Revolutionary Guards Expand Defense Plans

Activation of “Passive Defense” in Sensitive Areas

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Gholamreza Jalali, the head of Islamic Republic’s Passive Defense Council said, “By the ‎end of the year, passive defense mechanism would be activated in all provinces and ‎sensitive areas in the country.” ‎

Following this news and Jalali’s remarks, the National Passive Defense Council’s news ‎office added, “The Majlis tasked the government to cover vulnerabilities in the country’s ‎infrastructure (in face of a potential military strike against Iran) in the Fourth ‎Development Plan and we have devised guidelines based on that. According to these ‎guidelines, a deputy is assigned in every executive organization as that organization’s ‎passive defense representative. In all executive organizations the requisite planning in ‎this regard has been implemented.” ‎

In military language, Passive Defense is referred to the totality of structural and ‎infrastructural measures taken to minimize damage from a potential enemy attack and ‎reduce the enemy’s precision and targeting capabilities, thus imposing higher costs on the ‎enemy. As such, factors such as concealment, camouflage, deception, division, ‎dispersion and protection are emphasized in passive defense. ‎

Passive Defense has become among the Islamic Republic’s defense plans, and according ‎to the head of the National Passive Defense Council, “The council’s first priority is to ‎disperse passive defense capabilities in the provinces.” He added, “We hope to activate ‎passive defense measures in all of the country’s provinces and sensitive areas by the end ‎of the year.” ‎

Noting the reduction in damages from a potential military attack, Jalali stressed that ‎‎“research and the implementation of programs aimed at reducing organizational ‎vulnerabilities” and while cautioning the necessity of defending such targets as nuclear ‎centers, radio and television, the Interior Ministry, provinces, Ministry of Energy, ‎Ministry of oil, Ministry of Communications and the central bank, said, “210 projects ‎have been briefed for these organizations. We also have good plans for safeguarding ‎nuclear facilities.”‎

According to the head of the National Passive Defense Council, thus far “170 billion ‎Tomans” have been set aside for such programs and “with the president’s cooperation, ‎plans are under way to dedicate 5 percent of provincial budgets to protect the ‎infrastructure of each province.” ‎

New Deputy in Every Election

Rumors of Deputy Interior Minister's Dismissal ‎

Rumors of the imminent dismissal of Deputy Interior Minister commander Afshar are heard at a ‎time when the ninth administration seems to be close to setting a new record, according to which, ‎in the three years since the administration came to power, each year a new deputy has found his ‎way to the tall skyscraper on Fatemi Street. Thus far, the ninth administration has administered ‎every election under a different Deputy Interior Minister, who is, in effect, the chief elections ‎administrator. ‎

News sources close to the administration, including Fars news agency, Reporters' Club and ‎Borna news agency announced on Friday that commander Ali Reza Afshar, the interior ‎ministry's political deputy, has resigned from his post at the ministry and left the ministry. ‎Nevertheless, on Saturday Ali Reza Afshar told the Iranian Labor News Agency (ILNA) that he ‎has not resigned from his post. He also noted that "I had the pleasure to serve in the ninth ‎administration by Mr. Ahmadinejad's invitation and will continue to be of service for as long as ‎and at position he deems appropriate." ‎

Although, as predicted twenty days ago by the Tabnak news website, conflicts of opinion ‎between Afshar and newly appointed Interior Minister Kordan may be sufficient for Afshar's ‎departure, yesterday's remarks by this former Revolutionary Guards commander were of interest ‎in their own right. In reiterating that he was invited to serve by the president, Afshar was ‎insinuating that his presence at the ministry is outside the boundary of authority of the new ‎Interior Minister. Nevertheless, Kargozaran newspaper reported on Saturday that denials of ‎Afshar's resignation are not "serious," noting that, in previous instances as well, whenever an ‎administration official was removed, denials were issued shortly prior to that official's removal. ‎

Now rumors of Deputy Interior Minister's removal are abound even though the position is the ‎most important deputy-position in all ministries, because it oversees election administration. ‎Afshar's change would mark the third change in deputy Interior Minister position in the past ‎three years. The first Interior Minister of the ninth administration was Mostafa ‎Pourmohammadi, who initially appointed Ali Jannat as the ministry's political deputy, but when ‎it was found that Jannati had supported Hashemi Rafsanjani in the presidential election, ‎agitations began to remove him. As a result, Ahmadinejad personally picked the Deputy Interior ‎Minister, so that, on the eve of the third round of city council elections, Ali Jannati was ‎appointed as Iran's ambassador to Bahrain and a figure closer to Ahmadinejad administered the ‎elections. As a result of these developments, and on the eve of the third round of city council ‎elections, Mojtaba Samareh Hashemi, Ahmadinejad's high advisor and confidant was appointed ‎as Deputy Interior Minister in September of 2006. ‎

This time, Samareh Hashemi's removal was initiated by the president's order, and Mostafa ‎Pourmohammadi said, "We would have liked to continue our cooperation with Mojtaba Samareh ‎Hashemi as Deputy Interior Minister but due to pressure of work and his position as president's ‎advisor, Dr. Ahmadinejad did not agree with his stay at the Interior Ministry." ‎

As such, on the eve of the third elections administered by the Ahmadinejad government - eighth ‎Majlis elections - in August 2007, Commander Alireza Afshar was appointed as the ministry's ‎political deputy; the same person whose dismissal rumors are now abound in the media. ‎

Ali Kordan, who last week approved the resignation of the Interior Ministry's reconstruction ‎communication deputy, is yet to react to news of Afshar's resignation and only told reporters, "I ‎know nothing about this issue." ‎

Stop Lying!

Nateq-Nouri’s Criticism against the Administration:

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By:Alborz Mahmoudi

Ali Akbar Nateq-Nouri, head of Supreme Leader’s Audit Office, blasted on Saturday ‎those who purport to communicate with or know of the time of return of Imam Zaman, ‎the twelfth Shia Imam currently in occultation, calling them liars. The remarks were ‎made despite Mahmoud Ahmadinejad’s repeated claims in various speeches that his ‎administration is guided by “Imam Zaman.” On at least one occasion, Ahmadinejad has ‎claimed that the time for Imam Zaman’s return is near. ‎

Imam Zaman is the twelfth Shia Imam. According to Shia theology, he is in occultation ‎like the Messiah, and will return at “the end of time” to reform the earth. In his critical ‎remarks, uttered at Ayatollah Khomeini’s burial site, Ali Akbar Nateq-Nouri said, ‎‎“Anyone who says I know when Imam Zaman is returning is lying, and anyone who ‎claims to be communicating or know that Imam Zaman is returning in near future days or ‎years is talking nonsense. Then it is mentioned that some are falsely claiming to have ‎seen or communicated with Imam Zaman. Anyone who claims that I have seen Imam ‎Zaman or communicate with him and he has given me messages is a liar.” ‎

This prominent conservative figure who had previously criticized the Ahmadinejad ‎Administration’s economic policies, reserved the last part of his speech for more pointed ‎criticism of the ninth administration’s religious claims, noting, “There is no doubt that ‎this country is the country of Imam Zaman, a Shia country that is a Islamic Republic and ‎governed based on Islamic principles; but that does not mean that everything we do is ‎coming from him [Imam Zaman]. Why are we spending on Imam Zaman’s behalf?” ‎

In an implicit reference to Ahmadinejad’s remarks earlier noting “Imam Zaman’s ‎management” of the country’s affairs, Nateq-Nouri said, “When our actions are carried ‎out in Imam Zaman’s name, people say that perhaps he would manage things the same ‎way when he returns; therefore this is better. I take this issue to be very dangerous.” ‎

Nateq-Nouri’s criticism of the ninth administration’s religious ideas on Saturday is ‎publicized despite the fact that, ever since coming to power, Mahmoud Ahmadinejad has ‎touted “speeding up Imam Zama’s return” as the political agenda of his administration. ‎Nonetheless, serious rifts emerged between him and major Islamic jurists last spring ‎when, at a speech in Mashhad, Ahmadinejad promised that he “sees Imam Zaman’s hand ‎in all affairs.” He even attributed his “successful” appearance at Columbia University – ‎despite “obstacles” manufactured by American politicians - to Imam Zaman’s help and ‎claimed that 500 million people watched his speech on television. ‎

Official Apology to Mousavian

Ahmad Tavakoli: Accusations of Espionage Were Lies

While the recent apology offered by Tehran Majlis representative Ahmad Tavakoli to ‎Hossein Mousavian, Iran’s former nuclear negotiator has been received warmly, the ‎president’s office asked Tavakoli to announce his repentance for his second gaff, a ‎reference to the latter’s apology. ‎

Tavakoli is a member of Iran’s parliament and the head of the Majlis' research center ‎operating a website under the name of Alef. He recently made a public statement that the ‎report on the website against Mousavian (who had been accused of espionage for Britain ‎by the government in connection with the nuclear dossier) was “complete fabricated” and ‎he apologized to himself and Tavakoli’s family. In response, Mousavian wrote him a ‎letter in which he wrote, “Until now I had remained silent in the interests of the country ‎and the regime, and I want to continue this. I am confident that after studying relevant ‎documents and speaking with appropriate officials now understand the secret of my ‎silence.”‎

In his letter Tavakoli had explained that, “Almost all the news in this regard were either ‎direct quotes from state officials, such as the president, the administration spokesperson, ‎minister of intelligence or the spokesperson for the foreign relations committee and the ‎national security committee of the Majlis, or other sources. The defense attorneys for the ‎suspect had asserted that most of the charges against their client that appeared in the ‎media were not factual and neither the ministry of intelligence nor the attorney general ‎had not reported them in their documents.”‎

The Response of the Presidential Office
Following the news of the apology, allies of the ninth administration have said there is ‎another story behind the regret. The president’s office too issued a statement protesting ‎Tavakoli’s letter and even called asked him to repent his new mistake, a reference to the ‎apology letter. This statement was published by Fars News Agency the president’s office ‎wrote, “If a new coalition is forming in the process of new political arrangements, ‎mistakes committed in the past should not be attributed to the president, and so it is ‎necessary that you repent your new mistake.”‎

Quoting this news, Shahab News website wrote that “The presidential offices’ statement ‎implicitly claimed that Tavakoli’s apology from seyed Hossein Mousavian and his ‎insistence on the error in the media accusations brought against Mousavian were because ‎of the new political coalitions (among conservatists opposing the government) taking ‎place.” ‎

But the publication of this statement which indicates the anger of the president’s office at ‎Tavakoli, took place while some website affiliated to the government such as Melat News ‎had published news reports apologizing their false news reports about the false ‎accusations against Mousavian, and said he was the victim of political games.‎

Along with Hassan Rowhani, Mousavian was a key negotiator on Iran’s nuclear team. He ‎gradually lost his position as Larijani was appointed as the new chief negotiator and ‎Ahmadinejad came to the national political front. He was arrested after President ‎Ahmadinejad and his minister of intelligence publicly accused him last year of being a ‎spy, having relations with foreign embassies in Tehran and other security issues and sent ‎to prison. He was released after 10 days and the payment of his bail, as the administration ‎publicly declared its displeasure with his release. And when some talk was heard of a ‎pardon for Mousavian, Ahmadinejad warned the judiciary in a speech that if it went ‎ahead with its pardon, he would publish certain documents. The chief executive never ‎pursued on his threat and the judiciary threw out the espionage charges against him, ‎condemning him to 2 years of suspended prison and ban from any diplomatic position in ‎the government.‎

Persian Gulf under Revolutionary Guards' Guardianship

Military Formation More Pronounced ‎

Rasa Ghazinejad:

While a month ago, in response to the growing military threats against Iran, an Islamic Republic ‎official announced the possibility of "closing the Strait of Hormuz" for an "unidentified" period ‎of time, the Islamic Republic News Agency yesterday published an exclusive interview with ‎Seyyed Yahya Safavi, former Passdaran Revolutionary Guards' commander, in which he said ‎that "the Islamic Republic Revolutionary Guards will be in charge of defending the Persian ‎Gulf." ‎

As announced yesterday by the former Passdaran Revolutionary Guards commander, moving ‎forward, "according to the latest decision," the conventional army (Iran's classic marine corps) ‎will be in charge of defending the Sea of Oman and Caspian Sea and the Revolutionary Guards ‎will defend the Persian Gulf. In his interview with IRNA, Rahim Safavi also expanded on the ‎scope of the Revolutionary Guards' defense of the Persian Gulf, noting, "The Islamic Republic ‎Revolutionary Guards' missiles are able to cover the entire width of the Persian Gulf and no ship ‎passing through is outside our range of fire." ‎

Safavi added, "With their defensive capabilities including missile capabilities, air force, navy and ‎marine missiles our armed forces are able to control the Strait of Hormuz." In addition the ‎current commander of the Passdaran Revolutionary Guards also raised the possibility of blocking ‎the Strait of Hormuz. ‎

This commander went even further and by first recalling a story said, “After the Americans ‎became aware of this decision, they announced to their ships not to get close to the Iranian ships, ‎given the Passdarans’ responsibility of defending the Persian Gulf, because they would not ‎hesitate in rapidly confronting the invaders." Ayatollah Khamenei's advisor, however, did not ‎clarify when or how the American forces became aware of this decision. ‎

In addition, as reported by IRNA, this former commander commented on the "Zionist regime's ‎threats and the possibility of that regime's strike on Iran," noting, "The Zionist regime does not ‎have the political, economic or social capabilities to start such an enormous war." Regarding ‎America's threats, special advisor to the Supreme Leader noted, "In such a case, 200 thousand ‎American forces who are stationed in the region would be placed under serious danger and ‎certainly the Americans would not commit to a fourth front in addition to engagements they have ‎in Afghanistan, Iraq and Georgia. The Islamic Republic's armed forced including the ‎Revolutionary Guards, army, and eleven million Basijis are fully prepared to respond to any ‎aggression." ‎

The announcement of the Islamic Republic Revolutionary Guards' pronounced presence in the ‎Persian Gulf region was made last month by the current Guards chief. While announcing the ‎testing of a new missile, which, according to him, were "designed to target enemy ships and ‎vessels in the Persian Gulf area within a 300 kilometer radius," General Mohammad Ali Jafari, ‎commander of the Guards, announced that the Strait of Hormuz may be blocked for an ‎unspecified amount of time. ‎

Commander Jafari had warned last June regarding a possible military attack on Iran, insisting, ‎‎"The enemy will be looking for a short encounter but we would move to prolong the war to use ‎our missile and non-missile capabilities to destroy enemy targets." ‎

Qualifications for Public Office, More Stringent?

Majlis Drafts Law to “Protect Image of Regime”

Only 10 months are left for Iran’s next presidential elections and the country’s ‎parliamentarians have already launched their measures to vet out the candidates and ‎muscle their own favorites into the race. Some Majlis deputies this week declared that the ‎large number of candidates who have signed up for next year’s presidential elections, ‎which in the final count only leave just a few qualified individuals, results in large ‎expenses for the state and therefore they plan to modify the presidential elections law.‎

And while the spokesperson for the powerful Guardians Council which is constitutionally ‎tasked to supervise national elections and in the process vets out the usually large number ‎of candidates, ha said that the time window for reforming the presidential elections law ‎has already passed, Mohammadreza Mirtajeddin, an MP from the city of Tabriz in ‎northern Iran, who is also a member of the leadership group, flouted the idea that the ‎presidential elections law be revised.‎

According to semi-official Fars news agency, Mirtajedin pointed out to some of the ‎shortcomings of the law and said, “The current law unfortunately allows anybody who ‎can read and write to run for the office of the president, which results in that everybody ‎wants to run. The number of those who register for the presidential race shoots up ‎initially but during the vetting process most of the candidates are disqualified, costing ‎plenty of money to the state.” “The Majlis can pass legislature to put forth stricter ‎conditions and requirements for the applicants so that this deficiency of the presidential ‎law would be corrected. Other criteria that could be added are executive knowledge and ‎special education,” he added.‎

This is not the first or only proposal to amend the existing law. Other MPs had voiced ‎similar calls. Hamid Reza Babai, for example, who is another member of the Majlis ‎leadership group, had said that the law had to be changed, reminding his audience that, ‎‎“Thousands of people sign up as candidates during the elections, while only five or six ‎are finally announced to be qualified for the job. This has a negative impact on world ‎public opinion, which says that there is no freedom in Iran because a thousand candidates ‎were disqualified. This is not a good impression of Iran at the international level. We ‎must therefore move in the direction that only qualified individuals sign up for the race.”‎

A month earlier, Alireza Afshar, the political vice-minister at the ministry of the interior ‎which at the time did not yet have a minister and which is tasked with the job of ‎implementing the elections also said that the presidential elections law had to be revised. ‎Speaking to a IRNA news agency reporter, he said, “The committee to review the ‎presidential elections law has been formed and it has already held a number of sessions. ‎But since we believe that this is going to be a lengthy process, and not be complete before ‎the next presidential elections, we should put an urgency into reviewing the presidential ‎elections law.”‎

Merely a month after these remarks, the new minister of the interior Ali Kordan last ‎month stressed that there was no need to change the presidential elections law! He said ‎that the next year’s race should be held according to the existing law.‎

There are others too who are not too eager on changing the existing rules. The Guardians ‎Council is one of them. Abbasali Kadkhodai, the spokesperson of the council has said ‎that “the council was against a hasty review of the law.” He defended the position by ‎saying that only ten months were left for the elections, and that was not sufficient time to ‎review the law.‎

So it is not yet clear whether those MPs who advocate changing the law for the next ‎elections will intensify their drive and change the rules, or whether the next elections will ‎be held in the same framework as the previous ones.‎

By: Rasa Qazizadeh

This Administration Is Not For Me!

Head of Presidential Inspections Office:

While, following the resignation of Davoud Ahmadinejad, the president’s older brother, ‎from the President’s Inspections Office, media networks announced “physical ailments ‎and doctors’ recommendations” for the resignation, Davoud Ahmadinejad flatly denied ‎such remarks and, as he has noted in several private gatherings, he was removed for his ‎disagreements with a number of ninth administration officials. ‎

Hajj Davoud Ahmadinejad, appointed in September 2005 by his brother president ‎Mahmoud Ahmadinejad as his advisor and special inspector, resigned from his post in ‎August 2008. Official news outlets IRNA and Fars news agencies announced that he had ‎resigned due to medical problems. Yesterday, however, the news website Jahan News, ‎which is affiliated with the hardline ideologues known as Principalists and run by Tehran ‎lawmaker Zakani, published a report about the president’s brother which contained new ‎information on the resignation. According to Jahan News, Davoud Ahmadinejad has ‎been accused by some for revealing information against Majlis representative Kordan ‎during a Majlis vote of confidence session. ‎

According to Jahan News, while it was speculated that Davoud Ahmadinejad’s departure ‎from the President’s Inspector Office was related to disagreements over Kordan and ‎Mashai, Davoud Ahmadinejad’s remarks in a private gathering demonstrate this point. ‎According to this report, Davoud Ahmadinejad recently said regarding his departure, “I ‎have no place in a government that has Kordan and Mashai.” ‎

Revealing Information against Kordan
Coinciding with the president’s announcement of three ministers presented to the Majlis ‎for confirmation, when lawmakers checked their mailboxes on Tuesday, August 5th 2008 ‎they were confronted by new information about the cabinet minister provided in a 7-page ‎letter. ‎

In the letter, evidence was presented showing that Ali Kordan declared his agreement in ‎return for compensation for presenting his forged doctoral degree while serving as the ‎state radio and television network’s vice president in the final years of the 1990s. The 7-‎page letter also discussed Kordan’s managerial violations. The final page of the letter ‎contained an arrest slip dating back to 1979 written to Sari’s head of prisons, according to ‎which Ali Kordan, son of Kamal, had been issued an arrest warrant “until further notice” ‎on the charge of deflowering a young girl.” ‎

Minutes later the Majlis voting session began and, as expected, lawmakers who were ‎previously acquainted with Kordan, could not remain indifferent after reading the letter. ‎That is why most of the disagreements revolved around Kordan. Ali Mottahari, the son ‎of the late distinguished ayatollah Mottahari, denounced Kordan and referred to his ‎‎“ethical corruption.” Ruhollah Hosseinian raised doubts (using evidence cited in the ‎letter) about the authenticity of Kordan’s degree. Nevertheless, referring an anecdote ‎from ayatollah Khamenei in support of the proposed ministers, Mahmoud Ahmadinejad ‎was able to change the minds of lawmakers. Finally, Kordan was approved as interior ‎minister but with lower votes than the other two ministers. Lawmakers and those in ‎Majlis leadership, however, were discussing the letter further into the night. Reporters ‎became aware of the letter’s existence after Mahmoud Ahmadinejad called for the ‎perpetrators to be caught and Majlis Speaker Ali Larijani promised to investigate the ‎issue until results were reached. ‎

Now Jahan News announces that Davoud Ahmadinejad is suspected to have disseminated ‎information against Kordan during the latter’s confirmation proceedings in the Majlis. ‎With the controversy taking new twists, only time will how other conservative outlets ‎will respond to the revelations. ‎

Minister of Justice Should Study Law

Zarghani’s Response to Elham:

A day after the spokesperson for the Iranian government, who is also the country’s ‎minister of justice publicly criticized the work of Iran’s state-run national radio and ‎television network, Zarghami, the head of the network responded by reminding the ‎spokesperson that the president had repeatedly called on the members of the cabinet not ‎to engage in public verbal criticism of each other, and ridiculed the minister by advising ‎him to study the laws of the country.‎

Zarghami said, “Among the government’s orders, which are repeatedly emphasized by ‎the president, is one that calls on cabinet members not to speech against each other and ‎therefore one would expect the spokesperson of the administration to respect this more ‎than others.” Having said that, he continued with an advice to the minister by saying, ‎‎“The trust of the public and their satisfaction are the most important principles for the ‎managers and art professionals of the national media which is itself enforced by the ‎supervision of the public. Furthermore, the principles of supervision over the national ‎radio and television are defined in detail in the laws of the country whose study I advise.”‎

This response came after administration spokesperson Gholam Hossein Elham went to ‎ISNA student news agency and made harshly criticized the radio and TV organization on ‎the fourth day of a week that has been celebrated as the week of the government.‎

When speaking about the radio and TV organization, Elham said, “There is no sense of ‎responsibility at the radio and television network.”‎

The spokesperson further raised this question: “Where is the supervision over the radio ‎and television network? I state that there is no supervision over the radio and television ‎network. Some believe that this institution is under the control of the supreme leader, ‎whereas the leader merely appoints the head of the organization as is required by the ‎constitution. It is not true that just because the leader has made an appointment, he is also ‎personally responsible for everything that goes on there.”‎

It should be noted that according to the constitution, the national radio and television ‎organization of the country is under the supervision of a council called the supervisory ‎council which includes representatives from each of the three branches of government. ‎‎“Currently there is a supervisory council over the radio and television organization which ‎in reality is ineffective and dysfunctional. This is so while the constitution views this ‎organization to belong to the branches of the state from the perspective of media ‎provision, but we see that this powerful institution lacks supervision. In fact this is the ‎only institution without any supervision, i.e. neither the Majlis nor the government ‎supervises its activities while it is not accountable to the leader either,” Elham said. He ‎concluded his criticism by saying that radio and television had to be accountable to the ‎three branches of the state.‎

Ahmadinejad Must be Re-elected ‎

Supreme Leader’s Representative in the Passdaran:

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A week after Iran’s ayatollah Khamenei publicly proclaimed his total support for ‎president Ahmadinejad and insisted that the “administration had to plan things as if it was ‎going to work for another five years.” The representative of the supreme leader at the ‎Passdaran Revolutionary Guards yesterday announced that the country’s “best interests” ‎would be served if Ahmadinejad were re-elected for “another 4-year term.” ‎

Cleric Mojtaba Zolnouri, the supreme leader’s representative at the Passdaran made these ‎remarks at the weekly meeting of the militant group Ansar-e Hezbollah. On the ‎possibility of other hardline ideologues competing against Ahmadinejad, he said, “The ‎government of Mr. Ahmadinejad has embarked on projects that the country’s interests ‎require be completed to bear fruit during the next 4-year term. Right now this work is not ‎at a point to warrant a change in the administration, and the interests of the state lie in not ‎changing the government. Therefore, if our friends enter the scene on the principalist ‎platform (the name Iranian hardline ideologues have given to themselves), I certainly do ‎not see this as serving the public, the state and the revolution.”‎

Responding to a question about the candidacy of “Seyed Mohammad Khatami, ‎Mohammad Reza Khatami and Abdollah Nouri in next year’s presidential race,” Zolnouri ‎implicitly referenced them as disqualified candidates by saying, “None of these three ‎have left an opening or a positive record for the Guardian Council to qualify them as ‎presidential candidates.” ‎

Praising the current administration, the representative of Iran’s leader at the Passdaran ‎said “During Mr. Ahmadinejad administration many of the leader’s concerns were ‎addressed. In the past the focus was on getting rid of principles while today preserving ‎and promoting principles are the current government’s modus operendi.” ‎