Social Econ Blog

Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad has joined the blogging community:

The launch of www.ahmadinejad.ir was reported on state TV, which urged users to send in messages to the president.

Mr Ahmadinejad's first posting, entitled autobiography, tells of his childhood, Iran's Islamic revolution, and the country's war with Iraq.

The blog includes a poll asking if users think the US and Israel are trying to trigger a new world war.

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Mr Ahmadinejad's first entry on his blog, which is available in Persian, Arabic, English and French and includes an RSS feed to get future new entries to readers, is dated Friday.

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The US is also heavily criticised by the president. At one point he describes it as "Great Satan USA" for what he says was its support for the "terrorist groups" which had tried to collapse Iran's Islamic government.

I welcome President Ahmadinejad to the blogging community. However, I hope in future posts he doesn't use it to promote group level hatred of the US. In an ideal world, this forum might allow good, thoughtful people in the West to connect virtually with the President promote greater understanding and tolerance of our positions and our society, and, hopefully, encourage him to soften his stance toward the West and not promote group level hatred (e.g., by ceasing to use terms like "Great Satan USA"). Of course, it is more probably more likely that he'll get flamed by a bunch of trolls and have a bunch of new material to increase hatred of the West if he wants to.