I think that the delicate balance of destabilizing the current regime without inflaming the populace into a nationalist frenzy is beyond the ken of most men, let alone those currently in positions of power in the known world. I'm sorry Ogged, but I see nothing but tears and bloodshed ahead for your homeland. But on a happier note, TGIF.
An Iranian-national acquaintance just left for two months in Tehran. She was more nervous this time.
I'm never sure what to make of things like the "bad hajib" photos (beyond the obvious "that's unbelievably awful). I don't have a real sense of how widespread such behavior is in Iran, or how widespread it was in this country as recently as forty or fifty years ago, to use the US as a baseline. So I don't think that "tears and bloodshed" are the only thing ahead for Iran.
Oh, Ogged, that is so desperately sad; and it's such a beautiful city, too...
SCMT, when did we have committees of vice and virtue roaming freely in the US, committing acts of violence against women?
"Today I was thinking of leaving this country. Not for studing, not for work. Just for not being here."
Ogged could help point out where the studding opportunities are in America.
5: I wasn't thinking of violence towards women, specifically--though I am absolutely certain there was a fair bit of that, some of which fell under the guise of private behavior towards women of "low moral standing"-- but rather of behavior towards African-Americans and civil rights activists.
That's a really powerful site, ogged. Is the lad putting himself at much risk, posting some of that stuff?
The landscape pictures are really pretty. I must confess my ignorance: I imagined it, I don't know, craggier.
5: I assume that SCMT is thinking of something along the lines of this.
7. 10. And we certainly have had a lot of blood and tears since then, no? And we ain't half finished.
when did we have committees of vice and virtue roaming freely in the US, committing acts of violence against women?
In addition to what JMcQ and SCMT said, I understand that that it was not unusual for women wearing the first bloomers to be accosted and attacked for dressing in an "unfeminine" manner.
And hey, street harassment? It may not often rise to the level of bloody attack, but I see it nearly every day in my city.
Back on topic: Reading these kinds of blogs makes me feel fumblingly helpless on the issue of how to help dissidents in countries we wish were more democratic. Give money, sign petitions, encourage education, etc. etc...what are the steps that ordinary Americans should be taking to support Iranians (or Cubans, North Koreans, FITB)?
I'm super-wary of the photogenic self-appointed leaders in cases like these (cf. Chalabi) but realize that's probably just my inexperience (because couldn't you describe Mandela that way too? and Havel?).
12: I guess that's right. I didn't go through the blood and tears, so I may undervalue the extent of it, and I may overvalue both how far we've come and how relatively well it has, to date, gone.
I find myself wondering what's the level of unpopularity at which an oppressive government can't get away with it. I know most Iranians don't think that sort of hijab enforcement is a good thing -- what level of 'most' is 'enough that the guy beating up a woman for having her hair show is too afraid of retailiation from passerby to go through with it'?
Wow, tehran is beautiful. I'd always pictured it as a polluted and chaotic product of $0.02 gasoline. I've always wanted to go to Isfahan, but now I want me some tehran too. Unfortunately neither is likely to stay unblowed-up before I can get a visa. Hint to world leaders: if you've got a city replete with the most beautiful architecture the world is likely to see, try not to put your uranium enrichment facilities right next to it.
I didn't go through the blood and tears
Sweat OTOH...
The snow in those pictures and the fact that there's no smog obscuring your view of it are surely related.
19: spoken like a true santiaguino...
That's the cleanest subway station I've ever seen. Fuck it, let's invade.
We can bring back the subway station as a war bride.
12: a lot, TLL, but far from "nothing but." And in the short term, I suspect that there will be less blood and (fewer) tears in Iran if we can get through the next year and a half without Cheney having his way.
It's beautiful, but, as neil notes, usually much more polluted and crowded and visibly nice.
If y'all are interested in more pictures of Tehran, this site is good, and there's always the Flickr search. Iranians love their Flickr.
now I want me some tehran too
foolishmortal, why do you sound like a consumer?
eh. Is beautiful, yes, but juxtaposed indeed. I'm sad and will go away.
There's not gonna be any bombings as long as there are troops in Iraq. And the next president will be a democrat.
26: Is there a way to tag those flicker photos if they aren't yours? "Bomb this," "Don't bomb this," etc.?
But that president might have to invade Iran, just to show she has the balls.
David, our President isn't Swedish. You do not understand our exotic culture.
Today I was thinking of leaving this country. Not for studing, not for work. Just for not being here.
Spelling-snark aside, that's one of the saddest things I've read in a long, long time.
I don't want to accept this regime but I am not a revolutionary. I don't know what to do!
This is a dilemma I've thought about a lot. I have concluded that in such a situation I would leave if leaving were to be had -- as my grandfather did from the old country. It was a good move, which I admire him for. And in the matter of my existence, of course, it made all the difference.
I imagine this would be much more agonizing for someone who is in the land of his ancient ancestors.
Calm the sodding fuck down. US Navy readiness is even lower than at the time of either of the last two Iran war scares.
Sorry, Ogged, but I don't find the Yorkshire Ranter's assertions very reassuring. My premise is that the Bush Administration is desperate and adventurist, and that their goal isn't necessarily to defeat Iran, but more to engineer a crisis which the Democrats will not be able to respond to effectively. The guy Alex needs to convince is probably Cheney. (One of the ideas floated has been nuclear attacks on hardened nuclear sites, which doesn't need any naval readiness at all.)
I don't want to accept either of these regimes and I am a revolutionary, for some values of "revolutionary."
I dunno, usually I would write some flame about how we don't have a morals police in the same sense as they do over there, but we sure have some pretty effective means of silencing and oppressing women for all of that. (My work acquaintance who was kicked half-to-death last year for having "bad stalker boyfriend"? Still in a coma, the last I heard.)
But I can't muster the outrage I ought to be able to muster right now. Sometimes this whole civilization just drags me down too much to be able to concentrate on any one of its many foul aspects. I sure hope things get better in Iran, and I'm hopeful that, due to the familiar arguments about demographics and rising expectations, there exists some revolutionary potential in that society greater than we enjoy here. Have you all ever read Jack London's The Iron Heel? I often wonder, as I'm riding the light rail home after work, how much of early-21st century Minneapolis the author would recognize as one of his "wonder cities" that millions had been destroyed to create, and how much of the 20th century he in fact anticipated with that novel. But once you start thinking that way, you have to find some way to come to terms with Zamyatin -- what is the likelihood that all of our best striving -- the revolts and revolutions and massive social change -- is only evolving us towards ever more powerful authorities? And then you're back at Rand, so obviously there's a flaw in my free association.
I hope I find more energy to assert my solidarity with the prisoners and rebels.
Thanks for these links, Ogged. I wish there were comforting words, but I can't find any. I am sad to report that my daughter is back in Iraq, this time in under very harsh conditions and squalor. Damn this fucking administration! The situation leaves me totally heartbroken.
34: The concern isn't that the U.S. will attack Iran tomorrow, but rather that certain actors on both sides find the prospect of conflict politically convenient. I predict a MOAB strike over Isfahan 12/23/08.
re:comfort, yeah there's not a lot going around. However, there is the demographic thing: reform type people were getting pretty feisty pre-Axis of Evil, and still are something of a political force. Also, WTO membership is a powerful carrot. If we can avoid a war, there's a lot of money to be made in Iran, and greed beats bigotry every time.
Why the shag would you use essentially a big barrel of explosive to attack a BURIED enrichment plant? You'd want something with a heavy casing, and dozens of 'em.
"Because of this [AFhghan] experience, America began a new study program, at the Los Alamos, Livermore, and Sandia military laboratories, to fit existing nuclear warheads into hardened casings that would dig into such heavily protected sites before exploding."
According to the National Review, anyway
Would it really be a naval operation? The Iranian anti-ship emplacements are supposed to be fairly well-stocked and dug-in, and then their irregular mining and sabatoging navy could create a real bloodbath.
I've always believed that the proposed Iran War, like the actual Iraq War, is governed by and directed against American public opinion. They're both ways to leverage massive domestic changes -- the unitary Presidency, attacks on civil liberties, limiting of franchise, shifting of tax burden, the subjugation of ;abor, etc.