Tuesday, June 17, 2008
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Published: Tuesday, June 17, 2008
* Blogging politics
Blogger Behnam has compared Tehran’s mayor, Mohammad Baqer Qalibafi, with George Soros, the rich man residing in America, who uses his wealth to assist the projects that promote democracy. Behnam uses this analogy to analyze Qalibaf’s activities on the eve of the upcoming presidential elections campaign.
“… Hamshahri Newspaper is the official arm of the Tehran Municipality. But a host of other media in Tehran, including Rooznameh Javan (Youth Newspaper), Rooznameh Kargozaran (affiliated with the Kargozaran Political Party), Mehr News Agency, Shahr News Agency; Mahnameh Tazeh (New Monthly); Tehrani News Website, Iran Football News Sit, and Jahaan-e Varzesh (World of Sports) electronic newspaper act as publicity arms of Mr. Qalibaf.
At the same time, it is said that three websites, including Farda News, Asr-e Iran and Fararu, operated by Qalibaf’s relatives, have assumed a more naked mission to counter opposing political moves.
With more than 30 newspapers, news agencies, and websites in Iran (official and unofficial) as well as cultural centers and educational institutions at his disposal, coupled with his position as the chief executive of Iran’s most political city, Qalibaf can rightly be called Iran’s George Soros.
Using the media as a tool, Iran’s George Soros is trying to steal the next election away from his conservative rival, [Mahmoud] Ahmadinejad.
You could say that the Hungarian-born George Soros is concerned with changing [or improving] the system in this part [of the world] while the Mashhad-born [eastern Iranian city] George Soros is thinking about power grabbing in the country.
Interestingly, none of the media outlets owned by the Iranian George Soros have so far been banned by Ahmadinejad.
Tuesday, June 17, 2008
http://zerpiran.blogfa.com/post-56.aspx
The topic of moral depravity of the Islamic Republic’s officials, and the recent infamous incidents leading to their arrest and forced transfer to other regions of the country has inspired Behzad to compare the current fiascos to events in previous years, when the Reformists were in power and accusations that the Islamic Guidance Minister at the time was morally corrupt made headlines. In his weblog “Derakht-e Bedoone-e Sayeh” [Tree without Shade], he writes:
“At the time, a giddy group of people talked up the events surrounding Atta-ollah Mohajerani, and made revealing details of his personal affair and sex life daily. Maybe they never thought that one day, one of their own lot would drop his pants, and his sex life would become a point of friction between Reformists and Principlists. This is despicable. Political factions mustn’t make such a big deal out of immoral behavior. Disturbing dreams and nightmares of sex are gripping the world and leading it astray….”
Tuesday, June 17, 2008
http://behzadafshari.blogfa.com/post-519.aspx
In their weblog “Café Titre” [Headline Café], Beeta and Behnam criticizes the systematic filtering of weblogs, and consider several aspects of the issue. First, they are of the opinion that “blocking weblogs and other internet sites is not a significant problem because thousands of software types exist that any novice could use to get through the filters.” On the other hand they consider all the problems that haunt activists and other web loggers and owners of internet sites. They enumerate some of these problems:
“…the result [of these measures] is that journalists lose their jobs and side-jobs because of past charges brought against them [presumably for blogging]. Those few websites and blogs worth remembering are filtered. Unemployment, poverty and anonymity [result]…on the other hand they are begging to go somewhere where there is employment, peace, stability, money and everything else they might need. Whether this is an illusion or not, I don’t know. But every day, I see what lengths bright kids are forced to go to because they have no other choices. I wish they would set up a committee to analyze why people give up and leave and tell us….”
Tuesday, June 17, 2008
http://titrcafe.blogspot.com/2008/05/blog-post_19.html
In a daily posting on the weblog “Abdolghare-e Baluchi” [Baluchi Abdolghader], the author recounts a story from an old animal fable [presumably from the Kalileh o Demneh, or the Fables of Bidpai,] to tackle the issue of corruption among officials. It seems he is specifically addressing the fiasco in Zanjan University, where a university official offered a female student protection from expulsion in exchange for sexual favors.
“A bear who feigned religion forced himself on a gazelle. In desperation, the gazelle turned to the rabbits for help. The rabbits ambushed the bear and beat him silly. Fox’s posse, who were in charge of everything in the jungle, cornered the rabbits and accused them of defaming the bear’s character.”
Tuesday, June 17, 2008
http://balouch.blogspot.com/2008/06/blog-post_16.html
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