Saturday, December 1, 2012

Ahmadinejad Names Mashaie Head of NAM Secretariat


Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad today named his chief of staff Esfandiar Rahim Mashaei as the head of the secretariat of the Non-Aligned Movement (NAM). Iran currently holds NAM’s rotating presidency. The high profile position will give Mashaie much-needed international experience and exposure if he were to run for presidency in 2013. Due to term limits, Ahmadinejad will be ineligible to run next year.

Iran’s hardliners consider Mashaie an archenemy. They accuse him of leading the “Deviationist Movement” within the Islamic Republic. His views on Iranian nationalism as an important element of Iran’s political culture does not bode well with the governing clerics who prefer to rule as the representatives of Shia’s Hidden Imam on earth.

After his reelection in 2009, Ahmadinejad named Mashaie his first vice president (principle deputy to president). The move angered conservatives and Supreme Leader Khamenei ordered Ahmadinejad to dump Mashaei. He reluctantly obeyed the order, but named Mashaie his chief of staff.

Today, Ahmadinejad praised Mashaie in his letter appointing him to NAM's top administrative position.

“I consider your excellency a competent, wise, honest man,” Ahmadinejad said. “Knowing and working with you is a divine gift and a great honor for me.” (President.ir, 1 December)

Ahmadinejad appointed Hasan Mousavi, one of his vice presidents, as his new chief of staff.

File photo: Esfandiar Rahim Mashaei (IRNA)

6 comments:

Anonymous said...

Your article doesn't mention that Mr. Ahmadinejad has privately stated that it would be an honor for him to serve as an vice president under Mr. Mashaei.

A-F

Anonymous said...

Mashaie has been an embarassment to Ahmadinejad and is as erratic as his boss. This is a cosmetic position to sideline him as he has no political future. Larajani will most likely be elected as the next President.

Anonymous said...

They all come from the same rotten barrel.

Nader Uskowi said...

Anon 8:24 PM,
I disagree. Mashaie lacks international experience and the new post will give him exposure at world level, making him more presidential, especially when his photos with heads of state and government are published.

Anon 9:55 PM,
In this case, you do not need to think critically about the Iranian politics nor is there any need for political analysis and discourse. ‘They are all the same’ becomes the answer to all issues political!

Anonymous said...

The system needs fundamental reforms such as they were envisioned by Khatami; but the stupid (or rather outright insane) Iranian conservatives have wrongly thought that those reforms were only one option among others; they (wrongly) think that the urgency of reform and change is a sign weakness; they (wrongly) thought they themselves were smart enough to try something else if only they come to power; you see today their result - their fundamental nullity, dilettantism and thievishness in the reality is revealed even to themselves; now they can realize that those reforms were not one political option among others; they were the realization of the reality; their own decades long stupidity, disrespecting of the country/its people and mistaking/replacing the reality for their own (unshakable) trash talking are the only political option they have to sustain themselves; but what is good for them (that is to be unaccountable to public reason) is disastrous for the country; no one among Iranian conservatives has any emotional connection to the country and its people what so ever - that is why they are talking about Islam bla bla .... No Iranian patriot is allowed to participate in those elections .

Anonymous said...

Nader Uskowi From 9:55 PM

What else is there to say?
Can I make you feel happy if I said that a fascistic ultra Islamist theocracy that believes in the rule of the rope whip chain and stick is reformable?
Will it make you feel better if I said a regime that considers women as mere vessels for baby making from the age of nine years old is accepting modern thinking and democratic principles by simply accepting one of their many stooges that are part of the system?
Hitler was the head of the NAZI state.Will it make any difference if Himmler,Goring or any other NAZI lackey would be chosen as head of any governmental department?
Course not,because the very foundations of the NAZI state was rotten and corrupt which needed removing.
You can't build a democracy on a existing foundations of a fascist system of government by simply trying to reform it or looking for certain members of the regime and hoping they will reform it.
You might as well believe in the Goose that lays the golden eggs!