Iranian President Ahmadinejad's Remarkable Admiration for "Aryans" and (Neo-)Nazis
By EMERSON VERMAAT
March 24, 2009 - San Francisco, CA - PipeLineNews.org - In an unprecedented videotape appeal to the people of Iran on March 20, 2009, President Barack Obama offered "a new beginning" of diplomatic engagement. "My administration is now committed to diplomacy that addresses the full range of issues before us, and to pursuing constructive ties between the United States, Iran and the international community," the American president said. 1 Will it work?
There is much more at stake than just the nuclear issue and Iran's support for terrorist groups like Hezbollah and Hamas. The current Iranian leadership has courted European and American neo-Nazis as well. That is why German Chancellor Angela Merkel does not want to talk to Iran's President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad, a notorious Holocaust denier who organized and addressed a highly controversial international conference for Holocaust deniers in Tehran in December 2006 – "The International Conference to Review the Global Vision of the Holocaust." (Officially this conference was sponsored by the Iranian Foreign Ministry.) Denying the Holocaust constitutes a crime under German law.
It was in May 2006 that Ahmadinejad sent a personal letter to Chancellor Merkel telling her that the "wicked victors of World War II had terrorized, degraded and humiliated Germany." These "wicked victors" had then invented the Holocaust to hold Germany ransom:
"I do not intend to argue about the Holocaust. But, does it not stand to reason that some of the victorious countries of Wold War II intended to create an excuse on the basis of which they could continue keeping the defeated nations of World War II indepted to them?" 2
Obviously, Ahmadinejad regrets the fact that Nazi Germany and its anti-Semitic "Führer" (leader) Adolf Hitler were defeated in World War II. Not Nazi Germany but its victors were "wicked". No wonder neo-Nazis and Holocaust deniers from all over the world are welcome guests in Tehran. Some European neo-Nazis even fled to Iran after they had been indicted in their home countries; and a notorious French Holocaust denier named Roger Garaudy was interviewed on Iranian television, together with Iran's spiritual leader Ali Khamenei (1998). 3
Angela Merkel hates neo-Nazis, anti-Semites and Holocaust deniers. She compared Ahmadinejad to Hitler. (Unlike Ahmadinejad's disastrous economic policies in Iran, Hitler initially brought economic prosperity and employment but within a period six years the Nazi leader started World War II, thus bringing doom to the German nation and people.)
Ahmadinejad: "Iranians and Germans are both part of a common Aryan race"
In April 2006, one month before he wrote his ignominious letter to Chancellor Merkel, Ahmadinejad held a press conference at the auditorium of the presidential office in Tehran. He claimed that Iranians and Germans were both part of a common Aryan race. 4
In the Third Reich - Nazi Germany - the term "Aryan" was adopted by the Nazis primarily to denote the "pure" German race. In Iran or Persia, the so-called "Aryan peoples" played an important role in that nation's history. Indeed, the very name "Iran" is derived from the term "Aryan". Originally, the Aryan invaders of Persia were a primitive pastoral folk who traveled in rude wagons. "The bride was captured, and the family was based on patriarchal authority and polygamy. 5
The Aryans originated from Southern Russia, Khorassan (a historic region that covered modern day Afghanistan, Tajikistan, Iran, Uzbekistan and Turkmenistan) and Bactria (a historic area covering parts of Afghanistan, Tajikistan, Uzbekistan and Turkmenistan). Many of the Aryan invaders first crossed the Hindu Kush conquering the Punjab. These massive migrations took place around 2000 B.C. 6
The most famous ancient Persian philosopher and prophet was Zoroaster or Zarathustra who lived in the 5th or 6th century BC. Zoroaster introduced a strictly monotheistic religion. There was a supreme God – Ahura Mazda or Ormuzd, "the Lord of Great Knowledge" who was the Creator of the world (comparable to Jahweh, God or Allah). The forces of evil were represented by Ahriman or Angromayniu, the Spirit of Evil (comparable to Satan or the devil). 7
The great Persian King Darius I (549-486 BC) was the first strongly Zoroastrian monarch8 Darius "the Median" is also mentioned in the Bible, namely in the Book of Daniel, chapter 5 verse 31 and chapter 6 verses 1-28 (the story of Daniel in the lions' pit); verse 26: "I have issued a decree that in all my royal domains men shall fear and reverence the God (=Jahweh) of Daniel; for He is the living God, the everlasting (or, stedfast forever)." In 500 BC King Darius the Great proudly declared himself to be "Aryan, from the Aryan race." His words were carved in stone on a rock in southern Iran:
"I am Darius, the greater king, and the king of kings...
Persian, the son of a Persian,
Aryan, from the Aryan race." 9
Two and a half millennia later, Nazi philosopher Alfred Rosenberg quoted Darius' words in his obscure study on "The Myth of the Twentieth Century" ("Der Mythus des 20. Jahrhunderts"). Rosenberg lauded the ancient culture, religion, and Aryan origin ("blood") of the Persians. He asserted that Zoroaster confronted the forces of evil ("Angromayniu" or "Jewish Satan") by appealing to the "Aryan blood." 10 "Today, in the heart of Europe as well as North Europe the same racial soul that once lived in Zarathustra (Zoroaster) is awakening higher consciousness and displays mythical power." 11
Here, Rosenberg refers to the new Nazi "Nordic" racial consciousness as opposed to "Jewishness" and "many forms of universalism devoid of any race" ("rassenlosen Universalismus").
Rosenberg saw the East (India, Hindukush, Persia, etc.) as being the ancestral home of the Aryans. He was not the only high ranking Nazi to do so. Heinrich Himmler, the notorious "Reichsführer SS" (federal SS leader) who was directly responsible for the extermination of 6 million European Jews ("a page of glory in our history" 12), believed that traces of the Aryan super race could still be found in India, Tibet, Persia and Iraq. At Himmler's instigation the SS created its own "scientific" racial institute – "Ahnenerbe" – to investigate Aryan ancestry. "Ahnenerbe" scientists from Himmlers SS organized expeditions to Iraq, Finland and Tibet. They planned a similar expedition to Iran. They considered King Darius I to be a great Aryan monarch. They wanted to study his famous inscription in which the king proclaimed to be "from the Aryan race." They believed that Hitler was a kind of contemporary Darius I. 13
Just before the Nazi plans for an expedition to Iran could be realized, the British and the Russians occupied this rather pro German country (August/September 1941).
Adolf Hitler himself said in July 1941 that "the Aryans are peoples who are particularly active."
"The Russian will never make up his mind to work except under compulsion from outside, for he is incapable of organizing himself. And if, despite everything, a Russian is apt to have organization thrust upon him, that is thanks to the drop of Aryan blood in his veins. It's only because of this drop that the Russian people has created something and possesses an organized state." 14
This is sheer nonsense, of course. But Hitler said this a few weeks after he invaded Russia, making the same serious mistake Napoleon made before him. Napoleon equally underestimated the Russians (and, last but not least, the Russian winter).
Leadership principle, "Providence" and the Iranian "Mahdi"
There is another remarkable similarity between Nazi Germany and Iran. Hitler's Third Reich was entirely based on the so-called "Führerprinzip" (leadership principle). Hitler had the final say in everything. Even before the Nazi takover in 1933, everything in the Nazi party was based on strict obedience to the word of Hitler. 15
The Nazi leader was a kind of Ayatollah Khomeini, incapable of erring. Indeed, Hitler can very well be compared with a religious fanatic like Khomeini. Hitler, too, believed he had a divine mission, that he was the "Chosen One" and under the protection of "Providence". 16
The same kind of leadership principle is found in Shia Islam, the dominant form of Islam in Iran. Iranian and Iraqi Shia Muslims believe that even after Mohammed's death, other divinely inspired leaders will have to manifest themselves and interpret divine revelation. 17
Khomeini's successor Ali Khamenei is referred to as "Supreme Leader", often preceded by the definite article "the". The German word for "leader" is "Führer" (also spelled "Fuehrer") , and when the Nazis referred to Hitler, they, too, added the definite article "der" (the). The masses seek and find a leader which gives them a sense of direction, a megalomaniac psychopath like Hitler (or Khomeini), who says, "I will take over responsibility." 18
So the analogy with Nazi Germany is obvious.
Another important aspect of Iranian Shia Islam is the concept of the so-called "Mahdi". This Mahdi is an invisible and mystical – even eschatological – religious force which inspires and protects the leaders – roughly comparable to Hitler's concept of "Providence." At end of time this Mahdi will establish his rule on earth. (The leadership principle and eschatology also played an important role in Zoroaster's philosophy, so there is nothing new under the sun.)
Iranian president Mahmoud Ahmadinejad stressed more than once that it was his political mission "to hand Iran over to the Mahdi at the end of his tenure as president." And "at a UN General Assembly session in 2005, he warned world leaders to be ready for the 'emergence of a perfect human being who is heir to all prophets and pious men.'" 19
Today's neo-Nazis praise Iran's radical leaders
Today's German neo-Nazis consider Iran an ally, not only because the Iranian leadership is vehemently opposed to Israel and America, but also because there may be "traces or drops of Aryan blood" in the veins of the Iranians. One of these neo-Nazis, Jürgen Rieger, wrote an article in the neo-Nazi periodical "Deutsche Stimme" ("German voice"). Under the heading "Choosing the right partner," he wrote: "Iranians (Iran originally means 'land of the Aryans') are also Indo-Germans." In another article Rieger pleaded for "strategic alliances with Islamic nations against US imperialism, especially since Palestinians ('Filistinians'), Kurds ('Medians') and Iranians ('Persians') are strongly racially mixed descendents of Indo-German peoples who struggle against the common enemy." 20
Like Hitler, neo-Nazis like Rieger believe that "a drop of Aryan blood" is the best path toward advancement.
Most neo-Nazis despise so-called "inferior races" and "non-Aryan" foreigners. Within their own countries, they oppose immigration and the building of mosques for Muslim immigrants. Yet, after the attacks of September 11, 2001, many neo-Nazis began to reevaluate their hostile attitude towards Muslims. In neo-Nazi circles "9/11" was usually perceived as a historic event, an attack on a common enemy – America. Thus, Horst Mahler, a prominent German neo-Nazi, said the 9/11 attacks were "eminently effective and justified."21 (Other neo-Nazis, though, embraced anti-Semitic conspiracy theories claiming 9/11 was the work of Jews, the Mossad and/or the CIA.)
Some neo-Nazis in Germany even expressed the wish that similar attacks would occur in Germany. Anti-American and anti-Jewish sentiments prevailed over their traditional hostility towards foreigners, including Muslims. 22
Islamist terrorists as temporary allies of German neo-Nazis. Neo-Nazis published apologetic essays justifying Al-Qaeda and Iran. A choice must be made between between the "great Satan" and the Islamic world, they claim. They describe Iran as a "liberated zone" in today's world. The "new world order" is our common enemy. What is needed is a "world wide intifada" against the new world order dominated by America. 23
In the summer of 2006, the German neo-Nazi monthly "Nation und Europa" showed a frontpage color picture of Iranian president Mahmoud Ahmadinejad, and below that picture the following text was printed: "Thank you, Mr. President." Ahmadinejad was praised for his stance on "German guilt" and the Holocaust. 24
In preparation of the football world championship in 2006 German neo-Nazis discussed the possibility of expressing support for Iran. A demonstration was planned in June 2006 to allow Ahmadinejad to visit Germany "as a friendly guest" but local authorities in Frankfurt intervened timely by prohibiting the demonstration. 25
German authorities also intervened when Iran wanted to invite Horst Mahler to the Holocaust deniers conference in Tehran in 2006. They temporarily confiscated Mahler's passport. The Iranian organizers of the conference were not amused. Two weeks after conference, Mahler was quoted in the "Tehran Times" (December 25, 2005) as saying: "Ahmadinejad has been very helpful, the Holocaust never happened. It is the biggest lie in history." 26
Echoing Nazi Propaganda Minister Joseph Goebbels and Nazi Party ideologist Alfred Rosenberg, Mahler even denounced the "hypocrisy of the Jews and their satanic characteristics" (May 2006). 27
Will Obama's "commitment to diplomacy" work in the case of Iran?
In view of the foregoing, it is very doubtful indeed whether a dialogue with the Iranian leadership is feasible or desirable. The initial Iranian responses to Obama's video message were negative, but this may change if the Obama administration is prepared to make more concessions. The current Iranian leaders are religious fanatics and megalomaniacs who are not acting in a rational way. For some reason the Obama administration is tempted to make peace with them but the lessons of history should not be forgotten.
In order to lure the West, Iranians may promise anything. An essential element of Iranian Shia Islam is the principle of "Taqiyya", or "permissible concealment of one's true belief." "Mix with enemies openly but oppose them inwardly." 28
Deceive your enemies by telling them something they want to hear. In her excellent study "The Origins of Totalitarianism," Hannah Arendt pointed out that totalitarian leaders are "consciously developing a method of always doing the opposite of what they say." There is "a permanent and consistent discrepancy between reassuring words and the reality of rule." 29
Ahrendt should not have written "always" but "often". Reality of rule is more complex. Hitler told the German Reichstag (parliament) already in January 1939 that the "Jewish race" would be exterminated in Europe and he did what he said. He publicly repeated his doomsday prophecy ("Prophezeiung") six times: on January 30, 1941, January 30, 1942, February 15, 1942, September 30, 1942, November 8, 1942 and February 24, 1943. 30
The same applies to Iran. Even though "Taqiyya" and deception play and important role in Iranian Shia Islam, we must keep in mind that the leaders of this country do not always do the opposite of what they say. When they threaten to destroy the state of Israel, they mean it. This, by the way, is nothing new. In May 1997, Hezbollah leader Sheikh Hassan Nasrallah, a kind of Iranian proxy in Lebanon, said: "Israel is a cancerous tumor which must be eradicated. It has no other choice but death, while the choice for our Islamic nation is to live." 31
And in February 1997, Ali Akbar Nateq-Nuri, the Iranian speaker of Parliament at the time, told an Iranian crowd that Iran "would only be satisfied with Israel's destruction and the expulsion of Jews from Palestine." "We stand firm in our position like a mountain," Nateq Nuri declared. 32
Quoting the late Iranian leader Ayatollah Khomeini, the current Iranian president Mahmoud Ahmadinejad literally said in October 2005: "This Jerusalem occupying regime must vanish from the pages of time." 33
When it comes to Iran's nuclear program, however, the same Iranian leaders are lying. They claim it is peaceful, but what, then, is the purpose of their massive nuclear enrichment effort? Why are there Iranian missiles which can carry nuclear warheads? I remember the Iranian nuclear issue was also being debated back in the 1990s when Iranian denials of intent were mixed with insistence as a matter of right:
"Iran's denials of intent are not reassuring because Iran has the profile of a typical proliferator. The world view underlying its comments suggest at best ambivalence, at worst deception." 34
In his recent assessment of the Obama Mideast team, Steven J. Rosen makes the following interesting observation:
"Wishful thinking could be a particular problem on the issue of Iran, because the time remaining to stop its drive for nuclear weapons is so short. The new administration believes it can get more cooperation from Russia and China, and induce changes in Iranian policy by putting together a package of bigger carrots and sticks. What if Iran exploits the American eagerness for diplomacy and uses dilatory tactics to 'run of the clock' for its final sprint to obtain nuclear arms?" 35
As far as Russia is concerned, we should not pin hope on the willingness of the Kremlin to cooperate on the Iranian issue. The days of Gorbachev and Jeltsin are over and Russia's leaders are now rapidly returning to the outdated rhetoric of the Cold War. They want to restore the former "glory" of the once existing Soviet empire – the Soviet Union, and, consequently, they seek cooperation with Iran, not with the West. The same happened under former Soviet leader Leonid Brezhnev in 1979 when the communists in the Kremlin welcomed the new Iranian leader Ayatollah Khomeini, a religious fanatic and Jew-hater. Brezhnev said on March 2, 1979:
"We welcome the victory of this revolution which put an end to the despotic oppressive regime. We wish the new revolutionary Iran success and prosperity." 36
The Russians believed that Iran and Russia faced a common enemy – the West and the "imperialist" USA. They offered cooperation and friendship. The first foreign diplomat to be received by Khomeini – on February 25, 1997 – was Vladimir M. Vinogradov, the Soviet Russian ambassador to Iran. 37
Could Iran open up to the West as communist China did in the 1970s?
Some may argue, did not communist China eventuallly open up to the West and would not be the same thing possible in the case of Iran? First of all, China opened up to the West because influential Chinese leaders like Zhou Enlai and Deng Xiaoping wanted it.
The first opening was made after secret diplomacy by Henry Kissinger. He made a secret visit to Beijing (Peking) to see Zhou (Chou) and arrange for a visit by president Nixon. 38
President Nixon then visited China the following year shaking hands with an aging Chinese leader, Mao Zedong.
Today, able American negotiators like Henry Kissinger are conspicuously lacking. I refer to this rare kind of negotiators who do not make noisy statements but engage in effective secret diplomacy. Secondly, different from the Chinese leadership in the 1970s the current Iranian leaders are not really interested in opening up to the West. Both Mahmoud Ahmadinejad and Iran's Supreme Leader Ali Khamenei are extremely hostile to America and Israel. The Chinese leadership on the other hand, displayed a clear willingness to respond positively to US (i.e. Kissinger's) diplomatic initiatives in 1971. The hardliners in Beijing eventually lost, the reformers under Zhou Enlai and Deng Xiaoping prevailed. (Although Deng Xiaoping did not suddenly stop being a totalitarian leader, as was shown during the suppression of the student revolt of 1989; I was myself in China at the time.)
I may be wrong, but I do not see how the current hardliners in Tehran will soon give way to those who want to open up the West. The Iranian reformers lost in 2005 when Mahmoud Ahmadinejad, an obscure religious fanatic who was mayor of Tehran, quite unexpectedly won the presidential elections, due to massive fraud and manipulation. This may very well repeat itself during this year's presidential elections. Ahmadinejad's economic policies were disastrous, and the intellectuals, students and some parliamentarians do not like him, but he does enjoy the powerful support from the highest-ranking Iranian clerics – with a few exceptions only – as well the people living in the backward rural areas of Iran.
A personal note
Let me end with a personal note. I have a kind of emotional attachment to Iran. Back in the 1950s, Dutch engineer Jan George Vermaat, my own father, worked and lived in Iran – as a United Nations expert on agriculture. It was my father's job to assist in the long overdue process of Iran's modernization. After my father died I inherited a number of highly interesting books my father once bought in Iran. I knew he was quite worried about what happened in Iran in 1979 and after. Khomeini's fundamentalist Islamic revolution was a huge step backward. The regime of the Shah was anything but perfect, but Khomeini was much worse. He did not care about human rights either.
In May 2000, I paid a visit to Iran myself, visiting Tehran and Ifshahan. I and other Dutch journalists accompanied the then Dutch Foreign Minister Jozias van Aartsen. We were also received by Mohammed Khatami who was president of Iran at the time. Khatami was a reformer, a nice but powerless man whose reform effort eventually failed because the president did not enjoy support from Iran's Supreme Leader Khamenei. But in May 2000, van Aartsen and most Dutch journalists who accompanied him were still fairly optimistic about the prospects for reform. We met intellectuals and ministers. I had the impression that Iran's Foreign Minister Kamal Kharazzi was a hardliner, whereas the Minister of Culture and Islamic Guidance, Atoallah Mohajerani, was a reformer. After our visit the latter had to step down due to a clash with the Supreme Leader. The prospects for reform diminished rapidly in the course of 2000, and subsequent years did not show any improvement, unfortunately.
Emerson Vermaat is a Dutch investigative reporter who visited Iran in 2000. In 2008 he published a 300 page Dutch study on temporary alliances between extremists, "Nazi's, Communisten en Islamisten" ("Nazis, Communists and Islamists") (Aspekt Publishers, Soesterberg, Netherlands). In April a new book will come out on "The Ribbentrop-Molotov Pact – Prelude to the Second World War" ("Het Ribbentrop-Molotov Pact. Prelude tot de Tweede Wereldoorlog," Aspekt Publishers, Soesterberg, Netherlands). This book also discusses Nazi and Soviet Russian atrocities in Poland (1939-1941), the first stages of the Holocaust and the process of "restalinization" in Russia under Vladimir Putin.
Notes:
1. Full text: Barack Obama's address to Iran, March 20, 2009, http:www.guardian.co.uk/world/2009/march/20/barack–Obama-usa.
2. Kasra Naji, Ahmadinejad. The Secret History of Iran's Radical Leader (London/New York: I.B. Tauris 2008), p. 181, 182. This is an excellent and well documented study. Kasra Naji worked as a journalist in Tehran for many years and currently lives in London.
3. Emerson Vermaat, Nazi's, Communisten en Islamisten. Opmerkelijke Allianties Tussen Extremisten ("Nazis, Communists and Islamists. Remarkable Alliances Between Extremists") (Soesterberg, Netherlands: Aspekt Publishers, 2008), p. 80-82, 230, 231.
4. Kasra Naji, op. cit., p. 179, 180.
5. Sir Percy Sykes, A History of Persia, vol. I (London: Macmillan and Co., 1951), p. 99. This is one of the best books on Persian history.
6. Ibid., p. 98, 99.
7. Ibid., p. 106, 107, 113.
8. Ibid., p. 105.
9. Kasra Naji, op. cit., p. 180.
10. Alfred Rosenberg, Der Mythus des 20. Jahrhunderts. Eine Wertung der seelisch-geistigen Gestaltenkämpfe unserer Zeit (München: Hoheneichen-Verlag, 1936, first published in 1930), p. 32-34.
11. Ibid., p. 33.
12. Emerson Vermaat, Hitler predicted Holocaust as early as January 30, 1939, in: Pipelinenews.org, January 30, 2009 (quotes Himmler on p. 5).
13. Heather Pringle, The Masterplan. Himmler's Scholars and the Holocaust (London/New York: Harper Perennial, 2006), p. 183. One of the best new studies in this field. Shocking information on the abuse of German universities and laboratories.
14. H.R. Trevor-Roper (introduction), Hitler's Secret Conversations 1941-1944 (New York: Octagon Books, 1976), p. 3. There is no particular author or editor mentioned, but this nearly 600 page book was introduced by British historian H.R. Trevor-Roper.
15. Wolfgang Horn, Führerideologie und Parteiorganisation in der NSDAP 1919-1933 (Düsseldorf: Droste Verlag, 1972), p. 30-44, 100-107, 278-327, 330-434. Page 434: "Führerideologie und Führerprinzip bedingten einander, und sicherten Hitler die Dominanz über die NSDAP, zugleich auch die Möglichkeit, unterschiedliche politische Aktionstendenzen innerhalb der Partei in der Verfolgung seines Machtwillens zu bündeln."
16. Walter Langer, The Mind of Adolf Hitler. The Secret Wartime Report (London: Secker & Warburg, 1972), p. 191. Dr. Walter Langer was an American psychiatrist who wrote this secret pschychological report on Hitler for the US Office of Strategic Services (OSS), the forerunner of the CIA (1943).
17. Friedrich W. Doucet, Im Banne des Mythos. Die Psychologie des Dritten Reiches (Esslingen am Neckar: Bechlte Verlag, 1979), p. 109, 110.
18. Volodymyr Walter Odajnyk, Jung and Politics. The Political and Social Ideas of C.G. Jung (New York/London: Harper Colophon Books, 1976), p. 43; C.G. Jung. Collected Works, vol 10 (London: Routledge & Kegan Paul, 1974, second edtion), p. 201.
19. Kasra Naji, op. cit., p. 93, 94.
20. Bundesamt für Verfassungsschutz (BfV), Verfassungsschutzbericht 2007 (Cologne: BfV, 2008), p. 118 (German domestic security service: annual report).
21. Jan Riebe, Im Spannungsfeld von Rassismus und Antisemitismus. Das Verhältnis der deutschen extremen Rechten zu islamistischen Gruppen (Marburg: Tectum Verlag, 2006), p. 141-150 (quote Mahler, see p. 141); Bundesamt für Verfassungsschutz, Verfassungsschutzbericht 2001 (Cologne: BfV, 2002), p. 29-31, 77 (9/11: "...das Ende des weltlichen Jahwe-Kultus, des Mammonismus...").
22. Bundesamt für Verfassungsschutz, Verfassungsschutzbericht 2001 (Cologne: BfV, 2002), p. 31, 44, 45.
23. Jan Riebe, op. cit., p. 139, 140.
24. Bundesamt für Verfassungsschutz, Verfassungsschutzbericht 2006 (Cologne: BfV, 2007), p. 132.
25. Ibid., p. 132, 133.
26. Ibid., p. 115.
27. Ibid., p. 119.
28. John Alden Williams (Ed.), The Word of Islam (Austin: University of Texas Press, 1994), p. 193, 195.
29. Hannah Arendt, The Origins of Totalitarianism (New York and London: Harcourt Brace Jovanovich, 1973, new edition), p. 414, 415.
30. Emerson Vermaat, op. cit., p. 1.
31. AFP, May 16, 1997 ("Lebanese Shiites mark morning ritual with rally against Israel").
32. AFP (Tehran), February 7, 1997 ("Tens of throusands at Tehran's University Square").
33. Kasra Naji, op. cit., p. 140.
34. Sharam Chubin, Iran's Strategic Intentions, in: Patrick Clawson (Ed.), Iran's Strategic Intentions and Capabilities (Washington: Institute for National Studies/National Defense University, April 1994), p. 79.
35. Steven J. Rosen, An Assessment of the Obama Mideast team, in: Middle East Review of International Affairs, March 2009 (meforum.org).
36. Aryeh Y. Yodfat, The Soviet Union and Revolutionary Iran (London/New York: Croom Helm and St Martin's Press, 1984), p. 54.
37. Alvin Z. Rubinstein, Die sowjetisch-iranischen Beziehungen unter Khomeini, in: Osteuropa, July 1982 (vol. 32, No. 7), p. 560, 561.
38. Jules Archer, Chou En-lai (New York: Hawthorn Books, Inc., 1973), p. 164, 165. I closely followed events in China during the 1970s and 1980s, also in view of my membership of the no longer existing "Europe-China Association" which enabled me to meet the best European experts on China and to have access to Chinese sources and books and periodicals on China. I paid a visit to China in 1989 to make radio and tv reports on the student revolt in Beijing and Shanghai and its aftermath (June 1989).
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