How About a Stint on Sesame Street?: UPDATE
Oct 16th, 2009 by pedestrian
Shit. Mr. Abbasi’s back.
This was the first time he was back.
———————
Hassan Abbasi did an interview with Iran daily, which was featured on his website (I strongly suggest you take a look at it. Go to Google Persian and type “andishkadeyeh yaghin“.) The website belongs to his think tank, which he calls the “Doctorial Analysis Center for Security Without Border”. (the name is not my translation, but appears on his site.)
The entire interview is basically an explanation of this table, which he presents right at the beginning:
It’s a very long interview, and I take this man VERY seriously, so if you know Persian, check it out in full.
He also has a “possible outcomes” graph, which is too small to read, and the “click for larger image” isn’t working (I will fix it if they do):
He speaks at lenghts about how the enemy has been able to influence our country by “invading hearts and minds”. As to possible solutions:
We must know that one of the places that the enemy has been able to penetrate is scientific and cultural centers. The ministry of education, the ministry of higher education, the ministry of health and the ministry of culture and Islamic guidance.
Right now, in our educational system, the hearts and minds of our children are invaded by Darwinsim. And that too with the management and budget of the Islamic Republic. [Hey! just to let you know Hassan! The IRI doesn't own us. You speak of the "budget of the IRI" as if it BELONGS to you folks and you're just nice enough to share it with the citizens!]
Right now, in our universities, the professors of all fields are playing by the enemy’s rules. This is the worst possible outcome. This means that the West has been able to infiltrate within out borders and has been able to seize the minds of our professors through mechanisms of soft conflict, and through the professor, influences our youth too. The psychology professor uses the theories of Freud, Erickson and Piaget; the sociology professor refers to Weber, Parsons, Giddens and Habermas; the philosophy professor only teaches Kant, Hegel, Heidegger and Popper; the economics professor Smith, Ferguson, and Keynes, Friedman and Stiglitz; the theology professor Paul Tillich, and Alvin Plantinga. The management professor Henry Mintzberg, the political science professor Hobbes, Machiavelli, … These individuals are certainly not able to discipline an Iranian and Islamic individual. And thus more and more each day the uselessness of the humanities is amplified in Iran.
What are the solutions out of this quandary?
The solution is for the High Council of Cultural Revolution to employ assymetric warfare tactics as well. Of course, the hearts and minds of the people in this council have been captured by foreign invaders too and they do not have the capacity to make such a move. But still, if certain things are changed in there [the council], they can learn how to employ such tactics.
How? Give us a practical solution!
The solution is simple. We need to fight this “things are the way they are” mentality.
If the great prophet was to say “thinsg are the way they are” he would have let people continue believing in idols.
The question is this: Is low [I think they mean "law"] only defined by its Western definition? No, not at all. Is Human Rights? Is Psychology? Economics? Politics? No, never. The problem begins with the fact all these fields are referred to by their Western name, as if there is one unified definition for them. Thus, the solution is for our scientific community to look towards God and to find La Elaha Ellahlah [there is no god but Allah] in the sciences.
Abbasi is a fascinating character. Up until I read your linked August post, I really hadn’t given his domestic politics any attention. Instead, I’d focussed on his foreign policy and military perspectives. These specific views are admired by fans of the Iranian military establishment. I wonder how influential he is to IRGC (grand?) strategy.
If I’m not mistaken, Abbasi was part of the Iranian military contingent that volunteered for service in lebanon during the early 1980’s. His reputation is that
he distinguished himself in battle.
I didn’t know he was recently detained for a brief period of time. That surprises me. Am I to imply the Judiciary branch is open to manipulation form different poles of power? Or maybe, just maybe, it has its very brief moments of impartiality? I guess to know the prosecutor would figure that one out. However, I must confess I am
totally ignorant of Iranian criminal law procedure.
Looking forward to hearing more about him, Ped.
Pirouz, I take this guy seriously. I think he bluffs a lot, but he is one of their “strategists”.
I’ve heard about his stint in Lebanon too. It’s very interesting that in his last interview, he talked about the “axis of evil”: the men who persuaded Khomeini to end the war.
These fights have a history and are rooted in events of years before. Or, they are using those events for their agendas now.
I think that it’s certainly the case that “the Judiciary branch is open to manipulation form different poles of power?” And also, after Yazdi’s shake in the judiciary, the judge has a lot more power. Thus, it could be that Rafsanjani and Rouhani were lucky/smart enough to get a judge on their side.
Thanks so much for this post, Ped.
I must confess a distinct disadvantage in comprehending the IRI on an intellectual basis. I can’t adequately fathom the religious perspective. For at least five Iranian generations now, my family has been dedicated to a secular tradition. We really are the product of the Reza Shah dynasty and its contemporary example of Ataturk.
That said, I understand some of what Abassi is saying on the domestic front. I’m even willing to allow him his reference of a “conflict” framework (which I personally would not go so far to use). However, even if we grant him the legitimacy of his cultural rejection of Western intellectual thought, his offered substitution of an attention toward God is, in itself, unsound. Basically, he is rejecting something of considerable value, and is unwilling and unable to offer a substantive alternative.
Furthermore, his rejection of Darwinism is exceptionally alarming. It serves to discredit any of his other ideas that might be worth considering.
He would do well to confine his strategic studies to applications of military power and foreign policy.
A couple more thoughts:
Some of this concern for Western intellectual creep, I understand. But you can definitely take it too far.
Some of what Abbasi is saying reminds me of the TV show “Daei Jon Napoleon” (دایی جان ناپلئون). Have you ever seen it? You probably have, but if you haven’t its a must. In this particular case, substitute “the British” for “the West”, and you have the mentality of Abbasi in a nutshell. (That TV show is such a crack up!)
Disappointing, really. Iran really could use a talented strategist.
Pirouz, I haven’t seen the series, but I’ve read the book. One of the best ever written, IMO.
I’m all for his proposal: let’s be SO ambitious to REDEFINE philosophy, political science, etc.
How are you going to do that when anyone with a shred of education or ability is locked up in a chicken coop or fleeing our country or exiled? Under Ali Larijani, who was once the head of IRIB, they made an hour long mockumentary about the late Zarrinkoub, one of Iran’s greatest contemporary scholars (if not THE greatest) in which they accused him of “serving biganeh” … crap like that. Really, if they do that to Zarrinkoub who lived and worked IN Iran for more than 7 decades and produced such monumental work … Who the hell is supposed to come up with these “new” sciences?
Hadad Adel I supposed, who apparently isn’t even extremist enough for these thugs.
Dear Pedestrian,
HASSAN ABBASI – embarking on his quest for a reason why there is a sort of contemporary backwardness or cultural-political powerlessness/helplessness of a country coined by Islamic culture – seems to lead [whom?] down the garden path, seems to mislead [whom?] into cultural, intellectual, mental, scientific and spiritual failure, flop and misery
in HIS BLATANT OPPOSITION TO THE HISTORICAL EXPERIENCE (of different ages and regions) OF THE NECESSITY OF OPEN AND FREE CULTURAL AND SCIENTIFIC EXCHANGE.
Perhaps two questions asked and two quotes instead of an answer might be useful for developing a Personal Navigation Assistant (PNA) / Personal Navigation Device (PND) in this respect:
I. WHY COULD ISLAMIC CULTURE BE THE MOST PROGRESSIVE AND SUCCESSFUL CULTURAL AND INTELLECTUAL GLOBAL FORCE DURING THE MEDIEVAL AGES ?
“Following the fall of the Roman Empire and the dawn of the Middle Ages, many texts from Classical Antiquity had been lost to the Europeans. In the Middle East however, many of these Greek texts (such as Aristotle) were translated from Greek into Syriac during the 6th and the 7th century by Nestorian, Melkites or Jacobite monks living in Palestine, or by Greek exiles from Athens or Edessa who visited Islamic Universities. Many of these texts however were then kept, translated, and developed upon by the Islamic world, especially in centers of learning such as Baghdad, where a “House of Wisdom”, with thousands of manuscripts existed as soon as 832. These texts were translated again into European languages during the Middle Ages. Eastern Christians played an important role in exploiting this knowledge, especially through the Christian Aristotelian School of Baghdad in the 11th and 12th centuries. – These texts were translated back into Latin in multiple ways. The main points of transmission of Islamic knowledge to Europe were in Sicilia, and in Toledo, Spain (with Gerard of Cremone, 1114-1187). Burgondio of Pise (died in 1193), who discovered in Antioch lost texts of Aristotle, translated them into Latin.”
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Islamic_contributions_to_Medieval_Europe
II. WHY COULD EUROPE UNDERTAKE THE LEAP INTO ENLIGHTENMENT, RATIONALISM, SCIENCE AND TECHNOLOGY, THUS BECOMING THE LEADING SUCCESSFUL CULTURAL AND INTELLECTUAL GLOBAL FORCE IN MODERN TIMES ?
” Islam [of course] […] developed its own sciences, such as algebra, chemistry, geology, spherical trigonometry, etc. which were later also transmitted to the West. Stefan of Pise translated into Latin around 1127 an Arab manual of medical theory. The method of algorism for performing arithmetic with Indian-Arabic numerals was developed by al-Khwarizmi (hence the word “Algorithm”) in the 9th century, and introduced in Europe by Leonardo Fibonacci (1170-1250). A translation of the Algebra by al-Kharizmi is known as early as 1145, by a certain Robert of Chester. Ibn al-Haytham (Alhazen, 980-1037) compiled treaties on optical sciences, which were used as references by Newton and Descartes. [.] Contributing to the growth of European science was the major search by European scholars for new learning which they could only find among Muslims, especially in Islamic Spain and Sicily. These scholars translated new scientific and philosophical texts from Arabic into Latin. One of the most productive translators in Spain was Gerard of Cremona, who translated 87 books from Arabic to Latin, including Muhammad ibn Musa al-Khwarizmi’s On Algebra and Almucabala, Jabir ibn Aflah’s Elementa astronomica, al-Kindi’s On Optics, Ahmad ibn Muhammad ibn Kathir al-Farghani’s On Elements of Astronomy on the Celestial Motions, al-Farabi’s On the Classification of the Sciences, the chemical and medical works of Rhazes, the works of Thabit ibn Qurra and Hunayn ibn Ishaq, and the works of Arzachel, Jabir ibn Aflah, the Banu Musa, Abu Kamil Shuja ibn Aslam, Abu al-Qasim, and Ibn al-Haytham (including the Book of Optics).”
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Islamic_contributions_to_Medieval_Europe
Best Wishes
German
German, I’d send this to Abbasi if I could
Dear Ped
In case you could and did [I mean send ABBASI a letter], please convey my kindest regards to him
plus the following additional 5 suggestions,
a) to consult an encyclopedia entry on the “Golden Age of Islam”
b) to consult an encyclopedia entry on the retarded backwardness of “medieval [Western] Europe” (compared to medieval Islamic states)
c) to consult the encyclopedia entries on the European “Renaissance” and “Enlightenment”
d) that today’s hit is to be the owner of two books instead of only one
[BTW: I am convinced: not quite a bizarre idea for anyone]
e) not to do spoof the English language (“Doctorinal Analisys Center…”) – because here out there in the “hostile WEST”, we DO NOT celebrate Carnival-parades with Carnival-floats EVERY DAY, only once a year (at least in the “Roman-Catholic” parts of Germany)
Thank you very much for your blog – and, of course, for your immense patience
German
LOL … German, sure will
the guy claims to have a phd “from America” – but he never says where!
Salam and greetings,
One of my students showed me your weblog. I thank you for all of your comments and opinions. But, apparently, none of you my friends are not familiar with my original project. My project is Islamic doctrinologism and not about the superiority of one thought over another, but the use of the strengths of Islam and the West together. In addition, I do not have a PhD from the US. With thanks to all those writing.
http://www.andishkadeh.ir