What will happen at the UN this week?

[Cornish Steve]

Here are some excerpts from a Daily Telegraph article about Mr. Ahmadinejad's previous speech to the United Nations:

[World leaders] had expected a conciliatory proposal to defuse the nuclear crisis after Teheran had restarted another part of its nuclear programme in August. Instead, they heard the president speak in apocalyptic terms of Iran struggling against an evil West that sought to promote "state terrorism", impose "the logic of the dark ages" and divide the world into "light and dark countries". The speech ended with the messianic appeal to God to "hasten the emergence of your last repository, the Promised One, that perfect and pure human being, the one that will fill this world with justice and peace".

In a video distributed by an Iranian web site in November, Mr Ahmadinejad described how one of his Iranian colleagues had claimed to have seen a glow of light around the president as he began his speech to the UN. "I felt it myself too," Mr Ahmadinejad recounts. "I felt that all of a sudden the atmosphere changed there. And for 27-28 minutes all the leaders did not blink…It's not an exaggeration, because I was looking. "They were astonished, as if a hand held them there and made them sit. It had opened their eyes and ears for the message of the Islamic Republic." Western officials said the real reason for any open-eyed stares from delegates was that "they couldn't believe what they were hearing from Ahmadinejad".

So what is this leader, who is well on the way to having nuclear weapons and openly mocking sanctions against his country, going to say this time? He's promised a "surprise" for Israel in two weeks' time. What will that be? He's denied the existence of the holocaust and called repeatedly for the annihilation of Israel. What other expressions of hatred does he have in store for us?

 

[Cornish Steve]

Just in case anyone's wondering why America's leaders will not allow the president of Iran to lay a wreath at Ground Zero in New York, just think for a moment: For whom would he be laying the wreath?

 

[RedEvo]

I feel for the Iranian people who are no doubt as sick and tired of this idiot as we are.

d

 

[cjd]

Regardless of the location, he was talking to his home audience. God is obviously on his side.

I just hope that the Western world is a little more sophisticated than to react to that sort of playground nonsense.

Luckily Bush has lost the political capital to actually do any of the really stupid things that his god is telling him to do; or we'd all be really in the sh1t.

 

[Cornish Steve]

I just hope that the Western world is a little more sophisticated than to react to that sort of playground nonsense.

Sounds rather like the attitude displayed by Britons toward Germany in 1938. I hope we don't have to relearn the lessons of history.

 

[cjd]

Sounds rather like the attitude displayed by Britons toward Germany in 1938. I hope we don't have to relearn the lessons of history.

So which adjacent country are you expecting Iran to invade first?

Your choices are Azergaijan & Turkmenistan (his routes into Russia), Turkey (the gateway to western Europe), Iraq or Afghanistsan, (??) or Pakistan.

I suppose it depends who you feel he'd prefer to get bombed into oblivion by first, Europe, Russia, USA and Israel, or Pakistan.

 

[multilingual]

So which adjacent country are you expecting Iran to invade first?

Your choices are Azergaijan & Turkmenistan (his routes into Russia), Turkey (the gateway to western Europe), Iraq or Afghanistsan, (??) or Pakistan.

I suppose it depends who you feel he'd prefer to get bombed into oblivion by first, Europe, Russia, USA and Israel, or Pakistan.

You have missed out Armenia, which is the only Christian country in a mainly Muslim region, but the Russian army have bases in Armenia, so they will not bother them very much. To go into Azerbaijan, they need to cross through Kharabach, which is still a disputed war zone

Iran are not going to do anything at all as long as they are having their pockets lines with Gazprom Oil money via the Kremlin, which is then used to pay back all the corupt parties who got this guy into power in the first place.

We have had this discussion before

Incidentally, did you know that the interest rates for borrowing money from the main banks in Iran is less than the rate given to savers!

You can borrow money at 12% and put it into a deposit account giving 18%!

Article from The Guardian...

Iran's financial system suffered a fresh jolt yesterday with panic selling on the stock market after the president, Mahmoud Ahmadinejad, abruptly ordered banks to cut interest rates sharply, despite surging inflation.
The order, which Mr Ahmadinejad issued by telephone during a visit to Belarus and which flew in the face of expert advice - has triggered warnings of a financial crisis and spiralling corruption amid fears of a capital flight from the country's lending institutions.

Mr Ahmadinejad's decree forced all state-owned and private banks to slash borrowing rates to 12%. Inflation is officially 15% but is generally believed to be much higher. State banks had been offering rates of 14%, while those in the private sector ranged from 17% to 28%.
The decision caused panic in the Tehran stock exchange, with private banks losing much of their share value overnight. Shareholders in one bank, Karafarin, queued on Wednesday to sell their stock when previously there had been 1.2 million applicants to buy its shares.

There was speculation yesterday that the move could force the resignation of the economy minister, Davoud Danesh-Ja'afari, who was not consulted.

Interest rates are normally set by the head of the central bank, who is nominally politically independent. The Hammihan newspaper carried a picture of a disconsolate-looking Mr Danesh-Ja'afari holding his head in his hand under the headline: Shock on the Tehran bourse.

The rate cut was imposed at the same time as Mr Ahmadinejad raised the price of petrol by 1p to 5p a litre. That caused anger among motorists, who expected a new rationing system to be introduced on Tuesday. The government has postponed rationing until next month, citing difficulties in introducing the necessary technology to filling stations.

The interest rate move theoretically helps the less-well-off, for whom Mr Ahmadinejad has pledged support with cheaper loans. But economists say cutting rates below inflation will scare investors into withdrawing their savings, thereby creating a black market in high interest loans. They also warn of higher inflation as investors redirect their money into property and push up house prices.

"Mr Ahmadinejad's argument is that the lower the interest rate, the more access people will have to money," said one analyst. "But you can't command interest rates down. They have to match inflation. To cut rates, the government has to balance its budget better."

Another economist, Saeed Leylaz, claimed the move was a reward to powerful groups who had supported Mr Ahmadinejad. "I believe the president knows the consequence of this decision but he doesn't care about the future."

"There are groups which helped put Mr Ahmadinejad into office and in my opinion, he is paying them back. In the last two years, the value of (outstanding) debts has reached US$11bn, compared with $3.5bn in the previous 100 years. Mr Ahmadinejad ordered the banks to pay these accelerated loans to the special groups. If you cut interest rates, it means they have less to pay back. You can imagine how disastrous this is to the banking system."

and so on.........

They are all over the place. Going to war is the last thing the country can afford to do.

The only worry is if he does manage to get hold of a Nuclear Weapon then I can imagine him pushing the button without giving it a second thought.

Personally, I don't think he will last that long.

JB

 

[RedEvo]

They are all over the place. Going to war is the last thing the country can afford to do.

That's one of my worries. Given the situation he may go sh*t or bust.

d

 

[multilingual]

That's one of my worries. Given the situation he may go sh*t or bust.

d

Yes, he might just push the button as a last hurrah before the country revolts against him.

I know that the USA see themsleves as saviours of the free world and that only their rules matter, but in the end Russia does have a lot of influence in what is happening with Iran's nuclear programme (GazProm are building the Power Station in return for oil rights) and as Gazprom are controlled by Putin's puppets, and as Putin will not want a madman with a nuclear bomb on his doorstep, then I think it will be dealt with without the USA having to 'step in' to save us all.

My guess is that he will have a mysterious plane crash, with all the evidence pointing to a US undercover operation. They will deny any involvement and Putin will be laughing quietly into his vodka.

JB

 

[Cornish Steve]

So which adjacent country are you expecting Iran to invade first?

In this day and age, it doesn't have to be an adjacent country. Just listen to statements such as "wiping Israel off the map".

Going to war is the last thing the country can afford to do.

Sadly, this is often a reason for going to war - to distract attention from failing policies at home. The Falklands War is a good example of this.

 

[multilingual]

Sadly, this is often a reason for going to war - to distract attention from failing policies at home. The Falklands War is a good example of this.

I assume you are talking about Galtieri and not Thatcher?

JB

 

[Cornish Steve]

I assume you are talking about Galtieri and not Thatcher?

Some have argued that Mrs. Thatcher won the follow-on election solely because of the Falklands victory. But yes - I was referring mainly to the Argentinian junta in power at the time.