Jan van Eck + 7,558 MG September 14, 2019 1 minute ago, Zhong Lu said: There's also the irony that Iran is arguably the only functional democracy in the Middle East. Oh, please!!!!! The "government" murders 33,000 political opponents and you have the nerve to call it a "democracy"! OUTRAGEOUS! 1 Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Zhong Lu + 845 September 14, 2019 (edited) It's "democracy" in quotation marks. There's no freedom of press, but there are elections and they do matter and different power groups share power afterwards. It's like this weird theocratic democracy. I don't think there's even a word for it. "Democracy" and "freedom of press/speech" are actually two separate concepts. Edited September 14, 2019 by Zhong Lu Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Guest September 14, 2019 (edited) 1 hour ago, Jan van Eck said: We shall make allowances. No Jan haha. What confuses me is a thread begun with a few questions and nonsense. Then when the answers are not what was hoped, he says maybe I worded it wrong, let me rephrase, then literally copies and pastes the original post. There is an Einstein quote about this kinda thing. I'm sure you are aware of it and potentially helped Einstein out a bit with his theories but he got all the credit. Alas... Edited September 14, 2019 by Guest Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Jan van Eck + 7,558 MG September 14, 2019 34 minutes ago, DayTrader said: No Jan haha. I was just messing with you..... Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Ward Smith + 6,615 September 14, 2019 4 hours ago, Boat said: I guess you didn’t track Obama’s Iran foreign policy to closely. Just to refresh my own memory it took 5 min to find this. https://news.gallup.com/poll/160358/iranians-feel-bite-sanctions-blame-not-own-leaders.aspx I was not a fan of the agreement that came later but Obama took GW’s sanctions and increased them dramatically. https://www.google.com/amp/s/www.bbc.com/news/amp/business-46092435 That is a chart showing the effects of the 2012 sanctions. Obama good or bad taught politicians how sanctions can be used. Trump is just a student on steroids. Let's see, your article is from 2013 when UNITED NATIONS sanctions were in effect and I was talking about the 2015 nuclear deal. But OK. Let's look at this another way, given the Shia attack on Saudi Arabia this morning, how happy do You think the Sunni neighbors are about the Obama nuclear deal with Iran, not to mention handing them $150 billion negating years worth of sanctions? Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Jan van Eck + 7,558 MG September 14, 2019 18 minutes ago, Ward Smith said: how happy do You think the Sunni neighbors are Answer: not very happy. Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
John Foote + 1,135 JF September 15, 2019 2 hours ago, Ward Smith said: given the Shia attack on Saudi Arabia this morning, ns? For how many years now have the Houthies been bombed relentlessly by the Saudis? Now a $125 a month Houthie soldier has a lot more stake in the game than a Saudi one, a the Saudis are destroying what is left of Yemen's infrastructure but at best it's a draw in a war of MBS's choosing, against his own advisors recommendations. A very large percentage of Saudi people are Yemenis and the Houthies probably can manage some on the ground support in Saudi. No shortage of folks in the country who would be happy for something other than the House of Saud. Houthies are not historically aligned with Iran, and they do not share Shia Mullahs. The Houthies are practicing asymmetric warfare. Iran mostly is benefitting, but I suspect this might scare Iran too. KSA needs fundamental leadership change to get out of their self-induced death spiral. So does Iran. Yemen doesn't even have a government to go after. Neither side is likely to do that. Expect shenanigans to continue. Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Dr.Masih Rezvani + 27 September 15, 2019 13 hours ago, James Regan said: Esfahan or Isfahan - A cultural gem no doubt. Once Cyrus the Great had unified Persian and Median lands in 648–330 BCE, the religiously and ethnically diverse city of Isfahan became an early example of the king's fabled religious tolerance. It was Cyrus who, having just taken Babylon, made an edict in 538 BCE, declaring that the Jews in Babylon could return to Jerusalem. Now it seems that some of these freed Jews settled in Isfahan instead of returning to their homeland. The 10th-century Persian historian Ibn al-Faqih wrote: "When the Jews emigrated from Jerusalem, fleeing from Nebuchadnezzar, they carried with them a sample of the water and soil of Jerusalem. They did not settle down anywhere or in any city without examining the water and the soil of each place. They did all along until they reached the city of Isfahan. There they rested, examined the water and soil and found that both resembled Jerusalem. Thereupon they settled there, cultivated the soil, raised children and grandchildren, and today the name of this settlement is Yahudia" Quite Ironic - What happened in-between will take me some time to discover. Some people on this forum dont care to hear about the cultural background of regions in current Geopolitical turmoil, but I personally find it interesting. Respectfully You are very familiar with Isfahan history and Jewish history I'm glad to talk to you You have high information You know the Torah well Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Guest September 15, 2019 3 minutes ago, Dr.Masih Rezvani said: You have high information Yep James copies and pastes from Google pretty well haha Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Dr.Masih Rezvani + 27 September 15, 2019 13 hours ago, Jan van Eck said: Look, People, Dr. Rezvani is busy writing some thesis. He is provoking reactions on this Forum in order to advance empirical data-driven conclusions in that thesis. His "arguments" are purely theoretical and designed to see how you react. Here is how I react, Dr. R: the Iranian "Government" has been hijacked by the same "students" that raided the US Embassy in 1979 and took the Ambassador, the diplomatic staff, and the US Marines posted there hostage, blindfolded them, chained them, and paraded them around the streets of Tehran. Now that scum is the "Government." The pond scum then brought in the mullahs and that crazy crowd in order to provide a patina of legitimacy to their installation of themselves into the Government, from which they can and do loot the treasury for themselves. That scum do es not give one thin damn about the Iranian people, and they cynically let the mullahs loose, in order to terrify the population with their crazy sex ideas, which sex urges and perversions are satisfied in large part by stripping naked, flogging, brutalizing, sodomizing, and hanging young women. They also have this penchant for beheading people, and they have murdered some 33,000 Iranians that way. And that is before you attempt to count the Baha'i. I am not allowed to advocate death to the pond scum and those mullahs, but what I think in private is another matter. The mullahs get away with it precisely because the population is unarmed. Thus I advocate for the air-dropping by parachute of parcels of guns and ammunition all over the place, in the expectation that at least some of the stuff will end up in the right hands. In the alternative, a landing in force of armor and mobile infantry and the take-over of Tehran, complete with the appropriate number of portable scaffolds, should put an end to this crap soon enough. I cordially invite you to put that in your thesis. As a political activist, I have written many articles on this subject Of course, in my thesis , I will also discuss the political situation in Iran But I am not ready to repeat the mistake our blind fathers made 40 years ago There is no alternative yet There is still no wise leader I feel like the whole political throne of Iran, whether the opposition or the government inside, is in the hands of a large Mafia group that is constantly deceiving the people. The day before yesterday was Reza Shah Yesterday Mohammad Reza Shah rope Today is the rope of the current regime It is not clear what chains of world powers have prepared for the people Especially in these situations one has to speak very carefully, be cautiously supported, carefully criticized 1 Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Jan van Eck + 7,558 MG September 15, 2019 21 minutes ago, Dr.Masih Rezvani said: It is not clear what chains of world powers have prepared for the people The American people have no interest in "chaining" the Iranian people. Neither does anybody else, with the possible exception of Communist China. We would be delighted if the Iranian People overthrow the thugs and criminals and crazies that today run Iran, and bring back the flower of freedom. Nobody much cares if Iran is a monarchy or a Republic or a Democracy, or some hybrid. What the West certainly cares about are criminal thugs that go in killing sprees and commit crimes against their neighbors, plus foment destabilization by shipping arms to crazy people in the Arab countries. 1 Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Jan van Eck + 7,558 MG September 15, 2019 25 minutes ago, Dr.Masih Rezvani said: There is no alternative yet There is still no wise leader I rather suspect a set of wise leaders will emerge after you toss the current criminal class into jail (and preferably hang them). Have a little faith in the Iranian people, and get away from the "wise leader" approach. a democratic republic is not built on one man. It develops its strength from the people themselves, who dedicate themselves to liberty. Try it; you'll like it. Liberty is intoxicating. Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
James Regan + 1,776 September 15, 2019 (edited) 41 minutes ago, Dr.Masih Rezvani said: You are very familiar with Isfahan history and Jewish history I'm glad to talk to you You have high information You know the Torah well I can't take credit, I took the time to read a little from info online, I love history and the middle east is close to my heart. I am no Sofer but have read some of the five books. Respect Edited September 15, 2019 by James Regan Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
James Regan + 1,776 September 15, 2019 40 minutes ago, DayTrader said: Yep James copies and pastes from Google pretty well haha I resemble that remark, as a famous scholar once said- Piss with the cock you've got....... 1 Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Jan van Eck + 7,558 MG September 15, 2019 38 minutes ago, Dr.Masih Rezvani said: But I am not ready to repeat the mistake our blind fathers made 40 years ago What your "blind fathers" did 40 years ago was hand in their guns to dangerous, violent, and crazy totalitarians, who then thanked their fellow Iranians by murdering 33,000 of them in cold blood. Nice people, those "students." What were they students of, murder? Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Jan van Eck + 7,558 MG September 15, 2019 2 minutes ago, James Regan said: Piss with the cock you've got When you get to my age, you fully appreciate the wisdom inherent in that observation.......... 1 Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Dr.Masih Rezvani + 27 September 15, 2019 22 minutes ago, Jan van Eck said: The American people have no interest in "chaining" the Iranian people. Neither does anybody else, with the possible exception of Communist China. We would be delighted if the Iranian People overthrow the thugs and criminals and crazies that today run Iran, and bring back the flower of freedom. Nobody much cares if Iran is a monarchy or a Republic or a Democracy, or some hybrid. What the West certainly cares about are criminal thugs that go in killing sprees and commit crimes against their neighbors, plus foment destabilization by shipping arms to crazy people in the Arab countries. That's exactly the deviation here Nation are not the decision makers at all Yes nation don't like war, bloodshed, looting, prison anywhere in the world Whether the Iranian people, the American people, the people of Europe and China and the whole world These are the politicians whose survival is tied to war, bloodshed, killing Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Dr.Masih Rezvani + 27 September 15, 2019 I try my best to avoid diversion You're still out of my question and dealing with politics You don't pay attention to my question There is no room for politics here Even if it is, my question is not political Why my main question is not answered How OPEC and OECD play their role in setting oil price in light of Iranian oil sanction ?? Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
James Regan + 1,776 September 15, 2019 (edited) 38 minutes ago, Dr.Masih Rezvani said: That's exactly the deviation here Nation are not the decision makers at all Yes nation don't like war, bloodshed, looting, prison anywhere in the world Whether the Iranian people, the American people, the people of Europe and China and the whole world These are the politicians whose survival is tied to war, bloodshed, killing IMO- The perception of the middle east in mainstream America changed post 9/11, in reality most Americans couldn't place Afghanistan on a map if you asked them at the time, let alone who Osama bin Laden was or who the mujahideen were. Americas view is heavily tainted on muslims and the middle east in general post 9/11, how could anyone have the audacity to fly jet liners into buildings. It all comes down to belief or radicalism(the beliefs or actions of people who advocate thorough or complete political or social reform) westerners in general don't carry the same faith or conviction of the Islamic world, like it not this is a fact. We could debate this forever and get nowhere, Westerners do not carry the same genes as Middle Easterners, we think differently and to carry out any kind of violent act on the basis of religion to me is ridiculous, ask me to fly a jet I just learned how to fly into a building, my reply would be "%^&* you I'm going to fly around the world and enjoy myself as a pilot" or strap on a suicide vest on based on some mad theory that I will be a martyr and have 70 virgins to play with is also completely nuts. This is not a practice lap, one time deal you die and thats it. We're different and we need to deal with it.... The leaders of highly religious countries or regions use the good books (loose term) to provoke an already highly charged arena to act as directed, its just predominantly more apparent in the middle east, but does still exist in western countries. "Granddaddy handled snakes in church, Moma drank strychnine" Edited September 15, 2019 by James Regan Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Dr.Masih Rezvani + 27 September 16, 2019 i am still reading your comments Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites