Peak Oil is You
Donate Bitcoins ;-) or Paypal :-)
Page added on June 30, 2013
Iran’s Rouhani hints will balance hardline, reformist demands
Iran’s president-elect Hassan Rouhani said on Saturday he would appoint ministers from across its political spectrum as Iranian voters had chosen a path of moderation over extremism.
His victory in the June 14 vote has lifted hopes of a thaw in Iran’s antagonistic relations with the West that might create openings for defusing its nuclear dispute with world powers. Rouhani has pledged a more conciliatory approach than Mahmoud Ahmadinejad, under whose belligerent presidency the Islamic Republic drew ever more punishing international sanctions.
Rouhani’s pledge of an inclusive cabinet could reassure conservative hardliners who look askance at the endorsement he was granted by reformists in the election.
In turn, reformists will hope to regain some political influence – with the aim of easing repression at home and Iran’s isolation abroad – after being sidelined under Ahmadinejad, who by law could not run for a third consecutive term.
“The future government must operate in the framework of moderation …(and it) must avoid extremism, and this message is for everyone,” Rouhani, a former chief nuclear negotiator, said in a speech carried live on state television.
“The next cabinet will be trans-factional … This government is not obligated to any party or faction, and will work to choose the most qualified people from all sides and factions, under conditions of moderation and temperance.”
Analysts say Rouhani, a mid-ranking Shi’ite Muslim cleric who has held sensitive security posts since the 1980s, enjoys an insider status and close relationship with theocratic Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, and may be able to build bridges between factions to yield reforms.
But Khamenei will retain the final say on policies that most concern world powers, including Iran’s nuclear program and its support for Syrian President Bashar al-Assad against rebels trying to overthrow him.
CONSTRUCTIVE INTERACTION
Rouhani also urged moderation in Iranian policies towards the rest of the world and called for a balance between “realism” and pursuing the ideals of the Islamic Republic.
“Moderation in foreign policy is neither submission nor antagonism, neither passivity nor confrontation. Moderation is effective and constructive interaction with the world,” he said.
“The Islamic Republic of Iran, as a major regional power or the biggest regional power…, must play its role and for this we need moderation.”
Western powers suspect Iran of seeking to develop a nuclear weapons capability, which Tehran denies. The Islamic Republic is now languishing under increasingly tough sanctions limiting its oil sales, a crucial source of revenue, obstructing its foreign trade and stoking higher inflation and unemployment.
Iran’s friends and foes indicated shortly after Rouhani’s election triumph they did not believe it would bring fundamental change in Iranian foreign policy.
Tehran is at loggerheads with Western powers on a range of foreign policy issues including its shadowy nuclear program and its support for Syria’s Assad, the Lebanese Shi’ite militant movement Hezbollah and the Palestinian Islamist group Hamas.
U.S.-allied Gulf Arab countries have also accused Iran of interfering in their affairs, though Tehran denies trying to subvert Saudi Arabia and its wealthy Gulf neighbors.
Rouhani, who will take office in early August, said he was dedicated to “mutual relaxation of tensions” with other states.
4 Comments on "Iran’s Rouhani hints will balance hardline, reformist demands"
BillT on Mon, 1st Jul 2013 4:49 am
The Empire cannot stand to have an independent sovereign country exist that is not under their control. There are 3. Iran, Venezuela and North Korea.
Many attempts to get rid of Chavez failed and now we shall see how long the new leader can survive.
North Korea is mostly ignored as there is nothing that can be done that will not destroy South Korea, the source of many imports the US needs.
And Iran, the failure of the CIA to keep control there is an embarrassment. And their natural resources are not under US corporate control.
Arthur on Mon, 1st Jul 2013 5:31 am
They cannot stand it indeed, but history is working against the interest and intentions of Washington. They lost Iran, Iraq, Egypt, Afghanistan. Syria is going wrong, Pakistan is very shaky. Lybia did not become a US satellite. Turkey dares to publicly lecture Israel.US influence is reduced to the only real strongholds SA, Qatar, Bahrein and Kuweit and even these could easily get destabilized in the near future.
Meanwhile there is growing anger in Europe and Germany about the NSA scandal and revelations about the US bugging EU institutions in Washington and even in Brussels. There is a broad resentment that most phone calls are recorded and it is unlikely that this will blow over without consequences. Maybe in the end the global reach internet will be split in continental tectonic plates: an EU, Russian, Chinese and US version. This would force internet publishers like MSM and bloggers to maintain separate sites and it would mean that international sites, like this one, would stop being international.
BillT on Mon, 1st Jul 2013 12:14 pm
I think it would mean the end of the public internet, Arthur, not just a segmenting. The internet that cannot cross borders is about worthless except to replace snail mail.
And Europe’s concern about the NSA spying will disappear when other, more pressing, social and financial events happen, as they will this summer.
Nobody likes it, but there is no way to stop it. The corporations that provide the means want the profits that ensue for as long as possible.
And the US is not the only country spying on it’s citizens. European’s are not immune to their own secret service listening and recording everything they want.
Your own computer is used to monitor what you look at and then ads pop up with the same things presented. It is only a subset of the same programs used to record everything you do and say and post on here or in your phone calls. Information has been sold for decades. They are just getting better at collecting it now due to improvements in technology.
Arthur on Mon, 1st Jul 2013 2:05 pm
http://www.spiegel.de/politik/deutschland/spaehaffaere-trittin-fordert-schutz-fuer-snowden-von-deutschland-a-908698.html
Die Gruenen (German Green-left party) wants to grant asylum to Snowden.lol for the service the guy provided to Europe.
Bill, I do not really think that internet is going to be compartimentalized, let alone cancelled. Too much economic interest involved.
I do not think Europe has anything like the NSA… but several countries, first and foremost total US lapdogs like Britain and Holland, have access to the NSA data. And indeed, I was surprised to learn that Holland is one of the worst telephone overhearing countries in the world.
The data mining starts to become spooky; if I put a book on my amazon “wish list”, I can be assured that a week later I get offers from amazon, based on that click. Google, same story. I am bombarded with google adds refering to solar panels.lol