Nazanin Writes

When people argue in favor of sanctions, they never bother with the real-world consequences Here’s one: Caspian Airlines flight 7908.

"Esther" by Marc Chagall

Before Ahmadinjead was president in 2005, it was easy to discuss political Iran with Americans. The logical explanation read roughly: “it’s a fundamentalist religious regime that doesn’t respect free speech or human rights because to do otherwise would cost them power. The nation has a large oil supply, so the regime can fund it’s power bases against a majority population who loathe them.” It doesn’t take an expert to understand that. Why are people looking for such complicated answers about Middle Eastern oil-based dictatorship strategy!?

Nothing has changed in Iran over the years, but the media gave Ahmadinejad so much capital that Iranian-Americans suddenly began to apologize for the bullshit disseminated by him. Why? Is it that we feel responsible for Ahmadinejad’s speeches and crappy translations thereafter? The reality is that this regime has done more injure Iranian people than anyone else in the US or Europe can complain about, and the groups who have brought him into the spotlight are doing it not for the sake of Iranians, but to boost their own agendas. Israel/America/England bashing by the Islamic Republic is not recent and it’s something that a lot of dissidents have been trying to counter for years now.

In short, I’m tired of the Ahmadinejad conversation because it always goes in circles, as if before Ahmadinejad came on the scene, the leadership in Iran was decent, stable, or logical. I like  Shirin Ebadi’s suggestion (when you click the link, scroll down to options for response) about what the world can do to ensure that the Iranian government feel shame for the suppression of the recent uprising: stop international political relations. Kick them out of the UN. Kick them out of regional bodies. Kick them out until they are left face to face with each other and the people who are willing to die to oust them.

That’s what makes living in the US as an ordinary Iranian-American during Iran news explosions annoying. In a perfect world, people would be curious about the truly amazing things Iranian culture has to offer – Shajarian, Rumi, Hafez, Fourough Farrokhzad. Even damn Kabob questions would be better than talking about what is painfully true about Iran – it’s a nation full of creative people who have suffered because of stupid, selfish leaders. I hate being asked about political Iran because people expect you to give them “inside information”. When really, all you can say is “It’s really sad that people are dying for basic rights, something the previous generation in 1979 thought they were fighting for. I’m really lucky to live here where I can read quietly in a library, oblivious of what’s going on outside, spontaneously decide to watch a movie with crude language, then attend a rally to support human targets abroad.” I think most Iranians are participating in freedom rallies, arguing over flags and politicians because they feel so powerless. Some people admit it and others are in denial.

I’m not saying this as a die-hard Milbank fan, but I agree with him that what Nico Pitney was allowed to do during the Obama press conference was unfair. The White House Press Corp, no doubt a snobby and cut-throat bunch, are entitled to a certain degree of respect with regard to their profession. I think that what Nico Pitney the White House did by their question fishing flew in the face of the free press. The Bush White House was terminally guilty of this, but I’m surprised Obama did it. My guess is that because the circumstances were unique, the White House was willing to suspend the traditional rules on the questioning floor, thinking that people would probably not notice. What a grave mistake that proved to be, given the serious veterans who witnessed the awkward moment, that wasn’t even worth the dramatics in the long run.

I think Nico does a terrible job of defending what happened, and he should just admit to this special treatment resulting from the near revolutionary events, rather than defend it as fair OR worse, go on the offense and make fun of Milbank’s sketches. Milbank has more talent in a single hair follicle than Nico can dream of housing in his entire body.

At the 5 minute mark in this vintage Bill Maher, I wanted to clap for Professor Abukhalil. What he says makes such good sense: the surprise for Americans is that the Middle East rejects “with us or against us” because they are against both Taleban and US foreign policy.

This formula applies to my feelings about the Iranian uprising, and I’d guess I’m not the only Iranian who believes this. That is, one can be against the US policies (sanctions which keep capital in the hands of a greedy few, warmongering, and meddling), while also rejecting the Iranian regime and it’s indifference toward gender equality and free speech.

A lot of the oil that fuels the world and the goods we purchase (made in China), is mostly from Iran. That oil might as well be blood. While oil is a rich and precious natural resource, petroleum based technology has caused more problems for humanity which are rivaled only by the nuclear bomb.

Here’s a 20 questions session between Reza Pahlavi and Deborah Solomon, published by the New York Times 6/26/09. If you waste a minute to read it, you’ll learn that Reza doesn’t acknowledge the lack of basic rights before Khomeini came to Iran from exile. He says that the recent uprising is about “the past 30 years when there has been a lack of human rights”. He admits to being a dreadful Shiite Muslim, a man of faith. He says that he doesn’t have a major amount of wealth, and that his Bethesda, MD residence is actually “temporary”. I don’t believe him when he says that the Americans haven’t tapped him to discuss regime change, but if that’s true, what a sorry case he really is. When the American intelligence doesn’t want to deal with a possible figurehead in an oil rich country, you have to be a serious liability or moron, or both.

He doesn’t have any serious points to make about who he is or what he does that inspires anything but embarrassment. The most interesting answer he gave was this:

Some say the media clampdown in Iran and censorship of the foreign press are tactics Ahmadinejad learned from your father. You don’t feel obligated to acknowledge your dad’s misdeeds?
The current regime is, by any measure, the standard-bearer and global poster child for militancy, brute autocracy and corruption. If they are in fact students of my father, his ultimate act of refusing suppressive bloodshed in favor of exile should be their test.

Here’s where I think Reza has been living a useless life, and one that most royal sons fall victim to. Socrates said that the unexamined life is not worth living. Anyone who wasn’t residing in the bowels of the Pahlavi family understood the lack of rights and the threat of torture and jail if they posed even the threat of sneezing on the shah. I had a poetry teacher at the University of Maryland who was put in prison by the shah. He refuses to acknowledge any wrong doing on the Pahlavi account, which makes it clear that not only is he deluded, but a dangerous man. How can you deny one oppression and claim to object to another? Because your father was the one who ordered the previous bloodshed.

In 1963, in the lead up to 1979, there was a major uprising against the shah. Historians estimate that he ordered 15,000-20,000 participants killed. I think Reza may been in the womb, but denying these facts means that he doesn’t fully understand why Iran is what it is today, or why he is living in Bethesda in the first place.

I wish Reza Pahlavi would find something better to do than make himself appear accomplished or knowledgeable about Iran. He is much more likable when he remains a quiet, devoted father and husband.

Finally, here’s where the power of written editing rivals video editing. The final question and answer should also be a point of interest to anyone who has followed Reza.

Do you feel bitter about not getting to be shah?
This is not a personal matter. This is not about me.

Reza can’t state the obvious here, so I will. Reza Pahlavi is very bitter about not getting to be shah. He has to live with his father’s mistakes and disastrous policies that led to his family’s fall from grace. Most of his supporters do not support him because of his intellectual power. Rather, most of them are pro-monarchists who live in exile and like Reza, resent the revolution. Reza does not even acknowledge the revolution or its causes. He probably views it as a ridiculous bunch of morons who altered the path of his royal destiny. Too bad.

So in conclusion, his work, if we can call it that, is all about Reza, and he will never refuse an opportunity to demonstrate that. Benazir Bhutto went on a similar media blitz before she returned to Pakistan. Unlike Bhutto, Reza Pahlavi isn’t going anywhere. He will remain in Bethesda, a zip code where most residents earned an address in through hard work, one of the many basic concepts that are too foreign for Reza Pahlavi to give a interesting or coherent interview.