Iran’s Parliament Speaker Turns Against Ahmadinejad
Ali Larijani has fired a shot in the struggle for the presidency.
When it comes to education and familiarity with Western philosophy, there are few right-wing politicians in Iran who can match Ali Ardeshir Larijani.
Holding a Ph.D. in Western philosophy from Tehran University, amongst other things he has written four books on Immanuel Kant and is one of the leading intellectuals in the field.
These days he is serving as the speaker of the Iranian parliament (Majlis). The members of parliament whom he oversees are in charge of reviewing and passing Mahmoud Ahmadinejad’s policies. With eight months to go before the presidential elections, the Iranian president desperately needs his economic plans to be passed by the Majlis. Otherwise, he may fall from favor with the supreme leader.
To Ahmadinejad’s dismay, Larijani has openly declared that no economic plans or projects will be passed by the Majlis if they contribute to the country’s inflationary problems. The problem for Ahmadinejad is that the majority of his economic plans, which consist of injecting cash into the economy, add to the inflationary problems. In fact, populist spending policies without any consideration for inflationary impact are the linchpin of “Ahmadinejad-onomics.”
In the previous Majlis, Ahmadinejad got away with this policy because Hadad Adel, the previous speaker, was relatively close to him. On one scandalous occasion, Hadad Adel even allowed Ahmadinejad to break the law by allowing him extra time past his deadline to present justification for his economic plans. The extra time was given for no reason and without any promises from the president as to when he would present the mandatory report on his economic plans. This is one of the reasons why Hadad Adel lost his position. Majlis members were tired of his unwarranted leniency towards Ahmadinejad.
But with Larijani it is different. First and foremost, he does not have Hadad Adel’s connections. The previous Majlis speaker’s daughter is married to Khamenei’s son. Larijani, although well connected, does not have such a close family connection to the most powerful man in Iran.
Page 1 of 2 Next ->
Meir Javedanfar is the co-author with Yossi Melman of The Nuclear Sphinx of Tehran: Mahmoud Ahmadinejad and the State of Iran. He runs Middle East Economic and Political Analysis (MEEPAS).
 |
 |
 |
Podcasts |  PJM Home |
Pajamas Media appreciates your comments that abide by the following guidelines:
1. Avoid profanities or foul language unless it is contained in a necessary quote or is relevant to the comment.
2. Stay on topic.
3. Disagree, but avoid ad hominem attacks.
4. Threats are treated seriously and reported to law enforcement.
5. Spam and advertising are not permitted in the comments area.
The clause regarding "hate speech" has been deleted because readers criticized it as being too loosely defined. We agreed.
These guidelines are very general and cannot cover every possible situation. Please don't assume that Pajamas Media management agrees with or otherwise endorses any particular comment. We reserve the right to filter or delete comments or to deny posting privileges entirely at our discretion. If you feel your comment was filtered inappropriately, please email us at story@pajamasmedia.com.
13 Comments
1. Marc Malone:Wonder if it would be suicide, politically or otherwise, to promise to quit spending money on acquiring nukes, and promise to build their own refineries instead? That’d go a long way to fixing their broken economy. Maybe they could quit financing the resistance in Iraq, and terrorists in general?
Nah.
Oct 21, 2008 - 2:27 am 2. Meir Javedanfar:Hi Mark, this is where national interest is sacrificed over political interests of the elite. If they were interested in the best interest of the public, they would have done a lot of things differently, including the whole refinery issue.
Oct 21, 2008 - 6:39 am 3. dave742:“Meanwhile, for Larijani and his presidential ambitions”
“Iranian Parliament Speaker Ali Larijani said he will not run in the upcoming presidential elections.”
Oct 21, 2008 - 7:08 am 4. keithacia:Thai Press Reports
October 14, 2008 Tuesday
IRAN LARIJANI REJECTS CANDIDACY IN PRESIDENTIAL ELECTIONS
they’re going with natural gas for transportation fuel. no expesnsive refineries required.
Oct 21, 2008 - 7:35 am 5. Nuke em.:McCain policy- Dig for more oil,
Oct 21, 2008 - 9:43 am 6. Rubicon:build Nuke plants,
and they will hang Amadinnernutjob from his own gallows,
or maybe throw him down his 12th imams well.
/I would like to have an electric car.
But
the only thing they have now is a $4,000 dollar car
with a $12,000 dollar- 600 mile drop cord.
(very little humor) ha.
An Ahmadinejad as a nations leader would embarrass any nation. His policies have isolated Iran, which if left to its own devices, would be a flower in the middle east. The truth is, the people of Iran are intelligent & industrious. If this clown had allowed that nation to function with the rest of the world, their situation today would be significantly brighter. The problem is, his 12th Imam thing. He wants to die. He truly believes this must happen for Islam to win the world. He truly expects to die, to further his idea. I doubt most Iranians buy into the die for the 12th Imam. They may love their religion, but they also love life & want to prosper.
Oct 21, 2008 - 12:14 pm 7. Marc Malone:Anyway, it would be a shame if opponents dropped out of the race for the presidency. Then again, perhaps they have or will drop out in order to keep living. I suspect this guy would kill off opposition with no remorse at all. His destroy Israel & America thing makes him unstable & that means political opponents face the possibility he will take out anyone who opposes his plans.
If Iran has been budgeting $100.00 a barrel oil as part of their economic structure, its patently obvious they declared financial war against the west when they did so. Few in America are aware some middle eastern nations have been budgeting $100.00 a barrel oil. Most Americans act as though those nations do no planning, which is obviously a foolish notion.
Iran with moderate leaders could regain its place among civilized nations quickly. The world wants to do business with them, but not if they are out of control religious zealots.
Many of Iran’s current problems stem from their extensive terrorist or terrorism ties which enormously drain their treasury. That will kill off an economy quickly. Just look at America trying to outspend them to fight against terrorism!
Just as many American politicians are hung up on their own personal political philosophies, so too are leaders in other nations. We in America need our politicians to think more about how their actions affect average Americans, than how such choices help or hurt their own political ambitions. (OK, so I can dream can’t I?)
I suspect our current moves toward socialism will cost us dearly in the long run as we extend ourselves so far beyond our possible means, that eventually we go broke trying to be all to all at our own expense, even though most either do not want our all or they want all & more to hurt us! Bush’s economy plans are stupid at best. Obama’s will only make the situation total chaos. Add to this the corrupt working with Obama (Fannie & Freddie former executives), & we have a real opportunity to totally bankrupt America in our lifetimes. Gosh, what a thought, huh?
Rubicon – I have to disagree with you… because I’ve always wanted to cross the Rubicon!
Actually, good post.
Oct 21, 2008 - 1:10 pm 8. Winston:The regime is a criminal entity as a whole. Larijani is as bad as Ahmadienjad. We don’t need to be told there is an internal struggle. They are all criminals and terrorists.
Oct 21, 2008 - 11:52 pm 9. Philip Adams:Good to see that someone is trying to knock Iamadinnerjacket off his perch at last. Isn’t it amazing that these lunatics ever get elected?
Could never happen in America?
We would never elect one of lifes all time FRAUDS, would we?
To read about Iamadinnerjacket look up Littlejohn’s articles at the UK Dail Mail online.
Oct 22, 2008 - 2:22 pm 10. Banafsheh:This is nothing new; the ugly fall out between Larijani and Ahmadinejad has been going on since all the way back in February/March this year when there was the Guardian Council elections. And this is not the only rift within that regime.
Oct 24, 2008 - 9:36 pm 11. seguin:doesn’t really matter. since the mullahs qualify or disqualify all candidates, if he was a decent fellow there’d be no chance for him to be elected to President.
Oct 25, 2008 - 5:13 pm 12. David F.:You morons need to read a book entitled, “The Devil we know,Dealing with the new Iranian Superpower.” It’s written by Robert Baer. You have no idea the amount of power Teheran wields. Amidenijad is a figurehead. Ali Khamenei is the ultimate leader in Iran. Iran is no friend to Russia, and the pipeline we have built through Georgia is useless. Iraq already has a Shia government. Shia represents the ideals of the puritan work ethic: discipline, determination, education and hard work. The Persians could be our best friends if we’d let them. They are the largest country in the Middle-east by pop. and Land Area. Befriending them could stabilize Afghanistan and bring peace to the middle-east; Shia’s don’t like sunni radicals anymore than we do. This isn’t 1979. They want us as allies, all they are asking for is the respect due to a world power. I say we give it to them, in exchange for a powerful ally in the fight against Islamic Sunni extremists, like Al-Qaeda. They don’t like Al-Qaeda anymore than we do. Here’s some more info. Iran is our enemy, right. Well, allies are supposed to share commonalities and enemies oppose each other based on their differences. We support Democracies. Iranian voters can participate when they are 18. They can be male or female. This sounds similiar to the US. The Iranians consider themselves Persians and are made up of many different ethnic groups, kind of like a melting pot, like us. If you support democracy and anti-terrorism, then you should support Iran.
Look, in 1953 Eisenhower authorized the CIA to depose democratically elected Mossadegh with operation Ajax. We installed Mohammed Ravi Pahlavi who was a dictator. He established an government suppression agency known as:SAVAK; to crush political opposition. Khomenei opposed and publicly dennounced that administration. Pahlavi was brutal. He was overthrown. Well, then Komenei took control. The US installed Saddam Hussein as military dictator of Iraq. We gave him money, weapons, biological and chemical agents under CIA directives by George Bush. He attacked Iran. Iran survived. We have troops in Saudi Arabia because the dictator we installed invaded Kuwait. Al-Qaeda wants us out. George Bush gave weapons, training and money to Al-Qaeda to fight the Soviets. Do you think we are in a prison of our own design. The Persians want Al-qaeda erradicated, they are rational shia’s; they want equal share to Mecca. Look dummies, we’d better befriend them b4 the Chinese do.
Oct 25, 2008 - 9:41 pm 13. David F.:Meir,
Are you from Iran? A good friend of mine is. He is curious, intelligent, well-read and beligerent. I appreciate all those qualities. I want to know your opinion on the morality of fighting a technologically superior foe with low-tech methods. Iran uses carbombs, human sucide-bomber martyrs and snipers. We use helicopters, tanks, laser-guided bombs and high-powered .40 cal sniper rifles. Either way, soldiers and civilians die. But, the each side has tried to attach a morality to the two distinctly different methods of combat. The US has Labeled one as “world’s police” and the other as “terrorists.” What is a terrorist? The UN has no formal definition of terrorist. Why is this? Is the only difference: high-tech warrior vs. low-tech warrior? Iranians/Hezbollah (Iran is in charge of Hezbollah.)have labeled their forces as martyrs. Does a religious instrument include innocents as collateral damage? Should they use religion as a weapon against threats or as a tool of spiritual enlightment?
Oct 25, 2008 - 9:59 pm