January 17, 2008
Ramin Jahanbegloo and the National Endowment for Democracy (NED)
The Iranian darling of the American regime change project (soft or hard) in Iran, Ramin Jahanbegloo, is back in Canada and being praised left ad right by the utterly appreciative and polite Canadian journalists.
I took this photo of him in 2002 when, as a former friend, I had no idea what he was up to those days. Doesn't it just work perfectly now?
But not a single one of them has even mentioned the main reason behind his arrest that was his one year service and continuous close ties with the National Endowment for Democracy, which is described by its own first president, Allen Weinstein, as an organization which is doing what "was done covertly 25 years ago by the CIA." (The Washington Post, 22 September 1991)
I haven't lost all my hope in Canadian media yet, but I really wonder which Canadian newspaper or magazine is going to upset Jahanbegloo's publicists at the University of Toronto (where he is on various scholarships now) and talk about the very reason behind Iran's treatment of him.
He is going to give a lecture on Monday, Jan 28, 2008 from 07:30 pm to 09:30 pm in Isabel Bader Theatre, 93 Charles St. W. I wonder if there is at least some progressive Canadians left in Toronto who would dare and challenge him publicly about his NED connection and why he is trying to hide it.
By the way, is it just me or you are also thinking Canada is now gradually becoming the main hub for the US regime change plans in Iran? You know that Akbar Ganji is already working with the Canadian version of the NED, Rights and Democracy, and living in Toronto now.
Posted by hoder at January 17, 2008 3:50 AM| TrackBack
Hossein, you are really losing it on this one. Now he's a CIA guy. Great. Why don't you come up with one horrible thing Ramin said or did - instead of slandering him in a way that would suit another secret service very well. Could it be he has more guts than you or any of us? Joerg (Berlin)
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Here are the inline links from my previous post (which didn't show up because of html issues):
http://www.cambridge.org/uk/catalogue/catalogue.asp?isbn=0521566916
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Joseph_Schumpeter#Schumpeter_and_democratic_theory
http://www.thenews.com.pk/editorial_detail.asp?id=80464
http://www.pambazuka.org/en/category/features/45291
http://www.soc.ucsb.edu/faculty/robinson/audio.html
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For anyone interested in the topic of "Democracy Promotion", William Robison's excellent Promoting Polyarchy needs to be near the top of their reading list. Definition of the "essentially contested concept" of "Democracy" itself needs to be understood by all. Thankfully, more are latching on to this ideological shell game's contours, even in Pakistan and Kenya. Here's a link to audio of Robinson talk in which he summarizes his findings.
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Looks like you are a former friend of many people these days!
I was listening to his interview on CBC today. He portrayed himself as a saint who was picked up by the Iranian security agents for no reason at all, and put in a 2 by 3 meters cell. And then he went on comparing himself with the concentration camp victims! How convenient. I bet very soon he'll get an invitation from an Israeli university. Well, Ramin is not a victim and he is not an imbecile either. He knew very well what joining NED entailed.
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Rostam Khan,
Your error is to think that endowments like this, be it American or Iranian or whatever, are for the promotion of Ideals. These groupings are essentially here to advance the interests of the states they are funded by, specifically by promoting the "ideology" associated with them.
The problem, for lets say America, is when an American citizen start working with an entity which has as mission the promotion of the interests of the Iranian side. And obviousely, this applies the other way too and more so, since America mingles a lot more in the businness of Iran than the other way around..
Ghorbane shoma
Ataune
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