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Iran's president launches weblog (One for the 'can't make up stuff like this' Dept.)
BBC News ^ | Monday, 14 August 2006 | Some Comrade

Posted on 08/14/2006 3:30:55 PM PDT by GMMAC

Iran's president launches weblog

Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad has joined a burgeoning
international community - by starting his own weblog.


BBC News
Monday, 14 August 2006, 10:21 GMT 11:21 UK


The launch of www.ahmadinejad.ir was reported on state TV, which urged users to send in messages to the president.

Mr Ahmadinejad's first posting, entitled autobiography, tells of his childhood, Iran's Islamic revolution, and the country's war with Iraq.

The blog includes a poll asking if users think the US and Israel are trying to trigger a new world war.

There is a postform for users to send in questions for the president, and a picture gallery containing a series of images of the blogger himself.


Mr Ahmadinejad said he would try
to make his blog entries shorter

"With hope in God, I intend to wholeheartedly
complete my talk in future with allotted 15 minutes"
~ Mahmoud Ahmadinejad's blog



The internet is extremely popular in Iran,
but bloggers face strict censorship

The move by Mr Ahmadinejad comes amid continuing internet censorship by the Iranian government.

In a country where the media is strictly controlled, the internet has become the main forum for dissident voices.

But in its bid to crack down on anti-government bloggers, the government uses one of the most sophisticated internet censorship systems in the world.

Such restrictions will not pose a problem for the president. However, at the end of his first posting - which runs to more than 2,000 words in English - he promises to try to keep things "shorter and simpler" in future.

"With hope in God, I intend to wholeheartedly complete my talk in future with allotted 15 minutes," he writes.

Nose bleed

Mr Ahmadinejad's first entry on his blog, which is available in Persian, Arabic, English and French and includes an RSS feed to get future new entries to readers, is dated Friday.

He begins by telling users of his humble origins. "During the era that nobility was a prestige and living in a city was perfection, I was born in a poor family in a remote village of Garmsar - approximately 90 kilometres west of Tehran," he writes.

The internet is extremely popular in Iran, but bloggers face strict censorship

His father was a "hard-bitten toiler blacksmith" and a "pious man", who had decided to move the family to Tehran when Mr Ahmadinejad was just a year old.

Describing himself as a "distinguished student", the president tells how he excelled at school, coming 132nd out of more than 400,000 students to take a university entrance test - despite suffering from a nose bleed at the time.

He talks about his admiration and affection for the leader of the Islamic revolution Ayatollah Ruhollah Khomeini, and discusses Iran's war with Iraq, calling former Iraqi leader Saddam Hussein an "aggressor" who was "intoxicated with power".

The US is also heavily criticised by the president. At one point he describes it as "Great Satan USA" for what he says was its support for the "terrorist groups" which had tried to collapse Iran's Islamic government.

And the blog's current poll asks the question: "Do you think that the US and Israeli intention and goal by attacking Lebanon is pulling the trigger for another world war?"

'Publicity stunt'

It is not yet clear how well Mr Ahmadinejad's blog will be received. User figures already appear high - by 1100 BST on Monday, nearly 12,000 people had taken part in the online vote.

But Keivan Mehrgan, a Tehran-based blogger, told the Associated Press news agency he thought the president's efforts were merely a publicity stunt.

"Ahmadinejad used to have nothing to do with the internet and even talked against journalists and bloggers before he became president," he was quoted as saying.


TOPICS: Culture/Society; Foreign Affairs; News/Current Events; Political Humor/Cartoons; United Kingdom; War on Terror
KEYWORDS: ahmadinejad; bbc; blogosphere; blogs; britain; internet; iran; islamofascism; mediabias; msm; propaganda; uk; weblog
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MOOD MUSIC
(for reading the BBC's pro-terorist propaganda)

1 posted on 08/14/2006 3:30:57 PM PDT by GMMAC
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To: fanfan; Pikamax; Former Proud Canadian; Great Dane; Alberta's Child; headsonpikes; Ryle; ...

PING!
Photobucket - Video and Image Hosting

2 posted on 08/14/2006 3:32:01 PM PDT by GMMAC (Discover Canada governed by Conservatives: www.CanadianAlly.com)
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To: GMMAC

""Ahmadinejad used to have nothing to do with the internet and even talked against journalists and bloggers before he became president," he was quoted as saying."

He was mostly busy "taking care" of his goats.


3 posted on 08/14/2006 3:33:21 PM PDT by observer5 (It's not a War on Terror - it's a WAR ON STUPIDITY)
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To: observer5

...and every idiot that will go to his site (with IE and Windows) will get a nasty virus... courtesy of Mohammmed the evil.


4 posted on 08/14/2006 3:34:53 PM PDT by observer5 (It's not a War on Terror - it's a WAR ON STUPIDITY)
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To: GMMAC

Access that website with caution!


Ahmadinejad's Blog is Dangerous (Attempts to Install Virus on Visiting Computers)
  Posted by mojito
On News/Activism 08/14/2006 11:09:10 AM CDT · 19 replies · 1,215+ views


Little Green Footballs ^ | 08/14/06 | Charles Johnson
A lot of readers emailed about a new Iranian web site that purports to be Mahmoud Ahmadinejad’s blog, and a lot of other blogs have linked to it. But before you click through to the site (from somewhere else, I won’t post the link here), make sure your virus prevention software is up to date—because it may try to exploit a weakness in Internet Explorer to install a “back door” in your computer: Pres. Ahmadinejad trying to infect Israelis with web viruses? http://olehgirl.blogspot.com

5 posted on 08/14/2006 3:37:17 PM PDT by TomGuy
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To: observer5
Personally, I'd be more worried about catching something 'nasty' from his goats.
6 posted on 08/14/2006 3:38:15 PM PDT by GMMAC (Discover Canada governed by Conservatives: www.CanadianAlly.com)
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To: GMMAC
There have been warnings that his so called blog includes exploits that may endanger the machines that visit it. Make sure you are fully patched and have all anti-spyware/malware software fired up before visiting, or use Firefox, or just don't go there.
7 posted on 08/14/2006 3:42:11 PM PDT by Uriah_lost (http://www.wingercomics.com/d/20051205.html)
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To: GMMAC

Here's a picture for his blog, to show everyone what a big man he is...

Photobucket - Video and Image Hosting

8 posted on 08/14/2006 3:43:32 PM PDT by TommyDale (It's time to dismiss the Duke fake rape case, Mr. Nifong!)
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To: GMMAC

ISTR an image of him at the Olympics, does he include that one? Has everyone else forgotten or am I mistaken. An Aliah Bet sniper needs to take him out with extreme prejudice, his just deserts.


9 posted on 08/14/2006 3:44:43 PM PDT by dhuffman@awod.com (The conspiracy of ignorance masquerades as common sense.)
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To: GMMAC

Ping!


10 posted on 08/14/2006 4:04:01 PM PDT by Fair Go
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To: TomGuy

"Looking up IP address 62.220.121.131 on DNSSTUFF clearly shows it is indeed an Iranian address: "

http://olehgirl.blogspot.com/2006/08/pres-ahmadinejad-trying-to-infect.html

Don't click on the Ahmadinejad blog...


11 posted on 08/14/2006 4:27:21 PM PDT by PghBaldy (CNN on Castro - Intestinal Crisis 2006: A People Mourn.)
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To: GMMAC
Dang...there it is

12 posted on 08/14/2006 4:35:40 PM PDT by NonLinear (He's dead, Jim)
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To: TomGuy

Yeah, I turned off all java and scripts. The pages says "To view the site you shuold (sic) enable Javascript!"

I don't think so..


13 posted on 08/14/2006 4:38:01 PM PDT by NonLinear (He's dead, Jim)
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To: GMMAC
I don't know if any of the Canadian TV networks pick up 60 Minutes (and for conservative Canadians' sake, I hope not - but since most of the population lives fairly close to the border, I guess you could watch it on CBS if you were masochistic), but excessive wordiness seems to be an Ahmadinejad trait. He didn't answer any of Mike Wallace's questions directly, and went on and on and on and on while not evading the questions. His virus-filled blog will never be short.

By the way, never knowing when to shut up seems to be a trait of most dictators, doesn't it?
14 posted on 08/14/2006 4:41:25 PM PDT by conservative in nyc
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To: GMMAC

Here is Ahmadinejad's email address: http://www.president.ir/email/ Happy trails.


15 posted on 08/14/2006 4:43:21 PM PDT by NonLinear (He's dead, Jim)
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To: conservative in nyc
As far as I know, at least one Stateside affiliate of CBS, ABC, NBC, Fox & CNN is included within every Kanuckistani "basic cable" package &, since 90% of us live within 100 miles of the border, virtually anyone with no cable & a coat hanger could otherwise pick up all or most of them.

However, contrary to what windbag Bill O'Reilly continues to insist, Fox News is still largely suppressed up here unless one is willing to fork out the bigger bucks for digital or satellite services - if they're available in one's specific locale.

U.S. conservative talk radio availability is what's really tough: it's either through the internet or, in my case, listening to Rush via often crappy reception from WBEN-am 930 out of Buffalo.
16 posted on 08/14/2006 5:03:50 PM PDT by GMMAC (Discover Canada governed by Conservatives: www.CanadianAlly.com)
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To: GMMAC

You know, I had Fox News for about 8 months, and I found it to be garbage. It pales to FR! How much Aruba/Duke can ya take?


17 posted on 08/14/2006 6:32:29 PM PDT by balk (Vive le Canada libre... des Libereaux)
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To: PghBaldy

I clicked on it too late last night. Didn't get any warnings. I had my McAfee running. No viruses found. When I realized, DUH!, what I was doing, I tried to delete my cookies. Took about 3 or 4 times to get rid of them. My Internet Explorer froze over and over. But, finally, it was gone. Any thoughts on what I should do now?


18 posted on 08/14/2006 6:38:02 PM PDT by Blogger (http://www.propheteuon.com)
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To: Blogger

I don't know. I read comments on the link I mentioned, and some people there said they were OK> Just the same, perhaps if you don't get info here, click on the LGF link. I am NOT the person to ask computer questions... :)


19 posted on 08/14/2006 8:29:31 PM PDT by PghBaldy (CNN on Castro - Intestinal Crisis 2006: A People Mourn.)
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To: GMMAC
U.S. conservative talk radio availability is what's really tough: it's either through the internet or, in my case, listening to Rush via often crappy reception from WBEN-am 930 out of Buffalo.
I live in a fringe reception area for the station I get Rush on. Fine in the day, but nighttime reception wasn't too good. I got an external FM antenna which has to be pointed to your station. I also have to tune in a frequency knob. But it helps a lot. Costs enough to make you think about it, maybe. But I find my wife uses it enough to make it well worth it. They make them even better, apparently, but I didn't spring for the ferrite model.

Antenna testing and reviews


20 posted on 08/15/2006 5:22:10 AM PDT by conservatism_IS_compassion (The idea around which liberalism coheres is that NOTHING actually matters except PR.)
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