Afshin Ellian writes to Khamenei and speaks truth to power. Tells him it’s time to step down, that he should play De Klerk to Mousavi’s Mandela. Asks him to avoid the massive bloodshed that will come if he decides to fight for his power.
The money graph:
Excellency Khamenei, you and I know that no tyranny has ever succeeded in creating a political system that lasts. Your advisors have been misinforming you these past years. They have made you deaf and blind to what is really happening. The truth is that the ruling elite is despised by the people. Your puppet Ahmadinejad, who likes to appeal to Iranians in populist terms, is reviled. If you continue to use violence against your people, then you have obviously learned nothing from the tragic fate of the last shah of Persia.
It’s great. That first line should be memorized by poli sci students (it’s even more important than those graphs you’re studying), along with Machiavelli’s dictum that tyranny is the most unstable form of government.
Thanks to my wonderful friends at Telos for publishing it.
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7 Comments
1. Cassandra:I would like to help in some way, but I don’t know how. It’s a little late, but is there any way we could get more communication equipment to the people in the streets. Dealing with the US government will be a problem and I don’t want to break any US laws. I know revolutions need more than arms. Could we supply humanitarian aid? Is that forbidden under US law?
Jun 19, 2009 - 2:41 pm 2. Aussie:I read the open letter from Afshin Ellian. What he says was really good. I think that he is right in what he says. Khamenei is under attack and he seems to be the one pulling the anti-American strings. His speech to the Iranian people was crap because he continued to declare the Nutjob won that election and even stated that the large turnout was for Nutjob – Not likely, judging from the tweets….
Jun 19, 2009 - 2:52 pm 3. David W. Lincoln:I say let more robust measures be used. Those companies, from outside of Iran, that do business inside Iran, it is time for them to choose: Either withdraw from Iran, which only has the effect of strengthening the Mullahs, or pay the price for doing so.
I figure the gross income for the past ten year’s of each company is a sufficient financial penalty to let them know that enabling man’s inhumanity to man exacts a brutally high price.
If they do not acknowledge this, then I figure
Jun 19, 2009 - 3:17 pm 4. Jake in Pittsburgh:stiff financial fines of the same magnitude on
the businesses which do business with them will catch their attention.
Normally it is hard to judge an inflection point in world history until you are past it.
But when one comes along of the enormity that we are seeing in Iran, it stares you right in the face.
Here, the Obama team has seriously misjudged: either the revolution succeeds and he squandered the opportunity to be a part of it, or it is crushed and he is seen as abetting the crackdown.
Either way, he has put himself on the wrong side of history.
Jun 19, 2009 - 3:18 pm 5. winston:excellent line.
FREEDOM FOR IRAN!
Jun 19, 2009 - 9:39 pm 6. joeblough:Actually, as much as I like that first line, I believe it is false.
Most of humanity across most of human history has been ruled by one tyranny or another.
Most of the great ruling dynasties have been nothing but a long succession of tyrants, some light handed and some heavy.
Freedom is a relatively new and rather unpopular concept by global historical standards.
It is we of the free world who are defying the traditions of history and the common sense of the world.
Khamenei and his red-handed pals are the conservative traditionalists in this matter.
So as much as I appreciate and concur with the sentiment expressed, I have to say that the statement itself is just plain wrong.
Jun 20, 2009 - 11:53 am 7. joeblough:And (now that I think of it) that is precisely why it is so extremely urgent that the free world extend a helping hand to the better side of the Persian people.
The weight of history and the forces of tradition are against them.
You would think the rest of us could come up with at least a little moral support.
But that too is the greater part of the human story … icy indifference to the oppression of others.
Jun 20, 2009 - 11:58 am