As anticipated, the Islamic Republic is partying for what they call “becoming an industrial producer of nuclear fuel“. As always, “people” celebrated the event by setting flags in fire and pointing fists at the sky. The first set of pictures shows the celebrations in front of the Atomic Energy Organization of Iran (AEOI). As always, the state-run agencies tried to find less-modest girls in the crowd to make the show look like a national carnival. More pictures here.
The lady in the blue dress does not resemble a typical supporter of the government. That’s why the media focus on her to “convince” their audience that this is a national self-inspired feast.
Regime’s key idea is that “this is the point of no return“. As Fars puts it “Iran has carried out the technological phase” and “if the West insists on violating international laws, Iran is ready to destroy the game [implicit meaning of the Persian slang used], and we have proved that we are able to do so”.
“Nuclear energy is our definite right”, Qom.
There are many reports of “nuclear celebration” in other cities.
The head of the AEOI stated today that last year his organization has produced 270 tons of UF6.
Ahmadinejad spoke in the official celebration.
In Mashhad, a religious city in north east, the only appropriate building was the UN Refugee Agency. So “people” condemned the US there. The sign reads “yesterday’s thieves, today’s sheriffs”.
The celebration, as always, brought about creativity. The text on the cake reads “nuclear technology”. The color of the cake probably resembles Yellowcake, as before.
Another banner from the rallies.
Apart from serious stuff, these events always include funny pictures and statements. For example, according to the news, Ahmadinejad cried when a music was played with the message “Oh! Iran! You are the best!”. Also, see this political-atomic pictorial representation of Iranian heads of the state.
Sure he cried. See,
Watch his tears.
You are a smart guy, you seem to have a good taste, why then try to zoom out the sidelines of a news. Don’t you think that this will put you closer to these famous words of Mark Twain:
”Better to remain silent and thought to be a fool, than to open your mouth and remove all doubt.”
Comment by Zargar — April 9, 2007 @ 8:37 pm
Arash,
I do not agree with some of your comments. Majority of Iranians do like to have nuclear techology. Although they hate the government but this is very much related to their national pride. The government has been really successful to misuse the situation and stir up people’s feeling of nationalism and make them believe that those who already have the nuclear technology don’t want Iran to have it. That is why almost nobody in Iran believes that they should stop the nuclear activities.
Comment by Smileme — April 10, 2007 @ 2:44 am
Zargar,
I’m not sure I understand what you mean.
Comment by Kamangir — April 10, 2007 @ 5:19 am
Smileme,
I do agree with you in that the Islamic Republic has been successful in convincing Iranians that the nuclear energy is really necessary to achieve. Maybe you are right. I should have also mentioned that many Iranians do feel happy because of the new nuclear developments. Having said that, I still think many of these happy people are not just an ordinary Iranian walking by. Do you agree with me on that?
Comment by Kamangir — April 10, 2007 @ 5:21 am
The nuclear symbol motifs are creepy, but I’m not buying Iran’s propaganda, nor the U.S.’s cataclysmic scenarios.
Comment by Lesly — April 10, 2007 @ 6:30 am
Kamangir,
Yes, I know that normal people don’t join such demonstrations. In fact they don’t attend any demonstration. But I am trying to balance your posts. Again this is something that shows an outsider’s point of view. Even I have problem with your title. Because I don’t think those who burn the flags are from the same type of people who make the human chain arround the nuclear buildings. Obviously the second group don’t agree with burning flags or “death to …” chants.
I don’t call the second group as “mad”. They are only people who think nuclear technology is more important for them than their economy, education, health, and a proper foreign policy. Living in Iran under the government’s propagenda for entire your life, will make you think like this and I don’t blame them.
I don’t blame even people like Ella who always thinks any action from the other countries is acceptable as far as they are doing good for their own people’s interests even if the action is of a criminal nature.
I don’t blame people in the West world who are full of hatred and blood lover and think the simple solution is nuking entire Iran. Trust me they believe this in their heart but they are not called “mad” or anything like that, they are nice people who are thinking of doing good about their own people! if I remember properly, Ella called them as “Patriot”. However, “mad”, “horrible”, “terrorist”, and such words are true about Iranians!
I think you will find abnormal people in any society. There are Serial Killers in every country. There are homicides and rapes in every country and they are not importing these people from Iran. And I am sure there are enough “mad patriot” people in every country who are ready to do any crime for their country.
Comment by Smileme — April 10, 2007 @ 12:47 pm
Kamangir
Try to understand it this way:
Tomorrow when IRI is gone, if they have signed an official paper saying that they aknowledge that they won’t do enrichement, any future regime, specially a pro-western one, will have his hands completely tied. The way you present the whole thing here is like this is about some thugs there. No this is about the future children of that land.
That’s how M. Twain’s words apply to you.
Comment by Zargar — April 10, 2007 @ 4:34 pm
Kamangir jan:
Do you have an email? I can’t find it.
Comment by serendip — April 10, 2007 @ 4:40 pm
Serendip,
It is mentioned in the right panel (kamangirblog@yahoo.ca).
Comment by Kamangir — April 10, 2007 @ 7:02 pm
Zargar,
Iran will start using the nuclear energy sooner or later, if as they say fossil fuels are really vanishing. The question is, are we, Iranians, able to convince the world that we won’t build bombs? By rallies and flag-burnings of this kind, I am not sure anyone would take our “peaceful plea” anything serious.
Comment by Kamangir — April 10, 2007 @ 7:06 pm
We wouldn’t build bombs? However: They are already built. Othewise you could not call up to “Nuke him!” Kamanagir, Kamangir, your logic all in all is a pretty strange one!
(Btw. what would you suggest? Shall Israel “Nuke him!” … for THEY effectively have nuclear weapons, don’t they. Did ever anybody, any state, care or make a fuss about? No! Why not, actually! Reasonable people call it double-standard.
Comment by Jeanna — April 10, 2007 @ 8:04 pm
It’s hardly a double standard when the world at large trusts that a country will not use their nuclear weapons against another country as an easy answer to a conflict.
Heck, wouldn’t have been a million times easier for America to destroy Iraq with a couple well placed medium kiloton nuclear hits instead of sending tens of thousands of their young people in to the grinder?
I don’t think anyone in their right mind fears being attacked nuclearly by America unless it first bombs America or American interests with nukes. Likewise, only places where radical leaders pump non-stop hysterics in to their societies about the evil Israel and publicly tell the world that they will kill all the Jews while declaring innocent civilians eligible military targets fear an attack from Israel’s nuclear weapons.
So, the world is afraid Iran will make good on it’s cries for “Death to Israel”. Restraint is something I don’t think the world believes Iran, Hamas-led Palestine…or any Islamic extremist camps to have. Thus, nuclear power is a scary thing for them to have.
I wish that Iran could get nuclear power very soon. It helps everyone to save fossil fuels and nuclear energy is so much more efficient. However, I don’t think anyone buys that Iran desperately needs to research nuclear energy at this point.
Seriously, I could see the US giving it’s civilian nuclear expertise to Iran if there were proof that Iran would never be hostile to Western ideals and would stop backing terror organizations.
This whole thing is a real slippery slope.
Comment by Tom — April 10, 2007 @ 9:16 pm
Nuclear Madness is apt because….
“Anti-Iranian” forces are pulling the “prove that you don’t trick that did for Saddam….”
The only way to beat the “prove that you don’t have it” trick” is to get people to trust you… (need I say more)
Iran dosn’t need Nuclear powered energy because it has oil and gas therefore it must be for bombs….
However we are constantly reminded how inefficient Iran is (people on this blog say that Iranian oil will run out by somewhere around 2015)
Every 2nd word from the IR is wrapped up in philospohy, supossition, elaborate wording and metaphor “Israel should be removed from the pages of history… in the same way as the soviet union”
People who fear the worst, will hear the worst, don’t waste time on metaphor it leads to mis-intepretation / representation.
The madness (nuclear or otherwise) is that Iran has pressing needs, larger than the collective preservation of the ruling elite. The ruling elite mistakenly think, nuclear power, bombs, or whatever will save their backsides. It will not… but lets maintain that illusion for a while because it means you (IR) spends the peoples money on something they couldn’t possibly need, rather than on the well being of your people… fuel the paranoia long enough and you will not be able to afford the bread to keep the populace happy… either way you are screwed. (hasn’t the IR seen what happened in the Soviet Union)
The only problem with this analysis is that;
the US governement dosn’t see the madness of applying a logic that worked with the “evil empire”, they were not run by people who believe justice will happen with the end of the world… (loosly speaking)
That Iran hasn’t got a sensible back out route… gee stop processing uranium… didn’t we do that some time ago for two years and got nothing from it. lets not try that in a hurry…
IMHO. If Iran want to go down this route Iran should get to a point where it is technically able to prodce its own nuclear fuel and freeze research. Open up all its plants for inspection and audit by the UN, it should lay out a clear timetable for rolling out nuclear power using its own fuel, and allow for a fully audited process from enrichment to power, i don’t know say that in 5 years time we would like three nuclear power stations. Iran gives the UN and everyone else three years to get happy with what its doing or tough, proove we have actually got a weopans programme and stop all this BS about “we fear that Iran will make nuclear weopans”…
But then neither the IR or the US are likely to go for anything half as logical as that.
Sorry for the ramble, may have been the beer talking… or something.
Comment by Darius — April 10, 2007 @ 9:26 pm
Jeanna,
You mean Iran already has bombs?
Comment by Kamangir — April 10, 2007 @ 9:28 pm
No, I didn’t mean that. Iran has no nuclear weapons and is FAR – much more far, than this whole western histery is claiming – from having them. So if you are calling up to “nuke him” – btw.: one single person CAN NOT be nuked – the nukes would have to come from elsewhere. From somewhere they ARE concretely in possession of nukes, Israel (NTP-”free”!) or USA, for example. It’s just logic. So hard to comprehend?
NO WAR ON IRAN! We must not be so stupid to fulfill the whishes and crazy wet-dreams of the Cheneys and alikes.
http://kurtnimmo.com/?p=822
Comment by Jeanna — April 10, 2007 @ 9:58 pm
Tom,
FYI, the ambassadors of Non Aligned countries and others participated in the festivities anouncing the entry of Iran in the club of 10 enrichement possesing countries. The “Western” countries boycotted it. if you sum up the numbers, be it by country head count, or population per country total, the majority is approving something which was asked to Iran to stop by UN resolution. I dont know how you can massage this fact, to get a statement saying that “the world at large doesn’t trust Iran not to bomb another country”. I bet that even the majority of European population trust Iran more than some other countries not to bomb. Check with US defense dept and you will see that US has a considerable amount of of nuclear ICBM warheads and nuclear submarine warhead on high trigger alert (less than 2 mn) targeting Iran, Syria among other non-nuke states.
I know we cant expect you to be fair, but at least be truthfull.
Comment by Hayden — April 10, 2007 @ 11:34 pm
Tom,
Did you know that nuclear bombs have been already used against civilians? not only once but twice! :D
Comment by Smileme — April 10, 2007 @ 11:54 pm
Tom, (and maybe Kamangir)
Let me give you an exclusivity here:
I just read in RAJANEWS site that Dick Cheney was in hospital in Iran 7 years ago for cardiac problems while he was negociating a Haliburton contract.
If I was a Democrat I would have taken this and run with it for at least 1 year.
Comment by Hayden — April 10, 2007 @ 11:54 pm
Kamangir,
If you have the real stuff, who cares if you are goodlooking or not.
Ask young African Americans in all metropolitan city in North America.
Comment by Hayden — April 10, 2007 @ 11:59 pm
The story about Cheney, was revealed/told a couple of years ago by Masoud Behnoud. He said that Cheney was working in Terhan’s Haliburton Office in Valli-e-Asr Street before Day(دی) Hospital.
Comment by shimbalkhaan — April 11, 2007 @ 12:03 am
Hayden, Nr. 16.
I bet that even the majority of European population trust Iran more than some other countries not to bomb.
You are so right! Most of the Europeans are fully aware, who the warmongers are and waht’s their name, who want’s “to model” the world according to nothing but their interest incl. by means of starting wars. And by “exporting democracy”, what a cinic joke! The “war on terror” itself is one big lie and a terroristic act! We do not get informed about the world by “Fox-News” and alikes and stupid enemy-images. But a huge islamophobic propaganda exists and since the “british sailor-story” also the propaganda-histery against Iran has increased again, especially in Germany. But most uf us is just fed up with all that stuff and we are just fed-up with all that hypocritical double-standards. But time will show, “Lies are having short legs”, as an european saying goes. And another saying, quoting a former USA-president: “One can belie all people for a time, and one can belie a part of the people for a time, but it’s impossible to belie the whole people for all the time.”
Comment by Jeanna — April 11, 2007 @ 7:40 am
kamangir,
(#10)
>>The question is, are we, Iranians, able to convince the world that we won’t build bombs?
By world I am almost certain you mean western government, since the majority of the population in the world seems convinced of this.
Since you sounds well aware of the recent chronology of Iran’s nuclear dossier, you will give it to me that Iran has explored all the avenue which allows her to keep its right under NPT intact and to provide assurance to the west that this technology won’t be diverted toward military purpose. The facts which back these assertions are plenty and can mainly be found at the IAEA site under the rubrique of Iran.
Given that you can not CONVINCE somebody which is just blind to reasoning, I don’t see how the iranians will be ABLE to convince the US that they dont have the INTENTION of making bombs in the FUTURE. If you push this logic to the end you will re-discover Intention Probing and Inquisition Methodslogy and a little bit further down, you will see that you can justify wars, tortures, phone tapping, denial of civil liberties… Thats the path iranian are trying to get away with and thats the path that US is pushing everybody toward.
Comment by Zargar — April 11, 2007 @ 1:33 pm
When silence speaks!
Comment by Smileme — April 12, 2007 @ 1:13 am