AliAnsariatPoliticsandProse

Iwenttohearaliansariatpoliticsandprosetonightwherehespokeabouthisbook"ConfrontingIran". Hespokeveryveryfastanditwassometimesdifficulttokeepupwithimbutitriedasbesticould.
heisiranianbutlivesinscotlandandhaswrittenanumberofbooksoniran. Hethinksthathtewestandtheusinparticularhaveblownitfornowbutdidnothaveto.


He did say some thought provoking things:

1. George Bush is one of the best shahs Iran has ever had. By making it possible for them to take such an active role both in Shiite southern Iraq and in Kurdish Iraq, and by destroying Iraq's oil capacity, he has given the Persians for the first time in a couple of centuries the chance to think about an empire.

2. By simply calling Iran a part of the evil empire, Bush changed Iran from a foreign affairs issue to a domestic issue, leaving out the chance for progress in relationships.

3. Until 20 years ago, Iran and the U.S., and Iran and Israel, were the best of friends. This makes the current situation all the more difficult. The enemies of all then were the Arabs.

4. Moderate president Katami and Clinton should have done much more. Israeli president Katsev is Iranian, and he and Katami went to school together.

5. He does not think that Aminjahad is out to kill the Jews. The internal reaction to the president's holocaust denial remarks were very strongly adverse, with Hatami telling parliament if one Jew died at the hands of the Nazis, it would have been too many. But the aversion to Zionist Israel is strongly felt in the country.

6. Even when Persia was a strong power, they tended to operate by stealth more than numbers. So, their use of terror tactics, support of Hezbollah, etc. is not out of character.

The session went on for an hour and a half, including questions about Israel, Bahai, Zoroastrians, oil and gas, and so forth.

I don't think that many books were sold, however, as Ansari told us so much tonight that most people did not want to know, or did not need to know, any more.