Word: ahmadinejad
(lookup in dictionary)
(lookup stats)
Dates: all
Sort By: most recent first
(reverse)
Iranians may have had enough of Mahmoud Ahmadinejad's economic missteps, bellicose rhetoric and beige windbreakers. But the man with the best shot at unseating the fiery incumbent in Iran's Presidential elections isn't the youthful or charismatic candidate one might expect. Though he served as Iran's Prime Minister during the 1980s, Mir-Hossein Mousavi, the pragmatic reformist who has emerged as Ahmadinejad's most serious challenger, is stepping back into the political spotlight after what the Iranian media has dubbed "20 years of silence." Mousavi's low profile may work to his benefit. Iranians seeking an alternative...
...Raheleh Rahim, 27, an architect rushing toward the event dressed in white (in contrast to the black chador preferred by many conservative women) and a lot of makeup, told TIME, "[Ahmadinejad] has raised my retired grandmother's pension - she was a teacher - as well as my mother's salary - she is a nurse. These are the things that really matter." Mousavi supporters, she said, "keep talking about freedom - I have all the freedom I need in this country...
...Inside the mosque, the crowd was delirious. The famous panegyrist Mahmood Karimi took the podium and narrated an encounter with Ahmadinejad. " 'Don't you get tired traveling from province to province?' I asked him," said Karimi. "He said, 'My heart is fueled by nuclear energy...
...poll conducted by a group of university researchers predicts a Mousavi win in the first round with 54% of votes, compared to 24% for Ahmadinejad. The poll predicts an unprecedented turnout of 84%. Still, Abtahi told TIME, "It all depends on voters' participation rate. The great crowd of Mousavi supporters has to translate into votes on Friday. Let's hope those young girls and boys aren't more interested in getting each other's phone numbers than they are in voting...
...Obama's Cairo speech, I realized that the leader of Hamas was calling the Israeli people, and their leaders, Israelis. That seemed new. The usual term of art used by Islamic militants is "Zionists" or worse. A few days later in Iran, for example, I watched Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad say in a debate, "I don't like to call them Israelis. Their leaders are so unclean that they could wash themselves in the cleanest waters and still be dirty...