Kofi Annan, Romano Prodi, Kjell Magne Bondevik (President of the Oslo Centre for Peace and Human Rights and former Norwegian Prime Minster), and Federico Mayor (former UNECO Director-General) are currently among the guests of Mohammad Khatami, the former reformist Iranian president who introduced the idea of "Dialogue among Civilisations". Other guests include former presidents of Ireland, Switzerland, Bosnia, and former prime ministers of France and Sudan. They have travelled to Tehran to attend a two-day conference: "Religion and the New World".
Such high profile events do not happen on a regular weekly basis. And not everybody has the capability to gather so many former heads of state and chairmen under one roof to talk about peace (particularly if it is through faith and is based in Iran). Khatami's idea was initiated nearly ten years ago and turned out to be so popular that the United Nations called 2001 the year of "Dialogue among Civilisations".
Yet there is always a story. Mr Annan wasn't granted a visa till the last minute. Some claimed that the foreign ministry was under pressure by Ahmadinejad, as he thought Kofi wasn't running the world anymore, so why did he bother to come to Iran after all? Just imagine Kofi, queuing in the rain, behind the grand walls of Iranian embassy, among all those excitable Iran enthusiasts...
If Khatami enters the competition and if the people of Tehran do vote, Ahmadinejad's chances will be dismal. He knows it well and we can all sense his fear and understand that whatever may increase the likelihood of such a scenario would be bitterly opposed.
Briefs of other stories:
1. Ali Kordan is still the interior minister.
2. Mehdi Karroubi, a reformist and former speaker of parliament, has
announced he will run for president. But I totally disagree with the
BBC saying: "The announcement confirms that Mr Ahmadinejad will face a
serious challenge for the presidency in next summer's election." Mr Karroubi was
defeated three years ago and is not hugely popular.
3. Congratulations to the Iranian fashion industry! A hard-line
policeman is chosen as the second top cop in the country. He was the
inventor of the morality police, focusing on women's clothes on streets.
well, karroubi is the man who betrayed the reforming process of Iran most than any other person. His announcement is a green light to conservatives to disqualify Khatami if they wish, coz so thay know there will be a (so called) reformist (who wont win the ellection anyway) in the competition and they can (continue) to brag about (so called) freedom of speech!
Posted by: safa | Monday, 13 October 2008 at 07:00 PM
Shame on Mr Annan- shaking hand with Ahmadinejaad, someone who has blood on his hands.
Mr Annan also pledges his support for Khatami, someone who was responsible for the brutal attacks on the student demonstrations - shame on him!!!!
Posted by: Anna | Monday, 13 October 2008 at 08:37 PM
The real shame is that some people think they can change the world without shaking hands to other people, perhabs they want bombs to bring us democracy, and this way there won't be blood on any hands.
There are also other solutions, go on watching TV, surfing the net, and shouthing shame on everyone, you'll soon be honored as a 10 min activist!
Good Luck!
Posted by: Rouzbeh | Monday, 13 October 2008 at 11:39 PM
I just wonder if any of those foreign guests ever paused for a second to think if Iran is the right country to launch such an initiative. I wonder if any of them have the courage to say that Iran has a sinister record concerning violations of religious freedom... I wonder if any of them will condemn the "Apostasy Bill" being considered by the Iranian Parliament... I wonder if any of them will mention the situation of the largest non-Muslim religious minority in Iran...
Will this be remembered as the "Conference of the Cowards" or the "Conference of the Braves"?
Posted by: Marco Oliveira | Tuesday, 14 October 2008 at 08:02 AM
Anna honey! they dont have any more blood on their hands than do Bush, Blair or any other Europian country who took part in the afghan or Iraqi war, and yet Annan shook those hands too.
+ khatami is not responsible for the brutal attacks on the student demonstrations, the so called "presuure goup" is.And as u may well know they are the present government.
Posted by: safa | Wednesday, 15 October 2008 at 08:10 AM
The so called 'Freedome of Speech' is not much worse in Iran than is in China, Saudi, Egypt, Colombia, Pakistan and the list can go on and on, but what is interesting is that of all those coutries only Iran is black listed while the 'great leadres of the democratic world' shake hands' very frequently with leaders many oppressed countries.
The fact is that only 'talking' will enable peaceful change in situation. My own experience says that 'evolution' is the way forward not 'bombings'.
Posted by: Ebrahim | Wednesday, 15 October 2008 at 10:50 AM