Perhaps most controversial is the news that the Reformist candidate (and former president) Ali Akbar Hashemi Rafsanjani has been disqualified, as has current President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad’s handpicked candidate (the one he accompanied to the election registration), Esfandiar Mashaei.

With millions of supporters of disqualified candidates disappointed today, it is no wonder that many Iranians consider vetting day the true election day.

What the huge disqualifications do tells us is that the Supreme Leader and his hardline establishment are flexing their muscles for anyone who’s looking for trouble at this year’s presidential election — and that includes former members of the establishment who have distanced themselves from Khamenei in recent years.

But it’s looking like the drama might take place BEFORE the elections this time around. There is already talk that the Guardian Council disqualified Rafsanjani to embarrass him and that the Supreme Leader may take it upon himself to personally allow him to run. Reports are also coming in from Iran that Mashaei is considering appealing the decision to the Supreme Leader.

What’s more likely, however, is that Ahmadinejad is going to let this slide (besides, as the law stands now, he can run again in 2018) and Rafsanjani will announce a second choice for his supporters — presumably Hassan Rowhani, whose platform of addressing civil rights and opening up to the West fits the Reformist agenda.

The Guardian Council could hardly have failed to vet at least a few candidates with credentials tying them to today’s Reformist leaders, considering the political overlapping. Mohammad Reza Aref was the 1st Vice President under Reformist leader Mohammad Khatami’s second term. (Iranian presidents have many Vice Presidents — there are currently 12 — but the first VP is the most important: the only one who can take on the role of acting president.) And, further blurring the lines between the different factions in Iranian politics, approved candidate Gharazi once held top posts under Rafsanjani’s presidency. Other candidates have also in the past worked under some who are current Reformist leaders.

While the elections in Iran have long been a source of fascination for international observers, the intense coverage of the elections belies the truth of the Iranian political system: the president of Iran is hardly powerful when it comes to make substantial progress or change in Iran, and no matter who is in the office of the Presidency (or any other office, for that matter), power rests in the hands of one man and one man only: the Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei.

The Presidency is, more than anything, a gauge of the present ideology of the Supreme Leader and his inner circle. When Khatami won the first time around, there was an understanding that Iran’s powerbase was looking to open up a bit, both domestically and internationally. But it wasn’t long before that tiny window was broken: Khatami’s failure to support the student movement of 1999 not only proved his powerlessness but proved that the establishment’s interest in allowing more freedoms is fleeting.

When Ahmadinejad first came to power, Iran’s powerbase was keen to assert itself both regionally and internationally and was less interested in addressing — however trivially — the demands of the Iranian people. It was a direct contrast to the image of Khatami and it was intentional.

This time around, considering Ahmadinejad’s increasing insubordination, it’s likely that the Supreme Leader and his base are looking for one thing for sure: a president who doesn’t veer from the official line.

Here is the full list of candidates approved to run for Iran’s election:

Saeed Jalili (Iran’s top nuclear negotiator and the alleged pick of Supreme Leader Khamenei).

Gholam Ali Haddad Addel (former Chair of Iran parliament).

Ali Akbar Velayati (the former and longest-serving Foreign Minister).

Mohsen Rezaie (a former presidential candidate and former chief commander of the Iran Revolutionary Guard Corps).

Hassan Rowhani (a former top nuclear negotiator).

Mohammad Reza Aref (the former first Vice President of Reformist leader and former President Khatami).

Mohammad Bagher Ghalibaf (current mayor of Tehran).

Mohammad Gharazi (a former Minister of Petroleum).

 This article was originally featured on the Front Page of the Huffington Post on May 21, 2013. 

Click below to listen to the segment: 

 Iran_Election_Interview

When the mighty do not fall, they are felled, but Imran Khan is still going strong despite serious injuries this week at a campaign rally. He’s come a long way since I first interviewed him in 2011: he’s the most important person in Pakistan right now and the biggest election in his country’s history is all about him.

Unlike in the United States, campaigning in Pakistan has time limits and the brief period of campaigning ended Thursday at midnight with a massive Islamabad rally for Khan followed by a smaller rally for his main opponent: Mian Nawaz Sharif, the two-time former Prime Minister and head of the Pakistan Muslim League – Nawaz (PML-N) party.

Sharif, sweating under the grand lights of his stage, with a combover lightly flapping in the night’s breeze, and his microphone being held for him by a hand other than his, was — as his campaign has been — focused on Khan.

Khan, bandaged but vibrant, spoke to the millions from his hospital bed adorned with the national flag, all of the symbolism of his campaign suddenly embodied in a simple reality: my sacrifice has been for you, Pakistan.

In the sweltering heat of a Pakistan May — the hottest month of the Pakistani calendar — millions of Pakistanis are expected to trouble themselves to make their way to the polls to vote on Saturday, weeks after, for the first time in Pakistani history, a civilian government ended a full term. The election could have been scheduled for sometime in April, before the heatwave hits, before your average voter will think twice before heading out to spend time in a long line to vote in a country where electoral fraud is not a theory but a fact.

Some supporters of Khan and his Pakistan Tehreek-e Insaaf (PTI) party believe that detail demonstrates yet another attempt by Khan’s adversaries to sabotage his prospects.

Whether he will truly sweep the elections as he promises, these elections have been energized by arguably the biggest celebrity in Pakistan’s history. Imran Khan, or IK as his party calls him, has electrified and captured the imagination of two critical demographics: the women and the youth, a most alarming feat for a man who would soon be eligible for Medicare if he lived in the United States.

His grassroots, people-powered campaign, the likes of which are celebrated whenever glimpses of it are observed in the United States, has collected votes area by area, individual by individual. When I met with him in November, during a fundraising trip to the United States, he was explicit on this point: he told me it is his “dream of a democratic party, unlike the family parties that exist.” Accordingly, his funds have been put in organizing more than advertising. Pakistani news channels, replete with a barrage of product and political ads (which, it should be noted, are clearly tagged as “Paid Political Content” from beginning to end) are noticeably lacking in PTI commercials.

His opponents, PML-N and the Pakistan People’s Party spent the campaign season bombarding the airwaves with monotonous propaganda. PML-N ads focused on Sharif’s symbol: the powerful, fierce tiger, and interspersed it with repeated images of Khan, all of which happen to look better than Sharif’s. The PPP ads are also consistent: image after black and white image of the PPP’s glorified past leaders, Benazir Bhutto and her father, peppered with eulogies that give PPP ads the look and feel of a funeral procession. Despite themselves, the PML-N and PPP ads demonstrate the exact opposite of the popular PTI — where PML-N is focused on petty rivalries and PPP is focused on the long ago past, PTI is focused on the issues in a detailed platform for improving Pakistan and a future that intentionally climbs above Pakistan’s troubled past.

Indeed, Khan has captured the attention of his opponents and rendered their financial resources for advertizing irrelevant in comparison with his priceless human capital, making their coffers of gold accumulated over five terms of government seem less like a war chest and more like what they actually are: unaccounted for millions that belong in public funds, not in the Swiss savings accounts of an elite few.

With very little substance to attack Khan on, the rivalry has taken to attacking Khan’s character. This week the PPP painted him as an extremist Muslim, a Taliban sympathizer, at the same time that the PML-N derided his lack of religious faith, accusing him of being a playboy and a closeted kafir who sympathizes with a controversial religious sect. The claims cancel each other out, leaving Khan exactly where he wants to be: right in the middle, as an individual with a strong faith in Islam, a dating history, and an independent voice when it comes to Pakistan’s sovereignty.

Which brings us to his other big adversary: the United States. When I interviewed him this past November, he had just been through an ordeal trying enter the United States. After boarding a flight from Toronto he was pulled off by security and questioned about whether he planned to lead an anti-drones protest in front of the United Nations. Afterward, the State department issued a statement declaring that Khan was “welcome”. But actions speak louder than words.

In the US media, the noticeable lack of coverage of Pakistan’s historic election and Khan specifically is only overshadowed by blatant articles of support for Khan’s rivals, particularly the one that actually has a chance of beating him in this election cycle: Nawaz Sharif. Both the Christian Science Monitor and the Washington Post – amongst others — have published glowing reports of Sharif. The Monitor went out of its way to portray Sharif as a dove who, though he failed to do so both times he was Prime Minister, will now put the military in its place in favor of a powerful civilian government. The Post went above and beyond reality to characterize Sharif as a changed man, “mellowed” since his volatile days and “the best choice” for Pakistan — as usual, allowing itself to speak for a massive segment of another country’s populace.

With so much at stake, it’s no wonder Khan’s opponents have gone to all lengths to prevent his party’s success on Saturday. As part of PTI’s on-the-ground campaigning, the party has focused its advertising on banners and posteres, rather than television. Volunteers from across Pakistan and even across the world have been placing the banners in strategic locations throughout the country. One PTI organizer I spoke with said that in addition to the healthy supply of dedicated and passionate local workers, his branch has had numerous Pakistanis from abroad — several of which who don’t even speak Urdu — show up at the party headquarters to volunteer their time and effort to help in any way they can. Contrast that with news that some PML-N branches have had individuals pay financially disadvantaged Pakistanis for every PTI banner or poster they show up with.

It’s the kind of difference that has already made history, before election day has even started.

The fact is, whether or not Khan’s party wins big on Saturday, it’s already won the hearts and minds of tens of millions of Pakistanis. And that alone seems to be the most threatening thing of all.

This article was originally featured on The Huffington Post on May 10, 2013. 

He is what many refer to as the most popular politician in Pakistan. He is the leader of Pakistan’s Tehreek-e Insaaf or Movement for Justice political party even though he has no representation in parliament because his party boycotted the last elections in protest against what he felt was the undemocratic government of former President Parvez Musharraf. But Imran Khan is alsoan international celebrity. He is a sports hero who led Pakistan to their only Cricket World Cup victory and he is one of the country’s leading philanthropists. With tens of millions of dollars he raised through fundraisers around the world, he established Pakistan’s first and only cancer hospital and has built schools acrossthe nation, including a technical college in the province of Punjab. Today, he is the leading voice against corruption and the war in Afghanistan and Pakistan and he shows no signs of holding back. 

Click Here to Listen to Shirin Sadeghi’s interview with Imran Khan (originally broadcast in 2011)

It takes an extraordinary character to achieve what Amir “King” Khan has: an Olympic boxing champion at 17, a 4-time world boxing champion now — at 26 — and the most famous Muslim boxer since Muhammad Ali himself. 

“It’s not greed but it’s just like you wanna achieve everything that’s out there,” he tells me one fine spring day in California. Besides, “people like to watch an exciting fighter,” Khan says, “and I’m an exciting fighter.”

I met him recently at his new training camp in a place far removed from the Bolton Upon the Sea he calls home in England: in Union City, California, smack dab in the middle of American suburbia, not far from a busy strip mall and a Taco Bell. It’s a long way, culturally, from his previous training camp in Los Angeles. And even further from his home in England. Khan tells me that the luggage for his trip to the US was almost completely filled with Heinz breakfast beans and Cadbury chocolates from England — “the necessities,” he says. 

He didn’t need to tell me he’s out of place in Union City — even the big little city of nearby San Francisco wasn’t quite up to snuff for his playtime needs, it seems. But the fact that he’s made the move from his training camp in Lalaland tells me quite a lot: he will do what it takes to win and what it takes right now is his new coach Virgil Hunter who is from nearby Oakland and has set up Khan’s camp a few minutes’ drive from Union City. 

“We had to move here because like I said we have to be in a place where there’s going to be no distractions and we’re going to stay focused.” That hasn’t been a problem in Union City. 

Khan teamed up with Hunter late last year, after leaving his longtime coach Freddie Roach — Manny Pacquiao’s coach — in what was initially a tense breakup [http://www.guardian.co.uk/sport/blog/2012/dec/13/freddie-roach-amir-khan-carlos-molina]. “We’re good now, Freddie said ‘hi’ to me at my last match”. Hunter is going to teach Khan to channel his offensive anger into defensive control. It’s the one thing Freddie said Khan would never be able to do because “his personality will always be in the way.”

Khan disagrees and, with Hunter’s help, is determined to prove Roach wrong again and again. He already has once: his first match with Hunter as coach was in December 2012, against Carlos Molina. Khan won. 

“It’s in my blood to be a fighter, to be an aggressive fighter. What Virgil’s teaching me now is to kind of calm down a little bit because at times I do get too excited and I do get into a fight when I don’t need to get in to a fight.”

 For Khan, anger has long been the weapon of choice alongside fierce footwork and calculated jabs. It’s what has given him the fire to compete and it’s the reason his father enrolled him in boxing lessons as a boy. But at 26, Khan, who exudes an air of wisdom about career boxing, wants to balance the defense with the offense in his game. He wants his title back and believes — as does Hunter — that pulling the punches needs to be balanced out with blocking them. The new Amir Khan wants to channel his anger into power, not let it get the best of him. “When you get angry in a fight, that’s where you make mistakes,” he tells me. With Hunter’s help and his own determination to “stay nice and calm” in the match, Khan plans to prove his fans right about their “King”, as he’s called. The December match against Molina crucially demonstrated the possibilities of a Hunter/Khan partnership. But his upcoming match against 33-year-old Julio Diaz could solidify it, even though it’s not a title match. 

Each match counts — Khan tends to fight only twice a year. What’s interesting about him is that he seems to know exactly where he’s headed and exactly where he wants to go. “I want to be in the sport probably till I’m like 29 or 30, achieve as much as I can achieve and then I’ve got businesses outside of boxing which I’ve started on.” 

His business plans are a reaction to seeing previous champions’ mistakes. He’s seen enough from his famed predecessors to know what he doesn’t want to become: champions like Ali, who he says “was in the sport a lot longer than he should have been”, and Mike Tyson who went bankrupt after he stopped fighting. 

“Tyson is a role model. I mean, in the ring he was the best. But it’s a shame how his career went. Hopefully I’ll never make them mistakes. You learn from people like him,” Khan tells me. Though he adds that “it’s easier said than done.”

Career-wise, so far he seems to have everything in place and he credits his fans and family for the support they’ve given him that other champions never had. His fans might be pleased to hear that he pays attention to what they say. Khan, who is quite active on social media, says his fans are “a big help because they tell me the rights and wrongs.” 

And his family is his rock. “They’ve been supporting me from day one. Being on my side. Being in the corner with me from day one.” His parents are from Pakistan and though he was born and raised in Bolton and has a famous penchant for his hometown, Khan values his dual nationality: Pakistan means a lot to him, too.

“My parents were born there so I think I’ve got a root there,” he tells me. “You can never forget your parents’ hometown. In a way it’s a hometown for me as well.” When we first began our conversation, Khan told me about how he’d just returned from a trip to Pakistan, where he has a house. 

“I thought it was crazy walking the streets in England and getting recognized by non-boxing fans and boxing fans but in Pakistan it was twice as crazy.” Khan visits at least once a year and says he tries to give back every time, especially by visiting schools in Pakistan and letting the kids know that part of his own success is the effort he put into getting a good education. He says he wants to “inspire them in sport” but also in education: “even though I made it as a boxer, education helped me, I still was smart in school and got good grades.”

On the personal front, he’s got plans, too, but he has found — and the world now knows — that the private lives of public figures aren’t quite as easy to plan out. The April 27 match isn’t the only spring fling on Khan’s calendar: in May he and his sweetheart, Faryal Makhdoom, are set to tie the knot at New York’s famed Waldorf Astoria. They met in 2011 during one of his stateside stays. 

“I was in New York doing a photo shoot for Prada and I bumped into her then,” he says, casually. They met at a dinner with friends and parted after “exchanging details”. Not long after, she came to London with her parents (“I think they had some work there,” Khan tells me) where they met again and “from there it just happened.”

“You know, I grew up a lot quicker than most guys my age would. I was in the limelight when I was 17, coming back from the Olympic games. I’ve done everything, now I feel like an old man so I think it’s best to settle down.”

As fast paced as his life is, Khan clearly values the moments where he can step back and reflect. He’s excited about the wedding and looking forward to opening this huge chapter in his life. “It’s so crazy how things happened because I always said I never want to marry a girl from America because it’s too far.” Too far from Bolton, that is. Khan’s feet are firmly planted in Bolton soil and one of the big conditions he set for his bride-to-be was that she had to move to Bolton after the wedding. And the fight. 

“It’s good to get this fight out of the way first and win this fight so at least I can go into the way happy,” he tells me. Win or loss, though, from what I’ve seen of Amir “King” Khan, very little can keep him down for long. 

This interview originally appeared on the Huffington Post on April 25, 2013.  

     در جمهوری اسلامی ایران رئیس جمهور هم تابع رهبر است (چهره ای که هرگز با رأی مستقیم مردم قرار انتخاب نمی شود.)، با این همه مقام ریاست جمهوری برای بسیاری جذاب است.

     این روزها در حالی که آقای احمدی نژاد آخرین روزهای ریاست جمهوری خود را می گذراند، آقای امیر احمدی کاندیداتوری جدی خود را اعلام کرده است . آقای امیر احمدی در بین افرادی که در خارج از ایران به سر می برند و به دنبال پست و مقامی در جمهوری اسلامی هستند، چهره ای شناخته شده است. آقای امیر احمدی ریاست انجمنی به نام “شورای ایرانی- آمریکایی”American-Iranian Council   را برعهده دارد.

     هدف اساسی این گروه بهبود روابط سیاسی ایران و آمریکاست. در واقع آقای امیر احمدی این امتیاز را دارا هستند که سبب شدند خانم “مدلین آلبرایت” ـ وزیر سابق امور خارجه ی آمریکا در زمان “بیل کلینتون” ـ رسماً از مردم ایران در مورد دخالت آمریکا و کودتای سال 1332 و برکناری دکتر مصدق عذرخواهی کند.

     آقای امیراحمدی متولد استان گیلان در شمال ایران می باشد. وی قبل از انقلاب سال 1357 به آمریکا مهاجرت کرده است. وی یکی از چهره های با نفوذ یکی از سازمان های نظریه پردازی است که این گروه از فعالان سازمان غیرانتفاعی حقوق بشر در بین ایرانیان خارج از کشور در حوزه ی نیویورک و واشنگتن است که با حوصله ی فراوان تماس های خود را با مقامات بلند پایه ی جمهوری اسلامی  حفظ می کنند به امید روزی که به ایران برگردند و صاحب قدرتی شوند. با این تفاوت که آقای امیر احمدی در باره ی هدف خود بسیار واضح و آشکار صحبت می کند. او از اینکه یک چهره ی پشت پرده باشد خسته شده است و برای به دست آوردن جایی در ردیف اول صندلی قدرت در ایران تلاش می کند. به همین منظور او از طریق وبسایت دو زبانه ی فارسی/ انگلیسی، رابطه ی خود را با ایرانیان داخل و خارج از کشور حفظ می کند.

     در فهرست وعده هایی که آقای امیراحمدی به مردم ایران می دهد، به چند نکته ی مهم اشاره شده است:  

1-    او قصد دارد که به حل مشاجره و برخوردهای سیاسی داخل ایران بپردازد. طبق نظر خود آقای امیر احمدی تنها یک چهره ی خارج از کشور و به دور از حکومتیان قادر است اختلافات داخل حکومت ایران را رفع کند.

2- وی تمام تلاش خود را برای بهبود روابط ایران و آمریکا بکار خواهد برد.

3- حل مشکلات اقتصادی ایران، ناشی از تحریم های اقتصادی غرب به خصوص کشور امریکا، یکی دیگر از اهداف اصلی اوست.

     از این سه نکته ی اصلی، آقای امیراحمدی بیش از هر چیز به بهبود روابط ایران و آمریکا توجه خاص دارد و به گفته ی خود آقای امیراحمدی بنیان و اساس سایر مشکلات جاری در ایران حاصل تیرگی روابط ایران و آمریکاست. ایشان در طول سال ها فعالیت  و وساطت در حل روابط ایران و آمریکا با چهره های مهمی در دو دولت ایران و آمریکا در تماس بوده است. آقای امیر احمدی بر این باور است که “آمریکا به دنبال یک فرد مناسب برای پست ریاست جمهوری در ایران است که بتواند منافع آنها را در ایران و منطقه حفظ کند و کمک کند به باز کردن درهای روابط اقتصادی و سیاسی بین دو کشور.”

     وی اضافه می کند که این فرد می تواند یک چهره ی چپ، میانه رو و یا محافظه کار باشد. آقای امیر احمدی بر این باور است که این درست همان چیزی است که مردم ایران در یک رئیس جمهور به دنبالش هستند.

     بر اساس گفته ی آقای امیراحمدی، ایشان شخصاً با محمود احمدی نژاد ملاقات داشته است و می گوید که رهبر جمهوری اسلامی مخالف گفتگوهای بین دو کشور است و این در حالی است که احمدی نژاد علاقمند به گفتگو بین ایران و آمریکاست، “اما اشتباه بزرگی که وی کرده است رفتن او به دنبال جریان هولوکاست و اسراییل است و این را خود آقای احمدی نژاد خوب می داند.”

     امیراحمدی می گوید که در دیداری که با احمدی نژاد داشت موضوع اسرائیل را پیش کشید و آقای احمدی نژاد به طور خصوصی حرف خود را در مورد اسراییل پس گرفت.

     آقای امیراحمدی می گوید: “در ابتدا آقای احمدی نژاد می گفت آنچه من گفته ام صحت دارد ولی بعداً او نظرش عوض شد.”

     طبق گفته ی آقای امیراحمدی “احمدی نژاد نهایتاً می گوید من منظورم رژیم اسرائیل بود نه مردم کشور اسرائیل، وقتی گفتم که باید از روی کره ی زمین برداشته شود؛ بطور مثال رژیم نتانیاهو. منظورم این نبود که هولوکاستی وجود نداشته، بلکه سوال من در مورد تعداد کشته شدگان [آن بوده است] و اینکه چرا جامعه ی جهانی نمی تواند در این مورد بررسی دقیق انجام دهد.”

     با این همه تماسی که آقای امیراحمدی با رئیس جمهور ایران داشته است، گویا هنوز شناخت کافی در مورد آزادی عمل و قدرت تصمیم گیری رئیس جمهور در ایران اسلامی را ندارد.

     در چند هفته ی گذشته آقای امیراحمدی حدود پنج ساعت وقت خود را صرف پرسش وپاسخ در یک فوروم آمریکایی به نام  Reddit.com کرد. این پرسش و پاسخ ها با افراد غیر آمریکایی صورت گرفت. در این پاسخ ها آقای امیراحمدی قدرتی را به رئیس جمهور ایران نسبت داده است که دور از واقعیت است. برای نمونه او قول داد که اگر انتخاب شود: “تمام مردم ایران از هر مذهبی، دارای حقوق مساوی خواهند بود.” و در دولت من “آزادی بیان به هر فرمی و به طور کامل حفظ خواهد شد.”

     اما این هردو موضوع مشخصه ی بارز رژیم جمهوری اسلامی ایران است که فقط رهبر در موردشان تصمیم می گیرد.

     در ادامه ی بحث آزادی، هنگامی که از آقای امیراحمدی در مورد “حجاب اجباری” پرسیده شد (که آشکارترین مسئله علیه آزادی در ایران است)، آقای امیراحمدی در پاسخ گفت: “قولی نمی دهم که در انجام آن ناتوان باشم و یا دروغ گفته باشم.” ایشان همچنین اضافه کردند که : “چادر قانون اسلام است.” در حالی که آقای امیراحمدی در این مورد اشتباه می کند و در هیچ جای قرآن حجاب اجباری نیست و در احادیث نیز اجباری دانسته نشده است.

     آقای امیراحمدی می گوید: همه باید همکاری کنیم، متاسفانه ایران  یک جامعه ی رادیکال  است.

     آقای امیراحمدی از وضعیت زنان در زمان شاه انتقاد کرد و گفت: “زنان در زمان شاه با یک شورتک در وسط تهران حرکت می کردند.”! 

     در عین حال آقای امیراحمدی از رژیم جمهوری اسلامی، که در آن زنان به اجبار حجاب دارند، انتقاد کرد. آقای امیر احمدی می گوید: “من ایران را خوب می شناسم”، در حالی که به نظر نمی آید که او شناخت و یا درک کافی و کاملی از ایرانیان داشته باشد. ایشان نمی دانند که در طول چهل سال گذشته که در ایران بسر نبرده است، چه تغییرات عظیمی در مردم و زندگی مردم ایران به وجود آمده است.

     رقم بالای آمار زندگی و همخانگی زنان و مردانی که ازدواج نکرده اند ـ در ایران امروز ـ و برگزاری جشن های خصوصی آنچنانی ـ که از شدت تجمل هالیوود را شرمنده کرده است ـ نشانگر تغیرات بسیار در بافت فرهنگی ایران است.

     ارتباط قوی ایرانیان داخل با دنیای خارج از طریق اینترنت است. : ایران امروز جوان­تر از آقای امیراحمدی و اندیشه های ایشان است و بدون درنظر گرفتن  اعتقادات مذهبی، از خیلی جهات زندگی ایرانیان غربی تر از زندگی نسل پیشین ـ در رژیم شاه ـ است.

     آقای امیر احمدی بدون در نظر گرفتن سال هایی که در ایران زندگی نکرده است، می گوید: “کسانی که در جمهوری اسلامی زندگی می کنند دارای شرایط لازم، مثل من، برای پست ریاست جمهوری نیستند.”.

     وی سپس در مورد قابلیت های خود سخن می گوید و برای نمونه از سوابق دانشگاهی خود (ایشان رئیس سابق مرکز تحقیقات خاورمیانه در راتگر است.) و وساطت های سیاسی خود نام می برد. آقای امیر احمدی می گوید که ایرانیان خارج از کشور در جهانی زندگی کرده اند و دیدگاهی به دست آورده اند که ایرانیان ایزوله ی داخل ایران از آن بی بهره اند.

     وی سپس می افزاید: “من ایران را خوب می شناسم و یکی از بهترین متخصصین در مورد مسایل ایران هستم، من همانند متوسط توده های ایرانی خارج از کشور نیستم که در خارج زندگی می کنند و هر از گاهی برای دیدار به سرزمینشان می روند. من به طور فعال و روزانه در طول این سال ها درگیر زندگی و مسایل ایران بوده و هستم.”.

     او برای مثال از دو نفر سخن به میان می آورد: محمد مرسی در مصر و آیت اله خمینی در ایران.

     با این همه ما می دانیم که هیچ کدام از این دو تن چهل سال خارج از کشورشان نبوده اند. آقای مورسی فقط شش سال در کالیفرنیای آمریکا درس می خواند و تدریس می کرد و پس از شش سال در سال 1985 به کشورش ـ مصر ـ برمی گردد و کار کردن در مصر را از مقامات پایین شروع می کند تا اینکه در سال 2012 به مقام ریاست جمهوری برگزیده می شود. آیت اله خمینی نیز فقط پانزده سال در خارج از ایران بود.

     به هر حال نمونه هایی را که آقای امیر احمدی به ما می دهند، نگران کننده است آن هم به دلیل آنچه انتخاب این دو فرد بر سر مردم این دو کشور آورده است. 

     آقای امیر احمدی می گوید که اگر به سمت ریاست جمهوری انتخاب شود، بزرگترین تصمیم بین المللی او این است که تصمیم ایران را در مورد فعالیت های اتمی به سوی تکنولوژی سایبری تغییر دهد. وی می گوید: ” تا ده سال آینده تکنولوژی سایبری چنان پیشرفت می کند که از آمریکا می توان بمب های روسیه را با سایبر از بین ببرد، آن هم بدون استفاده از بمب اتمی و فقط و فقط به کمک سایبر”. وی بلافاصله می افزاید که او تکنولوژی سایبری را فقط و فقط برای استفاده ی صلح آمیز پیشرفت خواهد داد.

     آقای امیر احمدی اضافه می کند که: “تحریم اقتصادی را خاتمه خواهد داد که ایران بتواند درهایش را به روی سرمایه گذاری های خارجی باز کند.” که این در ارتباط نزدیک با نقشه های داخلی او برای اضافه کردن در آمد نفتی و متنوع کردن درآمدهای حاصل از تبادلات اقتصادی از طریق کشاورزی و صنعت است. وی در ادامه می گوید که برای اهداف شرکت های کوچک، به خصوص بخش ساختمان سازی تلاش خواهد کرد. و سپس می افزاید: “من به طور جدی فعالیت های اقتصادی را وسعت می بخشم.”

     آقای امیر احمدی قول می دهد که فقط در چهار سال اول ریاست جمهوری اش حدود شش میلیون شغل به وجود آورد. البته در این مورد گفتن بسیار آسان تر از عمل کردن است.

     کاندیداهای ریاست جمهوری قرار است در ماه خرداد اعلام شود. تا رسیدن ماه خرداد باید منتظر ماند و دید که آقای امیر احمدی چه تصمیمات عملی و قابل اجرای تازه ای در مورد بهبود وضع ایران پیشنهاد خواهد کرد!

 http://iroon.com/irtn/blog/1303/

by Shirin Sadeghi Feb 26, 2013 12:43 PM EST

This article originally appeared in Newsweek/The Daily Beast on February 26, 2013.