Hoder in his last post here titled "Iran Needs Nuclear Weapons" falsely argues that Iran should stop enriching Uranium immediately, recognize Israel and normalize relations with US and just then she could make nuclear weapons. Here are two very big flaws in his childish world view:

I. If Iran accepts to stop enriching uranium immediately, how could it obtain highly enriched uranium to build nukes? Hossein lacks basic knowledge of how those weapons are built and he can't hide it.

II. If Iran recognizes Israel and is a friend of America why does she need to go ahead with nuclear armament? She has achieved her objective of being a "favorite" already!

Hossein Derakhshan has got no political studies background, nor does he have any related academic degree whatsoever. I suggest that he and Middle East are both safer if he keeps very quiet!

Yours,
Bita

Hossein Derakhshan is not someone to comment about Iran and its nuclear program. I think Iranian nuclear program is very very clear, they want to make a bomb and wipe many countries such as Israil. I think after that, they would think about making every one muslim, and force Kandoliza Rice to wear scarf.

Take a look at the following post by another Iranian blogger to see not all Iranians share Mr. Derakhshan's irrational views on Iran's nuclear program as he would like us to falsely believe so.

http://kashreports.blogspot.com/2006/08/im-patriotic-iranian-thats-why-i-say.html

Education, Education, Education...Its all about lack of Education. I have difficulty to understand why I should read such a weak writing on Washingtonpost website. It damages the credibility of the website in general. A writing must have logical flow and rational arguments, not misleading arguments. This writing starts with some totally unrelated and misinterpreted numbers and ends with a unrelated conclusion. Here I provide explanation for one of the logical flaws:

- Mr. Hossein Drakhshan presented some numbers about the economic relations between China and Iran, then leaves the argument unfinished, and jumps to the conclusion. A writing must have a logical flow and "logic.
- For Mr. Drakhshan a "potential" 110 billion dollar contract between Iran-and-China in a 25-year period (which means 4.4billion dollar a year) looks considerable! Mr. Derakhshan! Just last year, WALMART imported 15 billion dollar from China, which means 375 billion dollar in 25 years (even if we assume the amount of the trade does not increase, which it will). Mr. Derakhshan, WALMART is more important to China, than Iran!
I hope to not to see these kinds of articles in the respectable website of Washington post.

Regards
Iranmagesh

I like Hossien's article. It is bold and the analogies are exciting and very different than the analogies from many US media.
I think he has too many Iranian-exile enemies, who have developed conservative perspective over the years. Hossein's family background, education, etc. is none of my concern. Whatever it wants to be. I spend my days reading articles from many websites, and I as a smart educated Iranian, find his analogies intelligent and exciting. After all nobody knows how politics works!

Alas, WP has been infiltrated by the likes of "Hoder".
Sad day it is, indeed.

Hossein's support for the regime in Iran may be overwhelming, and his arguments may sometimes be weak, but his insights are valuable and are much fairer than what we are used to hear in most western media. His opinions must be heared and respected.

Great Article, Iran souldn't give up her right under the Article IV to enrich uranium.

Dear Sepideh,

I don't care about who has written this article and where his father's source of income is. (You sound like an intelligent officer knowing all this, by the way.)

I find his argument fresh and interesting. You'd also better presenting a cuonter argument if you want to influence the readers of this blog.

Well, Stewart, if you knew anything about Iran and Iranian society you would understand that Hoder's family connections are crucial to understanding his agenda.

For factual counter-arguments, I suggest you re-read the responses left by Bita and Iranmagesh.

As for your rather silly comment about my sounding like an intelligence officer- LOL!

I just happen to be someone who knows Hossein personally. I know him very, very well.

Mr. Stewart P. Burns (if this is your real name), I wonder how any individual, with a logical mind, can defend this "full of Flaws" and "non-sence" article. Not only it is not logical, but also the writer, Mr. Hossein, have "misinterpreted" the facts (e.g. in the china-iran relationship), and has made his argument based on worng assumption. I mentioned just of the these logical flaws in my previouse post. When it comes to "logic", and "reasoning", this article is worse than a high-school student writing.

Mr. Nima, (if it is your real name), I am surprised how any intellectual and educated person, and call this article "valuable"! Which part was "valuable"? The "logical flow" of the writing, OR The part in which Mr. Derakhshan - because of his little education - misrepresents the facts about the relationship of iran and china?

To Mr. anonymous!, the same answer that I presented above.

Mr. Hossien brought Misleading Numbers and therefore made Wrong conclusions. In my previouse coment, I provided comparative facts and logically dismissed the logical flow of his article. For more information, please read my previouse comment.

In conclusion, only an uneducaed individual who does not know any principales of the world economy, and politics -And ofcourse- Hossein Derakhshan hiself - can write some thing positive about this "full of flaw" article.

And again, I really hope not to see these kinds of -full of flaw and non-sence- articles on washingtonpost website anymore.

Mr Iranmanesh, unfortunately you don't sound logical! All you have is the use of the word logic! LOL

Mr./Ms. same anaonymous Iranian

I provided my Hard Evidence (meaning: comparative quantitative evidance), and called them LOGIC.

Do you have any problem with strong logical arguments and evidance.

Mr. Hossein wrote just one page article, and we found two Logical Flaws in it:

For understanding these LOGICAL FLAWS please read:

1- Ms. Bita's Comment

2- My fist Comment

Since these two arguments are clear-cut logics supported with hard-evidance, if you have dificulty understanding them you may need more education, just like the original writters who needs it desperately.

Good Luck

And again, I really hope not to see these kinds of -full of flaw and non sence- articles on respectable washingtonpost website anymore.

I partly agree with Hoder's article. But I don't think economic ties are the only reasons why Russia and China object the imposing of any sanctions over Iran. After all the dimensions of China-Iran and Russia-Iran trade is NOT comparable to the size of their trade with Europe and the US.

There is one other major factor, and that is neither Russia nor China (and to some extend, nor the EU) want a strong presence/influence of the US in the region. Middle East is now a natural neighbour of China (to the west), Russia (to the South) and EU (to the East). It's the biggest proven resource for oil and gas and the biggest exporter (after Russia).

The Russia-EU-China triangle would naturally want peace on their neighbourhood and a secure flow of energy from Middle East to secure their ambitious growth plans. The US, being on the other side of the planet, is horrified by not having natural access to the biggest sources of energy on the planet. And since the mentality of American politicians is still in the cold war era, they do not know any better (civilised) way of accessing energy than force.

So my comment was deleted, even though it did not violate any of the rules for commenting. Fascinating. It appears that this forum is even less credible than I thought.

Knowing Hossein as I do, I am quite sure that he panicked upon seeing that someone who knows him all too well publicised some facts about him that he'd just as soon the world not know.

So he called the Washington Post blog's editor or webmaster - the person he managed to manipulate into giving him a public forum for his nonsense - and told him that some girl was writing lies about him because she was jealous of him and that the commet must be deleted.

Hossein, there is an expression in English: if you cannot stand the heat, stay out of the kitchen. In other words, if you are going to plant disinformation, prepare to be challenged.

Sepideh,

I can also claim I know you personally and I am aware what's the main reason of your personal problems with Hoder. And you what I'm talking about.

You could be a low-ranking staff in the Iranian embassy in Norway, who's paid by Ahmadinejad to discredit independent thinks such as Hossein whom you can't quite categorise and label.

And I can also know your father who could be, let me think, a brother to a famous revolutionary guard commander.

Some people wonder why wahstington post has given a platform to Hoder. I don't understand them. So far Hoder has not began to moderate (read delete) the comments, we must be grateful to Washington Post by giving us this great opportunity to comment his writings. The same readers who come can read our comments, too. So in fact it is a platform to us. Be grateful, please!
Another group tries to show how silly or fair and insightful his reasoning on economic premises or guarantee from USA, without noticing that both of these ideas have been so long discussed for and against, in western media as well as Iran's.
(http://roozonline.com/english/014880.shtml
and
http://roozonline.com/english/015607.shtml)

On the other hand I really liked this post. It is far better than inviting people to get football tickets by supporting Iran's nuclear programs in front of western journalist.
But I think Hoder could illuminate his ideas little bit more by telling us:
Supposing that USA gives such a guarantee and Iran accepts it, what about Pakistan and "energy-hungry China tomorrow"? Then should Iran continue to produce nuclear bombs "secretly"? or not? If so, and while Iran has USA's guarantee and produced atomic bombs secretly or publicly, then how pro-democracy activists will try to promote democracy and human rights there in Iran? Of course I mean responsible and genius moderates and pro-democracy activists, not those idiots who i.e. solve the conflict between Iran and Israel and make a peace bridge by introducing the easiest way to begin a street fight (http://blogcritics.weblogs.us/archives/4)

LOL! Sorry Reza - you've got the wrong Sepideh. Thanks for the information, though. ;)

LoL, that was nice Sepideh.

I would appreciate if you could give some insider information about Mr. Hoder.

You can explain these information as "unconfirmed rumours", and write them in a way that does not break the code of Washingtonpost.

cheers

There is need for name calling,you might as well ignore hoder comment.Its obvious his blog is not going to influence those who have already decided or planned the future of Iran.May be it is time,to hold hand,and pray to avoid another disaster in middle east orchestrated by groups of fantaics and liars in both side of isles.Us policy maker and iranian Mullahs

I wonder if Reza understands how illogical he sounds when he compares Hoder to Sepideh. I can hardly think of any college graduate Iranian who hasn't heard of Hosein Derakhshan, or Hoder. Hoder is trying to be famous at any price. Maybe he should go ahead and confess to killing JonBenet Ramsey! He'll be on TV all over the world. One more thing, since his last visit to Iran, Hoder has been constantly complimenting Ahmadinejad, Shariatmadari, and other luminaries one way or another. While I don't approve of writing obscene remarks rather than logical comments when somebody publishes their opinion, I have noticed that anytime Hoder has a new post on his blog, the people with negative comments far outweigh any positive or neutral comments. This is so noticeable that Hoder has to turn comment off when he doesn't have time to clean them.

And one more word with Washington Post: Shame on you for letting such an infamous person to spew his sick thoughts on your website. I was expecting more than this.

I like you, as an other point of view, to see the way.
So thanks, and be well.
best regards.
Cyrano.

I believe that Mr. Derakhshan has drafted some very good points. We can not reject his point just by saying he is not a formally educated person. His main point is that the world especially major global powers should regard Iran's concerns about her security andthen address her nuclear plan and so so forth.The current approach by President Bush team to solve such problems in the world does not work.

Based on his biography in his Persian blog, Hoder has a degree in Sociology from University of Shahid Beheshti and University of Toronto.

This whole discussion about his formal education is nonesense.

Pejman, Hoder has never finished his undergraduate degree. He barely passed his courses for a couple of semesters, then dropped out. It's easy to check - go ahead and call the university.

and i believe Iranians deserve to be in such a mess. if you are whom represent Iranian.

sorry pals. we all deserve it.

Sepideh, I think you know more about Hossein than his own self.

But still, you've never bothered to challenge his arguments, rather than himself.

What yuo do is not called intellectual debate. I wonder where have "you" got your education.