Trouble with a Capital T in Iran

Gee - couldn't happen to a nicer guy, LOL! Cabinet Shakeup in Iran By NAZILA FATHI Published: April 11, 2008 TEHRAN — President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad has decided to dismiss his economics and interior ministers, a government spokesman said in Iranian newspaper accounts published Thursday. No reason for the shake-up was given by the spokesman, Gholamhossein Elham, but the dismissal of the economics minister in particular comes as Iran faces growing economic problems despite a revenue windfall from high oil prices. An increasing number of Mr. Ahmadinejad’s domestic critics are angry about the country’s pervasive inflation, which by the Central Bank’s calculation has reached an annual rate of 18 percent. Iran’s economy has also suffered because of trade sanctions and other restrictions imposed by the United Nations in response to the Iranian refusal to stop uranium enrichment. Only a week ago, Mr. Elham dismissed rumors about a cabinet shake-up as an April Fools’ Day joke. [Har!] It was not immediately clear from Mr. Elham’s published announcement who would replace the economics minister, Davoud Danesh Jaffari, or the interior minister, Mostafa Pourmohammadi. Nor was it clear when the dismissals were to take effect. Both ministers, however, are among a group of cabinet ministers who were said to be favored by the country’s supreme religious leader, Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, when Mr. Ahmadinejad took office in 2005. The interior minister, Mr. Pourmohammadi, is a midranking cleric known to be close to the ayatollah. With the latest dismissals, Mr. Ahmadinejad has removed 8 of the original 21 members of his cabinet, including the country’s veteran nuclear negotiator, Ali Larijani, who was also close to Ayatollah Khamenei. The daily newspaper Etemad Melli, in a harshly critical editorial on Mr. Ahmadinejad’s performance, called his cabinet shake-ups a “management catastrophe,” and said no ministers could make long-term plans because they feared dismissal at any time. The daily newspaper Kargozaran published a critical commentary by a reformist politician, Hossein Marashi, who wrote that the president should at least explain the dismissals. “People should know that Mr. Danesh Jaffari is being sacked because of the skyrocketing inflation or because of his opposition to the president’s economic policies,” he wrote. Mr. Ahmadinejad has defended his right to choose cabinet ministers on his personal blog, which he updates periodically. In an entry this week, without identifying any minister by name, he wrote that his cabinet choices reflected his policies for progress and development of the country. ******************************************************************************** Hey - Mr. Madjob - can you read the proverbial handwriting on the wall? Oh - what's that you say? You only speak and write Arabic. Well, let me spell it out for you then, darling. As the story goes, one night at a great party given by the King of Babylon a disembodied hand (cue spooky music) suddenly appeared out of the air and, in front of everyone's shocked eyes, wrote upon a wall in large letters (no doubt dripping in blood, but I digress) the following words: MENE MENE TEKEL PARSIN None of the King's wisemen could interpret the handwriting on the wall; it was left to his Queen to save the day - by recommending that the King ask the captive Hebrew Daniel to interpret the handwriting. Daniel was brought before the King, and he read the handwriting on the wall: "This is the interpretation of the word MENE: God has numbered [the days of] your kingdom and has finished it. "TEKEL, you have been weighed in the balances and have been found deficient. "PERES, your kingdom has been divided and given to the Medes and the Persians." Later that very night, according to the biblical account, Darius the Mede conquered the city of Babylon and the Chaldean king was killed. See Daniel Chapter 5, Bible. So, Mr. Madjob, you can fire all the ministers you have - it won't do you any good. I believe that great finger of God has once again written on the wall MENE MENE TEKEL PARSIN. PARSIN was also a play on words for "Persian." The great Persian people will rise up again and blot you and the Arab interlopers and your false religion from the face of Iran like the smut you are. It's just a matter of time, darling. I'll be sitting back in my rocking chair, enjoying every minute...