http://www.usatoday.com/news/world/2005-10-26-iran-israel_x.htm The new Iranian president reveals, in a great diplomatic manner, his feelings toward Israel. This does a whole lot of good for the region. Did Iran invent diplomacy?
At the risk of Godwining the thread, the last time a leader of a country "postured" like this, six million Jews died.
Well, now that we know that Israel has nothing to fear from Iran. Not that I think Ahmenenenenenejewhaterzhad is serious. He's not. He's just trying to maintain unpopular enemies which allow his repressive regime to stay in power. Its a tour de force of Stalinism.
An interesting thread title. With this kind of sabre rattling a few years back, we could have turned up the heat and the isolation of Iran. Now, we have a serious diplomatic problem as the majority government in Iraq will be closely allied with Iran. There is really no way around that. Therefore, Iran IS a crucial player in the entire peace process for the region. In a way, these comments from the Iranian president are helpful. It is better to have him saying what he really believes than hiding behind diplomatic bs to gain political ground while holding onto old hatred. As Dubya liked to say -- we know where he stands.
Well, you know that's not accurate. Sadly, many Arab & Moslem leaders have called for the destruction of Israel. Several have led their countries in wars with Israel. Few have recognized Israel or even referred to it diectly, preferring to use terms like the "Zionist entity", etc. Mahmoud is just the latest.
Haven't leaders of Iran called for the destruction of the USA? Who invented "Death to America"? I guess I should have added 'Pandering', as nowayjose did.
It is sad that this great country, with such wonderful accomplishments and culture, has descended into the depths of bigotry and hatred.
True, but Iran has been particularly hardline in this regard. Three Arab countries have full relations with Israel (Egypt, Jordan, Mauritania), several others have "wink wink" relations with Israel (Qatar, Morocco, Tunisia, Oman). Other predominently Muslim countries have such relations as well. Other countries still have no relations, but have, at this point, explicitly said that they will recognize Israel's right to exist once the conflict is resolved. Their demands and terms for resolution may not be appropriate or acceptable at this time, but they have, at least begrudgingly, recognized that Israel will stick around and has a place in the community of nations. Most of Iran's rhetoric, however, is still calling for Israel's outright annihilation. Iran is, at this point, one of the worst menaces on the globe right now. It is attempting to subvert the few steps to peace that have been made.
And that's why we have an embargo against them, remember? And why we say they're on the axis of evil. I don't want to Godwin this thread, but............
I read the thing in Persian... man the translator knows how to play with words... a word to mention would be "attack", completely added to change the meaning... seriously the Persian sentence basically means "new Palestinian leaders will blab bla bla" but the translator had to add attack to it.... another thing is reading this I never could find the annihilation part... I could see he is saying that there shouldn't be any country called Israel... but it never says "we should blow them up"... Anyways even if we completely agree with the English version of this, it is old news... any Iranian leader have been saying this for past 25 years! along with death to America, sometimes Death to England and of course the late Death to France and Germany from a while back.... it is very similar to the famous “mission accomplished”..
Please don't misinterpret this because the Iranian PM is a complete ********ing idiot. His comments are utterly appalling and disgusting. That said, the 'axis of evil' stuff spouted by BushCo comes close.
Lol, no worries. I don't think you're coming out in favor of Ahmenewhatsifacecameljahd. Bush has stated that there is an "axis of evil", yes. But that's not a call to "wipe them off the map". We're not trying to wipe Iraq off the map - we're trying regime change. There's a chasm between the two concepts. Honestly, what does Ahmenenenstalinjayd presume will happen to the Jews whose state is wiped off the map?
Burn in the fire, do you think he is making a reference to nuclear weapons here? I think that is a correct leap to make. I certainly think that his insistence on a nuclear program now shows that he will be willing to develop nukes and use them against Israel. That would be a horrible mistake. Even if iran doesn't use the nuke but say hezbollah does, tehran will dissappear in a cauldron of nuclear fire shortly after any nuclear attack on Israel. They must know this. Perhaps some of the reformers in iran will see the danger of the course their puppet masters and puppets are taking them on.
This is an interesting point. I am curious if news organizations have their own translators for these type of stories, or if they simply get a transaltion from a single source (government or otherwise) and run with it. I am growing more and more cautious about accepting things from the american press. I can see where a translation can make something sound worse that it was intended, however, let's just say I am skeptical that this guy intended anything different than what is presented.
I agree, however given that this is something that iran has been saying anyway for the past 25 years lends creability to the translation correct? I mean they are know for their bluster and obviously with their paid support of hezbollah shows that they are willing to goto lengths to see their vision come true.
well I don't know, you tell me? why add words to the translations? if somebody is translating something shouldn't he do it word to word.. I know there is this thing about direct translations from languages that sometimes don’t make sense BUT the idea of "and this is what he actually means..." is very subjective and unreliable... well I lived most of my life in Iran and watching state television, you can clearly grasp the attempts on anti-American and anti-Israeli propaganda... however the key word is Israel which is reported as Semitic or Judaism in western media.... if you know what I mean! like I said these things have been said for last 25 years... this latest one was provoked by the fact that Iran turned into full cooperation mode for his nuclear program (if you read about their latest decisions on the news) but Israeli and American officials stood their conservative grounds... again another funny bit is the fire of Islamic world... the translation is clearly hinting to nuclear bombs (the only thing missing is a "hint hint, wink wink")... well the original being said in my language I read is as heat (not fire) referring to the level of enthusiasm they have for reaching to their goal.... again I repeat this is old news.. and this been going on for past25 years against various countries!
What does "Mission Accomplished" have to do with genocide? It's not even an aggressive statement. - I shouldn't say genocide, Iranians just think Israel should be wiped off of the map. In a bizarre coincidence, Israel is a Jewish country. PS - I wish I knew Persian so I could prove that the Iranians are lying.