Ahmadinejad's Proposal in New York

Iranian blogger, Kamal Tehrani, Rooz Online:

News from the Islamic Republic of Iran's presidential palace in Tehran indicates that Mahmoud Ahmadinejad, Iran's hardline president is trying to copy the political style of former president Mohammad Khatami and achieve domestic and international credibility. Working with his close advisors, Ahmadinejad is preparing a message to be delivered at the forthcoming UN’s annual General Assembly meeting in New York. His model is Khatami and the speech that the latter gave that caught the attention of the international media and world leaders. Khatami introduced the idea of "Dialogue Among Civilizations" that was also proclaimed by the UN as its message of the year. Now Ahmadinejad wants to propose the "International Year of Human Kindness". READ MORE

Iran's new fundamentalist president hs been trying hard, since he came to power, to bring the culture of "kindness" to the political literature of Iran. It is even said that in his official notes to his colleagues he includes a sentence to remind them to be kind to people. This is, after all, the slogan on which he campaigned and promise he made to the public.

Analysts watching the Iranian scene point out to how short-sighted the current policy and decision makers are in that they cannot notice the fundamental differences between themselves and members of Khatami’s entourage and government. While most of Khatami’s advisers and aides came from prestigious universities, where among other things, they at least studied the world outside Iran, the current holders of power, lack anything close to that.

They of course cannot even see the difference that Khatami as a person made and his worldview and message to the world, compared to what Ahmadinejad stands for today.

It is mind-boggling that those surrounding and advising Ahmadinejad ignore the negative publicity that Ahmadinejad and his team have been receiving in the international press and in the decision making centers of the world before they even came to office. They are in denial that world capitals see him as a threat, rather than a peaceful new comer.

One wonders how the new officials in Tehran expect the UN or is members to welcome Ahmadinejad’s call for the “International Year of Human Kindness” to be taken seriously when the world is preoccupied with issues that seem to be beyond the comprehension of the new political faces in Tehran. Or perhaps they too know all this, and these announcements and declarations are simply for domestic consumption purposes, to be capitalized on in the forthcoming weeks.