Subject: PLEASE POST A COMMENT...
Date: 05 September 2007 10:13:50 AM
To: vtilley
Cc: jduncan@fxi.org.za
Dear Dr Tilley,
Perhaps you would like to post a comment, with regard to the attached item, which appears on..
http://fixthefxi.blogspot.com/
Viva
Blacklisted etc
The following news report will delight Dr Virginia Tilley (HSRC) and Ronno Einstein (South Africa's Minister of Intelligence and roving Minister of Anti-Zionist Affairs). Virginia and Ronno both admire Ahmadinejad and seem to believe that he can do no wrong.
Imagine how pleased they must be to discover that their hero not only denies the holocaust but is also a self-proclaimed mathematical genius! Ahmadinejad has, of course, put his mathematical ability to good use and has cleverly calculated that 6 million Jews did not die in the holocaust.
Ronno Einstein can be certain that when he again goes to Tehran, to further develop South African / Iranian nuclear relations, he will meet a President who is, at least, on the same intellectual wavelength. Perhaps Dr Tilley can tag along on a fact finding "no holocaust" mission for South Africa's prestigious Human Sciences Research Council (HSRC) ?
God and maths convince Ahmadinejad Iran is safe
TEHRAN (Reuters) - Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad says his calculations as an engineer and his belief in God convince him that Iran will not be attacked by Western powers trying to end its nuclear programme.
Ahmadinejad, who regularly chides the West and talks proudly of his academic skills, brushed off the suggestion that force might be used.
Iran's President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad speaks during the opening ceremony for the Non-Aligned Movement Ministerial Meeting on Human Rights and Cultural Diversity in Tehran September 3, 2007. (REUTERS/Morteza Nikoubazl)
"There were days when some inside the country were pressuring us to retreat, (saying) 'Otherwise there will be a war'," Ahmadinejad told students and academics on Sunday, according to the daily Etemad-e Melli.
"But I told them that I am an engineer and familiar with analysis and examination ... The enemies will not dare to fight us," he told the group.
"I give two reasons to those who have the same concern. First, I am an engineer, a master of calculation and tabulation. I write out hypotheses for hours, I reject and I prove them again. I make plans based on reason and proof ...
Dec 2006
DOES SOUTH AFRICA HAVE A "RIGHT TO EXIST"?
During the last few days, I have been engaged in an "on and off" email exchange with Dr Virginia Tilley. For a number of reasons Dr Tilley has requested that our emails do not enter the public domain and due to the fact that our correspondence was always "private", I have, of course, respected her wishes.
Dr Tilley is currently employed in South Africa at The HSRC. She has an MA from the Center for Contemporary Arab Studies (Georgetown University) and a Phd in political science (University of Wisconsin).
I was first prompted to email Dr Tilley about the Iran Holocaust Conference. My interest in her views had been piqued after reading her article "Putting words into Ahmadinejad's mouth."( 28/8/2006). Dr Tilley concluded:
"we will doubtless continue to read in every forum that Iran's president - a hostile, irrational, Jew-hating, Holocaust-denying Islamo-fascist who has threatened to "wipe Israel off the map" -- is demonstrably irrational enough to commit national suicide by launching a (nonexistent) nuclear weapon against Israel's mighty nuclear arsenal. The message is being hammered home: against this media-created myth, Israel must truly "defend itself."
I was curious to discover whether, in the light of the Holocaust conference, Dr Tilley had changed her views or whether she still believed that the whole thing was a "media- created myth". I also wanted to know whether she approved of the Holocaust conference and whether she though it was a good idea that characters such as David Dukes (head of The Klu Klux Klan and notorious anti-Semite) were invited.
More recently, as Hamas and Fatah head towards civil war, I asked her which of the parties she supported. I thought that she might be in the Hamas camp because she had written an article entitled "Hamas and Israel's 'Right to Exist' ". The Doctor's words will shock you, so take a deep breath:
"What does a "right to exist" mean exactly? There is no "right to exist" for states under international law. The formula has arisen in international diplomacy uniquely to Israel." (Dr Tilley, 12/5/2006)
Before I had the chance to question Dr Tilley about the implications of this article, she unfortunately lost her patience with me. I must add that Dr Tilley was kind enough to wish me good luck, but our email exchange was abruptly terminated when I suggested to Virginia that her unorthodox engagement in the Middle East "debate" might well have affected her academic career as a political scientist.
However, I wonder... could it be that Dr Tilley has been employed at The HSRC in Pretoria in order to answer the highly controversial question... "Does South Africa have a 'right to exist' "? Let's hope that she will get in touch with "It's Almost Supernatural" (blog) and provide us with a definitive answer ASAP.
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