Farewell to a changed, subtle Iran

[tw]

From The Economist of 30 Jun 2007 entitled "Muzzling dissent and moving to a war footing":

The authorities are moving towards a war footing for fear of military strikes, an economic embargo, or American plans for a "velvet revolution" leading to a change of regime.

Some official are using this sense of crisis as a pretext for attacking opponents at home. "The arrests, the intimidation, even the economic policy is about preparing Iran for the biggest outside threat it has faced since the Iran-Iraq war," says a prominent economist. "These people have military backgrounds and see dissent as a security issue. They're very paranoid." ...

... a mood of fear has been building up for more than a year. Many Iranians interpreted last summer's detention of Tamin Jahanbegloo, a mild mannered academic, as warning not to attend political or cultural conferences abroad.

... authorities are serving notice to intellectuals generally to watch their step. A case in point was the arrest in April and May of four prominent and scholarly Iranian-Americans, accused of spying and plotting a "soft revolution". ...

Since Mr Ahmadinejad's election as president in 2005, younger conservatives have dominated key positions. Many of them view politics through a military prism. It is they who are keenest on the present crackdown. ...

The brief arrest in April of Hossein Mousavian, a former nuclear negotiator and old ally of Mr Rafsanjani, showed how strong the hawks are. Last week a group of angry right-wing radicals and seminarians gathered outside a clerical court in the eastern city of Mashhed to demand the prosecution of a former president and leading reformer, Muhammad Khatami, for having shaken hands with some women during a recent trip to Italy ...

Either reactionaries are rattled by the prospect of the general election due next year, or they are flaunting their confidence that they are in charge. In Iran's opaque politics, it is hard to say which.

Rafsanjani and Khatami were the people who once could have reestablished relations with the US. Since the wacko extremist "Axis of Evil" speech, look at what has happened to Iranian moderates. By repeatedly threatening Iran - as both TheMercenary and Urbane Guerilla advocate - then extremist conservative gain more power.

But their extremist political agenda, conservative military solution to problems, advocacy of unrestricted wiretapping, torture justified by fear and perceived threats, ....

Leaders of a nation that TheMercenary and Urbane Guerrilla so hate and fear - its leaders having the same fears, political agendas, neo-military solutions, and aspirations, wacko conservative justifications, attack moderates as liberals or enemies of the state, and perceive of enemies hiding everywhere. Intellectuals should watch their step. Only those with political agendas know what is good.

How ironic that TheMercenary and Urbane Guerrilla so hate mirror images of themselves as to advocates threats, military confrontation and ultimatums - and only make extremists in Iran more powerful. TheMercenary's BBC citation also demonstrates how Americans have 'fixed' the region.

Once Iran and America could have restored cordial relations. Then some wacko gave the "Axis of Evil" speech. Even Rafsanjani and Khatami are now threatened the same way that UG accuses Americans of being communist.

[TheMercenary]

Originally Posted by tw

1) TheMercenary and Urbane Guerilla
2)TheMercenary and Urbane Guerrilla 3)TheMercenary and Urbane Guerrilla 4) TheMercenary's

Pssstt.. tw, It ain't about UG or me.... it's about the Iranians and a view from a woman who knows what she is actually talking about, unlike what ever crap you just posted.