Mohammad Khatami: Boston Globes Hero of the Week

Nice to see the Boston Globe screeching the praises of a complete failure in his own country. Khatami failed to make any ground in reforms or moderation in Iran, but yet, his prostelyzing in the US for more talking is just the perfect sounding board for the proper methods for getting along with the world. What rubbish.

RAN'S FORMER PRESIDENT, Mohammad Khatami, is scheduled to deliver a lecture this weekend at Harvard University on the topic of ``ethics of tolerance in the age of violence," but Massachusetts Governor Mitt Romney has criticized Khatami as a "terrorist" undeserving of the state's security protection during his brief visit.

Heh, "Ethics of Tolerance." No doubt Mitt was playing to that national stage he really really wants for 2008 (which he won't get).

Calling for "replacing hostility and confrontation with discourse and understanding," Khatami unveiled this idea in his address to the General Assembly in September 1998. Following his advice, the UN adopted the year 2001 as the Year of Dialogue Among Civilizations and promoted activities aimed ``to strengthen solidarity, respect, and tolerance" in the world.

Far from a cliche or a bygone agenda, both the UN and UNESCO have continued with their efforts in promoting the idea of dialogue. In 2005, Annan appointed Khatami as a member of a high-calibered group of notables called "Alliance of Civilizations."

Funny, the BoGlobe seems to always take the words, but fails to fathom the twists in reasoning. Replacing hostility? Funny, appears to me that the hostility didn't come until there was clearly no results from "discourse and understanding." Understanding generally requires that both sides come to some agreement on issues and not just demand that the opposing side concede to the demands of the other. A case in point is obviously the Iranian Nuclear standoff. The west has offered to provide the nuclear energy technology as long as Iran stops enriching Uranium. Iran claims that it's only for energy. If that were true, why not take the offer and ease the tensions? (Answer: Because they want the bomb.)

And as for the UN wrapping its arms around Khatami and his message, what a shock. Now let's see the UN get Iran to follow its NPT obligations. Not happening you say? No shit.

A former minister of culture who was forced to resign in 1992 because of his moderate sensibility, Khatami has a remarkable record as president of Iran for eight years. Sure, he did not have much power and was constantly under siege by the more militant factions. However, he did his best to advance the cause of civil society in Iran, by promoting free press, women's rights, and the like.

In retrospect, the "failure" of reform movement in Iran had much to do with the post-9/11 Iranian security paranoia caused by President Bush's interventionist policies in the region, causing a hard-line backlash against Khatami's perceived politics of appeasement, vis-a-vis the United States. However, Khatami is increasingly playing a leading role in resurrecting the reform movement by setting aside his previous misgivings to get directly involved in party politics -- a good sign for the future of Iran's faction-ridden politics and the prospects for next rounds of parliamentary and presidential elections in Iran.

Didn't see that one coming. Khatami's failure is because of BUSHitler. My question is, who did the backlash come from? Could it have been the hard-core Theocrats who didn't subscribe to his reforms in the first place? Someone apparently is still missing who is running Iran. The president is still just a figure head for the Theocrats, and the only difference between Khatami and Ahmadinejad is that Ahmadinejad is playing the same tune as the Theocrats.

Romni was wrong to knee-jerk over Khatami, but then, the Globe is just as foolish in canonizing him.