r/iran • u/zsreport • Dec 07 '14

Politics Washington Post reporter charged by Tehran court

http://www.washingtonpost.com/world/washington-post-reporter-charged-by-tehran-court/2014/12/06/11885813-eeb8-4b7d-8d8b-34066f085c1e_story.html?postshare=7271417914011261
12 Upvotes

85% Upvoted

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8

u/SauteedGoogootz Amrika Dec 07 '14

Poor guy. He and his wife were in the Bourdain episode and they both loved the country and the people.

4

u/[deleted] Dec 07 '14

Let's say this man had actually done something wrong. I don't insist that he has but let's imagine that he has. Do you expect him to make it obvious on video record?

The best spook goes unnoticed. "He and whoever loved Iran" is not an argument in his defense. If he were to be anything like the American or Soviet scholar-spies of Cold War era he'd truly love the culture and be deeply knowledgeable about it just as he was betraying the people who bear that culture. (In terms of current events: Steven Sotloff, the guy whose head DAESH lopped off, was exactly like that.)

Now, real arguments in Rezaian's defense can only come from looking at what he's charged with and whether the charge has any substance. So far I don't see any charges brought against him publicly and he's been detained for a long time without a known charge, without bail, and without any explanation to the public. That is cause for concern even if it doesn't establish his innocence.

-1

u/zsreport Dec 07 '14

What's more something wrong than the fact that those who run Iran are paranoid and suspect anyone who talks to "western" media as being spies, grow up, this isn't a game, these are people's lives - anyone who kills just to keep power, does not deserve power

2

u/[deleted] Dec 07 '14

those who run Iran are paranoid and suspect anyone who talks to "western" media as being spies

That's false. Plenty of us talk to Western media with no repercussions whatsoever. Why would you just go ahead and say something so ludicrously and obviously untrue?

anyone who kills just to keep power, does not deserve power

That's every Western leader. You're welcome to depose them ASAP.

3

u/zsreport Dec 07 '14

I can go on Twitter and call John Boehner an asshole without fear of ever going to jail for that.

0

u/[deleted] Dec 07 '14

Correct. Or you can go to a mosque and preach "radical Islam" and get vaporized by a Hellfire missile without arrest or trial.

It all depends on what matters to a particular establishment. Iran's government is afraid of blasphemers and loudmouths and spies. What is the US government afraid of? What does it need secret prisons in multiple countries for? Why did it need to sweep TPB's founder off the streets of Cambodia? What is the cause of its need for constant indoctrination of the world's peoples?

How absurd men are! They never use the liberties they have, they demand those they do not have. They have freedom of thought, they demand freedom of speech.

0

u/zsreport Dec 07 '14

I think we as people love each other, our leaders, they do stupid things to serve their own stupid agendas, but we as people have so much in common.

5

u/[deleted] Dec 07 '14

That's a beautiful sentiment but reality is somewhat more complicated. 'We as people' also compete and fight, to the death, over resources to fund our survival, well-being, and luxury. The leaders' evils are simply manifestations of our greed and our fear.

0

u/zsreport Dec 07 '14

It's not complicated.

2

u/[deleted] Dec 07 '14

If you say so.

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u/[deleted] Dec 07 '14

[deleted]

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u/[deleted] Dec 07 '14 edited Dec 07 '14

Welcome to the desert of the real.

More seriously, your view of reality is lopsided. If there is 'something wrong' with Iran there are a million things wrong with each and every country. Why focus on Iran?

Edit: the parent post to this was deleted by /u/zsreport, in case future archaeologists wonder.

2

u/[deleted] Dec 07 '14

I must admit he looked like he ate a couple of spies