeri turks.

Eastern Iran is also called Khorasan. Eastern Iran or Khorasan includes areas in the East and North East, the Caspian Region and South West Iran. Also it includes parts of central and South central Iran. The people of Eastern Iran are called Persians. There are two independent areas in Sistan-Baluchestan in South East and Kurdestan in Western Iran which is dominated by the local tribes. But both Kurds and Baloochs and Sistanis have always sided with Eastern Iran or Khorasan.

Isfahan was the capital of Azeri Saffavids in 15 century and people of Isfahan have mostly Saffavids ancestors. Isfahan is a close ally of Western Iran but even Isfahan's alliance with pure Azeri Turks in Tehran and Azerbaijan has not always been gauranteed and under normal conditions Isfahan have supported and sided with Eastern Iran.

The difference between Eastern Iran and Western Iran is that Western Iran is populated with Iranians/Azeri Turks and Eastern Iran is populated with the natives of Iran or Persians.

Ahmadinejad Pan Turk gang is actually a Western Iran regime imposed on the rest of the Iran. Without US support, Ahamdinejad gang would not have survived many days in power. That is the key to understanding Iran. US supports Western Iran based on Azeri Pan Turkism. US opposes an Eastern Iran regime based on the natives of Iran and Persian culture historical traditions.

One should note that Pan Turkism in Iran is not related to Pan Turkism in Turkey and they are entirely different. Azeri Pan Turkism in Iran is a competitor and an enemy of Anatolian Pan Turkism in Turkey. Pan Turkism in Turkey is based on secular state and economic incentives. Pan Turkism in Iran is based on Azeri Shia religion and uses religion, ideology and racism to promote its agenda. Pan Turkism in Iran does not use Azeri language as it is not politically feasible under present conditions. It tries to impose its race and culture on the natives of Iran. Azeri Pan Turkism in Iran is based in Tehran and it controls the government. Azeri nationalism in Azerbaijan- Iran is an entirely different entity and it represents local demands for autonomy and language and ethnic rights.

For the last 500 years, there has been shift of power between Western Iran and Eastern or between Iranians and Persians. Many times this shift of power has been peaceful. But under some historical periods, this shift of power has been very violent. In 1722 in Isfahan, The Azeri Saffavid regime of Western Iran was attacked violently and it led to mass murder of Azeri Turks in Isfahan. The regime of Western Iran under Azeri Saffavids was completely destroyed by forces representing Eastern Iran. Those forces were Afghans from Kandahar under the leadership of Mir-Wais Hotak and Lurs from South West Iran under the leadership of Karim Khan Zand. Nader Shah, the future leader of Khorasan was probably the leader of this assault on Azeri Saffavids in 17th century. It led to a Khorasan or Eastern Iran State under the leadership of Nader Shah to take over Iran in 17 century.

Today we are witnessing the same power struggle is going on in Iran. The current Ahmadinejad Pan Turk gang in power is going to the end of their power cycle. Ahamdinejad regime is a copy of Saffavid Azeris from 15 century. The Ahmadinejad regime is violently resisting its demise and is trying to stay in power at all costs. To stay in power they have devised some new methods to attack Eastern Iran and its power structure.

• 1. Massive number of Azeri Turks have been moved to the Caspian region. Caspian region is an oil region.
• 2. Azeri Turks have been moved to Kuzestan province in South West Iran. This is also an oil region.
• 3. Arab minority living in Khuzestan are subjected to a genocide policy by cutting off the water supply.
• 4. Toxic gases have been released to the air in the whole southern Iran from Abadan to Bushehr to Shiraz. It has led to many deaths.
• 5. Water supplies have also been cut to many of these areas.
• 6. Just in the past few days, Ahmadinejad regime has announced huge lay off of workers in southern Iran. This is despite all the oil revenues that has been generated in this areas.
• 7. Terrorism has been unleased on security forces in southern areas targeting police and high level prosecutors working for the local government. Also ordianry people are subjected to these terrorist attacks in the form of bombings of the Mosques.
• 8. A long of period of armed clashes between Ahamdinejad gang and local authorities in Isfahan as Ahmadinejad gang is trying to take over Isfahan.
• 9. Tribal areas such as Lurs, Bakhtiarys and Qasqaiis in south west Iran have been attacked by Azeri Turk gangs such as regimes para-military forces.

The outcome this power struggle determines the future of the whole region, from Iraq to Afganistan to central asia. It is important to understand that the region looks the way it does because of the existence of Persian Political power in Iran since ancient times. That is why US is targeting the Persian ethnicity for ethnic cleansing and genocide in order to change the power relations in the region. At the same US is calling a massive number of people "Persians" in Afghanistan such as Qizilbash Turks, in Pakistan Sindis and Punjabis (specially Sindis), Tajik Dari Speaking Turks in Central Asia, Armenians, and Eastern Anatolian population such as Kurds and Anatolian Turks and Azeri Turks in Caucasus. They also use the fake "Iranian" name for these people.

US policy in the region is to replace current power sturctures with primitive criminal Azeri turk power based on Shia religion and Azeri Turk culture. In other words US is seeking a restoration of Azeri Saffavid regime from 15 century. This requires the Turkification or Azerfikication of the whole region from Iraq to Kurdestan, Eastern Parts of Anatolia to Armenia and from Turkemenstan to Afghansitan.

Recently there was an article by a liberal American commentator that "Neo-Cons" have totally failed in their policy of bringing "Democracy" to the region. In reality US policy was never to bring any kind of "democarcy" to the region but to impose a primitive Islamic power structure based on Pan Turkism, Azeri Style to the region.

Where is the 57 Billion dollars currency Reserve????

It was reported on Aftab-Yazd website. It is down now. The parliament is asking about the money from Ahmadinejad.

According to reports from Iran, Ahmadinejad has lost part of currency reserves of Iran which amounted to 20 Billion dollars in his stock market investment. There is now danger for a run on Banks in Iran for cash that does not exist anymore. Everbody knows what happened to stock market in a few weeks here in US.

This is related to drop of oil prices to 80 dollars a barrel. Currency reserves probably had to be used to protect other investments. But this news is coming from official sources in Iran.

Loss of 20B dollars in currency reserves is probably covered by Bazaris money and so Ahamdinejad does not have any money to give back Bazaris in their bank deposits so Ahamdinejad will go for a full scale confrontation with Bazaris.

Currently the merchants and Bazaris are on strike and the regime has started to arrest them.

Interesting to note that Turkey converted all their bank deposits into dollars and made a lot of money in stock market crash.

News:
Ahmadinejad’s Economic advisor Morteza Tammaddon, who has just been appointed governor general of Tehran, says the Islamic Republic's foreign currency reserve reaches $20 billion.
News:
Basij (Paramilitary forces) begins maneuvers in five cities of Iran.

Where is the rest of 57 billion dollars of currency reserves????

Power Struggle in Iran
http://eastwestiran.blogspot.com/

Nader Shah - The Leader of Khorasan - 1736-1749



Khorasan under Nader Shah 1736-1749

Reports from Isfahan indicates a wide spread strike by Isfahan bazaar. It is directed against Ahmadinejad gang and its tax laws for sales taxes. Signs of break down of Isfahan-Tehran Power Axis and signals a breakdown in Ahmadinejad regime's power structure.

Comments by Azeri Turks on Isfahan:

MANY OF THEM HAVE BEEN MAKING MONEY BY SUPPORTING THE REGIME.
MANY HAVE BEEN GOING TO SEE THAT PERSIAN TOILET IN MECCA AND THEY HAVE
BECOME MORE SAG ARABS THAN NATURAL BORN SAG ARABS.
I SAY INCREASE THEIR TAXES MORE SO THEY FEEL THE MISERIES OF MANY IRANIANS.
3% INCREASE IS NOT ENOUGH


Iran Bazaars on strike

Shopkeepers in the Iranian cities of Isfahan, Mashhad, Tabriz and Tehran have staged strikes to protest against the introduction of value added tax (VAT), newspapers reported on Wednesday.

Shops in the bazaar of the central city of Isfahan, Iran's third largest, have been shut for several days to protest against the VAT of 3 percent introduced by the government.

Aaround 3,000 shopkeepers gathered on Monday outside the Isfahan governor's office to protest against the new tax, introduced on September 22.

Major traders at the bazaar have withdrawn their money from banks in the city to protest against the measure, saying it will cause price increases which they will have to pass on to consumers.

Some shopkeepers in Tehran's main bazaar also took part in the protest on Wednesday, an AFP correspondent witnessed. Some stallholders in the jewellery, gold and textile sections closed their shutters.

"If the government does not back down, we will continue until it does," one jeweller told AFP asking not to be named.

A textile dealer told AFP that while other sections of the bazaar remained open, "this movement can expand."

In the big northwestern city of Tabriz, gold dealers and jewellers have gone on strike, the ISNA news agency reported.

Rises in retail prices have accelerated since new mullahs' government took power in 2005.

In September, the cost of a basket of 45 staple food items was up 50 percent on a year earlier, press reports said.

Annual inflation topped 29 percent in the Iranian calendar month that ended on September 21.

Bazaars in Iran play an important political as well as economic role. Bazaar merchants contributed to the 1979 "Islamic mobs takeover", when they went on long strikes.
------------------------


By NAZILA FATHI
Published by The Times, October 10, 2008

TEHRAN — Merchants in traditional bazaars in several large cities closed their shops this week to protest a decision by President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad to enforce the nation’s first ever sales tax.

The protests, the largest since Mr. Ahmadinejad was elected in 2005, began Saturday in the central city of Isfahan when jewelers closed their shops, newspapers reported Wednesday. The strike spread, and by Tuesday bazaars in the cities of Shiraz, Tabriz, Qazvin and Mashhad had followed suit. The police clashed Wednesday with a group of shopkeepers who gathered outside the bazaar in Isfahan, the daily newspaper Sarmayeh reported.

Bazaars are the backbone of the country’s traditional economy. Before the 1979 Islamic Revolution, merchants allied with the clergy, and their strikes helped overthrow the government.

They still wield significant power, and this is the first time since the revolution that they have protested on such a large scale. The news media refrained from reporting the protests until Wednesday because of the delicacy of the issue.

Although the strike appeared to be a reaction to the sudden enforcement of the tax law, analysts said the driving issue was really the worsening of the economy.

“These protests are not the result of the tax law,” said Saeed Leylaz, a political analyst and an economist in Tehran. He added, “These shopkeepers are the middle class who are fed up with the pressures and are now showing their frustration in a civil protest.”

Last year, Parliament approved Iran’s first value-added tax, a 3 percent levy on all products except basic commodities like dairy products and bread.

But enforcement of the law began only on Sept. 21. The speaker of Parliament, Ali Larijani, said the law finally had to be put in place since it had been passed by Parliament, the ISCA news agency reported.

Merchants, however, said the sales tax could lead to a further surge in prices and a drop in their sales.

Mohammad Abbassi, a carpet salesman in Tehran’s bazaar, said business was bad even before the law was adopted.

“Every day I opened and closed the shop without anyone coming to say hi or ask a price, for God’s sake,” he said. “What will happen if we increase the prices by another 3 percent?”

Merchants demanded that the law be dropped or postponed.

The newspaper Sarmayeh reported Thursday that the authorities had agreed to delay the law for three months, but only on gold products, in an effort to persuade merchants in Tehran to open their shops.

The head of the Association of Guilds, Mohammad Azad, told the newspaper that the three-month delay would give enough time to resolve some issues under contention, but that the law would eventually be put in place.

“We’ve had no agreements, but all our efforts are aimed at convincing the merchants to open their shops,” he said.

The decision to enforce the law is seen as an effort by Mr. Ahmadinejad to increase the government’s revenue. Economists predict that within months he could face a budget deficit of nearly $50 billion. Iran’s economy is heavily dependent on oil, the prices of which have declined since this summer.

Economists blame Mr. Ahmadinejad’s economic policies for the inflation. The Central Bank said Wednesday that Iran’s annual inflation rate had risen to 29.4 percent in September.

Sarmayeh reported Thursday that the price of red meat in October was 23 percent higher than this time last year.

In a televised address on Tuesday, Mr. Ahmadinejad dismissed the statistics, asserting that inflation had started to fall in the past six months. He referred to the decline in the value of real estate as an example.

He also vowed to cut government subsidies on energy and basic commodities and to redistribute the money as payouts directly to citizens, a measure that some members of Parliament called “an empty promise.”
------------------------
By REUTERS

October 11, 2008
Filed at 1:36 a.m. ET

TEHRAN (Reuters) - Iran's president ordered the suspension of a new value added tax (VAT) scheme after it sparked protests among influential bazaar merchants in Tehran and other cities, Iranian media reported on Saturday.

President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad, whose government also plans other economic reforms in the world's fourth-largest oil producer ahead of a 2009 election, has told the Finance Ministry to put the measure on hold for two months, newspapers said.

The move came a few days after gold jewelry merchants and some other bazaar traders in cities including the capital Tehran and Isfahan closed their shops to protest last month's introduction of a 3 percent VAT.

Such work stoppages among bazaar merchants, an historically powerful business group, are rare in the Islamic Republic.

"This (the strike by shop-owners) has pushed the government to announce that it will review the new VAT mechanism," Iran's Press TV said.

The ISNA news agency quoted Ahmadinejad, widely expected to run for a second four-year term in a presidential election in June next year despite criticism over his economic policies, as saying in a letter to Finance Minister Shamseddin Hosseini:

"In order to correctly execute this law and to study obstacles and problems and easing concerns ... it is necessary (for you) to give me a plan and a proper solution within two months for the execution of this law."

During this time, implementation of the VAT legislation would be suspended, Ahmadinejad said, adding the minister should consult with union representatives.

Bazaar shop-owners feared that the VAT would increase prices and lower demand for their products. The government rejected the criticism and argued the overall tax burden would not increase.

The VAT measure forms part of wider economic reforms planned by Ahmadinejad, who came to power in 2005 pledging to share out Iran's oil wealth more fairly but has come under fire for his failure to rein in steadily climbing double-digit inflation.

The government wants to change Iran's extensive subsidy system to target payments more directly to those in need, but critics say it risks further stoking inflation, now running at 29.4 percent year-on-year.

Iran has reaped windfall oil revenue in recent years but analysts say foreign companies have become more wary of investing in the Middle Eastern country due to increased tension with the West over Tehran's disputed nuclear program.

Iran says its nuclear activities are solely intended to produce electricity, but its refusal to halt sensitive atomic work has drawn three rounds of U.N. sanctions since 2006.

Iran’s traders move to revive power base

Published By FT Times: October 14 2008

The mood in the Tehran baazar on Monday was confused. Some of the grey shutters in the vaulted passageways of the bazaar remained firmly closed, others were open for business while yet more were half open-half closed, perhaps reflecting that many bazaaris – merchants – were in two minds over whether to continue their strike against the government of president Mahmoud Ahmadi-Nejad.

Over the past week merchants in some of the biggest bazaars in Iran have been closed in protest at the imposition of a 3 per cent value added tax. On Sunday Tehran joined the dispute in spite of the fact the government announced late last week that it was to “postpone” imposition of the levy.


But the reaction in Tehran – where traders have demanded the suspension of the tax not just its postponement – has fuelled suspicions that traders are using the issue as an opportunity to remind the regime of the bazaaris’ historical economic and political power and that it could be exerted again.

Still more suspect the bazaari protest is turning into a political battlefield with the opponents of Mr Ahmadi-Nejad, encouraging the strike to bring pressure on him ahead of the presidential election next June.

“You can track political rivalries and see politicians showing muscles in the bazaar,” says one trader.

The bazaaris rendered crucial support to the 1979 revolution. But this strike is the first of its kind against the Islamic regime.

The atmosphere in Tehran’s bazaar, with closed shops, has prompted comparisons with the revolutionary days, with many traders nostalgic for the time when anti-government riots helped topple the Shah and the bazaaris had more economic and political influence than they can muster today.

“We should not be happy with anything less than [the] collapse of [Mr] Ahmadi-Nejad’s government,” says one old trader who argues that the strike should continue.

Many analysts say the bazaaris today largely stand where they were before the revolution in terms of frustration with the government, but the emergence of modern trading companies and shopping malls has reduced their influence.

There is also a new element: many of the modern economic centres are suspected to be affiliated or endorsed by the elite Revolutionary Guards and intelligence services, making rivalry extremely difficult for bazaaris. The bazaaris fear their wealth and power is diminishing and modern trade centres are replacing them, says Mohammad-Reza Behzadian, former head of Tehran chamber of commerce.

The trend is leading to the establishment of a new class of entrepreneurs sweeping power away from traditional traders and ignoring their past contribution.

“The bazaari’s fundamental protest is not against tax. Rather, it is against being ignored,” says Saeed Laylaz, an analyst. “It is weeping like a class worried about extinction.”

Despite a diminishing influence, the geographical concentration of thousands of shops sprawling through hundreds of narrow streets in one district gives the bazaari a unique position and a base of power which is not replicated among other classes.

“It takes probably less than an hour for a few old bazaaris just to walk along the bazaar and ask others to shut the whole bazaar,” says Mr Behzadian.

Although analysts believe the good old days of the bazaari are over and doubt recent protests have the capacity to evolve to a national movement or create any major economic crisis, they warn about its social impact at a time when inflation stands at 29.4 per cent and is growing.

U.S. policies may have contributed to Iran revolution, study says

---

The following report shows that Ahmadinejad is in a pre-revolutionary stage. That is "Revolution may be coming as it did with the Shah's regime". A report based on declassified documents suggests that the Nixon and Ford administrations, angry with the shah for his support for raising oil prices, worked to curb his ambitions.

By Borzou Daragahi, Los Angeles Times Staff Writer

5:25 PM PDT, October 16, 2008

BEIRUT -- A new report based on previously classified documents suggests that the Nixon and Ford administrations created conditions that helped destabilize Iran in the late 1970s and contributed to the country's Islamic Revolution.

A trove of transcripts, memos and other correspondence show sharp differences over rising oil prices developing between the Republican administrations and Mohammed Reza Shah Pahlavi in the mid-1970s, says a report to be published today in the fall issue of Middle East Journal, an academic journal published by the Washington-based Middle East Institute, a think tank.


The report, after two years of research by scholar Andrew Scott Cooper, zeros in on the role of White House policymakers -- including Donald H. Rumsfeld, then a top aide to President Ford -- hoping to roll back oil prices and curb the shah's ambitions, despite warnings by then-Secretary of State Henry Kissinger that such a move might precipitate the rise of a "radical regime" in Iran.

"The shah is a tough, mean guy. But he is our real friend," Kissinger warned Ford, who was considering options to press the monarch into lowering oil prices, in an August 1974 conversation cited by the report. "We can't tackle him without breaking him."

Analysts and historians often contend that President Carter, a Democrat, fumbled Iran, allowing the country to eventually become one of the chief U.S. opponents in the region. But the report suggests that his Republican predecessors not only contributed to the shah's fall but also were inching toward a realignment with Saudi Arabia as the key U.S. ally in the Persian Gulf.


The examination of pre- revolutionary Iran has special relevance today. Cooper said Iran's economic situation just before the revolution resembled its current state, this time with big-spending President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad banking on high oil prices to sustain his power.

"Ahmadinejad's fiscal recklessness is eerily reminiscent of the shah's, with Iran's inflation rate running at approximately 30% and Iran's current deficit approximately $12 billion -- not to mention widespread underemployment and unemployment," Cooper said in an e-mail.

The report, based mostly on documents stored at the Gerald R. Ford Presidential Library in Ann Arbor, Mich., opens a window on an unruly period more than 30 years ago that precipitated Iran's 1979 Islamic Revolution, which established a template for religiously inspired Muslim movements throughout the Middle East.

As high oil prices in the early 1970s began strangling the U.S. economy, Washington began to sour on Iran, the documents suggest. After an oil embargo over American support of Israel ended in March 1974, U.S. officials considered the shah the principal culprit in keeping oil prices from falling and wanted him to put on the brakes. At one point, Rumsfeld, who later served as the current President Bush's Defense secretary, warned Iran's chief arms procurement official that Tehran was losing friends in Washington.

"Don't try to get around me," he reportedly told Gen. Hassan Toufanian, in an encounter described by the Washington Post three decades ago and cited in the report. "Remember, Kissinger and I have to approve all [arms] exports."

Chief among those advocating pressure on Iran was William Simon, who served as Treasury secretary and energy czar under the Nixon and Ford administrations. He blamed the shah for high oil prices and wanted the U.S. to use weapons sales to Tehran as leverage.

"He is the ringleader on oil prices, together with Venezuela," Simon told President Nixon in July 1974, referring to the Iranian ruler. "Is it possible to put pressure on the shah?"

Over the years, Kissinger advocated a friendlier line on Iran and the shah, who had been brought back to power by a U.S.-engineered coup in 1953. The report suggests that Kissinger had special insights into the country's instability. At the time, university campuses in Iran were in turmoil, and guerrillas were attacking U.S. facilities and assassinating key officials. Even in 1974, a CIA analysis sounded the alarm, saying the shah's ambitious buildup of the country was causing economic polarization and cultural clashes that were roiling Iran.

By late 1976 the shah was in deep financial trouble, facing a huge cash crunch. He wanted the Organization of the Petroleum Exporting Countries oil cartel, or OPEC, to raise oil prices by 25%, a move the U.S. opposed.

"There is unanimity among my advisors that the world economy health is not good," Ford told Iranian Ambassador Ardeshir Zahedi in December 1976, according to the archives. "Any increase in the price of oil would have a serious impact on the world financial structure."

But U.S. officials, especially Simon, had been working with Saudi officials behind the shah's back to seek help on oil prices in exchange for political and military support for the Arab kingdom. The Saudis stunned OPEC members by announcing at a December summit in Doha, Qatar, that they would increase production to 11.6 million barrels a day from 8.6 million barrels, driving down prices.

"We should get credit for what happened at OPEC," Kissinger told Ford. "I have said all along the Saudis were the key. . . . Our great diplomacy is what did it."

But it would prove to be a Pyrrhic victory in terms of one American ally. Iran was cash-strapped, having spent much of its reserves on American weapons and the shah's Great Civilization programs, which spurred inflation by flooding the country with money.

The shah was broke. Declining oil revenue amid continued inflation forced him to abandon ambitious plans to modernize his country.

"The collapse of the Doha summit, and the Saudi decision to undercut the price of crude and boost its output to try to flood the market, rushed the Iranian economy to the precipice," Cooper writes in his report.

The shah's government, shaken by the loss of oil revenue, imposed a harsh austerity budget that threw thousands out of work, collapsed investor confidence and panicked middle-class Iranians. Economic chaos and unemployment quickly spread.

Within a year of the Doha summit, the first mass demonstrations that grew into revolution broke out on the streets of the Iranian capital.

صدای امریکا (رادیو فردا ) یا صدای ناسیونالیست های فارس

سالانه میلیونها دلار توسط کنگره آمریکا بمنظور اشاعه دموکراسی و شکست سانسور خبری در ایران، تصویب و از طریق اهرم های دولتی به شبکه صدای آمریکا تزریق میشود. هرچند که هم اکنون صدای آمریکا در زیر زره بین و تحت بررسی و تحقیق چند جانبه است و از جمله بخش فارسی آن از طرف سناتور تام کابورن از ایالت اوکلاهوما، توسط دفتر حسابرسی و آژانس داخلی حکومت آمریکا، و نیز دیگر سازمانهای تحقیقاتی مواجه میباشند. این گزارش ها هر دوی صدای آمریکا و رادیو فردا را برای هم دردی با تحریمهای اقتصادی وضع شده علیه حکومت ایران و انعکاس بعضی از افکار جناح های حکومت ایران در بولتن هایشان، محکوم کرده اند. شرایط آنقدر بد است که بعضی ایرانی های مقیم آمریکا شروع به پرسش این سوال کرده اند که آیا بعضی خبرنگاران بخش فارسی صدای آمریکا و رادیو فردا برای وزارت اطلاعات ایران کار می کنند و یا در خدمت آنند؟

بعضی هم به میراث داری ناسیونالیسم افراطی ایرانی و شوینیسم فارس در این رسانه ها اشاره کرده اند، که موجب بیگانه سازی ملیت های مختلف ایران و بخصوص ملیتهای غیر فارس شده اند، در حالیکه این ملیت های غیر فارس (که زبانشان جائی در بخش فارسی صدای آمریکا ندارد)، حداقل بیش از نصف جمعیت ایران را تشکیل می دهند، و در برخی آمار تا هفتاد درصد جمعیت هم ذکر شده اند. نماینده گان و فعالین سیاسی اتحادیه های احزاب و سازماهای ایرانی غیرفارس ، که برای احقاق حقوق اقلیت ها مبارزه می کنند و در عین حال گفتار و رفتار بخش فارسی صدای آمریکا و رادیو فردا را بشدت تحت نظر دارند، گزارشی از یک بررسی را منتشر کرده اند که در نشان می دهد بخش فارسی تلویزیون صدای آمریکا فقط در یکماه- در ماه مه 2007، با 132 نفر مصاحبه و یا میهمان دعوت کرده است که فقط حدود دو درصد آنها از اقلیت های ملی ایران مانند بلوچ و کرد بوده اند. عرب های اهوازی ، ترکمن ها و آذری ها و دیگران، علی رغم تمام مستندات موجود در مورد وضعیت حقوق بشر و سرکوب های جاری در مورد آنها، به طور کلی از این برنامه غایب بوده اند.

مجریان این برنامه ها ، خصوصاٌ در بخش فارسی تلویزیون صدای آمریکا، اظهار می دارند که اقلیت های ایران طرفدار و تحت فرمان رضا شاه دوم، پسر محمد رضا شاه پهلوی هستند. مدیران، کارمندان ارشد، برنامه سازان و مجریان بخش فارسی صدای آمریکا - در دیدگاه خود با حکومت ایران در مورد تنفر از اقلیت های ملی غیر فارس در ایران مشترک هستند. رضا شاه پهلوی و مشاوران ارشدش مانند شهریار آهی و داریوش همایون به شکل متناوب و بعضاً حتی روزانه و براحتی در این برنامه ها حاضر می شوند.

میهمانان و مصاحبه شوندگان در این برنامه ها معمولاٌ کسانی هستند که از میان سلطنت طلبان یا ملی گراهای افراطی، دست چین و انتخاب می شوند. این میهمانان اساس فکری شان این است که ایران یک کشور فقط فارس و یا فارس تمام عیار است و اظهارات ملت های غیرفارس را که اصرار می کنند که فارس ها با وجود داشتن قدرت، اقلیت هستند و جمعیت ملت های غیرفارس تا هفتاد درصد جمعیت ایران را تشکیب میدهند را، نادیده می گیرند. اکثر کسانی که در بخش فارسی صدای امریکا بعنوان میهمان و یا متخصص حضور می یابند، بر این عقیده هستند که آریایی ها نژاد برتر می باشند و به ایدئولوژی نژادی آریا عقیده دارند و قبول ندارند که کسی می تواند ایرانی باشد ولی در عین حال غیر فارس باشد.

علاوه بر این میهمان های دستمزدی و غیر دستمزدی، که غالباً یا مشاورین رضا شاه پهلوی هستند، دیگر مدعوین دیپلمات ها، وزرا و اعضای سابق کابینه شاه میباشند که به شکل متناوب در این برنامه حاضر می شوند. یکی از انها 15 بار در طول ماه مه مصاحبه شد و بقیه هم چندین بار در یک ماه و یا جند بار در هفته مصاحبه شدند. در نمونه این یک ماه فوق الذکر، یعنی ما مه امسال ، به غیر از یک کرد و یک بلوچ (عامل حکومت)، با هیچ عضوی یا سازمانی از اقلیت های غیر فارس مصاحبه نشده است (در ماه های قبل و بعد آنهم اینگونه است). تلویزیون بخش فارسی صدای آمریکا، تامین شده توسط دولت آمریکا، بوضوح از سلطنت طلبان ایران و از استقرار دوباره سلطنت در ایران جانبداری می کند، که اگر موجود باشند و در بهترین شرایط احتمالاً اقلیت بسیار کوچکی را در ایران را تشکیل می دهند.

بهر حال ، ایران جمهوری، سلطنتی و یا در هرشکل آن- به وضوح کشوری است با تنوع و کثرت قومی و ملی و نژادی و این دینامیک و پویایی در سراسر تاریخ ایران موجود بوده و اکنون نیز هست. اقوام و ملل غیرفارس در ایران نقش موثری در مبارزه اجتماعی و سیاسی کنونی برای دمکراسی دارند. صدای آمریکا میتواند و باید انعکاس این تنوع باشد. تحت شرایط مساعد و بدون نفرت قومی و شویونیستی، رسانه های حمایت شده توسط حکومت آمریکا می باید جرات کنند و تریبونی برای رساندن صدای اقلیت های سرکوب شده ایران باشند نه اینکه به شکل ابزاری تبلیغاتی برای حکومت ایران باشند و ایران را به شکل نمایی تنها از ملت فارس ترسیم کنند و غیر فارس ها را به حساب نیاورند.

بنابر گزارشات فعالین و مدافعان حقوق بشر اقلیت های ایران، رادیو فردا و صدای آمریکا، به شکل باور نکردنی اخبار مربوط به نقض حقوق اقلیت های ایران را منتشر نکرده و نمیکنند. با وجود اینکه بنابر گزارش سازمان عفو بین الملل، اقلیت های ملی و زبانی در ایران مورد تبعیض قانونی و تحت فشارهای متعدد قرار دارند، از جمله این تبعیض شامل محدودیت ها در مورد خانه سازی و مصادره زمین و املاک، اجازه استخدام، و محدودیت در ممارسات فرهنگی. و اجتماعی و غیره میباشد. سازمان عفو بین الملل می افزاید این تبعیض ها، اغلب موجب نقض دیگر حقوق های انسانی مانند، زندانی شدن بر اساس عقیده، محاکمات غیر عادلانه در دادگاه های انقلاب، شکنجه جسمی و مجازات اعدام و همچنین محدودیت در تحرک ، تبعید و لغو حقوق مدنی این اقلیتها می گردد. بخش ایران سازمان عفو بین الملل بشدت برای آزادی زندانیان عقیدتی اقلیت ها و پایان دادن به سیاست تبعیض و تحت تعقیب قرار دادن افراد و مبارزان قومی و ملی مبارزه کرده است.

در نوامبر 2006، اتحادیه اروپا و مجمع عمومی سازمان ملل متحد همچنین به جمع محکوم کنندگان سیاست های تبعیض امیز ایران پیوستند. در حرکتی کم نظیر، تمامی احزاب اروپایی از چپ تا راست، در محکومیت سیاست های ایران در قبال اقلیت ها یک صدا شدند و خواستار احترام و استرداد حقوق اقلیت های ملی، اتنیکی و زبانی ایران به آنها، بر اساس قانون ایران و قوانین بین المللی شدند و مجمع عمومی سازمان ملل هم نگرانی خود را در مورد افزایش تبعیض و دیگر نقض های حقوق بشر در مورد اقلیت های نژادی و مذهبی ابراز نمود و از حکومت ایران خوستار رفع این تبعیض ها شد.

ولی شنوندگان رادیو فردا و بینندگان بخش فارسی صدای امریکا، هرگز کلمه ای در موارد نقض حقوق بشر فوق الذکر و تبعیض های وسیع حکومت ایران در مورد اقلیت ها، خصوصاٌ عرب ها و کردها و بلوچها، که یر آنها پاکسازی قومی و نژادی اعمال میشود و مهاجرت اجباری و جمعی آنها و نیز مصادره زمین های آنها و حتی بمباران های هوایی مناطق آنها، از این رسانه ها نمی شنوند - و این در حالی است که این اخبار و مدارک مرتب و بطرق مختلف و غیر قابل انکاری به مدیران رادیو فردا و بخش فارسی صدای آمریکا فرستاده میشود.

وزارت خارجه مسئولیت نهایی صدای آمریکا را برعهده دارد ولی در این مورظاهراً آنها در مدیریت دخالت ندارند. خانم کرن هیوز، معاون وزارت خارجه آمریکا از طرف و به نیابت ازخانم کاندولیزا رایس وزیر خارجه، ریاست هیات مدیریت رسانه های حکومت را برعهده دارد. که مسئولیت تمامی رسانه های غیرنظامی دولت امریکا را بر عهده دارد. مشخص نیست که آیا واقعاً وزارت امور خارجه آمریکا و هیات مدیریت رسانه ها-BBG) Broadcasting Board of Governors ( از پیامی که بخش فارسی صدای امریکا، با مضمون حمایت آمریکا از سلطنت طلب های ایران و برقراری مجدد حکومت پادشاهی پهلوی در ایران، ارسال می دارد، آگاه هستد یا نه؟

در نامه اخیری به آقای دن آستین، مدیر صدای آمریکا، نمایندگان کردها و عرب ها و بلوچ ها و ترکمن ها و لرها و ترکهای آذری، این بحث را مطرح کردند. از جمله مطرح کردند که در موارد نادری که که کسانی ازاقلیتهای ملی غیر فارس ایرانی موفق می شوند در برنامه های صدای آمریکا حضور پیدا کنندد، مصاحبه شده را آنقدر سوال پیچ می کنند که قبلاً باید بگوید که افکار او چیست و مثلاً کرد ایرانی است و یا ایرانی کرد!! و حرف های ایشان را قطع می کنند –و اگرهویتی غیر از هویت فارسی انتخاب کرده اند و کسانی که این جرات را دارند که خود را بلوچ و کرد و ترک و عرب.و لر و غیره معرفی کنند یا حتی خود را عرب ایرانی یا کرد ایرانی و غیره بنامند، بار دیگر به برنامه دعوت نخواهند شد. وجود چنین تبعیضی در بخش فارسی تلویزیون صدای آمریکا که با بودجه دولت آمریکا تامین می شود، بسیار ناراحت کننده است. تنها راه حل این است که تصور کنیم نه ریاست صدای آمریکا و نه هیات مدیریت رسانه های دولتی آمریکا، و نه وزارت خارجه کشورآ مریکا خود از این مساله خبر ندارند.

نمایندگان اقلیت های غیر فارس، غیر حاکم، اقلیتهای ملی ومذهبی و نژادی ایران که در آمریکا زندگی می کنند، اظهار می کنند که بخش فارسی صدای آمریکا بر خلاف اساسنامه خود و غیرقانونی عمل می کند و تبعیض را بر اقلیت های غیرفارس در کلیه موارد اعمال می کند. این نمایندگان خواستار تغییر مدیریت بخش فارسی و قسمت های کلیدی مسئول این سیاست و این وضعیت می باشند. بنابر اظهارات این نماینده گان، مدیریت بخش فارسی صدای آمریکا بر این عقیده است که تنها سیستم پادشاهی – و یا استمرار حکومت کنونی - تضمین کننده تمامیت فرهنگی و زبانی و ارضی ایران است و لاغیر.

اگر تغییرات اساسی و بنیادی در این رسانه ها و بخصوص بخش فارسی تلویزیون صدای آمریکا – که هزینه های بسیار هنگفت آن توسط دولت و مالیات دهندگان امریکا تاًمین میشود - به وجود نیاید، خطر آن برای منافع آمریکا، بسیار بیشتر از تلویزیون ایران پرس است که به تازه گی راه اندازی شده است. ملیونها دلاری که برای رادیو فردا و صدای آمریکا هزینه می شود، بسیار موفق تر عمل خواهد کرد که اگر برای تلویزیون ها و رادیو های با کیفیتی کمی پائین تر که توسط اپوزیسیون صادق ایران اداره می شود و هدفشان اگاهی دادن به اقلیت های ملی و مذهبی ایران به زبان های بومی خودشان است، هزینه شود

Iranian American Organizations in US

The power struggle in Iran is reflected in emergence of Iranian American Organizations in US.


Ahmadinejad regime used Tritta Parsi and NIAC to carry out lobbying for the regime in US. But it seems they have decided to start a new organization called "Progrssive American-Iranian Committee" (PAIC). Their name also confirms that they associated with the Liberals and the Democratic Party in US and Ahmadinejad-Khatami regime.

Here is the list of their prominent members. Mostly are associated with Ahmadinejad regime. The only exception is Bahram Moshiri.

Shahla Abghari, Siavash Abghari, Rahman Asadollahi, Hassan Dai, Iraj Derakhshan, Bijan Eftekhari, Sharareh Emadi, Hossein Eshraghi, Kayvan Kaboli, Hassan Massali, Bahram Moshiri, Nastaran Samiee, Behrooz Shahabi, Zohreh Shisheh, Nasser Tahmasebi, Mehdi Zolfaghari

PAIC Website

http://www.iranian-americans.com/

The Other major Iranian American Organization PAAIA or "Public Affairs Alliance of Iranian Americans" is run by Housghang Ansari the former Minister in Shah's regime. As Ansari is severly attacked by Khatami-Ahmadinejad gang, it seems their organization is independent from regime and they are mostly associated with the Republicans in US.

PAAIA Website

http://www.paaia.org/

Rudi Bakhtiar is a prominent member of PAAIA

Rudi Bakhtiar Background Info:

Rudi Bakhtiar currently holds the position of Director of Public Relations for PAAIA. In this role, Rudi will use her decade of experience in television news to help PAAIA present a more positive and accurate image of Iranian Americans to the American public.

Previously, Rudi worked as an international reporter for Fox News, covering a variety of hot button news stories, such as the Iran-Iraq summit between President Ahmadinejad and Prime Minister Al Maleki in Tehran in 2006, as well as the 2006 Midterm elections in Washington D.C.

As a reporter for CNN, Rudi covered conflicts in Rwanda, Ethiopia, South Africa, Israel and Palestine. The first show Rudi anchored for CNN, called CNN Newsroom, was nominated for an Emmy award that year for its coverage of the Bosnian War. In 2002, Rudi was promoted to lead news anchor for CNN Headline News' late show Headline News Tonight, and anchored the network's coverage of Operation Enduring Freedom as well as Operation Iraqi Freedom in the Spring of 2003. Rudi also anchored various shows on CNN, including Anderson Cooper 360, and was on the air live during the terrorist attacks of September 11^th.

Rudi joined CNN in 1996 as an intern in the Los Angeles bureau and relocated to the network's world headquarters in Atlanta in 1997 as a video journalist for CNN International. She was a segment producer for CNNfn and helped produce and launch four new business programs out of Hong Kong for CNN International before changing to an on camera position.

Rudi has also been honored for her work by the Iranian American Republican Council, which presented her with the 2002 Achievement Award in recognition of Outstanding Achievements, Excellence and Accomplishments within the Iranian American community.

Born in California, Rudi moved to Iran at the age of five where she lived until 17 when she came back to the U.S. and earned a Bachelor's Degree in Biology from the University of California, Los Angeles.

Islamic Republic in Iran: Propoganda Methods

Persian Journal

Opinion
Islamic Republic in Iran
By Plateau of Iran
Oct 18, 2008, 18:57

Organic Evolution of the IRI

Persian Journal
(Plateau of Iran) - Have you ever noticed the pattern of counter arguments & attacks by pro regime Iranians or their friends when IRI or, for that matter, Islam is criticized?

The politically savvy ones have learned to confuse so that it becomes difficult to ascertain true intention (similar to those who shave their beard, wear a suit and a tie, drink alcohol & pretend to be secular, but dig a little deeper and you’ll see their true colors).

The other general misconception may be that Iranians writing from inside Iran only write in Persian, and are not as fluent in English as those living outside. In fact I’ve found that some actually are more fluent in English than quite a few Iranians living in the UK, U.S. Canada, Australia or any other English speaking country.

Looking through various sites and blogs, typically, the pro IRI mob seems to come up with one or a combination of the following. The list is by no means exhaustive. In parenthesis are my comments:

• - You, “ZioNazis” are Zionist, Israel, Jewish lobby supporters - (as opposed to NIAC, or any “Islamofascist” IRI lobby)
• - I don’t care about IRI government, but everybody is finding out about Israeli lies and deceit. Long Live Iran! - (IRI’s lies and deceit are conveniently omitted, and they mean Long Live IRI.)
• - We are proud American citizens, also proud of our persian heritage - (Ask them to do a brief critique of the IRI or Islam, and from the fake ones, you’ll get talk around, and double talk at best)
• - You people just want War with Iran, you are neocon supporters - (never mind if you’ve already repeated 101 times that War is not an option. In their view, neocon is a dirty word unless you’re talking about the Islamic neocons i.e. Ahmadinejad’s et al faction)
• - America is controlled by Zionists and “dollorcracy” - (Well, Iran is controlled by Basijees, “Mollacracy”, and “Moola-cracy”. Btw, why on earth are these IRI thugs living in America ?)
• - Islamic Republic of Iran is the ultimate democracy; Iran has never had so many freedoms as today - (many students, workers, women, ethnic & minority religious groups, political prisoners, and, basically any sane & informed person, whose pockets aren’t subject to benefits from IRI, would beg to differ. Why are these IRI lackeys living in the West ?)
• - Ahmadinejad never said “Israel must be wiped off the map”. It is incorrectly translated. “Marg bar Amerika, Marg bar Esrael” means “Down with America, Down with Israel” - (see this about AN’s remark on Israel. “Marg bar” literally means “Death to”, not “Down with”)
• - Iranians are muslims & religious. Islam is important to the Iranian way of life, it cannot be separated. We have IRI because it is in line with Iranian culture, wants and needs. Islam has “beautiful” human rights and Sharia Laws - (If IRI and Islam are so popular amongst Majority of Iranians, why not let Iranians have a referendum, which gives options, overseen by an impartial group ? Why impose death penalty for those who want to convert out of Islam ? Why be afraid to loosen the leash on people?)
• - IRI does not represent Islam, “true muslim believers” i.e. Iranians know this - (I’d like to see at least 80% of these “true believers” stand up and visibly defy IRI for being un-Islamic. How come when Ayatollah Boroujerdi spoke out against IRI, he had so few “true muslim believers” supporting him?)
• - IRI can be reformed; it has to go through an “organic evolution” - (What evidence have we had in the past 30 years to give us hope that IRI is capable of reform? Btw, the IRI on paper has many democratic elements within strict confines of Islam. The problem is not a document, not even solely its implementation; the problem is the mindset, and culture induced by the mullahs and their kind; it is also a power game.)

Of course, in Iran, IRI is fully in charge and does do its research continuously and thoroughly, let’s call it a climate survey of the nation’s mood.

Persian Journal

The Islamic Republic in Iran manages to suppress dissent, further propagate Shi’ite Islam (be it in minor parts their own version), and continue with its theocracy through overt and covert strategies and tactics. It may be worthwhile to say that counter strategies can also be developed using some of what is outlined below. Examples include:

• * intimidation & instiling fear
• * imprisonment, torture, maiming & executions
• * creating & reinforcing the existence of external threats & enemies
• * Abusing & subjugating ethnic groups by labelling them “terrorists” & “separatists” e.g. “a threat to national security” - while some clearly have separatist ambitions, many do not
• * resurrecting and playing with historically sensitive and/or nationalistic sentiments e.g. “Nuclear power is our inalienable right”, and the nationalization of oil (mossadegh’s case)
• * controlling & manipulating mass media, spreading mis-information
• * intercepting & filtering communication tools and channels
• * revising Iranian history (dis-information)
• * determining and controlling education. Implementing the national Islamic curriculum at universities, schools and colleges
• * imposing Islamic dress codes & “values”
• * reinforcing and rewarding a culture of “spying” on your neighbor, family, relatives, friends, etc..
• * using comprehensive psychological assessment tools and techniques to recondition, and indoctrinate many political prisoners, who can in turn be used as infiltrators against any opposition groups
• * disseminating “soft” propaganda through prominent and non prominent figures e.g. psuedo-intellectuals, dubious historians, journalists, IRI “reformists”, bloggers, etc.. (many of these people have their price and can be bought with the right offer. No doubt some share IRI’s ideology)
• * Fuelling drug addiction, sex trade and prostitution
• * generating suspicion, fear, and hatred toward certain minority religious groups including the Baha’is in an attempt to destabilize the community
• * pressuring Zoroastrians to convert to Islam & destabilizing the community through a law which awards Zoroastrians who convert to Islam their entire families’ inheritance at the expense of non-converted
• * increasing the number of mosques and building massive Islamic centres throughout Iran, while often denying permission to other religious groups, including Zoroastrians, to build new houses of worship or to restore old ones
• * Telling and selling blatant lies, disinformation, false and broken promises

As far as the West is concerned, a few of the mentioned points are equally employed to at least paint a favorable picture of the IRI outside Iran. Naturally, IRI does not have the degree or the extent of control that it enjoys in Iran, but is looking more and more to achieve it.

Persian Journal

It no longer suprises me that many pro IRI individuals are either permanent residents in the West or hold dual citizenships. The luxury of holding dual citizenships not only allows them to live in real democratic societies with all associated liberties, and to act as propagandists for the IRI, but also to travel freely between Iran and the West. Furthermore, it presents them with a real opportunity to more easily infiltrate higher echelons of Western governments, particularly the U.S. and lobby on IRI’s behalf. These lobbyists and propagandists are not interested in having a two way, reasonable or logical discussion. Their sole focus is to continuously drive their points home - a win-lose situation (They win, You lose).

Of course Khamenei, Ahmadinejad and the rest of pro IRI gang only do what they are permitted to do. Since becoming president, Ahmadinejad has repeatedly said: Sanctions, Isolation, what sanctions and isolation? By the looks of it, he was right.

Whilst obviously Afghanistan is not Iran, and there are some key differences, there are also similarities. I want to quote a few sentences to show, at least, the U.S. stance which I think is applicable to Iran as well.

“When the Taleban took power, State Department spokesperson Glyn Davies said that he saw “nothing objectionable” in the Taleban’s plans to impose strict Islamic law. Senator Hank Brown, chair of the Senate Foreign Relations Subcommittee on the Near East and South Asia, welcomed the new regime: “The good part of what has happened is that one of the factions at last seems capable of developing a new government in Afghanistan.” “The Taleban will probably develop like the Saudis. There will be Aramco, pipelines, an emir, no parliament and lots of Sharia law. We can live with that,” said another U.S. diplomat in 1997.”

Persian Journal
In my mind there is no doubt that the IRI must be pulled down completely i.e. culturally, structurally, economically, and militarily. Broadly, there seems to be two choices available. Either IRI will eventually suffer the same ultimate fate worse than the Taleban (when it has served its purpose for “external threats”). Or the Iranians (inside and outside) will miraculously put aside their differences in the interest of a better future for Iran, which IRI and its reformers will never be able to deliver.

"Plateau of Iran" Blog