Ahmadine-blog a possible hoax? UPDATE: No, it is real.

Update: Some Persian speaking readers wrote in with word that the Iranian president's blog has been mentioned on television in Iran in official context — it's real. I have no doubt now. But below the jump, reasons I thought it possible that the blog was a hoax. Look, I'd rather be foolishly skeptical than just plain foolish.

Reader Ehsan Nourbakhsh says, "It is not a hoax, the national TV has announced it, as I've heard. Also this one is a news article from ISNA news agency."

Scroll to the very bottom of this post for some insight from readers.

Yesterday, I pointed to reports that Iranian president Mahmoud Ahmadinejad launched a blog at ahmadinejad.ir. Today, lots more reports all over the media worldwide. But is it possible the site could be bogus?:

(1) We know that president.ir is the official site of the Iranian presidency.

(2) So why does this site not link to Ahmadinejad's purported blog? Why no online announcement?

(3) Check out the "presidential blog" whois info (via whois.nic.ir). They're using a friggin' Gmail account? C'mon.

Information related to 'ahmadinejad.ir'

domain: ahmadinejad.ir
remarks: (Domain Holder) Mahdi Ahmadi Nejad
remarks: (Domain Holder Address) Motahari Ave. at Raham St. Tehran, IR 1567718571
admin-c: nic38790h87
tech-c: nic38790h87
zone-c: nic38790h87
nserver: ns1.nisn.ir
nserver: ns2.nisn.ir
source: NICIR # Filtered

person: Mahdi Ahmadi Nejad
remarks: —
address: Pasteur Sq., Pasteur St., Peresident Office
e-mail: president.irsite@gmail.com
phone: 64451
fax-no:
nic-hdl: nic38790h87
source: NICIR # Filtered

(4) Several BoingBoing readers who clicked on the blog url over the past 48 hours tell us they found a weird ISP notice instead.

Maybe I'm wrong, but I'm sniffing the tell-tale scent of eau de bogosity wafting through the air.

HOWEVER: Check out the whois info for president.ir, the official website we know to be legit — they're using Hotmail! So who knows:

This is the IRNIC Whois server.

Note: this output has been filtered.

Information related to 'president.ir'

domain: president.ir

remarks: (Domain Holder) Presidential Office

remarks: (Domain Holder Address) Riasat Jomhuri Information Technology Center Pasteur Avenue Tehran, IR

admin-c: nic8064h49

tech-c: nic8064h49

zone-c: nic8064h49

nserver: ns1.govir.ir

nserver: ns2.govir.ir

source: NICIR # Filtered

person: kourosh tahmasebi

remarks: —

address: information center ,riast jomhhori , pastoor ave.

e-mail: kourosh_t@hotmail.com

phone: 64455777 or 64455263

fax-no: 64455767

nic-hdl: nic8064h49

source: NICIR # Filtered

I don't know. Either the presidential blog is fake, or they are total n00bs. (Thanks to Jake Appelbaum for logic aid)

Update: Sean Bonner asks an interesting hypothetical question: "Wonder if the DHS could file a Patriot Act request to Google for the inbox of the Gmail account referenced in ahmadinejad.ir Whois data?"

Update: Al Zarqawi's Mom's Blog says it's for reals: Link.

Reader comment: lollerkeet sez, "A poster on 4chan during the period of the 'weird ISP notices' said that they were banning all non-arab IPs, and claimed they were able to reach the site through a Jordanian proxy."

Bob says, "Using a plugin for firefox called Shazou, I can see that the server for this site is located in Tehran, Iran. However, the domain owner is the RIPE Network Coordination Centre, P.O. Box 10096 Amsterdam, NL 1001EB. Not sure what this means, but maybe someone can make some sense out of it…"

Amy Maxwell writes,

"I emailed the author of a blog about Persia [Iran] asking for a little
local insight on the Mahmoud Ahmadinejad blog. I've posted his reply on my blog.

Fakhredin said:

"There is no point to consider it a hoax, I think. The fact that
he is using a gmail, etc. does not tell anything. His first entry on
his blog is available in Persian, Arabic, English and French and
includes an RSS feed. It is very clear that he does not run his blog
personally. Simply he does not have time to organize a weblog in four
languages including all those fancy features.

If one know a bit of background, it is very clear what the
president wants to do. This blog is an attempt to show himself closer
to younger generation, who are mostly bloggers. And, obviously, he
tries to be away from the official president website, and keep this
one personal. How far he can go, we wait and see. Some other
politicians did it too. The most famous one is Mr. Abtahi who is the
former vice president. He is successful, though.

Martin Schneider says,