Secular Professors Must Be Purged!

[Seagoon]

Apparently Ahmadinejad has determined that the presence of insufficiently Islamic professors in Iranian universities is interfering with plans for the return of the 12th Imam and the final triumph of the Dar-el-Islam.

This is so eerily reminiscent of the purge of insufficiently loyal professors from the German universities following the election of Adolf Hitler that the world media might have paid more attention if they hadn't already determined that George Bush and not Ahmadinejad is the new Adolf Hitler and that Israel and not Iran is the new Third Reich. Sadly, we only have room for one new Hitler figure at a time.

Hopefully the group of purged academics will include everyone who knows the difference between Uranium 235 and Uranium 238.  

Iran's Ahmadinejad Urges Purge of Secular Academics

By Ladane Nasseri

Sept. 5 (Bloomberg) -- Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad said his government plans to purge liberal and secular faculty members from Iran's universities in a bid to revive the ideals of the Islamic Republic's heyday in the 1980s.

``Our academic system has been influenced for 150 years by secularism,'' the official Islamic Republic News Agency cited Ahmadinejad as telling a group of students today. ``We have started to make change happen but we need special support for it,'' he said.

``Students should shout at the president and ask why liberal and secular university lecturers are present in the universities,'' the president said.

Ahmadinejad was elected in June 2005 after pledging to redistribute the country's oil wealth to the people. His victory gave the backers of the Islamic revolution power over all state institutions. Ahmadinejad has scrapped some social and civil reforms inspired by his predecessor, Mohammad Khatami.

About 40 professors at Tehran University were forced into early retirement in June. The move led to several days of student protests, Agence France-Ptesse reported.

Canadian-Iranian academic Ramin Jahanbegloo, arrested in May, is awaiting trial on suspicion of acting against Iranian interests and contacting foreigners. Intelligence Minister Gholam Hossein Mohseni Ejei accused Jahanbegloo of fomenting a ``velvet revolution'' in the Islamic Republic on U.S. orders. The academic was released on bail Aug. 30 after four months in prison in Tehran.

Ebadi Group Curbed

Last month, Iran banned any activity by a human rights group headed by Nobel peace prizewinner Shirin Ebadi. The group has involved itself in rights cases including those of journalist Akbar Ganji, who was imprisoned for six years and released in March, and photojournalist Zahra Kazemi, who died in detention in 2003.

The Iranian government also ordered a raid to remove television satellite dishes from homes in Tehran, the capital, saying they threaten the nation's ``psychological security.'' The dishes, tolerated under Khatami, have mushroomed in the past decade. Music, news and talk programs by dissident Iranian channels based abroad are the most popular of the foreign broadcasts.

Iran refused to meet an Aug. 31 United Nations Security Council deadline to suspend production of nuclear fuel, a stance that may lead to sanctions. The U.S. and its allies accuse Iran of using a nuclear-power program to disguise weapons development.

[Chairboy]

Interestingly enough, I've heard posters here advocate the removal of secular teachers and professors in the US.

[Gunslinger]

Originally posted by Chairboy
Interestingly enough, I've heard posters here advocate the removal of secular teachers and professors in the US.

but even you have to admit there's a huge difference in the level of extremety here.

[Momus--]

If Armadinejad had the power to purge academia (which he hasn't), he would have done it already instead of just spouting about it.

Meanwhile, back in the real world...

Neoconservatives, who can be counted on to escalate, argue that we're actually in the thick of the Fourth World War. The historian Bernard Lewis warned a few weeks ago that Iran's president, Mahmoud Ahmadinejad, could be planning to annihilate Israel (and perhaps even the United States) on Aug. 22 because it was a significant day for Muslims.

Can everyone please take a deep breath?

To review a bit of history: in 1938, Adolf Hitler launched what became a world war not merely because he was evil but because he was in complete control of the strongest country on the planet. At the time, Germany had the world's second largest industrial base and its mightiest army.

..Iran does not even rank among the top 20 economies in the world. The Pentagon's budget this year is more than double Iran's total gross domestic product..Tehran's nuclear ambitions are real and dangerous, but its program is not nearly as advanced as is often implied. Most serious estimates suggest that Iran would need between five and 10 years to achieve even a modest, North Korea-type, nuclear capacity.

Washington has a long habit of painting its enemies 10 feet tall—and crazy. During the cold war, many hawks argued that the Soviet Union could not be deterred because the Kremlin was evil and irrational. The great debate in the 1970s was between the CIA's wimpy estimate of Soviet military power and the neoconservatives' more nightmarish scenario. The reality turned out to be that even the CIA's lowest estimates of Soviet power were a gross exaggeration.

One man who is greatly enjoying being the subject of this outsize portraiture is Mahmoud Ahmadinejad. He has gone from being an obscure and not-so-powerful politician.....to a central player in the Middle East simply by goading the United States and watching Washington take the bait. By turning him into enemy No. 1, by reacting to every outlandish statement he makes, the Bush administration has given him far more attention than he deserves. And so now he writes letters to Bush, offers to debate him and prances about in the global spotlight provided by American attention.

Source

[Chairboy]

Originally posted by Gunslinger


but even you have to admit there's a huge difference in the level of extremety here.

Haven't you used the slippery slope argument in regards to gun rights?  I'd say it applies here too.

[Neubob]

Just curious.... Who here asked for the purging of secular teachers from America's schools, and when?

If possible, please include a link to the thread. My back is itchy.

[Airscrew]

Originally posted by Seagoon
Hopefully the group of purged academics will include everyone who knows the difference between Uranium 235 and Uranium 238.

   

[lukster]

Originally posted by Chairboy
Interestingly enough, I've heard posters here advocate the removal of secular teachers and professors in the US.

Hmmm, posters on a bbs *****in' vs the president of country wherein it is quite possible this opinion will become law. I have to say that there really isn't a comparison here.

[lukster]

Originally posted by Neubob
Just curious.... Who here asked for the purging of secular teachers from America's schools, and when?

If possible, please include a link to the thread. My back is itchy.

I'll vote for purgin' the way out in left field liberal profs. Too bad we don't have national elections for these kind of things.

[Gunslinger]

Originally posted by Chairboy
Haven't you used the slippery slope argument in regards to gun rights?  I'd say it applies here too.

Nope not gun rights.....that was gay marriage.

[Elfie]

Originally posted by Chairboy
Interestingly enough, I've heard posters here advocate the removal of secular teachers and professors in the US.

I recall some saying that teachers/professors shouldn't use their position as a pulpit of sorts for their own political beliefs and that if they do....then they should be removed.

I don't recall any posts that called for the unilateral removal of ALL secular teachers and professors.

Just curious.... Who here asked for the purging of secular teachers from America's schools, and when?

If possible, please include a link to the thread. My back is itchy.

[lasersailor184]

Originally posted by Elfie
I recall some saying that teachers/professors shouldn't use their position as a pulpit of sorts for their own political beliefs and that if they do....then they should be removed.

I don't recall any posts that called for the unilateral removal of ALL secular teachers and professors.

I believe we asked for them to be removed if they did that, but didn't teach.

[Elfie]

Originally posted by lasersailor184
I believe we asked for them to be removed if they did that, but didn't teach.

Right, thats what I recall as well. We just said it differently

[Seagoon]

Hi Momus,

Originally posted by Momus--
If Armadinejad had the power to purge academia (which he hasn't), he would have done it already instead of just spouting about it.

From the original article in the real world of Iran - "About 40 professors at Tehran University were forced into early retirement in June. The move led to several days of student protests, Agence France-Ptesse reported.

Canadian-Iranian academic Ramin Jahanbegloo, arrested in May, is awaiting trial on suspicion of acting against Iranian interests and contacting foreigners. Intelligence Minister Gholam Hossein Mohseni Ejei accused Jahanbegloo of fomenting a ``velvet revolution'' in the Islamic Republic on U.S. orders. The academic was released on bail Aug. 30 after four months in prison in Tehran."

He has gone from being an obscure and not-so-powerful politician...

I see, is this Ahmadinejad mentioned in the Newsweek article any relation to the Ahmadinejad who just started a highly successfull proxy war with Israel in July and supplied Hezbollah with missiles capable of disabling warships, taking down helicopters, and reaching Haifa and most of Northern Israel with conventional, chemical, or biological warheads? You know the guy with the centrifuges capable of separating Uranium Isotopes and the Russian/Chinese/Pakistani reactors capable of making weapons grade Plutonium? The fellow whose munitions factories currently manufacture the majority of IEDs and rockets used against coalition forces in Iraq and Afghanistan and who is currently working jointly with the North Koreans to develop multistage missiles capable of reaching all of their enemies? Is he any relation to that Ahmadinejad?

- SEAGOON

[x0847Marine]

Originally posted by Momus--
If Armadinejad had the power to purge academia (which he hasn't), he would have done it already instead of just spouting about it.

Meanwhile, back in the real world...



Source

So some dude named Fareed Zakaria says Irans nuke program "...is not nearly as advanced as is often implied..." I feel much more at ease now knowing that a military 'expert' who writes the occasional Newsweek article has weighed in.

"Most serious estimates suggest that Iran would need between five and 10 years to achieve even a modest, North Korea-type, nuclear capacity."

So Mr. Newsweek scribe is the final arbiter of what a "serious" estimate is?..  I kinda agree with the guy, but he sounds like an idiot.

We, the US, are going to attack Iran during the time near our presidential elections... thats what this is about.

Making a start raving fool like Ahmadinejad important is a political ploy because every time he opens his mouth something stupid comes out they can use. He's a perfect scape goat for the republicans to point at and say "Ah ha!!, see why you need us in control, we're tougher than the whimpy cut & run Democrats".

Plus during the initial phases of a good military action the people rally under the flag and sing the national anthem poo pooing anyone who speaks out about it as un-americain, or as hurting the troops.

Ahmadinejad is only as dangerous as his fiery rhetoric, he's little more than 50lbs of mouth-piece for the radicals in the Iranian Govt... he couldn't declare war on his own nuts without permission.

It's his his fans in the Iranian military that worry me,  remember the Gulf of Tonkin?.. some 23 year old Ahmadinejad fan manning a gunboat could get all excited and decide to cap a few off at some US boys... thats all the excuse President Fern and his fat cronies will need... under the same rherotic "We didn't go looking for this, they attacked us".