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Rafsanjani Makes His Move – US and Israel Become Closer on Iran
The piece below analyzes the main goals of Rafsanjani’s speech today.
http://www.realclearworld.com/blog/2009/07/rafsanjani_looking_to_improve.html
The second article looks at how US and Israel are becoming closer on the issue of Iran, and why.
http://www.realclearworld.com/articles/2009/07/17/playing_good_cop_bad_cop_on_iran_96943.html
Iran’s Tarnished Foreign Policy
This week I published three articles.
The first looks at the first foreign policy set back suffered by Iran after the reelection of Mahmoud Ahmadinejad. This could be a sign of things of to come. The article looks at the impact of the demonstrations on Iran’s negotiation position vis a vi the US.
http://www.realclearworld.com/articles/2009/07/03/irans_tarnished_foreign_policy_96871.html
The second article is entitled “Iran will never be the same again”. It looks at the long term structural changes made and what the US should do in light of the new developments.
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/meir-javedanfar/iran-will-never-be-the-sa_b_227159.html
The third article looks at the consequences of Hamas and Hezbollah’s welcoming of Ahmadinejad’s reelection and its impact in Iran. I also analyze Israel’s reaction to the elections.
http://www.forward.com/articles/108787/
The Clerical Rift in Iran
Keyhan newspaper is a right wing publication, whose editor Ali Shariat Madari is a close advisor of the Supreme Leader. This week, Ayatollah Amoli lost his column at this all important paper, and the reason was not related to his writing skills.
The piece below explains more:
http://www.realclearworld.com/blog/2009/06/senior_clergy_loses_column_at.html
Faeze Rafsanjani’s Arrest and Ayatollah Khamenei’s Fears
Written on the Day of Faezeh Rafsanjanis arrest
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/meir-javedanfar/faeze-rafsanjanis-arrest_b_218681.html
How Iran’s Clerics Can Undermine Ahmadinejad
As well as the reformists, Ahmadinejad has also raised the ire of some of Iran’s clergy.
The important question is: what can they do about Ahmadinejad? What power do they have?
The analysis below looks at their power and options:
To read, click below
Ahmadinejad’s Victory, Khamenei’s Motivations
Why did Seyyed Ali Khamenei, the Supreme Leader of Iran allow Ahmadinejad to “win” with such a majority?
The piece below looks his short and long term motivations.
http://middleeastprogress.org/2009/06/iranian-elections-reflect-ambitions-of-the-supreme-leader/
Iran’s Afghan Ambitions
On May 24th, Presidents of Iran, Afghanistan and Pakistan held a summit in Tehran. The piece below looks at each party’s goals and motivations, with special focus placed on Iran’s Afghanistan strategy.
To read, click below:
http://www.realclearworld.com/articles/2009/05/irans_afghan_ambitions.html
Iranian Media and Ahmadinejad’s Speech in Geneva
Have a look at this clip, from Iranian TV, which is pro Ahmadinejad.
It shows Ahmadinejad in Geneva and people clapping for him!
No sign of any diplomat leaving.
If you look closely, the camera zooms in on on his enthusiastic backers. On closer inspection we see that they are Manuchehr Mottaki, his Foreign Minister and Esfandiar Rahim Meshai, the father in law of his daughter.
http://www.aftabnews.ir/vdcf10dc.w6dexagiiw.html
However other publications in Iran did show the empty seats.
This publication belongs to Mohsen Rezai, who is Ahmadinejad’s rival in the conservative movement.
http://tabnak.ir/pages/?cid=44437
Today’s events will not bode well for Ahmadinejad’s electioneering campaign, nor for Iran’s efforts to gather international consensus for the acceptance of its nuclear program.
20th of April 2009 was a very bad day for Iranian foreign policy.