<?xml version="1.0" encoding="UTF-8"?>
<rss version="2.0"
	xmlns:content="http://purl.org/rss/1.0/modules/content/"
	xmlns:wfw="http://wellformedweb.org/CommentAPI/"
	xmlns:dc="http://purl.org/dc/elements/1.1/"
	xmlns:atom="http://www.w3.org/2005/Atom"
	xmlns:sy="http://purl.org/rss/1.0/modules/syndication/"
	xmlns:slash="http://purl.org/rss/1.0/modules/slash/"
	>

<channel>
	<title>FrontPage Magazine &#187; Majid Rafizadeh</title>
	<atom:link href="http://www.frontpagemag.com/author/majid-rafizadeh/feed/" rel="self" type="application/rss+xml" />
	<link>http://www.frontpagemag.com</link>
	<description></description>
	<lastBuildDate>Mon, 29 Dec 2014 14:43:05 +0000</lastBuildDate>
	<language>en-US</language>
		<sy:updatePeriod>hourly</sy:updatePeriod>
		<sy:updateFrequency>1</sy:updateFrequency>
	
	<item>
		<title>Sanction Relief Empowering the Mullahs, Not Citizens</title>
		<link>http://www.frontpagemag.com/2014/majid-rafizadeh/sanction-relief-empowering-the-mullahs-not-citizens/?utm_source=rss&#038;utm_medium=rss&#038;utm_campaign=sanction-relief-empowering-the-mullahs-not-citizens</link>
		<comments>http://www.frontpagemag.com/2014/majid-rafizadeh/sanction-relief-empowering-the-mullahs-not-citizens/#comments</comments>
		<pubDate>Fri, 26 Dec 2014 05:10:18 +0000</pubDate>
		<dc:creator><![CDATA[Majid Rafizadeh]]></dc:creator>
				<category><![CDATA[Daily Mailer]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[FrontPage]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[deal]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Iran]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Nuclear]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Obama]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[relief]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[sanctions]]></category>

		<guid isPermaLink="false">http://www.frontpagemag.com/?p=248109</guid>
		<description><![CDATA[A year later, the verdict is in on Obama's dirty deal with Iran. ]]></description>
				<content:encoded><![CDATA[<p><a href="http://cdn.frontpagemag.com/wp-content/uploads/2014/12/iran_2677161b.jpg"><img class="alignleft  wp-image-248111" src="http://cdn.frontpagemag.com/wp-content/uploads/2014/12/iran_2677161b-450x350.jpg" alt="iran_2677161b" width="319" height="248" /></a>There has always been an argument claiming that economic sanctions normally do not yield any result due to the notion that economic sanctions do not target the ruling elite and governmental official, but the ordinary people. This argument is partially accurate.</p>
<p>Nevertheless, we need to remember that some targeted economic sanctions against the Islamic Republic (particularly the sanctions in oil and gas sectors and financial and bank institutions) did endanger the hold on power of the ruling cleric in Iran, particularly the Supreme Leader, Ayatollah Ali Khamenei. That was the primary reason behind pushing the Iranian politicians to come to the negotiation table in nuclear talks.</p>
<p>On the other hand, the other side of the argument is that if economic sanctions are lifted, the major beneficiaries would be the ordinary people and the civilians. This argument would be accurate if the political and economic system of the given state is democratic, allows open opportunities for all, encourages the private sector, allows transparency, and holds those corrupt officials who commit illegal economic dealings accountable.</p>
<p>The Iranian political and economic system is devoid of the aforementioned standards. In fact, in states which the political system is mainly authoritarian or theocratic, and the economic system is monopolized by few people at top and is state controlled, any increase of wealth or flow of money will inevitably strengthening the ruling elite rather than the ordinary people.</p>
<p>To substantiate this argument, let us take a look on the ground in the Islamic Republic after the sanctions relief.</p>
<p>At the beginning, a majority of Iranian people were hoping that economic sanctions relief would alleviate their suffering, improve their standards of living, and push many families above the poverty line. Almost a year has passed since the Iranian government has been receiving sanctions relief.</p>
<p>After the interim nuclear deal and extension of the negotiations between the six world powers (known as the P5+1: China, France, Germany, Russia, the United Kingdom, and the United States) and the Islamic Republic, the Iranian government had received an estimated $7 billion.  Iran continues to receive approximately $700 million every month under the extension deal.</p>
<p>In addition, there has been some sanction suspension with respects to some of Iran’s major industries, including Iran’s auto sector, gold and precious metals, as well as Iran’s petrochemical exports. The Iranian currency, the rial, has appreciated due to the sanctions relief, Iran’s oil and non-oil exports have <a href="http://ameinfo.com/blog/finance-and-economy/irans-non-oil-exports-increase-28-per-cent/"><span style="color: #0433ff;">increased</span></a>, its economy is showing signs of stabilization, Tehran’s stock exchange has soared and Iran’s exports and business dealings with several countries have ratcheted up.</p>
<p>The suspension of sanctions has definitely given both psychological and financial support to the Iranian government.  But the real question is how this money is being spent and which institutions benefit primarily from this sanctions relief. Are ordinary people benefiting from these sanctions relief and flow of money?</p>
<p>Nevertheless, some Iranian civilians have begun to believe that even economic sanctions relief or even the lifting of the whole economic sanctions regime from the Iranian government are not going to assist civilians, their financial day-to-day activities, or bring concrete changes on the ground.</p>
<p>Four major institutions are benefiting mostly from the economic sanctions relief: Iran’s military-industrial complex, the Office of the Supreme Leader, Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, a few top business figures who are connected with the government, and the Iranian Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC), through either legal and <a href="http://www.iranfocus.com/en/index.php?option=com_content&amp;view=article&amp;id=20355:irgcs-dominance-over-irans-politics-and-economy--part-1&amp;catid=29&amp;Itemid=121"><span style="color: #0433ff;">illegal</span></a> imports and exports.</p>
<p>For example, the IRGC controls and owns a considerable amount of shares in the aforementioned industries which have witnessed sanctions relief. In the petrochemical industry, The IRGC military-industrial complex <a href="http://www.iranfocus.com/en/index.php?option=com_content&amp;view=article&amp;id=20355:irgcs-dominance-over-irans-politics-and-economy--part-1&amp;catid=29&amp;Itemid=121"><span style="color: #0433ff;">owns</span></a> Zagros Petrochemicals; 40% of Pars Petrochemical Company, part of Arak Petrochemicals; 25% of Kermanshah Petrochemicals; as well as 19% of the shares of Maroun Petrochemicals.</p>
<p>This phenomenon of the monopolization of the economy applies in other sectors of Iran’s economy as well.  When it comes to Iran’s economic system, the Supreme Leader and IRGC do have a considerable amount of control and shares in almost all industries <a href="http://www.iranfocus.com/en/index.php?option=com_content&amp;view=article&amp;id=20355:irgcs-dominance-over-irans-politics-and-economy--part-1&amp;catid=29&amp;Itemid=121"><span style="color: #0433ff;">including</span></a> financial institutions and banks, the transportation industry, automobile manufacturing, mining, commerce, and oil and gas sectors.</p>
<p>As a result, these types of sanctions relief will mostly benefit the ruling elite, primarily the Supreme Leader and Iran’s military-industrial complex, IRGC. Iranian people will hardly observe any benefits from this economic sanctions relief or lifting of economic sanctions.</p>
<p>It appears that the easing of sanctions are strengthening the ruling elite without any sign of redistribution of wealth. This is predominantly due to the fact Iran’s economic system is a state and military controlled system, it lacks transparency, as well as the reality that it is crippled with <a href="http://www.rferl.org/content/article/1144661.html"><span style="color: #0433ff;">widespread corruption</span></a> by the ruling elite and few on top.</p>
<p>If the intention of economic sanctions relief is to assist the Iranian people and alleviate their suffering, there ought to be more efficient approaches to develop some types of targeted sanctions relief (for example, being directed at Iran’s educational system, health care, etc.) which aim at empowering Iranian civilians and primarily the middle class.</p>
<p><b>Freedom Center pamphlets now available on Kindle: </b><a href="http://www.amazon.com/s/ref%3dnb_sb_noss?url=search-alias%3Ddigital-text&amp;field-keywords=david+horowitz&amp;rh=n:133140011%2ck:david+horowitz&amp;ajr=0#/ref=sr_st?keywords=david+horowitz&amp;qid=1316459840&amp;rh=n:133140011%2ck:david+horowitz&amp;sort=daterank" target="_blank"><b>Click here</b></a><b>.</b></p>
<p><a style="line-height: 1.5em;" href="http://horowitzfreedomcenter.us1.list-manage.com/subscribe?u=caa6f67f1482e6214d83be62d&amp;id=c761755bdf" target="_blank"><b>Subscribe</b></a><strong style="line-height: 1.5em;"> to Frontpage&#8217;s TV show, <i>The Glazov Gang</i>, and </strong><a style="line-height: 1.5em;" href="https://www.facebook.com/glazovgang" target="_blank"><b>LIKE</b></a><strong style="line-height: 1.5em;"> it on </strong><a style="line-height: 1.5em;" href="https://www.facebook.com/glazovgang" target="_blank"><b>Facebook.</b></a></p>
]]></content:encoded>
			<wfw:commentRss>http://www.frontpagemag.com/2014/majid-rafizadeh/sanction-relief-empowering-the-mullahs-not-citizens/feed/</wfw:commentRss>
		<slash:comments>7</slash:comments>
		</item>
		<item>
		<title>Hatred of Women on the March in Iran</title>
		<link>http://www.frontpagemag.com/2014/majid-rafizadeh/hatred-of-women-on-the-march-in-iran/?utm_source=rss&#038;utm_medium=rss&#038;utm_campaign=hatred-of-women-on-the-march-in-iran</link>
		<comments>http://www.frontpagemag.com/2014/majid-rafizadeh/hatred-of-women-on-the-march-in-iran/#comments</comments>
		<pubDate>Wed, 17 Dec 2014 05:35:25 +0000</pubDate>
		<dc:creator><![CDATA[Majid Rafizadeh]]></dc:creator>
				<category><![CDATA[Daily Mailer]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[FrontPage]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[hijab]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Iran]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[law]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[veil]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[vigilante]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Women]]></category>

		<guid isPermaLink="false">http://www.frontpagemag.com/?p=247598</guid>
		<description><![CDATA[Women live in fear as government empowers vigilante moral police. ]]></description>
				<content:encoded><![CDATA[<p><a href="http://cdn.frontpagemag.com/wp-content/uploads/2014/12/iran_female_ninjas.jpg"><img class="alignleft  wp-image-247600" src="http://cdn.frontpagemag.com/wp-content/uploads/2014/12/iran_female_ninjas-392x350.jpg" alt="iran_female_ninjas" width="320" height="286" /></a>The hatred, misogyny and injustice against Iranian women has continued to ratchet up under the office of the so-called moderate president of Iran, Hassan Rouhani.</p>
<p>After a series of acid attacks against young women in the city of Esfahan, the Iranian parliament (Majlis) has passed a new bill, which would <a href="http://archive.radiozamaneh.com/english/content/basij-forces-given-go-ahead-enforce-hijab-compliance"><span style="color: #0433ff;">allow</span></a> Basij, the governmental volunteer militia, to go around in the streets and give verbal warning to those Iranian women who do not comply with the government’s Islamic dress code.</p>
<p>More recently, stabbing women has become another sign of increased violence. A suspect was recently arrested for stabbing six women in city of Fars in Iran, reportedly for wearing an improper hijab. One of the women was stabbed in the stomach. According to <a href="http://sahamnews.org/1393/09/271250/"><span style="color: #0433ff;">Saham News</span></a>, the suspect is the son of a Basij Commander from the village of Ghotbabad.</p>
<p>The Basij, which is supervised by the Islamic Republic’s Revolutionary Guard Corps, intervenes in the day to day activities of ordinary people, spying on individuals, and attempting to impose the ideological and Islamist doctrine of the Iranian government.</p>
<p>When I used to live in Iran, I, like many Iranian people, witnessed how young girls would be dragged into police cars by the moral police for not complying with the government’s religious dress code. Showing some strands of hair or some part of the body in public can lead to arrest, imprisonment, and fines.</p>
<p><b>The Vigilante Law to Impose Hijab and Dress Code</b></p>
<p>Under the presidency of Hassan Rouhani, the Iranian parliament has also <a href="http://www.iranhumanrights.org/2014/10/sotoudeh-on-acid-attacks/"><span style="color: #0433ff;">introduced</span></a> a bill referred to as the “Plan to Promote Virtue and Prevent Vice.”  Apparently, all of these human rights abuses and discrimination against women are part of promoting virtue in the perception of the ruling clerics in power.</p>
<p>Nevertheless, what is crucial to point out is that discrimination against Iranian women and the egregious human rights abuses against them are at the core of the cleric political power. In other words, these human rights abuses &#8212; such as restricting women’s freedoms, imposing the hijab on them, encouraging them to stay at home and raise children, forbidding them from participating in sports or even watching some sports events such as volleyball &#8212; are cemented in the state’s institutional structure as well as in the Islamic Republic’s constitution.</p>
<p>Secondly, women are being utilized as a crucial tool and platform to define the country as Islamic. Imposing dress codes and the hijab on women gives the clerical political institution unique character ideologically.  Walking in public and watching millions of women across the country being forced to wear the hijab and cover their hair strengthens the image of the country as being Islamic.  It also makes it stands out immediately in comparison to other Muslim countries, and it significantly ratchets up the ideological foundation and Shiite agenda of the Islamic Republic.</p>
<p>Third, forcing women to comply with a dress code is the manifestation of the state’s power. Technically, this is referred to as biopower of the state, which is applied in order to homogenize the population, immediately find those who dissent, make women compliant, subservient, and remind women everyday that the state is in power of even their basic activities such as wearing clothes, listening to music, and watching sports. As Michel Foucault <a href="http://www.generation-online.org/p/fp_foucault14.htm"><span style="color: #0433ff;">states</span></a>, biopower is a political strategy. “By this I mean a number of phenomena that seem to me to be quite significant, namely, the set of mechanisms through which the basic biological features of the human species became the object of a political strategy, of a general strategy of power.”</p>
<p>Fourth, marginalization of Iranian women by the state and depriving them of their basic and fundamental rights is a method to treat almost half of the population as second-class citizens.  Subduing women, repressing them, and ensuring that women are controlled by their male guardians and state apparatuses, promotes the patriarchal character of the system.</p>
<p>Fifth, the increasing misogynistic laws and hatred against Iranian women will continue whether the president of the Islamic Republic is a reformist, moderate, hardliner, etc. This is due to the fact, all Iranian presidents believe in the fundamental institution of the Islamic Republic and they totally accept the superiority of the Supreme Leader, Ayatollah Ali Khamenei.</p>
<p>Nevertheless, misogyny and hatred against women has not halted courageous and brave Iranian women from fighting inequality and the repression against them. Several female leaders and formidable women&#8217;s movements in Iran continue to resist the repressive apparatuses even though they face imprisonment, execution, and torture. Their efforts have produced powerful women such as Shirin Ebadi, the Noble Prize Laureate, and Maryam Rajavi, the human rights and political activist, and the president of the National Council of Resistance of Iran (NCRI).</p>
<p>As the repression against women continue in the Islamic Republic, their resistance grows deeper, and their stance firmer. Our responsibility is to chart efficient approaches in order to give a voice to these women and assist them in their struggle for combating extremism carried out under the name of religion, the ruling cleric&#8217;s version and the manipulation of Shia Islam.</p>
<p><b>Freedom Center pamphlets now available on Kindle: </b><a href="http://www.amazon.com/s/ref%3dnb_sb_noss?url=search-alias%3Ddigital-text&amp;field-keywords=david+horowitz&amp;rh=n:133140011%2ck:david+horowitz&amp;ajr=0#/ref=sr_st?keywords=david+horowitz&amp;qid=1316459840&amp;rh=n:133140011%2ck:david+horowitz&amp;sort=daterank" target="_blank"><b>Click here</b></a><b>.</b></p>
<p><a style="line-height: 1.5em;" href="http://horowitzfreedomcenter.us1.list-manage.com/subscribe?u=caa6f67f1482e6214d83be62d&amp;id=c761755bdf" target="_blank"><b>Subscribe</b></a><strong style="line-height: 1.5em;"> to Frontpage&#8217;s TV show, <i>The Glazov Gang</i>, and </strong><a style="line-height: 1.5em;" href="https://www.facebook.com/glazovgang" target="_blank"><b>LIKE</b></a><strong style="line-height: 1.5em;"> it on </strong><a style="line-height: 1.5em;" href="https://www.facebook.com/glazovgang" target="_blank"><b>Facebook.</b></a></p>
]]></content:encoded>
			<wfw:commentRss>http://www.frontpagemag.com/2014/majid-rafizadeh/hatred-of-women-on-the-march-in-iran/feed/</wfw:commentRss>
		<slash:comments>37</slash:comments>
		</item>
		<item>
		<title>A Victory For the Ruling Clerics</title>
		<link>http://www.frontpagemag.com/2014/majid-rafizadeh/a-victory-for-the-ruling-clerics/?utm_source=rss&#038;utm_medium=rss&#038;utm_campaign=a-victory-for-the-ruling-clerics</link>
		<comments>http://www.frontpagemag.com/2014/majid-rafizadeh/a-victory-for-the-ruling-clerics/#comments</comments>
		<pubDate>Mon, 08 Dec 2014 05:00:19 +0000</pubDate>
		<dc:creator><![CDATA[Majid Rafizadeh]]></dc:creator>
				<category><![CDATA[Daily Mailer]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[FrontPage]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[clerics]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Iran]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[mullahs]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[negotiations]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Nuclear Weapons]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Obama]]></category>

		<guid isPermaLink="false">http://www.frontpagemag.com/?p=246718</guid>
		<description><![CDATA[More time to secure the bomb. ]]></description>
				<content:encoded><![CDATA[<p><a href="http://cdn.frontpagemag.com/wp-content/uploads/2014/12/Irans-supreme-leader-Ayat-007.jpg"><img class="alignleft  wp-image-246719" src="http://cdn.frontpagemag.com/wp-content/uploads/2014/12/Irans-supreme-leader-Ayat-007.jpg" alt="Irans-supreme-leader-Ayat-007" width="259" height="211" /></a>While the Obama administration formerly stated that extending the nuclear talks is out of equation, nevertheless, President Obama and Secretary of State John Kerry raised the option of an extension a day before the November 24th deadline. Iran’s foreign minister, Javad Zarif, definitely welcomed the idea.</p>
<p>After over a year of negotiations, which have traveled across the globe from Vienna, to Oman, and to New York, the negotiators (the Islamic Republic and the P5+1: China, France, Germany, Russia, the United Kingdom, and the United States) planned to <a href="http://english.alarabiya.net/en/News/middle-east/2014/11/23/Iran-reaching-nuke-deal-on-Nov-24-impossible-.html"><span style="color: #0433ff;">extend</span></a> the nuclear talks for another seven months in order to finalize the preliminary deal reached last year in Geneva. Accordingly, the nuclear negotiations will continue through the end of June.</p>
<p>The obscure objectives are to achieve a “headline” agreement by March 1st and seal the complete technical details of the <a href="http://english.alarabiya.net/en/News/middle-east/2014/11/23/Iran-reaching-nuke-deal-on-Nov-24-impossible-.html"><span style="color: #0433ff;">headline </span></a>agreement by July 1st. Details and nuances of the nuclear talks, with regards to agreements and gaps, have yet to be released, but some diplomats stated the repeatedly-heard phrase that “<a href="http://english.alarabiya.net/en/News/middle-east/2014/11/23/Iran-reaching-nuke-deal-on-Nov-24-impossible-.html"><span style="color: #0433ff;">progress</span></a> has been made.&#8221;</p>
<p>The nuclear extension definitely lacks any clear key terms upon which prospective nuclear talks would be anchored or that give any idea how a final nuclear deal could be reached.</p>
<p>But what is clear is that the Islamic Republic, particularly the Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei and senior cadre of Iran’s Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC), have gained considerable amount of geopolitical, geostrategic and economic advantages from this offer by the Obama administration. The Supreme Leader’s strategies to buy time, regain full recovery in the economy, pursue his regional hegemonic and ideological ambitions,  and reinitiate his government’s nuclear program have been fulfilled.</p>
<p>Based on the extension offered by the Obama administration, the Islamic Republic will continue receiving <a href="http://english.alarabiya.net/en/News/middle-east/2014/11/23/Iran-reaching-nuke-deal-on-Nov-24-impossible-.html"><span style="color: #0433ff;">$700<b> </b></span></a>million per month in frozen assets during the extended seven month period. Secondly, Iran will further consolidate its economy through increased sales in oil, particularly to Asian countries, heighten business deals with some Western companies, regain the value of its currency, and enjoy the removed sanctions on some of its industries. As a result, Iran will attempt to address the economic challenges which were threatening the hold on power of the ruling politicians.</p>
<p>From the economic perspective, the $700 million in sanctions relief will boost Iran’s economy as it is an equivalence of approximately 350,000 more oil barrels a day, based on the current market price.</p>
<p>The Islamic Republic exports roughly one <a href="http://www.al-monitor.com/pulse/originals/2014/11/iran-oil-economy-falling-prices-crude-exports-market-reacts.html"><span style="color: #0433ff;">million</span></a> barrels of crude oil in a day. The sanctions relief would be equivalent to a 30 percent increase in oil sale.  In the next few months, Tehran will attempt to push for additional sanctions relief as well as ratchet up its economic deals, such export of gas and other goods, to some European and Eastern countries including France, Germany, Russia, Japan, and China.</p>
<p>Some European countries&#8217; exports to Iran have already ratcheted up due to the prospects of the nuclear negotiations. Tehran Times, the Islamic Republic’s state newspaper, stated that Germany was Iran’s leading trade <a href="http://www.jpost.com/International/Analysis-Its-business-as-usual-as-some-of-Israels-friends-in-Europe-increase-trade-with-Iran-374622"><span style="color: #0433ff;">partner</span></a> “The European country (Germany) exported €207 million of goods to Iran in June 2014, an 88 percent rise compared to June 2013.” Nevertheless, Tehran needs the complete lifting of economic sanctions in order to gain the optimal potentials of its economy and gain full recovery.</p>
<p>Third, the extension of the nuclear negotiations will ensure to the Iranian leaders that the international community, specifically the West, will not make efforts in further isolating Iran and pressuring it economically or politically.</p>
<p>In addition, the extension of nuclear talks offered to the Islamic Republic is not going to alter Iran’s stand on its nuclear program. Iran will continue holding the position that their demands for the following issues to be met: maintaining a specific number (tens of thousands of) fast-spinning centrifuge machines, Tehran should have the capacity to produce nuclear fuel in the future, and maintain specific level of enriching uranium. In the next few months, the Islamic Republic is not going to give up its capacity to produce plutonium which can be utilized for weapons at its heavy water reactor in the city of Arak. Iran is less likely to provide more evidence proving that it did not carry out secret tests on the development of atomic weapons in Parchin or other military complexes. The head of the International Atomic Energy Agency recently pointed out that the Islamic Republic continues to deny the IAEA access to sensitive military site which are suspected to be used for nuclear activities.</p>
<p>Finally, the Islamic Republic’s antagonistic stance towards the United States and the West will remain the same as well. This week, while Khamenei officially granted his blessing to Rouhani to continue with the game of nuclear negotiations, he also called the West “<span style="color: #0433ff;"><a href="http://www.jpost.com/Breaking-News/Khamenei-Arrogant-world-powers-failed-to-bring-Iran-to-its-knees-382776">arrogant</a>.</span>” Earlier, he published a &#8220;9-step plan&#8221; to eliminate Israel. After the extension of the nuclear talks, President Rouhani <a href="http://www.dailymail.co.uk/wires/afp/article-2848810/Iran-wont-brought-knees-nuclear-issue-Khamenei.html"><span style="color: #0433ff;">pointed out</span></a> on state television that &#8220;I promise the Iranian nation that those centrifuges will never stop working.&#8221; The extension not only will not alter the Islamic Republic’s position on its nuclear program, but will give the ruling clerics the opportunity to be further empowered, making them more determined to pursue their regional hegemonic ambitions.</p>
<p><b>Freedom Center pamphlets now available on Kindle: </b><a href="http://www.amazon.com/s/ref%3dnb_sb_noss?url=search-alias%3Ddigital-text&amp;field-keywords=david+horowitz&amp;rh=n:133140011%2ck:david+horowitz&amp;ajr=0#/ref=sr_st?keywords=david+horowitz&amp;qid=1316459840&amp;rh=n:133140011%2ck:david+horowitz&amp;sort=daterank" target="_blank"><b>Click here</b></a><b>. </b></p>
<p><a style="line-height: 1.5em;" href="http://horowitzfreedomcenter.us1.list-manage.com/subscribe?u=caa6f67f1482e6214d83be62d&amp;id=c761755bdf" target="_blank"><b>Subscribe</b></a><strong style="line-height: 1.5em;"> to Frontpage&#8217;s TV show, <i>The Glazov Gang</i>, and </strong><a style="line-height: 1.5em;" href="https://www.facebook.com/glazovgang" target="_blank"><b>LIKE</b></a><strong style="line-height: 1.5em;"> it on </strong><a style="line-height: 1.5em;" href="https://www.facebook.com/glazovgang" target="_blank"><b>Facebook.</b></a></p>
]]></content:encoded>
			<wfw:commentRss>http://www.frontpagemag.com/2014/majid-rafizadeh/a-victory-for-the-ruling-clerics/feed/</wfw:commentRss>
		<slash:comments>17</slash:comments>
		</item>
		<item>
		<title>Obama&#8217;s Generous Deal With the Mullahs</title>
		<link>http://www.frontpagemag.com/2014/majid-rafizadeh/obamas-generous-deal-with-the-mullahs/?utm_source=rss&#038;utm_medium=rss&#038;utm_campaign=obamas-generous-deal-with-the-mullahs</link>
		<comments>http://www.frontpagemag.com/2014/majid-rafizadeh/obamas-generous-deal-with-the-mullahs/#comments</comments>
		<pubDate>Fri, 21 Nov 2014 05:00:17 +0000</pubDate>
		<dc:creator><![CDATA[Majid Rafizadeh]]></dc:creator>
				<category><![CDATA[Daily Mailer]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[FrontPage]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[deadline]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Iran]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Kerry]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[negotiations]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[nuclear deal]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Obama]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[p5+1]]></category>

		<guid isPermaLink="false">http://www.frontpagemag.com/?p=245714</guid>
		<description><![CDATA[Winner: Islamic Republic.]]></description>
				<content:encoded><![CDATA[<p><a href="http://cdn.frontpagemag.com/wp-content/uploads/2014/11/Rouhani_1.jpg"><img class="alignleft  wp-image-245717" src="http://cdn.frontpagemag.com/wp-content/uploads/2014/11/Rouhani_1-431x350.jpg" alt="Rouhani_1" width="337" height="274" /></a>There are two issues which have become crystal clear about the nuclear talks with Iran. First of all, the Obama administration wants to reach a final nuclear deal regardless of how flimsy and weak the comprehensive nuclear deal might be and regardless of whether the ultimate nuclear deal will leave the Islamic Republic with a path to obtain nuclear capabilities and lift economic and political sanctions.</p>
<p>Secondly, the Iranian leaders have masterfully captured the weakness of the Obama administration and its desperation to strike a final nuclear deal. As a result, Iran’s foreign minister, Javad Zarif, has been playing with the naiveté of the Obama administration by taking a tough stand and pointing out that Tehran will resist the “excessive demands” over its nuclear program. In other words, Iranian leaders are looking for a diluted, flimsy and sweet nuclear deal that would allow them to pursue their path to become a nuclear state and would help them phase out the economic and political sanctions as quickly as possible.</p>
<p>In the intense final few days of nuclear talks, the destiny of a historic nuclear deal and the outcome of the concentrated international negotiations over the future of Iran’s nuclear program will be determined. The deadline for nuclear talks between Iran and the P5+1 (China, France, Germany, Russia, the United Kingdom, and the United States) is approaching a deadline of 24 November.</p>
<p>There are some crucial hurdles which are still unresolved. These barriers are the process and phases through which sanction will be lifted as well as limitation on uranium enrichment, reducing the stockpile of already-enriched uranium, and the number of centrifuges that the Islamic Republic can retain. The Islamic Republic currently holds approximately 19,000 centrifuges. However, the Obama administration appears to be willing to ignore these gaps in order to save face by striking a deal and in order to add to his questionable and superficial records of Middle East achievements.</p>
<p>Although many scholars, politicians and policy analysts thought that the interim nuclear deal was far off and out of reach last year, the Obama administration, which desperately needed the interim nuclear deal, gave a significant amount of concessions and “closed the gaps” in the eleventh hours in order to persuade the Islamic Republic to sign the short term deal and reach an accord. This might occur again in the face of the final nuclear deal.</p>
<p>President Obama and Secretary of the State John Kerry will robustly push for any kind of final nuclear deal in order to avoid the post-failure consequences of the comprehensive nuclear deal and years of negotiations. The Obama administration has long been reluctant to carry out particular robust foreign policies such as ratcheting up political and economic sanctions on Iran and further isolating the Islamic Republic for  its nuclear defiance.</p>
<p>In addition, the other reason for the White House&#8217;s weak and desperate position to reach a final nuclear deal, is that the Obama administration&#8217;s attempts to create a narrative domestically that the spending of a considerable amount of political capital, months of negotiations, release of billions of dollars to the Iranian government, and diplomacy have “worked.” As a result, in order to avert any criticism, President Obama and John Kerry are willing to jeopardize the security threat that a nuclear state of Iran might pose to the Middle East.</p>
<p>On the other hand, whether the nuclear talks fail or succeed, the Islamic Republic will come out of this game as a winner. The major winner of the success or failure of nuclear talks will be Iran’s Supreme Leader, Ayatollah Ali Khamnenei. Shrewdly and masterfully, Khamenei placed himself in a position to not lose his legitimacy and credibility whether the nuclear talks succeed or scuttle. On the one hand, Khamenei has been arguing that he does not trust the United States and these nuclear negotiations, while he has been willing to give his blessing and a chance to President Rouhani, Foreign Minister Javad Zarif and their technocrat team to pursue their objectives with these nuclear talks. As a result, if nuclear talks fail, the Supreme Leader will argue that he told them so from the beginning, and if the nuclear talks succeed, he will get credit for being flexible and giving the president a chance. In addition, the Supreme leader has reached his economic, hegemonic, and political objectives in the meantime.</p>
<p>In case of failure, the Iranian leaders have already received billions of dollars, they bought more time to stabilize their economy, regain the value of their currency, reduce inflation, and further consolidate the hold on power of the ruling clerics. In addition Russia, China and some other Asian countries, and European companies have ratcheted up their economic and business deals with the Islamic Republic, particularly in the oil sector due to the prospects of these nuclear talks in the last year. In either ways, the ruling politicians of the Islamic republic will emerge as the winners.</p>
<p><b>Freedom Center pamphlets now available on Kindle: </b><a href="http://www.amazon.com/s/ref%3dnb_sb_noss?url=search-alias%3Ddigital-text&amp;field-keywords=david+horowitz&amp;rh=n:133140011%2ck:david+horowitz&amp;ajr=0#/ref=sr_st?keywords=david+horowitz&amp;qid=1316459840&amp;rh=n:133140011%2ck:david+horowitz&amp;sort=daterank" target="_blank"><b>Click here</b></a><b>. </b></p>
<p><a style="line-height: 1.5em;" href="http://horowitzfreedomcenter.us1.list-manage.com/subscribe?u=caa6f67f1482e6214d83be62d&amp;id=c761755bdf" target="_blank"><b>Subscribe</b></a><strong style="line-height: 1.5em;"> to Frontpage&#8217;s TV show, <i>The Glazov Gang</i>, and </strong><a style="line-height: 1.5em;" href="https://www.facebook.com/glazovgang" target="_blank"><b>LIKE</b></a><strong style="line-height: 1.5em;"> it on </strong><a style="line-height: 1.5em;" href="https://www.facebook.com/glazovgang" target="_blank"><b>Facebook.</b></a></p>
]]></content:encoded>
			<wfw:commentRss>http://www.frontpagemag.com/2014/majid-rafizadeh/obamas-generous-deal-with-the-mullahs/feed/</wfw:commentRss>
		<slash:comments>1</slash:comments>
		</item>
		<item>
		<title>Iran: The 9-Step Plan to &#8216;Eliminate&#8217; Israel</title>
		<link>http://www.frontpagemag.com/2014/majid-rafizadeh/iran-the-9-step-plan-to-eliminate-israel/?utm_source=rss&#038;utm_medium=rss&#038;utm_campaign=iran-the-9-step-plan-to-eliminate-israel</link>
		<comments>http://www.frontpagemag.com/2014/majid-rafizadeh/iran-the-9-step-plan-to-eliminate-israel/#comments</comments>
		<pubDate>Mon, 17 Nov 2014 05:54:30 +0000</pubDate>
		<dc:creator><![CDATA[Majid Rafizadeh]]></dc:creator>
				<category><![CDATA[Daily Mailer]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[FrontPage]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[eliminate]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Iran]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Israel]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[negotiation]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Nuclear Weapons]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Obama]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[plan]]></category>

		<guid isPermaLink="false">http://www.frontpagemag.com/?p=245345</guid>
		<description><![CDATA[How Obama's nuclear negotiations have made the Islamic Republic more fearless than ever. ]]></description>
				<content:encoded><![CDATA[<p><a href="http://cdn.frontpagemag.com/wp-content/uploads/2014/11/khamenei-880329-3-000.jpg"><img class="alignleft  wp-image-245347" src="http://cdn.frontpagemag.com/wp-content/uploads/2014/11/khamenei-880329-3-000-380x350.jpg" alt="khamenei-880329-3-000" width="306" height="282" /></a>President Barack Obama appears to be determined to reward the ruling clerics in the Islamic Republic for its “good” behavior by engaging in nuclear negations.</p>
<p>In addition, President Obama has created the narrative that the Islamic Republic is in a weaker position in the nuclear negotiations because the Iranians want sanctions to be lifted against them. But what we witness in reality is that every time that the Islamic Republic rejects any deal that does not comply with its objectives, President Obama and Secretary of State John Kerry keep coming back with a new deal to satisfy the Iranian leaders. If the Islamic Republic is the weaker actor in these negotiations, then why are the rules of the nuclear deal not being set based on the p5+1 criteria?</p>
<p>John Kerry has been holding bilateral talks with the Russians and French in order to make sure that a final nuclear deal can be reached between the P5+1 (China, France, Germany, Russia, the United Kingdom, and the United States) and the Islamic Republic. Additionally, President Barack Obama seems to be determined.</p>
<p>President Obama has also recently written a secret letter &#8212; revealed by the <span style="color: #0433ff;"><a href="http://online.wsj.com/articles/obama-wrote-secret-letter-to-irans-khamenei-about-fighting-islamic-state-1415295291">Wall Street Journal</a> &#8211;</span> to Iran’s Supreme Leader, Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, implying the shared regional interests that the Islamic Republic and the United States bear in the Middle East. The letter appears to be asking the Supreme Leader to grasp the opportunity and seal the final nuclear deal, which would result in the lifting of sanctions against the Islamic Republic.</p>
<p>Apparently, President Obama is determined to strike the final nuclear deal and to make friends with enemies in other parts of the world in order to add to his superficial Middle East achievements.</p>
<p>But the crucial question is whether these rewards, and diplomatic leniency towards Iranian politicians and leaders, have resulted in creating or reinforcing good behavior in the Islamic Republic.</p>
<p>Most recently, Ayatollah Khamenei <a href="https://twitter.com/khamenei_ir/status/531366667377717248/photo/1"><span style="color: #0433ff;">published</span></a> a nine-step plan that would “eliminate” Israel. In response to the question “What is the most urgent action to take to militarily confront Israel?” the Supreme Leader points out, “The West bank should be armed like Gaza and those who are interested in Palestine’s destiny should take action to arm the people of he West bank, so that the sorrows and grieves (sic) of the Palestinian people will reduce in the light of their powerful hands and the weakness of the Zionist enemy.”</p>
<p>During a speech to university students in Tehran, Khamenei <a href="http://www.al-monitor.com/pulse/originals/2014/07/khamenei-calls-palestinian-referendum-armed-resistance.html"><span style="color: #0433ff;">stated</span></a>, &#8220;If God willing, it is eradicated, even better, but while this fraudulent regime is there and not eradicated, what’s the cure? The cure is a strong and armed resistance against this regime. In confronting the Zionist regime, strength needs to be shown from the direction of the Palestinians.&#8221;</p>
<p>In addition, Iran’s Supreme Leader took to Twitter to call for the elimination of Israel. Khamenei tweeted a series of vitriolic anti-Israel tweets that called for the<a href="http://www.theblaze.com/stories/2014/11/09/barbaric-wolflike-and-infanticidal-khamanei-tweets-for-annihilation-of-israel/"><span style="color: #0433ff;"> elimination</span></a> of the “barbaric, wolflike &amp; infanticidal regime of Israel.”</p>
<p>Historically speaking, we have repeatedly witnessed that incentives and rewards do not elicit good behavior from the Islamic Republic and the ruling officials. For example, after the disclosure of the clandestine nuclear sites in 2002, not only did the Islamic Republic not pay any price for its covert operation, deception and fraudulence, but it was rewarded with hollow and ongoing negotiations in the international arena for the next decade, which fell right in the interest of the ruling clerics in the Islamic Republic.</p>
<p>Did the Islamic Republic appreciate these diplomatic negotiations for its deceptive tactic in nuclear proliferation? Well, history shows that Iranian leaders continued to install covert nuclear sites, one of which was revealed seven years later on September 21, 2009. So why we are not learning from history? When will President Obama recognize that the Islamic Republic will not wake up all of sudden and alter all its objetives, dishonesty and covert operations in nuclear fields?</p>
<p>After the 2009 disclosure, again the White House decided to use diplomatic avenues, which were followed by a flimsy and face-saving interim nuclear deal and the release of billions of dollars to the Iranian government hoping that it will give up on its nuclear objectives.</p>
<p>After a 2009 disclosure of another nuclear site by IAEA, Ayatollah Ali Khemnei, the senior cadre of Iran’s Revolutionary Guard Corps, and the ruling clerics wanted to buy time. They were capable of stalling until now, while installing more centrifuges (currently 19,000) and obtaining high-level enriched uranium. Currently, the objective of the Islamic Republic is to strike a flimsy final and comprehensive nuclear deal that will lead to the lifting of sanctions. Simultaneously, Iran will cheat its way to obtain nuclear weapons because there is no way that IAEA and the international community would be capable of fully monitoring all nuclear activities and its nuances inside the Islamic Republic.</p>
<p>Incentives, removal of sanctions, and more respect are not going to change the behavior of the Islamic Republic. Apparently, rewarding the Islamic Republic has led to the emboldening of the Iranian government, increasing threats from its leaders, and the continuation of dishonesty. If we look at the dishonesty and deceptive strategies that Iranian leaders have utilized with regard to its nuclear program in the last decade, it becomes clear that this government is not going to give up its objectives of obtaining a nuclear bomb, give up exerting its regional hegemonic ambitions, proclaiming to be the leader of the Shiite and Muslims in the World, and give up its opposition to the US and Israel foreign policies in the region. The Islamic Republic is not solely a rational state actor based on the standards of international politics, but also an ideological state founded on the principles of the ruling clerics.</p>
<p><b>Freedom Center pamphlets now available on Kindle: </b><a href="http://www.amazon.com/s/ref%3dnb_sb_noss?url=search-alias%3Ddigital-text&amp;field-keywords=david+horowitz&amp;rh=n:133140011%2ck:david+horowitz&amp;ajr=0#/ref=sr_st?keywords=david+horowitz&amp;qid=1316459840&amp;rh=n:133140011%2ck:david+horowitz&amp;sort=daterank" target="_blank"><b>Click here</b></a><b>. </b></p>
<p><a style="line-height: 1.5em;" href="http://horowitzfreedomcenter.us1.list-manage.com/subscribe?u=caa6f67f1482e6214d83be62d&amp;id=c761755bdf" target="_blank"><b>Subscribe</b></a><strong style="line-height: 1.5em;"> to Frontpage&#8217;s TV show, <i>The Glazov Gang</i>, and </strong><a style="line-height: 1.5em;" href="https://www.facebook.com/glazovgang" target="_blank"><b>LIKE</b></a><strong style="line-height: 1.5em;"> it on </strong><a style="line-height: 1.5em;" href="https://www.facebook.com/glazovgang" target="_blank"><b>Facebook.</b></a></p>
]]></content:encoded>
			<wfw:commentRss>http://www.frontpagemag.com/2014/majid-rafizadeh/iran-the-9-step-plan-to-eliminate-israel/feed/</wfw:commentRss>
		<slash:comments>9</slash:comments>
		</item>
		<item>
		<title>Iran: &#8216;The Great Satan&#8217; Still Our &#8216;Number One Enemy&#8217;</title>
		<link>http://www.frontpagemag.com/2014/majid-rafizadeh/iran-the-great-satan-still-our-number-one-enemy/?utm_source=rss&#038;utm_medium=rss&#038;utm_campaign=iran-the-great-satan-still-our-number-one-enemy</link>
		<comments>http://www.frontpagemag.com/2014/majid-rafizadeh/iran-the-great-satan-still-our-number-one-enemy/#comments</comments>
		<pubDate>Fri, 14 Nov 2014 05:20:59 +0000</pubDate>
		<dc:creator><![CDATA[Majid Rafizadeh]]></dc:creator>
				<category><![CDATA[Daily Mailer]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[FrontPage]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Ayatollah Khameini]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Iran]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[negotiations]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Nuclear]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[p5+1]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Rouhani]]></category>

		<guid isPermaLink="false">http://www.frontpagemag.com/?p=245073</guid>
		<description><![CDATA[The deadline for nuclear negotiations draws near -- and the Islamic Republic isn't backing down. ]]></description>
				<content:encoded><![CDATA[<p><a href="http://cdn.frontpagemag.com/wp-content/uploads/2014/11/Hassan-Rouhani.jpg"><img class="alignleft  wp-image-245076" src="http://cdn.frontpagemag.com/wp-content/uploads/2014/11/Hassan-Rouhani-450x299.jpg" alt="Hassan-Rouhani" width="324" height="215" /></a>The deadline for a final and comprehensive nuclear deal between the Iranian leaders and the six world powers (the P5+1: China, France, Germany, Russia, the United Kingdom, and the United States) is approaching in less than two weeks on November 24<sup>th </sup>.</p>
<p>It seems that the White House is also investing in the notion that after a final nuclear deal is struck between Tehran and the P5+1, and after economic sanctions against the Islamic Republic are removed, Iranian leaders will alter their foreign policies and regional hegemonic ambitions. This argument is anchored in unrealistic and naïve expectations. If we closely analyze the Islamic Republic’s political and power structures, as well as its major sources of legitimacy, it becomes evident that a major and fundamental change in Iranian leaders’ political calculations is completely unlikely.</p>
<p>Domestically speaking, for over thirty years, by blaming and pointing fingers to the United States and Israel for almost every social and political challenge that the Islamic Republic encounters, the government has been capable of deflecting attention from the high unemployment rate among the youth, high inflation, corruption, nepotism, social injustice, lack of freedoms (speech, press, assembly, etc.), and lack of equal opportunity. The fundamental and underlying tenets of the Islamic Republic are anchored in opposing the United States and Israel and their foreign policies in the Middle East.</p>
<p>Secondly, from the Iranian leaders&#8217; perspective, in order to be capable of legally oppressing and cracking down on domestic opposition, the regime must maintain an anti-American posture. Normally, any individual that criticizes the structure and legitimacy of the Iranian government, ruling clerics and the Supreme Leader, is characterized as a US agent, conspirator and traitor. These charges allow the government to use its judiciary system to oppress opposition and maintain its power.</p>
<p>Recently, in the midst of the international tensions and negotiations regarding Iran’s contentious nuclear program, Iran&#8217;s Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC) released a statement to Iran’s semi-official Fars News Agency pointing out that the United States, “the Great Satan,” remains the Islamic Republic’s &#8220;number one enemy.&#8221; The IRGC’s statement <a href="http://www.cnsnews.com/news/article/joseph-perticone/35-years-after-takeover-embassy-tehran-us-still-great-satan-iran"><span style="color: #0433ff;">read</span></a>, “The U.S. is still the great Satan and the number one enemy of the (Islamic) revolution and the Islamic Republic and the Iranian nation.”</p>
<p>Also recently, thousands of pro-government Iranians gathered around the US embassy to mark the 35<sup>th</sup> anniversary of the capture of the U.S. embassy and fifty-two Americans in Tehran by militant students. Demonstrators <a href="http://cdn.defenseone.com/defenseone/interstitial.html?v=2.1.1&amp;rf=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.defenseone.com%2Fthreats%2F2014%2F11%2Firanians-mark-35th-anniversary-hostage-crisis-protests%2F98165%2F"><span style="color: #0433ff;">chanted</span></a>  “Death to America,” “ Death to the Great Satan,” “Death to the United Kingdom” and “Death to Israel.”</p>
<p>Even if a comprehensive nuclear deal is reached between the Islamic Republic and the six world powers by November 24th, Iranian leaders’ position towards the United States, Western allies and Israel will not be altered for the following ideological reasons.</p>
<p>Having the largest Shiite population in the region, the Islamic Republic views itself as the major epicenter of Shiite revivalism across the region. Iran’s support for its proxies, Shiite militant political groups in the region (such Hezbollah in Lebanon, Liwa al-Imam al-Husayn in Syria, Asaib Ahl al-Haqq in Iraq, etc.), will remain to define Tehran’s foreign policy.<b> </b>Establishing itself as the front runner and leader of Shiism has been at the fundamental core of Iran’s foreign policy and regional hegemonic ambitions since 1979. This foreign policy objective will continue to define the Islamic Republic’s identity as long as the Ayatollahs are in power.</p>
<p>In addition, Iranian leaders have been investing in the Syrian regime, economically and politically, for over three decades. It is totally unrealistic to argue that if a final nuclear deal is sealed and if economic sanctions against the Islamic Republic are removed, Tehran will alter its unrelenting military, financial, advisory, and intelligence support to the Alawite-based government of al-Assad.</p>
<p>Without a doubt, some minor changes might occur if a final nuclear is struck. For example, Iran would be more incorporated in international organizations, particularly economically, and it would gradually open up its market to foreign and Western investors. It follows that the Islamic Republic will have to embed some international financial standards into its economic system. Nevertheless, the office of the Supreme Leader, Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, and IRGC will remain the key economic generators with a monopoly over major industries and will be reluctant to allow equal opportunity and redistribution of wealth to the lower classes.</p>
<p>Furthermore, being incorporated more into world economic systems does not necessarily indicate that more political freedom, as well as civil liberties, will be granted to ordinary Iranian citizens. Historical evidence reveals that economic prosperity for some states can result in implementation of robust policies to tighten control over the population and further centralize power. In other words, similar to other authoritarian governments, economic liberalization will not go hand in hand with political liberalizations in the Islamic Republic.</p>
<p><b>Freedom Center pamphlets now available on Kindle: </b><a href="http://www.amazon.com/s/ref%3dnb_sb_noss?url=search-alias%3Ddigital-text&amp;field-keywords=david+horowitz&amp;rh=n:133140011%2ck:david+horowitz&amp;ajr=0#/ref=sr_st?keywords=david+horowitz&amp;qid=1316459840&amp;rh=n:133140011%2ck:david+horowitz&amp;sort=daterank" target="_blank"><b>Click here</b></a><b>. </b></p>
<p><a style="line-height: 1.5em;" href="http://horowitzfreedomcenter.us1.list-manage.com/subscribe?u=caa6f67f1482e6214d83be62d&amp;id=c761755bdf" target="_blank"><b>Subscribe</b></a><strong style="line-height: 1.5em;"> to Frontpage&#8217;s TV show, <i>The Glazov Gang</i>, and </strong><a style="line-height: 1.5em;" href="https://www.facebook.com/glazovgang" target="_blank"><b>LIKE</b></a><strong style="line-height: 1.5em;"> it on </strong><a style="line-height: 1.5em;" href="https://www.facebook.com/glazovgang" target="_blank"><b>Facebook.</b></a></p>
]]></content:encoded>
			<wfw:commentRss>http://www.frontpagemag.com/2014/majid-rafizadeh/iran-the-great-satan-still-our-number-one-enemy/feed/</wfw:commentRss>
		<slash:comments>17</slash:comments>
		</item>
		<item>
		<title>Reyhaneh Jabbari&#8217;s Execution Shows Emboldened Iran</title>
		<link>http://www.frontpagemag.com/2014/majid-rafizadeh/reyhaneh-jabbaris-execution-shows-emboldened-iran/?utm_source=rss&#038;utm_medium=rss&#038;utm_campaign=reyhaneh-jabbaris-execution-shows-emboldened-iran</link>
		<comments>http://www.frontpagemag.com/2014/majid-rafizadeh/reyhaneh-jabbaris-execution-shows-emboldened-iran/#comments</comments>
		<pubDate>Thu, 06 Nov 2014 05:30:55 +0000</pubDate>
		<dc:creator><![CDATA[Majid Rafizadeh]]></dc:creator>
				<category><![CDATA[Daily Mailer]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[FrontPage]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[abuse]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[execution]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Human Rights]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Iran]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[negotiations]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Nuclear]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Reyhaneh Jabbari]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[United Nations]]></category>

		<guid isPermaLink="false">http://www.frontpagemag.com/?p=244655</guid>
		<description><![CDATA[How the weakness of the U.S. is creating more victims inside the Islamic Republic. ]]></description>
				<content:encoded><![CDATA[<p><a href="http://cdn.frontpagemag.com/wp-content/uploads/2014/11/1412068835096_wps_19_A_picture_taken_on_July_8.jpg"><img class="alignleft  wp-image-244656" src="http://cdn.frontpagemag.com/wp-content/uploads/2014/11/1412068835096_wps_19_A_picture_taken_on_July_8-409x350.jpg" alt="1412068835096_wps_19_A_picture_taken_on_July_8" width="290" height="248" /></a>Despite the surge in executions and human rights violations in the Islamic Republic, the mainstream media and some Western politicians still depict the Iranian president Hassan Rouhani and his governmental technocrat team as moderate or reformist.</p>
<p>Recently, a 26-year-old Iranian woman, Reyhaneh Jabbari, was executed in Iran’s prison for allegedly killing the man who raped her. Morteza Abdolali Sarbandi, the alleged rapist, was a former employee in Iran’s intelligence ministry. The trial of Jabbari lacked fair and due process.</p>
<p>The intriguing issue is that this execution led to a considerable amount of international outcry from human rights groups. Many requested that the Islamic Republic’s president, Hassan Rouhani, rescind the death sentence against Jabbari.</p>
<p>Normally, when there is significant international pressure, the Islamic Republic has tended to shift the death sentence or postpone it. But the fact that the Iranian government went ahead and executed this women highlights the increasing empowerment and emboldened sentiments of the Iranian regime as it defies, as well as disregards, the international condemnation.</p>
<p>Several crucial factors, including President Obama’s projection of weak foreign policy, leadership, as well as his administration’s appeasement policies toward the Islamic Republic’s domestic and foreign policy, play crucial roles in emboldening and empowering the Islamic Republic.</p>
<p>In addition, the new wave of acid attacks against Iranian women appear not to raise any concerns in the Iranian government with regards to its  global and regional image.</p>
<p>A new report by a United Nations Human Rights investigator further highlights the surge in executions and human rights violations, and it underlines the fallacy of the narrative that President Hassan Rouhani is distinct from other Iranian politicians, such as his predecessor Mahmoud Ahmadinejad.</p>
<p>The new report was provided by a United Nations human rights investigator, Ahmad Shaheed, who was a former diplomat from the Maldives and currently special rapporteur on human rights issues in the Islamic Republic.</p>
<p>Shaheed, who has been denied to entry into the Islamic Republic, conducted his report by amassing hundreds of interviews and substantiated records of human rights abuses, including those executions officially reported by the Iranian government. Although he did not directly blame Rouhani, Shaheed recently addressed and briefed the United Nations General Assembly on Iran’s human rights record, which corresponds with the timing that Rouhani had been in office.</p>
<p>The surge in human rights abuses appear to have been carried out on several crucial platforms. First of all, there is an alarming increase in the number of prison and public executions in comparison to the prior year.</p>
<p>In 2012, under the presidency of Mahmoud Ahmadinejad, the recorded number of executions was 580 people. This indicates that there has been an increase of approximately 45 percent in executions under Rouhani. In 2013, 687 people were executed.</p>
<p>In addition, the range of charges for executing Iranian citizens appears to have been widened. The legal reasons behind executions include political, economic, human rights activism, and drug trafficking. Addressing a General Assembly human rights committee this week, Ahmad Shaheed pointed out this &#8220;surge in executions in the country over the past 12-15 months.&#8221; Shaheed added, &#8220;At least 852 individuals were executed in the period since June of last year, including eight juveniles.&#8221;</p>
<p>The second manner of human rights violation is targeted at those who are engaged in freedom of information, particularly journalists. In addition, other reporters and posters, such as bloggers, Facebook users, and people who are active on social media, have been restricted as well. The number of journalists who have been detained in the Islamic Republic have also ratcheted up. According to Shaheed, there are currently 35 journalists under detention in Iran.</p>
<p>The third phenomenon appears to represent the concerns regarding the persecution of religious minorities, including the Christians, Sunnis, Dervishes, and Baha&#8217;i community. Currently, 120 people of the Baha&#8217;i community, as well as 49 Christians, have been documented to be in prison in Iran solely for religious practices.  Some members of the Arab community, characterized as “cultural rights activists,” as well as juveniles, have also been put to death sentence.</p>
<p>The fourth category of human rights abuses is linked to the restrictions on and deterioration of women&#8217;s rights in the Islamic Republic. For example, the Iranian government has also imposed a quota on the admission of Iranian girls to universities. According the UN human rights reports, the number of Iranian women being enrolled at universities has come down to 48 percent.</p>
<p>President Rouhani was elected by the majority of Iranian people as a moderate candidate who would potentially promote civil liberties, social justice, and individual freedoms (including freedom of speech, assembly and press).</p>
<p>Instead of taking a more robust position towards the Islamic Republic when it comes to dealing with the Islamic Republic, President Obama will more likely disregard the recent surge in egregious and appalling human rights abuses due to the administration&#8217;s extreme focus on striking a final nuclear deal with the Islamic Republic. The comprehensive nuclear deal would ultimately remove political and economic sanctions against the Islamic Republic. The United States should concentrate more on human rights violations in Iran by incorporating this issue with the country’s nuclear defiance.</p>
<p><b>Freedom Center pamphlets now available on Kindle: </b><a href="http://www.amazon.com/s/ref%3dnb_sb_noss?url=search-alias%3Ddigital-text&amp;field-keywords=david+horowitz&amp;rh=n:133140011%2ck:david+horowitz&amp;ajr=0#/ref=sr_st?keywords=david+horowitz&amp;qid=1316459840&amp;rh=n:133140011%2ck:david+horowitz&amp;sort=daterank" target="_blank"><b>Click here</b></a><b>. </b></p>
<p><a style="line-height: 1.5em;" href="http://horowitzfreedomcenter.us1.list-manage.com/subscribe?u=caa6f67f1482e6214d83be62d&amp;id=c761755bdf" target="_blank"><b>Subscribe</b></a><strong style="line-height: 1.5em;"> to Frontpage&#8217;s TV show, <i>The Glazov Gang</i>, and </strong><a style="line-height: 1.5em;" href="https://www.facebook.com/glazovgang" target="_blank"><b>LIKE</b></a><strong style="line-height: 1.5em;"> it on </strong><a style="line-height: 1.5em;" href="https://www.facebook.com/glazovgang" target="_blank"><b>Facebook.</b></a></p>
]]></content:encoded>
			<wfw:commentRss>http://www.frontpagemag.com/2014/majid-rafizadeh/reyhaneh-jabbaris-execution-shows-emboldened-iran/feed/</wfw:commentRss>
		<slash:comments>6</slash:comments>
		</item>
		<item>
		<title>How Obama&#8217;s Weakness Is Emboldening ISIS and Iran</title>
		<link>http://www.frontpagemag.com/2014/majid-rafizadeh/how-obamas-weakness-is-emboldening-isis-and-iran/?utm_source=rss&#038;utm_medium=rss&#038;utm_campaign=how-obamas-weakness-is-emboldening-isis-and-iran</link>
		<comments>http://www.frontpagemag.com/2014/majid-rafizadeh/how-obamas-weakness-is-emboldening-isis-and-iran/#comments</comments>
		<pubDate>Fri, 31 Oct 2014 04:20:17 +0000</pubDate>
		<dc:creator><![CDATA[Majid Rafizadeh]]></dc:creator>
				<category><![CDATA[Daily Mailer]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[FrontPage]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Iran]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[ISIS]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[islamic state]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Obama]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Syria]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[weakness]]></category>

		<guid isPermaLink="false">http://www.frontpagemag.com/?p=243895</guid>
		<description><![CDATA[And why a new strategy is necessary. ]]></description>
				<content:encoded><![CDATA[<p style="color: #1a1a1a;"><a href="http://cdn.frontpagemag.com/wp-content/uploads/2014/10/iran_7.jpg"><img class="alignleft  wp-image-243896" src="http://cdn.frontpagemag.com/wp-content/uploads/2014/10/iran_7-450x347.jpg" alt="iran_7" width="327" height="252" /></a>Iranian leaders, particularly the senior cadres of Iran’s Revolutionary Guard Corps, as well as Iran’s Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, have successfully sensed, invested in, and exploited the White House&#8217;s weaknesses and hesitation in following up on its words.</p>
<p style="color: #1a1a1a;">When it comes to Syria, President Obama has sent a strong signal to the Islamic Republic that Washington would not dare cross Iran’s influence in the country. On several occasions, when President Bashar Al Assad and his armed forces crossed President Obama’s multiple red lines, President Obama decided to sit at the margin, not taking action, which led to the questioning of US credibility.</p>
<p style="color: #1a1a1a;">This projection of weakness has not only empowered the Islamic Republic, its military activities, and intervention in other countries in the Middle East, but has also emboldened extremists groups such as the Islamic State.</p>
<p style="color: #1a1a1a;">The Islamic Republic no longer hides its military, financial, intelligence, and advisory assistance to Assad, and it does not shy away from its engagements in Syria, Iraq, Lebanon, Yemen, or other regional nations. Groups such as the powerful Iranian-backed Shia Badr brigade are being publicly utilized in Iraq. The fighters from Hezbollah (Lebanon&#8217;s pro-Iranian Shiite movement) and Quds forces (an elite branch of Iran’s Revolutionary Guard Corps), have been publicly operating in several foreign territories. This issue has been significantly instrumental in tipping the balance of power in favor of the Syrian government, as well as keeping Assad in power after more than three years of the conflict in Syria.</p>
<p style="color: #1a1a1a;">General Qassem Suleimani, the commander of Iran’s Quds force (an elite branch of the IRGC), who has always kept a low profile, is now boasting about his army&#8217;s presence in Iraq. Suleimani has been <a href="http://www.arabnews.com/news/640586"><span style="color: #0433ff;">taking</span></a> professional pictures for the sake of publicity for the Iranian government. Iranian state TV has also been showing the pictures of Suleimani in foreign territories and pointing to the Islamic Republic’s indispensable power and influence in the Middle East. In addition, Yadollah Javani, a senior adviser to Khamenei, recently <a href="http://www.theguardian.com/world/2014/oct/14/suleimani-high-profile-to-publicise-irans-key-anti-isis-role"><span style="color: #0433ff;">stated</span></a> that “Baghdad was prevented from falling because of the presence and assistance of the Islamic republic.”</p>
<p style="color: #1a1a1a;">These moves are unprecedented in the Islamic Republic’s foreign policy, and they highlight a crucial strategic shift in the Iranian leader’s tactics, mission, regional hegemonic ambitions, and search for regional supremacy in the Middle East. Iranian leaders are attempting to reassert their power and supremacy in the Middle East more publicly, as well as sending the signal to other states that Iran is in fact the sole regional power to rely on rather than the United States and Western allies.</p>
<p style="color: #1a1a1a;">In addition, through their media and TV outlets, Iranian leaders have been trying to circulate an image of Iran to the Iranian people, that the Islamic Republic can defeat the Islamic State by itself and act as a regional power. For example, Amirali Hajizadeh, the airforce commander of Iran’s Revoluationary Guard Corps, confirmed the presence General Qassem Suleimani in Iraq on Iran’s national TV, <a href="http://www.theguardian.com/world/2014/oct/14/suleimani-high-profile-to-publicise-irans-key-anti-isis-role"><span style="color: #0433ff;">adding</span></a> “If it wasn’t for Iran’s help, Iraq’s Kurdistan would have fallen into the hands of Daesh.”</p>
<p style="color: #141414;">Currently, the Islamic Republic’s strong position is that Iran is drawing red lines for the United States. More fundamentally, President Obama seems to have accepted and recognized Iran’s red lines with regards to Assad, and the White House appears to overlook or appease the Islamic Republic&#8217;s objectives in that regard. Since the White House has been indirectly cooperating and coordinating aerial and ground battles against the Islamic State, President Obama has come to the understanding that he will carry out an appeasement policy towards Iran’s role in the region, its military involvement in Syria, and Iran-Iraq ties.</p>
<p style="color: #141414;">For Washington, the battle against the Islamic State is at the top of its foreign policy agenda. The future Assad, his use of brute force, and Iran’s IRGC assistances have definitely become secondary and marginal objectives to tackle. In addition, Iran’s nuclear ambitions have also slid to the sidelines of the US and Western allies’ objectives, as the battle against the Islamic State goes on. The US, the major negotiator in the p5+1 group (<span style="color: #323333;">China, France, Germany, Russia, the United Kingdom, and the United States), has significantly softened its position towards Iran’s nuclear program by favoring policies such as nuclear containment rather than dismantlement of Tehran’s nuclear infrastructure. This follows that Iran might be allowed, like Japan, to be a nuclear threshold state.</span></p>
<p style="color: #141414;"><span style="color: #323333;">President Obama’s foreign policy of compartmentalization – which focuses on the Islamic Republic&#8217;s assistance in defeating the Islamic State while overlooking all other activities of the Islamic Republic &#8212; will lead to costly long-term and short-term outcomes. </span>The most effective approach is to simultaneously address the Islamic Republic’s multi-dimensional functions across the Middle East, including its military, financial intelligence, advisory assistance to President Bashar Al Assad, military involvements in Iraq and Yemen, the involvement of pro-Iranian and pro-Shiite proxies and militias in the region, as well as Iran’s nuclear ambitions. This comprehensive strategy will address some of the crucial underlying factors behind the crisis in the Middle East, including the rise of extremist groups such as the Islamic State. By not taking Iran’s nuanced role in the Middle East seriously, and by turning a blind eye to all Iranian military activities in Syria and other countries &#8211;due to the notion the Islamic Republic is assisting the United States and Western allies in their fighting campaign against the Islamic State &#8212; will solely ratchet up the conflict and eventually lead to significant blows to American national security, political and economic interests.</p>
<p><b>Freedom Center pamphlets now available on Kindle: </b><a href="http://www.amazon.com/s/ref%3dnb_sb_noss?url=search-alias%3Ddigital-text&amp;field-keywords=david+horowitz&amp;rh=n:133140011%2ck:david+horowitz&amp;ajr=0#/ref=sr_st?keywords=david+horowitz&amp;qid=1316459840&amp;rh=n:133140011%2ck:david+horowitz&amp;sort=daterank" target="_blank"><b>Click here</b></a><b>. </b></p>
<p><a style="line-height: 1.5em;" href="http://horowitzfreedomcenter.us1.list-manage.com/subscribe?u=caa6f67f1482e6214d83be62d&amp;id=c761755bdf" target="_blank"><b>Subscribe</b></a><strong style="line-height: 1.5em;"> to Frontpage&#8217;s TV show, <i>The Glazov Gang</i>, and </strong><a style="line-height: 1.5em;" href="https://www.facebook.com/glazovgang" target="_blank"><b>LIKE</b></a><strong style="line-height: 1.5em;"> it on </strong><a style="line-height: 1.5em;" href="https://www.facebook.com/glazovgang" target="_blank"><b>Facebook.</b></a></p>
]]></content:encoded>
			<wfw:commentRss>http://www.frontpagemag.com/2014/majid-rafizadeh/how-obamas-weakness-is-emboldening-isis-and-iran/feed/</wfw:commentRss>
		<slash:comments>1</slash:comments>
		</item>
		<item>
		<title>Wave of Acid Attacks in Iran</title>
		<link>http://www.frontpagemag.com/2014/majid-rafizadeh/wave-of-acid-attacks-in-iran/?utm_source=rss&#038;utm_medium=rss&#038;utm_campaign=wave-of-acid-attacks-in-iran</link>
		<comments>http://www.frontpagemag.com/2014/majid-rafizadeh/wave-of-acid-attacks-in-iran/#comments</comments>
		<pubDate>Wed, 22 Oct 2014 04:35:19 +0000</pubDate>
		<dc:creator><![CDATA[Majid Rafizadeh]]></dc:creator>
				<category><![CDATA[Daily Mailer]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[FrontPage]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[acid attack]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[hijab]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Iran]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Islam]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Women]]></category>

		<guid isPermaLink="false">http://www.frontpagemag.com/?p=243503</guid>
		<description><![CDATA[Terrorized women live in fear. ]]></description>
				<content:encoded><![CDATA[<p style="color: #1a1a1a;"><a href="http://cdn.frontpagemag.com/wp-content/uploads/2014/10/bbbunnamed.png"><img class="alignleft  wp-image-243506" src="http://cdn.frontpagemag.com/wp-content/uploads/2014/10/bbbunnamed-450x324.png" alt="bbbunnamed" width="346" height="249" /></a>“I was never more scared than I am now. I am scared of going to class, doing normal chores, driving a car, and even walking in the street. I am really afraid of motorcycles. Do you know what will happen to my life if one of these people throw acid in my face?” Azita, a university student in Isfahan, anxiously told me. Her neighborhood, Jolfa, has become a target of a new wave of acid attacks against young girls. Women are not even safe in their cars, as the Iranian Students’ News Agency (ISNA) has <a href="http://freethinker.co.uk/2014/10/20/immodest-hijab-wearers-under-threat/"><span style="color: #0433ff;">reported</span></a> that in October 15, witnesses saw an incident of an acid assault by a motorcyclist on a 27-year-old woman who was in the car with her car window left open.</p>
<p style="color: #1a1a1a;">I was born in this neighborhood &#8212; to be more specific, in Hakim Nezami &#8212; and lived in this area of Isfahan for two years of my youth. Although the issue of acid attacks against women has been prevalent, and on the rise, particularly in countries such as India, Pakistan, and Afghanistan, I have never heard of acid being a threat or an issue targeting women in the Islamic Republic until these recent developments.</p>
<p style="color: #1a1a1a;"><span style="color: #0433ff;"><a href="http://news.yahoo.com/bad-hijab-acid-attacks-iranian-women-142736305.html">Reportedly</a></span>, a series of acid attacks mainly by motorcyclists has been carried out against Iranian women because they were badly veiled and their hijabs did not meet the Islamic dress code of the Islamic Republic. The acid assaults in countries such as India, Pakistan, and Afghanistan have been more aimed at female victims, who, according to the aggressors, cause their family to lose honor due to premarital sex or &#8220;indecent behavior&#8221; with the opposite sex.</p>
<p style="color: #1a1a1a;">According to the imposed dress code of the Islamic Republic of Iran, women are supposed to wear a complete hijab, preferably a black chador, which covers their heads, necks, and bodies. The cloth should be loose in order to not expose the frame of the body. As a result, anything beside this criteria is marked as a bad hijab. The punishment for not wearing the hijab has ranged from arrests to lashings, fines, torture, and imprisonment. In the beginning years of the Islamic Revolution of 1979 and 1980 when the hijab was imposed, secular female movements protested but many women were stabbed as a result. The fear and use of brutal force centralized the dress code imposed by the Iranian regime.</p>
<p style="color: #1a1a1a;">The overwhelming majority of Iranian women opposed this forceful theocratic law by pushing the boundaries set by the state. Over the years, they have slightly changed the dress code by wearing colorful, small, and thin veils, which hardly cover the hair and exposes some hair in the front and back. In addition, young girls have been slightly exposing some skin (ankles, arms, etc.), along with wearing tight coats, shirts, and clothing that reaches mid-thigh.</p>
<p style="color: #1a1a1a;">Since millions of girls across the country have been resisting the theocratic and Islamic social order, the government has found it impossible to arrest all these women and put them in jail. Notwithstanding this fact, the Iranian regime has had moral and Islamic vigilantes in the streets, who randomly arrest and drag women to the police station and the “Amre Be Maroof va Nahi az Monkar” office: the Center for the Promotion of Virtue and Prevention of Vice.</p>
<p style="color: #1a1a1a;">The major question to address is why and who these abusers are who are attacking innocent women with acid for not wearing the hijab properly? From my perspective, and having lived in the Islamic Republic, I do not think that ordinary Iranian people, even the religious ones who are not connected to the government, would commit such acts. Culturally, socially, and historically speaking, acid attacks have never been a method of torturing innocent women for not complying with dress code in the Iranian society. Iranian citizens are well educated and many of them favor Western secular ways of living to the status quo and theocratic, authoritarian Islamic rule.</p>
<p style="color: #1a1a1a;">One speculation and presumption behind these egregious human rights abuses can be traced to the Iranian regime itself. Under the presidency of the “moderate” cleric, Hassan Rouhani, the Iranian parliament has recently given more power to moral police, vigilante Islamic groups, and moral patrols in the streets, by <a href="http://www.inquisitr.com/1549693/iranian-women-attacked-with-acid-for-bad-hijab-attackers-may-be-enforcing-law-not-breaking-it/"><span style="color: #0433ff;">passing</span></a> laws that grant freer rein to these groups to monitor and spy on the society. Some of these powerful moral and militant groups, which have gained more power from the Iranian parliament, are Basij and Ansar e Hezbollah (the Supporters of the Party of God).</p>
<p style="color: #1a1a1a;">Some motorcyclists have been <a href="http://www.thedailybeast.com/articles/2014/10/18/acid-attacks-on-women-spread-terror-in-iran.html"><span style="color: #0433ff;">noted</span></a> to ride large bikes and have conservative appearances. Some motorcyclists are also causing women to believe their faces are being burned by throwing water and cleansers into their faces. This is more a method of imposing fear in the society. Outrageously, militant and fundamentalist groups such as the Basij, Ansar e Hezbollah, intelligence, and Iran’s Revolutionary Guard Corps, view women’s improper dress as the underlying reason behind these acts against them. As a result, for them these kind of egregious abuses are totally justified.</p>
<p style="color: #1a1a1a;">Since the Islamic Republic is incapable of controlling and imprisoning millions of women who are challenging the Islamic power structures of the regime, the acid attacks might be a new method employed by governmental vigilante groups to impose fear in the society, particularly in women, and coerce women to comply with the Islamic dress code of the Islamic Republic.</p>
<p>*</p>
<p><em>Don&#8217;t miss Frontpage Editor <strong>Jamie Glazov</strong> discuss why the Left is deafeningly silent on the suffering of Muslim women under Islamic gender apartheid:</em></p>
<p style="text-align: center;"><iframe src="//www.youtube.com/embed/QsDu8Os3PlA" width="460" height="315" frameborder="0" allowfullscreen="allowfullscreen"></iframe></p>
<p><b>Freedom Center pamphlets now available on Kindle: </b><a href="http://www.amazon.com/s/ref%3dnb_sb_noss?url=search-alias%3Ddigital-text&amp;field-keywords=david+horowitz&amp;rh=n:133140011%2ck:david+horowitz&amp;ajr=0#/ref=sr_st?keywords=david+horowitz&amp;qid=1316459840&amp;rh=n:133140011%2ck:david+horowitz&amp;sort=daterank" target="_blank"><b>Click here</b></a><b>. </b></p>
<p><a style="line-height: 1.5em;" href="http://horowitzfreedomcenter.us1.list-manage.com/subscribe?u=caa6f67f1482e6214d83be62d&amp;id=c761755bdf" target="_blank"><b>Subscribe</b></a><strong style="line-height: 1.5em;"> to Frontpage&#8217;s TV show, <i>The Glazov Gang</i>, and </strong><a style="line-height: 1.5em;" href="https://www.facebook.com/glazovgang" target="_blank"><b>LIKE</b></a><strong style="line-height: 1.5em;"> it on </strong><a style="line-height: 1.5em;" href="https://www.facebook.com/glazovgang" target="_blank"><b>Facebook.</b></a></p>
]]></content:encoded>
			<wfw:commentRss>http://www.frontpagemag.com/2014/majid-rafizadeh/wave-of-acid-attacks-in-iran/feed/</wfw:commentRss>
		<slash:comments>19</slash:comments>
		</item>
		<item>
		<title>If Ayatollah Khamenei Dies, What Next?</title>
		<link>http://www.frontpagemag.com/2014/majid-rafizadeh/if-ayatollah-khamenei-dies-what-next/?utm_source=rss&#038;utm_medium=rss&#038;utm_campaign=if-ayatollah-khamenei-dies-what-next</link>
		<comments>http://www.frontpagemag.com/2014/majid-rafizadeh/if-ayatollah-khamenei-dies-what-next/#comments</comments>
		<pubDate>Fri, 17 Oct 2014 04:40:39 +0000</pubDate>
		<dc:creator><![CDATA[Majid Rafizadeh]]></dc:creator>
				<category><![CDATA[Daily Mailer]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[FrontPage]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Ayatollah Khameini]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Health]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Iran]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Islam]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Islamic  Republic]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[prostate]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[sick]]></category>

		<guid isPermaLink="false">http://www.frontpagemag.com/?p=243066</guid>
		<description><![CDATA[Preparing for the post-Khamenei era. ]]></description>
				<content:encoded><![CDATA[<p style="color: #1a1a1a;"><a href="http://cdn.frontpagemag.com/wp-content/uploads/2014/10/10653322_941581589191709_3639992395284817096_n.jpg"><img class="alignleft  wp-image-243067" src="http://cdn.frontpagemag.com/wp-content/uploads/2014/10/10653322_941581589191709_3639992395284817096_n.jpg" alt="10653322_941581589191709_3639992395284817096_n" width="298" height="270" /></a>The news regarding the health of the Islamic Republic’s Supreme Leader, Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, has become unprecedented in the last few months. Several other indications suggest that Khamenei&#8217;s health is not only deteriorating but it is cause for a security concern. For example,  following Khamenei’s recent surgery on his prostate, high level officials such as Akbar Hashemi Rafsanjani, Hassan Rouhani, and Mahmoud Ahmadinejad made an unprecedented visit to the ailing leader.</p>
<p style="color: #1a1a1a;">This issue raises the question of what will happen if Iran’s current Supreme Leader, who has the final say in the Islamic Republic’s domestic and foreign policy affairs, dies. Who would be the successor? Will the Islamic Republic refashion its foreign policy towards the West, particularly the United States and Israel?</p>
<p style="color: #1a1a1a;">First of all, we have to understand Iran’s political structure and power relations in order to develop possible projections. Iran’s Supreme Leader, Velayateh Faqhih, is chosen by the Assembly of Experts, which has 86 members. According to Iran’s revised constitution, “In the event of the death, resignation, or dismissal of the leader, the (Assembly of Experts) shall take steps within the shortest possible time for the appointment of the new leader. Until the appointment of the new leader, a council consisting of the president, head of the judiciary, and a jurist from the Guardian Council, upon the decision of the nation’s Expediency Council, shall temporarily take over all the duties of the Leader.”</p>
<p style="color: #1a1a1a;">Although Iranian people elect the members of the Assembly of Experts, it is crucial to point out that the Guardian Council, another crucial political power, vets the candidates beforehand. Only the previously selected members can run for the Assembly of Experts. In other words, the election is just a façade and purely ceremonial. In addition, the turnout for the elections for the members of the Assembly of Experts has always been very low. This is due to the fact that many Iranian people question the legitimacy of these candidates or do not believe that their votes can bring fundamental change.</p>
<p style="color: #1a1a1a;">The members of the Guardian Council, on the other hand, are either directly selected by Ayatollah Ali Khamenei (six members), or by the Judiciary and Majlis, Iran’s parliament (the other six members).</p>
<p style="color: #1a1a1a;">The other key player in making decisions in selecting the next Supreme Leader is the Expediency Council, which oversees disputes over legislation between the Guardian Council and the Islamic Republic’s parliament. It is worth noting that the members of the Expediency Council are also selected by the Supreme Leader. In other words, the aforementioned political bodies have never questioned the decisions, the power, or the political and divine authority of the Supreme Leader.</p>
<p style="color: #1a1a1a;"><strong>The Most Crucial Player in Post-Khamenei Era</strong></p>
<p style="color: #1a1a1a;">Without a doubt, when it come to choosing the next Supreme Leader and making a decision on the nation’s post-Khamenei era, the most powerful political organization is Iran’s Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC). First of all, the IRGC not only militarily and politically controls the domestic and foreign affairs of the Islamic Republic, but it also owns main economic sectors of the country. Under the rule of Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, Iran’s Revolutionary Guard Corps gained more power to suppress domestic oppositions and intervene in domestic affairs of other countries in the Middle East. In addition, the senior cadre of IRGC has control over Iran’s nuclear program.</p>
<p style="color: #1a1a1a;">As a result, having control over the economy, military, politics, and nuclear program, the IRGC will wield the most influence in choosing the next Supreme Leader. Although the Assembly of Experts might ceremonially elect another Ayatollah, the future Supreme Leader will have been chosen by the high officials of IRGC in advance. This suggests that it is likely that the IRGC leaders already have an option or list of names in their agenda.</p>
<p style="color: #1a1a1a;">Nevertheless, the key question is what kind of cleric or political figure will the IRGC be looking for as the next Supreme Leader. Although some scholars have put out some names of influential Ayatollahs and clerics as potential and prospective Supreme Leaders for the Islamic Republic, it is less likely that the senior cadre of Iran’s Revolutionary Guard Corps will desire to choose a powerful Supreme Leader who would fully control their activities. In other words, a charismatic, powerful and influential Ayatollah and political figure will be considered a threat to the rule of the senior cadre of Iran’s Revolutionary Guard Corps. The best option for the IRGC is a weak figure whom they can control.</p>
<p style="color: #1a1a1a;">Even when Khamenei was selected, he was considered a weak candidate in comparison to more powerful figures such as Ayatollah Montazeri or Akbar Hashemi Rafsanjani at that time. At the time, Khamenei was not even a Mujtahed, a senior jurist who can issue fatwas. As time passed, Khamenei consolidated his power by marginalizing powerful opposition clerics and giving more power to the senior cadre of Iran’s Revolutionary Guard Corps.</p>
<p style="color: #1a1a1a;">In addition, the IRGC will attempt to choose an individual who serves the IRGC’s objectives: obtaining nuclear capabilities, having a monopoly over economic and political affairs, having power in foreign policy and having the capability to intervene in other countries&#8217; affairs without hurdles from any political figures including the Supreme Leader.</p>
<p style="color: #1a1a1a;">In other words, the senior cadre of the IRGC will attempt to further consolidate its political and economic power by selecting a weak candidate. It follows that one should not expect any fundamental changes in the Islamic Republic’s domestic or foreign policies even if Supreme Leader Khamenei dies. In fact, the power of the elite of Iran’s Revolutionary Guard Corps will increase, and their pursuit for regional hegemonic ambitions will intensify.</p>
<p><b>Freedom Center pamphlets now available on Kindle: </b><a href="http://www.amazon.com/s/ref%3dnb_sb_noss?url=search-alias%3Ddigital-text&amp;field-keywords=david+horowitz&amp;rh=n:133140011%2ck:david+horowitz&amp;ajr=0#/ref=sr_st?keywords=david+horowitz&amp;qid=1316459840&amp;rh=n:133140011%2ck:david+horowitz&amp;sort=daterank" target="_blank"><b>Click here</b></a><b>. </b></p>
<p><a style="line-height: 1.5em;" href="http://horowitzfreedomcenter.us1.list-manage.com/subscribe?u=caa6f67f1482e6214d83be62d&amp;id=c761755bdf" target="_blank"><b>Subscribe</b></a><strong style="line-height: 1.5em;"> to Frontpage&#8217;s TV show, <i>The Glazov Gang</i>, and </strong><a style="line-height: 1.5em;" href="https://www.facebook.com/glazovgang" target="_blank"><b>LIKE</b></a><strong style="line-height: 1.5em;"> it on </strong><a style="line-height: 1.5em;" href="https://www.facebook.com/glazovgang" target="_blank"><b>Facebook.</b></a></p>
]]></content:encoded>
			<wfw:commentRss>http://www.frontpagemag.com/2014/majid-rafizadeh/if-ayatollah-khamenei-dies-what-next/feed/</wfw:commentRss>
		<slash:comments>4</slash:comments>
		</item>
		<item>
		<title>Obama Secretly Giving In to Iran&#8217;s Nuke Demands</title>
		<link>http://www.frontpagemag.com/2014/majid-rafizadeh/obama-secretly-giving-in-to-irans-nuke-demands/?utm_source=rss&#038;utm_medium=rss&#038;utm_campaign=obama-secretly-giving-in-to-irans-nuke-demands</link>
		<comments>http://www.frontpagemag.com/2014/majid-rafizadeh/obama-secretly-giving-in-to-irans-nuke-demands/#comments</comments>
		<pubDate>Thu, 09 Oct 2014 04:20:00 +0000</pubDate>
		<dc:creator><![CDATA[Majid Rafizadeh]]></dc:creator>
				<category><![CDATA[Daily Mailer]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[FrontPage]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Iran]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Islamic  Republic]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[negotiations]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Nuclear Weapons]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[nukes]]></category>

		<guid isPermaLink="false">http://www.frontpagemag.com/?p=242395</guid>
		<description><![CDATA[The president's unprecedented concessions to the Islamic Republic. ]]></description>
				<content:encoded><![CDATA[<p><a href="http://cdn.frontpagemag.com/wp-content/uploads/2014/10/Iran-nuclear-weapons-program-IAEA-report.jpg"><img class="alignleft  wp-image-242397" src="http://cdn.frontpagemag.com/wp-content/uploads/2014/10/Iran-nuclear-weapons-program-IAEA-report-408x350.jpg" alt="Iran-nuclear-weapons-program-IAEA-report" width="321" height="275" /></a>For several reasons, President Obama appears to be desperate to seal a final nuclear deal with the Islamic Republic, even if the comprehensive nuclear pact would leave the Iranian leaders with the nuclear infrastructure and required centrifuges to build an atomic bomb. Based on the latest developments, it is clear the Obama administration has steadily become much more lenient and compromising, giving unprecedented concessions to the Islamic Republic, some of which have been kept <a href="http://www.latimes.com/world/middleeast/la-fg-white-house-iran-20140920-story.html"><span style="color: #0433ff;">clandestine</span></a>.</p>
<p>As the nuclear talks continue between Iranian leaders and representatives from the P5+1 (China, France, Germany, Russia, the United Kingdom, and the United States), the nuclear negotiations have turned primarily into a show between the United States and the Islamic Republic. Increasingly, Iranian and American politicians from both sides have been holding bilateral talks in order to strike a nuclear deal by the extended deadline of November 24.</p>
<p>The US and Iran appear to be the two major players in the nuclear talks, as the White House began reshaping the nuclear negotiations which fall right into the interests of Iranian politicians.</p>
<p>First of all, the main demand of the United States and other world powers was that the Islamic Republic had to dismantle its nuclear infrastructure for the United Nations Security Council to remove the four rounds of economic and political sanctions on Iran. Dismantlement of the major nuclear facilities would give the international community a considerable amount of relief from Iran’s potential to develop an atomic bomb anytime soon.</p>
<p>In the past months, the nuclear talks became stagnant due to the fact that Iranian leaders, particularly Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei and the senior cadre of Iran’s Revolutionary Guard Corps, suggested that they will not give an inch or dismantle their nuclear infrastructure.</p>
<p>How did President Obama respond to Iranian leaders’ zero sum political game and uncompromising standpoint? Intriguingly, President Obama made a decision to secretly lower the international community&#8217;s demands to satisfy the Iranian nuclear team’s demands. It is key to point out that the decision he made highlights a significant shift in nuclear negotiations. The White House proposed that the Islamic Republic disconnect rather than dismantle its centrifuges, which can be used to enrich uranium and obtain a nuclear bomb. This is a critical shift in the American position towards Iran’s nuclear defiance.</p>
<p>President Obama’s proposal to the Islamic Republic would in fact leave Iranian leaders with all their nuclear infrastructure they have so far developed. Iranian leaders would also be capable of secretly continuing to enrich uranium through bypassing the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA)’s rules. In addition, since the nuclear infrastructure and centrifuges would remain almost intact, the Islamic Republic would be capable of resuming its nuclear activities anytime they desire in the future; this can occur potentially after economic sanctions were removed and Iran’s objective achieved.</p>
<p>President Obama’s offer to the Iranian leaders was kept secret from the public and US Congress as well. The proposal was disclosed by the Iranian Foreign Minister Mohammad Javad Zarif who held private conversations with U.S. experts in New York.</p>
<p>After President Obama’s proposal was revealed, Congress understandably raised a series of concerns. Senator Mark Steven Kirk (R-Ill.) initiated a letter, which included thirty other Senators, to Secretary of State John Kerry, <a href="http://www.latimes.com/world/middleeast/la-fg-white-house-iran-20140920-story.html"><span style="color: #0433ff;">pointing out</span></a> that the Obama administration “may now be offering troubling nuclear concessions to Iran in the hopes of rapidly concluding negotiations for a &#8216;deal.&#8217;”</p>
<p>President Obama will be in office for a few more years, but if the final nuclear deal is signed based on President Obama’s proposal, it will pose an unprecedented danger and an irresolvable global issue with regard to the Islamic Republic’s nuclear threat as well as Tehran’s ideological and hegemonic ambitions.</p>
<p>Numerous reasons may be behind President Obama’s leniency, priority changes and determination to strike a final nuclear deal with Iran. First of all, Obama cannot run for reelection. As a result, a flimsy nuclear deal &#8212; which would leave the Islamic Republic with a path to develop a nuclear bomb &#8212; would not affect his political career. Secondly, President Obama can add another achievement to his political career and history for being the first US President to seal a final nuclear deal with the Islamic Republic of Iran.</p>
<p>Third, President Obama’s leadership has always been weak when it comes to dealing with Iran’s Supreme Leader and Iran’s Revolutionary Guard Corps. Iranian leaders have masterfully taken advantage of his leaderless personality. The Islamic Republic is even attempting to get more concessions from the White House by linking its fight against the Islamic State with the nuclear negations as a trade off. Apparently, all odds are in favor of the Iranian leaders so far as they are cognizant of that fact that they are facing a lenient and weak US President and as they are increasingly and steadily increasing their leverage over the US.</p>
<p>President Obama’s proposal and leniency would grant Ayatollah Khamenei what he desires: removal of economic sanctions as well as maintaining the right the enrich uranium; build an atomic bomb.</p>
<p><b>Freedom Center pamphlets now available on Kindle: </b><a href="http://www.amazon.com/s/ref%3dnb_sb_noss?url=search-alias%3Ddigital-text&amp;field-keywords=david+horowitz&amp;rh=n:133140011%2ck:david+horowitz&amp;ajr=0#/ref=sr_st?keywords=david+horowitz&amp;qid=1316459840&amp;rh=n:133140011%2ck:david+horowitz&amp;sort=daterank" target="_blank"><b>Click here</b></a><b>. </b></p>
<p><a style="line-height: 1.5em;" href="http://horowitzfreedomcenter.us1.list-manage.com/subscribe?u=caa6f67f1482e6214d83be62d&amp;id=c761755bdf" target="_blank"><b>Subscribe</b></a><strong style="line-height: 1.5em;"> to Frontpage&#8217;s TV show, <i>The Glazov Gang</i>, and </strong><a style="line-height: 1.5em;" href="https://www.facebook.com/glazovgang" target="_blank"><b>LIKE</b></a><strong style="line-height: 1.5em;"> it on </strong><a style="line-height: 1.5em;" href="https://www.facebook.com/glazovgang" target="_blank"><b>Facebook.</b></a></p>
]]></content:encoded>
			<wfw:commentRss>http://www.frontpagemag.com/2014/majid-rafizadeh/obama-secretly-giving-in-to-irans-nuke-demands/feed/</wfw:commentRss>
		<slash:comments>18</slash:comments>
		</item>
		<item>
		<title>The Islamic Republic vs. the Islamic State</title>
		<link>http://www.frontpagemag.com/2014/majid-rafizadeh/the-islamic-republic-vs-the-islamic-state/?utm_source=rss&#038;utm_medium=rss&#038;utm_campaign=the-islamic-republic-vs-the-islamic-state</link>
		<comments>http://www.frontpagemag.com/2014/majid-rafizadeh/the-islamic-republic-vs-the-islamic-state/#comments</comments>
		<pubDate>Mon, 29 Sep 2014 04:10:43 +0000</pubDate>
		<dc:creator><![CDATA[Majid Rafizadeh]]></dc:creator>
				<category><![CDATA[Daily Mailer]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[FrontPage]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Iran]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[ISIS]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Islam]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Jihad]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Nuclear Weapons]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Radical]]></category>

		<guid isPermaLink="false">http://www.frontpagemag.com/?p=241925</guid>
		<description><![CDATA[Which is the bigger threat? ]]></description>
				<content:encoded><![CDATA[<p><a href="http://cdn.frontpagemag.com/wp-content/uploads/2014/09/APTOPIX-UN-General-As_Horo-e1411668283485.jpg"><img class="alignleft  wp-image-241926" src="http://cdn.frontpagemag.com/wp-content/uploads/2014/09/APTOPIX-UN-General-As_Horo-e1411668283485-384x350.jpg" alt="APTOPIX-UN-General-As_Horo-e1411668283485" width="317" height="289" /></a>Although the Islamic State has gained the global spotlight in the media due to its brutality and barbarism, it is critical not to be distracted from the larger threat posed from the ruling Ayatollahs and politicians in the Islamic Republic of Iran. As former Secretary of State Henry Kissinger stated in an interview with NPR, Iran &#8220;is a bigger problem than ISIS.&#8221;</p>
<p>On other other hand, while Iranian leaders proclaim that they are fighting the Islamic State, there are many similarities between the Islamic Republic and the Islamic State. Let us unravel the commonalities and differences between the Islamic Republic and the Islamic State from several angles such as ideological, strategic, geopolitical, military, as well as human rights perspectives.</p>
<p>Ideologically and religiously speaking, although the fighters of the Islamic State are predominantly Sunnis and the ruling politicians of Islamic Republic of Iran are Shiite, there exist several underlying similarities between these two entities.</p>
<p>Both groups believe that Islam should be a dominant element in the political, social, cultural and economic affairs of the territories they govern. By Islam, they mean the literal application of Quranic verses and the Hadith &#8212; Muhammad’s sayings, his way of life, etc.</p>
<p>When it comes to specific Islamic and Shari’a laws and rules, Iran and ISIS apply the same doctrine. For example, if an adulterer is arrested, she or he should be stoned. Body amputations, tortures, rapes, executions, religious discriminations,  oppressions, and the elimination of any one who disagrees with their ideology are prevalent in the activities of both groups.</p>
<p>On the other hand, the Islamic Republic has enshrined its Islamic and Shari’a laws in its Islamic judiciary, legislative, and executive branches, in a more sophisticated matter in order to legitimize its actions and in order to avert any global outcry and attention.</p>
<p>Both the Islamic Republic and the Islamic State are attempting to spread their version of Islam to other territories in the Muslim and non-Muslim world. The Ayatollahs in Iran fulfill this action in a more clandestine way by funding Shiite and religious schools and movements (such as Hezbollah) in other countries, as well as by interfering in the domestic affairs of other nations through their Quds forces and the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps. The Islamic State carries out these objectives by their offensive attacks to various territories.</p>
<p>In other words, the religious objective of both groups is maintaining an Islamic state, ruling by the religion of Islam and Muhammad, and spreading their version of Islam to other nations.</p>
<p>When it comes to human rights violations, the Islamic Republic enjoys a much heftier file of  human rights abuses with regard to executions, persecution of religious minorities, tortures, amputations, etc. While the Islamic State has been carrying out these atrocities in the last few years, the Islamic Republic began its barbarism with its establishment in 1979.</p>
<p>Militarily speaking, the Islamic Republic of Iran poses a much more serious threat than the Islamic State due to the fact that Iranian clerics possess much more stronger and sophisticated armies, ballistic missiles (which can reach Israel), nuclear programs, and defense systems.</p>
<p>While it remains to be seen whether the Islamist militants of the Islamic State are yet capable of establishing a state and capturing more territories, the Islamic Republic had already established a state run by Islamic doctrine of Shiism, with a large territories – approximately 640,000 square miles excluding their influence and dominance in Lebanon, Iraq, and Syria. As Kissinger pointed out,</p>
<blockquote><p>The borders of the settlement of 1919-&#8217;20 are essentially collapsing… That gives Iran a very powerful level from a strategic point of view. I consider Iran a bigger problem than ISIS. ISIS is a group of adventurers with a very aggressive ideology. But they have to conquer more and more territory before they can became a strategic, permanent reality. I think a conflict with ISIS — important as it is — is more manageable than a confrontation with Iran.</p></blockquote>
<p>Strategically speaking, while the Islamic State might pose some threats in some parts of Iraq, the Islamic Republic presents a more serious threat through its control over the Strait of Hormoz, where approximately 20 percent of the world’s petroleum (and nearly 35% of the total petroleum traded through sea), passes through the strait. Iran has threatened repeatedly that it will shut down the strait. Iran already possess an advanced nuclear program that is a step away from developing an atomic bomb. In addition, the Islamic Republic is quietly attempting to significantly alter the military balance of power in the Gulf more to its favor. As <a href="http://www.janes.com/article/42880/pentagon-report-says-iran-is-fielding-anti-ship-ballistic-missiles"><span style="color: #0433ff;">IHS Jane&#8217;s Defence Weekly</span></a> stated, “Iran&#8217;s Khalij Fars anti-ship ballistic missile (AShBM) &#8211; a weapon that could shift the military balance in the Gulf region &#8211; is being delivered to operational units, according to the US Department of Defense&#8217;s annual report to Congress on the Islamic Republic&#8217;s military capabilities.&#8221;</p>
<p>While the politicians and mainstream media have concentrated on the threat of the Islamic State, the Islamic Republic of Iran, which is a much more critical threat militarily, strategically, religiously and ideologically, is quietly enjoying and continuing its nuclear program and developing more sophisticated anti-ship ballistic missile, and weaponries which are also being exported to other terrorist groups.</p>
<p>More fundamentally, the Islamic State has averted the world&#8217;s attention from the Islamic Republic’s efforts to build an atomic bomb. This year’s United Nations General Assembly in New York focused mainly on the threat of the Islamic State, while the Islamic Republic enjoyed not being criticized for its nuclear program. As Israel’s ambassador to the United States pointed out, a nuclear Iran is “<a href="http://azjewishpost.com/2014/israeli-envoy-nuclear-iran-is-a-thousand-times-more-dangerous-than-isis/"><span style="color: #0433ff;">thousand times</span></a>” more dangerous to the world than the Islamic State. Nevertheless, we still need to wait for a robust leadership from the United States to take a strong stance against the Ayatollahs and ruling politicians in Iran who continue to carry out gregarious human rights abuses, support terrorism, and threaten the security of other nations.</p>
<p><b>Freedom Center pamphlets now available on Kindle: </b><a href="http://www.amazon.com/s/ref%3dnb_sb_noss?url=search-alias%3Ddigital-text&amp;field-keywords=david+horowitz&amp;rh=n:133140011%2ck:david+horowitz&amp;ajr=0#/ref=sr_st?keywords=david+horowitz&amp;qid=1316459840&amp;rh=n:133140011%2ck:david+horowitz&amp;sort=daterank" target="_blank"><b>Click here</b></a><b>. </b></p>
<p><a style="line-height: 1.5em;" href="http://horowitzfreedomcenter.us1.list-manage.com/subscribe?u=caa6f67f1482e6214d83be62d&amp;id=c761755bdf" target="_blank"><b>Subscribe</b></a><strong style="line-height: 1.5em;"> to Frontpage&#8217;s TV show, <i>The Glazov Gang</i>, and </strong><a style="line-height: 1.5em;" href="https://www.facebook.com/glazovgang" target="_blank"><b>LIKE</b></a><strong style="line-height: 1.5em;"> it on </strong><a style="line-height: 1.5em;" href="https://www.facebook.com/glazovgang" target="_blank"><b>Facebook.</b></a></p>
]]></content:encoded>
			<wfw:commentRss>http://www.frontpagemag.com/2014/majid-rafizadeh/the-islamic-republic-vs-the-islamic-state/feed/</wfw:commentRss>
		<slash:comments>8</slash:comments>
		</item>
		<item>
		<title>The Folly of Inviting Iran to Fight ISIS</title>
		<link>http://www.frontpagemag.com/2014/majid-rafizadeh/the-folly-of-inviting-iran-to-fight-isis/?utm_source=rss&#038;utm_medium=rss&#038;utm_campaign=the-folly-of-inviting-iran-to-fight-isis</link>
		<comments>http://www.frontpagemag.com/2014/majid-rafizadeh/the-folly-of-inviting-iran-to-fight-isis/#comments</comments>
		<pubDate>Tue, 23 Sep 2014 04:47:42 +0000</pubDate>
		<dc:creator><![CDATA[Majid Rafizadeh]]></dc:creator>
				<category><![CDATA[Daily Mailer]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[FrontPage]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Alliance]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[coalition]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Iran]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[ISIS]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[West]]></category>

		<guid isPermaLink="false">http://www.frontpagemag.com/?p=241580</guid>
		<description><![CDATA[Furthering the Mullahs' quest for regional power. ]]></description>
				<content:encoded><![CDATA[<p><a href="http://cdn.frontpagemag.com/wp-content/uploads/2014/09/69935203_018314168-1.jpg"><img class="alignleft  wp-image-241583" src="http://cdn.frontpagemag.com/wp-content/uploads/2014/09/69935203_018314168-1.jpg" alt="_69935203_018314168-1" width="306" height="266" /></a>There has been considerable pressure from the leftists and Democrats to include the Islamic Republic of Iran in the core coalition of Western allies that have joined to fight the Islamic State. The core coalition consists of Britain, France, Australia, Canada, Germany, Turkey, Italy, Poland and Denmark. Turkey, which is led by the Islamic Justice and Development Party of Recep Erdogan, has been notably less cooperative than expected.</p>
<p>Some national and international outlets, along with policy analysts, are beating the drum that without the Islamic Republic defeating the Islamic State is impossible. As one pro-Iranian outlet asserted, “If Obama thinks he can fight the Islamic State group without Iran&#8217;s help, he&#8217;s mistaken.”<b> </b></p>
<p>This academic, naïve and immature argument – that the assistance of the Islamic Republic is needed to counteract the rise of an Islamic terrorist group &#8211;  has been resurfacing repeatedly for almost a decade. This view falls right into the hands and interests of the Iranian regime. This argument comes from two camps: the first camp  consist of those who desire to project the Islamic Republic’s power to be more than it actually is. The second camp of individuals present and reflect their minimal understanding and naïveté in comprehending the power structure of the Middle East, the power of the Islamic Republic, and its role in the Middle East.</p>
<p>First of all, Iran’s military power in comparison to that of European countries and the core coalition is minimal. Exaggerating about the military power of the Islamic Republic and Iran’s Revolutionary Guards Corps falls right into the hand of the Iranian regime and the mullahs.</p>
<p>By doing so, the Islamic Republic has managed to project itself as the only option,  regional power, and more fundamentally, partner of the West (specifically the United States) in defeating ISIS in Iraq and Syria.</p>
<p>Secondly, the security threat posed by ISIS has shifted the attention from Iran’s nuclear program, and this is what the Iranian regime is searching for. While Iran’s nuclear defiance used to command more attention in the Obama administration&#8217;s foreign policy agenda (and other members of the P5+1) when it comes to Iran, the geopolitical and security threat of ISIS has shifted priorities.</p>
<p>More fundamentally, the Islamic Republic was the major reason behind the emergence and creation of the terrorist group the Islamic State. Iran’s military, financial, intelligence, advisory, and security support of the Assad government have been instrumental in keeping the Alawites in power. However, the Islamic Republic’s assistance has also caused the uprising to spiral into a full-fledged civil war and sectarian conflict. Iran’s support contributed further to the instability in the country.</p>
<p>The Iranian and Syrian governments&#8217; use of brutal force further radicalized and militarized the conflict. The Islamic Republic&#8217;s (and its proxy Hezbollah’s) involvement in the Syrian conflict ratcheted up the sectarian language as well, pitting the Sunnis, the Shias and Alawites against each other.</p>
<p>This particular milieu provided the platform for Al-Qaeda affiliates and groups such as ISIS to develop, organize, recruit more members, and coordinate more efficiently.</p>
<p>It goes without saying that from the beginning the Islamic Republic’s line for the Syrian uprising has been that Assad has been attacked by terrorists, Takfiris, or radical Sunni Islamist groups. The Syrian regime employed the same argument to legitimize its use of hard power and prevent foreign intervention as well.</p>
<p>The Syrian regime, with the assistance of Iranian advisors,<span style="color: #0433ff;"> released</span> several ISIS members and Salafists from prison in late 2011 and early 2012 in order to strengthen Damascus and Tehran&#8217;s argument that Assad has been a target of radical terrorist groups rather than a popular uprising.  The ISIS recruitment significantly intensified during this time.</p>
<p>At the beginning, the rise of such radical groups fell right into the interests of the Iranian and Syrian regime. The Islamic Republic and Syria were strategically successful at sending the West, and particularly the United States, a robust message that there is no alternative to Assad, and any military or foreign intervention would exacerbate the conflict.</p>
<p>In addition, the elite Quds Forces, a branch of Iran’s Revolutionary Guard Corps, has gained significant power in Iraq and Syria since the rise of ISIS. The Iranian government no longer sees a need to hide their involvement of its troops on the ground in these countries. The growing role of the IRGC and Quds Forces is being justified by Iran’s claim that it is fighting ISIS. In addition, the United States sees no other option other than to turn a blind eye on the increasing role of Iranian forces.</p>
<p>Militarily speaking, there is no need for the Islamic Republic to defeat the Islamic State. Ideologically and religiously speaking, the Iranian regime’s policies are not that different from the Islamic State when it comes to executions, amputations, stoning, suppressing women, persecuting minorities, destabilizing the region, among others. Nevertheless, the Islamic Republic does these acts in a more systematic way, and they are legalized under its Islamist and Shari’a law-based legislative, judiciary and executive systems.</p>
<p>By requesting that the Islamic Republic assist in defeating the Islamic State, we will be playing right into their hands. The Iranian regime will project itself as the sole power in the Middle East and continue more assertively to pursue its regional hegemonic ambitions and nuclear objectives. Secondly, the West would be legitimizing and emboldening the authoritarian and Islamist regime of the mullahs. Third, the Iranian leaders will use the partnership with the West as well as the West’s request to join them as leverage in obtaining more concessions from the United States when it comes to nuclear talks. The Iranian regime will use this as a platform to maneuver more in the nuclear negotiations and paint the picture that it is an indispensable regional power.</p>
<p><b>Freedom Center pamphlets now available on Kindle: </b><a href="http://www.amazon.com/s/ref%3dnb_sb_noss?url=search-alias%3Ddigital-text&amp;field-keywords=david+horowitz&amp;rh=n:133140011%2ck:david+horowitz&amp;ajr=0#/ref=sr_st?keywords=david+horowitz&amp;qid=1316459840&amp;rh=n:133140011%2ck:david+horowitz&amp;sort=daterank" target="_blank"><b>Click here</b></a><b>. </b></p>
<p><a style="line-height: 1.5em;" href="http://horowitzfreedomcenter.us1.list-manage.com/subscribe?u=caa6f67f1482e6214d83be62d&amp;id=c761755bdf" target="_blank"><b>Subscribe</b></a><strong style="line-height: 1.5em;"> to Frontpage&#8217;s TV show, <i>The Glazov Gang</i>, and </strong><a style="line-height: 1.5em;" href="https://www.facebook.com/glazovgang" target="_blank"><b>LIKE</b></a><strong style="line-height: 1.5em;"> it on </strong><a style="line-height: 1.5em;" href="https://www.facebook.com/glazovgang" target="_blank"><b>Facebook.</b></a></p>
]]></content:encoded>
			<wfw:commentRss>http://www.frontpagemag.com/2014/majid-rafizadeh/the-folly-of-inviting-iran-to-fight-isis/feed/</wfw:commentRss>
		<slash:comments>21</slash:comments>
		</item>
		<item>
		<title>Iran&#8217;s Human Rights Lectures</title>
		<link>http://www.frontpagemag.com/2014/majid-rafizadeh/irans-human-rights-lectures/?utm_source=rss&#038;utm_medium=rss&#038;utm_campaign=irans-human-rights-lectures</link>
		<comments>http://www.frontpagemag.com/2014/majid-rafizadeh/irans-human-rights-lectures/#comments</comments>
		<pubDate>Thu, 18 Sep 2014 04:10:17 +0000</pubDate>
		<dc:creator><![CDATA[Majid Rafizadeh]]></dc:creator>
				<category><![CDATA[Daily Mailer]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[FrontPage]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[ayatollah ali khamenei]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Ferguson]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Human Rights]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Iran]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Obama]]></category>

		<guid isPermaLink="false">http://www.frontpagemag.com/?p=240924</guid>
		<description><![CDATA[Diverting attention away from the atrocities of the Islamic Republic. ]]></description>
				<content:encoded><![CDATA[<p><a href="http://cdn.frontpagemag.com/wp-content/uploads/2014/09/Ayatollah-Ali-Khamenei.jpg"><img class="alignleft  wp-image-240927" src="http://cdn.frontpagemag.com/wp-content/uploads/2014/09/Ayatollah-Ali-Khamenei-444x350.jpg" alt="Iran's supreme leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei speaks during Friday prayers in Tehran" width="325" height="256" /></a>Iran’s Supreme Leader, Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, has recently been lecturing the United States and the West on human rights, particularly through Twitter. Recently, the Ayatollah <span style="color: #0433ff;"><a href="http://www.washingtontimes.com/news/2014/aug/18/ayatollah-khamenei-lectures-americans-ferguson-bla/">tweeted</a>,</span> “Based on global statistics, US gvt is the biggest violator of #HumanRights.” The Supreme Leader added, “Besides int’l crimes, it commits crimes against its ppl. #<span style="color: #0433ff;"><a href="http://www.washingtontimes.com/topics/ferguson/">Ferguson</a></span>.&#8221;</p>
<p>The Ayatollah talks about global statistics, but where are these numbers?  His claims could actually spur a real discussion if the Iranian government and Khamenei could cite his claim that the “US govt is the biggest violator of #HumanRights.”</p>
<p>Nevertheless, let us take a deep look at some of the recent developments on the human rights situation in the Islamic Republic that are not unsubstantiated claims, but have been very well documented.  However, these reports unfortunately have gone unnoticed by the mainstream media.</p>
<p><strong>The Recent Atrocities Against the Religious Minority, the Baha’i</strong></p>
<p>The Islamic Republic has ratcheted up its religious and cultural cleansing of the Baha’i community and the Baha’i faith in Iran. Last week, Iran’s Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC) began its <a href="http://www.rferl.org/content/iran-bahai-rights/26566169.html"><span style="color: #0433ff;">destruction</span></a> of the Baha’i cemetery in Shiraz, Iran. The cemetery includes several buried men and women who were executed by the Iranian regime itself.</p>
<p>Three of the United Nations experts on human rights in Iran <a href="http://iranpresswatch.org/post/10761/"><span style="color: #0433ff;">pointed out</span></a> that “We are dismayed by reports that excavation work has resumed at the cemetery, where at least 950 members of the Bahá’í faith were buried.”</p>
<p>Special Rapporteur on freedom of religion or belief Heiner Bielefeldt stated, “Cemeteries, like places of worship, are an essential part of how people exercise and manifest their right to freedom of religion or belief. Their significance goes beyond their physical presence,” <a href="http://iranpresswatch.org/post/10761/"><span style="color: #0433ff;">adding</span></a>, “attacks on cemeteries are unacceptable and are a deliberate violation of freedom of religion or belief. The Government of Iran must take urgent action.”</p>
<p>The <a href="http://news.bahai.org/documentlibrary/TheBahaiQuestion.pdf"><span style="color: #0433ff;">persecution</span></a> of the members of the Baha’i religious minority is systematic in Iran. Those who follow this faith are being discriminated against in several realms including economic, educational, cultural, and career landscapes.</p>
<p><span style="color: #0433ff;"><a href="http://iranpresswatch.org/post/10761/">According</a> to</span> Ahmed Shaheed, Special Rapporteur on Iran, there are currently 126 members of the Baha’i faith who are imprisoned in the Islamic Republic on simple  charges such as coordinating religious gatherings and speaking up for their rights.</p>
<p>Khamenei should answer this question before ranting about other countries: where is the protection of religious minorities and human rights within the Islamic Republic?</p>
<p><strong>Recent Executions and Public Hangings Under President Hassan Rouhani’s Rule</strong></p>
<p>The rate of executions continues to rise under the rule of the so-called moderate president of the Islamic Republic. Only during the last two weeks, approximately forty-five people were hanged publicly across several cities in Iran. Some of these people were women.</p>
<p>For example, on <a href="http://www.ncr-iran.org/en/ncri-statements/human-rights/17137-iran-human-rights-public-hanging-of-prisoners-continues-unabated"><span style="color: #0433ff;">September 3</span><span style="color: #0433ff;"><sup>rd</sup></span></a> one person was publicly hanged in the city of Savadkuh, located in northern part of the Islamic Republic.</p>
<p>On September 1st, several thousands of people protested the public hanging of a young person in the city of Mahmoudabad.</p>
<p>The Iranian regime&#8217;s henchmen had to stop the execution due to the risk they encountered from the protesters. <a href="http://www.ncr-iran.org/en/ncri-statements/human-rights/17130-iran-human-rights-at-least-40-prisoners-executed-in-2-weeks"><span style="color: #0433ff;">According</span></a><span style="color: #0433ff;"> to</span> the National Council of Resistance of Iran, Iran’s state news reported that “3000 people who roared, shouted and resorted to physical action by attacking the security cordon caused the execution to be cancelled.” However, the next day, on <a href="http://www.ncr-iran.org/en/ncri-statements/human-rights/17137-iran-human-rights-public-hanging-of-prisoners-continues-unabated"><span style="color: #0433ff;">September 2nd</span></a>, the Iranian regime increased its security forces and went ahead with publicly executing the young person in the city of Mahmoudabad, located in northern part of the Islamic Republic.</p>
<p>On September 1st, at least <a href="http://www.ncr-iran.org/en/ncri-statements/human-rights/17130-iran-human-rights-at-least-40-prisoners-executed-in-2-weeks"><span style="color: #0433ff;">ten prisoners</span></a> who protested in the Iranian regime prison were collectively executed in the Ghezel Hessar Prison in city of Karaj near Tehran. On August 24th, two prisoners were hanged in public in the city, of Sari. On <a href="http://iranhr.net/2014/08/two-public-hangings-in-iran/"><span style="color: #0433ff;">August 21</span></a>st and 19th, two other people were hanged in public in city of Qazvin and Khoy.</p>
<p>The “moderate” mullah, President Hassan Rouhani, and Ayatollah Ali Khamenei are setting a record in human rights violations. So far, approximately <a href="http://www.ncr-iran.org/en/ncri-statements/human-rights/17130-iran-human-rights-at-least-40-prisoners-executed-in-2-weeks"><span style="color: #0433ff;">1000</span></a> people have been executed since he took power a year ago. Hassan Rouhani has not raised even a  minimal concern about these egregious human rights abuses and public hangings.   In addition, all these executions are approved by Iran’s Islamist judiciary system which is under the control of Iran’s Supreme Leader Khamenei.</p>
<p>On the other hand, the public floggings, public amputation of people’s fingers, and other brutal tactics continue to rise across the Islamic Republic. Iranian people see the Iranian regime&#8217;s brutality and barbarian punishments in the streets and in public. The Iranian regime and the mullahs attempt to impose fear in its population by publicly conducting amputations, flogging, executions, etc.</p>
<p>By lecturing the United States about human rights, Khamenei is either totally delusional, or he is smartly attempting to divert attention from the atrocities, brutality, high rate of public hangings, and persecutions of religious minorities that continue to rise under the theocratic and Islamist regime of the Ayatollah and mullahs.</p>
<p><b>Freedom Center pamphlets now available on Kindle: </b><a href="http://www.amazon.com/s/ref%3dnb_sb_noss?url=search-alias%3Ddigital-text&amp;field-keywords=david+horowitz&amp;rh=n:133140011%2ck:david+horowitz&amp;ajr=0#/ref=sr_st?keywords=david+horowitz&amp;qid=1316459840&amp;rh=n:133140011%2ck:david+horowitz&amp;sort=daterank" target="_blank"><b>Click here</b></a><b>. </b></p>
<p><a style="line-height: 1.5em;" href="http://horowitzfreedomcenter.us1.list-manage.com/subscribe?u=caa6f67f1482e6214d83be62d&amp;id=c761755bdf" target="_blank"><b>Subscribe</b></a><strong style="line-height: 1.5em;"> to Frontpage&#8217;s TV show, <i>The Glazov Gang</i>, and </strong><a style="line-height: 1.5em;" href="https://www.facebook.com/glazovgang" target="_blank"><b>LIKE</b></a><strong style="line-height: 1.5em;"> it on </strong><a style="line-height: 1.5em;" href="https://www.facebook.com/glazovgang" target="_blank"><b>Facebook.</b></a></p>
]]></content:encoded>
			<wfw:commentRss>http://www.frontpagemag.com/2014/majid-rafizadeh/irans-human-rights-lectures/feed/</wfw:commentRss>
		<slash:comments>3</slash:comments>
		</item>
		<item>
		<title>Iran&#8217;s Quiet Military Build Up</title>
		<link>http://www.frontpagemag.com/2014/majid-rafizadeh/irans-quiet-military-build-up/?utm_source=rss&#038;utm_medium=rss&#038;utm_campaign=irans-quiet-military-build-up</link>
		<comments>http://www.frontpagemag.com/2014/majid-rafizadeh/irans-quiet-military-build-up/#comments</comments>
		<pubDate>Tue, 09 Sep 2014 04:10:36 +0000</pubDate>
		<dc:creator><![CDATA[Majid Rafizadeh]]></dc:creator>
				<category><![CDATA[Daily Mailer]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[FrontPage]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[build up]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Iran]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Military]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Nuclear Weapons]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Obama]]></category>

		<guid isPermaLink="false">http://www.frontpagemag.com/?p=240431</guid>
		<description><![CDATA[Behind the Islamic Republic's softened rhetoric. ]]></description>
				<content:encoded><![CDATA[<p><a href="http://cdn.frontpagemag.com/wp-content/uploads/2014/09/Irans-military-drill.jpg"><img class="alignleft  wp-image-240432" src="http://cdn.frontpagemag.com/wp-content/uploads/2014/09/Irans-military-drill-450x321.jpg" alt="Irans-military-drill" width="278" height="198" /></a>The Islamic Republic and the Ayatollahs have mastered a new tactic and strategy to achieve their ideological, geopolitical, hegemonic and strategic objectives: speak softly on the international arena, while quietly building up weapons and arm more militia groups.</p>
<p>While Iran’s state media outlets and Iranian officials had previously boasted about their military accomplishments, drone capabilities, nuclear technology, and power periodically, they have recently toned down their language and publicity. But does that mean the ruling Ayatollahs have given up on their nuclear ambitions to build a nuclear bomb and stopped their military operations and interference in other states?</p>
<p>In fact, a recent report reveals that the Islamic Republic continues to pursue the same geopolitical and strategic policies in order to achieve its objectives. According to a <a href="http://freebeacon.com/wp-content/uploads/2014/07/Iranmilitary.pdf"><span style="color: #0433ff;">classified Pentagon assessment</span></a>,</p>
<blockquote><p>Iran has not substantively changed its national security and military strategies over the past year; however, Tehran has adjusted some of its tactics to achieve its enduring objectives. President Hasan Ruhani&#8217;s international message of moderation and pragmatism is intended to support these objectives: to preserve the Supreme Leader&#8217;s rule, counter Western influence, and establish Iran as the dominant regional power. Supreme Leader Ali Khamenei remains unchallenged atop Iran&#8217;s power structure as both the political-spiritual guide and the commander in chief of the armed forces.</p></blockquote>
<p>Those who believe that the Islamic Republic is going to change its fundamental ideological, military, strategic, and hegemonic ambitions, are fooling themselves and they are not cognizant of the major pillars upon which this Islamist regime is founded upon. More recently, the Iranian Revolutionary Guard Corps-Quds Force (IRGC-QF) has covertly, tremendously increased its political and military influence in several countries in the region including in Iraq and Syria. Iranian leaders have also intensified their ties with Hezbollah and ratcheted up their arms delivery to Hamas. In addition, the Iranian military is <a href="http://www.israelnationalnews.com/News/News.aspx/184542"><span style="color: #0433ff;">delivering weapons</span></a> to Judea and Samaria in order to ensure “the annihilation of the Zionist regime.”</p>
<p>According to the classified Pentagon assessment, IRGC-QF has built up its capabilities to carry out a terrorist attack in foreign countries as well:</p>
<blockquote><p>Iran&#8217;s covert activities appear to be continuing unabated in countries such as Syria and Iraq. Despite Iran&#8217;s public denials, for example, other information suggests Iran is increasingly involved, along with Lebanese Hizballah, in the Syria conflict. The Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps-Qods Force (IRGC-QF) remains a key tool of Iran&#8217;s foreign policy and power projection, in Syria and beyond. IRGC-QF has continued efforts to improve its access within foreign countries and its ability to conduct terrorist attacks.</p></blockquote>
<p>When it comes to Iran’s nuclear defiance, long-range missiles, and technological nuclear capabilities, Iran has not given up on its ambition to build a nuclear bomb,  even after the nuclear interim deal between the Islamic Republic and the P5+1 (China, France, Russia, the United Kingdom, the United States, plus Germany) was reached. <a href="http://freebeacon.com/wp-content/uploads/2014/07/Iranmilitary.pdf"><span style="color: #0433ff;">Accordingly</span></a>,</p>
<blockquote><p>Iran continues to develop technological capabilities that could be applicable to nuclear weapons and long-range missiles, which could be adapted to deliver nuclear weapons, should Iran&#8217;s leadership decide to do so. On 24 November, 2013, Iran agreed to a Joint Plan of Action (JPA) with the permanent members of the UN Security Council plus Germany (P5+ 1) that included enhanced monitoring of lran&#8217; s nuclear facilities and a six-month halt to enrichment activities over 5 percent and further advances on the IR-40 Heavy Water Research Reactor. In public statements, some Iranian officials have minimized the JPA&#8217;s impact on the nuclear program.</p></blockquote>
<p>In addition, while Iranian leaders and the Mullahs previously publicly threatened the world claiming that they would block or cause damage to the Strait of Hormuz, Tehran’s recent toning down of threats does not necessarily mean that the Ayatollah and ruling clerics have changed their strategy and goals.</p>
<p>The Strait of Hormuz is considered to be one of the most crucial strategic spots for global and international trade.  Approximately 20 percent of the world&#8217;s petroleum, and (nearly 35% of the total petroleum traded through sea), passes through the Strait. Any interference or military attacks on the Strait of Hormuz would skyrocket the price of oil and petroleum around the world, affecting the life of every citizen. The approximate price of a gallon of petrol in the gas stations ($4) can double or even climb to $10 a gallon.</p>
<p>Iranian leaders are increasing their abilities in “lethal symmetric and asymmetric weapon systems” as well as “anti-access and area denial (A2AD) capabilities” in order to strengthen control over the Strait of Hormuz. As the Pentagon assessment says,</p>
<blockquote><p>Iran continues to develop its anti-access and area denial (A2AD) capabilities to control the Strait of Hormuz and its approaches. Tehran is quietly fielding increasingly lethal symmetric and asymmetric weapon systems, including more advanced naval mines, small but capable submarines, coastal defense cruise missile batteries, attack craft, and anti-ship ballistic missiles.</p></blockquote>
<p>The Obama administration needs to act more decisively and quickly before it is too late. If the Islamic Republic continues to build up its military and nuclear capabilities quietly, covertly and without pressure from global powers, it will impose tremendous geopolitical, strategic and economic repercussions for the world. At that point, Iran would be like North Korea, but with the additional capabilities to impact the world economy negatively, as well as play a role in arming more terrorist groups in the region. While recent assessments show that the Ayatollahs are using a different tactic – speak softly, but build up larger weapons and nuclear capabilities covertly &#8212; the Obama administration appears to still be hesitant in taking a decisive and robust stance towards the Iranian regime.</p>
<p><b>Freedom Center pamphlets now available on Kindle: </b><a href="http://www.amazon.com/s/ref%3dnb_sb_noss?url=search-alias%3Ddigital-text&amp;field-keywords=david+horowitz&amp;rh=n:133140011%2ck:david+horowitz&amp;ajr=0#/ref=sr_st?keywords=david+horowitz&amp;qid=1316459840&amp;rh=n:133140011%2ck:david+horowitz&amp;sort=daterank" target="_blank"><b>Click here</b></a><b>. </b></p>
<p><a style="line-height: 1.5em;" href="http://horowitzfreedomcenter.us1.list-manage.com/subscribe?u=caa6f67f1482e6214d83be62d&amp;id=c761755bdf" target="_blank"><b>Subscribe</b></a><strong style="line-height: 1.5em;"> to Frontpage&#8217;s TV show, <i>The Glazov Gang</i>, and </strong><a style="line-height: 1.5em;" href="https://www.facebook.com/glazovgang" target="_blank"><b>LIKE</b></a><strong style="line-height: 1.5em;"> it on </strong><a style="line-height: 1.5em;" href="https://www.facebook.com/glazovgang" target="_blank"><b>Facebook.</b></a></p>
]]></content:encoded>
			<wfw:commentRss>http://www.frontpagemag.com/2014/majid-rafizadeh/irans-quiet-military-build-up/feed/</wfw:commentRss>
		<slash:comments>77</slash:comments>
		</item>
		<item>
		<title>The Smearing of Robin Williams</title>
		<link>http://www.frontpagemag.com/2014/majid-rafizadeh/the-smearing-of-robin-williams/?utm_source=rss&#038;utm_medium=rss&#038;utm_campaign=the-smearing-of-robin-williams</link>
		<comments>http://www.frontpagemag.com/2014/majid-rafizadeh/the-smearing-of-robin-williams/#comments</comments>
		<pubDate>Wed, 03 Sep 2014 04:00:21 +0000</pubDate>
		<dc:creator><![CDATA[Majid Rafizadeh]]></dc:creator>
				<category><![CDATA[Daily Mailer]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[FrontPage]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Billy Crystal]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[emmy]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[hijab]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Iran]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[joke]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Racist]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Robin Williams]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[tribute]]></category>

		<guid isPermaLink="false">http://www.frontpagemag.com/?p=239816</guid>
		<description><![CDATA[Why the late comedian's Emmy tribute montage about Islamic veiling was far from "racist." ]]></description>
				<content:encoded><![CDATA[<p><a href="http://cdn.frontpagemag.com/wp-content/uploads/2014/08/Robin-Williams.jpg"><img class="alignleft  wp-image-239831" src="http://cdn.frontpagemag.com/wp-content/uploads/2014/08/Robin-Williams.jpg" alt="Robin-Williams" width="283" height="192" /></a>Recently, comedian Billy Crystal presented a tribute to the late Robin Williams at the 2014 Primetime Emmy Awards. During the tribute, Crystal said:</p>
<blockquote><p>It is very hard to talk about him in the past because he was so present in all of our lives…..For almost 40 years he was the brightest star in the comedy galaxy…. . He made us laugh. Hard. Every time you saw him &#8211; on television, movies, nightclubs, arenas, hospitals, homeless shelters for our troops overseas. And even in a dying girl&#8217;s living room for her last wish, he made us laugh. Big time.</p></blockquote>
<p>After Crystal’s message, a montage of some of Williams’ performances was played. The tribute ignited a firestorm on social media due to the inclusion of a clip of a Williams sketch involving the hijab in the Islamic Republic of Iran. In the clip, Williams borrows a scarf from an audience members, wears it covering his head mimicking a hijab and says, &#8220;I would like to welcome you to Iran. Help me!&#8221;</p>
<p>A frenzy of <a href="http://canadafreepress.com/index.php/article/65599"><span style="color: #0433ff;">commenters</span></a> on Twitter quickly <a href="http://www.independent.co.uk/news/people/billy-crystal-leads-robin-williams-emmys-tribute-awards-show-criticised-for-choosing-racist-joke-about-iranian-woman-9690355.html"><span style="color: #0433ff;">criticized</span></a> Williams&#8217; performance and his joke as “<span style="color: #0433ff;"><a href="http://www.bizpacreview.com/2014/08/27/more-liberal-emmy-freak-out-billy-crystals-tribute-to-robin-williams-bashed-as-racist-141586">racist</a>,</span>” according to the <em>Independent</em> and other outlets. “The person putting together the Robin Williams segment for the Emmys decided to use his racist material,” Hannah Story (@hannamstory) tweeted. Another person wrote, “I&#8217;m still so shocked that the <a href="https://twitter.com/hashtag/Emmys?src=hash"><span style="color: #0433ff;">#Emmys</span></a> would include such a racist bit in Robin Williams tribute. Out of all his great work, really?” Another disgruntled commenter said, &#8220;I love Robin Williams but he really had some not okay racist jokes and they even put it in the tribute tonight.&#8221;</p>
<p>Leftists have quickly jumped to conclusions, unfairly viewing and labeling Williams&#8217; criticism of Iran&#8217;s oppression of women as completely “racist.” To shed light more on this issue, several points need to be addressed.</p>
<p>Not only have I studied the Islamic Republic of Iran, its politics, and Islam for many years, but unlike the leftists who are quick to condemn and label Robin William’s hijab joke as racist, I have also lived in this repressive and authoritarian Islamist country that views women as instruments, slaves, and second-class citizens.</p>
<p>From my perspective, it is critical to point out that Williams&#8217; stand-up performance did not have any links to racial or even to religious issues. His words were more aimed at the repressive government of the Islamic Republic, giving voice to women, exercising freedom of speech, as well as bringing a smile to the faces of many.</p>
<p>If you live in the Islamic Republic and if you are a girl, you will be forced to wear a veil when you reach nine years old. Among the millions of Iranian girls &#8212; who are coerced against their will to wear a hijab &#8212; was my younger sister. After she was forced to wear a scarf at school and in public, she began having nightmares, waking up frightened in the middle of the night at her young age because she was told at school that Allah (God) would hang girls from their hair for eternity if they showed even a strand of hair to a stranger, according to the Hadith.</p>
<p>If a woman dares to take off her veil in public, she will be arrested, jailed, and lashed. I personally have seen girls be humiliated, beaten, and dragged into the street to a police car by the morality religious police because they did not wear the veil according to the Iranian regime&#8217;s Islamic code. In my previous articles <a href="http://www.frontpagemag.com/2014/majid-rafizadeh/women-fight-for-freedom-from-the-hijab/"><span style="color: #0433ff;">here</span></a> and <a href="http://www.frontpagemag.com/2014/majid-rafizadeh/irans-crackdown-on-women/">here</a>, I illustrated the details of the repression of Iranian women by the Iranian regime and their dreams for freedoms. One of their simple but seemingly impossible dream is to have the freedom to wear what they like, and to have the option to choose whether they want to wear a hijab or not. Polls have repeatedly shown, and I have encountered many Iranian women, who would take off their scarf if allowed.</p>
<p>As I mentioned before this simple individual freedom might be taken for granted by women in the Western democratic world. And some might find it comical, ridiculous, or bizarre to have such a simple dream. But this is truly a dream for millions of Iranian women.</p>
<p>From a political perspective, the purpose of these repressive Islamic laws in Iran is evident. These laws are aimed at dehumanizing and subjugating women, treating them as second-class citizens by taking away their power over basic daily activities and even their bodies through this mechanism of control. In order to achieve this goal, the Iranian regime employs Islamic Sharia laws, Shiite codes, and sovereign power (i.e. hard power, police, judiciary system, etc).</p>
<p>The second topic to tackle is connected to freedom of speech.  The leftists, who portray themselves as advocates of freedom of expression, are displaying a significant contradiction in their statements by condemning a Robin Williams joke. Are the leftists prescribing that people should not be allowed to criticize or even make a satire about dictatorships, authoritarian and vicious regimes, which are torturing, suppressing, and killing thousands of their own people?</p>
<p>There is a double standard when it comes to political correctness, and the left is perpetuating that idea. The “politically correct” left is suggesting that criticisms of tyrannical, autocratic and undemocratic regimes by comedians and other individuals should not be allowed. This is a risky approach due to the fact that it undermines those who are attempting to give a voice to oppressed and subjugated citizens, including women who live under repressive laws. I believe any individual, including leftists, should refrain from stamping every statement as racist and quickly demonizing and condemning people.</p>
<p style="color: #003b0b;"><span style="color: #000000;">As Robert Spencer articulately points out regarding the condemnation of Williams and the crucial impact that leftists and Islamists have had on our society and culture, </span></p>
<blockquote><p><span style="color: #000000;">[A]</span>ny reference, even a joke, to Sharia-related oppression or jihad violence is immediately denounced by the programmed and dutiful as &#8220;racist.&#8221; This is the same impulse that led the teenager who stumbled upon the Fort Dix jihad plot to hesitate about reporting it to police — he was afraid it might be &#8220;racist&#8221; to do so. The comfortable, self-righteous Leftists who are denouncing the Emmys today will be congratulating themselves on not being “racist” right up to the moment that the knife sawing through their throat brings an abrupt end to their conscious thoughts.</p></blockquote>
<p>During his life, Robin Williams attempted to bring laughter to millions of people around the world. We should contemplate more whether it is genuinely fair to completely and quickly label him as a “racist,” for this stand-up comedy performance and joke did not have anything to do with race, but was aimed at giving a voice to women in Iran and comically criticizing the Iranian regime.</p>
<p><b>Freedom Center pamphlets now available on Kindle: </b><a href="http://www.amazon.com/s/ref%3dnb_sb_noss?url=search-alias%3Ddigital-text&amp;field-keywords=david+horowitz&amp;rh=n:133140011%2ck:david+horowitz&amp;ajr=0#/ref=sr_st?keywords=david+horowitz&amp;qid=1316459840&amp;rh=n:133140011%2ck:david+horowitz&amp;sort=daterank" target="_blank"><b>Click here</b></a><b>. </b></p>
<p><a style="line-height: 1.5em;" href="http://horowitzfreedomcenter.us1.list-manage.com/subscribe?u=caa6f67f1482e6214d83be62d&amp;id=c761755bdf" target="_blank"><b>Subscribe</b></a><strong style="line-height: 1.5em;"> to Frontpage&#8217;s TV show, <i>The Glazov Gang</i>, and </strong><a style="line-height: 1.5em;" href="https://www.facebook.com/glazovgang" target="_blank"><b>LIKE</b></a><strong style="line-height: 1.5em;"> it on </strong><a style="line-height: 1.5em;" href="https://www.facebook.com/glazovgang" target="_blank"><b>Facebook.</b></a></p>
]]></content:encoded>
			<wfw:commentRss>http://www.frontpagemag.com/2014/majid-rafizadeh/the-smearing-of-robin-williams/feed/</wfw:commentRss>
		<slash:comments>29</slash:comments>
		</item>
		<item>
		<title>Iran&#8217;s Crackdown on Women</title>
		<link>http://www.frontpagemag.com/2014/majid-rafizadeh/irans-crackdown-on-women/?utm_source=rss&#038;utm_medium=rss&#038;utm_campaign=irans-crackdown-on-women</link>
		<comments>http://www.frontpagemag.com/2014/majid-rafizadeh/irans-crackdown-on-women/#comments</comments>
		<pubDate>Wed, 27 Aug 2014 04:05:47 +0000</pubDate>
		<dc:creator><![CDATA[Majid Rafizadeh]]></dc:creator>
				<category><![CDATA[Daily Mailer]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[FrontPage]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[ban]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Children]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Contraception]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[family]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Iran]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Women]]></category>

		<guid isPermaLink="false">http://www.frontpagemag.com/?p=239598</guid>
		<description><![CDATA[And the media's silence. ]]></description>
				<content:encoded><![CDATA[<p><a href="http://cdn.frontpagemag.com/wp-content/uploads/2014/08/iranian-women-dk.jpg"><img class="alignleft  wp-image-239600" src="http://cdn.frontpagemag.com/wp-content/uploads/2014/08/iranian-women-dk.jpg" alt="IRAN-WOMEN-DEMO" width="317" height="234" /></a>Recently, Majlis (Iranian parliament), which is dominated by hardliners<span style="color: #0433ff;">, has voted</span> to ban vasectomies, permanent kinds of contraception, and impose restriction on women&#8217;s fertility. In addition, the bill bans advertisements aimed at promoting birth control. Any doctor, or woman, who violates the ban will be punished and prosecuted according to the new Islamist bill.</p>
<p>Since its establishment, the Islamic Republic has significantly exercised “biopower” (a term coined by the historian Michel Foucault) in order to control the population and particularly subjugate women to achieve the regime&#8217;s Islamist, religious, ideological, political, and economic objectives. According to <a href="http://www.google.com/url?sa=t&amp;rct=j&amp;q=&amp;esrc=s&amp;source=web&amp;cd=2&amp;ved=0CCwQFjAB&amp;url=http%3A%2F%2F78.158.56.101%2Farchive%2Flaw%2Ffiles%2Fdownloads%2F325%2F2088.126d6dc4.Paliwala.doc&amp;ei=mkn6U9jdPKmBiwL00oCACw&amp;usg=AFQjCNHWIwknXVcMp1VNXxjjcj1rTg3_QQ&amp;sig2=1hxq_883R0sReEaMcq1MEA&amp;bvm=bv.73612305,d.cGE"><span style="color: #0433ff;">Foucault</span></a>, biopower is defined in <i>The History of Sexuality as</i> &#8220;an explosion of numerous and diverse techniques for achieving the subjugations of bodies and the control of populations.&#8221;</p>
<p>Under the new Islamist state, the Ayatollahs and ruling clerics utilized methods in order to control and exercise power over women to gradually take away their capacity to act in social affairs particularly by regulating their day to day activities, monitoring all their actions, as well as by having authority over their bodies.</p>
<p>For example, dress codes including (scarves, chador, etc) were imposed on women. Women could not wear what they desired out of the home. Women were encouraged to cover their bodies and dress more conservatively. And those who did not comply were laid off from work, fined, lashed, arrested, imprisoned, and attacked.</p>
<p>In addition, women’s bodies were predominantly defined by the Islamic Republic as a platform for satisfying their spouses. Women were banned from playing several sports.  Instead, being a housewife and submissive was encouraged. The control of women’s bodies and their day-to-day activities were used as a formidable venue to subjugate, dehumanize, and sway women’s capacity in life.</p>
<p>On the other hand, what are the underlying reasons for the new restriction on women’s fertility under the Islamic law of Iran?</p>
<p>The fundamental reasons are political, ideological and religion-driven. The whole process of passing a bill to impose restriction on women&#8217;s fertility began by one man’s plan: Iran’s Supreme Leader, Ayatollah Ali Khamenei.  The Supreme Leader has the final say as well as the power to delineate general policies for the entire country after consultation with the Nation&#8217;s Exigency Council, according to <a href="http://www.iranonline.com/iran/iran-info/government/constitution-8.html"><span style="color: #0433ff;">article 110</span></a> of the Islamic Republic.</p>
<p>The Supreme Leader decided that he wanted the population of his country to increase from 75 million people to 150 million. Khamenei’s new doctrine was read out to the nationwide conference in the city of Qum, <a href="http://www.ibtimes.co.uk/iran-supreme-leader-ayatollah-khamenei-population-family-519685"><span style="color: #0433ff;">pointing out</span></a> that “I believe that our country is not a country of 75 million people, our country [could be] a country of 150 million people&#8230; and even more… a young image is an essential and important issue for the country, and the countries which have faced aging population have overcome the issue in a difficult way. &#8221;</p>
<p>The message added, “We always wonder how life is going to be if we have four or five children; we should also think that if we have four or five children and if they are able to find jobs they will contribute to the development of the country.”  In addition, the Supreme Leader introduced a <a href="http://farsi.khamenei.ir/news-content?id=26440"><span style="color: #0433ff;">14-point plan</span></a> to increase the population.</p>
<p>The Iranian regime carried out the same policy in the 1980s, encouraging larger families and more children during the Iran-Iraq war. Iran’s population reached its peak during that time.</p>
<p>On the other hand, the new Islamist bill is aimed at pushing women in the Islamic Republic to be housewives and take traditional roles as mothers rather than participate in public political and social affairs. Currently, large numbers of Iranian women are highly educated and seeking more public functions in the society.</p>
<p>Across the country, billboards that promote less children have been replaced by <a href="http://thinkprogress.org/health/2014/08/11/3469707/iran-birth-control-policy/"><span style="color: #0433ff;">mottos</span></a> such as “A single blossom is not spring” and “More children, better lives.” The Supreme Leader states rhetorically that doubling the number of the population will &#8220;<a href="http://news.yahoo.com/iranian-parliament-bans-vasectomies-bid-boost-birth-rate-124757397.html"><span style="color: #0433ff;">strengthen national identity</span></a>&#8221; as well as counter &#8220;undesirable aspects of Western lifestyles.&#8221;</p>
<p>Nevertheless, politically speaking, the population of a country can be regarded as a defining character for the political strength of that government. The new bill will purportedly double the population of Shia Muslims, providing further manpower for the Islamic Republic and strengthening its political influence, national security.  The Iranian regime will be able to have mandatory military service and hire a considerable amount of young people in its army and militia groups such as Basij by offering them incentives such as educational fellowships, loans, etc.  From the Ayatollahs and ruling political figures in the Islamic Republic, this move will ensure their hold on power in the future.</p>
<p>However, many policies have unintended consequences as well.  This restriction on women might have a backlash. It is questionable whether educated Iranian women will accept going back and being confined in homes as mothers and housewives. Secondly, the increase in population might lead to a larger discontent and disaffected population, which would pose greater risks in the future in case protests against the Iranian regime erupt, as they did in 2009. Controlling a larger dissatisfied population poses more challenges.</p>
<p><b>Freedom Center pamphlets now available on Kindle: </b><a href="http://www.amazon.com/s/ref%3dnb_sb_noss?url=search-alias%3Ddigital-text&amp;field-keywords=david+horowitz&amp;rh=n:133140011%2ck:david+horowitz&amp;ajr=0#/ref=sr_st?keywords=david+horowitz&amp;qid=1316459840&amp;rh=n:133140011%2ck:david+horowitz&amp;sort=daterank" target="_blank"><b>Click here</b></a><b>. </b></p>
<p><a style="line-height: 1.5em;" href="http://horowitzfreedomcenter.us1.list-manage.com/subscribe?u=caa6f67f1482e6214d83be62d&amp;id=c761755bdf" target="_blank"><b>Subscribe</b></a><strong style="line-height: 1.5em;"> to Frontpage&#8217;s TV show, <i>The Glazov Gang</i>, and </strong><a style="line-height: 1.5em;" href="https://www.facebook.com/glazovgang" target="_blank"><b>LIKE</b></a><strong style="line-height: 1.5em;"> it on </strong><a style="line-height: 1.5em;" href="https://www.facebook.com/glazovgang" target="_blank"><b>Facebook.</b></a></p>
]]></content:encoded>
			<wfw:commentRss>http://www.frontpagemag.com/2014/majid-rafizadeh/irans-crackdown-on-women/feed/</wfw:commentRss>
		<slash:comments>21</slash:comments>
		</item>
		<item>
		<title>An Execution Wave Against LGBT Iranians</title>
		<link>http://www.frontpagemag.com/2014/majid-rafizadeh/an-execution-wave-against-lgbt-iranians/?utm_source=rss&#038;utm_medium=rss&#038;utm_campaign=an-execution-wave-against-lgbt-iranians</link>
		<comments>http://www.frontpagemag.com/2014/majid-rafizadeh/an-execution-wave-against-lgbt-iranians/#comments</comments>
		<pubDate>Thu, 21 Aug 2014 04:10:27 +0000</pubDate>
		<dc:creator><![CDATA[Majid Rafizadeh]]></dc:creator>
				<category><![CDATA[Daily Mailer]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[FrontPage]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Abdulla Ghavami Chahzanjiru]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[execution]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Gay]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Iran]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Salman Ghanbari Chahzanjiri]]></category>

		<guid isPermaLink="false">http://www.frontpagemag.com/?p=238983</guid>
		<description><![CDATA[Where is the international outcry?  ]]></description>
				<content:encoded><![CDATA[<p><a href="http://cdn.frontpagemag.com/wp-content/uploads/2014/08/1407836736218.cached.jpg"><img class="alignleft  wp-image-238986" src="http://cdn.frontpagemag.com/wp-content/uploads/2014/08/1407836736218.cached-440x350.jpg" alt="1407836736218.cached" width="293" height="233" /></a>President Barack Obama has long depicted himself as a defender of women’s and LGBT rights not only in the United States but across the world as well. Yet, where is his voice when it comes to the growing number of executions and the persecution of the gay and lesbian community as well as the repression of women in the Islamic Republic of Iran? In addition, why has the LGBT movement not criticized the Obama administration or made a movement over these injustices, egregious actions, and human rights violations committed in the Islamic Republic against the gays and lesbians?</p>
<p>As the Obama administration continues to communicate and diplomatically negotiate with Iranian officials in Vienna, New York, and elsewhere, President Obama has not even slightly expressed his concern about the unfair actions, executions, discriminations and prosecutions of LGBT individuals, as well as the increasing repressions of women under the Rouhani administration. Where do the Islamic Republic’s human rights abuses belong on President Obama’s agenda?</p>
<p>Two weeks ago, two Iranian men, Abdulla Ghavami Chahzanjiru and Salman Ghanbari Chahzanjiri, were executed in the southern part of the Islamic Republic for reasons that included &#8220;consensual sodomy.&#8221;  <span style="color: #0433ff;"><a href="http://www.thedailybeast.com/articles/2014/08/12/iran-s-new-gay-executions.html">According to the Daily Beast</a>,</span> &#8220;Their deaths are part of a wave of executions in Iran, with more than 400 in the first half of 2014 alone, according to the NGO Iran Human Rights.&#8221; One of the Iranian sources <a href="http://www.edgeonthenet.com/news/international/News/164013/reports:_2_gay_men_hanged_in_iran"><span style="color: #0433ff;">pointed out</span></a> that Chahzanjiru and Chahzanjiri were executed in order to &#8220;promote community safety&#8221; as well as to &#8220;reduce the suffering of the victims.&#8221;</p>
<p>Under the Islamist and Sharia law of Iran and Iran’s Penal Code, the punishments for homosexuals range from lashings to executions. For example, <a href="http://iglhrc.org/sites/default/files/UNHCR%20Refworld%20Iran%20Penal%20Code.pdf"><span style="color: #0433ff;">article 109</span></a> of Iran’s Islamic Penal Code states, “In case of sodomy both the active and the passive persons will be condemned to its punishment.”</p>
<p>Article 110 of Iran’s Islamic Penal Code emphasizes on killing homosexuals, “Punishment for sodomy is killing; the Sharia judge decides on how to carry out the killing.” Article 111 adds, “Sodomy involves killing if both the active and passive persons are mature, of sound mind and have free will.”</p>
<p>According to other articles of Iran’s Islamist Penal Code, even kissing or standing naked under one roof are considered crimes and subject to punishment. For example, article 124 asserts: “If someone kisses another with lust, he will be subject to Ta’azir of 60 lashes.” Article 123 mandates: “If two men not related by blood stand naked under one cover without any necessity, both of them will be subject to Ta’azir of up to 99 lashes.”</p>
<p><b>Mosaheqeh (lesbianism) Under the Islamist Sharia law of the Islamic Republic</b></p>
<p>When it comes to laws regarding women and lesbianism, the same Islamist laws apply. For example, article 134 states, “If two women not related by consanguinity stand naked under one cover without necessity, they will be punished to less than [one] hundred (100) lashes (Ta’azir). In case of its repetition as well as the repetition of punishment, [one] hundred (100) lashes will be hit the third time.”</p>
<p>It is crucial to point out that these Islamist and Sharia laws apply not only to Muslims but also to non-Muslims, “In the punishment for lesbianism there will be no distinction between the doer and the subject as well as a Muslim or non-Muslim.”</p>
<p>More fundamentally, these executions, discriminations, prejudices and punishments with regards to the LGBT community in the Islamic Republic have created a tremendous sense of fear, horror, and panic among the gay and lesbian community through the imposition of Islamist laws that criminalize sexuality.</p>
<p>Although Iranian LGBT individuals have been living underground for many years, there always exists the fright and likelihood that they will be arrested by the Islamic Republic’s Revolutionary Guard Cops, the Islamist religious police, the moral police, or some state’s affiliated militia groups such as the Basij, and then be persecuted, lashed and executed by Iran’s Islamic Judiciary system.</p>
<p>The discrimination against the LGBT community in the Islamic Republic is solely anchored on the basis of their gender orientation.</p>
<p>When it comes to LGBT rights in the Islamic Republic, two crucial issues should be discussed. First of all, on the one hand, the Islamist and Shari’a law of the Islamic Republic clearly does not grant gays and lesbians equal rights and does not treat them as human beings.  But more fundamentally and egregiously, the Islamic Penal Code of the Islamic Republic sentences people to death based on sexuality.</p>
<p>Finally, while the Obama administration is highly concentrated on striking a final and comprehensive nuclear deal with the Iranian regime, President Obama should not turn a blind eye to these executions, human rights abuses, prejudices and punishments imposed by Iran’s Islamist laws against the LGBT individuals in the Islamic Republic.</p>
<p>Indeed, it is the obligation of every state and the international community– which is negotiating with the Iranian officials on nuclear issues— to bring the human rights of the Iranian LGBT community, its persecution, and the increasing repression of women, to the attention of Iranian ruling authorities.</p>
<p><b>Freedom Center pamphlets now available on Kindle: </b><a href="http://www.amazon.com/s/ref%3dnb_sb_noss?url=search-alias%3Ddigital-text&amp;field-keywords=david+horowitz&amp;rh=n:133140011%2ck:david+horowitz&amp;ajr=0#/ref=sr_st?keywords=david+horowitz&amp;qid=1316459840&amp;rh=n:133140011%2ck:david+horowitz&amp;sort=daterank" target="_blank"><b>Click here</b></a><b>. </b></p>
<p><a style="line-height: 1.5em;" href="http://horowitzfreedomcenter.us1.list-manage.com/subscribe?u=caa6f67f1482e6214d83be62d&amp;id=c761755bdf" target="_blank"><b>Subscribe</b></a><strong style="line-height: 1.5em;"> to Frontpage&#8217;s TV show, <i>The Glazov Gang</i>, and </strong><a style="line-height: 1.5em;" href="https://www.facebook.com/glazovgang" target="_blank"><b>LIKE</b></a><strong style="line-height: 1.5em;"> it on </strong><a style="line-height: 1.5em;" href="https://www.facebook.com/glazovgang" target="_blank"><b>Facebook.</b></a></p>
]]></content:encoded>
			<wfw:commentRss>http://www.frontpagemag.com/2014/majid-rafizadeh/an-execution-wave-against-lgbt-iranians/feed/</wfw:commentRss>
		<slash:comments>51</slash:comments>
		</item>
		<item>
		<title>Rouhani&#8217;s One-Year Anniversary</title>
		<link>http://www.frontpagemag.com/2014/majid-rafizadeh/rouhanis-one-year-anniversary/?utm_source=rss&#038;utm_medium=rss&#038;utm_campaign=rouhanis-one-year-anniversary</link>
		<comments>http://www.frontpagemag.com/2014/majid-rafizadeh/rouhanis-one-year-anniversary/#comments</comments>
		<pubDate>Fri, 15 Aug 2014 04:20:22 +0000</pubDate>
		<dc:creator><![CDATA[Majid Rafizadeh]]></dc:creator>
				<category><![CDATA[FrontPage]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[anniversary]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Iran]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Islamic  Republic]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Moderate]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[negotiations]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[one year]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Rouhani]]></category>

		<guid isPermaLink="false">http://www.frontpagemag.com/?p=238643</guid>
		<description><![CDATA[A good year for the rogue Islamic Republic. ]]></description>
				<content:encoded><![CDATA[<p><a href="http://cdn.frontpagemag.com/wp-content/uploads/2014/08/Rouhani.jpg"><img class="alignleft  wp-image-238675" src="http://cdn.frontpagemag.com/wp-content/uploads/2014/08/Rouhani-433x350.jpg" alt="Rouhani" width="288" height="233" /></a>At this time last year, Hassan Rouhani, the Iranian regime insider, assumed the office of presidency in the Islamic Republic. Rouhani was approved to run by the constitutionally-mandated and appointed 12 members of the Islamist and hardline Guardian Council, and after he gave empty promises of bringing &#8220;<a href="http://www.foreignpolicy.com/articles/2014/06/13/shoulder_to_shoulder_canada_foreign_minister_iran_rouhani_human_rights"><span style="color: #0433ff;">dignity</span></a>” to the nation,  freeing political prisoners, promoting civil rights, normalcy, reintegrating Iran in the world economically and politically.</p>
<p>Other crucial reasons behind his election included his <a href="http://archive.thedailystar.net/beta2/news/hassan-rouhani-reformer-or-loyalist/"><span style="color: #0433ff;">loyalty</span></a> to Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei and Iran’s Islamist revolutionary principles, his background profile as a government insider and chief nuclear negotiator, the blessings of Supreme Leaders for him, and the low standards that the hardliner Mahmoud Ahmadinejad set.</p>
<p>The purpose of having Rouhani as the president was evident from the beginning: for the first time, Ayatollah Khamenei and the senior cadre of the Islamic Republic’s Revolutionary Guards Corps deeply felt that their hold on power was being threatened. This was due to international economic and political sanctions, Iran’s nuclear defiance, along with disenfranchisement and discontent of Iranian youth (for reasons such as unemployment, human rights violations, suppression of freedom of press, expression, assembly, high inflation).</p>
<p>How has Rouhani served his regime? Under the first year of his presidency, Rouhani and his nuclear technocrat team were unprecedentedly and unexpectedly successful at reaching the regime’s objectives. He was capable of achieving the ideological, economic, and geopolitical goals of the Islamist agenda of the ruling clerics.</p>
<p>It is crucial to point out that, in the first year, Rouhani&#8217;s goal was to merge the Islamic Republic’s ideological and Islamist principles with its economic, strategic and geopolitical interests. Rouhani wanted to ensure the survival of the Islamist regime.</p>
<p>The game that Rouhani and his team played with the West and particularly the United States was anchored in utilizing softer tones while exploiting the fragile and weak position of the Obama administration.</p>
<p>First, by striking the nuclear interim deal with the P5+1 (the United States, Russia, France, China, the United Kingdom, plus Germany), Rouhani and his technocrat nuclear team were successful in obtaining sanctions relief&#8211; <a href="http://www.bloomberg.com/news/2014-01-20/iran-hails-long-day-as-it-starts-curbing-nuclear-work.html"><span style="color: #0433ff;">worth</span></a> between $6 and $7 billion – and suspending certain sanctions on some Iranian industries including the automotive sector, gold and precious metals trade, and petrochemical exports.</p>
<p>On the other hand, currently, the Islamic Republic’s economy has been stabilized according to the <a href="http://english.farsnews.com/newstext.aspx?nn=13930120000786"><span style="color: #0433ff;">International Monetary Fund</span></a>, and oil exports have increased by approximately <a href="http://uk.reuters.com/article/2014/07/31/uk-asia-iran-crude-idUKKBN0G00C320140731"><span style="color: #0433ff;">25 percent</span></a>, specifically to Asian countries, in the first six months of the year 2014.</p>
<p>While Rouhani has spent a considerable amount of his political capital on the international arena, nuclear talks, attempting to empower the Islamic Republic in the world affairs and economy, and removing economic sanctions, Iran’s fundamental foreign policies in the region, internationally and domestically remain ideological and intact.</p>
<p>For example, President Hassan Rouhani <a href="http://www.independent.co.uk/news/world/middle-east/irans-new-president-hassan-rouhani-vows-to-support-syrian-regime-as-president-assad-vows-to-crush-rebels-with-iron-fist-8745857.html"><span style="color: #0433ff;">voiced</span></a> his support for the Syrian government, as Iran’s <a href="http://www.independent.co.uk/news/world/middle-east/irans-new-president-hassan-rouhani-vows-to-support-syrian-regime-as-president-assad-vows-to-crush-rebels-with-iron-fist-8745857.html"><span style="color: #0433ff;">support</span></a> for the Syrian government financially, militarily, politically and advisory continues. Even after the use of chemical weapons against the civilians in Syria, Rouhani’s administration has not shifted its support and policies towards President Bashar Al Assad.</p>
<p>In addition, under Rouhani’s administration, the Islamic Republic continues to support non state actors such as Hezbollah and Hamas. In addition, the Islamic Republic’s <a href="http://forward.com/articles/184240/iranian-president-hassan-rouhani-criticizes-israel/"><span style="color: #0433ff;">foreign policies</span></a> towards Israel remain intact as well.</p>
<p>On the other hand, billions of dollars gained by the ruling cleric, are tightly distributed among the top officials. Millions of ordinary Iranian people still encounter hardship economically. In addition, the unemployment rate remains to be in <a href="http://carnegieendowment.org/2014/08/06/ineffective-economic-stewardship/hk2b?reloadFlag=1"><span style="color: #0433ff;">double digit</span></a><span style="color: #0433ff;">s</span> for millions of Iranian people.</p>
<p>When it comes to human rights and freedoms (assembly, press and speech),  Rouhani has supported the status quo of repression. According to the Human Rights Watch, there has been <a href="http://www.hrw.org/world-report/2014/country-chapters/iran?page=3"><span style="color: #0433ff;">“no sign of improvement”</span></a> and the Islamic Republic continues to violate human rights under Rouhani.</p>
<p>On March 11, Ahmed Shaheed, the United Nations special rapporteur on the human rights conditions in the Islamic Republic of Iran, released his <a href="http://www.hrw.org/world-report/2014/country-chapters/iran?page=3"><span style="color: #0433ff;">second annual report</span></a> to the UN Human Rights Council (HRC), pointing out that there exists an “apparent increase in the degree of seriousness of human rights violations” and he expressed his concern at the “rate of executions in the country, especially for crimes that do not meet serious crimes standards.”</p>
<p>In addition, in October, UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon released his annual report expressing concerns with regards to the continuing human rights violations in the Islamic Republic under Rouhani. Human Rights Watch <a href="http://www.hrw.org/world-report/2014/country-chapters/iran?page=3"><span style="color: #0433ff;">points out</span></a> that “The government continued to block access to Shaheed and to experts with other UN rights bodies.”</p>
<p>It is an illusion to believe that any political figure in the Islamic Republic, who rises to power, will shift the Islamist, radical, and ideological perspective of this regime. Loyalty to the Islamist principles, antagonism towards Israel, and supporting Hezbollah, Hamas, or other Islamists groups, are the underlying and basic rules that each Iranian politician believes in and has to pursue, in order to survive and rise the political ladder in Iran. The higher an Iranian politician is in his political life and position, the more loyal he is to the Supreme Leader, Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, the more he voices his antagonism towards the state of Israel publicly or covertly, and the more he views the United States as a Great Satan. This underlying rule is the political formula for survival and promotion under the Islamist and ideological regime of the Islamic Republic.</p>
<p><b>Freedom Center pamphlets now available on Kindle: </b><a href="http://www.amazon.com/s/ref%3dnb_sb_noss?url=search-alias%3Ddigital-text&amp;field-keywords=david+horowitz&amp;rh=n:133140011%2ck:david+horowitz&amp;ajr=0#/ref=sr_st?keywords=david+horowitz&amp;qid=1316459840&amp;rh=n:133140011%2ck:david+horowitz&amp;sort=daterank" target="_blank"><b>Click here</b></a><b>. </b></p>
<p><a style="line-height: 1.5em;" href="http://horowitzfreedomcenter.us1.list-manage.com/subscribe?u=caa6f67f1482e6214d83be62d&amp;id=c761755bdf" target="_blank"><b>Subscribe</b></a><strong style="line-height: 1.5em;"> to Frontpage&#8217;s TV show, <i>The Glazov Gang</i>, and </strong><a style="line-height: 1.5em;" href="https://www.facebook.com/glazovgang" target="_blank"><b>LIKE</b></a><strong style="line-height: 1.5em;"> it on </strong><a style="line-height: 1.5em;" href="https://www.facebook.com/glazovgang" target="_blank"><b>Facebook.</b></a></p>
]]></content:encoded>
			<wfw:commentRss>http://www.frontpagemag.com/2014/majid-rafizadeh/rouhanis-one-year-anniversary/feed/</wfw:commentRss>
		<slash:comments>88</slash:comments>
		</item>
		<item>
		<title>Thanks to Obama, Iran’s Economy Is Booming</title>
		<link>http://www.frontpagemag.com/2014/majid-rafizadeh/thanks-to-obama-irans-economy-is-booming/?utm_source=rss&#038;utm_medium=rss&#038;utm_campaign=thanks-to-obama-irans-economy-is-booming</link>
		<comments>http://www.frontpagemag.com/2014/majid-rafizadeh/thanks-to-obama-irans-economy-is-booming/#comments</comments>
		<pubDate>Tue, 12 Aug 2014 04:30:54 +0000</pubDate>
		<dc:creator><![CDATA[Majid Rafizadeh]]></dc:creator>
				<category><![CDATA[Daily Mailer]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[FrontPage]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Economy]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[growth]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Iran]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Money]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Obama]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[OIL]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[sanctions]]></category>

		<guid isPermaLink="false">http://www.frontpagemag.com/?p=238377</guid>
		<description><![CDATA[The Mullahs are back in business. ]]></description>
				<content:encoded><![CDATA[<p><a href="http://cdn.frontpagemag.com/wp-content/uploads/2014/08/iran-nuclear-rouhani.jpg"><img class="alignleft  wp-image-238378" src="http://cdn.frontpagemag.com/wp-content/uploads/2014/08/iran-nuclear-rouhani-450x299.jpg" alt="iran-nuclear-rouhani" width="278" height="185" /></a>According to the latest statistics, Iran’s economy is being stabilized, with oil exports increasing by approximately 30 percent. This economic recovery has emboldened and empowered the ruling clerics in the Islamic republic who are fighting several proxy wars in the Middle East by funding and arming Hamas and sending troops to Iraq to ensure the power of the Shiite coalition of Prime Minister Nori Al Maleki and by supporting the Assad regime financially, politically, militarily, and through intelligence.</p>
<p>This is mainly due to the Obama administration’s push to strike any kind of flimsy nuclear deal with the Islamic Republic to avoid taking serious actions. It is also due to President Obama’s efforts to remove economic sanctions on the Islamic Republic.</p>
<p>As the ruling clerics regain their economy, they will also be more empowered to reach the nuclear break out capacity, obtain nuclear weapons, and defy the West.</p>
<p>A year has passed since President Hassan Rouhani has assumed office. He received the blessings of Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, and was elected predominantly to recover Iran’s economy, regain Iran’s currency (Rial) value, and get a flimsy nuclear deal without giving concessions, which will allow the Islamic Republic to continue enriching uranium and spinning its centrifuges.</p>
<p>The question is: how have the Obama administration’s foreign policies towards the Islamic Republic impacted Iran’s economy after a year? Has Iran’s economy, which had been deteriorating since the Iraq-Iran war due to domestic mismanagement and international economic sanctions, shifted its path?</p>
<p>According to reports, the ruling clerics in the Islamic Republic have witnessed the addition of billions of dollars to their revenues. <a href="http://www.imf.org/external/pubs/ft/survey/so/2014/car040414a.htm"><span style="color: #0433ff;">According to the</span></a> latest survey by the International Monetary Fund, “Iran has taken important steps to lower inflation… The Islamic Republic of Iran has made progress toward stabilizing its economy in recent months…”</p>
<p>In addition, according to Bloomberg Businessweek and the Iran Project, Masood Ahmed, director of the IMF’s Middle East and Central Asia department, pointed out to reporters in Tehran on Tuesday that “The process of stabilization has taken hold and we do see the results already in a dramatic improvement in inflation… [The] inflation rate has eased and currency rate has been stable and such improvements are the results of measures taken by the Iranian government…”</p>
<p>Several crucial factors play a role in this positive and promising economic recovery. First of all, thanks to the Obama administration’s altering of the Islamic Republic’s outlook in the international arena, as well as the progress in nuclear talks between the Islamic Republic and P5+1 (the United States, Russia, China,  United Kingdom, and France, plus Germany), Iran has <a href="http://www.whitehouse.gov/the-press-office/2013/11/23/fact-sheet-first-step-understandings-regarding-islamic-republic-iran-s-n"><span style="color: #0433ff;">received</span></a> billions of dollars, unfrozen its assets, removed the economic sanctions on some of its crucial industries including gold, precious metals, Iran&#8217;s auto industry, Iran&#8217;s petrochemical exports, and increased its oil exports particularly to Asia.</p>
<p>The aforementioned measures added billions of dollars to the Islamic Republic’s revenue.  Secondly, the new administration in the Islamic Republic has attempted to lure mostly Asian (Chinese, Indian, etc.) investors and reform its contractual as well as economic policies in this regard.</p>
<p>For example, Iran’s oil exports have increased by approximately <a href="http://uk.reuters.com/article/2014/07/31/uk-asia-iran-crude-idUKKBN0G00C320140731"><span style="color: #0433ff;">25 percent</span></a> in the first six months of 2014. The top importers of Iran’s oil are China and India. China alone has <a href="http://uk.reuters.com/article/2014/07/31/uk-asia-iran-crude-idUKKBN0G00C320140731"><span style="color: #0433ff;">increased</span></a> its oil import from Iran by fifty percent, India by nineteen percent, and Japan by 48.6 percent and South Korea’s import in the last year increased by seven percent thanks to the P5+1’s diplomatic headways with the Islamic Republic and the loosening of economic sanctions.</p>
<p>According to the <a href="http://english.farsnews.com/newstext.aspx?nn=13930120000786"><span style="color: #0433ff;">Fars News</span></a> and International Monetary Fund, Iran’s economy and GDP will stop contracting and will grow by approximately one to two percent in 2014, which will be a crucial factor in stabilizing Iran’s economy. The year before, Iran’s economy contracted by 1.7 percent. In 2015, the IMF report predicts that the Islamic Republic’s economy and GDP will increase by 2.3 percent.</p>
<p>On the other hand, <a href="http://english.farsnews.com/newstext.aspx?nn=13930120000786"><span style="color: #0433ff;">according to IMF’s report</span></a>, the inflation in the Islamic Republic has significantly declined by 29 percent  &#8220;The exchange rate has appreciated markedly in the bureau/parallel market. The CBI has kept a lid on base money growth thanks to tighter credit to the banking system and some fiscal consolidation, and inflation has declined to about 29 percent in January 2014.&#8221;</p>
<p>The Rial has also been <a href="http://www.middleeasteye.net/news/iran-one-year-under-rouhani-639273557"><span style="color: #0433ff;">strengthened</span></a>. This also lead to a boost in the confidence of the Iranian regime, Iran’s Revolutionary Guard Cops (which dominates the economy), and the elite Quds forces (which fights in foreign countries).</p>
<p>Without doubt, President Obama has helped the ruling clerics in the Islamic Republic to make a considerable amount of progress in the last year in stabilizing the domestic economy, strengthening the Rial, reducing the inflation, filling the gap in the revenues and government’s budget, and turning the negative growth and contraction of its economy to a positive path.</p>
<p>As the nuclear talks project, a final flimsy nuclear deal is on the way. This will ensure the further strengthening of the power of the ruling cleric.</p>
<p>Most of this money goes to the regime’s revenues to achieve its ideological, geopolitical and regional hegemonic ambitions. Ordinary Iranian people have not yet received any of these benefits. For example, the unemployment rate is still in the double digits. According to the <a href="http://tehrantimes.com/economy-and-business/115225-unemployment-has-reached-a-critical-level-in-iran"><span style="color: #0433ff;">Statistical Center of Iran</span></a>, the unemployment rate hit 10.4 percent. In addition, in Spring 2014, <a href="http://www.payvand.com/news/14/aug/1017.html"><span style="color: #0433ff;">700,000</span></a> less workers have been employed in comparison to the previous year, and in urban areas, the consumption of households declined by 5 percent, while in villages it went down by 12 percent.</p>
<p>In addition, the domestic crack down has increased as the regime becomes more powerful economically. As the regime and ruling clerics economic empowerment continue &#8212; thanks to the Obama administration’s efforts &#8212; the regime will ensure the reelection of the President Rouhani and achieve its hegemonic regional ambitions and Islamists ideological objectives more assertively.</p>
<p><b>Freedom Center pamphlets now available on Kindle: </b><a href="http://www.amazon.com/s/ref%3dnb_sb_noss?url=search-alias%3Ddigital-text&amp;field-keywords=david+horowitz&amp;rh=n:133140011%2ck:david+horowitz&amp;ajr=0#/ref=sr_st?keywords=david+horowitz&amp;qid=1316459840&amp;rh=n:133140011%2ck:david+horowitz&amp;sort=daterank" target="_blank"><b>Click here</b></a><b>. </b></p>
<p><a style="line-height: 1.5em;" href="http://horowitzfreedomcenter.us1.list-manage.com/subscribe?u=caa6f67f1482e6214d83be62d&amp;id=c761755bdf" target="_blank"><b>Subscribe</b></a><strong style="line-height: 1.5em;"> to Frontpage&#8217;s TV show, <i>The Glazov Gang</i>, and </strong><a style="line-height: 1.5em;" href="https://www.facebook.com/glazovgang" target="_blank"><b>LIKE</b></a><strong style="line-height: 1.5em;"> it on </strong><a style="line-height: 1.5em;" href="https://www.facebook.com/glazovgang" target="_blank"><b>Facebook.</b></a></p>
]]></content:encoded>
			<wfw:commentRss>http://www.frontpagemag.com/2014/majid-rafizadeh/thanks-to-obama-irans-economy-is-booming/feed/</wfw:commentRss>
		<slash:comments>23</slash:comments>
		</item>
	</channel>
</rss>

<!-- Performance optimized by W3 Total Cache. Learn more: http://www.w3-edge.com/wordpress-plugins/

Object Caching 1387/1390 objects using disk
Content Delivery Network via cdn.frontpagemag.com

 Served from: www.frontpagemag.com @ 2014-12-29 10:25:06 by W3 Total Cache -->