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politics
Obama's "New Beginning" For US & Iran
The first thing that came to my mind when I heard President Obama greeting the people and the government of Iran for the Persian New Year on Friday March 20th was how cute it was that he spoke a sentence in Farsi. Also, I was thrilled to hear him pronounce the name of the country correctly and to acknowledge the state of Iran in its full status as an Islamic Republic. He won my heart even further when he quoted my favorite Iranian poet Saadi's most famous poem, which is the motto on the entrance of United Nations Building:
These songs of Adam are limbs of each other, Having been created on one essence.
When the calamity of time affects one limb, The other limbs cannot remain at rest.
But soon, after all the excitement, I remembered that I am Iranian and I should read between the lines. "I must not be carried away by the sweetness of the talk," I told myself. Turns out I was not the only one who thought this way.
At first, the Iranian government acknowledged Obama's message by expressing appreciation that the President greeted the nation on one of its important holidays. But they also emphasized that after many years of American government unjust policies toward Iran, more than words will be needed.
President Ahmadinejad reinforced this, "They need to perceive what wrong orientation they had and make serious efforts to make up for it." The supreme leader, Ayatollah Khamenie also expressed his skepticism and some what willingness to follow suit if US change its attitude toward Iran. He said, "We will observe them [US] and we will judge."
On the other end, far from the government officials who often tend to not represent the masses, young Iranians watched the message on national TV and sought interpretations of it through Internet and satellite TV. Even Iranian blogs began to reflect on it.
What frightens me though is that the reaction Iranian officials had may cause American to think that the Islamic Republic wants to continue its aggressive mindset against America. What seems unknown in America is that the Iranian people are supportive of the US as a nation. The country's youth closely follow music, cinema and political developments in the States. And that is despite the unfair American policies that Iranians have been subject to in recent history. Remember the over throw of Iranian Prime Minister Mossadegh, a highly respected icon who is still one of the symbols of nationalism among the youth, in 1953? Or the shut down of Iranian civilian airliner by US Navy in 1988?
It is true that President Obama's "new beginning" message is a first step in changing the relationship between the two nations. I am very optimistic that this can evolve some of the old anti-Iranian attitude that arose from the "axis of evil" scheme introduced by the previous administration. Yet, it is important to acknowledge how the two nations have been effected by one another's policies which makes President Obama's proposal difficult to accept.
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mahalapril
11:06AM 11:06AM Mar 25th 2009
What is Israel waiting for ? If Obama talks with Iran [ a stalling tactic that Iran used for 5 years in negotiations with Europe] then they will have nuclear weapons very soon.We don't have to worry though because Israel will be forced to use missiles rather than jetplanes to destroy the nuclear weapon program facilities.A nuclear Iran is an existential threat to Israel.
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gernjewels
2:05PM 2:05PM Mar 25th 2009
I Agree with mahalapril...This so-called diplomacy will only be allowing Iran the time to develop and deploy a nuclear weapon against the much HATED America & Israel...therefore, I feel we should continue our overly Generous foriegn policies by giving Iran what they so badly want...a Bomb! KABOOM!
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tom
12:10PM 12:10PM Mar 25th 2009
"YOU CAN'T MAKE CHICKEN SALAD OUT OF CHICKEN $HIT" ! Iran has never and will never have any good intentions toward America, Israel or any other Democratic, Jewish or Christian associated State. . . Their Quran COMMANDS them to annihilate ANY non-Muslim People from the face of the Earth. . . They WILL NOT depart from that !!!!! . . Not Today, . Not Tomorrow ! . . Of course, . . Many believe that to be the ultimate goal of our President too. . .
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r. richard fusilier de la claire
1:58PM 1:58PM Mar 25th 2009
The Iranians are a great people, a reasonable people with a great history, reflected in the people. I never met a Persian immigrant here that wasn't a wonderful moderate law abiding citizen. In this,. it appears that Obama is saying the right things to promote rapprochement and Peace.
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Willet
1:54PM 1:54PM Mar 25th 2009
"""But they also emphasized that after many years of American government unjust policies toward Iran, more than words will be needed.""""
Iran chose it's own fate. It was Iran that chose to align themselves with North Korea, it was Iran that chose to fight a defacto war against coalition forces in Iraq and it was Iran that stood before the world and claimed Israel should be erased from the face of the earth.
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JE
4:08PM 4:08PM Mar 25th 2009
F**CK YOU MUSLIMS "GUTTER RELIGION"
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Rajalingham
4:45PM 4:45PM Mar 25th 2009
Iran is not an Arab nation which is what most westerners cannot get through their minds. They do not think or act like Arabs.
The government and people of Iran are highly intelligent and strategic in their thinking and in application of their ideas and thoughts.
The continued inflammatory remarks coming out of Israel and reinforced through echoeing by the US Jewish lobby about Presdient Ahmedinajad saying that Iran wants to destroy the state of Israel is one such example of blind and slavish adherence to Jewish lobby distortions of the truth through outright lies.
Demonising Iran does not do any of us any good. If peace in a polarised middle east is to be achieved then a Perisan Iran needs to be engaged. Every movement allied with her is highly disciplined, organised and offers practical solutions to the highly charged and emotional debate of the plight of the Palestinian people.
The US itself has got to repent and show its repentance in more ways than in mere words to Iran for years of hoostilities, embargoes and demonising of this great civilisation.
The fear in the US and in the pro Jewish west is that people might just discover a highly sophisticated Islamic society, not crudely Arab, not demonically Jewish, capable of challenging the culture of the west, attractive to its youth as an alternative culture to adopt.
Mani Rajalingham
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larry
6:53PM 6:53PM Mar 25th 2009
Its obvious that either obama is one of them or he ain't the brightest light on the tree.
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larry
6:57PM 6:57PM Mar 25th 2009
I think you and the fool way you think are very much part of the problem. Obama is a traitor.
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jan
10:43PM 10:43PM Mar 25th 2009
President Obama knows what he's doing. He was speaking mainly to the people, not the leaders, knowing the young especially are receptive and that leaders change.
He's also well aware that merely talking won't solve problems so deep - how simpleminded are you people anyway? Thus the multi-faceted approach.....diplomacy, which involves identifying areas of commonality and targeting self-interest. Not just talking. The military is always there, and economic and cultural areas.......everything. How refreshingly different and more effective than any single approach - like military bullying.
And for you who persist in your ignorance about Islam - try getting out an atlas and a book of comparative world religions and their history. Muslims are found in much of the world, and most coexist peacefully with those of other religions. It's the form of Islam, the location, the tribe and the regime which determine attitudes towards other religions. My daughter is with the Peace Corps in one West African nation. She lives in the village compound of the Imam, his wives and children. They coonsider her a valued family member, tease her about her PC boyfriend who comes to stay with her, look out for her, are fine with her shorts and sleeveless shirts and bicycle. In other parts of the country, Muslims are stricter, although all live well with other religions - sometimes combining them. It really varies. You do no good by promoting such division. Try www.acommonword.com.
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mahalapril
12:54PM 12:54PM Mar 26th 2009
Obama was already mocked 4 times by our enemies because Obama is weak and incompetent both militarily and economically. The first was No. 2 Al-Qaeda leader Al-Zawahri calling Obama a house negro.Then Russia ignored Obama's letter requesting them to persuade Iran from enriching uranium in exchange for not deploying the nuclear shield missiles in eastern Europe.Then the Chinese ships harassed a US ship in international waters.The most shameful was when Obama sent a video to Iran to negotiate without preconditions and the supreme leader of Iran put preconditions on Obama before negotiations. Obama does not know history.Obama is negotiating from a position of weakness instead of strenght. We are now having a second weak and incompetent Jimmy Carter Presidency and a pre-911 mentality.
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blablabla
1:25PM 1:25PM Mar 26th 2009
Let's see...Iraq fought a ten-year war with Iran...the US brought down the Iraq government...Doesn't Iran "owe" the US a "thankyou".....? Instead, they've been killing hundreds of US soldiers with IED's...that's how the Iraniams say..."thankyou"...nice
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blablabla
1:27PM 1:27PM Mar 26th 2009
Obama is immediately...more dangerous to America than Iran.
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Tom
12:22AM 12:22AM Mar 28th 2009
OK,all you stupid assholes that voted for Obalmy, yes Obalmy, are finding out real quick what sort of a fast talking dumb ass this clown is.And you voted for this dont know where he was born piece of shit. This guy is no more an American than the Aussie president is, but oh boy id give my left nut to have the Aussie as our president.
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Damon
5:02PM 5:02PM Apr 12th 2009
damn, these comments are pretty intense.....wish I had half the selfconfidence some ppl have.
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