Kenneth Katzman on VOA Persian

Kenneth Katzman's alaysis on Iran's situation, on his recent appearance (Watch the full interview) on VOA Persian, was better than I expected. He said regime change in Iran is impossible, MKO has no real following in Iran and neither has Reza Pahlavi, and Revolutionary Guard is under full control of Khamanei.

But for a high profile analyst who gives advice to the congress, it was strange to see him making the common mistake of seeing Ahmadinejad as the main person in charge of the nuclear policies. In his whole interview he didn't mention a word about the Supreme Security Council, headed by Ali Larijani, that is effectively running every aspect of the nuclear programme and almost the entire foreign policy of Islamic Republic.

The funniest part of the interview was when he was faced with the impressive analytical skills of VOA's regular pro-Pahlavi callers and their sophisticated arugmentation skills and he had to keep a serious look on his face. Although the last caller from Iran made a totally unexpected point about VOA's anti-Iranian bias resulted from the U.S. government's funding and a reference to The Guardian's piece comparing Iran's treatment of British sailors and that of the U.S. on Iraqis in Abu Ghuraib.

But for God's sake, someone reminds Bijan Farhoodi that he is supposed to be an independent, impartial journalist there, not a mouthpiece for Pentagon. Yes, he's got a great voice, but that is at best makes him qualified as an news anchor, not as an interviewer.