BeyondHeadlines

Tag: America

  • बारह बरस से भटकती रूहें और एक चुनाव सर्वे

    बारह बरस से भटकती रूहें और एक चुनाव सर्वे

    By 

    इतिहास गवाह है कि प्रतीकों को भुनाने के मामले में फासिस्‍टों का कोई तोड़ नहीं. वे तारीखें ज़रूर याद रखते हैं. खासकर वे तारीखें, जो उनके अतीत की पहचान होती हैं. खांटी भारतीय संदर्भ में कहें तो किसी भी शुभ काम को करने के लिए जिस मुहूर्त को निकालने का ब्राह्मणवादी प्रचलन सदियों से यहां रहा है, वह अलग-अलग संस्‍करणों में दुनिया के तमाम हिस्‍सों में आज भी मौजूद है और इसकी स्‍वीकार्यता के मामले में कम से कम सभ्‍यता पर दावा अपना जताने वाली ताकतें हमेशा ही एक स्‍वर में बात करती हैं. यह बात कितनी ही अवैज्ञानिक क्‍यों न जान पड़ती हो, लेकिन क्‍या इसे महज संयोग कहें कि जो तारीख भारतीय लोकतंत्र के इतिहास में एक कालिख की तरह यहां के फासिस्‍टों के मुंह पर आज से 12 साल पहले पुत गई थी, उसे धोने-पोंछने के लिए भी ऐन इसी तारीख का चुनाव 12 साल बाद दिल्‍ली से लेकर वॉशिंगटन तक किया गया है?

    मुहावरे के दायरे में तथ्‍यों को देखें. 27 फरवरी 2002 को गुजरात के गोधरा स्‍टेशन पर साबरमती एक्‍सप्रेस जलाई गई थी जिसके बाद आज़ाद भारत का सबसे भयावह नरसंहार किया गया जिसने भारतीय राजनीति में सेकुलरवाद को एक परिभाषित करने वाले केंद्रीय तत्‍व की तरह स्‍थापित कर डाला. ठीक बारह साल बाद इसी 27 फरवरी को 2014 में नरेंद्र मोदी की स्‍वीकार्यता को स्‍थापित करने के लिए दो बड़ी प्रतीकात्‍मक घटनाएं हुईं. गुजरात नरसंहार के विरोध में तत्‍कालीन एनडीए सरकार से समर्थन वापस खींच लेने वाले दलित नेता रामविलास पासवान की दिल्‍ली में नरेंद्र मोदी से होने वाली मुलाकात और भारतीय जनता पार्टी को समर्थन; तथा अमेरिकी फासीवाद के कॉरपोरेट स्रोतों में एक प्‍यू रिसर्च सेंटर द्वारा जारी किया गया एक चुनाव सर्वेक्षण, जो कहता है कि इस देश की 63 फीसदी जनता अगली सरकार भाजपा की चाहती है.

    प्‍यू रिसर्च सेंटर क्‍या है और इसके सर्वेक्षण की अहमियत क्‍या है, यह हम आगे देखेंगे लेकिन विडंबना देखिए कि ठीक दो दिन पहले 25 फरवरी 2014 को न्‍यूज़ एक्‍सप्रेस नामक एक कांग्रेस समर्थित टीवी चैनल द्वारा 11 एजेंसियों के ओपिनियन पोल का किया गया स्टिंग किस सुनियोजित तरीके से आज ध्‍वस्‍त किया गया है! ठीक वैसे ही जैसे रामविलास पासवान का भाजपा के साथ आना पिछले साल नरेंद्र मोदी के प्रधानमंत्री पद की उम्‍मीदवारी के खिलाफ नीतिश कुमार के एनडीए से निकल जाने के बरक्‍स एक हास्‍यास्‍पद प्रत्‍याख्‍यान रच रहा है.

    न्‍यूज़ एक्‍सप्रेस ने तो तमाम देसी-विदेशी एजेंसियों के सर्वेक्षणों की पोल खोल ही दी थी, लेकिन आज आए प्‍यू के पोल की स्‍वीकार्यता देखिए कि सभी अखबारों और वेबसाइटों ने उसे प्रमुखता से प्रकाशित किया है और कहीं कोई आपत्ति का स्‍वर नहीं है. दरअसल, ओपिनियन पोल की विधि और तकनीकी पक्षों तक ही उनके प्रभाव का मामला सीमित नहीं होता, बल्कि उसके पीछे की राजनीतिक मंशा को गुणात्‍मक रूप से पकड़ना भी जरूरी होता है. इसलिए सारे ओपिनियन पोल की पोल खुल जाने के बावजूद आज यानी 27 फरवरी को गोधरा की 12वीं बरसी पर जो इकलौता विदेशी ओपिनियन पोल मीडिया में जारी किया गया है, हमें उसकी जड़ों तक जाना होगा जिससे कुछ फौरी निष्‍कर्ष निकाले जा सकें.

    एक पोल एजेंसी के तौर पर अमेरिका के प्‍यू रिसर्च सेंटर का नाम भारतीय पाठकों के लिए अनजाना है. इस एजेंसी ने मनमाने ढंग से चुने गए 2464 भारतीयों का सर्वेक्षण किया है और निष्‍कर्ष निकाला कि 63 फीसदी लोग भाजपा की सरकार चाहते हैं तथा 78 फीसदी लोग नरेंद्र मोदी को प्रधानमंत्री देखना चाहते हैं. विस्‍तृत जानकारी किसी भी अखबार की वेबसाइट से ली जा सकती है, लेकिन हमारी दिलचस्‍पी पोल पर से परदा उठाकर उसके पीछे छुपे चेहरों को बेनक़ाब करने की है. ध्‍यान दें कि सवा अरब के देश में महज़ ढाई हज़ार लोगों के इस सर्वेक्षण को जारी करने की तारीख चुनी गई 27 फरवरी, जिस दिन रामविलास और मोदी दोनों अपने जीवन का एक चक्र पूरा करने वाले हैं. क्‍या कोई संयोग है यह? कतई नहीं.

    प्‍यू रिसर्च सेंटर वॉशिंगटन स्थित एक अमेरिकी थिंक टैंक है जो अमेरिका और बाकी दुनिया के बारे में आंकड़े व रुझान जारी करता है. इसे प्‍यू चैरिटेबल ट्रस्‍ट्स चलाता और वित्‍तपोषित करता है, जिसकी स्‍थापना 1948 में हुई थी. इस समूह में सात ट्रस्‍ट आते हैं जिन्‍हें 1948 से 1979 के बीच सन ऑयल कंपनी के मालिक जोसेफ प्‍यू के चार बेटे-बेटियों ने स्‍थापित किया था. सन ऑयल कंपनी का ब्रांड नाम सनोको है जो 1886 में अमेरिका के पेनसिल्‍वेनिया में बनाई गई थी. इसका मूल नाम पीपुल्‍स नैचुरल गैस कंपनी था. कंपनी के मालिक जोसेफ प्‍यू के सबसे बड़े बेटे जे. हॉवर्ड प्‍यू (ट्रस्‍ट के संस्‍थापक) 1930 के दशक में अमेरिकन लिबर्टी लीग की सलाहकार परिषद और कार्यकारी कमेटी के सदस्‍य थे और उन्‍होंने लीग को 20,000 डॉलर का अनुदान दिया था. यह लीग वॉल स्‍ट्रीट के बड़े अतिदक्षिणपंथी कारोबारियों द्वारा बनाई गई संस्‍था थी जिसका काम अमेरिकी राष्‍ट्रपति रूज़वेल्‍ट का तख्‍तापलट कर के वाइट हाउस पर कब्‍ज़ा करना था. विस्‍तृत जानकारी 1976 में आई जूलेस आर्चर की पुस्‍तक दि प्‍लॉट टु सीज़ दि वाइट हाउस में मिलती है. हॉवर्ड प्‍यू ने सेंटिनेल्‍स ऑफ दि रिपब्लिक और क्रूसेडर्स नाम के फासिस्‍ट संगठनों को भी तीस के दशक में वित्‍तपोषित किया था.

    प्‍यू परिवार का अमेरिकी दक्षिणपंथ में मुख्‍य योगदान अतिदक्षिणपंथी संगठनों, उनके प्रचारों और प्रकाशनों को वित्‍तपोषित करने के रूप में रहा है. नीचे कुछ फासिस्‍ट संगठनों के नाम दिए जा रहे हैं जिन्‍हें इस परिवार ने उस दौर में खड़ा करने में आर्थिक योगदान दिया:

    1. नेशनल एसोसिएशन ऑफ मैन्‍युफैक्‍चरर्स: यह फासीवादी संगठन उद्योगपतियों का एक नेटवर्क था जो न्‍यू डील विरोधी अभियानों में लिप्‍त था और आज तक यह बना हुआ है.

    2. अमेरिकन ऐक्‍शन इंक: चालीस के दशक में अमेरिकन लिबर्टी लीग का उत्‍तराधिकारी संगठन.

    3. फाउंडेशन फॉर दि इकनॉमिक एजुकेशन: एफईई का घोषित उद्देश्‍य अमेरिकियों को इस बात के लिए राज़ी करना था कि देश समाजवादी होता जा रहा है और उन्‍हें दी जा रही सुविधाएं दरअसल उन्‍हें भूखे रहने और बेघर रहने की आज़ादी से मरहूम कर रही हैं. 1950 में इसके खिलाफ अवैध लॉबींग के लिए जांच भी की गई थी.

    4. क्रिश्चियन फ्रीडम फाउंडेशन: इसका उद्देश्‍य अमेरिका को एक ईसाई गणराज्य बनाना था जिसके लिए कांग्रेस में ईसाई कंजरवेटिवों को चुनने में मदद की जाती थी.

    5. जॉन बिर्च सोसायटी: हज़ार इकाइयों और करीब एक लाख की सदस्‍यता वाला यह संगठन कम्‍युनिस्‍ट विरोधी राजनीति के लिए तेल कंपनियों द्वारा खड़ा किया गया था.

    6. बैरी गोल्‍डवाटर: वियतनाम के खिलाफ जंग में इसकी अहम भूमिका थी.

    7. गॉर्डन-कॉनवेल थियोलॉजिकल सेमिनरी: यह दक्षिणपंथी ईसाई मिशनरी संगठन था जिसे प्‍यू ने खड़ा किया था.

    8. प्रेस्बिटेरियन लेमैन: इस पत्रिका को सबसे पहले प्रेस्बिटेरियन ले कमेटी ने 1968 में प्रकाशित किया, जो ईसाई कट्टरपंथी संगठन था.

    जोसेफ प्‍यू की 1970 में मौत के बाद उनका परिवार निम्‍न संगठनों की मार्फत अमेरिका में फासिस्‍ट राजनीति को फंड कर रहा है:

    1. अमेरिकन इंटरप्राइज़ इंस्‍टीट्यूट, जिसके सदस्‍यों में डिक चेनी, उनकी पत्‍नी और पॉल उल्‍फोविज़ जैसे लोग हैं.

    2. हेरिटेज फाउंडेशन, जो कि एक नस्‍लवादी, श्रम विरोधी, दक्षिणपंथी संगठन है.

    3. ब्रिटिश-अमेरिकन प्रोजेक्‍ट फॉर दि सक्‍सेसर जेनरेशन, जिसे 1985 में रीगन और थैचर के अनुयायियों ने मिलकर बनाया और जो दक्षिणपंथी अमेरिकी और ब्रिटिश युवाओं का राजनीतिक पोषण करता है.

    4. मैनहैटन इंस्टिट्यूट फॉर पॉलिसी रिसर्च, जिसकी स्‍थापना 1978 में विलियम केसी ने की थी, जो बाद में रीगन के राज में सीआइए के निदेशक बने.

    उपर्युक्‍त तथ्‍यों से एक बात साफ़ होती है कि पिछले कुछ दिनों से इस देश की राजनीति में देखने में आ रहा था, वह एक विश्‍वव्‍यापी फासिस्‍ट एजेंडे का हिस्‍सा था जिसकी परिणति ऐन 27 फरवरी 2014 को प्‍यू के इस सर्वे में हुई है. शाह आलम कैंप की की भटकती रूहों के साथ इससे बड़ा धोखा शायद नहीं हो सकता था. यकीन मानिए, चौदहवीं लोकसभा के लिए फासीवाद पर अमेरिकी मुहर लग चुकी है. (Courtesy: pratirodh.com)

  • Actor and Son of BJP Leader Carried Largest Land Scam of India

    Actor and Son of BJP Leader Carried Largest Land Scam of India

    Akela for BeyondHeadlines

    Bollywood Actor and Jayant Mhalagi have allegedly encroached around 650 Acres of Forest and Agricultural land and have developed a private hill station without obtaining required permission from Authorities. The duo has not only cheated the farmers and NRI’s from America, Dubai, Singapore, Goa, Kerala and Nagpur but have also caused very serious damage to the environment.

    The proper investigation into alleged misdeeds of the two can uncover one of the biggest land scams in India. The Accused have Named their Porject ‘Mini Mahabaleshwar’. The Girivan a private hill station is situated at Hotale village near Kolvan of Mulshi taluka of Pune district. Approximately at 2400 feet above sea level and 400 feet above the Lonavala hill station.

    The visit to the place (Girivan) last week revealed rampand dadagiri of security guards.

    According to plot owners the Jayant Mhalagi who is the son of very reputed former BJP Member of Parliament (MP) Rambhau Mhalagi and film actor Vikram Gokhale started project in year 1989-1990. The Mhalagi is the managing director (MD) and Gokhale Chairman of the Girivan Group of Industries. The Mhalagi did these activities under banner of “Sujata Farms private limited”.

    They allegedly encroaches 650 acres farmers (agricultures) and forest lands and started selling lands claiming as they are actual owners. More than 1050 persons from America, Dubai, Singapore, Goa, Nagpur, Kerala, Mumbai and Pune have bought land till now. Among them 250 persons are from Mumbai and 400 from Pune. Politicians, bureaucrats, bankers, doctors, engineers, share brokers and retired central agencies officials have invested their money in the project.

    “I bought land on name of Rambhau Mhalagi thinking his son Jayant will be honest but I was wrong. I have been cheated. The Mhalagi have no paper of the land,” said MS Joshi who bought 18 acres land and run a resort in Girivan.

    The Mhalagi and Gokhale have not only encroached farmers land illegally; they have als encroached few acres of forest land and sold it to investors. Keeping environmental norms aside, the have also cut down down more then Hundred trees. 18 kilometers of road were also constructed after cutting down trees and greenery of forest. Interestingly, Mhalagi constructed this road on lands of plot owners but takes “road tax” Rs 6000 per year.

    “Mhalagi constructed road in my land and demands “road tax” to me,” said Arun Deshmukh, a plot owner.

    The scam came in light in 2005 when a farmer Ganesh Jauhari smell something fishy and demarcated his land. He was shocked to know that his land was sold. The other farmers started demarcation of their lands and then Mhalagi and Gokhale (who fights against corruption in reel life) showed their real face.

    In Typical Bollywood style the reel life heros turned Gunda’s in real life and hired personal security guards to threaten farmers. The guards posted on the entrance started threatening farmers and stopped their entry to their lands. The farmers have their Kuldevi (Bhairavnath and Waghjai) temples inside Girivan. In October 2010 the farmers tried to perform special pooja but security guards did not allowed them. After brief altercations the farmers registered a complaint in Paud police station 11 security guards were arrested.

    Sources told this reporter that Mhalagi and Gokhale divided their roles to manage farmers and government machinery. The Mhalagi managed farmers, sarpanch, tehsildar, district collector and police and Gokhale uses his influence in Ministry of Maharashtra. The whole government machinery knows about this scam but did not dare to take action. The local officials did something but on papers.

    What did government authorities?

    1- Slowly- slowly investors came to know about illegality of Girivan. More than 17 farmers complained in writing to the Tehsildar against Girivan. The farmers had complained that A- Girivan management had changed the route of natural water so they are losing their agriculture. B- The management had encroached their lands and rounded by iron wire and C- the management have constructed road on their land and also not allowing using it.

    On October 31, 2006 Tehsildar wrote a letter (copy available with Author) to the farmers that he visited the place (Girivan) and found correct their complaints. For this Tehsildar have given warning in writing (copy available with Author) to the Girivan.

    2- On August 30, 2007, a plot owner Smita Joshi demanded information through right to information (RTI) to the district collector asking provide papers of the Girivan. On September 28, 2007, collector office replied (copy available with Author) that he have no papers related Girivan.

    3- On December 10, 2007, Member of Parliament (MP) Shivaji Adhalrao Patil

    wrote a letter (copy available with Author) to the Hotale village “Sarpanch” informing that he has written a letter to then district collector Prabhakar Deshmukh demanding inquiry in to the matter. Patil had asked that if anyone found guilty take necessary action on them.

    4- On January 25, 2008 Member of Legislative Assembly (MLA) Sharad Bajirao Dhamale also written a letter (copy available with Author) to the Tehsildar complaining Girivan illegally has constructed a gate and not giving permission to enter the farmers inside. Look in to the matter and take action but Tehsildar did nothing.

    5-On April 30, 2008 plot owners and farmers met then superintendent of police (SP) Vishwas Nangre Patil and gave a complaint in writing (copy available with Author) demanding inquiry and action in to the matter but Patil also did nothing.

    6- On December 18, 2008 revenue department fined Rs 75 lakh to the Girivan as he illegally dogged a mine. The Tehsildar warned (copy available with Author) that this last warning to stop the illegal activities in Girivan.

    7- On July 2, 2009 development officer, Panchayat committee, wrote a letter (copy available with Author) to the Mhalagi that he has constructed 493 square meter land illegally on name of Sujata forms private limited. Mhalagi had forged the documents but not submitted the original papers. The Panchayat asked to produce original papers neither construction will be declare illegal.

    8- On December 18, 2009 the forest department informed (copy available with Author) to Smita Joshi that he has registered offence against Girivan for illegally encroaching on forest land.

    “I have received complaint. Matter is under investigation,” said P Bhalekar, forest officer.

    9- On September 6, 2011 farmers (land owners) complained in general meeting (Lok Shahi Din) of district collector. The collector ordered (copy available with Author) to the revenue department to inquire in to the matter and take action on Girivan.

    The cheated plot owners formed Girivan plot owners association five years back and now have 250 members.

    The plot owners said…

    1- “I have filed a case in consumer court. Shocking, Mhalagi told the court that I have never bought the land and have encroaches on the land. Mhalagi took money of total 18 guntha but registered only 13 guntha. He have no documents of one guntha land,” said Dr RN Chaturvedi, president of association.

    2-Mhalagi and Gokhale have cheated to us with collaboration of government officials. Now we want justice,” said Arun Deshmukh, vice president of association. Seven years back Deshmukh bought 14,000 square fit lands, in which Mhalagi encroaches 1000 square fit land and constructed the road.

    3- “I collected all documents that prove that Girivan is illegal. I will show on time,” said a plot owner, retired from central investigative agency.

    4- “I feel like prison inside Girvan. If I try to walk in morning or evening the security guards objects that why I am roaming? I am shocked to know that Girvan is illegal,” said a woman plot owner who did not want to publish her name as Girivan management will harass her.

    5- “If project falls in agriculture land then how Mhalagi and Gokhale developed him. Why not they have demarcated their land till now. They are qualified gunda,” said a plot holder who is also member of Girvan management.

    Author visited farmer Ganesh Jauhri’s residence. His mother Sita Bai told that he is out of city for a week.

    The other side

    The management of Girivan replied to our query that, “our Project is absolutely legal. In our project there is no forest land. The land in project (Girivan) falls in Agriculture category. We have not cut trees. We have planted thousands of trees in the project with the help and assistance of the forest department. The revenue department has claimed an amount from us towards royalty. The matter is pending in the Court.”

    “Everything is legal in our project. Some persons are defaming our project. They are creating nuisance. I challenge that if any person prove that we have encroaches forest land we will pay the double land. The some plot holders have illegally developed their plots,” said Vikram Gokhale,” chairman of the Girivan.

    (Akela is working with MID DAY as Principle Correspondent)

  • Security Beefed up in US After ‘Credible’ Terror Threats

    Security Beefed up in US After ‘Credible’ Terror Threats

    BeyondHeadlines Foreign Desk

    New Delhi: Authorities in New York and New Jersey have increased security after reports of a credible, uncorroborated threat that terrorists may be plotting an attack in the city around the 10th anniversary of the 9/11 attacks.

    Police cruisers have taken up positions on midtown blocks on Lexington, Park and Fifth avenues in Manhattan as officers stopped trucks and other vehicles for inspection. Drivers were made to open the storage spaces of delivery trucks for police.

    Courtesy: Euronews

    In Brooklyn, US marshals armed with machine guns guarded the federal courthouse and increased security was observed in front of the nearby city emergency management office.

    “We have already had a full complement of people working shifts because of the September 11 anniversary prior to this,” FBI spokesman Jim Margolin said.

    “We are taking the logical investigative measures to assess this threat.”

    New York police officers will extend their shifts by four hours at least through until September 12.

    Police commissioner Ray Kelly said police would increase vehicle checks and monitor bridges and tunnels.

    They will also increase baggage screenings in subways, patrol outside places of worship and government buildings and conduct bomb sweeps of public garages.

    “We will deploy quick-reaction teams consisting of heavily armored officers,” Kelly said.

    New York landmarks, including Grand Central Terminal and Pennsylvania Station, will have heightened security tomorrow, as will major events including the US Open tennis tournament in Queens.

    A heavily guarded “frozen zone” for vehicles is being created from West Street to Broadway and Murray to Albany streets in Lower Manhattan. Several streets in the area will be closed over the weekend.

    To assist the police, the FBI will mobilise specialized teams, including special agents, bomb technicians and SWAT and hazardous-materials crews.

    New York Governor Andrew Cuomo said he had deployed additional state police and National Guard troops throughout the New York City area this weekend, to supplement law enforcement patrols already assigned to regional airports, bus terminals and subway and train stations.

    On September 11, 2001, terrorists hijacked four airliners. Two were flown into the twin World Trade Centre towers in New York, destroying them; a third hit the Pentagon in Arlington, Virginia; and one crashed in Shanksville, Pennsylvania, after passengers attacked the hijackers. Close to 3000 people were killed.

    New York police have stopped at least 13 terrorist attacks since then, Mayor Michael Bloomberg said.

    While the killing of Osama bin Laden has helped reduce the threat, the mayor said, “the one thing we know is the terrorists have not gone away.”

    The latest threat concerns a possible al-Qaeda-sponsored attack targeting New York or Washington on or near the anniversary of the 9/11 attack, said an official who wasn’t authorised to discuss the matter publicly.

    The official said the intelligence concerns a possible vehicle-borne attack, perhaps on a transportation hub or bottleneck, and cautioned that the options may be broader than a car or truck bombing.

    Authorities are “doing everything” possible to confirm the threat, House Homeland Security Committee Chairman Peter King said.

    “There are literally hundreds if not thousands of names being scrubbed” in a database of suspected terrorists, King said in an interview.

    He said investigators were “going to suppliers and store owners, anyone who’s had a car stolen, anyone who’s leased certain types of trucks, anyone who sold explosives.”

    King praised the administration of President Barack Obama for its coordination of the investigation.

    “This is light years different from pre-September 11, when this information may have sat there,” King said.

    An official in Washington said the credible intelligence revolved around a plot possibly hatched by al-Qaeda in Pakistan involving three individuals, including possibly one American.

    Another official cautioned that information wasn’t yet confirmed.

    A US intelligence alert that federal officials sent to local law enforcement said operatives in the suspected plot may be carrying American documents, according to two people familiar with the alert.

    Intelligence officials learned of the possible threat in intercepted communications among suspected al-Qaeda operatives in the tribal areas of western Pakistan, three intelligence officials said.

    However, they said, the “chatter”, as they described the intercepted conversations, did not name the alleged attackers and included only vague descriptions of vehicle-borne attacks on the two most likely targets on a day of obvious significance and media attention.

    Three weeks ago, 100 New Jersey state police detectives began contacting 2500 businesses that may be used by terrorists, including fertiliser suppliers, truck rental agencies and hotels in a so-called trip-wire operation designed to produce leads, New Jersey State Police Superintendent Rick Fuentes said.

    “Those are the people you need to connect to; the people who are going to give you the initial leads that are going to get you to the bottom of terror operations,” Fuentes said.

    Bloomberg said New York received “threats all the time.”

    “Each time we increase our security, which obviously we had done for this. Are we increasing a little more? Yes, we’re increasing a little more but there’s a limit to how much you can have, just because you can’t have a cop on every corner,” he said.

    “But remember, a lot of the precautions we take, you don’t see.”

    Obama, who is scheduled to attend ceremonies at Ground Zero tomorrow with former President George W. Bush, was briefed on the threat yesterday by National Security Adviser Tom Donilon, White House counterterrorism adviser John Brennan, and Deputy National Security Adviser Denis McDonough before leaving for a speech in Richmond, Virginia.

    “As we head into the 9/11 anniversary weekend, we continue to urge the American public to be vigilant and report any suspicious activity to law enforcement authorities,” Secretary of Homeland Security Janet Napolitano said in a statement.

    “We take all threat reporting, including the recent specific, credible but unconfirmed threat information, seriously.”

    (Bloomberg inputs)

     

  • Arabs Rise, Tehran Trembles

    Arabs Rise, Tehran Trembles

    Karim Sadjadpour

    In “Garden of the Brave in War,” his classic memoir of life on a pomegranate farm in 1960s Iran, the American writer Terence O’Donnell recounts how his illiterate house servant, Mamdali, would wake him every morning with a loud knock on the door and a simple question: “Are you an Arab or an Iranian?”

    “If I was naked,” O’Donnell explained, “I would answer that I’m an Arab and he would wait outside the door, whereas if I was clothed I would reply that I was an Iranian and he would come in with the coffee.” This joke went hand in hand, O’Donnell wrote, with an age-old chauvinism that depicted the Persians’ Arab neighbors as “uncivilized people who went about unclothed and ate lizards.”

    The Islamist victors of the 1979 Iranian revolution intended to change things, to replace the shah’s haughty Persian nationalism with an Arab-friendly, pan-Islamic ideology. Yet Tehran’s official reaction to the 2011 Arab awakening shows that, at the heart of the Islamic Republic of Iran’s Middle East strategy, there lays a veiled contempt for Arab intelligence, autonomy and prosperity.

    What many young Iranians see as a familiar struggle for justice, economic dignity and freedom from dictatorial rule, Iranian officialdom has struggled to spin as a belated Arab attempt to emulate the Islamic revolution and join Tehran in its battle against America and Israel.The delusions of the Iranian regime are partly attributable to a generation gap. Tehran’s ruling elite continue to cling to the antiquated ideology of Ayatollah Ruhollah Khomeini, whose worldview was formed by decades of imperial transgressions in Iran. The demographic boom in the Middle East, however, has brought a wave of young Arabs and Iranians who associate subjugation and injustice not with colonial or imperial powers, but with their own governments.

    Until now, Iran’s interests have been served by the Arab status quo: frustrated populations ruled over by emasculated regimes incapable of checking Israel, and easily dismissed as American co-dependents. A conversation I once had with a senior Iranian diplomat is instructive.

    He complained, justifiably, about Washington’s excessive focus on military power to solve political problems. I posed a simple hypothetical: What if, instead of having spent several billion dollars financing Hezbollah, Hamas and Islamic Jihad over the past three decades, Iran had spent that money educating tens of thousands of Palestinians and Lebanese Shiites to become doctors, professors and lawyers? Wouldn’t those communities now be much better off and in a much stronger position to assert their rights vis-à-vis Israel?

    “What good would that have done for Iran?” he responded candidly. (He himself had a doctorate from a British university.) “Do you think if we sent them abroad to study they would return to southern Lebanon and Gaza to fight Israel? Of course not; they would have remained doctors, lawyers and professors.”

    Iran, in essence, understands that it can inspire and champion the region’s downtrodden and dispossessed, but not the upwardly mobile. Its strategy to dominate the Middle East hinges less on building nuclear weapons than on the twin pillars of oil and alienation.

    Iranian petrodollars are used to finance radicals — Khaled Meshaal in Syria, Hassan Nasrallah in Lebanon and Moktada al-Sadr in Iraq, to name a few — who feed off popular humiliation. As an Arab Shiite friend once complained to me, “Iran wants to fight America and Israel down to the last Palestinian, Lebanese and Iraqi.”

    At first glance, the fall of Western-oriented Arab governments may appear to be a blow to Washington and a boon for Tehran. The seeming consensus among Western analysts and pundits — that Iran will fill the Middle East power vacuum — is short-sighted.

    While the relationship between Egypt and Iran — the regions two oldest and most populous nations — will likely improve, the competition between them will likely intensify.

    Tehran’s ascent in the Arab world over the last decade has been partly attributable to Cairo’s decline. The potential re-emergence of a proud, assertive Egypt will undermine Shiite Persian Iran’s ambitions to be the vanguard of the largely Sunni Arab Middle East. Indeed, if Egypt can create a democratic model that combines political tolerance, economic prosperity and adept diplomacy, Iran’s model of intolerance, economic malaise and confrontation will hold little appeal in the Arab world.

    Renewed Iranian influence in places like Bahrain and Yemen may also prove self-limiting. As we have seen in Iraq, familiarity with Iranian officialdom often breeds contempt. Polls have shown that even a sizable majority of Iraq’s Shiites resent the meddling in their affairs by their co-religionists from Iran. “The harder they push,” said Ryan Crocker, a former United States ambassador to Iraq, “the more resistance they get.”

    Elsewhere in the Arab world, Iranian proxies like Hezbollah will increasingly find themselves in the awkward position of being a resistance group purportedly fighting injustice while simultaneously cashing checks from a patron that is brutally suppressing justice at home.

    The Arab uprisings of 2011 will also, of course, have their effect on Iran internally. Iranian democracy advocates have long taken solace in the belief that they were ahead of their Arab neighbors, who would one day too have to undergo the intolerance and heartaches of Islamist rule. The largely secular nature of the uprisings in Egypt and Tunisia have bruised the Iranian ego: were they the only ones naïve enough to succumb to the false promise of an Islamic utopia?

    It has been said about authoritarian regimes that while they rule their collapse appears inconceivable, but after they’ve fallen their demise appears to have been inevitable. In the short term Tehran’s oil largesse and religious pretensions have seemingly created for it deeper, if not wider, popular support than many Arab regimes.

    But the regime’s curiously heavy-handed response to resilient pro-democracy protests — including the recent disappearance of opposition leaders Mir Hussein Mousavi and Mehdi Karroubi — betrays its anxiety about the 21st-century viability of an economically floundering, gender-apartheid state led by a “supreme leader” who purports to be the prophet’s representative on Earth.

    Tehran publicly cheered the fall of Egyptian and Tunisian regimes undone by corruption, economic stagnation and repression. Do its rulers not know that Iran — according to Transparency International, Freedom House and the World Bank — ranks worse than Tunisia and Egypt in all three categories?

    A saying often attributed to Lenin best captures the sorts of tectonic shifts taking place in today’s Middle East. “Sometimes decades pass and nothing happens; and then sometimes weeks pass and decades happen.”

    The uprisings may not all end happily. As history has shown time and again — notably in Iran in 1979 — minorities that are organized and willing to use violence can establish reigns of terror over unorganized or passive majorities. Whatever ensues, however, the Arab risings have revealed that Iran’s revolutionary ideology has not only been rendered bankrupt at home, but it has also lost the war of ideas among its neighbors.

    (Karim Sadjadpour is an associate at the Carnegie Endowment for International Peace)