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The new 'president' of Iran on the Iranian Stock Market

Iran's new president -- Mahmoud Ahmadinejad -- made some waves the other day by saying that Israel should be wiped off the face of this earth. I blogged about it here and here. And now this -- Charles at LGF links to an article at Iran Focus

Iran’s President says 2 or 3 hangings could end market woes
Tehran, Oct. 30 – Iran’s hard-line President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad told the latest cabinet meeting in the Iranian capital that "if we were permitted to hang two or three persons, the problems with the stock exchange would be solved for ever", according to a Tehran-based newspaper.

Ahmadinejad was addressing a cabinet meeting held to discuss the rapidly deteriorating situation at the Tehran Stock Exchange, the daily Ruznet reported on Sunday.

Ministers and experts disagreed with all the different views and proposals raised at the meeting, which came to an end without any concrete results. Tempers flew high and participants shouted at each other during the discussion, according to the daily. Frustrated with the inability of his economic advisers and experts to come up with any solution, Ahmadinejad told them that the only way out of the current stock exchange and financial market problems was to "frighten" speculators by hanging two or three of them.

This goes beyond draconian... It will be interesting to see how many companies stay in Iran after the next year or so and how much foreign investment comes in. And also, the wiping Israel meme seems to be gaining traction in cultured Cambridge, Massachusetts. Charles posts a picture of a sticker that is cropping up all over the city:

Wiping Israel Off the Map at Harvard
Iranian "president" Mahmoud Ahmadinejad’s call for Israel to be "wiped off the map" has struck a chord at Harvard. LGF reader JS emailed this photo of a sticker posted all over the place by a leftist group:

(Note: "Gone Baby Gone" is a band, who apparently have nothing to do with the new stickers.)

Posted by DaveH at October 30, 2005 9:25 PM