Correcting The Guardian

Yet another piece of disinformation by The Guardian in an article titled “Ali Shah’s Last Stand”. No, it’s not a history piece on Fath-ali Shah Qajar; The Guardian is referring to Mullah Ali Khamenei:

“Ali Shah is the disrespectful nickname Iranians have in recent years bestowed on Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, supreme religious leader of the Islamic republic. It captures what they see as the monarchial aspirations and the clear limitations of the man who took over the function of "guiding" the republic from Ayatollah Ruhollah Khomeini 18 years ago and who now, after an election that has put his man in as president, controls all the major institutions of the Iranian state.”

Interesting that while the author deems it necessary to distinguish the Islamist Republic’s “right-wingers” from its “liberals”, he does not even hint that the “Iranians” he refers to in such sweeping manner could be the anti-monarchists (i.e. republicans). Any Iranian with access to the Internet can tell Mr. Woollacott that the Islamic Republican websites Peyknet and Gooya, for instance, to name just two, have used deceitful characterization of this type routinely with the view of warning their disgruntled readers of the Iranian alternative to the Islamic regime they support. Disrespectful nickname? Here readers could ask themselves two questions.

Why would Iranians use the term “Shah” (King) pejoratively? Sure, you might point to 25 years of exposure to Islamist media, psychological brainwashing or “education” under Soroush’s Islamist educational system. Even so, if one wished to speak disrespectfully about a Mullah…

Exactly who does not deem the term “Mullah” enough disrespectful, perhaps not disrespectful at all, so that, in order to be disrespectful, he would use the term Shah? Clearly, those using the term “Shah” as a disrespectful term either do not feel the same about the term “Mullah” or feel that the latter designation is not pejorative enough. Either way, they are against Shah more than they are against the Mullahs.But not to worry. I’m sure that our Islamist-occupied embassy in London will send a letter of protest to The Guardian demanding an apology for yet another defilement of our heritage.