Iran's President Launches Blog

02bunced writes "The BBC is reporting that Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad has started his own blog, the launch of which was announced on Iranian State TV. This is perhaps slightly ironic, given that the Iranian Government actively censors blogs on the Internet."

He Had No Choice

[Anonymous Coward]

He had to start his own blog, the infidel CmdrTaco kept rejecting his "Was there a Holocaust?" poll.

Of course he rejected the poll.

[krell]

"He had to start his own blog, the infidel CmdrTaco kept rejecting his "Was there a Holocaust?" poll.

Of course it was rejected. The Iranian president forgot to include "Cowboy Neal" as one of the poll answers.

Re:Of course he rejected the poll.

[Anonymous Coward]

Of course it was rejected. The Iranian president forgot to include "Cowboy Neal" as one of the poll answers.

Oh shit man, you used your username (Krell). Mahmoud Ahmadinejad just went public with a list of 34 Slashdot user names that he's got a Jihad against.

There's probably nothing to worry about ... but you just made the list.

Re:He Had No Choice

[ettlz]

He had to start his own blog, the infidel CmdrTaco kept rejecting his "Was there a Holocaust?" poll.

Hmm. Suddenly "pwn j00" takes on a very, very dark meaning.

Re:He Had No Choice

[Rei]

Just for your reference, here's a nice page on the sticky issue of translations and how they've been spun against Ahmadinejad [informatio...house.info].

Ahmadinejad, like many people in the middle east, believes that the number of Jews killed by Germany during WWII is frequently greatly overstated. While, in the opinion of most (including myself), this is an unjustified viewpoint, it is certainly much more defensible than the "there is no holocaust" claim that a lot of people think he made. He talks about the "myth of the Holocaust" in reference to the claim that "six million Jews" were killed. His comments were that people have created this myth of six million Jews being killed and then using it to justify everything that Israel has done ever since, and that even if that was true, this is an unfair line of reasoning.

Oh, and as per the "wipe Israel off the map" comments, that's a much worse mistranslation. He never used any language even close to that. He talked about his hope that the "occupying regime" would fall, akin to how the Shah fell, Saddam fell, and the Soviet Union fell. His speech was completely passive (didn't discuss any involvement from Iran) and spoke nothing of harm to the people in the state of Israel.

Anyways, my point is... you don't have to agree with him, but it's only fair to accurately represent what he says.

Re:He Had No Choice

[BobTheLawyer]

There are almost no Holocaust deniers who say that "there was no Holocaust" - instead their standard operating procedure is to claim the numbers were exaggerated, say the deaths were an unintentional or inevitable part of the wider war, and to claim there is uncertainty about the history without making the slightest attempt to read the extensive literature (which must amount to literally millions of pages). Those who take this approach *are* denying the reality of the Holocaust, as it is generally understood, whether they admit it or not. Ahmadinejad's rhetoric - his use of the word "myth", his attempts to setup a Holocaust Conference, fits right in with the likes of David Irving, and it is not at all unfair to say that he is a Holocaust denier.

Re:He Had No Choice

[iggymanz]

why is it bad to say the initial numbers given right after ww-ii might have been exaggerated? The number of estimated deaths at Auschwitz, for example, has gone from millions to under one million in my lifetime. Millions of pages of textbooks from Jewish/Pro-Zionist educators, however well intentioned, might be a biased source. Yet sadly people who should be for honest historical truth turn into foaming rabid zealots if anyone wants to discuss or examine evidence. Revising or questioning an inaccurate historical account is neither anti-semitic nor an act or racial hatred, though of course there are those hate groups that engage in "revisionism" for the purposes of promoting anti-jew hate. But there are other folk like myself who are fascinated with history, and really want to know the numbers of Jews and other groups of people who were tortured, enslaved and mass-murdered by the Nazis and those who allied with them, and how many died in what manner. Making that subject taboo has exactly the opposite of the intended effect.

Re:He Had No Choice

[mike2R]

I think it's the fact that the overwhealming majority of those who question the number of deaths are not doing so as unbiased historians, even if they try to pretend that they are. I'd call it a learned reaction: denial of the holocaust == politicaly motivated cant which cannot be justified by the sources.

Re:He Had No Choice

[iggymanz]

You'll find that the real Jew-haters will have other tell-tales of their agenda (and its a mistake to call it a political motivation, it's way more serious than that). For example, there's a large/infamous site out there saying at top "this is not a hate site" where they talk about numbers in Holocaust, but they also for example have pictures of famous present day Jewish folk next to some of history's criminals who supposedly had some Jewish ancestry to "demonstrate" some imagined genetic predisposition to

Re:He Had No Choice

[BobTheLawyer]

Yuck. The idea that the number of estimated deaths at Auschwitz has been reduced is a standard Holocaust denier line.

Every history of the period I've ever read puts the figure at just over one million - both the postwar books by Hilberg etc and the more recent stuff. The four million figure was invented by the Soviet Union (and used in its museum at Auschwitz) to maximise the number of Soviet (non-Jewish) victims. This figure was not, to my knowledge, ever given any credence by Western historians. So it is

Re:He Had No Choice

[Jagasian]

Your post seems to imply that a Christian or a Muslim is inferior because of the bad deeds of other Christians or Muslims. Shouldn't we be judging people on an individual basis?

Re:He Had No Choice

[happyemoticon]

Personally, my only beef with the way the holocaust is generally portrayed is that it is not very holistic (excuse the pun if you will).

• 5-6 million Jews

Okay. But (pulled from wikipedia):

• 1.8 -1.9 million non-Jewish Poles
• 500,000-1.2 million Serbs
• 200,000-800,000 Gypsies
• 200,000-300,000 people with disabilities
• 80,000-200,000 Freemasons
• 100,000 communists
• 10,000-25,000 homosexual men
• 2,500-5,000 Jehovah's Witnesses

Thus, the number of non-Jews killed is around 2.8 million at the low end, and 4.5 mi

You want his words, here they are

[Anonymous Coward]

From here [memri.org]:

"'Imam [Khomeini] said: 'This regime that is occupying Qods [Jerusalem] must be eliminated from the pages of history.' This sentence is very wise. The issue of Palestine is not an issue on which we can compromise.

"'Is it possible that an [Islamic] front allows another front [i.e. country] to arise in its [own] heart? This means defeat, and he who accepts the existence of this regime [i.e. Israel] in fact signs the defeat of the Islamic world.

"'In his battle against the World of Arrogance, our dear Imam [Khomeini] set the regime occupying Qods [Jerusalem] as the target of his fight.

"'I do not doubt that the new wave which has begun in our dear Palestine and which today we are also witnessing in the Islamic world is a wave of morality which has spread all over the Islamic world. Very soon, this stain of disgrace [i.e. Israel] will be purged from the center of the Islamic world - and this is attainable.

The phrase "purged from the center of the Islamic world" is pretty damn close to "wiped off the map".

So much for your apology for genocide.

Re:You want his words, here they are

[quigonn]

The Palestinian government, as such, was closely allied to actual Nazi Germany during the 1940s.
And do you know why? Because the Germans, unlike the British, didn't treat the Arabs like shit. Antisemitism wasn't a problem at that time in Palestine, simply because there was no single ethnic group that claimed _exclusive_ ownership of the area that is now Israel. I think Theodor Herzl wouldn't be too happy with the way Israel has been implemented and Israel's policy of the last decades. In his book "Der Juden

Re:You want his words, here they are

[quax]

Don't want to make Iran look good, but believing in a ahistoric analogy won't help you either - as such you may want to take into account that Iran still has a sizable Jewish population that is free to exercise their religion http://www.sephardicstudies.org/iran.html [sephardicstudies.org].

The anti-Zionism found in the Arab ME does not follow the pattern of a Nazi ideology that was racially motivated - nothing but the destruction of the inferior race will do in the mind of a convinced Nazi. The Qur'an on the other hand recognize

Re:You want his words, here they are

[killjoe]

"Jews and other non-Muslims are denied equal participation in society. They remain 2nd class citizens unless they convert to Islam. "

THis is the same as muslims in israel. They don't enjoy full rights as jews do. For example they can be denied housing. They are treated differently in the courts.

Re:You want his words, here they are

[Jagasian]

Are Jews and non-Jews given the same opportunity in Israel for immigration and citizenship? No. Can a Jew and a non-Jew be legally married in Israel? No. If an Israeli Muslim marries a Palestinian, can the Palestinian gain Israeli citizenship? No. There are many laws in Israel that discriminate against non-Jews. Most of these laws are in place due to Israel's official stated purpose: to forever remain a Jewish nation. If Jews and non-Jews were given total equality, then more non-Jews would immigrate than Jews, more non-Jews would be born than Jews, etc... The population, culuture, and government would slowly become non-Jewish.

Compare that with the USA. The first ammendment alone forbids such laws. So the USA is secular, while Israel is not. This isn't talked about much in the West, because criticizing Israel is not politically correct in many Western nations, especially the USA.

Re:He Had No Choice

[badasscat]

Ahmadinejad, like many people in the middle east, believes that the number of Jews killed by Germany during WWII is frequently greatly overstated. While, in the opinion of most (including myself), this is an unjustified viewpoint, it is certainly much more defensible than the "there is no holocaust" claim that a lot of people think he made.

Whether or not there was a holocaust is wholly dependent on the "number" of Jews killed. That's the whole point. If six Jews were killed instead of six million, that's not exactly a holocaust, is it? Playing this sort of numbers game is what the holocaust deniers do to try to get you to admit that there was no holocaust.

I just saw Mike Wallace's interview with this guy last night. While he didn't say the holocaust was a "myth" this time, he did say "if there was a holocaust, where did it take place?" as if he's just throwing the idea out there for the sake of argument. He also played the same numbers game that all of the holocaust deniers play. And there is no point in debating the translation - he has a personal translator with him at all times so that the translation cannot be argued.

as per the "wipe Israel off the map" comments, that's a much worse mistranslation. He never used any language even close to that. He talked about his hope that the "occupying regime" would fall, akin to how the Shah fell, Saddam fell, and the Soviet Union fell.

The guy is a master of double-speak. Mike Wallace directly challenged him on this "wipe Israel off the map" comment and he never once denied it. Wallace asked him what he meant by that and he refused to answer, repeatedly, basically saying it was a 3 page answer and Wallace wasn't giving him the time he needed. Eventually he did say that Israel should not be located where it is - that sounds a lot like "wipe Israel off the map" to me.

Whenever he was asked an uncomfortable question, this was basically how he responded - Wallace also asked him yes or no if he'd like to re-establish a relationship with the United States, and his initial stab at it was "well, let us ask first who broke off ties in the first place?" Wallace asked him again, regardless of who broke off ties, yes or no would he like to re-establish them? He then launched into another history lesson. Wallace interrupted - "yes or no, why won't you answer the question?" Then he got mad - "is this multiple choice? These are complicated questions!" This is basically the guy's MO - say all kinds of crazy things, then when he's pressed for clarification, launch into a life story that's got nothing to do with the issue at hand in an attempt to confuse.

Re:He Had No Choice

[autophile]

Whenever he was asked an uncomfortable question, this was basically how he responded - Wallace also asked him yes or no if he'd like to re-establish a relationship with the United States, and his initial stab at it was "well, let us ask first who broke off ties in the first place?" Wallace asked him again, regardless of who broke off ties, yes or no would he like to re-establish them? He then launched into another history lesson. Wallace interrupted - "yes or no, why won't you answer the question?" Then he

Re:Informative??? FLAMEBAIT!!!

[Knara]

The simple fact is that the creation of the state of Israel is justified by the Holocaust of WWII. There is no other way that the survival of Israeli people and culture can be assured without an independent state, and there is no other region of the world that could be used by the Israeli people other than their own historic region.

Wow. Now, while I would have to agree that killing large amounts of people based on their ethnicity is a Bad Thing(tm), how exactly does that entitle them to their own country? Furthermore, how does it make the survival of that ethnic group the responsibility of everyone in the world? How many ethnic groups have faded from history over time? What makes the Jews more special than those extinct ethnic groups? And what about the other groups that the Nazi's rounded up and killed en masse. Do the Gypsies and the homosexuals get their own homelands, too?

Additionally, "the only one they can use"? It was kind of in use before they came back. How was that area more appropriate (ignoring the geopolitical reasonings by the US and what not) for use than any other in terms of letting them set up a government and economy? For that matter, there's probably a lot of other more appropriate (and easier to survive in) places than where they are now. If they'd been given part of Brazil, you think they'd be having the problems they have now? Unlikely.

Re:Informative??? FLAMEBAIT!!!

[mangu]

how does it make the survival of that ethnic group the responsibility of everyone in the world?

The fact that we are not animals. We are rational and, therefore, we become conscious of the suffering of others.

How many ethnic groups have faded from history over time? What makes the Jews more special than those extinct ethnic groups?

The fact that they aren't extinct yet.

And what about the other groups that the Nazi's rounded up and killed en masse. Do the Gypsies and the homosexuals get their own homelands,

Re:Informative??? FLAMEBAIT!!!

[Knara]

The fact that we are not animals. We are rational and, therefore, we become conscious of the suffering of others.

If you feel it is necessary and proper for us to be guiding the fates of other countries, I suppose.

The fact that they aren't extinct yet.

Israel would be extinct without our aid, obviously. This, however, does not mean the Jews would be extinct. You're committing the common error of equating Jews with Israel. This had not been the case for almost 2000 years until mid-last-century.

If the Gypsies had an original homeland, yes. But, different from Jews, their culture was never associated to any particular land. Homosexuals are not a nation. I'm not saying that any group of people have a right to their own land, only those groups which came to exist associated with a land, like Germans, Italians, Scots, Tibetans, Navajos, Kurds, Armenians, etc.

See above. By your logic we should be not only evacuating the US to allow the native american tribes to take back their ancestral homelands, but seeking out the proper persons who are the true heirs to Babylon.

So, if you are willing to roll back history cancelling the effect of foreign domination on that land, it should be given to the Ottoman Empire, which ceased to exist in the 1920s.

Not only that, but really if you want to go the whole way on that, the Caananites had it first, even by Jewish reckoning. I have no problem giving the land back to their descendants. Do you?

The same can be said of Palestinians.

Sure. Except that the Palestinians were there for the Jews' 2 millenia absence from the place.

Why do you assume Brazilians would be more willing to give up part of their territory than the Arabs? If that's a solution, then why doesn't Iran or Syria give part of their countries to the Palestinians?

Simply put, because there's more usable, unoccupied land in Brazil than in the middle east. But that wouldn't satisfy the people who believe, rather irrationally, that the Jews *need* a state (as if a concentrated effort by a organized nation state couldn't conquer them just as well all in one place as Nazi Germany did with them spread out across Europe), nor the American evangelicals who believe the return to existence of Israel is a sign of imminent messianic return.

Re:Informative??? FLAMEBAIT!!!

[killjoe]

"The fact that we are not animals. We are rational and, therefore, we become conscious of the suffering of others."

But not the palestenians or the lebanese right?

"Why do you assume Brazilians would be more willing to give up part of their territory than the Arabs? If that's a solution, then why doesn't Iran or Syria give part of their countries to the Palestinians"

Why doesn't the US give up land to host israel? That would make a lot of sense. We have a lot of land, we love the jews and the jews love us. It'

Re:Informative??? FLAMEBAIT!!!

[Brightest Light]

I respect the Israelis for winning the Six Days' War. I believe that they earned their right to exist then, and I do not discount that in any way. However, since the 1970's, Israel has been on the US Taxpayer dole to the tune of EIGHTY FOUR BILLION DOLLARS of foreign aid from 1949 until 1997. This does NOT include the billions of dollars a year Israel has recieved since then to this very day - I believe on the average of 2 BILLION dollars a year. Israel may have prospered, but you and me and all the other

Re:Informative??? FLAMEBAIT!!!

[i41Overlord]

The jews have contributed disproportionately to science and our understanding and betterment of the world. Think Feynman, Bohr, Feigenbaum, Gell-Mann, von Neumann, Minsky, Von Braun, are just a few that come to mind.

Von Braun? He wasn't Jewish, he was a German.

Or do you mean another Von Braun?

Re:He Had No Choice

[Overly Critical Guy]

Mood: anti-semetic
Listening to: the sounds of Nazi gas chambers

lol so israel and hezbollah stopped fighting. i didn't think it would last that long but the evil j00s of israel needed to see the wrath of iran

yestreday i saw that britney spears video lol !!! shes total white trash and a true american. go to youtube and check it out

so i'm out to get some suits fitted, ttyl

Governmentisement?

[metasecure]

When clicking through to the address referenced by the BBC story ( www.ahmadinejad.ir ) , and then clicking "English" (at the bottom left of the page) it takes you to http://www.ahmadinejad.ir/index.aspx [ahmadinejad.ir] , which does not contain the blog and reads like a big advertisement for the "National Integrated Services Network". I wonder if they will survive a slashdotting.

You've just been tagged by an FBI database

[neonprimetime]

Little did you know that because of the Patriot Act, anybody who visits that site is automatically tagged by an FBI database. They will now begin to track all your phone calls, intercept your emails, and monitor your credit card transactions.

Re:You've just been tagged by an FBI database

[sholden]

Because they weren't already...

Re:You've just been tagged by an FBI database

[RelaxedTension]

Except now you'll hear arguing between the FBI and the CIA over who should hang up and let the other record your call...

Is there an easier way?

[krell]

"Little did you know that because of the Patriot Act, anybody who visits that site is automatically tagged by an FBI database. They will now begin to track all your phone calls, intercept your emails, and monitor your credit card transactions."

That's cool. I bought a book (using my credit card) from an online bookstore a few weeks ago, and never received the book. I forgot the web site link. Now it's nice to know I call call up the FBI and have them tell me what the site was. I might use it also to find

Re:You've just been tagged by an FBI database

[ems2]

The FBI did Mexico. Canada must be next.

Re:Governmentisement?

[eliot1785]

The blog seems to be down. It was up yesterday, but it got linked to by the Drudge Report (think: Slashdot effect times 100) and seems to have gone down from that. I went there yesterday and got the real blog, but it couldn't load the content from the database because there were too many connections. Since then they seem to have taken it down entirely.

If you don't want to wait, though, you can have more fun at www.president.ir ...

Re:Governmentisement?

[andrewman327]

Who cares about democracy, have brought the /. effect to the Middle East! This is a great day for the free world.

Re:Governmentisement?

[schmu_20mol]

If you click on the USA/English flag in the top right corner you actually see the blog.

Even more ironic

[melonman]

is the fact that it's hosted on Windows (which we know from the .NET error page it was showing this morning).

Re:Even more ironic

[PFI_Optix]

I wonder if piracy can get your hand cut off there...

Re:Even more ironic

[orasio]

Piracy is punishable by death in many places, unless you get to become a corsair.
Infringing of Microsoft copyrights, though, is probably a civil issue. Some people say that the nights and weekend you will need to work while reboo^H^H^H^H^Hadministering windows2003 server is enough of a punishment, but I think it's too harsh.

Re:Even more ironic

[megaditto]

It is not ironic, it is fortunate. Which any luck MS will be put on terrorist enablers list for helping Iran develop weaps of mass attraction. It is even better that is was not FreeBSD that is supporting terrorists. Time to start selling the FeedomBSD sticker (I support our ports).

But seriously, MS does not care much who uses the software and for what, as long as they pay through the roof for it. MSN and Yahoo have no problem helping the Chinese put dissidents in jail, either.

Poll on the blog

[neonprimetime]

The blog includes a poll asking if users think the US and Israel are trying to trigger a new world war.

Is there an option for Iran = yes, US and Israel = No?

Re:Poll on the blog

[sosume]

Actually, he's polling whether it will create a word war . Apparently the worLd war has already started.

Re:Poll on the blog

[Rei]

Yeah, those crazy Iranians -- waging war by not waging war. Trying to destabilize the world by maybe, possibly, couldbe developing a handful of nuclear weapons to compare to Israel's 200-400. Those sneaky bastards!

Re:Poll on the blog

[Rei]

Depending on the source, Iran gives ~100 million dollars per year to Hezbollah (http://www.informationclearinghouse.info/article 1 2790.htm) by Bolton's estimate, which is probably quite high. The US gives 3B$ of mostly military aid to Israel, 3B$ of indirect aid, and various military freebees to Israel. So, if you want to call proxy wars as "waging war", then they're only a bit player by comparison. Of course, I was referring to direct warfare -- you know, invading countries, overthrowing their governmen

Re:Poll on the blog

[Rei]

While you can easily argue on either side of the palestinian question when discussing Israel, there is no doubt that this Lebanon-Israel war was waged by Hizbulah. Israel was at peace with Lebanon until Hizbulah crossed the border and killed 8 soldier and kidnapped 2.

Yes, it's amazing how effective American media spin is, isn't it? Um, no, the situation isn't that simple. Your comment reminds me of what you see all the time about the various middle east conflicts on American TV -- things to the effect of

Re:Poll on the blog

[cold fjord]

Yes, it's amazing how effective American media spin is, isn't it? Um, no, the situation isn't that simple.

Hmmmm....., I wonder what happens when you drill down into one of your bland assertions?

June 23rd: Tensions on the northern border escalate when violence expands in Gaza when the Israeli army invades and siezes two sons of Palestinian activist Ali Muamar to put pressure on him.

You find something interesting about that here [huffingtonpost.com]:

This is what the associated press reported: "On Saturday, Israeli commandos seiz

Re:Poll on the blog

[Rei]

Well, lets just take a look at what Americans did when we were going to invade Iraq:

http://www.basetree.com/thumbs/theprinceofbombs.jp g [basetree.com]
http://www.mccullagh.org/db9/d30-30/free-republic- protest-3.jpg [mccullagh.org]
http://truthout.org/imgs.art_01/3.probush.082705.g rab.jpg [truthout.org]
http://www.beyondsatire.us/files/Pro-war.jpg [beyondsatire.us]
http://images.google.com/imgres?imgurl=http://www. brumm.com/antiwar/feb16/images/032-DefeatEvilProWa r2.jpg&imgrefurl=http://www.brumm.com/antiwar/feb1 6/032.html&h=480&w=640&sz=103&hl=en&start=6&tbnid= Z_lFLjYPEHUHrM:&tbnh=103&tbnw=137&prev=/images%3Fq %3D%2522pro-war%2522%26svnum%3D10%26hl%3Den%26lr%3 D%26ie%3DUTF-8%26sa%3DG [google.com]
http://www.mccullagh.org/db9/d30-30/free-republic- protest-1.jpg [mccullagh.org]
http://news.xinhuanet.com/english/2005-08/28/xinsr c_5620802281138515300128.jpg [xinhuanet.com]
http://home.earthlink.net/~bobbyfoto1/sitebuilderc ontent/sitebuilderpictures/wegavepeace.jpg [earthlink.net]

Of course, that's not nearly as bad as what you see in Israel. There was the October 2000 riots which involved thousands of Jews chanting "Death to Arabs" while they ransacked arab property, for example. Oy, I could go on for hours about the sort of stuff you get in Israel. Tons of speeches by all sorts of politicians and army leaders referring to them as vermin, worms, cockroaches, a disease, etc. Sh'a Tova even carried a comic strip for children which said "Yes, a good Arab is a dead Arab." Here's a nice article, although it's only a start.

Re:Poll on the blog

[mirio]

I'm not quite sure what the parent's point is with regard to the pictures of pro Iraq War demonstrators in the US. People (especially foreigners) seem to forget that the US is a country of 300,000,000 people. You can find people that support almost any cause imaginable. It is impossible to stereotype Americans into any one idealogy or groupthink. Yes, there were quite a few pro-war demonstrators, but I think it was very few. I know I saw FAR more anti-war protesters in and around Atlanta than I ever did pro-war protesters.

You link to 10 pictures and you think that this is somehow a reflective of 300,000,000 people. Whatever.

Re:Poll on the blog

[Foobar of Borg]

You forgot:
(e) CowboyMahmoud!

Ooops. Wrong link.

[krell]

I decided to visit it and was reading all the nasty stuff he said about Jews and Booze. Then I found out I was on Mel Gibson's blog by mistake.

Re:Ooops. Wrong link.

[Anonymous Coward]

Mel Gibson is a great man indeed:
http://uncyclopedia.org/wiki/Mel_Gibson [uncyclopedia.org]

i like

[namekuseijin]

i like the "Decapitations of the day" section. :P

Re:i like

[john83]

You should quit while you're ahead.

Re:i like

[onion2k]

I hope he posts his "Purity Test" score. I bet he'd do really well.

Re:i like

[Quila]

Hot burkha babe of the day?

Where's the irony?

[Daniel Dvorkin]

Leaders have always tried to simulatenously exploit and control the power of whatever media was current at the time. Does anyone doubt that the skald who came up with the original version of Beowulf was paid off to chant about the virtues of the king -- and knew exactly what would happen if he didn't? Through the age of pamphlet, newspaper, radio, and TV, nothing changed; I don't see why we should be terribly surprised now that it's ON THE INTERNET (tm).

Re:Where's the irony?

[MrSquirrel]

Well, he also has a myspace. On it, he lists his favorite activities as "long walks on the sand dunes, researching nuclear weapons... I mean power plants, and torturing those with opinions different from mine".

So, how long ...

[kalidasa]

Before we start seeing a "The CIA is trying to prevent the world from reading my blog by using a distributed denial of service attack" posting when the real problem is that the site is hosted on Windows and has been slashdotted?

Re:So, how long ...

[hunterx11]

Hey man, deposing the elected leader of Iran and replacing him with a dictator is one thing, but messing with his blog is unacceptable!

Where's the irony?

[slofstra]

Let's see. A tyranny that restricts others' use of communication media while at the same time fully exploiting it's potential for propoganda purposes. That is unusual.

Re:Where's the irony?

[Red Flayer]

Let's see. A tyranny that restricts others' use of communication media while at the same time fully exploiting it's potential for propoganda purposes. That is unusual.

Of course you were being sarcastic, but I think you miss the mis-spelling: obviously the submitter meant to type "Iranic".

Like 10,000 bombs, when all you need is a knife... isn't it Iranic... don't you think?

Next up...

[Russ Steffen]

So, does he have a MySpace page yet? Or is he a Facebook kind-of-guy?

Re:Next up...

[Denial93]

I can see it now: MySpace user sent to Guantanamo for having the wrong guy on his friendlist.

Fiendster

[krell]

I think he's one link away from Kim Jong Il.

Georg Greve blogged this - it's MS and it's down:)

[H4x0r Jim Duggan]

His webserver is MS, and it was down earlier. From Georg Greve's blog: Technical difficulties all around [fsfe.org]

Mahmoud Ahmadinejad has no problem being dependent on US software, which in turn has no problem failing on him.

Re:Georg Greve blogged this - it's MS and it's dow

[KiloByte]

I've seen a similar view. I've been to IOI'96 -- a guy from the Iranian team actually defended the censorship, claiming they have only a single 56k link (as of 1996) for the whole country on purpose! For them, faulty software/network has its benefits as it pulls people away from the "American way of life".

Looking forward to reading it

[$RANDOMLUSER]

I'm sure all his posts will be calm, reasoned, factual and well stated.

Ahmadinejad is actually a brilliant man

[UbuntuDupe]

I've read some of his stuff, and he actually seems very intelligent and capable of logical reasoning. You just, well, kinda have to get past his hatred of Jews, refusal to recognize Israel, fascist ideology, Holocaust denial, and slavish adherence to a pretty obviously false religion. (I think most of those are just to maintain his support from Iranians.)

Re:Ahmadinejad is actually a brilliant man

[digitrev]

I appreciate intelligence as much as the next guy, but doesn't the list of things you "kinda have to get past" render anything he says on those topics completely illogical and biased?

Re:Ahmadinejad is actually a brilliant man

[Daniel Dvorkin]

slavish adherence to a pretty obviously false religion

As opposed to all the other, true religions?

Or the One True religion (i.e., whichever one you happen to follow)?

Re:Ahmadinejad is actually a brilliant man

[killjoe]

"nd slavish adherence to a pretty obviously false religion."

Is there is a true religion? All religions are obviously false.

To me this guy reads smarter, saner, better spoken and more rational then GW. They are both delusional and they are both religious fundamentalists so they have a lot in common except that this guy hasn't really killed a lot of people (yet?). GW has already killed over 100,000 people in iraq and afghanistan so he is way ahead.

Re:Ahmadinejad is quite reasonable

[RingDev]

That imagery would so win a fark photoshop contest!

-Rick

Re:Looking forward to reading it

[owlnation]

I'm sure all his posts will be calm, reasoned, factual and well stated.

Sure, that'd be nice. Though I don't see why his blog should be different from all the others.

Re:Looking forward to reading it

[Red Flayer]

Well, his opinion of American imperialism is reasoned, factual, and well-stated (remember the letter he wrote a few months ago?), as is his observation of the irony of Christians (purportedly) taking very un-Christian actions.

His response to American imperialism is a little less calm, but I suspect it is definitely reasoned pretty thoroughly.

Of course, it's quite possible to come to a logically correct conclusion that is still false, if one's precepts are false.

Not surprised

[Denial93]

His job basically amounts to representative/propaganda roles because he doesn't have any significant executive powers. And he's certainly more competent at it than a couple of other politicians. Try his letter to Bush [wikisource.org] for a preview of what he's going to write there.

Common method of propaganda

[Starker_Kull]

If you are going to crack down on a common method of dissemination of information, make sure you replace it with one of your own that repeats what you want to be heard, ad nauseam. Right out of Goebbel's playbook. For a guy who doesn't think the Holocaust happened, he sure seems comfortable using the same rhetoric and early tactics.

Re:No. It just sounds bad. Period.

[timmyf2371]

Well, all Iran would need to do is drop leaflets over Israel advising the citizens of the bombing campaign and telling them to move out. That way they can be sure that only hostile military forces remain.

After all, that was what Israel found to be an acceptable solution when they tried to wipe Lebanon off the map.

Mirror of the text from the blog

[02bunced]

Just in case it doesn't survive Slashdot...

In the Name of God, the Most Merciful, the Most Compassionate Oh Almighty God, please, we beg you to send us our Guardian- who You have promised us- soon and appoint us as His close companions.

During the era that nobility was a prestige and living in a city was perfection, I was born in a poor family in a remote village of Garmsar-approximately 90 kilometer east of Tehran. I was born fifteen years after Iran was invaded by foreign forces- in August of 1940- and the time that another puppet, named mohammad Reza - the son of Reza Mirpange- was set as a monarch in Iran. Since the extinct shah -Mohammad Reza- was supposed to take and enter Iran into western civilization slavishly, so many schemes were implemented that Iran becomes another market for the western ceremonial goods without any progress in the scientific field. Our Islamic culture would not allow such an infestation, and this was an impediment in front of shah and his foreign masters' way. Thus, they decided to make this noble and tenacious culture weak gradually that Iran be attached strongly to the west as far as its economy, politics, and culture was concern. After the implementation of this policy and the unreal and outward of upswing, the villagers began to rush to the cities. Upon the enforcement of the land reform, the status of the villages became worst than the past and villagers for earning some breadcrumbs, they were deceived by the dazzling look and the misleading features of the cities and became suburban and lived in ghettos.

My family was also suffered in the village as others. After my birth -the fourth one in the family- my family was under more pressures. My father had finished 6 grade of elementary school. He was a hard-bitten toiler blacksmith, a pious man who regularly participated in different religious programs. Even though never the dazzling look of the world was appealing to him, but the pressure of the life caused that he decided to migrate to Tehran when I was one year old. We chose to live in south central part of Tehran where is called Pamenar.

My father used to buy newspaper all the time. I remember one day, when I was in first grade, by looking through a newspaper - with the help of the adults in our house- I read the news of the capitulation passage by the shah's so called "parliament." Even though I did not understand the meaning of that issue at that time, but due to the protests and the objections of the religious schools of thoughts with the leadership of Imam Khomeini -Almighty God bless his soul- and the relentless reaction of the extinct shah, I realized that Mohammad Reza attempted to add another page to his vicious case history which was the humiliation and indignity of the Iranian people versus Americans. That was the year that the extinct shah slaughtered many followers of Imam Khomeini.

Imam Khomeini was released from prison. I never forget Imam Khomeini's speeches during those years which was very persuasive and appealing. You would hear the strong faith to Almighty God in his orations. He invited the people to pure Islam. His message was invitation to the belief of monotheism- Unity and Oneness of God- and also justice, elimination of oppression, injustice and sedition in the world. He was courageous and had a valiant heart. He spoke firmly and securely. His orations were simple and honest. The people accepted his guidance sincerely. Due to these characteristics, he was a beloved leader for every individuals-young or elderly. Of course he was a disgrace for shah's regime and his Americans masters. Notably, even among his enemies, he was respected with a special honor.

Eventually, the existence of Imam Khomeini was unbearable for the extinct shah and he could not tolerate him any more. Since they knew if they kill him-as they did a great number of his followers- the bloody uprising can not be controlled. Consequently they decided to exile him in order to separate the leader from his followers and to restrain th

Great, what's next...

[Bullfish]

the Kim Jong show?

Wait Wait...

[necro81]

The folks at Wait Wait...Don't Tell Me [npr.org] are going to have a field day with this. The gag headlines almost write themselves.

Next Osama bin Laden will get a myspace account

[14CharUsername]

Then Tom will get sent to gitmo for being on bin Laden's friends list. Then everyone else on myspace will be carted off for having Tom on their friends list. Then we will finally be safe from the emo terrorists.

Comment removed

[account_deleted]

Comment removed based on user account deletion

Is there a talk-back forum attached?

[mi]

I doubt he'd be so stupid as to expose his propaganda department to the voices and opinions of reason world-wide.

But TFA has no link to the blog — maybe, there is a forum, after all?

Why not? Press distorts!

[redelm]

Why not hear the man directly? The more you've been inside news stories, the more you know how the press distorts information to sell ink, photons and electrons. Not usually outright lies, but frequent quoting-out-of-context, and occasional lies of omission. It is frankly amazing to see so much editorializing in simple news reporting.

Yes, there's some irony in the internal Iranian restrictions. But I'll take freedom in half steps. Positive movement is still positive. Besides, I think it is extremely

It Isn't Ironic

[Doc Ruby]

There's nothing "ironic" [reference.com] about a dictator censoring media while putting out their own. It isn't even contradictory. "Dictator" means "commander", as in "speaking a command", as in "word is law". What they say is the official truth, they define reality by speaking it. Other people saying different "versions" of reality gets in the way, so they stop it.

The popular sense of the word "irony" has been ruined. People don't even blink while Alanis Morissette's "Ironic" [azlyrics.com] asks "isn't it ironic?" about a list of situa

Whois infomation

[ems2]

domain: ahmadinejad.ir
remarks: (Domain Holder) Mahdi Ahmadi Nejad
remarks: (Domain Holder Address) Motahari Ave. at Raham St. Tehran, IR 1567718571
admin-c: nic38790h87
tech-c: nic38790h87
zone-c: nic38790h87
nserver: ns1.nisn.ir
nserver: ns2.nisn.ir
source: NICIR # Filtered

person: Mahdi Ahmadi Nejad
remarks: ---
address: Pasteur Sq., Pasteur St., Peresident Office
e-mail: [e-mail]
phone: 64451
fax-no:
nic-hdl: nic38790h87
source: NICIR # Filtered

I feel for Google, now they unfortunately have to put up with Ahmadi Nejad. Maybe that we-can-read-your-email clause is useful.

Syndication

[skamp]

I'm surprised his weblog doesn't have an Atom [ietf.org] feed. His engineers must still be working on it...

Re:Syndication

[clickclickdrone]

Oh for a +2 humnour mod point!

Blog includes a nice vuln, too

[blueZ3]

According to this blog (http://olehgirl.blogspot.com/2006/08/pres-ahmadin ejad-trying-to-infect.html) it looks like propaganda isn't the only thing the Iranian President is trying to spread. It looks like visitors (from Isreal only) using IE are getting a nice little installer attempt. Wonder what it does :-)

Bad link

[blueZ3]

Sorry. Try this:

http://olehgirl.blogspot.com/2006/08/pres-ahmadine jad-trying-to-infect.html [blogspot.com]

The original version

[clickclickdrone]

Monday: Started my new blog. It's kewl!
Tuesday: Run out of things to say. Keep getting hassled by Americans telling me to westernise or die. Total drag.
Wednesday: Seems to be some sort of spat next door. Hope they don't lob any missiles my way.
Thursday: Man I love Battlestar Galactica. Double episode tonight!
Friday: Pizza! Maybe some behadings later.
Saturday: Bit sunny. Not bad. Got some emails from my buddy GWB saying be cool.
Sunday: Had a lie in. Just found out some Brit paper has been reading this

Start a World War?

[twitter]

Malhmold is not the only person who thinks the goals were larger than humiliating Hezbolla. Some say the Bush administration wanted Syria and Iran [consortiumnews.com]. Conquering that much of the middle east might indeed have triggered a war with Russia, Turkey and even China and Europe. It's a good thing that did not happen, but there's still time for Israel's incompetent and murderous military leaders [gush-shalom.org] to blunder themselves into a wider conflict. All they have to do is provoke Syria on the new border.

Re:Start a World War?

[dfenstrate]

It's not about humiliating them (especially since they have no shame) - it's about stopping them.

Forgive the following tangent....

Oh, they have shame, and they are very much humiliated, and that's a big part of the problem.

Arab culture, from what I understand, is very face/shame based. Intertwine that with Islam, which quite often militant professes it's the one true faith and the Muslims are the chosen among Allah's people or whatever, and you get pretty big problems.

See, it's very humiliating to think yo

ironic?

[Enrique1218]

I wouldn't call it censorship and Iran President new blog ironic. Iran is authoritarian society and I call it par for the course. In Iran, you expect the president to talk and the people to listen, not the other way around. The true irony is that it is not much different in the US. Unlike in Iran, we can talk our mouths dry. Yet, our President (or our Congress, for that matter) just choose not to listen.

Let me explain the difference

[Bryansix]

I never forget Imam Khomeini's speeches during those years which was very persuasive and appealing. You would hear the strong faith to Almighty God in his orations. He invited the people to pure Islam. His message was invitation to the belief of monotheism- Unity and Oneness of God- and also justice, elimination of oppression, injustice and sedition in the world. He was courageous and had a valiant heart. He spoke firmly and securely. His orations were simple and honest. The people accepted his guidance sincerely. Due to these characteristics, he was a beloved leader for every individuals-young or elderly.

I read this and I think, what makes these people so different from the United States and its leaders who want seemingly the same thing only in reference to Christianity? Well, let me explain it so everyone can understand. The sect of Islam that is followed in Iran has no problem converting people through force and if they do not convert, well you know what happens. Shi 'a Islam is the national religion and the law is based upon it. No dissent is allowed.

In the US we see things differently. Even though elected leaders may hold onto faith so strongly that it affects the laws that are passed, there is no state religion. More importantly though, none of the currently followed sects of Christianity in this country find any value in converting people through violence. My beliefs are (and they are echoed thoughout this country) that accepting Christ is a personal decision that nobody can convince you to make. You have to want to accept Christ or it is meaningless. If this idea was present in Islam there would not be the problems that we have now. Islam and Christianity could co-exist if this one idea was widely held in the Middle East. Now there are sects of Islam that reject violence but they are not popular in the Middle East and only really flourish in the freedom that they find in the United States.

VIRUS Warning

[dougman]

Link on the left of the new blog pops a "HTTP MS IE File DragDrop Embed Code" in Norton. Is this intentional or not? You decide.

Check out http://olehgirl.blogspot.com/2006/08/pres-ahmadine jad-trying-to-infect.html [blogspot.com]

Re:what's ironical...

[Petskull]

...and that sentences end in periods.

Re:what's ironical...

[sneezinglion]

According to the oxford english dictionary:
ironic, a.
Pertaining to irony; of the nature of or cotaining irony; =ironical

ironical, a.
1. Of the nature of irony or covert sarcasm; meaning the opposite of what is expressed.
2. That uses or is addicted to irony.

also see: http://dictionary.reference.com/search?q=ironical& db=* [reference.com]

Re:ironical?

[Rei]

Notice how they quietly changed it to "ironic" in the post. ;)

Re:American Double Moral Strikes Again!

[02bunced]

Hmm. In the original post I made of this story, I had linked to the blog. Must just have been removed in the editing process :(

Oh, and I'm a Brit!

Re:I was thinking last night how sad it was...

[PFI_Optix]

He wasn't always like he is now. [google.com]