++ There was a lot written about the devastating floods in Iran this week and how the MEK are misusing the crisis. Sara Zahiri of the Farsi NITV News site (Canadian/American-Iranians) quotes some of this commentary, including Massoud Khodabandeh, which is saying that Maryam Rajavi is effectively asking people to take up arms and fight their rescuers. This, say some, is probably the biggest gaffe she has given in recent years as she is asking flood victims to fight to repel the armoured vehicles come to rescue them. Zahiri compares this to their behaviour when they worked for Saddam Hussein. For the MEK, everything has to come back to violence and terrorism, they can’t do without it.
++ On the anniversary of the attack on Camp Ashraf in 2011, former members have written their memories of how Rajavi tried to get people killed; sending them against the Iraqi police and soldiers with false pretences – without arms etc. Those people were killed only because Rajavi wanted more money from the Americans. It was already clear by then they would have to evacuate the camp and go to a third country.
++ Hassan Raahi, an MEK veteran from the time of the shah, had an interview with Cheshmandaz-e Iran publication belonging to the famous Lotfollah Maysami (also a former MEK veteran). Raahi talked about Massoud Rajavi’s mentality. He mentioned every detail about him. For example, how when he was in prison, Rajavi tried a few times to become the MEK leader, but those still alive then knew him very well and prevented it. How Rajavi managed, after the Revolution, to exploit the chaos and take over and destroy the original MEK. How he went to France then Iraq etc and derailed the organization.
In English:
++ A blog by Ali Alavi examined some of Maryam Rajavi’s stances – along with that of other ‘instant experts’ – over the floods. Interestingly according to Alavi, Rajavi didn’t know what to do and had to take instruction from Massoud Khodabandeh’s criticisms to finally make some pretence at helping. But even this was ‘churning out breath-taking lies’ rather than real help. Rajavi advised flood victims to resist their rescuers. She claimed that MEK ‘Resistance Units’ were helping, but all they could do was print and hand out leaflets “instructing people to come to their own aid!”
++ Stephanie Baker in Bloomberg examines ‘Where Rudi Giuliani’s money comes from – While he represents the president for free, he travels the world consulting, giving speeches, and building his brand’. In a long and detailed article, Baker reveals that from Ukrainians, Chechens, the Polish, Brazilians, Columbians and of course the MEK, Giuliani doesn’t hesitate to take money for consultation and speeches advocating foreign interests while wielding unchecked influence with the POTUS.
++ Albanian investigative journalist Gjergji Thanasi writes in Gazeta Impakt to advise PM Rama against servility and myopia in relation to Maryam Rajavi. Thanasi speaks about former MEK member Manoucher Abdi who is a grandfather and wants to return to his family in Iran. The Albanian government is hindering his efforts so that Abdi has started a hunger strike in protest. This will reflect badly in foreign and world media, says Thanasi, starting with the Danish Dagens Naeringsliv, France’s Le Monde, Italy’s RAI and the US’s Wall Street Journal. He concludes “In my article I am not appealing to the human feelings of my country’s prime minister, but merely his sound judgment. Keeping an Iranian grandfather hostage in Albania will not bring any benefit to the prime minister but will be a source of endless trouble in the field of public relations.”
April 05, 2019
