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Folha, Brazil

Don't Hold Your Breath for the 'Obamanization' of Iran

 

"You know what it means to 'Obamanize?' It consists of substituting fantasy for reality, hoping that out of the four corners of the earth, a candidate capable of imitating the kind and evangelistic oratory of the original Barack will always emerge. ... Now it has happened in Iran."

 

By João Pereira Coutinho

                                            

 

Translated By Helene Grinsted

 

June 15, 2009

 

Brazil - Folha - Original Article (Portuguese)

Opposition Iranian Presidential candidate Mir Hossein Mousavi: He may be the best thing Iranians have going, but he's no Barack Hussein Obama ...   BBC NEWS VIDEO: Protesters defy the Revolutionary Guard, June 23, 00:01:58

LISBON: I am sick of the Obamanization of the world. Now I've invented a word. You know what it means to "Obamanize?" It consists of substituting fantasy for reality, hoping that out of the four corners of the earth, a candidate capable of imitating the kind and evangelistic oratory of the original Barack will always emerge.

 

Now it has happened in Iran. I read the newspapers that were available. I kept up with the television reports. The tone was similar - for the first time since 1979, when Khomeini emerged from his golden exile in Paris to return to Tehran, the Iranians would choose a new president.  Worse - they would choose a “moderate” (Mousavi) as opposed to the grotesque creature named Ahmadinejad.

 

The fantasy left out two fundamental but distressing details. First, Iran is not a democracy. Iran is a theocracy, which means that decisions (initial and final) belong to the Supreme Leader, Khamenei. 

Posted by WORLDMEETS.US

 

It is the Supreme Leader who chooses the presidential candidates. In all the elections, hundreds present themselves for the office. This year there were 485 candidates. After an intrusive examination, i.e.: after checking their revolutionary credentials, four candidates were chosen - strictly male and strictly Shiite Muslim. But the influence of the Supreme Leader doesn't end there. The Supreme Leader, regardless of the outcome of the voting, chooses the President of Iran. The Iranians at the polls are just extras in a sordid little play.

 

But there's more. Over the past few days the fantasy arose that Ahmadinejad could be defeated by a "moderate." And who is this moderate? Mir-Hossein Mousavi, to be precise. A former prime minister under Khomeini, responsible for the mass execution of political opponents during the 1980s (twenty or thirty thousand?) Some journalists, without the slightest bit of shame, even added that Mousavi would inaugurate a new period of friendly relations with the West, and, astonishingly, Israel. For the forgetful, I recall that Mousavi was also involved in the [1994] terrorist attack on the Jewish cultural centre in Buenos Aires. Eighty-five people died.

Posted by WORLDMEETS.US

 

SEE ALSO ON THIS:

Kayhan, Iran: 'Zionist-Run News Media' are Wasting Their Time
Kayhan, Iran: President Ahmadinejad: Election a 'Blow to World Oppressors
Dar al-Hayat, Saudi Arabia: 'Let Ahmadinejad and the Supreme Leader Continue'
Die Welt, Germany: In Iran's Version of Democracy, West Remains Whipping Boy
L'Orient Le Jour, Lebanon: Mr. Obama's Push of Dialogue and Openness Kicks In
Dar al-Hayat, Saudi Arabia: Worrying Times for Iran's Supreme Leader
Les Dernieres Nouvelles d'Alsace, France: 'Iran's Ayatollahs are Doomed'
Gazeta, Russia: Kremlin Balanced 'Between Two Chairs': Iran's and the West's
Yemen Times, Yemen: 'Zionists and Their Puppets' Assail Barack Obama
The Asia Times, Hong Kong: Beijing Cautions the U.S. Over Iran

Jerusalem Post, Israel: Iranian Protesters 'Cast Adrift' By Obama and E.U.
Debka File, Israel: White House is Divided on Iranian Protests

 

And now? Now, nothing. The victory of Ahmadinejad, certainly forged, perfectly fulfilled the pre-defined road map of the Iranian theocracy. Which means that, after the Revolutionary Guard have gone have gone about their work of arresting or beating demonstrators, Iran will continue on her glorious path toward poverty, oppression of its minorities, and of course, the nuclear bomb to be surgically used against Israel. The Obamanization of the world is a nice idea. But nice ideas apparently haven't reached Tehran.

 

João Pereira Coutinho, 32, is a columnist at Folha. He has compiled his articles about Brazil into the book Avenida Paulista (Ed. Quasi), published in Portugal, where he lives. He writes every two weeks, on Mondays, for Folha Online. E-mail: jpcoutinho@folha.com.br Website: http://www.jpcoutinho.com

 

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[Posted by WORLDMEETS.US June 23, 5:29am]