New Iran Government Scraps Anti-Israeli Conference.

[dipsydoodle]

Source: ABC News

The administration of Iran's new President Hassan Rouhani has cancelled an anti-Israeli conference as part of his outreach to the West and efforts to map out a new diplomatic path for Iran.

The annual event was set up by Rouhani's predecessor, Mahmoud Ahmadinejad, and showcased the former president's vitriolic anti-Israeli rhetoric and promoted his anti-Israeli sentiments.

When the conference was first held in 2005, Ahmadinejad made his infamous remark that Israel should be "wiped off the map."

Iranian news websites, including jahannews.com, said on Friday that the Foreign Ministry scrapped the gathering because it was seen as undermining the government's policy of "interaction with the outside world."

Read more: http://abcnews.go.com/International/wireStory/iran-government-scraps-anti-israeli-conference-20539442

[trumad]

1. Looking good.

I really hope we work things out with Iran.

[Ash_F]

2. Media still perpetuating that lie

"wiped off the map" is not even a idiom that makes sense in Farsi

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/mark-weisbrot-and-robert-naiman/arash-norouzi-explains-th_b_39069.html

People think that Iran, a country that has never invaded anyone(unlike the US and Israel) and has zero capacity to project its military, is going to invade another country? A country that is not even on their border and defended by a superpower with a military that is larger than the entire rest of the world?

In any case, glad the old guy is gone and they are doing this. This is good news.

[Scootaloo]

4. Well, in the interest of accuracy...

Iran DID invade Iraq... granted, this was after Iraq invaded them first. But a counter-invasion is still an invasion, I suppose.

[Ash_F]

5. Point taken

Still, I would say they were the victims in that one.

[Scootaloo]

6. Doubtless so.

[leftynyc]

7. Seriously?

More of the oh poor poor ahmadinijad was just mistranslated crap. He never spoke against Israel or denied the holocaust. He was just a victim of the west. Vomit.

[Ash_F]

9. Do you speak Farsi?

No? Then keep your snark to yourself. It will only make you look foolish in the end.

http://www.antiwar.com/orig/norouzi.php?articleid=11025

Word by word translation:

Imam (Khomeini) ghoft (said) een (this) rezhim-e (regime) ishghalgar-e (occupying) qods (Jerusalem) bayad (must) az safheh-ye ruzgar (from page of time) mahv shavad (vanish from

[leftynyc]

10. Keep putting lipstick on that pig

I couldn't possibly care less.

[Ash_F]

11. This site is for honest discourse.

If you are not here to intentionally spread lies, then that is fine. But you should really put forward more effort.

[leftynyc]

12. Listen, cupcake

I've been on this board a whole lot longer than you so you can stuff your lecture. It's my opinion that the madman from Iran (thankfully not President anymore) was a disgusting human being who denied that 6 million Jews and 5 million others were murdered by the nazis in WWII. He even had a conference about it - did you miss that tidbit? The little prick even crowed about it:

http://www.haaretz.com/news/middle-east/1.534337

[Ash_F]

14. That is not it least bit relevant to my post which you replied

"Israel must be wiped off the map" is an overt threat. It would be a big deal if true.

But it never happened.

Do you understand why this is a lie that should not be spread?

[leftynyc]

16. If you want to blame

his attitude on a mistranslation, have at it. Don't expect everyone to bow down to your nonsense. This is a story that's been hashed out on this board FOR YEARS.

[Ash_F]

17. Hashed out by who? You?

The text of his speech is right there in my link, if you think that you can do better. It is even spelled phonetically with English lettering to make it easier. Have at it. I know that he did not say that or anything else that could be construed as a threat of military action.


And I never said anything about his attitude. I'm not in his fan club.

[leftynyc]

18. Yes, because I'm the only person

on this board. Before you got here, I talked to myself. You seem to think that merely saying a country is a cancer that should be disappeared doesn't really matter as long as they don't have the muscle to carry it out. I wholeheartedly disagree.

[Ash_F]

19. From "wiped off the map" to "cancer that should be disappeared"

Can't you keep anything straight? Next thing you know, they'll be throwing babies out of incubators and eating yellowcake!

[leftynyc]

23. The only person who referred

to wipe off the map was you. Try and keep up next time.

[Ash_F]

26. No, it was in the OP.

I was responding to that.

And then you jumped in.

[leftynyc]

27. You accused me

of using that quote to bash the madman - what you don't seem to understand is that everytime that lunatic opened his mouth, somebody here jumped in and accused the poster of mistranslating him. You want to talk about one quote and I wont play your game. You were wrong. Own up or bother someone else.

[Ash_F]

31. I'm not 'somebody here' and I don't know about those other instances

I don't really care to defend the former president either.

But spreading the lies about a threat of war can have serious implications for Iranians and American's relationship with them, not Ahmadinejad. Look up the "we will bury you" misquote and how the fear that fostered damaged America and its third world victims for decades to come by fanning the flames of the Red Scare leading into the Cold War.

[leftynyc]

33. Hate to break the news

That this site didn't just begin when you joined. These are topics that have been discussed for years.

[Ash_F]

34. For the record, I have been reading it since 2001

I didn't have time to post because of both work and school. Now I just work.

[leftynyc]

13. I also don't think he was

mistranslated. He's a pig.

[Ash_F]

15. So you are right, but a native speaker is wrong?

Even though they broke it down thoroughly? OK

[leftynyc]

29. The translation came from his own people

Stop digging already.

[Ash_F]

32. Already addressed.

I know what it says. But keep being ignorant, I guess.

[R Merm]

20. But the mistranslation comes from

the official Iranian State News Agency, and has never been disavowed by them or ahmadinijad even though he has had opportunities to do so.

As you said "wiped off the map" is not even a idiom that makes sense in Farsi", maybe the mistranslation better states his sentiment then the original statement in Farsi.

[Ash_F]

21. The author in my link addresses this point in detail. /nt

[R Merm]

22. But it still remains an agent of his government provided that translation, anything attempeting to

explain it is speculation. If that translation came from the west you would have a stronger case, but it didn't. Are you implying that the State News agency was unfamiliar with their native language, I don't think that their mistranslation was a mistake but was done on purpose. Allowing them to make that inflated statement and then step it back if needed by saying oops a mistranslation. But, this is just speculation on my part.

[Ash_F]

25. First of all, it was clarified by their Foreign Minister

Per the article. I am not sure if you have a citation that indicates otherwise. If so, feel free to share.

"Are you implying that the State News agency was unfamiliar with their native language"
I agree with the author in my post. If you have not read it fully yet, then I highly recommend it. The only thing I would add, in response to your specific question, is that the editor was probably not sufficiently proficient in the English language; figuring that wipe off the map was the closest phrase to vanish from the page of time not realizing that the former is usually referencing the destruction of a city whereas the latter has no such violent connotation, but only references the change of an era.

"I don't think that their mistranslation was a mistake but was done on purpose. Allowing them to make that inflated statement and then step it back if needed by saying oops a mistranslation. But, this is just speculation on my part."

I think this is over thinking it. Maybe if we were talking about a few world powers who tend to start a war every decade or so, it would make some sense. This isn't a country that goes around bombing or invading people, even at its lowest.

[R Merm]

36. No they have had Hezbalah and Hamas going around bombing everyone for them. eom

Hopefully we are seeing a change there with the change of leadership and not just statements meant to lift sanctions. I think it would be great if Iran reconnected with the west.

[Ash_F]

38. The US government has MEK killing Iranians for them.

Prior to that, they had the Shah. Nowhere in my posts did you see any excuse for terrorism.

I'm not their PR guy, but that doesn't mean I have to ignore a blatant lie.

PS - Seriously, there is so much wrong in Iran right now. Why cling so doggedly to this one lie? It is kind of bizarre.

[Rstrstx]

35. Guess they'll just stick to invading parties of "homosexuals and satanists"

Vladimir must be so proud

[Ash_F]

39. Many Iranians are working very hard to change the country.

Many have gone to prison. Some have died. That comment was neither witty nor cute.

[Paper Roses]

3. A step in the right direction. One can only hope. n/t

[ChairmanAgnostic]

30. Bibi will respond by claiming this is an act of war against Israel, and that the US should invade.

[leftynyc]

8. Good news

I hope the mullahs who hold the real power will let him do his thing.

[freshwest]

24. 'Elections make differences.' Don't let anyone tell you otherwise.

[Ash_F]

28. Yes. The election mattered

True that Iran is less than democratic. But so is the US.

The election mattered.

[1000words]

37. Meanwhile, this is what Israel has been up to:

http://www.democraticunderground.com/10023826059