Showing posts with label Iranian politics. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Iranian politics. Show all posts

Tuesday, January 26, 2016

Egypt versus Iran, and not only

In an interview offered to a very pro-Iran sympathetic Dieter Bednarz from Spiegel the last week, the foreign minister of Egypt, Sameh Hassan Shoukry outlined several times the unsatisfaction with the constant involvement of Iran in the internal affairs of other countries from region, such as Syria, Bahrain, Iraq or Yemen.Following the latest evolutions in the region and the high proof of Iranian influence especially in Yemen and Syria, based on an expansionist conception focused on strengthening of religious - Shiilte - ties in the region, Egypt stays for now on the side of the opposition to Tehran politics, similarly with Saudi Arabia. Egypt does not  have diplomatic relations with Iran, following the peace treaty with Israel. 
Currenly, Egypt is coping with a resurgence of ISIS regroupement in Sinai,which jeopardizes not only the security in the region, but also tends to isolate Egypt. In the last years, the country kept losing significant amounts of money due to the diminishing of touristic presence. 
In the interview offered to Der Spiegel; Shoukry repeats on several occassions that Tehran involvement is wrong and the opposition against the Iranian officials is justified, including through the measures took against its influence agents, such it was the case of the Shiite leader Nimr Baqir al-Nimr. The Sheikh was condemned to death the 2nd of January. He often pledged for religious freedom in the Kingdom who practices a Wahhabi version of Sunni islam and considers the Shi'a as heretics. Western media and NGOs portrays the sheikh as a fighter for religious freedom. 
Shoukry, a close confident to current president Sisi and former ambassador in the US, Austria and Switzerland during Mubarak, gave the interview before his official visit to Germany.
As things look now, there is Iran against the rest of independent states in the region, with no benefits for anyone, especially for the regional stability.

Monday, June 18, 2012

A world without Ahmadinejad



Ahmadinejad is very popular in the German media, apparently. This weekend, he chose Frankfurter Allgemeine Sonntagszeitung in order to announce that he would be interested in leaving politics at the end of his mandate.
I must confess that every time I have the patience to watch 5 minutes of an interview with Ahmadinejad, I can hardly follow him. I watch his eyes and it is enough to realize that I am not a psychologist enough to understand him. 
On the other hand, his announcement sent a strong message that he almost lost the battle with the religious establishment. Even though the two groups share the same toxic and hate driven ideas about the state of Israel and are oversaturated with anti-Semitism, their economic and political interest may divert. From many respects, until a certain level, Ahmadinejad was the puppet the regime needed in order to install its power over the country, including by using the Revolutionary Guards. But, money do not have colour and thus Ahmadinejad and the religious elites under the control and guidance of the Supreme Leader Ali Khamenei have an increasingly tensed relationship.
The departure of Ahmadinejad will not leave too many traces and unless the educated Iranians will be let free to take their country back, nothing noticeable will happen except a change of the faithful guard.