Political Foresight

[baradar_jackson]

(bismillah)

I just got finished reading a speech by a man with more political foresight in one of his eyebrow hairs than me or you has in our entire existence.

I am not sure if you brothers and sisters remember, but during the early Khatami years, the Western media was heaping praise upon Khatami, and suddenly they were even reporting positive news about Iran.

The Honorable Leader of the Revolution, Supreme Commander of the Armed Forces, and wali-ul amr of Muslims, Seyyed Ali Khamenei (HA), gave a speech around the middle of Khatami's first presidential term. This speech was both a warning to Khatami (and other reformist statesmen), as well as a warning to the Iranian people. It was a call for increased vigilance in the coming propaganda war.

In it, the leader addresses the issue of reform, mentioning that while reform is necessary for the strength of the system, "reformist leaders" must be careful that they do not become pawns for Western political aims. In addressing this issue, he uses the example of Mikhail Gorbachev.

Eleven years ago this speech was made, friends. Notice how many people today could use this advice!

An abridged English text of this speech is available on the leader's official website under the title "Reforms: Challenges, Strategies" for those of you who want to read it.

For those of you who are too lazy, here are some bullet points that summarize the speech:

- Leader raises question of why Western propaganda has given special attention to the issue of reform in Iran. He narrates a short history of Western crimes against the Iranian people, adding that the politically conscious individual should question Western motivations for supporting "reform" in Iran.

- Leader says that the US is carrying out comprehensive plan to subvert IRI like it did to the USSR, but that these plans would fail due to their inadequate knowledge about the reality in Iran and the differences between Iran and the Soviet Union.

- Leader says that the internal factors leading to Soviet collapse -- some political, some ethnic/national, some economic -- were exploited by its enemies through a cultural onslaught involving news media, noting that the West used absolutely no military means to achieve this goal (of overthrowing the USSR).

- Leader mentions how American media heaped praise upon Gorbachev, when before him they were reluctant to mention anything positive about USSR. He says that Gorbachev was deceived by this praise and it put him under further Western influence.

- Leader mentions how McDonald's coming to the Soviet Union was treated as a big news story in CNN, showing that the ultimate aim of uprooting Communism was never a human aim but rather a plan to export Western culture.

- Leader notes that Gorbachev’s proposed reforms could have been implemented easily in the course of 20 years, as had been done successfully in China. In spite of this, the West propped up Boris Yeltsin, who criticized Gorbachev for moving too slowly and wanted an acceleration of reforms.

- Leader mentions how, after using Gorbachev as their pawn, the US then props up Yeltsin at Gorbachev's expense: Yeltsin used the military coup against Gorbachev to his full advantage, although ostensibly he opposed it. After Gorbachev was reinstated as General-Secretary, he would play second fiddle to Yeltsin: when the Ukrainian SSR expressed the desire to gain independence from the Union, Gorbachev opposed. Days later when Yeltsin supported Ukrainian independence, Gorbachev made sajdah to him and supported it as well.

- Leader then highlights the differences between the two countries. He rejected outright the Western overtures of Khatami being a "Iranian Gorbachev." He notes that Khatami believes in the ideals of the Islamic Revolution (** leader may have been doing taqiyya **), whereas Gorbachev believed neither in Marxism nor in the Soviet system.

- Leader notes that Imam Khomeini was the spiritual leader of the Iranian before he had any political power, and that the Soviet Union's lack of such a leader allowed the extremist Yeltsin to gain power.

- Leader explains that reforms are essential to preserve revolutionary and religious nature of the system, but states that they must be clearly defined, and must not undermine Islamic, revolutionary, and national principles espoused in the constitution.

What other world leader has such detailed knowledge of another country's historical events? What other world leader has the strategic thinking necessary to give such an academic analysis of these events? What other world leader has the political foresight to use past events to correctly identify a hostile plot, before it happens?

I want all of you brothers and sisters to take a very close look at this man and tell me if he is just another politician, and as if we should treat him as we treat Sarkozy or Gordon Brown.

Ya Ali

Edited July 7, 2011 by baradar_jackson

[Hussien]

Rahbar's political foresight is indeed worthy of praise and has steered Iran very successfully through some very rough times. Personally speaking, he is my most favorite political philosopher and there is no one as bright as him in today's vast political world. Simply put he is a gem.

Baradar, you'd probably get more from his speech by reading the following,

http://www.amazon.com/Third-Wave-Democratization-Rothbaum-Distinguished/dp/0806125160

it'd also shed alot of light on the green movement and its leadership.

Oh, and I was surprised to see Gorbachev in a Pizza-Hut commercial in Russia. lol