Gaddafi gone; Assad faces the same fate; Khamenei has panicked

Before the Friday Sermon in Tehran last week, President Ahmadi Nejad has addressed the prayers. In his speech, he has questioned the Holocaust, again, and threatened Israel. While his appearance in the sermon and the threats made against Israel should be examined in the context of the political developments in Libya and Syria, it still has its old link to the 2002-2003 invasions of Afghanistan and Iraq.  

Tehran has been using the rhetoric since 2005. At the time the Islamic Republic seriously believed that, after Mola Omar and Saddam, it is the next US' target. It appeared that they needed a deterrent against any possible future aggression. Particularly when their friendly gesture by the former president Khatami had been dropped on the deaf ears of the then US President George W. Bush and Dick Cheney whom rather aggressively rejected the gesture. Since then whenever pressures on Tehran increase, whether it be political, nuclear or military; President Ahmadi Nejad repeats the threats. The over usage of these threats, however, somehow turn them into an empty rhetoric. What makes the rhetoric more ridiculous today is the fact that Bashar Al Assad, Tehran's strategic partner in the region, is awaiting his fate to be handed down by the Syrian people. It is pretty clear, from the daily news coming out of the country, that now that Gaddafi has departed, Assad is in the departure lounge waiting! One can only hope that Tehran familiarises itself with these realities sooner than later.

However, if Tehran still insists that spending billions of dollars of Iran's money on the Middle Eastern terrorist organisations such as Lebanese Hezbollah or Palestinian Hamas or country such as Syria is their insurance policy against their human and democratic liabilities owed to the people of Iran; they are fatally mistaken. By Assad's departure, when it comes, Tehran would face the people of Iran and their democratic demands. Regime in Tehran would then neither be in a position to dictate its terms to its own people nor to the outside world.

Finally the only message one can relay to Tehran is that: instead of shouting threats, it would be wiser to simply acknowledge the new reality of the Middle East; a Dictator-Free Middle East. The new Middle East would not entertain dictators, and it would be embarrassingly naive to think otherwise. Millions of new generation Iranians have already handed down their verdict on the legitimacy of the regime in Tehran. Hence Tehran, take the Iran's political system into the operating room and get on with the well-over-due critical surgeries! Otherwise it would be a costly exercise to make you realize the new order.  

Notwithstanding of the foregoing Tehran's shouting is not a bad thing in itself after all. It tells us that; they are worry.

Islamic Republic Only Responds to Real Power

President Ahmadi Nejad of Iran has signalled the Islamic Republic's positive view towards Russian step-by-step nuclear offer. The offer has been on the table for a long time but the Islamic Republic had categorically rejected it before. The question is what has forced Tehran to change its view now.

Perhaps we should search for the reason on the other side of the globe in Washington. The US State Department is reviewing its terrorist organisations list. And the People's Mojahedin E Khalgh (MEK) of Iran, the most organised opposition group to the regime of Tehran, has a real chance of being removed from the list. While the Tehran's recent response may well be a tactical one to derail the possibility of the MEK removal from the list; it once again corroborates the true nature of a regime which is extremely vulnerable against its own people, internally. 

Conscious of this reality combined with the fact that the MEK is the only group among the opposition of the IRI abroad capable of standing against the Tehran's military machine; the IRI had no choice but to take a much more prudent approach. Especially after Egypt; now in Libya and imminently in Syria; the Iranians are witnessing how easy is to get rid of a dictator. The IRI therefore decided to utilise its main bargain chip, the disputed uranium enrichment, against the US. However, at the time of writing the IRI mobilizes its former president, Muhmmad Khatami, the West-sweetheart, as well to publicly announce his intention to run for the presidency in the coming presidential election next year. Both the nuclear signal and the Khatami's announcement are designed to cloud the State Department's mind. But what the IRI also flagged inadvertently was its vulnerability and apprehension. The IRI will do, I believe, whatever it takes to hinder the possibility of the MEK's removal from the list first. And it will also go to any extent necessary to keep the flares of the Egyptian; Libyan; and the Syrian revolutions away from the highly flammable Iran's society.

But the US must be very cautious in dealing with President Ahmadi Nejad and his friends in Tehran. Their announced readiness to discuss the Russian nuclear offer is only that; "readiness to discuss", nothing more. It does not necessarily mean anything. They have over played this tactic before and are known for using such tactics as long as it serves their purpose. It is now up to the US as to whether it falls into the same trap once again or not.

The MEK's members are the only people determined enough to stand and fight back the kind of atrocities committed against the peaceful Iranians by the Revolutionary Guards; its paramilitary branch(Basijis); police; and their plain cloths organised pressure groups over two years ago. The IRI therefore sees the MEK as the only credible threat, in a sense of fighting its fully-armed military machine, to its existence. As a matter of fact, since the invasion of Iraq in 2003, it has done all it could through its proxies in Iraq to eliminate this group in Camp Ashraf.

The US has a golden opportunity to remove the group from its terrorist list now; and assisting itself by assisting the Iranians in their battle towards human rights and democracy.

Thank you

Something good and interesting has happened this week. I don't know how but it is extremely encouraging. Number of readers on my both blogs English, here, and the Persian, Farsi, here, has jumped by almost two hundred percent. I thank you all for your time spent here. That gives me extra needed energy to up-date my blogs more regularly.

I believe we are going through a period of political transformation in the Middle East, Africa and the wider world. While few dictators of the regions have already been toppled; the Libyan; Syrian and the one who speaks my language are desperately resisting. That is why I strive to write as much and as often as I possibly can here. We need to monitoring the situation on the grounds in those countries constantly and continuously. We then convey unfolding events and information to the wider audience promptly. That is my intention. 

Ex-Dictator In Cage

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