The world froths at the thought of Iran acquiring nuclear weapons (and hopes and pray that the Islamic regime is in fact lying about its oil wealth). As usual, the view of the Iranian people are routinely ignored by the Western media (and their views are, as expected, very diverse.)
Hossein Derakhshan is one of the more well-known Iranian bloggers (now living in Canada and Europe.) He is pro-Western and anti-Ahmadinejad and yet a recent blog post reveals a growing anger towards the US:
It’s the ultimate hypocrisy of the West to punish Iran for a crime Iran has not committed.
When no one has found the tiniest evidence of Iran breaking the non-proliferation treaty that it has signed, what international law justifies the UN security council’s sanctions on Iran?
Since when the international law has been able to measure intentions of countries, if they say Iran intends to produce nuclear weapons? And how come the same UN Security council allows India, Pakistan to continue their attempts to produce and expand nuclear weaponry? (Although I repeat that I believe Iran has to produce weapons as deterrent after making peace with Israel.)
I believe Negri and Hardt are right to suggest that the new Empire, the United States, applies its dominance through supposedly neutral International organizations.
The more the clash between the West and Iran escalates, the more convinced I become that soon I have to take one side in this nasty conflict. Between Bush and Khamanei, I definitely take Khamanei’s side.
Islamic Republic and Khamenei’s worst is way better than anything that the United States or the European Union can bring to Iran.
And I’m saying this as a well-traveled Atheist who enjoys his best days of life in the wonderful capitals of Europe and who dreams of a secular Iran, run by a totally open democracy, with total peace with its neighbors including Israel. Not as a fanatic, religious support of Khamenei or Ahmadinejad or even Khatami.
My strong support for the reformists in Iran is more a matter of pragmatism, than an ideological one. I can’t even tolerate having dinner with most of these people who still believe in God and heaven and hell — and obviously never have tasted the joy of drinking May, or wine as it’s known in Persian literature.
If the US waged a war against Iran, I’d absolutely go back and defend Iran. I can’t let myself to sit down for a moment and watch they make a Baghdad out of Tehran.
Fortunately, I’m not alone.
Oh, puh-leez! How can you take Hossein Derakhshan seriously? The guy has no job, he has no university degree, he has not lived in Iran since 2000 (and has only visited once since then). All he does is flit around the world, getting paid to attend conferences and giving the same powerpoint presentation over and over. The guy is a complete charlatan.
He is a pariah amogst Iranian bloggers because he has systematically attacked Iranian anti-regime activists who were jailed and tortured simply for expressing their opinion – e.g. Akbar Ganji, a dissident journalist was jailed and tortured for six years for revealing that the Iranian regime is responsible for murdering 80 journalists who dared to criticize the government.
Yeah, Hoder is *such* a human rights activist.
And besides that, Hoder is doing everything he can to find a way to live in the United States. If he hates America so much, why does he want to live there so badly?