Ayatullah Ali Akbar Hashemi Rafsanjani. We know Rafsanjani as Ahmedinejad's predecessor as president. He has been portrayed as moderate to liberal, which means different things in Iran than it does in the West. Rafsanjani condemned the 1991 Gulf war and refused to lift the fatwa imposed by Khomeini on Salman Rushdie. He is a mutjahid(Islamic scholar) and holds its highest rank, Ayatullah. So if he gains power, you will not see the appearance of Playboy magazine and liquor stores opening in the bazaars. Rafsanjani's power lies in his chairmanship of an 86 man body called the Assembly of Experts. This group decides who will be the next Supreme Leader of the nation. They also have the power to depose a Supreme Leader, which is where I expect we will see some action. He is also holder of the chairmanship of a body called the Expediency Discemment Council, which resolves disputes between the Majlis(elected legislature) and the Council of Guardians(which deals with constitutional and electoral matters)
As Supreme Leader Ayatullah Ali Khamenei has backed the election of Ahmedinejad and is presently escalating the repression of dissent, many members of the Iranian government feel uncomfortable with that, and look to Rafsanjani to lead them out of this mess. He has already called for a meeting of the Assembly of Experts, but whether he has the votes to oust Khamenei is unknown. Rafsanjani has always had the support of the bazaaris(read yesterdays post). He favors a free market econony and dialogue with America. Watch for this sign: if the bazaaris decide to strike and close the shops, then we are headed towards what might become a revolution of sorts.
Little will really change internationally. Iran has become a regional power in the area and will want to exercise that power. She is active in Iraq and already siphons off quite a bit of Iraqi oil. The Arabs see Iran as wanting to spread the Shia version of Islam, and that frightens them. America needs Iran as a working partner in Iraq and in Afghanistan for American policy to succeed, yet has to be able to temper any Iranian imperialist aspirations to consol the Saudis and other gulf/oil states.
Here are some quotes from Rafsanjani to give you an idea of his political philosophy"
If one day, the Islamic world is also equipped with weapons like those that Israel possesses now, then the imperialists' strategy will reach a standstill because the use of even one nuclear bomb inside Israel will destroy everything. However, it will only harm the Islamic world. It is not irrational to contemplate such an eventuality. Of course, you can see that the Americans have kept their eyes peeled and they are carefully looking for even the slightest hint that technological advances are being made by an independent Islamic country. If an independent Islamic country is thinking about acquiring other kinds of weaponry, then they will do their utmost to prevent it from acquiring them. Well, that is something that almost the entire world is discussing right now. (December 2001)[26]
If the Americans attack Iran, the world will change. …They will not dare to make such a mistake (2004)[27]
We are not bothering anyone, but we have acquired nuclear expertise and we want to benefit from it to improve our life.
You need diplomacy and not slogans. This is the place for wisdom, the place for seeking windows that will take you to the objective. (2005)[28]
We want all the Palestinians back in their homeland, and then there can be a fair referendum for people to choose the form of state they want. Whoever gets the majority can rule. (2005)[29]
There is no doubt that America is a superpower of the world and we cannot ignore them. I think that Americans should gradually begin to adopt positive behavior rather than doing evil. They should not expect an immediate reaction in return for their positive measures. It will take time.[30]
I believe the main solution [referring to the nuclear issue] is to gain the trust of Europe and America and to remove their concerns over the peaceful nature of our nuclear industry and to assure them that there will never be a diversion to military use.[31]
Europe resolved a great problem – the problem of the Zionist danger. The Zionists, who constituted a strong political party in Europe, caused much disorder there. Since they had a lot of property and controlled an empire of propaganda, they made the European governments helpless. What Hitler and the German Nazis did to the Jews of Europe at that time was partly due to these circumstances with the Jews. They wanted to expel the Zionists from Europe because they always were a pain in the neck for the governments there. This is how this calamity fell upon the Muslims, especially the Palestinians, and you all know this history, more or less.[...]The first goal was to save Europe from the evil of Zionism, and in this, they have been relatively successful. [32]
Look, as long as we can enrich uranium and master the fuel cycle, we don’t need anything else. Our neighbors will be able to draw the proper conclusions.[33]
The quotes were taken from Wikipedia
As Supreme Leader Ayatullah Ali Khamenei has backed the election of Ahmedinejad and is presently escalating the repression of dissent, many members of the Iranian government feel uncomfortable with that, and look to Rafsanjani to lead them out of this mess. He has already called for a meeting of the Assembly of Experts, but whether he has the votes to oust Khamenei is unknown. Rafsanjani has always had the support of the bazaaris(read yesterdays post). He favors a free market econony and dialogue with America. Watch for this sign: if the bazaaris decide to strike and close the shops, then we are headed towards what might become a revolution of sorts.
Little will really change internationally. Iran has become a regional power in the area and will want to exercise that power. She is active in Iraq and already siphons off quite a bit of Iraqi oil. The Arabs see Iran as wanting to spread the Shia version of Islam, and that frightens them. America needs Iran as a working partner in Iraq and in Afghanistan for American policy to succeed, yet has to be able to temper any Iranian imperialist aspirations to consol the Saudis and other gulf/oil states.
Here are some quotes from Rafsanjani to give you an idea of his political philosophy"
If one day, the Islamic world is also equipped with weapons like those that Israel possesses now, then the imperialists' strategy will reach a standstill because the use of even one nuclear bomb inside Israel will destroy everything. However, it will only harm the Islamic world. It is not irrational to contemplate such an eventuality. Of course, you can see that the Americans have kept their eyes peeled and they are carefully looking for even the slightest hint that technological advances are being made by an independent Islamic country. If an independent Islamic country is thinking about acquiring other kinds of weaponry, then they will do their utmost to prevent it from acquiring them. Well, that is something that almost the entire world is discussing right now. (December 2001)[26]
If the Americans attack Iran, the world will change. …They will not dare to make such a mistake (2004)[27]
We are not bothering anyone, but we have acquired nuclear expertise and we want to benefit from it to improve our life.
You need diplomacy and not slogans. This is the place for wisdom, the place for seeking windows that will take you to the objective. (2005)[28]
We want all the Palestinians back in their homeland, and then there can be a fair referendum for people to choose the form of state they want. Whoever gets the majority can rule. (2005)[29]
There is no doubt that America is a superpower of the world and we cannot ignore them. I think that Americans should gradually begin to adopt positive behavior rather than doing evil. They should not expect an immediate reaction in return for their positive measures. It will take time.[30]
I believe the main solution [referring to the nuclear issue] is to gain the trust of Europe and America and to remove their concerns over the peaceful nature of our nuclear industry and to assure them that there will never be a diversion to military use.[31]
Europe resolved a great problem – the problem of the Zionist danger. The Zionists, who constituted a strong political party in Europe, caused much disorder there. Since they had a lot of property and controlled an empire of propaganda, they made the European governments helpless. What Hitler and the German Nazis did to the Jews of Europe at that time was partly due to these circumstances with the Jews. They wanted to expel the Zionists from Europe because they always were a pain in the neck for the governments there. This is how this calamity fell upon the Muslims, especially the Palestinians, and you all know this history, more or less.[...]The first goal was to save Europe from the evil of Zionism, and in this, they have been relatively successful. [32]
Look, as long as we can enrich uranium and master the fuel cycle, we don’t need anything else. Our neighbors will be able to draw the proper conclusions.[33]
The quotes were taken from Wikipedia
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