Friday, January 30, 2009

Unlike Rush Limbaugh ...


Ayatollah Emami Kashani, in Friday Prayer after Obama's inauguration, welcomes his promise of change.

Emami Kashani is a conservative member of Iran's ruling elite (Assembly of Experts). He has lashed out at Americans as "Murderers in Iraq" and has blamed them for creating Al Quaeda:
"You talk about al-Qaeda. Have you forgotten who has bred al-Qaeda? It's the illegitimate child of America and Israel, but you name it Islam. This savagery is not Islam. It is coming from inside of you and it is now punching you".
A cursory look at Iranian media suggests that even most conservative of Iranian clerics see a promise in Obama's new tone towards the Middle East. Their only request seems to be: Stop the condescending line of threats; Stop acting like you are the boss of the world!

In Persian, we say : "The branches of a fruitful tree bow more."
I hope Obama will not lose this unique opportunity ...

4 comments:

billie said...

thankfully president obama is much smarter than 'one brain cell' limbaugh. i too hope that he capitalizes (lack of better word) on this unique moment in american history. we have such potential to work towards righting some wrongs and to mend fences. i hope- with the audacity of hope- that diplomacy prevails. i fear he needs to take a different tack with the genocide in israel- and i only fear that because i fear he won't. sigh. we'll see.

Naj said...

Hi Bet,
lovely to see you.

I am sure you heard that Turkey's prime minister has publicly lashed out at Israel's Shimon Peres today ...

I think Israel has made SUCH a huge mistake this time around in Gaza that they have dwarfed their action in Lebanon! They have turned the table on themselves and I think the fact that Obama called Abbas speaks volumes that he is NOT going to be bullied/bought by Zionists like his predecessors

Amias (ljm and liquidplastic) said...

I am hoping the same .... Good article.

Freida Bee said...

This is a very good post, Naj. I love that quote from Ayatollah Kashani. America is certainly at a crossroads. Unmaintainable structures fail, and so many of the US's investments in the past few years have been in such (at least philosophically speaking) that is is really wonderful for Obama to speak it. Not only would Bush not have spoken of such mistakes, he would deny them, and was likely incapable of seeing them.