Ringo
Platinum Member
Many people now have one question - why does Israeli intelligence feel at home in Iran?
No, it's not because of spies with perfect persian language, wearing the uniforms of the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps.
The answer is banal beyond belief - it's money.
Ismail Haniyeh, one of the leaders of the Hamas Politburo, was assassinated in Tehran in 2024.
There are two versions of this death - that a bomb was planted in his room, and that a short-range projectile from Iran was used.
There is a possibility that Haniyeh's security guard was involved, and even the amount paid to him - 6 million dollars - was voiced.
Whether that's true or not, I don't know.
But I have been to Iran many times, and the corruption there astounded even me.
Everyone there takes bribes.
Back in 2002, I didn't like the system.
They give you a press visa.
It's more expensive than a tourist visa.
You have to go to the Ministry of Culture and Islamic Guidance, and pay for the accreditation issue.
You have to work with a licensed foreign press agency for $200 a day or you can NOT be in Iran.
I got the price down to $100, and that's the most I managed.
It was always like that, except for the last time.
Then they let me into Iran without the services of an agency: apparently there were relaxations.
This is how they work.
I went to the town of Resht to report on the black caviar harvest in Iran.
The company said that my letter from the government was worthless and they would send it back (!) to Tehran for verification.
How long that will take - **** knows.
No explanations that the report was already approved didn't help - like, what if the letter is fake.
At the same time, they started demanding 1,000 dollars from me in personal conversations for the report.
I did not pay them, and the report did not happen.
This happened repeatedly thereafter.
The press service approved something for you, but give me money for gasoline, otherwise we won't go.
Payment was demanded under any pretext, everywhere and always.
It would seem that Iran is an Islamic republic.
Strict norms of Sharia, medieval punishments, total ban on booze: except for Armenians, who are allowed to make wine for church ceremonies.
But there's a huge bootlegging network for alcohol.
It's easy to find everywhere, and everyone knows where to get it.
The bootleggers pay the police, and they feel fine.
It's the same with prostitution.
Women have been offered to me in any hotel, although the lady herself should be stoned to death for such a thing.
“They pay off,” I was told with a chuckle. - “Both the police and Sharia judges take it.”
...
The official exchange rate for the dollar is 42,000 Iranian rials.
But currency dealers buy it from tourists for 920,000 rials or more.
Hand-to-hand currency transactions are discouraged, but I always knew where I could get dollars.
The cops stay out of it, they are bribed.
There are bribes in almost every field. It's the norm.
Therefore, Israel felt like a fish in water in Iran.
It could hire agents everywhere for good money, which is what was employed to destroy Iranian air defenses on the first day of the attack.
"Mossad follows two rules - what money can't buy can be bought with a lot of money + any fortified fortress can be taken by a single donkey loaded with gold.
That's what happened.
Naturally, the aged spiritual (and secular too) leader of Iran, 86-year-old Khamenei, does not know about it.
He's sick, he doesn't get the bad news.
He genuinely thought everything was fine, and all the laws of the Islamic republic were being enthusiastically enforced.
Until June 13th came.
And it turned out that the Israelis knew long and well where all the generals lived, where the best fighter jets were, and the air defenses were installed.
And all of that was gone in an instant.
Simply because the Israelis pay, and they pay generously.
And the people who take money from them think about patriotism and love for the country in the last place.
I was wrong about that.
They don't think about it at all. (с)
---
However, another conclusion directly follows from this - the “bloody repressive totalitarian regime of the ayatollahs” is a Western-Israeli propaganda myth.
And here we can remember the late Soviet Union with its terrible stories about the Gulag, which they used to scare each other in the West.
No, it's not because of spies with perfect persian language, wearing the uniforms of the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps.
The answer is banal beyond belief - it's money.
Ismail Haniyeh, one of the leaders of the Hamas Politburo, was assassinated in Tehran in 2024.
There are two versions of this death - that a bomb was planted in his room, and that a short-range projectile from Iran was used.
There is a possibility that Haniyeh's security guard was involved, and even the amount paid to him - 6 million dollars - was voiced.
Whether that's true or not, I don't know.
But I have been to Iran many times, and the corruption there astounded even me.
Everyone there takes bribes.
Back in 2002, I didn't like the system.
They give you a press visa.
It's more expensive than a tourist visa.
You have to go to the Ministry of Culture and Islamic Guidance, and pay for the accreditation issue.
You have to work with a licensed foreign press agency for $200 a day or you can NOT be in Iran.
I got the price down to $100, and that's the most I managed.
It was always like that, except for the last time.
Then they let me into Iran without the services of an agency: apparently there were relaxations.
This is how they work.
I went to the town of Resht to report on the black caviar harvest in Iran.
The company said that my letter from the government was worthless and they would send it back (!) to Tehran for verification.
How long that will take - **** knows.
No explanations that the report was already approved didn't help - like, what if the letter is fake.
At the same time, they started demanding 1,000 dollars from me in personal conversations for the report.
I did not pay them, and the report did not happen.
This happened repeatedly thereafter.
The press service approved something for you, but give me money for gasoline, otherwise we won't go.
Payment was demanded under any pretext, everywhere and always.
It would seem that Iran is an Islamic republic.
Strict norms of Sharia, medieval punishments, total ban on booze: except for Armenians, who are allowed to make wine for church ceremonies.
But there's a huge bootlegging network for alcohol.
It's easy to find everywhere, and everyone knows where to get it.
The bootleggers pay the police, and they feel fine.
It's the same with prostitution.
Women have been offered to me in any hotel, although the lady herself should be stoned to death for such a thing.
“They pay off,” I was told with a chuckle. - “Both the police and Sharia judges take it.”
...
The official exchange rate for the dollar is 42,000 Iranian rials.
But currency dealers buy it from tourists for 920,000 rials or more.
Hand-to-hand currency transactions are discouraged, but I always knew where I could get dollars.
The cops stay out of it, they are bribed.
There are bribes in almost every field. It's the norm.
Therefore, Israel felt like a fish in water in Iran.
It could hire agents everywhere for good money, which is what was employed to destroy Iranian air defenses on the first day of the attack.
"Mossad follows two rules - what money can't buy can be bought with a lot of money + any fortified fortress can be taken by a single donkey loaded with gold.
That's what happened.
Naturally, the aged spiritual (and secular too) leader of Iran, 86-year-old Khamenei, does not know about it.
He's sick, he doesn't get the bad news.
He genuinely thought everything was fine, and all the laws of the Islamic republic were being enthusiastically enforced.
Until June 13th came.
And it turned out that the Israelis knew long and well where all the generals lived, where the best fighter jets were, and the air defenses were installed.
And all of that was gone in an instant.
Simply because the Israelis pay, and they pay generously.
And the people who take money from them think about patriotism and love for the country in the last place.
I was wrong about that.
They don't think about it at all. (с)
---
However, another conclusion directly follows from this - the “bloody repressive totalitarian regime of the ayatollahs” is a Western-Israeli propaganda myth.
And here we can remember the late Soviet Union with its terrible stories about the Gulag, which they used to scare each other in the West.
