A Guideline for Islamic Governance

This is no endorsement nor condemnation, but rather information for you. He's also promised to personally spend 15 minutes per week posting.

Mahmoud Ahmadinejad, the president of Iran, is not the first name that comes to mind when thinking of net surfers and instant messages. Yet, it turns out, the man is a blogger.

Equally surprising for a leader known for a kind of thundering public presence, his blog is not especially tough. He condemns Washington's policies, but writes infrequently and more ponderously than in his famously confrontational speeches.

The reader comments posted alongside his own seem far less censored and harsher than one might expect.

"I think you are an evil leader," one comment posted by an American reader said. "Freedom and tolerance are necessities in this day and age, and the fact that your country kills intellectuals, journalists, minorities is horrible and deeply disturbing."

Another reader said Ahmadinejad's claim at Columbia University in September that there were no gays in Iran was absurd and called his domestic policies "brutish." Still another wrote, "Shut up please, would you? I get headaches reading your nonsense stuff."

The above is via IHT.

Obviously the following is from Aahmadinejad.

In the Name of Almighty God, the All-Knowing, the Most Lovingly Compassionate

One's perspective regarding government and governance determines the way one ‎should cooperate with the people. If one recognizes government as a privilege and prey ‎of the governors, then the period of governance can be counted as an opportunity to fulfill ‎the expectations of certain individuals and groups or the ostentation and hedonism of the ‎governors.‎

But if in our view, "government" would be a responsibility before God for ‎establishing justice and a duty to ensure the rights of common people, serving the ‎servants of God and helping the oppressed- then the most important issue will be the ‎people's concerns. If this is the case, governors would not view themselves as better than ‎other people and they wouldn't put themselves in any other position except serving the ‎people. [spacing edited slightly, but not content - ed]

‎
His blog may be found at http://www.ahmadinejad.ir/en/. I chose English because my computer doesn't render foreign languages I couldn't read anyway. And, unlike the original article I found, I provide a convenient link.

Its interesting to see, compared to many bloggers, especially the wingers, who don't allow comments, block people who challenge them or delete the comments they don't like, Ahmadinejad appears to be willing to take the heat. Of course I have no idea who he's blocked or if he's deleted comments, but it doesn't seem like he's doing either.

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