The Redhunter

I think the "stars have been aligning against us" for a long time. Do a search on the 'Non-Aligned Movement", who's leaders met in Havana before heading to the UN (where Chavez gave his idiotic "I smell sulfur speech"). The reality is that oil rich nations like Venezuela, Nigeria, Liberia, Russia, Brazil and Iran have been fostering strong relations with countries (like China) that are also totalitarian states with growing economies in need of oil. They do this out of spite to the US and to counter our desire to encourage democracy and liberal society, especially within their borders. Let's remember that while Bush has "looked Putin in the eye" and got "a sense of his soul", Putin worked for the Soviet KGB and since coming to power in Russia, he has quietly crushed all of his opposition and consolidated Kremlin control of the media. With the rising economic power of these 'non-aligned' powers, it is no surprise to me that actors like North Korea, Pakistan and Iran have all been diligently working together to development nukes. We have been too comfortable enjoying our hegemonic power and we have really failed to notice the growing anti-US sentiment, especially in countries that are not currently overtly opposed to us (such as Egypt, Turkey, Pakistan, Russia, etc.).

---Ahmadinejad's term, I believe, ends in 2009

I get your point Tom, hopefully this nut is out of office before he can push the button. I've never heard of the 'Hojjatieh', but I am a little wary of these reports, just like I am wary of those conspiracy theorists who claim Bush is into Dominionism and thinks God has told him to do his part bring on the Rapture. It has the same paranoid conspiratorial sound as some of the claims about the Hojjatieh to me. This reminds me of all the far-out dreck available on the web on how Bush and his PNAC buddies are here to bring on the Rapture by attacking other countries, and all these kooks point to the ties between Tim LaHaye and Jerry Jenkins, blah blah blah. It may be amusing and it doesn't seem plausible, but who really knows. I think we can all agree that Iran being run by this kook is a real problem.

Tom, thx. Neither I ever heard about the Hojattieh before. We're living in scary times indeed.

Point well taken about Bush and Dominionism, jason. I even wrote a post about this sort of leftist conspiracy mongering once. It is indeed all too easy to fall into the trap of believing all sorts of wild things that support your preconceived notions.

There is indeed precious little about the Hojjatieh on the Internet. I searched Fox News, CNN, and the BBC, and their internal search engines turned up nothing. Among traditional media outlets, this ABC News story mentions them. This Radio Free Europe Story has a bit more, but is noncommittal.

Bottom line is that we do know that this Hojjatieh Society exists, and that it's pretty far out, but are not sure how much Ahmadinejad is influenced by it.

Either way jason is right that Ahmadinejad is a real problem.

OK Tom,
After reading this I’ll give this whole thing a second look.
Khatami comes out against the Hojjatieh, "The shallow-thinking traditionalists with their Stone-Age backwardness now have a powerful organization behind them" in the Asia Times

Even better than meeting your enemy in combat, is watching him fall apart from the inside, similar to watching the USSR implode on its own failed economy. Maybe the mullahs (Khatami) will infight and bring about change as the power structure in Iran shudders from all the loony talk from this guy Ahmadinejad (damn, I’m tired of copy and pasting that name). All this turmoil in the Revolutionary Guards reminds me of watching the Republicans trip all over themselves trying to deal with the Foley email/IM affair.

Here’s a fascinating bit from the article:

The society's anti-leftism also chimes with reports that Ahmadinejad was pushing for a takeover of the Soviet Embassy alongside or instead of the US compound in Tehran during the 1979 revolution.

I am a fan of globalsecurity.org, who has another piece to offer on the Hojjatieh Society . Usually they avoid outright conspiracy stuff and this provides more insight on the ideology and factions within the Iranian regime. To me, this opens an interesting window on how Ahmadinejad thinks. I would also be interested in reading his rambling letters to Bush and Merkel, because he really seems loony like the Unabomber, except he runs a dangerous oil rich country.

Tom, this past week al Sadr has actually stated to his followers in Iraq that America is trying to prevent the Mahdi from returning. He actually said that the only thing America is lacking is a photograph of the Mahdi!

President Tom has survived assassination attempts from his own clergy because he was being too open about their real intents. Apparently they gave up, because no one in the western media seems to be paying attention...except for us bloggers!

Wow, thanks for the articles, jason. As Spock would say; "fascinating".

And LOL, I have to cut and past that guy's name too! There's one I'll never learn to spell.

And DagneyT, it sounds like you listen to Glenn Beck too, because you know that he calls the pres of Iran "President Tom", doing so because it's as hard to pronounce as it is to remember how to spell.

To Jason,et al:

Do not be quick to assign reports of Hojjatieh madness to the trash heap of paranoia. The well-spring of Islaamic power, at this point in history, comes from our ethnocentric inability to understand Islamic thought.
Make no mistake, they are what they seem in your worst conception of them. They are manifestations of our worst prehistoric characteristics. It is absolutely imperative that those of us who wish to preserve Modernity do the study that is required to understand the Islamic mind set.
About five to seven thousand years ago a minor perturbation of the Earth's polar axis caused the desertification of the Sahara. Up to that time much of it was green, lush Savannah. The resulting migrations of people gave rise to the Egyptian Dynasties and a population of nomadic tribes.
As the desert became more inhospitable, the strife between nomadic tribes became more violent. The ensuing warfare over water wells and grazing lands became dire. The concept of violent survival by raiding and conquering lands became a social norm in that area.
Consigned to the backwaters of history by remoteness, poverty, and world view; Europe paid too little attention to the peoples of the desert. (they were only noticed during their sieges of Europe) That is until an ocean of oil was discovered under their feet.
Now we have a lavishly funded, massively populated, prehistoric band of maniacs who have eluded the understanding of Modernity. We must, somehow, get Modernity to understand the nature of Islam: It is completely crazed, entirely superstitious, and, most of all, murderous.
I quote Dr. Bernard Lewis: "We must bring them to peace, or they will destroy us." And no amount of negotions, concessions, or protestations of good will can pacify prehistoric monsters who believe that god has ordained their ascendancy. What could we promise them that would trump world domination?

What is our next best action? Nuke Iran. Now. Cut off the head of the monster before it can strike.

Well done man
I think you have explained the matter very exactly
And I as an Iranian I can assure you all that all you have gathered is true and this society and all those well and letters have happend and happens everyday.
i think this regime with or without nukes is the most dangerous threat to humanity and we all have to take this serious

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia:
The Hojjatieh society has been described as "an underground messianic sect ... which hopes to quicken the coming of the apocalypse"[6] in order to hasten the return of the Mahdi, the prophesied future redeemer of Islam. However, according to legal scholar Noah Feldman, the idea that supporters "want to bring back the imam by violence, rather than ... wait piously and prepare for the imam’s eventual return on his own schedule," is a misinterpretation of the society's position common "outside Iran". In fact, the "Hojjatiya Society was banned and persecuted by Khomeini’s government in part for its quiescent view that the mahdi’s arrival could not be hastened.
"lives at the bottom of a well in Jamkaran"that is completely false.If you tell this to shias they will only laugh at you.U should study much more before talking about something.