Khamenei in Isolation as Revolutionary Guards Threaten Mayhem, Kill Drunks
Supreme Leader Ali Khamenei hasn’t been seen in public for a couple of weeks, and he notably missed his annual speech at “Pasdar Day,” devoted to the Revolutionary Guards Corps. He had made that event a personal obligation for more than twenty years. (Here he is at last year’s commemoration of the IRGC.) He also missed the annual commemoration of Imam Ali’s birthday, one of the central events on the Shi’ite calendar.
The folks who claim to be in the know about such things would have us believe that the opposition to the Iranian regime has been crushed, and that Khamenei and his henchmen are firmly in control of the country. But he seems to know better, and he just published a poem (really!) lamenting the failure of the 12th Imam to reappear and to make everything wonderful by slaughtering the enemies of the Shi’a, etc. Maybe he thinks his regime hasn’t done enough to get the Mahdi out of his well in Iran, and he has issued a call to all and sundry to prepare themselves for the End of Days.
The supreme leader, in other words, is in a lousy mood, and he’s got every reason to be in a funk. The natural gas pipeline to Turkey has been sabotaged yet again, and the regime is scratching for all the foreign currency it can find. And two online polls show the Iranians are not at all enthusiastic about the regime’s nuclear project.
The first appeared on the site of the national TV station, and had to do with sanctions. Respondents were asked what they thought Iran should do and were given three options: give up uranium enrichment, close the Straits of Hormuz, or fight back against the West. By early evening, nearly two-thirds of the responses said “stop enrichment,” and the poll was yanked.
The second poll, launched after the official survey was shut down, appeared on the Facebook page of the very popular Manoto TV. It also asked about sanctions and enrichment:
Asked if they favored resisting the sanctions to defend the country’s “right to nuclear power,” 78 percent said “no.”Asked if the regime should give up nuclear enrichment in order to avoid the sanctions, a rousing 74 percent said “yes.” And 74 percent also approved “giving up nuclear enrichment in order to avoid the sanctions.”
These results, for which I am indebted to Potkin Azarmehr, are even worse for Khamenei and Ahmadinejad than the official ones. They are certainly not what we would call “scientific,” but keep in mind that Facebook in Iran is closely monitored by the regime, and anyone who responds online is running the risk of seeing Revolutionary Guards at their door in the middle of the night. But, like those who clicked in on national television’s questionnaire, they want to declare their opposition to the nuclear program, to demonstrate how seriously they are responding to sanctions, and to voice their dissent against regime policies.
Meanwhile, Khamenei’s misery was intensified by various international slaps: the German government’s complaint when an Iranian diplomat reportedly harassed a ten-year-old girl; the Saudi kingdom’s cutoff of visas for Iranian pilgrims; and the formal closings of the British Embassy in Tehran and the Iranian Embassy in London. Also: the extradition of an Iranian terrorist suspect from Malaysia to Thailand; the arrest of two suspected Iranian terrorists in Kenya; and the announcement from British security officials that they fear a revival of Iranian-sponsored terror.
No surprise, then, that the security forces are lashing out — even executing men accused of drinking alcohol — and the war of all against all at the highest levels of the regime continued apace with the arrest of the president’s spiritual advisor. According to Mashregh News, Abbas Ghaffari, spiritual advisor to President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad, and Chief of Staff Esfandiar Rahim-Mashai have been sentenced to eight years in prison.
Ghaffari was given five years for blasphemy, two years for insulting Imam Khomeini and the supreme leader, and one year for propaganda against the regime — as well as 99 lashes. If you read the bill of particulars, it sounds very much as if this man of faith was a practitioner of occult rites. Some of his accusers said Ghaffari was “a man with special skills in metaphysics and connections with the unknown worlds” who had “invoked spirits and djinns.”
Nor should anyone be surprised to see the regime — more and more represented by the Revolutionary Guards Corps — flexing its muscles in demonstrations of missiles and issuing dark threats to the world at large, from shutting down the Straits of Hormuz to crushing Israel and American military bases in the event of conflict. Most of this is bluff and bombast; Iran is not about to start a full-scale military conflict with us because they know they will be decimated. If they are attacked, there will probably be some sort of response, but that will depend on what happens inside the country, which is the major concern of the supreme leader and the Guards. The bluff and bluster intends two objectives: it intimidates the Iranian people, and it drives up the price of oil. The former won’t work. The latter always does, at least for a while.
The sort of attack the Iranians are prepared to unleash is verbal, not military, and a great rhetorical assault was on display recently in Tehran, when Vice President Rahimi accused “Zionists” of drug trafficking, which he said was endorsed by Talmudic commentary:
Rahimi said the Talmud, or canon of Jewish religious law, “teaches them how to destroy non-Jews so as to protect an embryo in the womb of a Jewish mother”, according to excerpts published by the Fars news agency.
He accused “Zionists”, a term the Iranian government usually applies to Israelis and their Jewish supporters abroad, of inciting drug trafficking. “You cannot find a single addict among the Zionists,” Rahimi said.
He went on to assert that the Zionists ordered gynecologists to kill black babies, and for extras blamed the Jews for the Russian Revolution.
Even some European diplomats were shocked, shocked, I suppose because they would prefer such remarks be made in private. But everybody knows that Khamenei and his henchmen believe this bile, and that given the opportunity they will act on it.
But not yet.
Thank you for the detailed news from inside Iran.
Maybe the truth is that, despite the fecklessness of Obama and his henchmen; civilization’s “Army” in 2012 resembles the Soviet and American armies in 1945, and Supreme Leader Ali Khamenei is like Hitler—hunkered down in his bunker, about to be crushed.
What will you call your blog, after “Faster, Please”, becomes obsolete?
May that day come soon!
I guess I”ll call it “Let’s Party!”
Yes, the Snake’s body today is tearing apart in Damascus, while her head will be crushed soon in Tehran. So, What about the rest “the friends and at the same time the enemies “Al-Saud”, and also Venezuela’s Chavez?!”
Dear Dr. Michael Ledeen, I think you deserve to be called in (the Godfather of Iran Freedom or the Godfather of Freedom of the Middle East) because, you are probably the only American who is struggling strongly to free the Iranian people…It’s a great honor for your great contribution in the liberation of some nations, from Central Europe to the Great Middle East..And it’s a great honor for your great efforts in spreading the principles and values of freedom in some countries. In all human justice, the USA SHOULD AWARD you the Presidential Medal of Freedom after the liberation of Iran. You are worthy of ALL the Freedom’s Medals. But as you know, life is unfair, sadly!!!
I think Michael Lideen is great, but his implied predictions that the Iranian people are ready to rebel are getting tiresome, I’m sorry to say. How many years has he been predicting the regime’s end is at hand?
It is always worth hearing his inside news of what’s happening there, since I can’t find any other decent source, however I gave up on wishful thinking years ago.
What I can’t figure out is why they keep threatening, especially Israel. Does it work to keep the people supporting the Theocracy? It doesn’t seem to make their neighbors in the Middle East support them at all, and with Obama ready to do anything to get re-elected, it doesn’t make sense to provoke him to attack Iran, directly or indirectly. Saudi Arabia is buying missiles and may be looking for nukes to load on them They can afford to buy them at any cost.
Regards,
That the USA policy up till now has been to keep the “dictators that parade as religious” in Iran in power, at all cost, does not mean Mr. Ledeen is incorrect about the readiness of the Iranian man on the street for their “dictators…” to be gone.
Now that the USA has created a new set of terrorist “dictators that parade as religious” in Egypt, we may well see the Iranian “dictators…” have lost their support from Washington (that they have relied upon since 1979)
Oh, oil sanctions formerly in Iraq and now and Iran are only to keep supply of oil down and prices up…so “OPEC” (suckers of the weapons deal) will have the money to buy our weapons…
Now if the electricity were to “go down” in Iran for a couple of weeks, it is reasonable to believe the “dictators that parade as religious” in Iran would “go down” with it.
So Mr. Ledeen is correct.
Yes “The Commuless Moscow Weapons Company”: “the song remains the same”…
Separately, he(Putin)urged the diplomats to promote the sale of Russian weapons abroad.
“Don’t hesitate to promote military products,” he said. “Other countries – the United States, France or Israel – have long elevated this to the rank of state policy, which they have been pursuing quite aggressively.”
See Financial Times: http://www.ft.com/cms/s/0/9e603af8-c9df-11e1-844e-00144feabdc0.html#axzz20BqIHUPc
The Russians (Putin) fight for Assad in the prayer they can keep the revolution (Arab Spring) from coming to mother…Russia; same China.
I wonder how come no-one in the USA will tell you that. You should too.
Russian conribution to all diplomatic efforts is “weapons sales” financed by high oil prices and manipulation of ethnic masses,,,sir
Clearly, Jay Getty is a nom de plume. Given the poor english and content, I’m guessing the writer is Chinese.
Now that the USA has created a new set of terrorist “dictators that parade as religious” in Egypt, we may well see the Iranian “dictators…” have lost their support from Washington (that they have relied upon since 1979)
The USA has created nothing, the USA is not a person who can act by hetrself. Barack Obama has created those dictators. In Egypt for instance well before the elections the Obama administration was telling that the Muslim Brotherhood ans Shariah were not so bad. After the elections the Muslim Brotherhood self-proclaimed having won them. Then with the votes still being counted (it took a week) and despite the evidence of opponents of the Brotherhood, specially Christians having been denied their right to vote the Obama administration warned the Egyptian military against denying power to the “legitimate victors”.
PLEASE, get back on your medication!
Many people in this great nation are ready to be rid of the current President … but we have to wait for the right time. I can see November from my house!
It’s about thirty years. I think it needs some outside support. Nobody’s interested.
What keeps the mullahs in power is not their actual power, but the illusion of power which began when they took the employees at US embassy hostage in 1979 and in their mind God gave them the strength so the “Great Satan” with so much power couldn’t do anything about it. Any appeasement or call for negotiations or dialog by the west has been seen as sign of western weakness and mullahs’ strength ever since
cyrus don’t u think that terror keeps them in power? that’s hardly an illusion…
Cogent response Mr. Ledeen. Could it be that terrorism is the most realistic expression of the mullahs power and everything else is just projection?
Yes. “Power comes from the barrel of a gun.” (Mao) It is as simple as that. See: Second amendment to US Constitution.
It seems obvious by now that the regime will not be overthrown by peaceful protest. Therefore someone (but who?) should arm the opposition. It will be bloody, but effective. Ours was. Libya’s was. At least it would keep the mullahs so busy they couldn’t make mischief for the rest of us.
My sense is that Michael Ledeen has not been predicting an Iranian rebellion, but reporting on dissent that is already taking place. I distinctly recall that he disavowed offering any projection of when the rebellion will become powerful enough to succeed. But it is pretty tempting for the reader to speculate that an overthrow is right around the corner. I certainly hope it is.
I was thinking the same thing James.
Perhaps Dr. Ledeen is also himself waiting for the 12th Iman to come so that his predictions will finally come true. By the way, that paradigm comparing past leaders with the present ones is somehow getting rusty. Events are getting faster and faster… in the opposite direction of the mainstream prognoses.
my heroes don’t wear turbans.
…so in your mind, history is becoming obsolete?
Suggesting the comparisons of leaders past to present is somehow gauche only holds weight in the Marxist dialectic where “enlightened” bureaucrats start over with “Year 1″ in attempts to build the “new man.”
Worked well in Cambodia didn’t it?
Your summary is thought provoking. And suggests the things that could affect the situation.
Let us simplify this on going mess.
Iran’s gang has balls, they have some weapons, they have a good propaganda division. They have other gangs that are somewhat friends. But they are trapped and almost broke. But they had another gang give them the info to build a weapon that would not only kill their enemies but get them out of their trap into a better place, a place where their would be wine, women and song for all days.
That is what their leader says anyway.
They are isolated, dumb in social ways and in some other scientific ways but they know enough to bluster and fool some of their enemies.
Their enemies know that they are not much more than impudent but they know about the weapon they are building. They know it could be disastrous, if they are successful, in their hands.
The members of this gang don’t know much, except what they are told. But many suspect that things are not as they seem and that they are heading down the wrong path. But they have no real weapons or friends and worse yet they don’t have the balls that their leaders have.
No this is not down town LA or Chicago, but Iran.
But it will be a hell of a gang fight. Bring your lunch and cameras.
And what happens if a last-gasp 12th Imamy has his finger on a nuclear trigger? Iranians may be wondering the same thing.
And who are the opposition in Iran? Is opposition in any sense better than the current rulers, or they are just another flavor of Islamists? I’ve heard that hatred toward Israel unites the nation. Can Persian “spring” bring any good? How different can it be from the Arab spring?
you heard wrong. very wrong.
Good. Just prove it.
Hey Marina, watch satellite TV and radio programs filled with news, updates, interviews, op ed’s on Iran issues and the Iranian nation’s fight for establishing a secular democratic system of government that historically they had enjoyed throughout times. It seems that you are not very educated on our history, our culture and our psyche.
I recommend you to go and read numerous historical books on Persia, Avesta, and its many thousands of years of glorious history predating Islam which forced it’s filthy barbaric mark on our land, our throats and our lives. They have been enslaving us with the help of many Western leaders 2 of the most important figures being Carter and Giscard d’Estaing of France, Russia and China etc. but they have not been able to erase our IDENTITY and our PERSIAN spirit. They can kill us, our earthy bodies but they cannot kill our Persian spirits.
Down with Islamic Republic and down with its petrified cult of Islam, a force of evil with its culture of hate, murder, rape and torture!
May the herd of the world wise up, read, and stand up against Islamists and their marching force!!!
Prove what? If enmity towards Erez Israel were a unifying force then the 2009 mass uprising of the Iranian people would have never happened. They were all unified, no? Choosing Israel as the enemy is based on two premises. One, the Islamic clergy, for the most part, hates the Jews. Two, a totalitarian state always needs a foreign enemy to justify its massive military spending and domestic oppression of its own people. The story is as old as Orwell’s Eastasia, Eurasia and Oceania. The Islamic clergy claim that they are not against the Jews but against Erez Israel but anti Zionism, for the most part, is a code word for anti-Semitism except among certain groups, generally Jewish, such as Naturei Karta. Choosing Israel as the enemy was an error overlooking the very long and friendly relationship of the Iranian people and the Jews going back to the days of Esther. On the other hand, had the Islamic regime chosen an Arab enemy then they may have been successful in unifying the country. We Iranians, kinda sorta, don’t have fuzzy feelings for dem Arabs never forgetting the havoc they wreaked and barbarity that they introduced in Al Qadesiyah when they gifted us with their religion and their sadistic definition of justice. During the Iran-Iraq war such a unifying effect was evident amongst all Iranians, domestic or in Diaspora. Why? Because the enemy was an Arab. Even Cyrus Reza Pahlavi, the son of the late Shah, volunteered his services as a fighter pilot to engage in combat alongside the forces of the Islamic Republic (I wish he would drop the Reza and just keep the Cyrus). No matter how hard they may try, the Islamic clergy will not succeed in forcing most of the Iranian people to hate the Jews. Iran played host to many Jews who were fleeing the Shoah during WW2 and our Consul in Paris, Abdol Hossein Sardari, issued thousands of passports so that the Jews could leave the country as Iranians. We will also never forget the contributions to progress and development of pre 1979 Iran by such Jewish luminaries as the Elghanians, the Sofers, the Hays and many many more.
Amen, Michael. Your readers should know that Persians are not Arabs.
Clearly Marina, you haven’t been paying attention to the words and actions of the opposition. Unlike the loons in Egypt, the opposition in Iran is largely educated, young, yearning for religious freedom, and pro-US.
I agree that Arab spring brought an Islamic government that is undoubtedly will pleased in the destruction of Israel and America. There is no difference between them and the mullahs. the difference is “they do not wear turbans, but a cravats”.
Yes, indeed the hatred toward Israel unites those whom carries a turbans “baby diapers” on their dumb heads, and it is a common factor between them and between everyone who hold an extremist belief and do follows Muhammad’s teachings and entire Allah’s book which are commanding to jihad and violence and encourages to hatred and scorn toward non-muslims…As Dr. Ledeen has mentioned on Iranian leaders “my heroes don’t wear turbans.”
They are VERY different. Persians are NOT A-rabs. Especially there is the matter that they have had to endure over thirty years of fascistic theocracy forcibly imposed on them. I’ve been reading that hardly anybody under fifty attends the mosques in Iran and the state-imposed religion is held in utter contempt. If the governing thugs lost power tomorrow, by the next day there would be mullahs dangling from lampposts across the country and mosques burning with a merry glow. Heck! Zoroastrianism might make a comeback.
You got it so right friend! That’s what we all say about the day we are free! We’ll get our country back from the yokes of Islamic fascists! With or without the help of the West!
Dear friend, I did not mean the racial equality. I just meant the bloody ruling regime in Iran, and the ideological approach. Both Islamists “Iranians and Arabs” are two sides of one coin. The Islamists are in general an killing monsters and thugs, regardless of race or identity.
In any case, I do NOT believe in the ethnical beliefs, at most I do believe in (Who are you today?!) The Americans “the Great Nation” are a great example on this matter.
So fight them until there is no more Infidels, and all submit to the religion of Allah alone in the whole world.
- Allah in 8:39 of the Holy Ko-Ran
As our news entertainers and politicians scrape the dirt in search of that rarest of breeds, the Moderate Moslem, it’s good to remember that Moslems are driven by Islam’s scriptures, much more so than those following any other belief system.
I’ll betcha a dollar to a doughnut that the Ayatollah Khameini refers to the scriptures frequently, and in the spirit of making script application of them, for they are said to be unwritten, eternal, and infallible.
And who can blame him? Things have gone swimmingly for Moslems the last generation, and they’re working for a breakthrough in the foreseeable future.
Three things have to be worrying the mullahs and the Guards if reports be true. The decaying Iranian birth rate, increasing numbers of Christian converts from Islam and the potential loss of Syria as a base of operations in the eastern Mediterranean. There has to be some serious hate against the Iranians amongst the Syrian Sunnis.
Oh what a disgrace if such a despicable and base lot as the Arabs, which worships a misogynist pedophile demon, should be allowed to enslave and massacre a people which has such a great history of civilization and culture and was made glorious with the Persian name! With what reproaches will the Lord overwhelm us if we do not aid those who are being brutalized and murdered because they fight for their freedom from the Arab quisling Mullahs! Let those who have been accustomed to wage private warfare against the Persians now go with them against the Arabs, and their quislings both in Iran and in the White House, in a Holy Crusade and end with total victory this war with the Mohammedan Arab destroyers of civilization and humanity which should have been begun long ago.
Khamenei is insane but not stupid.
He sees that hanging on to nukes has enabled rogue states ( North Korea ) to survive and sees that giving up nukes has brought down ( Libya ) others.
The Western powers have cooked their own goose and they know it.
Isn’t amazing with all atrocities being committed by Khomeini’s regime against Iranian people and IRI’s terrorist activities around the world, still Kofi Annan must obtain permission from Mullahs for any step he takes in regards to Syria. May be it must not be surprising considering his record in UN in having a cozzy relationship with Mullahs, and his lack of any constructive statement in regards to human rights abuses in Iran. Annan seems to be against freedom and democracy in the ME. I guess each time he travels to Iran, a Persian rug along with some other gifts are presented to him as a token of appreciation in being align with murderers like Khamenie and Assad. Also today Putin repeated line by line what Ahmadinejad said about the West and its future. I guess all backwards and dictators are now in line with each other and united more than ever.
Exactly as you said Kourosh.
These same forces of evil all together aligned and working all together at least more profoundly for the last 10 years hell bent on bringing down US influence in the ME. It has all been Putin’s policy to not only reduce but actually eliminate US influence and prestige in the ME, gain total control of the vast warm sea resources, strengthening the terrorist Islamic regime’s power as it’s own broker in the region against the rest.
The West with its futile broken culture of pacifism, political correctness and lack of wit, smarts, information and most importantly will, has succumbed to the forces of evil in the ME and to the ever conniving Russians. Have you ever noticed how many times Putin has made a mockery of US and its weakening influence and all we do is bark back with nothing to back it up? No real bite? The same goes for the Mullahs in Iran as well of course.
It’s fast becoming a real comedy so sad it is sickening to watch..
Obama is as dumb as illiterate as weak, as wasteful as any President we have has besides and next to Carter!!!
Not that the rest of the West is any better. Islamists and Russians are gaining momentum and are reaching their goal of world domination parallel to the West’s downfall of civilization!
Regimes become more dangerous just before they fall. Seems to me that all that is needed for Iran to fall into complete rebellion is one little spark. Hopefully, the next time we’re presented with another golden opportunity like we were the the rebellion of 2009 we will not hesitate to take advantage of it. Obama and Clinton were fools not to jump on that opportunity. But if Romney gets elected in November, I’m sure he won’t make that same mistake. The only real change in Iran can come from within and it’s also the best option for obtaining change without a massive war taking place. But if Obama wins in November, I fear Israel will have no option but to attack Iran, and that would be a disaster for the entire world. We should be putting all our efforts in encouraging the Iranians to take back their own government. If they do, it’s almost certain they will end their quest for a nuclear weapon, as the above polls showed.
“Iran is not about to start a full-scale military conflict with us because they know they will be decimated.”
For what we spend on our military (not that I begrudge a dollar of it), we’d better be able to do a damned sight better than merely decimating Iran’s forces should they come against us.
I agree, but I think it’s just a matter of terminology. To decimate means to destroy or kill 1/10th. But to annihilate means to destroy or kill all. We don’t seem to have a good word for something in between that means to destroy or kill to a ‘serious’ magnitude. ‘Magnitudinous’?
I suspect that, even if the Iranians did rebel and depose the mullahs, any democratic system they established would be terrorized unmercifully by Muslim extremist factions, as in Iraq and, when we leave, Afghanistan. Maybe that’s why the Iranians are leaving well enough alone. At least the mullahs aren’t car bombing their commercial districts.
With all due respect, I disagree.
We have to realize that behind ALL of the terrorist attacks in all corners of the world from Far East to Europe, from Africa to Middle East and South America there is only 1 central source of material support, plan and organization which is in Islamic Regime. If you look into all of the terrorist attacks throughout the past 32 years or so you will see the hands of the Islamic Regime.
In order to avoid terrorist attacks the center of money must be cut off. There is no center but the Islamic Regime.
Just yesterday one of the Revolutionary guards said that America can do nothing and that they have many of the regime’s followers in Canada that can cross the border into US and conflict pain and suffering for the US if they wish…
You have to realize that the regime has its highly paid agents everywhere around the globe, in US, South America, Far East, Canada, Europe, Africa all over. And do you know how to eliminate them? Just cut off the source of money meaning cut off the centralized unit of terror which is Islamic Regime. The Islamist of the world do not act just for nothing.. they are paid big $$$.. Cut that off and you’ll see they run quickly to their corners like dead mice!!!
The reason we always see surge and a backward turn to Islamic barbarism in all those countries we spent our $$ and blood is that we never fight to the end, we never fight the nucleus of the problem, we just cut off limbs, arms and legs not the heart.. We never showed guts in doing the real damage zapping to eliminate the cancer cell itself!
That’s why we will never succeed in Afghanistan, Iraq, Egypt, Libya, Syria, etc.. as long as the centralized unit of terror called Islamic Regime is in place the Islamic movements and terror will carry on!
“Just yesterday one of the Revolutionary guards said that America can do nothing and that they have many of the regime’s followers in Canada that can cross the border into US and conflict pain and suffering for the US if they wish…”
– - – -
America presently lacks the political/social will to do much more to bad actors than to set out small numbers of our soldiers as street cops scattered lightly over contested ME ground. If one of those soldiers is harmed, we generally lose even that minimal amount of resolve.
The only exception to our dithering occurs when someone attacks us on our home ground. When this happens, we can be aroused from our rather pathetic apathy and do extraordinary violence.
Given that terrorists and their associates can do pretty much whatever they like without interference from us – so long as they stay outside of our borders – I have to assume that those agents positioned in Canada will be aimed at Canada, unless the terrorists are truly irrational.
Rationality has a tendency to evaporate when the prospect of blissful communion with 72 virgins is promised you. Yum Yum. Heck, even the promise of one, virgin or otherwise, will suffice to kick my rationality to the curb (wife not home; typing this alone). Or do you believe that the Islamic terrorists have more carnal control than, say, a Gary Hart, a Bubba Clinton or a John Edwards????
Now that the Muslim Brotherhood is taking over in Egypt, and probably Syria sometime in the near future, the Islamists will have these countries to base their activities from, which will make Iran superfluous.
This may sound nuts, but I think if we had nuked Bora Bora instead of carpet bombing it, we would have sent a far stronger message to the Islamists than we did, pobably would have gotten OBL, and would have spent far less money and no American lives in the process. I suppose the world would have labeled us as war criminals, opening the door to other nuclear nations to do the same sort of thing, etc. But maybe we shouldn’t care about what others say.
How is this for Islamic rationality?
http://frontpagemag.com/2012/raymond-ibrahim/muslim-brotherhood-destroy-the-pyramids/
“No surprise, then, that the security forces are lashing out — even executing men accused of drinking alcohol”
Here is a VIDEO of a members of the Taliban shot dead an Afghan woman accused of adultery in front of a crowd near Kabul. She was shot a few days ago in the village of Qimchok in Shinwari district.
http://www.alarabiya.net/articles/2012/07/10/225606.html
The problem is not only with Khamenei regime, it is also with the strict Islamist groups that wants to impose Sharia law on its own people and on whole the world.
In Afghanistan, How could such heinous acts happen in front of all these people and only a few kilometres from Kabul? Apparently, the Islamic government of president Hamid Karzai is a corrupt and unreliable!
In Egypt, the Islamists won the first free election for president. That means, most of the Egyptian people support the law of Allah.
America’s closest allies in the Middle East (Al-Saud government) is still practicing such punishments on their people and on foreigners as well.
In fact, such punishment makes ALLAH HAPPY, it is the order of Allah that she be executed, which is why the vast majority of Muslims on earth support happily the law of Allah (Sharia). So, I hope that America reviews its relations and dealings with all Arab and Muslim leaders…and stop any aid to them….the good deal with them is (using of Hard-Power), whereas with Muslim terrorist groups (the smart nuclear strikes!)
Mr. Ledeen, please don’t support the efforts of the Marxists. Dumbing down the language is one of the more important, and under-appreciated, means which Marx proposed for enslaving free societies. If we can’t speak well we can’t think well, and thinking well is the antidote for Marxism.
I’m quite sure the American or Israeli military will do far more to the Iranian army than to merely reduce it by one tenth, which is what “decimated” means.
The word comes to us courtesy of the Roman Legions, where the practice was implemented to discourage losing battles. If a unit lost, it was decimated. That is, the unit was lined up and every 10th man was killed on the spot.
Deci = tenth. Decimated means to reduce by one tenth.
Please don’t be part of the problem. Uphold the standards of the English language. Resist the dumbers-down.
I don’t see why you are surprised. “Dumbing down” the language, (as is stirring up base emotions), is an absolute prerequisite for an effective propaganda campaign targeting the broad masses, – by either Left or Right – Islamic radicals or neocons. Reread the article, there are plenty of stereotypes mentioned to rally the targeted audience, by jingo!
During the Middle Ages designers of castles put in small, oval shaped windows that were tapered to be wider inside and narrower from the outside up at the top of the structure. This made such windows difficult to hit from over the moat but a good spot to defend the castle from without too much risk of being hit. These windows were called “loopholes” and the term has come to represent any opening that gives and advantage to one side in an argument. So, by your anal retentive adherence to etymological correctness the modern understanding of this word should be considered a Marxist dumbing down of the language. Although the origin of the word “decimate” is as you write, it has come to be used and accepted as “to cause great destruction or harm” as one of its definitions by Merriam Webster.
heh, as churchill once nicely remarked, “that is the sort of pedantry up with which I cannot put.”
I can’t help but think of this: When one is weak, project strength. When one is strong, project weakness.
Are the remedies to the situation the same as you have expounded before? In other words, a strike fund for those who go on strike, as well as distribution of food for those who consider the status quo to be lacking.