[R-G] Leader Khamenei's Friday Address on the Presidential Elections

[Intense Red]

   In some ways, one could argue "I've got no horse in this race" in the 
struggle between the US and Iran. But that's wrong. We do have an interest in 
self-determination and opposing imperialism.

   Like Israel, Iran is a theocracy. Iran has many flaws and one can go on and 
on about the problems in that country. But is the US is clearly trying to 
destabilize Iran.  The US is denying the Iranian people the right to choose 
their own form of gov't and to settle their own problems.

   Haven't we learned this lesson before?

   The reason there is a theocratic regime in Iran is because of the US. The 
US overthrew a nationalistic, democratic socialist regime and replaced it 
with a dictator. The Shah of Iran ruled with US support and squelched 
political dissent in a brutal way. The only outlet the Iranian people had to 
express their oppression was through Islam.

   It's like Marx said, "Religion is the sigh of the oppressed creature, the 
heart of a heartless world, and the soul of soulless conditions. It is the 
opium of the people." Or as Barack Obama noted under much more pleasant 
conditions in the US: people under stress will cling to their guns and the 
Bible.

   The Iranian clerics are not the problem -- the Iranian people will deal 
with that in due time if we let them. The real core of the problem is 
imperialism and the US destabilizing and interfering in other countries' 
internal affairs.

-- 
Fast fact: The wealth gap between the richest and poorest countries went from 
3 to 1 in 1820 to 72 to 1 in 1992.