The Problem with Iran

Published under Iran Oct 07, 2008

What is the problem with the Iranian regime?

  • Just this last week the Washington Post reported that yet again the Iranian government had sponsored a contest and released a book that caricatured the Holocaust.  No matter what political position any person or country may hold, mocking a human tragedy and fomenting racism against any peoples betrays the sanctity of life and offends all of humanity.
  • And at the very same time, this very Iranian regime continues to pursue efforts to develop nuclear bombs, according to Mohamed El Baradei, IAEA’s Director, as reported by Reuters.

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In a watershed development, Syria recently condemned radical Islamists as responsible for a terrorist act in Damascus.  And Pakistanis are increasingly rejecting Al-Qaeda and Osama bin Laden (as opposed to a regrettable situation where a significant portion of that population was empathetic in the past).  Across the Arab world and Muslim society, more and more citizens are recognizing the imperative of standing up against all forms of violent extremism…

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Earlier today at a rally when John McCain asked, "Who is Barack Obama?", a supporter shouted back, "Terrorist."

And at a rally led by Sarah Palin, when she mischaracterized a New York Times story as pointing to an alliance between Obama and Bill Ayers, someone screamed "Kill him."

Neither McCain nor Palin have actually advocated such actions or said that Obama himself is a "terrorist," but they and their campaign have certainly engaged in smear campaigns creating enough innuendos to cause an atmosphere where such rants would not be totally unexpected.

This eerily reminds me of the atmosphere before Yitzhak Rabin was assassinated in Israel.  Far-right Israelis had been engaging in a campaign of vilification against Rabin for months.  Right-wing politicians had done nothing to discourage extreme incitement or death threats against Rabin.  Posters filled the walls across Israel with horrifying statements and dehumanizing captions against Rabin.  Extremist Rabbis said Rabin was betraying Jews and was cursed to death.

Then came Yigal Amir, the assassin who shot Yitzhak Rabin at point blank.  When asked, he said he was inspired to kill Rabin to avenge the Jewish people and prevent him undermining Israel.

Suddenly after Rabin’s chilling assassination, everyone was against dehumanization and incitement.  Everyone had condemned such vitriol all along.  Everyone loved Rabin, the martyr and hero.  It was unclear how all those posters got posted on the walls, or who had made all those calls into radio stations with threats against Rabin.

Before Rabin’s fate presages Obama’s, McCain and Palin – and in particularly Sarah Palin, whose hateful accusations earlier today were only little short of the more fanatical ones out there – have the responsibility to draw the line and demand from their followers a civil discourse based on the issues, recognizing the patriotism of their counterpart, instead of raising suspicions about Obama’s commitment to America, as Palin explicitly did throughout her rally earlier today.

If something happens to Obama, not only the McCain campaign but also all the "swift" teams and fear-mongering groups that are crossing the line will share in the responsibility for creating the environment that caused some fanatical follower to avenge the American people.

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From San Antonio Express News on the business of peace:

Yvan Cournoyer, business development manager for H-E-B, said the South Texas grocer had known of Kind bars for some time and began selling them in select stores in 2002. “The bar became more prominent in the energy bar segment,” Cournoyer said. “Last year, it was one of the best sellers for the H-E-B stores that had it. So at the beginning of 2008, we made a strategic decision to bring it to the vast majority.”

“So in a few short years, it went from being this obscure product to mainstream,” Cournoyer said. “It’s a very sought after energy bar that tastes great and is very healthy for you. At the same time, there’s a great story behind the Kind company.”

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Eytan Heller’s creative video to inspire people to visualize what could be in the Middle East in 2018 (part of our Imagine 2018 campaign) has been nominated as one of 24 finalists (out of several hundred contenders) for the Viral Video Awards

Check it out and vote for it.

http://www.viralvideoaward.com/

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Rachael Ray, host of the second highest rated daytime show behind Oprah with an average daily audience of 2.6 million people, discovered KIND bars and passionately praised them:

These are DE-LI-CIOUS… …Yum. They are sooo good… …And they are delicious and very nutritious.

- Rachael Ray :-)

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Robert Frank provides an elegantly simple explanation of the individual and collective behaviors & motivations that cause asset bubbles, and the means to prevent them.

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I find NYTimes columnist Frank Rich to be very insightful except for his obsessive Democratic bias. It makes many of his stories predictably partisan, reflexively anti-Republican. That said, this one contains some particularly interesting comments about the campaign.

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…rather than what people want to hear – hopefully not too late…

Olmert Says Israel Should Pull Out of West Bank

By ETHAN BRONNER, New York Times, September 30, 2008

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