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Monday, June 22, 2009

International The Gem of Democracy

Posted by Charles Mudede on Mon, Jun 22, 2009 at 8:20 AM

In the NYT:

At a news conference Monday, Hassan Qashqavi, a Foreign Ministry spokesman, called the turnout — officially put at 85 percent, or 40 million voters — a “brilliant gem which is shining on the peak of dignity of the Iranian nation.”

He accused unidentified western powers and news organizations, which are operating under extremely tight official restrictions, of spreading unacceptable “anarchy and vandalism.” But, he said, the outcome of the vote would not be changed. “We will not allow western media to turn this gem into a worthless stone,” he said.

Mr. Qashqavi drew comparisons with American election results.

“No one encouraged the American people to stage a riot” because they disagreed with the re-election of George W. Bush, he said.

One: What is this Persian weakness for poetic phrases ("to turn this gem into a worthless stone")? It enters our cool and dispassionate language with a fall that is flat.

Two: Is there an event in this world that is not haunted by the ghost of Bush?

Comments (8) RSS

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No wonder the Iran regime is hated by it's people. But blaming others for the regime's corruption will not sooth the wounds which it now inflicts. It is now on the road to a collapse and hopefully will become a secular government by the people that will want to rejoin the world as a responsible nation.

Posted by Vince on June 22, 2009 at 8:35 AM

Bush? Meh, we've had worse presidents. We got over them, we'll get over him. I just hope Obama doesn't turn out to be a fuck-up also.

Posted by Fifty-Two-Eighty

on June 22, 2009 at 8:47 AM

To clarify: CM is rhetorically questioning someone else's use of bloviated language, when in the very next post he refers to the housefly that "died inside of human history"?

Posted by Banna

on June 22, 2009 at 9:05 AM

ha, @3 FTW.

But to answer Charles's ironic first question, theirs is a poetic language. It's not their fault that ours won't bear the weight of their words.

Posted by switzerblog on June 22, 2009 at 9:14 AM

@3 - That is truly the perfect post. You have achieved a level of snark-vana that here-to-fore was only theoretical.

Posted by Collin on June 22, 2009 at 9:17 AM

“No one encouraged the American people to stage a riot” because they disagreed with the re-election of George W. Bush, he said.

And at the time, nobody knew that Bush ==> 9/11 ==> Iraq. Your assertion is fatuous, Hassan.

Posted by Greg on June 22, 2009 at 9:28 AM

Persian has been the literary and poetic language of Islam since at least 1400 (Arabic the language of law/religion; Turkish the language of government). It's built into the language, and more importantly, a central part of the education of mullahs.

Oh, and the Qur'an itself is poetry.

Posted by mao on June 22, 2009 at 10:12 AM

By this I mean to say that poetic language is something to which a classically educated Persian would aspire.

Posted by mao on June 22, 2009 at 10:14 AM