Dr. Ali Ettefagh serves as a director of Highmore Global Corporation, an investment company in emerging markets of Eastern Europe, CIS, and the Middle East. He is the co-author of several books on trade conflict, resolution of international trade disputes, conflicts in letters of credit, trade-related banking transactions, sovereign debt, arbitration and dispute resolutions and publications specific to the oil and gas, communication, aviation and finance sectors. Dr. Ettefagh is a member of the executive committee and the board of directors of The Development Foundation, an advisor to the United Nations High Commission for Refugees, and an advisor to a number of European companies. Dr. Ettefagh speaks Persian (Farsi), English, German, French, Spanish, Italian, Arabic and Turkish.
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Ali Ettefagh
Tehran, Iran
Dr. Ali Ettefagh serves as a director of Highmore Global Corporation, an investment company in emerging markets of Eastern Europe, CIS, and the Middle East.
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kotzabasis:
Quoting :But the fog has not disappeared! And it’s behind it that Ahmadinejad’s regime is building its nuclear arsenal by which it will dominate the region and find ultimately its GRATIFICATION in the establishment of the twelfth Imam Mahdi’s prophesy of a Caesaro-Ayatollah state, seizing the leadership of the Muslim world and posing a stupendous threat to the existence of Western civilization.
This is why a politically and historically prudent U.S. administration should have all options on the table. End of quote.
It is quite evident you have been paying too much attention to the media here. You might find it useful if one day you decide to look carefully and learn more about media owners, editors and writers A to Z , who they are and what their intentions are, at least here in US, needless to mention, they have already taken over most of the world's media.
You do not hear from the IAEA that Iran is doing what it is not entitled to do. Only from the US followed of course by its European allies who would not compromise their economic ties with the US but do compromise their principles. No individual in Europe is a fan of US.
Further, as for the US having all the options on the table. They indeed have had those options on the table eversince this administration came to power. But they have learned and decided against being recorded in history books as the only administration going out while losing three wars at the same time.
Quoting "Yet Israel is a Middle Eastern state too. Only Egypt has so far engaged Israel successfully on diplomatic terms. Is it conceivable that Muslim countries can engage Israel through diplomacy? Or does the West have to act as constructive mediator? End of quote.
It is naive and irresponsible to project Egyptian government policies and decisions as the overall wish of the Egyptian people. The Egyptian gov is under direct payroll of the US, two billion dollars annual economic aids, basically has no say in their major foreign policies decisions.
Further, It is imperative to specify and differentiate the wish and attitude of all the Autocrat run Persian Gulf states people as well as Afghanistan, Pakistan and some Caspian sea states than those of their governments whom basically either were installed by US or look for their protection and survival solely to US and needless to mention, their foreign policies are dictated to them by the US from A to Z
Quoting "Yet Israel is a Middle Eastern state too. Only Egypt has so far engaged Israel successfully on diplomatic terms. Is it conceivable that Muslim countries can engage Israel through diplomacy? Or does the West have to act as constructive mediator? End of quote.
It is naive and irresponsible to project Egyptian government policies and decisions as the overall wish of the Egyptian people. The Egyptian gov is under direct payroll of the US, two billion dollars annual economic aids, basically has no say in their major foreign policies decisions.
Further, It is imperative to specify and differentiate the wish and attitude of all the Autocrat run Persian Gulf states people as well as Afghanistan, Pakistan and some Caspian sea states than those of their governments whom basically either were installed by US or look for their protection and survival solely to US and needless to mention, their foreign policies are dictated to them by the US from A to Z.
But, that doesn't mean I should give up on you. To answer your assumption let me direct you to read a little history. After the Russian revolution, Lenin wanting to export his communism to neighboring countries, declared he would renegotiate all of Russia's "imperialistic" treaties to "brotherly" ends. A lot of treaties of the Tsars era were renegotiated in the following years even through the Stalin era.
I posted a link to a Stanford University teaching paper with reference. Read it. If you want more references, look for it. If you want me to do it, let me know. If your government is negotiating with it’s most important chip off the table, let them know. Don’t just lazily brush off the facts. It’s disappointing to the extreme.
From the replies I got it looks like Iran negotiated based on Torkaman-chai treaty. As you probably know, After Iran lost a war with Russia (before Russia became USSR) the Torkaman-chai treaty was negotiated to end the war. That is a winner vs. loser treaty in which we lost a large part of the country (mostly the present Caspian Sea countries)That was at the time of the Ghagar Dynasty (1800s). The 1935 treaty was worked out with USSR and is an even-handed one negotiated by the Pahlavies.
Reading your post after I found the commemorative stamps of the Brezhnev's visit in 1963, makes me worry about something else. Did Islamic Repablic entered negotiations with Caspian Sea countries knowing about 1943 treaty that would give Iran a legally binding right to 50% of the sea, or they did not?
MUJA HADINE
Have a look at Iran and Iranian laws and see if females (and non-muslims) have fundamental legal rights, before you embark on an unlearned opinion piece about Sharia Law, which is not the law of Iran. Iran has a codified system. Judging people by the way they dress is very shallow.
SHIVEH
If the Iranian government has publicly announced in news reports that it is the first visit of a Russian leader to Iran after 65 years, chances are that it is. No? Remember that Iran was designated British/American zone at Yalta.
I do a google search for Brezhnev and Iran and I get one hit, the link you posted. I google my name and Iran and I get more hits. Nevertheless, fact checking is important but it is also important to make corrections with irrefutable proof and not a reference to someone's statement in another blog. If he did go, there must be pictures somewhere.
"In addition to Iran, the region now has the USSR being represented by four littoral states. The simple decision of dividing in half what used to belong just to the USSR and Iran is no longer that simple. The original treaty of 1935 would have Iran receiving half of the land, while the four remaining states split the rest of the remaining 50%. This solution is of course unacceptable. The new nations want what is rightfully theirs because they all border the Caspian Sea."
The US channels of human intelligence are more superior than Iranian intelligence. Please, in the 70's, The Shah of Iran, Mohammad Reza Pahlavi, the Iranian Monarch asked for US Special Forces and CIA assistance. What did the US receive: Kurds and waves ?
While much of what Mr. Ettefagh says may well be true, he fails to understand that the Muslim belief system as espoused by Sharia Law is the single biggest drag on Muslim societies. This belief system places half the populace (read women) in a subordinate position. How can any society that chooses to ignore half its base expect to become anything more than a collection of feudal backwaters. Granted, these will be backwaters enriched by petrodollars, but backwaters nonetheless.
This is indeed a new chapter and a new beginning in the Middle East and Iran is picking the ripe fruits of strength in the region. Few outside the region have understood this. Too much hype out there against Iran
The comment above about Mullah is absurd.
As a foreign diplomat in Iran, I can tell you that Iran is not a wild and crazy place. It is very orderly and organised country, very idealistic.
to DABRACK
You really have no clue, do you? If Iranians, Mullahs or civilians, wanted to kill all westerners, why is it that they have not done so already? It will be 29 years since the Shah has left Iran. Wake up!
to SHIVEH
You seem to be clueless in a different way! Iran has never been stronger. Ever since the Industrial Revolution! Your envy shows that you are one of those Iranian exiles abroad whose mind is polluted with CNN and BBC rubbish propaganda. All countries could do better, all the time. Even Sweden and Singapore. It is all relative. you forget that Iran was such a poor country that when the three big powers convened in the Tehran Conference during WWII, they didn't extend the courtesy to the king of the country to attend the meeting. Now, the same 3 powers want to negotiate with Iran about its role in the region. Progress? Yes, it is for sure! Doubtless.
As the article above said, it has never been Iran's war with any one, but it has always suffered. The Axis of Evil is in Washington and London, not Tehran.
SHIVEH
Brezhnev never visited Iran. Neither did Padgorny. The Prime Minister of Russia, Kasygin, visited for the opening of the Isfahan steel mill but the top man of the USSR was Brezhnev.
And there was never a treaty of 50-50 between Iran and USSR on the Caspian. This is a rumour spread around by uninformed Iranians abroad that are clueless.
The Treaty of Torkmenchai has been the governing instrument about the Caspian and the new agreement is still within that framework, even though the USSR does not exist. In any case, it is simply stupid to pick on a stupid minor point.
There is nothing secret about any of this, all of it is published here in Iran and the library of the Foreign Ministry has all treaties open to public.
One small correction: two Soviet presidents, Leonid Brezhnev and Nikolai Podgorny, visited Iran in the 1960s and 1970s. Looking for confirmation I could find this New York Post article: http://66.218.69.11/search/cache?ei=UTF- 8&p=Brezhnev+visit+Iran&fr=ybr_sbc&u=www.nypost.com/seven/10212007/postopinion/opedcolumnists/the_best_of_frenemies.htm&w=brezhnev+visit+visiting+iran&d=Wxu-pLXiQA95&icp=1&.intl=us
Iran had a treaty with USSR that would divide Caspian Sea on a 50-50 basis. The newly independent countries of the Caspian sea region also have an agreement with Russia that obligates them to recognize all former USSR treaties. It is unfortunate that Iran is being forced to agree with a 12-16 percent share of the sea, but it is the reality of today’s circumstances.
The economic benefits of cooperation with regional countries can be best realized when Iran frees it’s economic structure from the stranglehold of a few autonomous “ insider” institutions. Even Khamenei, after about 2 years of trying, has failed to privatize those industries. Lost opportunities weigh heavily over the recent achievements.
Mr. Ettefagh - I hope you are right, but I don't think you are. I think the Mullahs will try to bully all their neighbors and kill all westerners and won't stop until they are destroyed.
As a retired Christian American living in Europe, I have never been more ashamed of my country than this Christmas. I reminded a British witch "evanlgelist" we have slaughtered innocent women and children for 5 Christmas's straight, and it's easy to read that rubbish on a heated and lit couch - try it in Baghdad.
But I'm hopeful in 2008; the tide is turning, and it's not in our favor (ie West) which bothers me NOT AT ALL. I agree with all Dr. Ettefagh's comments, and especially his great character judgements of Rumsfeld, Gonzalez and Bolton: all a national catastrophe for America, and rightfully so completely impotent in the rest of the world. That cynical show in Annopolis I add to the list of America' sins. Ending on a brighter note; where's the party for 2008? It ain't Washington of London. It's in Dubai where commerce took precident over violence and attempted robbery of other's resources.
To KOTZABASIS
What are those hollow American & Israeli options? Getting creamed in Iraq and Afghanistan instead of losing? Round Two of Israeli loss to Hezbollah? What about a financial implosion and bankruptcy of the U.S. economy which is in progress before the price oil hits $250 on any attack on Iran?
Or should we talk about the alternative option: acting like grown-ups?
The US embargo of Iran has served only to strengthen the radical clerics who want to keep Western influence out of Iran, and weaken the US by making its products, burdened with rediculous controls (e.g., under Iran embargo rules, the US asserts extraterritorial jurisdiction over foreign made products with US origin parts, components or technology)unattractive to oil-rich countries in the Gulf. No other country asserts such sanctions over Iran, so traders in the Gulf and manufacturers everywhere avoid US products. The lack of US business presence in Iran denies the US channels of human intelligence in a society that is largely closed. The US is losing and Iran is winning, largely because of irrational policies and rhetoric by the US.
Ali Ettefagh has laid Iran’s LIBIDO DOMINANDI on his psychoanalyst’s couch and has given us his professional prognostic diagnosis that it’s rapidly finding its GRATIFICATION not in the acquisition of nuclear weapons but in “common sense”, “stronger friendship, good neighborly conduct and removing doubt…(by ‘holocausting’ Israel?), in trade…and in the launch of an Egyptian –Iranian car”. According to Ettefagh, “stability and peaceful co-existence” is President’s Ahmadinejad’s agenda. He states, this is “the stark reality of today against the fog of yesterday’.
But the fog has not disappeared! And it’s behind it that Ahmadinejad’s regime is building its nuclear arsenal by which it will dominate the region and find ultimately its GRATIFICATION in the establishment of the twelfth Imam Mahdi’s prophesy of a Caesaro-Ayatollah state, seizing the leadership of the Muslim world and posing a stupendous threat to the existence of Western civilization.
This is why a politically and historically prudent U.S. administration should have all options on the table.
ROBIN BARR
You are correct that a calm atmosphere is better for business, diplomacy and understanding. As the writer says, It is only the Anglo-American world that has yet to learn that the Cold War is really over.
As for Egypt's engagement of Israel, it is a cold peace and co-existence. Which is better than war. It is Israel that has no mind for peace and calm and wants to keep stirring the pot.
You are describing a nascent regionalism that is sorely needed. If states of different faiths can work out their differences through the language of diplomacy, those of us in the West - other than a few jingoists - will cheer the process on.
Yet Israel is a Middle Eastern state too. Only Egypt has so far engaged Israel successfully on diplomatic terms. Is it conceivable that Muslim countries can engage Israel through diplomacy? Or does the West have to act as constructive mediator?
As for the West's need for oil, surely the environment for trade is better when the oil-rich countries of the near- and mid-east can solve their disputes diplomatically and allow a stable base for trade?
PostGlobal is an interactive conversation on global issues moderated by Newsweek International Editor Fareed Zakaria and David Ignatius of The Washington Post. It is produced jointly by Newsweek and washingtonpost.com, as is On Faith, a conversation on religion. Please send your comments, questions and suggestions for PostGlobal to Lauren Keane, its editor and producer.
All Comments (30)
kotzabasis:
Quoting :But the fog has not disappeared! And it’s behind it that Ahmadinejad’s regime is building its nuclear arsenal by which it will dominate the region and find ultimately its GRATIFICATION in the establishment of the twelfth Imam Mahdi’s prophesy of a Caesaro-Ayatollah state, seizing the leadership of the Muslim world and posing a stupendous threat to the existence of Western civilization.
This is why a politically and historically prudent U.S. administration should have all options on the table. End of quote.
It is quite evident you have been paying too much attention to the media here. You might find it useful if one day you decide to look carefully and learn more about media owners, editors and writers A to Z , who they are and what their intentions are, at least here in US, needless to mention, they have already taken over most of the world's media.
You do not hear from the IAEA that Iran is doing what it is not entitled to do. Only from the US followed of course by its European allies who would not compromise their economic ties with the US but do compromise their principles. No individual in Europe is a fan of US.
Further, as for the US having all the options on the table. They indeed have had those options on the table eversince this administration came to power. But they have learned and decided against being recorded in history books as the only administration going out while losing three wars at the same time.
January 26, 2008 9:10 AM | Report Offensive Comments
Posted on January 26, 2008 09:10
Robin Barr :
Quoting "Yet Israel is a Middle Eastern state too. Only Egypt has so far engaged Israel successfully on diplomatic terms. Is it conceivable that Muslim countries can engage Israel through diplomacy? Or does the West have to act as constructive mediator? End of quote.
It is naive and irresponsible to project Egyptian government policies and decisions as the overall wish of the Egyptian people. The Egyptian gov is under direct payroll of the US, two billion dollars annual economic aids, basically has no say in their major foreign policies decisions.
Further, It is imperative to specify and differentiate the wish and attitude of all the Autocrat run Persian Gulf states people as well as Afghanistan, Pakistan and some Caspian sea states than those of their governments whom basically either were installed by US or look for their protection and survival solely to US and needless to mention, their foreign policies are dictated to them by the US from A to Z
January 23, 2008 8:42 PM | Report Offensive Comments
Posted on January 23, 2008 20:42
Robin Barr :
Quoting "Yet Israel is a Middle Eastern state too. Only Egypt has so far engaged Israel successfully on diplomatic terms. Is it conceivable that Muslim countries can engage Israel through diplomacy? Or does the West have to act as constructive mediator? End of quote.
It is naive and irresponsible to project Egyptian government policies and decisions as the overall wish of the Egyptian people. The Egyptian gov is under direct payroll of the US, two billion dollars annual economic aids, basically has no say in their major foreign policies decisions.
Further, It is imperative to specify and differentiate the wish and attitude of all the Autocrat run Persian Gulf states people as well as Afghanistan, Pakistan and some Caspian sea states than those of their governments whom basically either were installed by US or look for their protection and survival solely to US and needless to mention, their foreign policies are dictated to them by the US from A to Z.
January 23, 2008 10:06 AM | Report Offensive Comments
Posted on January 23, 2008 10:06
...the new efforts and focus on surge and money will not work . sunni or latter
- Show quoted text -
January 12, 2008 2:37 PM | Report Offensive Comments
Posted on January 12, 2008 14:37
But, that doesn't mean I should give up on you. To answer your assumption let me direct you to read a little history. After the Russian revolution, Lenin wanting to export his communism to neighboring countries, declared he would renegotiate all of Russia's "imperialistic" treaties to "brotherly" ends. A lot of treaties of the Tsars era were renegotiated in the following years even through the Stalin era.
I posted a link to a Stanford University teaching paper with reference. Read it. If you want more references, look for it. If you want me to do it, let me know. If your government is negotiating with it’s most important chip off the table, let them know. Don’t just lazily brush off the facts. It’s disappointing to the extreme.
January 7, 2008 11:25 AM | Report Offensive Comments
Posted on January 7, 2008 11:25
If that is the government line you feed, then Iran is run by closed minded, uninformed people.
January 7, 2008 10:48 AM | Report Offensive Comments
Posted on January 7, 2008 10:48
Dear SHIVEH
You must be in dreamland if you think the Russians had any motivation to negotiate away what they had?
January 7, 2008 4:10 AM | Report Offensive Comments
Posted on January 7, 2008 04:10
Sorry the correct date is 1935.
From the replies I got it looks like Iran negotiated based on Torkaman-chai treaty. As you probably know, After Iran lost a war with Russia (before Russia became USSR) the Torkaman-chai treaty was negotiated to end the war. That is a winner vs. loser treaty in which we lost a large part of the country (mostly the present Caspian Sea countries)That was at the time of the Ghagar Dynasty (1800s). The 1935 treaty was worked out with USSR and is an even-handed one negotiated by the Pahlavies.
January 5, 2008 1:04 PM | Report Offensive Comments
Posted on January 5, 2008 13:04
Enough Already!
Reading your post after I found the commemorative stamps of the Brezhnev's visit in 1963, makes me worry about something else. Did Islamic Repablic entered negotiations with Caspian Sea countries knowing about 1943 treaty that would give Iran a legally binding right to 50% of the sea, or they did not?
January 5, 2008 12:46 PM | Report Offensive Comments
Posted on January 5, 2008 12:46
MUJA HADINE
Have a look at Iran and Iranian laws and see if females (and non-muslims) have fundamental legal rights, before you embark on an unlearned opinion piece about Sharia Law, which is not the law of Iran. Iran has a codified system. Judging people by the way they dress is very shallow.
SHIVEH
If the Iranian government has publicly announced in news reports that it is the first visit of a Russian leader to Iran after 65 years, chances are that it is. No? Remember that Iran was designated British/American zone at Yalta.
January 5, 2008 5:28 AM | Report Offensive Comments
Posted on January 5, 2008 05:28
Dear Ahmad,
First let me correct myself. Washington Post is a newspaper.
Now something very intresting. Iran published a stamp in honor of the Brezhnev's visit. It is on sale in Ebay for $8. Here is the link:
http://cgi.ebay.com/IRAN-1963-President-Leonid-Brezhnev-MNH-STAMP-SET_W0QQitemZ260022668726QQcmdZViewItem#ebayphotohosting
Does it qualify as a picture?
January 4, 2008 3:22 PM | Report Offensive Comments
Posted on January 4, 2008 15:22
Dear Ahmad,
Washington post is a reputable magazine not a blog, so is Stratfor.
Here is a few more:
http://66.218.69.11/search/cache?ei=UTF-8&p=Brezhnev+visit+Iran&fr=ybr_sbc&u=www.spacewar.com/reports/Nuclear_plans_under_scrutiny_as_Putin_visits_embattled_Iran_999.html&w=brezhnev+visit+visiting+iran&d=UjiSAbXiQC-6&icp=1&.intl=us
and this one puts the Brezhnev's visit at 32 years ago.
http://66.218.69.11/search/cache?ei=UTF-8&p=Brezhnev+visit+Iran&fr=ybr_sbc&u=www.thepeninsulaqatar.com/Display_news.asp%3Fsection%3DWorld_News%26subsection%3DGulf%252C+Middle+East+%2526+Africa%26month%3DOctober2007%26file%3DWorld_News2007101572458.xml&w=brezhnev+visit+visiting+iran&d=CNnFT7XiQD4b&icp=1&.intl=us
Try searching for "Brezhnev visit Iran", let me know if you find a picture. There are too many pages for me to look through.
Also please see if you can work on our Caspian sea treaty dispute also.
Regards.
January 4, 2008 3:06 PM | Report Offensive Comments
Posted on January 4, 2008 15:06
Shiveh,
I do a google search for Brezhnev and Iran and I get one hit, the link you posted. I google my name and Iran and I get more hits. Nevertheless, fact checking is important but it is also important to make corrections with irrefutable proof and not a reference to someone's statement in another blog. If he did go, there must be pictures somewhere.
January 4, 2008 2:47 PM | Report Offensive Comments
Posted on January 4, 2008 14:47
Regarding the Caspian sea This from Stanford might be useful reading:
http://www.stanford.edu/class/e297b/International%20Law%20and%20Concerns%20of%20the%20Caspian%20Sea%20Region.htm
"In addition to Iran, the region now has the USSR being represented by four littoral states. The simple decision of dividing in half what used to belong just to the USSR and Iran is no longer that simple. The original treaty of 1935 would have Iran receiving half of the land, while the four remaining states split the rest of the remaining 50%. This solution is of course unacceptable. The new nations want what is rightfully theirs because they all border the Caspian Sea."
January 4, 2008 11:10 AM | Report Offensive Comments
Posted on January 4, 2008 11:10
To my friends posting above!
THis is another newspaper (Stratfor)that confirms my memory:
http://66.218.69.11/search/cache?ei=UTF-8&p=brezhnev+visit+visiting+iran&fr=ybr_sbc&u=www.stratfor.com/products/premium/read_article.php%3Fid%3D296852&w=brezhnev+visit+visiting+visiting+visit+iran&d=e1_9uLXiQBil&icp=1&.intl=us
But it is minor indeed.
Thank you for sharing your views with me. You are certainly entitled to your opinions as I am to mine.
January 4, 2008 10:54 AM | Report Offensive Comments
Posted on January 4, 2008 10:54
The US channels of human intelligence are more superior than Iranian intelligence. Please, in the 70's, The Shah of Iran, Mohammad Reza Pahlavi, the Iranian Monarch asked for US Special Forces and CIA assistance. What did the US receive: Kurds and waves ?
January 4, 2008 9:11 AM | Report Offensive Comments
Posted on January 4, 2008 09:11
While much of what Mr. Ettefagh says may well be true, he fails to understand that the Muslim belief system as espoused by Sharia Law is the single biggest drag on Muslim societies. This belief system places half the populace (read women) in a subordinate position. How can any society that chooses to ignore half its base expect to become anything more than a collection of feudal backwaters. Granted, these will be backwaters enriched by petrodollars, but backwaters nonetheless.
January 4, 2008 9:11 AM | Report Offensive Comments
Posted on January 4, 2008 09:11
This is indeed a new chapter and a new beginning in the Middle East and Iran is picking the ripe fruits of strength in the region. Few outside the region have understood this. Too much hype out there against Iran
The comment above about Mullah is absurd.
As a foreign diplomat in Iran, I can tell you that Iran is not a wild and crazy place. It is very orderly and organised country, very idealistic.
January 4, 2008 8:44 AM | Report Offensive Comments
Posted on January 4, 2008 08:44
to DABRACK
You really have no clue, do you? If Iranians, Mullahs or civilians, wanted to kill all westerners, why is it that they have not done so already? It will be 29 years since the Shah has left Iran. Wake up!
to SHIVEH
You seem to be clueless in a different way! Iran has never been stronger. Ever since the Industrial Revolution! Your envy shows that you are one of those Iranian exiles abroad whose mind is polluted with CNN and BBC rubbish propaganda. All countries could do better, all the time. Even Sweden and Singapore. It is all relative. you forget that Iran was such a poor country that when the three big powers convened in the Tehran Conference during WWII, they didn't extend the courtesy to the king of the country to attend the meeting. Now, the same 3 powers want to negotiate with Iran about its role in the region. Progress? Yes, it is for sure! Doubtless.
As the article above said, it has never been Iran's war with any one, but it has always suffered. The Axis of Evil is in Washington and London, not Tehran.
January 4, 2008 6:57 AM | Report Offensive Comments
Posted on January 4, 2008 06:57
SHIVEH
Brezhnev never visited Iran. Neither did Padgorny. The Prime Minister of Russia, Kasygin, visited for the opening of the Isfahan steel mill but the top man of the USSR was Brezhnev.
And there was never a treaty of 50-50 between Iran and USSR on the Caspian. This is a rumour spread around by uninformed Iranians abroad that are clueless.
The Treaty of Torkmenchai has been the governing instrument about the Caspian and the new agreement is still within that framework, even though the USSR does not exist. In any case, it is simply stupid to pick on a stupid minor point.
There is nothing secret about any of this, all of it is published here in Iran and the library of the Foreign Ministry has all treaties open to public.
January 4, 2008 6:45 AM | Report Offensive Comments
Posted on January 4, 2008 06:45
Nicely said.
One small correction: two Soviet presidents, Leonid Brezhnev and Nikolai Podgorny, visited Iran in the 1960s and 1970s. Looking for confirmation I could find this New York Post article:
http://66.218.69.11/search/cache?ei=UTF- 8&p=Brezhnev+visit+Iran&fr=ybr_sbc&u=www.nypost.com/seven/10212007/postopinion/opedcolumnists/the_best_of_frenemies.htm&w=brezhnev+visit+visiting+iran&d=Wxu-pLXiQA95&icp=1&.intl=us
Iran had a treaty with USSR that would divide Caspian Sea on a 50-50 basis. The newly independent countries of the Caspian sea region also have an agreement with Russia that obligates them to recognize all former USSR treaties. It is unfortunate that Iran is being forced to agree with a 12-16 percent share of the sea, but it is the reality of today’s circumstances.
The economic benefits of cooperation with regional countries can be best realized when Iran frees it’s economic structure from the stranglehold of a few autonomous “ insider” institutions. Even Khamenei, after about 2 years of trying, has failed to privatize those industries. Lost opportunities weigh heavily over the recent achievements.
January 3, 2008 10:31 PM | Report Offensive Comments
Posted on January 3, 2008 22:31
Mr. Ettefagh - I hope you are right, but I don't think you are. I think the Mullahs will try to bully all their neighbors and kill all westerners and won't stop until they are destroyed.
January 3, 2008 3:27 PM | Report Offensive Comments
Posted on January 3, 2008 15:27
Thank you Mr. Bruce M. Smith (poster above) and thank you Dr. Ettefagh.
As Mr. Smith says, business and action is either in Dubai, Mumbai or Shanghai....or it is goodbye.
Americans are good open-hearted people. Why they reelected Bush is beyond the rest of the world.
January 3, 2008 10:12 AM | Report Offensive Comments
Posted on January 3, 2008 10:12
As a retired Christian American living in Europe, I have never been more ashamed of my country than this Christmas. I reminded a British witch "evanlgelist" we have slaughtered innocent women and children for 5 Christmas's straight, and it's easy to read that rubbish on a heated and lit couch - try it in Baghdad.
But I'm hopeful in 2008; the tide is turning, and it's not in our favor (ie West) which bothers me NOT AT ALL. I agree with all Dr. Ettefagh's comments, and especially his great character judgements of Rumsfeld, Gonzalez and Bolton: all a national catastrophe for America, and rightfully so completely impotent in the rest of the world. That cynical show in Annopolis I add to the list of America' sins. Ending on a brighter note; where's the party for 2008? It ain't Washington of London. It's in Dubai where commerce took precident over violence and attempted robbery of other's resources.
January 3, 2008 9:47 AM | Report Offensive Comments
Posted on January 3, 2008 09:47
Good observations Dr. Ettefagh, about the real end of wars that was not Iran's war to begin with.
January 3, 2008 8:17 AM | Report Offensive Comments
Posted on January 3, 2008 08:17
To KOTZABASIS
What are those hollow American & Israeli options? Getting creamed in Iraq and Afghanistan instead of losing? Round Two of Israeli loss to Hezbollah? What about a financial implosion and bankruptcy of the U.S. economy which is in progress before the price oil hits $250 on any attack on Iran?
Or should we talk about the alternative option: acting like grown-ups?
January 3, 2008 7:59 AM | Report Offensive Comments
Posted on January 3, 2008 07:59
The US embargo of Iran has served only to strengthen the radical clerics who want to keep Western influence out of Iran, and weaken the US by making its products, burdened with rediculous controls (e.g., under Iran embargo rules, the US asserts extraterritorial jurisdiction over foreign made products with US origin parts, components or technology)unattractive to oil-rich countries in the Gulf. No other country asserts such sanctions over Iran, so traders in the Gulf and manufacturers everywhere avoid US products. The lack of US business presence in Iran denies the US channels of human intelligence in a society that is largely closed. The US is losing and Iran is winning, largely because of irrational policies and rhetoric by the US.
January 3, 2008 5:43 AM | Report Offensive Comments
Posted on January 3, 2008 05:43
Ali Ettefagh has laid Iran’s LIBIDO DOMINANDI on his psychoanalyst’s couch and has given us his professional prognostic diagnosis that it’s rapidly finding its GRATIFICATION not in the acquisition of nuclear weapons but in “common sense”, “stronger friendship, good neighborly conduct and removing doubt…(by ‘holocausting’ Israel?), in trade…and in the launch of an Egyptian –Iranian car”. According to Ettefagh, “stability and peaceful co-existence” is President’s Ahmadinejad’s agenda. He states, this is “the stark reality of today against the fog of yesterday’.
But the fog has not disappeared! And it’s behind it that Ahmadinejad’s regime is building its nuclear arsenal by which it will dominate the region and find ultimately its GRATIFICATION in the establishment of the twelfth Imam Mahdi’s prophesy of a Caesaro-Ayatollah state, seizing the leadership of the Muslim world and posing a stupendous threat to the existence of Western civilization.
This is why a politically and historically prudent U.S. administration should have all options on the table.
January 3, 2008 4:40 AM | Report Offensive Comments
Posted on January 3, 2008 04:40
Nice article Dr. Ettefagh!
ROBIN BARR
You are correct that a calm atmosphere is better for business, diplomacy and understanding. As the writer says, It is only the Anglo-American world that has yet to learn that the Cold War is really over.
As for Egypt's engagement of Israel, it is a cold peace and co-existence. Which is better than war. It is Israel that has no mind for peace and calm and wants to keep stirring the pot.
January 3, 2008 3:53 AM | Report Offensive Comments
Posted on January 3, 2008 03:53
You are describing a nascent regionalism that is sorely needed. If states of different faiths can work out their differences through the language of diplomacy, those of us in the West - other than a few jingoists - will cheer the process on.
Yet Israel is a Middle Eastern state too. Only Egypt has so far engaged Israel successfully on diplomatic terms. Is it conceivable that Muslim countries can engage Israel through diplomacy? Or does the West have to act as constructive mediator?
As for the West's need for oil, surely the environment for trade is better when the oil-rich countries of the near- and mid-east can solve their disputes diplomatically and allow a stable base for trade?
January 2, 2008 9:13 PM | Report Offensive Comments
Posted on January 2, 2008 21:13