Iran: Ahmadinejad Inaugurated & Challenges Ahead, The Rise of the IRGC, Sanctioning Iran, & more

1. The Christian Science Monitor: There’s a lot of good material being produced on Iran. The Christian Science Monitor, for example, has repeatedly posted excellent articles and analysis on Iran. Here’s their latest piece titled: “Why Iran’s Revolutionary Guards Mercilessly Crack Down.” Excerpt: “To Iran’s Revolutionary Guards, the danger facing the Islamic Republic is acute: Its founding ideals are under serious threat at home and from abroad, and every sacrifice must be made to preserve them as President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad embarks on his second term.”

2. Ahmadinejad Begins His 2nd Term as President: See the video here.

3. Challenges Ahead for Ahmadinejad: “Ahmadinejad’s position is increasingly challenging. According to the constitution he has to present his cabinet to the parliament two weeks after being sworn in. Yet only last week he caused a serious crisis just by mentioning his choice of vice-president, Esfandyar Rahim Mashaei. The supreme leader disagreed and 205 members of parliament wrote a letter questioning his wisdom. He then removed the man from that post only to put him back as his chief of staff – inviting yet another barrage of criticism.”

4. Sanctioning Iran: So I hear more and more Iranians, especially in the Diaspora, are calling for sanctions against Iran. Wow. What naivety. Please see Professor Cole’s analysis on why such a move is a disaster in the making. Excerpt: “Dabashi makes the excellent point that the sort of severe sanctions being dreamed up for Iran by the hawks in Congress resemble what was done to Iraq. Sanctions on Iraq just weakened civil society and cast down the country to fourth world status, killing some 500,000 innocent infants and toddlers, while signally failing to remove the regime. In fact, destroying civil society has the effect of bolstering the state, especially when it is an oil state.”

5. American Tourists Detained in Iran under Interrogation:  “Iranian authorities have begun questioning three Americans detained after allegedly illegally entering the country, state television has reported. ‘They are definitely Americans. They were detained four days ago. We don’t know whether they are tourists or not,’ Iraj Hassanzadeh, the deputy governor of Kordistan province, said.”