Love the solar panel.
The Washtub reports that Shahram Amiri, mentioned here a couple of weeks ago, has returned to Iran:
TEHRAN -- An Iranian nuclear scientist at the center of a bizarre espionage drama arrived here to a hero's welcome Thursday morning, including a personal greeting from several senior government officials.This CIA video is richly comical. The set appears to have been dressed by Lyndon Larouche:... Amiri's tale has dominated Iranian media since Monday night, when he surfaced in front of Iran's diplomatic mission in Washington and asked for a ticket back to his homeland. Amiri, 32, told officials that he had been abducted by U.S. intelligence operatives and had spent much of the past year in Tucson being questioned about Iran's nuclear ambitions.
Amiri's reappearance was as mysterious as his disappearance and came just weeks after a series of Internet videos added to the intrigue surrounding the case. In the videos, Amiri claimed alternately to have been kidnapped by the CIA and to have come to this country on his own accord to pursue a PhD.
... In the first, which aired on Iranian television, Amiri stares into what appears to be an amateur Web camera, claiming to have been tortured and pleading for human rights organizations to intervene.
But in a subsequent and more polished video that U.S. officials said was crafted with help from the CIA, Amiri is dressed in a suit coat before a backdrop that includes a chessboard and a globe turned to the Western Hemisphere.
I dunno, maybe the guy really did defect to the US originally. (Though I doubt it.) If so, they made a mistake sending him to Tucson, which would give anybody second thoughts about life in theseUnited States.
It will be interesting to see whether the Iranian government now decides those hapless young hikers don't need to stick around any longer. After a decent interval of course. Stay tuned.
Comments (11)
If they're gonna fabricate espionage drama, the least they could do is decide whether it's dry and droll (le Carre), cartoonishly action-filled (Ludlum), or hard-bitten if mildly cliche (Deighton).
The profferred story, however, is complete bullshit that isn't fit for bookbinding or movie stock. Like the "dancing Arabs" in Manhattan on 9/11/2001, this is pure theatre.
Posted by CF Oxtrot | July 16, 2010 12:11 PM
Posted on July 16, 2010 12:11
If you're going to live in Arizona (OK, *if*) and don't much like Flagstaff winters, Tucson is undoubtedly the city of choice. The Austin of Arizona (without the music) (or the river) (or the rain).
I do love that CIA set.
Posted by Jonathan Lundell | July 16, 2010 12:29 PM
Posted on July 16, 2010 12:29
Well, I watched the clip linked above and was able to guess that the Farsi word for "I" or "me" or both was "man".
The comical part was over my head. Is the house linguist going to post a translation?
Posted by Boink | July 16, 2010 12:35 PM
Posted on July 16, 2010 12:35
I dunno any Farsi. The comedy for me was purely visual. And of course the guy's droning scripted voice, which comes across pretty well even if you *don't* know Frasi.
Posted by MJS | July 16, 2010 2:33 PM
Posted on July 16, 2010 14:33
And that exhausts my Farsi.
Posted by MJS | July 16, 2010 2:44 PM
Posted on July 16, 2010 14:44
Comedy aside, this link is to the guy's own Youtube channel. So, is he "verifying" the existence of an Iranian nuclear weapons program or is he denouncing the CIA for having "kidnapped" him. Doesn't it make a difference? Anyone?
Posted by Boink | July 16, 2010 2:55 PM
Posted on July 16, 2010 14:55
Comedy aside, this link is to the guy's own Youtube channel.
Not necessarily. The link goes to a Youtube channel with the guy's name on it that was created the same day the video was uploaded. Since there are no further video uploads, and the account's owner hasn't signed into Youtube since, it can be inferred that the account was created in order to post the video. If the video was staged, and certainly looks that way, then the account could have been merely created in his name to host a pre-existing video. Youtube doesn't verify the accuracy of the chosen account name before it is created.
Posted by Nullifidian | July 16, 2010 5:25 PM
Posted on July 16, 2010 17:25
Thanks for the clarification, Null. My use of YT is limited listening to the apparently pirated classical music recordings uploaded in their tens of thousands by persons with no evident fear of RIAA, God bless 'em.
Does anyone have any notion what Amiri was saying or to whom it was addressed? Or doesn't it matter?
Posted by Boink | July 16, 2010 6:48 PM
Posted on July 16, 2010 18:48
There's a surprising amount of Farsi (if we include Old Persian, which I suppose we must for checkmate) floating around. Mostly obscure, but: borax! Hoodathunkit?
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_English_words_of_Persian_origin
Posted by Anonymous | July 16, 2010 9:07 PM
Posted on July 16, 2010 21:07
Huh. Meant to sign that borax thing.
Posted by Jonathan Lundell | July 16, 2010 9:08 PM
Posted on July 16, 2010 21:08
speaking of borax
what about borat
http://gnihton.com/wp-content/uploads/2010/04/borat-swimsuit.jpg
borat always struck me as not
possibly from kazakhstan
maybe he's a persian agent
posing as a cockney jew
playing a boetian bore
that is only claiming to be from
..."ahh ...from ....ahhh..kazakhstan "
but is actually from
http://politicalpartypooper.files.wordpress.com/2009/06/mahmoud-ahmadinejad21.jpg
Posted by op | July 17, 2010 8:46 AM
Posted on July 17, 2010 08:46