Iranian President Blogger Mahmoud Ahmadinejad
[Guest post by DRJ]
From Abe Greenwald’s online column yesterday at Commentary Magazine … look who has a blog:
“Today’s New York Times reports that Iran’s president, Mahmoud Ahmadinejad, is a blogger.
Mr. Ahmadinejad has tried to touch on most issues that concern him. He has written about freedom in Iran, referring to the protest of students against him a year ago at Amir Kabir University in Tehran as an example of its existence in Iran. “It was a joyous feeling to see a small group insult the elected president of people fearlessly amid a majority,” he wrote, without referring to the fate of the students, many of whom are in prison now.
Cherry-picking like that could get Ahmadinejad a regular spot at The Huffington Post. The Iranian president spends fifteen minutes a week updating readers on everything from his views on Washington to the role of Islam in government. These may be the most valuable fifteen minutes of his time. The U.S. hasn’t been on the winning side of a P.R. war since Radio Free Europe and Radio Liberty broadcast into the Soviet Bloc. Rulers like Ahmadinejad, with no substantive credibility, are master manipulators of public perceptions.”
Here’s a link to the English version of Ahmadinejad’s blog which (full disclosure) I barely read. I did notice the infrequent posts but he claims to spend at least 15 minutes a week reading comments (or summaries of comments – see below) and for now he prefers that to posting.
Ahmadinejad’s posting habits came from his November blog entry entitled “To read or to write, that is the question!” (Who knew Ahmadinejad was a Shakespeare fan?) In it, he noted that he uses “trusted students” to summarize the comments on his blog and that he hopes commenters will keep their comments brief.
It’s a small (online) world after all.
— DRJ
Cherry-picking like that could get Ahmadinejad a regular spot at The Huffington Post.
Someone really good with Photoshop and webpage designing will do a parody of the HuffPo homepage with an Ahmadinejad post prominently displayed. The faux article can be called something like “Why George Bush is the worst President ever.”
JVW (477e5a) — 12/12/2007 @ 9:43 amDRJ,
I have been challenging the Anti-war idiots to send “Mr. I’m in a dinner jacket” their diatribes and demand he disarm, etc. Most of those wankers are too chicken to preach to people who really DO want to hurt them.
PCD (09d6a8) — 12/12/2007 @ 9:52 amAre you sure it’s not just Glenn Greenwald sock-puppeting him?
JayC (7c1245) — 12/12/2007 @ 10:52 amIf my feeble memory of Lit serves well, the Bard was attributed to using more than 1,000 references to the Bible in his plays and writings, giving theologians the general belief that Shakespears was himself a Christian. One would wonder why Ahmadinejad would use such a reference in his post title, “To read or to write, that is the question!”
However, the British Muslim community apparently believes Shakespeare may have been born a Muslim and forced to convert to Catholicism. Ergo their explanation of his conceiving Othello.
Muslim Council of Britain
Nice suggestion for HuffPo…!
EHeavenlyGads (17aca7) — 12/12/2007 @ 11:13 amI have a feeling he will not post my comments.
JD (8eba0d) — 12/12/2007 @ 11:22 amSome of the folks commenting on there, from the States, are practically fellating him.
JD (d660a2) — 12/12/2007 @ 11:59 am6, JD, would they be Nancy Pelosi,Harry Reid, and Keith Olbermann?
PCD (09d6a8) — 12/12/2007 @ 12:49 pmThere’s a huge culture of blogs in Iran, which Ahmadinejad has done his best to weaken. Here’s the other blogger the article mentions, Mohammad Ali Abtahi former vice president to Khatami.
Here’s a list of blogs in English
blah (fb88b3) — 12/12/2007 @ 2:21 pmHere’s a Wikipedia entry on Iranian Bloggers.
It’s not an accident that he chose Amir Kabir University. It’s a techncal institute very much involved in the Iranian nuclear program.
narciso (d671ab) — 12/12/2007 @ 5:28 pmblah,
Those were interesting links. Why do you think Ahmadinejad has a blog?
DRJ (09f144) — 12/12/2007 @ 5:43 pmHowever, the British Muslim community apparently believes Shakespeare may have been born a Muslim and forced to convert to Catholicism. Ergo their explanation of his conceiving Othello.
Actually, Mohammed was born a Catholic. He was an Italian orphan raised by monks. Because of his dark Sicilian looks, he could pass for an Arab. That was the time of the schism between Rome and Constantinople. The Vatican sent him as a missionary to Arabia to establish a threat on the eastern border of the Byzantine Empire. Most likely, he was supposed to preach Roman Catholicism but found out that the cannibals who lived there were not receptive to it. So he modified the Old and some of the New Testament to suit their Stone Age mentality, creating Islam.
nk (26f031) — 12/12/2007 @ 6:49 pmThe previous comment is pure fiction. I’m trying out the premise for my own “DaVinci Code”.
nk (26f031) — 12/12/2007 @ 6:51 pmCareful, nk.
Another Drew (8018ee) — 12/12/2007 @ 7:02 pmA fatwah may be in your future.
If not a fatwah, something worse, a link driveby by blah.
SPQR (26be8b) — 12/12/2007 @ 7:04 pmYeah, but what do you think of the plot line?
nk (26f031) — 12/12/2007 @ 7:04 pmIt’s almost believable; so, it must be true.
Another Drew (8018ee) — 12/12/2007 @ 7:06 pmI ran it by Dan for his OK!
My attitude towards the Jihad monkeys is reflected in “Braveheart” where the Scots turned around, raised their kilts and mooned the English.
Q. What’s the hardest part in the training of an Al Qaeda suicide bomber?
nk (26f031) — 12/12/2007 @ 7:13 pmA. Finding the surgeon to implant the detonator button in his nose.
I don’t get it.
SPQR (26be8b) — 12/12/2007 @ 7:18 pmThat’s because you don’t pick your nose.
nk (26f031) — 12/12/2007 @ 7:21 pmNK,
I suggest you add a Masonic conspiracy to your narrative.
DRJ (09f144) — 12/12/2007 @ 7:23 pmI’d be too afraid too, DRJ. Now those guys do rule the world. Plus I have to drive by one of their children’s hospitals on the way to visit my mother. God only knows what they might set up for me.
nk (26f031) — 12/12/2007 @ 7:36 pm