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Politics : Formerly About Applied Materials -- Ignore unavailable to you. Want to Upgrade?

To: Fred Levine who wrote (67325)	1/13/2003 5:53:42 PM
From: zonder	Read Replies (1) \| Respond to of 70976

I am not surprised. I have been saying this for a while and people call me anti-American - Europe has really had it with Bush et al.

To: Fred Levine who wrote (67325)	1/13/2003 11:22:40 PM
From: Fred Levine	Read Replies (1) \| Respond to of 70976

Cartoon from America's past resurfaces in battles over Iran's future Sun Jan 12,11:36 AM ET By BRIAN MURPHY, Associated Press Writer TEHRAN, Iran - Protesters in bloodstained shrouds clog streets in Iran's holy city. A popular newspaper is closed and key staff arrested. The brother of Iran's supreme leader chokes back tears in parliament. Call it the cartoon crisis. A torrent of outrage from Muslim hard-liners increased Sunday over a most unexpected provocation: a 66-year-old American political cartoon about a Depression era power struggle. The drawing, published last week in the now-closed Hayat-e-Nou newspaper, showed a Supreme Court justice being humbled under a giant thumb representing then President Franklin D. Roosevelt. Iranian conservatives saw something closer to home. They felt the white-bearded judge in the cartoon resembled the late Ayatollah Ruhollah Khomeini, the leader of Iran's 1979 Islamic Revolution. It was considered a stinging insult to his memory. But the domino-style fallout cuts far deeper than just one old sketch. It displays the wildly unpredictable nature of Iranian politics at a time when conservatives feel threatened from all sides. "This is just an excuse to make a show of force ... and create tension," said a pro-reform lawmaker, Mohammad Naimipour. "This is not natural." Hard-liners were equally emphatic. "We announce our disgust and hatred toward this abominable move ... our nation is united to expel all infiltrators and stooges," said a statement issued following a protest march Sunday in Qom, about 130 kilometers (80 miles) south of Tehran and the center for Islamic study in Iran. Some of the nearly 5,000 marchers wore blood-soaked shrouds and carried black flags as a traditional sign of mourning. They also denounced political reformers as traitors. The newspaper was ordered closed indefinitely Saturday. Intelligence Minister Ali Yunesi said three employees involved in publishing the cartoon have been arrested. In Tehran, the newspaper's chief editor — and brother of Khomeini's successor, Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei — struggled to hold back tears as he addressed fellow parliamentarians in a session broadcast live on Tehran Radio. "No one loves Imam Khomeini more than me," said Hadi Khamenei. But he and his older brother are on opposite sides in the battles over Iran's future. Hadi Khamenei is a top pro-reform lawmaker seeking to dilute the broad powers of the ruling clerics, led by his brother. The cartoon, plucked from a U.S. government Internet site, accompanied an interview with a member of the outlawed Freedom Movement of Iran. The reason for the illustration is still unclear. It originally depicted a failed attempt by Roosevelt in 1937 to allow the White House to add more judges to federal courts where sitting judges were older than 70. It was seen as a bid to give Roosevelt more sway over the Supreme Court. Iran's Parliament could soon be the forum for the most bold attempt to reshape the way Iran is ruled. President Mohammad Khatami (news - web sites) has promised to press ahead with two bills that would remove the ruling clerics' ability to ban political candidates and weaken their control over the judiciary and security forces. No date for a vote is scheduled. The press has suffered many causalities in the political crossfire. Conservatives have closed more than 80 publications in recent years as they try to muzzle reformers. The cartoon apparently handed hard-liners an excuse to move against the popular Hayat-e-Nou, or "New Life," newspaper, which carried additional clout because of the family connection to Iran's most influential cleric. "We have decided not to remain silent," said a statement from clerics in Qom. "Our objective is not merely seeking closure of a newspaper or imprisonment of a person, but eliminating bases of the enemy at the country's press." ___ fred

To: Fred Levine who wrote (67325)	1/14/2003 3:32:28 AM
From: 49thMIMOMander	Respond to of 70976

Btw, one US problem is getting too much UK news as "the rest of the world news", but that goes with only being able to read one language, and a common colonial and cultural dilemma. Ilmarinen That is, please avoid using UK as something being a part of europe or the rest of the world, both europe and the rest of the wrold have enough problems with the poodle UK, especially the eccentric ones. A little search for Mossadeg might give some hints, but it also demands some knowledge of 2-party systems and why nobody has decided to voluntarily use them, besides US-CAnada-UK ans some funny colonies. (that is, starting from these two points and trying to go further tends to hit most of these issues, although any other starting points are probably just as good)