Monday's Daily Briefing on Iran

DoctorZin reports, 8.29.2005:

A Clash of Civilizations

Amir Taheri, Newsweek International:

Eight years ago a pirated translation of Samuel Huntington's celebrated essay "The Clash of Civilizations and the Remaking of the World Order" appeared in Tehran.

The publisher received an order for 1,000 copies, half the print run. "We wondered who wanted them," recalls Mustafa Tunkaboni, who marketed the book. The answer came when a military truck belonging to the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps arrived to pick up the books. Among the officers who received a copy was Yahya Safavi, now a general and commander in chief of the Guards. Another went to one Mahmoud Ahmadinejad, a former Reserve officer in the Guards who is now president of the Islamic republic.

Iran is grossly misunderstood in the West. Given headlines in Europe and America, you would think that the crisis in relations is about nuclear weapons. But the real cause is far broader: Iran's determination to reshape the Middle East in its own image—a deliberate "clash of civilizations" with the United States. This is bound up with a second misconception about Iran, the idea that the regime is divided between "conservatives" who oppose accommodation with America and the West, and "moderates" more inclined to return their country to the community of nations. The real power in Iran, punctuated by the ascent of Ahmadinejad as president, is now the Revolutionary Guards. READ MORE

A must read.

Here are a few other news items you may have missed.

• Banafsheh Zand-Bonazzzi, Iran Press translated a number of interesting news items not seen in the western press. She includes statements by the Supreme Leader on women and the Islamic regime's agents involved in drug smuggling.
• Iran Focus reported that Ahmadinejad is planning to appoint his close confidante Ali Saeedlou as director of the country’s central bank, after he was denied the cabinet post of oil minister by the parliament.
• Forbes reported that Ahmadinejad has appointed an interim head of the oil ministry..
• Xinhuanet reported that the Chief of Iran's Atomic Energy Organization (IAEO) Gholamreza Aqazadeh has been reappointed by President Mahmud Ahmadinejad.
• Claude Salhani, UPI, Monster & Critics reported that Iran's Revolutionary Guard commander met secretly with A.Q. Khan, the father of Pakistan`s atomic bomb, in an effort to acquire nuclear-capable missiles.
• Rooz Online published a brief history of assassinations of judicial Officials in Iran.
• Iranian blogger, Maryam Kashani, Rooz Online published an interview with Emad Afrough, one of the conservative MPs who spoke of the weaknesses of Ahmadinejad's cabinet candidates.
• SMCCDI reported that social and political conditions are worsening in Iran as the Islamic republic regime is increasing the repression.
• Reuters reported that Chirac said Iran must suspend its nuclear plans or face UN referral.
• Iran Focus reported that Iran’s State Security Forces have arrested 442 “trouble-makers” in the coastal province of Gilan.
• IranMania reported that Iran's former speaker of the parliament, Mehdi Karroubi will launch a satellite TV network called "Saba" Television.
• Iranian blogger, Farnaz Ghazizadeh, Rooz Online reported that the hardline daily Keyhan has warned Mehdi Karrubi that he may join the other isolated clerics if he insists on launching his own satellite television network.
• The Financial Times reported that the Iranian government is facing a new security challenge from a small, armed Iranian Kurdish group, Pejak or the Party for a Free Life.
• And finally, Rooz Online reported that Akbar Ganji's wife said she is expecting her husband to be freed soon.