AP: Despite the fact that Iran has imposed blogging regulations on its citizens, Iran’s hardline president has started blogging, recounting childhood memories, the country’s Islamic Revolution and Tehran’s war with Iraq in his first entry. Associated Press
TEHRAN, Iran (AP) – Despite the fact that Iran has imposed blogging regulations on its citizens, Iran’s hardline president has started blogging, recounting childhood memories, the country’s Islamic Revolution and Tehran’s war with Iraq in his first entry.
President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad’s Web log also requests that readers participate in an online poll asking if they think the United States and Israel are “pulling the trigger for another world war.”
State-run television announced the blog’s launch Sunday, urging the public to send written messages to the president through the blog’s Web site
www.ahmadinejad.ir [Click on the US flag icon to view text in English”>.
The blog is an unusual move by the conservative president, whose government has censored Internet sites it deems inappropriate and cracked down on bloggers who have posted anti-government messages since he was elected a year ago. Many of the clerics who support Ahmadinejad also have shunned the use of advance technology, though other hard-liners have sent cell phone campaign messages to the public in the past.
But Keivan Mehrgan, a Tehran-based blogger, said Ahmadinejad’s blog – which is translated into English, French and Arabic – is nothing more than a publicity stunt.
