Mahmoud Ahmadinejad

Mahmoud in 2019.

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Turning towards Mecca

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Mahmoud Ahmadinejad (1956–), also known as Achmadina, is the former president of Iran (2005–2013), and a distant second in power to Ayatollah Ali Khamenei. He's totally not anti-Semitic, he just hates Jews, and anyone that might be connected to the Jewish people, no matter how distant. He is a stringent nationalist and a far-right politician.

Ever the hardliner, Ahmadinejad was a Holocaust denier, a far-right authoritarian, and a man so unpopular he had to steal an election to remain in power. Even compared to the mullahs, he was a batshit social conservative who banned dog walking and denied gay people existed. A deeply paranoid, hateful, and authoritarian blowhard with a massive ego, he defied all the norms and wrote his own rules even in the face of massive public and institutional backlash, which sounds awfully familiar. As President of Iran, Ahmadinejad immediately boosted the power and influence of the Revolutionary Guard (of which he was once a member) by stacking the government with their members and allowing them to further entrench the Guards' hold on the country. These moves undermined the power of the clerics who wanted theocracy to stay as the status quo.

Attempts at dictatorship

Massive ego

He was swept into power as a Khamenei loyalist. However, he had unbelievable delusions of grandeur that inspired him to turn the presidency into more of an executive body regardless of the Supreme Leader's wishes. By "inserting himself" in all of Iran’s "most contentious debates" and by asserting himself both on the domestic and international stage, Ahmadinejad "emerged as the focal point of Iran’s contemporary political landscape." Ahmadinejad, described as "bold" and "idiosyncratic," was heavily and publicly criticized by many Iranian factions, from the reformists to the conservatives, who found him toxic and insufferable as well as a national embarrassment. Ahmadinejad believed himself untouchable because of a divided opposition. The only person who could do anything was Khamenei, who was reluctant to get into public spats with his own president. His early inaction caused a mini-political crisis among the regime's elite because they were desperate to slap Ahmadinejad down. Still, Khamenei never liked appearing like he was overly meddling in affairs despite his vast power as Supreme Leader. His early reluctance to act only served to make Ahmadinejad stronger.

Feud with the Supreme Leader

Ahmadinejad would call his opponents "traitors," often replaced critics with loyalists, and marginalized clerical rule in favor of nationalism and populist religious fervor. Ahmadinejad stacked the government with Revolutionary Guards, got into public spats with the Supreme Leader, actively tried to upstage Khamenei and had to be escorted away by his own bodyguards, and even fired a minister that Khamenei supported (and unilaterally reinstated as a minister). Things got so bad that there was talk of impeaching Ahmadinejad because disobeying and criticizing the Supreme Leader is constitutionally forbidden. In fact, Ahmadinejad made a habit of publicly criticizing government agencies, security apparatchiks, and intelligence officers, including the Revolutionary Guards of corruption, conspiracy, and smuggling of illicit goods. The Guards were divided between those loyal to Khamenei, those who supported Khatami, and those who supported Ahmadinejad, which is why he could get away with such remarks.

Khamenei was so frustrated with President Ahmadinejad that he suggested abolishing the presidency and restoring the prime minister, who would be appointed by Khamenei. This proposal prompted stronger than usual criticisms from even Rafsanjani, who said the proposal "strongly undermines the ideal of an Islamic republic, in which the people elect their leaders." This public power struggle lasted for months, and it took Khamenei finally meddling in government to stop the bleeding before things broke apart for the regime's elites. Ahmadinejad turning into a "real power" was "unacceptable" to both Khamenei and the Revolutionary Guards, who took the unusual step of publicly criticizing Ahmadinejad throughout his second term. Mercifully, Ahmadinejad lost the power struggle, and now he's been so marginalized that he barely even registers in the Iranian public consciousness.

Going down the slippery slope

“”We've never been anti-Semitic, but anti-Zionist.

“”The existence of the Zionist regime is an insult to all humanity.

“”Of course, some governments and their people always hated the Jews because of the ugly conduct of some of them... If the Holocaust that you talk about was real, why don’t you allow the subject to be studied? One can freely research any issue, except for this issue, which is sealed. It is a black box, which they do not allow to be opened or reexamined. They do this in order to exploit it.

Beliefs

Although Ahmadinejad has denied accusations of antisemitism, he regularly spouts antisemitic canards such as his invocations of an international Jewish conspiracy and denial of the Holocaust. He has also endorsed 9/11 conspiracy theories. Though Ahmadinejad has not directly implicated Jews, a common anti-Semitic conspiracy theory is that Mossad launched the attacks in order to provoke US military action in the Middle East. However, claims that Ahmadinejad has called for Israel to be "wiped off the map" are based on sloppy translations (but don't tell his official English language website that). "Marg Bar Israel", however, a thing that almost all Iranian leaders of any level have said openly and publicly on numerous occasions, is agreed to mean "death to Israel" among almost all speakers of Persian.

Ahmadinejad's antisemitism has also led to rumors that he is secretly of Jewish descent. This is, however, bullshit.

His antisemitism was so extreme, even leaders like Fidel Castro disavowed him for his views.

He could well be considered the Islamic equivalent of ex-president Bush, as he too has a fanatical obsession with Armageddon and piss-poor economic management. He eagerly awaits the return of the Imam Mahdi, essentially the Islamic equivalent of the messiah, going so far as to spend $17 million of government money on a mosque. There are parallels between Ahmadinejad's policies and Bush's support for faith based outreaches, as well as Bush's belief in the imminent return of a Certain Someone.

He became even more famous for making the bizarre claim that: "In Iran we don't have homosexuals like in your country. In Iran we do not have this phenomenon." Some people have tried to rationalize this by saying that he was not denying that homosexual activity occurs in Iran, but that homosexuality is not part of one's identity as it is in the U.S. However, Ahmadinejad's media adviser later provided an explanation of the statement that contradicts this interpretation. In layman's terms, in Iran, homosexuals get the death penalty due to the fundamentalist religion of that state.

He has used the N-word whilst describing George Floyd.

Ahmadinejad’s antisemitism has long been part of his views and tactics as a fascist. However, outlets have also label him as a right wing populist not unlike those of Europe and America.

Political career

Ahmadinejad was elected in 2005 as a first-time candidate. He ran on an anti-American platform and emphasized Iranian nationalism, such as defending the country's nuclear arms program, expanding the nuclear program of the Islamic Republic and obstructing UN inspections of Iran's nuclear facilities. Around this time, Khamenei and President Mohammed Khatami were looking to reconcile with the US, but were spurned by Dick Cheney. After Khatami was term-limited from running again, Khamenei decided to support the hardline Ahmadinejad as a way to stick it to the West. Ultimately, he was elected with a healthy 62% of the vote; the election was widely accepted as fair, believe it or not.

While increasingly unpopular with the public, he maintained support from the ruling clerics, thus "winning" reelection in 2009. Although it had been anticipated that it would take some days to count the votes, the result was announced in a couple of hours. Furthermore, in some voting areas, the turnout was substantially greater than 100%. As the election was blatantly manipulated, outrage against this stolen vote led to the greatest public unrest that Iran had seen in over a decade, including violence and mass protests. He was constitutionally limited to two terms and thus did not run for re-election in 2013, but had lost much of his power and popularity due to constant head-butting with Khamenei.

He tried to invade Iraq, but Dick Cheney got there first.

Since being booted out of office, he has reportedly returned to his original career of teaching. (Educators, we're sorry for writing that sentence.) In 2015, Ahmadinejad informed the world that the U.S was seeking to arrest the Hidden Imam who disappeared in the 10th century (C.E.) under mysterious circumstances. He has recently been accused of running a "Deviant current" composed of politicians sharing his views, though he does not officially support any one political party. He also wanted to run for president in 2017, but the Guardian Council told him to fuck off.

See also

• Ali Khamenei - his superior
• Ebrahim Raisi - his later successor and fellow Islamofascist
• Mohammad Hosseini - another Islamofascist
• George W. Bush - His American counterpart, including persistent allegations and circumstantial evidence of election theft (Bush's brother was governor of the same state that purged over 50k African American voters before the fateful election).