 |
| Flynt Leverett. |
Uskowi on Iran had earlier this year extensively reviewed the Leverett's work in a piece entitled 'The Persian Gulf Facade'.
Mr. Milani aptly summarizes that:
When Going to Tehran describes Iran, it often reads like a reincarnation of the sad Soviet-era tradition of “Potemkin village” panegyrics. (Dictionaries define the term “Potemkin village” as an “impressive façade or show designed to hide an undesirable fact or condition.”)
This author is forced to concede that the following paragraph in Mr. Milani's review aptly sums up the Leverett's collective obscurantist politics, stances and blithesome arrogance better than he has up until this point been able to:
The Leveretts rightly dismiss the view of the regime in Tehran as composed only of suicidal messianic zealots, yet there is, ironically, a strong messianic subtext to their own narrative. By their reckoning, every American administration since Carter, the British and French governments, Israel, the IAEA (which has referred Iran to the United Nations), the UN (which has imposed sanctions on Iran), the Western media, all the Iranian scholars, activists, writers, poets, politicians, and past IRGC commanders who reject the status quo, the political prisoners in Iran who defiantly smuggle letters out of prison and describe the brutal nature of the despotism in today’s Iran—all these people have got it wrong. Only the Leveretts accurately understand the nature of the regime in Iran and only they have the solution to the quandary of American-Iranian relations.
Read the entire review HERE.
thanks much for the link to the rebuttal to the lies and horseshift shoveled by the Liverwursts.... and their fanboy flunky.
ReplyDelete"Cherry-picking facts and creating factoids are the primary methods used by the Leveretts to claim that the Tehran regime is as popular as they wish it were, and that the opposition is as weak as they allege it is. For this reason, much of the Leveretts’ defense of the regime and its practices borders on the absurd. While many in Iran—including past presidents, ministers, a prime minister, a speaker of the parliament, many members of that parliament, journalists, human rights activists, and bloggers—have questioned the right, and the legitimacy, of the Guardian Council’s process of vetting all candidates in Iranian elections, the Leveretts claim that “many of our Iranian interlocutors contend that the Guardian Council’s vetting process produces a wider range of choice for Iranian voters than the United States’ two-party system offers American voters.”
-------
So Paul, have you even bothered to read "Going to Tehran"?
ReplyDeleteBy the way, Milani is identified in "Going to Tehran" including his weak academic credentials, his expat financial backers and the agenda they're advancing at the Hoover Inst. in putting forth their distortions on Iran. Of course, had you bothered to read the book, you'd know this. But of course reading it would require an open mind...
On a personal note, through local journalists Milani and I used to speak past each other. At one point Milani stated Khatami wished for a military invasion of Israel to take Jerusalem! No lie, it can be retrieved in past copies of print. Talk to him now, and he sides with the reformists against the regime, which surely shows his opportunism.
And, a year and a half ago he was on a talk show segment on PBS (I think it was) where the other panelist was none other than Flynt Leverett. Milani stated Iran was in violation of the NPT! With Milani's weak academic credentials exposed and his anti-Iran agenda, such lapses are to be expected.
But you go ahead and keep praising Milani over the Leveretts, Paul, he being so much more reliable in his analyses. /sarcasm
Actually read it twice (and told you this about six times, but given the fact your head remains firmly up your posterior I doubt you heard) and before you did. You should cite your accusations against Milani and actually refute a single thing he says in the review against the Leverett's if you want to maintain a shred of credibility.
DeleteLook like all your work is still ahead of you then.
Have a nice day.
PAUL-hope that you read it with an open mind, and not just for the sake of reading!!.AND PAUL IT Seems you have some difficulty loosing an argument ,and entertaining diverse opinion given your loaded words on MARK!!.
Deleteaahh the new republic democratic party's likud zionism and neo-conservative standard bearer according to its Jewish owners
ReplyDeleteif you want a rebuttal of the new republic you go to the nation
if that's the best part Paul's found you really are a barking mad
even from a strictly western liberal point of view iran would only require few changes for them to be satisfied which is the social liberalism, the purpose of the review in the new republic to maintain the status quo iran should stay a rogue state which the US should see as an enemy instead of a nation that is able freely trade and persue some of its own interests like brazil or india
by any western liberal standard current day iran is miles ahead of most US allies in terms of governance
messianic paul who is on a crusade to show within iran there is a persia and the current iran is the worst thing in the world and the people there should be subjected every western threat possible to bring about this persia
The New Republic is no longer owned by Martin Peretz, and no longer follows any Likud line.
DeleteDo your own homework, Anonymous Bigot 11:38
When you ask Iranians outside of Iran who are they ,a good deal would answer you Persian !!
DeletePersians ?what about me am I not Iranian am I something else should I go live in turkey ?or Pakistan Or Iraq ?because I am an Arab or an Azari or Balouch?
The very fact that they call themselves Persian is a testament to how disconnected they are to their people living in Iran !
the same goes with Iranian Intelligentsia living in diaspora,for so many years likes of Mr Milani or Haleh esfandiari have promoted their Academic myth to different administrations ! the result is what you see today !
what the leverettes say is the simple fact that the bulk of Iranian Nation suports the ideological roots of IRI and the current regime !
i can Testify to that as an Iranian Living abroad with royalist family and brought up with the same myths of Darius the great and how Persians are something remarkable better than anone else but the basic truth is that they were wrong I see an Iraqi an I feel very much like a second cousin I sit with a Turk and he is like a relative the myth of Perisans being second cousins to Europeans is as pathetic as Lebanese being phoenician and Not Arab! they might have been 2000 years ago not today !Mr milani should spend his life trying to prouve the MAD MULLAH hypothesys but he will get no where ,It was about time some Americans see Iranians as Iranians and forget about this idea of regime change and Shia Sunni Devide!Prof. Milani is a used hankerchief Dr Nourizadeh is an Old Man with No connection to his father land he charges 10000 dollars to speak Arabic in a conference sponsored by Ahwazi Separatists !after the end of the day they have to make a living and they do so by selling their Fellow Iranians !more of us are seeing VOA and BBC comentators as traitors!after all when Eu and US drop MEK from their terrorist lists they become our enemies !those who collaborate with the enemy are traitors in the eyes of more people like me who have a collective knowledge of the past thirty years !Paul I do not know Are you Persian or are you Iranian ?