The infamous "cake & sandis" package given by the government to those basijis and poor people as bribe to attend the 22 Bahman rally.




 
The amounts and the variety of the goods used as bribe is indicative of how weak and unpopular the regime is among its people and to what extents it has to stretch its resources to be able to gather some  20-30  thousand people for its government celebrations!

It also indicates that a large swat of the government's support mass is easily swayed with the slightest bit of favors and would readily drop and change their loyalty in favor of the highest bidder. But the most important conlcusion is that 30 years of constant ideological brain washing through various means, has resulted in very little impact and sway on the true belief and conscience of Iran's population ... that more than 3 decades of effort to transform the population of Iran into a homogenous and ideologically backward identity has failed.

Two dictators down, one more to go

First they ignore you,
Then they laugh at you,
Then they fight you,
Then, you win.
                      (Mahatma Gandhi)

Dictators must go

In the name of the Ayatollah: Scott Peterson interview from Cogent Benger on Vimeo.

In the name of the Ayatollah: Dr. Payam Akhavan interview from Cogent Benger on Vimeo.

First they came for ...

Growing antipathy towards the issue of executions

The Islamic regime, in 2011 has stepped up its executions beyond the shameful rates of 2010 (according to an estimate, there has been an execution every 8 hours, which is 3  every day in 2011) and has adopted a different strategy on the matter. By randomly picking different regions and big and small towns to conduct the executions in ones and twos, they have flown under the radar of most human rights groups as well as media. Although the failure of prominent opposition leaders’ reaction towards these executions is a far more worrying concern. Their silence is, in my opinion, tantamount to acceptance or at best, an indifference to this crime against humanity.

But the blame should not stop at the doorstep of the leaders. Most of the activists, bloggers and opposition media have also shown scant interest in pursuing this grave matter. A part of it could be the regime’s insistence on continuing its political executions which may have increased the moral immunity of the population in Iran as well as the expatriates! A stark contrast from the last year’s fervor created on Sakineh Ashtiani’s sentence, that saw a concerted effort on part of various groups to bring the issue to the forefront of international media. A case that was not even a political one! But today, while we see an increased rate and number of executions, we hardly come across any gathering, rally or media blitz!

The regime started its murders initially targeting minorities like Bahais, Kurds and Baluchis under the guise of dealing with “armed opposition” or “conducting velvet revolution” and unfortunately many opposition groups failed to show any foresight to condemn these executions even if they did not share the ideologies or thesis of these minorities. Having seen the abysmal reaction of the opposition and their lack of unity, the regime stepped up and widened its reach and gradually included more groups and sects while on the other hand, the opposition looked more distracted and preoccupied with the high profile distractions like the nuclear ambitions, minor skirmishes between rival factions in the government and Ahmadinejad’s diversionary rhetoric.

The regime by applying tremendous amount of pressure on the families of the political prisoners, force them to remain silent and discourage whipping up the public sentiments. These families are often promised the release of their loved ones in return for their consent and silence. However, majority of these promises go unrealized and the heinous deed is carried out with no reprieve.

The only way to stop this villainy is to show as much interest and attention to this issue as we show to the other talking-points of the day such as the subsidies and nuclear talks. By publicizing the executions, spread of information on the prisoners and their pictures and keeping up the zeal most of us showed a year or so ago. By allowing the regime to get away with mass execution of those who think differently from them, we make way for more horrendous crimes against a wider populace in the near future.

Let us not forget the wise words, that I find quite apt, of Martin Niemoeller who said:

“First they came for the Communists, but I was not a Communist so I did not speak out. Then they came for the Socialists and the Trade Unionists, but I was neither, so I did not speak out. Then they came for the Jews, but I was not a Jew so I did not speak out. And when they came for me, there was no one left to speak out for me."

Iran to import natural gas from Azerbaijan!

I came across an incredulous and extremely shocking news today, discovering Iran, in possession of the second-largest reserves of natural gas in the world has contracted the nation of Azerbaijan, to purchase its natural gas to the tune of 1 billion cubic meter per year!!!

Yes, it is unfortunately true. The country with such tremendous reserves ought to be earning billions of dollars per year from export of its natural gas … and yet, we see, due to amazing levels of incompetence on the part of our officials and use of unqualified experts, coupled with some of the most anti-nationalistic policies in the history of our great nation, we are forced to import natural gas. All the while, our own reserves are being depleted at an alarming rate by Qatar, who shares our massive southern gas reserves!

Is there no bottom to the level of incompetence and mismanagement of this regime?