Akbar Ganji

Akbar Ganji: The Latter-Day Sultan, Power and Politics in Iran

Solomonia (Free subscription) | 08/10/2008

Akbar Ganji: The Latter-Day Sultan, Power and Politics in Iran...

Supreme Sultan

GrEaT sAtAn'S gIrLfRiEnD (Free subscription) | 08/10/2008

Akbar Ganji, ex Revo Guard Commander and current dissident (with an interesting book called " The Road to Democracy in Iran " has an interesting bit up at Foreign Affairs about politics in Iran. Pointing out the Gay Free Republic's fiery little rocketeer is a leader in name only. "F or many Iranian opposition leaders, as well as much of the Western media and political class, Ahmadinejad...

Foreign Affairs - November/December 2008

Serially Speaking (Free subscription) | 31/10/2008

Checking Russia The five-day war - Charles King What has Moscow done? - Stephen Sestanovich Essays From great game to grand bargain - Barnett R Rubin and Ahmed Rashid The latter-day Sultan - Akbar Ganji The politics of hunger - Paul Collier The logic of zero - Ivo Daalder and Jan Lodal Minor league, major problems - Charles A Kupchan Brazil's big moment - Juan de Onis Arrested development...

“Sultanate”

David Miliband (Free subscription) | 28/10/2008

11 hour day flights mean we can watch the films we should have seen years ago (“Three Days of the Condor”) and read up the important but not immediate. Anyone wanting to understand the conundrum of Iran should read this article by renowned dissident, Akbar Ganji. (You can also visit the website at akbarjanji.org). The comments of President Ahmadinejad are egregious but the challenges...

Heavenly twins

Grains of Sand (Free subscription) | 27/10/2008

"Inexpert and delusory outlook", "a sense of self-adoration", "profound ignorance", subscribing to "superstitious religiosity", magic and the occult. No, not Sarah Palin (although it's close ), but Mahmoud Ahmadinejad in the words of some of his domestic critics in Iran, as reported by Akbar Ganji in his analysis for Foreign Affairs (Nov/Dec 08). Cheney and Khamanei as the benevolent...

The real picture on Iran

Antony Loewenstein (Free subscription) | 14/10/2008

Akbar Ganji, Foreign Affairs, November/December: As the Iranian parliamentary elections of March 2008 approached, many Iranians wondered nostalgically: If a reformist had won the 2005 presidential election instead of Mahmoud Ahmadinejad, would Iran be in its current dismal state? For Abdollah Ramezanzadeh, a former government spokesperson, Iran’s situation is “worse today that it has...

Ahmadinejad The Insignificant?

The Daily Dish (Free subscription) | 14/10/2008

Akbar Ganji has a long insightful article on Iranian elections. A teaser: Despite all the attention he receives, Ahmadinejad does not even rank among Iran's top 100 leaders over the past 30 years.

James Warren: The Week in Magazines -- Overestimating Ahmadinejad, What Ed Koch Says, and Vigara Loves Golf

The Huffington Post (Free subscription) | 13/10/2008

... , the ever-elite, but increasingly accessible (and profitable), bimonthly. Iranian journalist Akbar Ganji, who was imprisoned in Tehran for six years and whose writings are banned in the country, argues that Western media and politicians, as well as Iranian opposition leaders, erroneously caricature Ahmadinejad as "the main culprit of Iran's ills today: censorship, corruption, a failing...

The Real Power in Iran: Khamenei

PoliGazette (Free subscription) | 08/10/2008

Akbar Ganji argues for Foreign Affairs Magazine that the real power in Iran is not Mahmoud Ahmadinejad, nor any other politician; rather, the real power in Tehran is Supreme Religious Leader Ali Khamenei. Khamenei is, Ganji argues, the one who truly decides about all important issues: foreign policy, nuclear energy, oppression in Iran, the economy… everything. As such, [...]

More On Ali Khamenei: The Would-Be Interlocutor For The United States

Red State (Free subscription) | 07/10/2008

Following up on this post , I want to be sure to highlight this article by Akbar Ganji on the power wielded by Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, the Supreme Religious Guide of Iran and the person Barack Obama tells us he really wants the United States to negotiate with when he is accused of wanting to sit down with president Mahmoud Ahmadinejad. Read the whole thing, but consider especially passages...

• More On Ali Khamenei: The Would-Be Interlocutor For The United States - A Chequer-Board of Nights and Days

More On Ali Khamenei: The Would-Be Interlocutor For The United States

A Chequer-Board of Nights and Days (Free subscription) | 07/10/2008

Following up on , I want to be sure to highlight by Akbar Ganji on the power wielded by Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, the Supreme Religious Guide of Iran and the person Barack Obama tells us he really wants the United States to negotiate with when he is accused of wanting to sit down with president Mahmoud Ahmadinejad. Read the whole thing, but consider especially passages like this one:At...