Iranian dailies report of imminent plans to merge the Basij Resistance force with the land force of the Islamic Revolutionary Guards Corps

You really know how to creep a person out at bedtime.

All I can say is that it’s very interesting timing for this announcement.

http://www.presstv.ir/detail.aspx?id=107845&sectionid=351020101

“The leader appointed Brigadier General Mohammad Reza Naqdi on Sunday to replace the cleric Hossein Ta’eb as the new commander of the Basij force.”

Leader appoints new IRGC commanders
Sun, 04 Oct 2009 23:30:34 GMT
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Leader of the Islamic Revolution, Ayatollah Seyyed Ali Khamenei, has appointed a number of new commanders at the Islamic Revolution Guards Corps (IRGC).

The leader appointed Brigadier General Mohammad Reza Naqdi on Sunday to replace the cleric Hossein Ta’eb as the new commander of the Basij force.

Brigadier Mohammad Hossein-Zadeh Hejazi has also been appointed by the leader to serve as the new commander of the Logistics of the Joint Chiefs of Staff.

Meanwhile, Brigadier General Hossein Salami has been promoted to deputy commander of the IRGC.

Brigadier General Amir Ali Hajizadeh has also been named as the new commander of the IRGC Aerospace Force.

HRF/SS/MMA

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Of course the above changes tie in extremely well with this:

http://www.payvand.com/news/09/oct/1029.html

Iran Revolutionary Guards and Basij militia merger
Report Source: Radio Zamaneh

Iranian dailies report of imminent plans to merge the Basij Resistance force with the land force of the Islamic Revolutionary Guards Corps. Etemad daily reports that the assimilation of the paramilitary organization of Basij into the Revolutionary Guards will form a new force called the “Land Resistance Force of the Revolutionary Guards.”

Mehr news agency announced that the Revolutionary Guards are once more in the process of re-structuring their organization. “Greater coordination” has been cited as the aim of the Basij and the Guards merger. The command system of Basij and the Revolutionary Guards also merged last year. Mohammad Ali Jafari, Revolutionary Guards chief commander, claimed the merger was a first step in preparation for “confrontation with internal threats.”

The article Catherine cited admonishes President Obama to look beyond Iran’s nukes and to recognize the country’s significance in the Middle East as a whole. He has been all along. The author raised several issues that are consistent with the case for engagement that President Obama set forth in his campaign. The article goes into specifics not addressed in stump speeches, but Obama’s strategy is regional, not local and Iran plays an integral role.

His goal is to develop a working relationship with the govt of Iran. It is politically impossible to begin engagement without addressing the nuclear issue. During the campaign, Obama took the standard hard line about the nukes, but he also talked about engagement. What does engagement mean to him? His general approach is to look for patches of common ground where both parties have something to gain by working together. He specifically mentioned regional stability and international organized crime. The govt of Iran picked up on those 2 areas of common ground in Iran’s proposal for engagement released before the G5+1/Iran talks were announced.

In referring to regional stability, President Obama included Iran’s immediate neighbors, Iraq & Afghanistan. Also he said that Iran is important to the Middle East peace process, not just because of the nukes, but also because of it’s military presence & it’s influence via Hezbollah and Hamas.

Nothing that’s going on in this process is pretty. President Obama has a high tolerance for things looking ugly and messy– much higher than I could handle. He is getting what he wants: engagement. People here consider him to be short-sighted, but he is playing a long game,.. not 11-dimensional ninja chess– he’s not prescient of all contingencies, but he’s hardly reeling from crisis to crisis. His goal hasn’t changed, but the strategy has to be adapted to changing political realities. It’s not a tidy process to watch.

Who won last week misses the point. In order to continue engagement, all parties need to go home looking like they gained something & got the better of those wimps on the other side of the table. Everybody leaves looking both skillful and inept.

The Iranian regime is systematically denying each agreement the West proclaimed. I’m shocked… shocked. Who’s right? Both, neither? The State Dept press secretary didn’t get the memo. What are we to think? …

In baseball, the wily pitcher is effectively wild. The ball whizzes past the batter’s head. Is that pitcher out of control? Or was he aiming at my head? The batter is distracted. The fans debate… is that guy ready for the big leagues? Was it intentional? Only the pitcher and the catcher know for sure. What President Obama is aiming for can’t necessarily be deduced by looking at where the ball ends up. It’s a waste of time to triumphantly pounce on every inconsistency as evidence of President Obama’s incompetence in the negotiations.

CNN reported

U.S. Undersecretary of State Bill Burns had a rare one-on-one meeting with his counterpart, Iranian chief negotiator Saeed Jalili, where they discussed among other things human rights.

The 45-minute meeting was described as a “sidebar” and didn’t involve substantial negotiation of the issues, but it was the first genuine indication that Iran is taking President Obama up on his offer of engagement.

As Scott reported yesterday, that Saeed Jalili denied that the meeting took place. I don’t believe him. We are talking.

If you’ll indulge me, with a new government, over time, I can envision Iran moving into a role of true regional leadership not based on flexing military muscle. If we ever get past this nuke thing…

[sorry I repeated part of yesterday's post... still a lot of effort. hope this comment is of interest ;) ]

This article takes at look at how the present consequences of the implosion of the Soviet Union in 1989, the 1991 Gulf War, and Yitzak Rabin’s victory in the 1992 Israeli elections mean Obama is not facing just the issue of Iran’s nuclear program. It explains how this program is part of a more substantive and sensitive issue at the heart of the Iranian approach to negotiations and says, nuclear weapons issue apart, the problem is whether Israel and the US are able to come to terms with an Iran that is, and will be, a preeminent power in the region. http://www.csmonitor.com/2009/1001/p09s02-coop.html

I say about 90% of callers are for tough sanctions or military strike. Those who say they will take military strike want to see damage to specific targets, e.g. Pasdaran, Revolutionary Guard, and Basiji infrastructure. It is hard to know which cross section of the population callers represent but they are from different cities in Iran. Calls are filled with raw emotions and it is hard not to be moved by it.

It may be hard for those of us who are so far away to understand or feel the sense of desperation no matter how hard we try. After listening to a few calls, for me it brought back the images of people jumping from World Trade Center Tower on September 11, images that will haunt me for the rest of my life.