Archive
Straight-Talk
The New Moderate Hardliner
June 17, 2013
If I hear words like "moderate" or "reformist" associated with the name Hassan Rouhani one more time, I will literally and figuratively bust a gut!
Today’s newspapers are replete with articles, analyses, editorials and commentary on Iran’s new president-elect, cleric Hassan Rouhani.
You can read about his background – including that he was lead nuclear negotiator for Iran (2003-2005) – in any newspaper or hear about it on TV/radio, ad nauseum – but remember: All the candidates in the Iranian election were pre-approved by Ayatollah Khamenei and his regime, while those whom they deemed unacceptable, were disqualified ahead of time.
So how will the so-called “moderate’, “reformer”, “pragmatic”, “diplomatic,” “centrist” cleric Rouhani govern? Well, there’s a reason Ayatollah Khaminei approved his candidacy and it wasn’t because of his sunny disposition.
So wake up, folks. The emperor has no clothes! The West has a habit of romanticizing events (and people) that are dangerous and ugly by nature. Remember the blooming “Arab Spring”?
[Oh, and a special shout-out to NSR’s new Twitter follower, i.e., Dr. Hassan Rouhani, President-elect of Islamic Republic of Iran. Please feel free to peruse our site, President-elect Rouhani.] Posted by R.S.
Does Anyone Know?
June 5, 2013
Rabid Israel-hater, Samantha Power, was nominated by President Obama today for position of U.S. ambassador to the UN.
Foreign Policy magazine just posted a piece entitled "Neocons Praise Samantha Power Pick" (see below).
Does anyone know who the "neocons" are in this piece? We're perplexed.
FP article here.
Notable Quotables
"Don’t threaten us with cutting off your aid. It will not work. I am not a Jew with trembling knees. I am a proud Jew with 3,700 years of civilized history. Nobody came to our aid when we were dying in the gas chambers and ovens. Nobody came to our aid when we were striving to create our country. We paid for it. We fought for it. We died for it. We will stand by our principles. We will defend them. And, when necessary, we will die for them again, with or without your aid."
~ Israeli PM Menachem Begin, in June 1982 at height of Lebanon War, responding to then Senator Joe Biden in front of Senate Foreign Relations Committee, after Biden had attacked Israeli settlements in Judea and Samaria and threatened to cut economic aid to Israel (more here).
And Then Some
Rutgers & Anti-Semitism
September 13, 2018
Willingness To Be Offended
August 10, 2018
"Shut Up" Or Make Peace
August 5, 2018
