dent Ahmadi-nejad is a “calculated … blowhard” on a par with Sarah Palin.
Majd is the author of the 2008 book “The Ayatollah Begs to Differ” and has produced a new book, “The Ayatollahs’ Democracy.”
In an interview with Time magazine published last week, Majd said that on policy considerations Ahmadi-nejad would like to normalize relations with the United States.
But when it comes to public political discourse, he says Ahmadi-nejad is nothing more than a blowhard like many American politicians on the far right.
Comparing Ahmadi-nejad to former Alaska Gov. Sarah Palin and radio talk-show host Glenn Beck, Majd said, “They like to be these blowhards who tap into a certain kind of dissatisfaction among their supporters. It’s very cynical, in my mind. It’s a politician’s move.”
Majd said Palin and Beck “are fundamentalists when it comes to religion—as is Ahmadi-nejad. None of them are in the clergy—and neither is Ahmadi-nejad. And Ahmadi-nejad, you have to take what he says with a grain of salt. And I think one has to take what Sarah Palin says with a grain of salt—or [radio talk-show host] Rush Limbaugh or any of those people. The kind of incendiary rhetoric that all of these people employ is calculated, and we have to bear that in mind.”
But Majd didn’t just toss brickbats at Ahmadi-nejad. “I think President Ahmadi-nejad would very much like to see a normalization of relations, if not an alliance, with America,” Majd said.
“Very few Iranians want to see this heightened conflict between America and Iran.… It’s affected the economy. It’s affected people’s lives. It’s not comfortable. And Ahmadi-nejad recognizes that. But he would like to be the person who can be the hero and say, ‘I was able to talk to the United States without giving in’.”
Majd, 53, is the son of an Iranian diplomat and was largely raised abroad. He was in the entertainment business in the United States before he decided to devote himself full time to writing.