Sanctions? Felt Nowt!

AFP reports that Mahmoud Ahmadinejad has challenged the West to put more pressure on Iran, which he said would fail to make any impact on the Islamic republic or its atomic programme.

In an address in the northeastern province of Golestan, he said that during last month’s US visit people there "were insisting that the sanctions have affected us."

"And I, on your behalf, insisted and told them 'The sanctions have had no effect, and whatever the heck you want to do in the next two years, do it now so we see what you are capable of',"

Is that what he wants? Okay then that’s what he should have… He will almost certainly end up eating his words!

Press TV brings shock news from Iran

Never let it be said that PressTV is not afraid of incisive reporting. This story is truly investigate reporting at its best.

Apparently the people of Iran have spent roughly 74 million dollars in the past nine months on chewing gum and the habit appears to be growing - 100 times more than the amount spent four years ago.

The habit appears to be contagious. Iranians chewed 25 tons of gum in 2005 as compared to 2463 tons in the past nine months.

Needless to say, Iran's domestic industry also has seen the financial opportunity and made an effort to boost the domestic industry by establishing its second largest chewing gum factory on March 8, 2010. The factory, which was built with a 30-million-dollar, five-year investment, will produce sugar-free gum.

A huge increase over the last nine months? That would take things back to the stolen election... I daresay, Mossad, the Elders, the Andorrans and those pesky Bilderbergers have colluded to subvert Iran by increasing the incidence of dental caries, thereby rotting the body politic from the inside, one molar at a time!

As a story it is the sort that Woodward and Bernstein would have died for

Oh and Ahmafeckingidiot joins the ranks of tinfoil hated morons who think that 9.11 was a Reichstag Fire-type operation

Ahmadinejad sworn in

Mahmoud Ahmadinejad has finally been sworn in as “president” of Iran. The ceremony was boycotted by many opposition leaders and politicians, including former presidents Rafsanjani and Khatami (no real surprise there) – a number even walked out when Ahmadinejad started talking. Hundreds of opposition supporters gathered outside parliament faced by several thousand Basij thugs and riot police.

Despite frequent outbursts of Uncle Napoleonism by the Iranian authorities the British ambassador, Simon Gass attended the inauguration. Only France and Sweden also sent ambassadors. The Foreign Office defended the decision to send Gass to the ceremony, saying it was important "to keep channels of communication open" to address issues of concern...However, the UK did join Germany, France and the US in not sending a letter of congratulations to Ahmadinejad.,

In a display of petulance he mocked the Western snub, saying "We heard that some of the western leaders have decided to recognise but not congratulate the new government," Mr Ahmadinejad said in an acceptance speech before the Iranian parliament. "Well, no-one in Iran is waiting for your messages. The Iranian nation neither values your scowls and threats, nor your smiles and greetings."

He trained much of his wrath on opposition supporters saying he would "resist any violation of the law, We will not remain silent," he added. "We will not tolerate disrespect, interference and insults."

Having stolen the election, Ahmadinejad looks weakened and increasingly isolated, facing the wrath of opposition protestors and considerable anger from his core supporters. Luckily for him his job does not have a lot of real power – that still lies with Khameni – so he can rant and spout all he likes. Possibly his biggest problem is the one thing that underpins the Iranian economy, OIL. The economy is not in a good way at the moment. If prices fall, then he could be royally screwed.

Ahmadinejad isn’t down yet and the theocratic rulers of Iran are not going to be swept aside tomorrow but I wonder if, in moments of lucidity, he is beginning to regret having the election rigged.....

Mot so much Ahmadinejad than Ahmafeckingnutter

The Babylon and Beyond blog had an article which indicated that Ahmadinejad may be looking to be rather less than conciliatory after being sworn today as President president.

It would seem that Ahmadinejad may look to be rather more confrontational towards opposition. According to Babylon and Beyond this is borne out by comments comments he made to a gathering of educators associated with the pro-government Basiji militia last week

"A new period has begun," he told the Association of Basiji Scholars according to a report by the news website Farda News. "Let me take the oath of office, and wait for the government to begin its work. Then, we'll seize them by their collars and stick their heads to the ceiling," he said.

Ahmadinejad is now also reportedly claiming that he was the victim of electoral fraud rather than the perpetrator! According to a report by the reformist newspaper Entekhab, Ahmadinejad also boasted in a private meeting with aides that he actually received 30 million out of 40 million votes cast, not the 24 million he officially got.

I wonder what the colour of the sky is in his world?

Ahmadinejad shuns the limelight for once

Ahmadinejad never seems to be a man who is backward at coming forward when publicity is in the office. It is a little surprising that he has turned down a request by Oliver Stone to make a documentary about him. Apparently he refused because he considered Stone as "part of the Great Satan".

Mr Ahmadinejad apparently considers Hollywood to be a bastion of “pro-Zionist” interests, was unimpressed by Stone;s request: "While it is true that Oliver Stone is considered to be among the opposition in the US, the opposition is still part of the Great Satan," the president's media adviser, Mahdi Kalhor, told the semi-official Fars news agency. "We believe that the American cinema system is devoid of all culture and art and is only used as a device. In the last two years, the global arrogance [Iranian shorthand for the US and Britain] has made a lot of effort to portray their own image of Ahmadinejad, not the one which exists in reality. Hollywood and other Zionist media react to phenomena they don't like through different processes."

Hmm I would have thought Ahmadinejad would have jumped at the chance. It’s his loss, I suppose. Perhaps Stone will have better luck with Kim Jong Il!

A grand coalition of democracy activists, pro-reform clerics, parties loyal to former president Khatami and the so-called pragmatic conservatives of Ayatollah Rafsanjani. Is planning to use the ballot box to deny Mahmoud Ahmadinejad a second presidential term.... Unless the move is vetoed by the hardline Guardian Council which is a definite possibility

The alliance is mining to exploit the president's unpopularity, arising from high unemployment, rising inflation and an expected rise in petrol prices, to win control of the Majlis in general elections which are due within 10 months.

"The past two years have been a very bitter time for Iran," said Mohammad Atrianfar, a leading opposition figure "Ahmadinejad has done everything upside down. He has done a lot of damage at home and abroad." Mr Atrianfar said that a majority in the Majlis was now critical of the president and would certainly impeach him but for the support he enjoyed from the supreme leader, Ayatollah Ali Khamenei.

The president has faced mounting over high unemployment, especially among younger people, rising inflation and escalating housing costs. Significantly, for a major oil producer, heavily subsidised petrol prices are due to rise next month, hitting poorer people hardest in a country with poor or non-existent public transport.

In an unusual intervention, Grand Ayatollah Yusef Sa'anei, one of Iran's most respected Islamic scholars, has attacked Mr Ahmadinejad's government for failing to tackle social ills such as youth unemployment, drug addiction, and gender inequality. In a rare interview with a western newspaper at his office in the holy city of Qom, Mr Sa'anei said:

"The government should be at the service of the people. But it is putting too much pressure on the people. It bans newspapers, sends people to jail, segregates boys and the girls at the universities, makes noise about hijab."

On the other hand the President of Iran doesn’t exactly have a huge amount of power –more than, say, Mary McAleese but nothing like the power wielded by George W Bush. The real reins of power are most certainly held elsewhere. It also remains to be seen whether the opposition’s efforts will be stifled by the Guardian Council. If the coalition is allowed to stand and if it wins then perhaps it will be the first stage towards a better Iran.