(Nu)clear and present Danger

I am very scared of this nuclear issue. This is just a messy world. In one side it the Iranian government with all these manipulative carzy policies in foreign affiars and from the other side, the nuclear powers that keep treathening us. Who do they think will suffer if they put Iran under UN sanctions? If it is very hard to unerstand, there are people here who are living and have the right to do so. Do you think those who are ruling us would care about being under sanctions or not?

I am so upset about international media too. The Iranian nuclear despute is making headline in the news and when they want to show something about it, they show Ahmadinejad, some nuclear sites, some satellite picture and that is it. Some days ago, BBC World had a live contact with its correspondant in Tehran in a very snowy day. All she showed about people’s opinion was some secenes of Friday prayers –where virtually all of the suppoertes of government gather- and they have been chanting whatever the leader says since 26 years ago! I guesss it was too cold and snowy for the BBC’s correspondant to move a little bit in Tehran and ask what other people might think.

It is simple: people cannot freely demonstrate and newspapers are banned from questioning the nuclear policy. Do you think anyone would ever argue in the streets so that foreign journalists can vividly see and interview him? If that is professional journalism, Iranian news agencies have better coverage of nuclear supporters.

Comments

[Drawde]

Well, I agree with your comments on the pictures which accompany news stories -- I have often thought that sometimes a good story with new things to say is spoiled by the use of stock photos which do nothing to complement the textual journalism. This is sadly the case with the BBC quite often -- I have looked at the website sometimes and thought that there was no new story because the photo was the same!

Keep up the posting, Mr. Behi! I have just started reading some Iranian blogs, and I hope to gain a better understanding of what is going on by reading more in the next days and weeks.

[Jim]

Unfortunately, I think much of what is being done politically (sanctions, etc.) is more for the purpose of perception than actually accomplishing something positive.

Your commments regarding the coverage of the situation so far by the BBC and western world should encourage all of us to continue to read more than just what is being shown on the surface.

[Mohammadreza]

Don't be sad! That's the policy of BBC since 1979.

[Georg]

Bonjour Mr. Behi,
In early 12th Century, the Pope forbade the use of crossbows in warfare, the weapon was deemed too leathal on a too great scale.

And now, about 900 years later, we face the same problem with the Atom Bomb, but on a global scale.

History repeats itself, and then as now, the new weapon is spreading. However, there is a big difference. Upto now, the war was an enterprise where people kill who don't know each other and they do so for the benefit of a few other people who know each other but don't kill.

Thanks to the A-Bomb our dear leaders have every chance to get killed, too. So they refrain eventually to terminate human species in the enterprise.

So, in a nutshell: welcome to the A-Bomb. Either humanity learns something at long last or we get wiped out on this planet. Interesting times ahead.

Georg

[K]

If you think the international coverage of the issue is bad, you should see what we are subjected to domestically. I have yet to see one commentator, dragged on to a talk show or wherever, give an informed view of the situation in Iran. This is surprising, as you would think with an issue which has been inflated by the media to such proportions would be worthy of investigation by politicians, political commentators and journalists.

As I type I have just seen a story reported as 'breaking news' on the BBC 24 hour news channel. Apparently a conference debating the realities of the holocaust will be held in Tehran. Why did they need to report that as breaking news?? What you say is true, they seem to concentrate so much on these negative stories and images.I study Persian at university, and when people hear this they are making increasingly negative comments to me about Iran. It's very frustrating.

We hold these truths to be self-evident, that all men are created equal, that they are endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable Rights, that among these are Life, Liberty and the pursuit of Happiness. — That to secure these rights, Governments are instituted among Men, deriving their just powers from the consent of the governed, — ***That whenever any Form of Government becomes destructive of these ends, it is the Right of the People to alter or to abolish it, and to institute new Government, laying its foundation on such principles and organizing its powers in such form, as to them shall seem most likely to effect their Safety and Happiness. Prudence, indeed, will dictate that Governments long established should not be changed for light and transient causes; and accordingly all experience hath shewn that mankind are more disposed to suffer, while evils are sufferable than to right themselves by abolishing the forms to which they are accustomed. But when a long train of abuses and usurpations, pursuing invariably the same Object evinces a design to reduce them under absolute Despotism, it is their right, it is their duty, to throw off such Government, and to provide new Guards for their future security.***

Get the point? It's a terrible thing to admit and take responsibility for, I know, but your government exists only by your sanction and their force of arms. The Iranian people must find a way to stop them, or the those nations most likely to be injured by your government's actions will have to find a way to do so.

Ahamadinejad is crazy, this is perfectly evident. His strong belief in the coming of the Mahdi no doubt furthers his instability and wish to bring about the end times.

The Iranian people, properly governed, do indeed have a right to nuclear technology. Dictators, however, have no rights.

[hawkpilot]

Well said. I went through many of these same mental gyrations when invading Iraq for the first time, in 1991. It isn't the fault of the people, they are prisoner to an evil dictator. In the end, it is the responsibility of the citizen to overthrow a despot, or their unfortunate fate to suffer for his actions.
Mr. Behi, you have to know that this man cannot be allowed to control nuclear weaponry, so we are left with few choices. It is either economic sanctions/Persian Gulf blockade, or unleash the dogs of war. Believe me, the sanctions are the more humane route, and the western leaders ARE taking into account the innocence of the Iranian people.
Good luck, Brother.
Hawkpilot

[whk]

I believe time is growing short for Iran. Unless Ahmadinejad changes course, renounces his threats, submits to nuclear controls war will come very soon.

Or, unless the Iranian people band together, rise up, and replace Ahmadinejad and throw out the Mullahs, war will come very soon.

It will not be targeted simply at the suspected nuclear development sites. It will be conducted in such a way to insure that, even if a couple of sites are missed, there will not be any power or communications within Iran to conduct military counter-strikes. That means no electricity, no telephone, no internet, no clean water, no waste removal, no gas, no oil, no heat, no air conditioning - it means living as your ancestors did 1200 years ago.

Clearly the Iranian people do not believe the US will strike. Saddam believed the same thing. They are wrong. Time grows short - tick tock, tick tock.

Do you believe the Iranian people have enough courage to take back control of their country, or will Iran have to be taken back to the 8th century.

[Arash Paydar]

Salam va dorood be shoma,
I am an iranian born in Tehran and living in the UK.(I write in english so that non farsi speaking readers may read my comment). The reporting of the recent nuclear activity in Iran is about par for the western media as the only time that anything good is said about any country is in the holiday programs. It is for the benefit of dumbing down the news and to pigeon hole a whole nation. Aside from that this recent crisis as some call it has left a sour taste on my palate and has posed some very moral questions to me,
1- what is the basis of the objection of the US (and those that agree with them)?
is it that iran has a bad human rights record and has not agreed to the human rights act? Well nor has america and china as they all execute minors(those under 18)this includes Iran.
Is it because Iran is said to be a state supporter of terrorism? Then please explain Isreal's behaviour since 1947, its hand in the revenge killings of those they suspected to be involved in the black September masacre, and the fact that thier recent leader is a wanted man for war crimes.
I would also like to leave the readers with this parting thought as I bring my diatribe to an end, that the nation who invented it is the only nation who has ever used it in anger against a civilian population not one but twice.

P.s I am not a royalist or a communist a socialist or a hezb allahi, but i do cosider myself a PATRIOT.