Thursday
Jan142010
Iran: Al Jazeera's Debate Over The Death of Ali-Mohammadi (13 January)
Thursday, January 14, 2010 at 12:42
A three-way discussion between Seyed Mohammad Marandi, Siavush Randjbar-Daemi, and Joshua Goodman. Listen closely and you'll hear a question taken, word-for-word, from Mr. Smith's analysis on Enduring America yesterday:
[youtube]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4CAXb1V4c2I[/youtube]
[youtube]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4CAXb1V4c2I[/youtube]
The Latest from Iran (14 January): The Professor’s Funeral
Latest Iran Video: The Life, Death, and Funeral of Professor Ali-Mohammadi (14 January)
Iran Analysis: Political Manoeuvring Around the Professor’s Death
Iran Analysis: Nuclear Myths, Rogue Elements, and Professor Ali-Mohammadi’s Murder
Iran Special: Interpreting the Death of Professor Ali-Mohammadi
Latest Iran Video: The Leverett Line on Killing of Professor Ali-Mohammadi (13 January)
Latest Iran Video: How State Media Frames Killing of “Nuclear” Professor (12 January)
Reader Comments (22)
Marandi was typically disengenous and evasive. His linkage between Ali M and the nuclear programme (and conversely de-linking to Mousavi) was self-evidently pitiful. So pitiful that he actually seemed (or were my ears deceiving me?) to suggest he had close links to the Revolutionary Guard and Basij!
You get the impression that even Marandi had to accept that there is absolutely no rational reason why anyone hoping to disrupt Iran's nuclear programme would take out Ali-M.
Sometimes you just have to admire the sheer hypocracy of a man who defends the 'triangle of Zionism' explanation and then states that the west is incapable of a rational unconspiratorial discourse on Iran!
Dr Marandi has paid a high professional price for his recent media work. His academic reputation will never recover. Though I suspect he never sought or measured his academic credibility by his reputation in the west, he is after all a North America/English specialist and it's difficulty to see how his reputation will ever recover outside a small anti-American/pro-regime clique- which are essentially an irrelevant demographic in terms of international scholarship.
You'll also hear an answer that closely resembles Mr. Smith’s analysis on Enduring America yesterday (last point by Siavush) AND you'll also see how much better Aljazeera presenters are at "Marandi management" than their CNN counterparts ;-)
Didn't Dr. Marandy's total "dérapage" in pushing the conspiracy theory, in this assassination , make a caricature of himself and reveal a yet more chaotic , divided and weakened system which he is defending ?
Indeed it is so pathetic to see Dr. Marandi sacrifice his academic and personal reputation by backing some obvious misinformation and thus covering up for the group responsible of this horrendous terrorist act .
Does he at all realize that by lying ( e.g.. linking Ali Mohammadi and the nuclear program) and discrediting himself to ground zero , he bring more credit to the ones he accuses ? !
After watching this video I was reminded of a quote by Mary Renault :
"In hatred as in love, we grow like the thing we brood upon. What we loathe, we graft into our very soul. "
To think that this guy is a Prof at a reputable university in Iran. Thank god for quotas.
This fellow Marandi is ridiculous, who does he thin k he is fooling, himself and the IRI goons, that is all.
Try to put a turban on Marandi then you will see he blends well into the landscape of Islamic Republic.
The problem we are having in here is that we are trying to see him as an intellectual something he obviously is not. He impeached himself very well in this video clip and showed us he is void of any rational thinking. It was excruciating to watch him arguing points with the other two guests. I was truly embarrassed for Tehran University and for Iranians.
I have argued before that I do not see Marandi as someone with intellectual curiosity and as an independent thinker. I see him as robot programmed by his master or perhaps his own twisted logic and ideology. I am not confused by his education or his lofty degree or title. When I listen to him I do not hear a professor at Tehran University, I hear a mullah of Islamic Republic, I hear irrational Ahmadinejad and I hear a full of hot air Basiji commander.
Marandi is not at Tehran University to advance science or teach logic, or promote rational thinking or inspire young people and help them in their quest for search of the truth; he is there to indoctrinate future generations and to spy on other faculty members. I remember the days that likes of Marandi would have be laughed out of a learning institutionl like Tehran University and send out to join the rank and file in Qum.
Mirandi is an IRGC stooge, why even bother with him. Some put him to sleep please!
Whoever is responsible, and methinks without doubt the Iran regime has a lot of explaining to do, the fact of the matter is that this is a botched killing, a stupid killing, and who is been very stupid lately? Without question, the Iran regime!
We should and do of course ignore him and his like. The trouble is that for some reason he keeps on appearing on major western media, including CNN, and I have heard some channel in England. Also of course on Aljazeera. So why don't the media groups call on some real Iranian thinkers, those who won't lie and pretend. This fellow of course is a joke but still I am dismayed. At times I question the intentions of western media, not all, but some and I may be getting paranoid, and best get some rest. I should lift my russet brow and dwell no more on fear and ponder deep the woven shade, maybe to dance on the level shore. One final point, this is a struggle that all peace loving people and all those who are against totalitarian states and fascism will participate, in one form or another. I often read about the human struggle in Spain against Fascism, how incredible an atmosphere of human integrity moral conduct it must have been. This, too can be as beautiful for all those who ponder the truth and know what freedom is all about and are committed to the global fight for freedom and for justice. I get intoxicated with joy to think that others join and share the goal.
Yesterday I wrote the AJE editors of Inside Story and Inside Iraq (last week Mr Marandi was a guest on that show too, where, however, his specious arguments and clear attempts to distort historical facts were thoroughly trounced by guest Issam Chalabi and host Jasim Alawi) to ask them if they could please bring back Tehran political science professor Sadegh Zibakalam. I complained about the ubiquitous Mr Marandi's intellectual dishonesty, cheap debating tricks and recent tendency to talk over and interrupt the presenter and other guests on their programmes and said it's high time they brought back Professor Sadegh Zibakalam, who is not only in touch with reality, but is capable of offereing a much more nuanced abd balanced opinion closer to what are certainly now increasingly majority views in Iran.
Brilliant responses by Siavush!
"I have argued before that I do not see Marandi as someone with intellectual curiosity and as an independent thinker."
And how should that even be possible? The man claims to teach North American Studies in the Islamic Republic of Iran, of all places! Since when is anything taught about the United States in the Islamic Republic compatible with the reality of the United States, without being distorted by the ideology that was born through the revolution, let alone the chance of teaching objectively in the name of reason? You have to be really cynical if you even for just a glimpse of a moment think that dissidence towards the Islamic Republic may be persecuted, but a fair and balanced picture of the United States is granted by studying and teaching North American Studies in the Islamic Republic.
Submitto,
Speaking personally, I had hopes --- and still do when I work with individual students and staff --- that the Institute of North American and European Studies at Tehran University would foster a productive investigation and critique of "American Studies" by moving beyond superficial representations of the United States and Iran. It is my hope, despite recent events, that this critique can be encouraged.
S.
Submitto,
Sorry, you have me lost! Your point is??? Please help me here. Thanks
Submitto,
You simply don't want to understand. The IRI says the truth, the whole truth and nothing but the truth. It IS in fact the truth!
Just look at IRIB's daily news at 9 pm, which serves you a horror story of the Satanic West regularly. Unfortunately too many Iranians travel around the globe, and too many prefer foreign TV to believe their propaganda.
As to the assassination of Professor Ali-Mohammadi, it is typical for the most verminous elements of this society, who hate knowledge, wisdom and human dignity.
Megan and Arshama,
I think the point submitto was making was "do you honestly believe in any instance for this guy to present objective fact based views on the US?" He is actually in support of your stance. I think the last long run on sentence is what may have thrown you off--it did for me initially as well.
Thx
Bill
Bill,
I was obviously kidding ;-)
Bill,
Thanks, I was lost with that long sentence at the end.
Arshama, Sie sind nah dran. War dann aber eher Sarkasmus bei Ihnen. Zynismus ist noch nen Tick schlimmer. Nichtsdestotrotz wurde meine Intention von Ihnen vollkommen richtig verstanden.
Bill is right and Meg has her explanation.
As long as a I am making a point at the end of each long sentence, I think I'll do just fine.
; )
Submitto, wie erfreulich, dass Sie meine maßlosen Übertreibungen richtig gedeutet haben. Sie waren natürlich sarkastisch gemeint, und mein Englisch ist auch nicht das beste...
I think Scott made the point by addressing the necessity of non-ideological research, perhaps in both directions. And even though any research is per se subjective, it can be objectivized by applying relevant methods, but I am no specialist in this area.
Unfortunately stereotypes have prevailed for too long on both sides. I therefore welcome EA as a forum of discussion and critique, which may help to overcome at least some of these misconceptions.
Arshama
With all due respect and with the best will in the world, Arshama, but I can not see how even just one Iranian professor of North American Studies in the Islamic Republic of Iran can conduct a non-ideological research while the fundament of civil liberty in the United States is fundamentally as well as diametrically opposed by the Islamic Republic's claim of having a divine mandate to govern not only its people, but every "God fearing" [sic] human being on this planet. The so called "People of the book" are gifted with the generosity of Islam making them dhimmis. Everyone else who risks to express themselves as just even a Deist makes him or herself fair game.
@ Submitto
Check out this Iranian professor slamming the regime on its anti-American Policies. He refutes the asserttion that Obama hasn't changed his policies, that Iran still possess frozen assets in the US, says the Iranian conflict with the US has been an absolute waste of the last 30 years, and takes the regime to task for its foreign conspiracy theories by way of arguing against a point made by someone else that there was no difference between the Republicans and the Democrats. These are segments from a debate on Iranian TV last May (video has English subtitles):
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uo9dJ46eZ8I