Universal Outreach

In view of President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad's remarks in New York, Porcupine wanted to remind you of another facet to his worldwide outreach.

He is a Blogger as well. The blog has not been updated lately - only once since he sent us Christmas Greetings last December! However, it is worth checking out as a reflection of his mind.

And it is worth remembering that while he may, as Columbia President university President Lee Bollinger said, be a "petty and cruel dictator" and while his Holocaust denials and hostility to Isreal may make "the weight of the modern civilized world yearning to express the revulsion at what you stand for," as Bollinger went on to say, it is futile and dangerous to write this man off as an unsophisticated or ignorant person.

Today in Congress, the House passed, by a 397-16 vote, a proposal by Lantos, D-Calif., aimed at blocking foreign investment in Iran, in particular its lucrative energy sector. The bill would specifically bar the president from waiving U.S. sanctions. Perhaps, finally, Congress is willing to work together for national security instead of bickering for partisan points.

Another County Heard From!

I disapprove of what you say, but I will defend to the death your right to say it.
Voltaire [François Marie Arouet] (1694–1778), French philosopher

As you all know, Porcupine feels a real affection for the New Fleet Street of the Blogosphere, so akin to the pamphleteers and punditry of his own day. Today, Porcupine feels rather like Thomas Jefferson or some other worthless Francophile had opened up a printing press directly across from his own estimable establishment.

President Mahmood Ahmadinejad of Iran has a blog.

A link is provided HERE, and Porcupine is bound to state that it is well done and attractive, available in English, Arabic, Farsi (aha! Pakistan!) and French (aha! again?). It even has polling software on it! The question of whether or not the U.S. and Israel are trying to precipitate World War Three with their actions in Lebanon is running at about a 52% - 48% difference right now, indicating that the President is allowing the poll software to actually function - not the 90% - 10% spread that might be expected. While Porcupine has voted ‘No!’, he also urges others to do the same.

The first post is quite long, and Ahmadinejad promises that subsequent posts will be shorter; Porcupine sympathizes with this, as he tends to ramble on a bit himself.

The man called ‘attractive’ by the tottering Mike Wallace has done something to demonstrate why that quality seems apparent. Porcupine cannot remember any other dictator who has taken this step. Indeed, it is that plausibility that makes him so dangerous. Before you become overly impressed with him, however, please visit the Middle Eastern Media Research Institute (MEMRI – click HERE) and view some clips, especially #906 and #908, which epitomizes the sort of propaganda espoused by his regime. Indeed, explore the entire site for what is news in the Middle East. But, if we can dish it out, we must also take it – even as the Danish Mohammed cartoons have spawned a contest of Muslim drawn Holocaust cartoons, so does a charismatic dictator, reminiscent in some ways of a young Fidel Castro, get to express his distinctive point of view.

Grimacing, Porcupine steps into the gutter and extends a cold and distant hand. This is a blog which will bear checking out, and it will remain an interesting experiment.