Ahmadinejad Meets O.J.

Ahmadinejad Meets O.J.

In a distinctly Orwellian turn of events, Iran’s President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad (“Mr. Sixty-Three Percent”) has pledged to investigate the death of Neda Agha-Soltan. It reminds me of O.J. Simpson’s pledge to leave no stone unturned in the search for his wife’s killer.

According to the BBC:

In a letter to judiciary chief Ayatollah Mahmoud Hashemi-Shahroudi, Mr Ahmadinejad described Neda’s death as “suspicious,” reported the official IRNA news agency on Monday.

Facebook
Twitter
Email
Flipboard
Pocket

In a distinctly Orwellian turn of events, Iran’s President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad (“Mr. Sixty-Three Percent”) has pledged to investigate the death of Neda Agha-Soltan. It reminds me of O.J. Simpson’s pledge to leave no stone unturned in the search for his wife’s killer.

According to the BBC:

In a letter to judiciary chief Ayatollah Mahmoud Hashemi-Shahroudi, Mr Ahmadinejad described Neda’s death as “suspicious,” reported the official IRNA news agency on Monday.

His letter added: “I request you to order the judicial system to seriously follow up the murder case… and identify elements behind the case and inform the people of the result,” reported IRNA.

Since Iran has already blamed the BBC for causing the unrest in Iran, what will Ahmadinejad say about the BBC’s dutiful reporting of his call for an inquiry? Does it mean that Ahmadinejad himself is a tool of BBC? Oh, what a tangled web he weaves.

We cannot back down

We now confront a second Trump presidency.

There’s not a moment to lose. We must harness our fears, our grief, and yes, our anger, to resist the dangerous policies Donald Trump will unleash on our country. We rededicate ourselves to our role as journalists and writers of principle and conscience.

Today, we also steel ourselves for the fight ahead. It will demand a fearless spirit, an informed mind, wise analysis, and humane resistance. We face the enactment of Project 2025, a far-right supreme court, political authoritarianism, increasing inequality and record homelessness, a looming climate crisis, and conflicts abroad. The Nation will expose and propose, nurture investigative reporting, and stand together as a community to keep hope and possibility alive. The Nation’s work will continue—as it has in good and not-so-good times—to develop alternative ideas and visions, to deepen our mission of truth-telling and deep reporting, and to further solidarity in a nation divided.

Armed with a remarkable 160 years of bold, independent journalism, our mandate today remains the same as when abolitionists first founded The Nation—to uphold the principles of democracy and freedom, serve as a beacon through the darkest days of resistance, and to envision and struggle for a brighter future.

The day is dark, the forces arrayed are tenacious, but as the late Nation editorial board member Toni Morrison wrote “No! This is precisely the time when artists go to work. There is no time for despair, no place for self-pity, no need for silence, no room for fear. We speak, we write, we do language. That is how civilizations heal.”

I urge you to stand with The Nation and donate today.

Onwards,

Katrina vanden Heuvel
Editorial Director and Publisher, The Nation

Ad Policy
x