Do you think a press spokesman from the Iranian government might be biased in their reporting of how great things are in Iran?
Of course they are biased - but that does not mean you should not use Iranian news sources. The best source of news for Iran is main stream media like Reuters and the BBC. The reasoning behind this claim is that Iran is a very diverse nation, one where many political ideological beliefs are harbored and expressed with much passion. I return to my example of DemocraticUnderground. While they report true stories, mostly, they are not accurate reflections of what happens in the United States, nor are the governments PSAs. Seek out the most unbiased news source, and then learn of Iran. Meet with Iranians who live under today's regime. It is not 1979 in Iran anymore.
Sure, but when one is talking about 1979 Iran consulting those who lived under those regimes would be prudent, no?
The primary sourc of the news was Radio Free Europe. not iran va jahan. the reporter was in iran. iran v jahan just puts those pieces on it's site. they dont fabricate anything. they get there news from the likes of bbc, VOA, and such.
The lion under the sun, goes back to the akhamansian period. over 2000 years ago. this myth that it's the crest of the Pahlavis is not right. it is the rightfull symbol of iran. infact all other political parties use it. not just the monarchists. jebhe mellie, most secular republican whom i am a part of them also encourage the use of this flag. even ayatollah montazeri whom i respect greatly encouraged iranians to go back to there roots and use there real heritage flag at eid and other special occasions.
I talked to an Iranian guy I work with. He said that the general population of Iran is about as peaceful and nice as you get in the middle east. He said the big problem is that the people in charge and the people with the guns in Iran are also the crazies that he and his family came to America to get away from. He keeps hoping for a peaceful counter revolution to take place in Iran, but he doesn't think it will happen soon as he said that his family still in Iran tells him they are really cracking down on dissenters right now. He thinks if the 95% of the population there that supports peace could get into power, that Iran would be a beacon of light in the Middle East.
I still believe Iran should use all of it oil while creating a flexible infrastructure for a new and sustainable energy economy. Nuclear is not sustainable. The Dutch Disease is real, whether because of the problems outlined in wiki or because of conspiracy laden interests of the CIA or "economic hitmen".
Exactly. in the last 4 to 5 years, i've been to Iran 4 times. People despise the current dictatoeship, but as you pointedout, this people will kill anyon to keep there filthy grip on power.
AIDS report praises Iran's approaches to reducing HIV The UNAIDS 2006 Global AIDS Epidemic report praises Iran for adopting more progressive [there's that word again] approaches to reducing HIV among injecting drug users, while cautioning that HIV epidemic is growing in the Islamic Republic of Iran. The report which was released last week on the occasion of the High Level Meeting on AIDS in New York, took note of a significant judicial order in the Islamic Republic in 2005. According to this order individuals who use illegal drugs would no longer be targets of criminal prosecution as long as they are under treatment as patients by the public health system [dare i say progressive]. The report said that in the Middle East and North Africa, except for Sudan, national adult HIV prevalence in these countries in these regions is very low and does not exceed 0.1 percent. "However, available data suggest that the epidemics are growing in several countries, including in Algeria, the Islamic Republic of Iran, Libyan Arab Jamahiriya and Morocco. "The main mode of HIV transmission in this region is unprotected sexual contact, although injecting drug use is an increasingly important factor, especially in the epidemics in the Islamic Republic of Iran and Libyan Arab Jamahiriya. "With risk behavior widespread among Iran's large population of injecting drug users, high HIV infection levels are being found: when tested 15 percent of male injecting drug users attending Tehran drug treatment centers were HIV-positive. "Most of the injecting drug users were sexually active, and exchanging money for sex was common; yet, only about half had ever used a condom (Zamani et al., 2005; Ministry of Health and Medical Education Iran, 2004). "In Marvdasht, two in three injecting drug users seeking treatment reported sharing needles, and one in five said they had done so in prison (Day et al., 2005)," the report said. The global report further said that "indeed, an important risk factor for HIV infection among injecting drug users appears to be incarceration (Rahbar et al., 2004). Given that a large proportion (almost half, by some estimates) of the total prison population in Iran comprises persons detained for drug-related offenses, there is an urgent need to expand HIV prevention (including methadone maintenance therapy) programs, especially in correctional settings (Zamani et al., 2005)." According to the latest estimates presented in the report, the number of people living with HIV in Iran is 66,000, of which 11,000 are women. It said 1600 people have died due to AIDS in Iran. The estimates of those covered by HIV/AIDS intervention in Iran showed that there is need to expand this coverage. http://www.irna.ir/en/news/view/line-16/0606064953174951.htm
Since Iran has the highest drug addiction rate in the world, I guess they had to do something. In a way I guess not automatically prosecuting junkies is progressive, lol.
can you provide a link or some evidence to back up your statement? and thank you for acknowledging the progressiveness
Creepy, I understand you standing up for Iran and all, but reality is, people in IRAN don't like IRAN. their economy is terrible and their goverment is corrupt. Iranians in America dont like Iran. Why are you so positive on them? I dont get it.
\ He is not Standing up for IRAN or the IRANIAN PEOPLE. . he is standingup for a bruital dictatorship which is oppressive the iranian people. big difference. by all accounts he is'nt even iranian. if he even botherd ever visiting iran, he'll now that drug addiction amongst the population is the norm. lack of jobs and poorly run society helps this evil addiction.
According to the UN world drug report of 2005 , Iran has the heighest opimum and heroine users on the planet. hence the highest addiction rate. alot of the population believe the mollahs openly condone the use of drugs to keep the youths quiet. that way our youths wont be able to standup to them. lot of iranians told me this in my last visit there.
Tinman, I wouldn't listen to what Iranian expats say, they are extremely bias, not a very good source of info If people in Iran didn't like Iran as you say there wouldn't be such high levels of contestation and public participation in Iranian elections...Voter turnout in elections in Iran is higher than voter turnout in elections in America (I can provide stats if need be) Their economy is poor, but it's the same as it was during the shah's time...However, the difference now is that the population has almost tripled and they went through a devestating 8 year war with Iraq that destroyed a lot of the infrastructure and completely destroyed the economy...not to mention sanctions and things of that sort...So I would say that they've done pretty well considering all this including 90 percent health coverage provided to the rural citizens as one of the articles I posted here in this thread indicated...Not to mention all the educational, political, scientific, and technological developments going on in Iran Most governments in this world are corrupt...doesn't make it right, but doesn't change the reality either...this is an international issue and an inherent flaw with many states....However, corruption now in Iran is nothing compared to what it was during the shah's time where the rich got extremely rich and the poor got a lot poorer...this was one of the many reasons the shah was overthrown Now people may dislike their government in Iran, hell how many people dont like their government here in the US, but the Iranian government has legitimacy and disliking your government or corruption isn't a reason for overthrowing it...By that logic, no government would be in power...These people (so-called Mullahs) didn't come in power through a coup or anything...they came in power via a popular revolution in 1979...there were tons of elections and referendums after the revolution of 1979, where Iranians decided their own fate....Iran also has elections for all leadership positions including for the "Supreme Leader"...This is in the Middle East and North Africa, where the majority of the dictatorships are either sponsored or supported by the US...Iran is one of the few countries in the region that can genuinely claim that it's a democracy, but yet there's all this hate I'm just trying to disseminate accurate info about Iran...something which is desperately needed and rarely done
what about the hostages? what about hezzobolah? i've seen documentaries and films from PEOPLE IN IRAN. I saw a film about a woman who wanted a divorce from her husband, and it was a horrible process, she was treated like dirt. The women's right issue is terrible. What about those candidates that were disqualified in the Iranian elections? Come on man, stop defending Iran. Comparing the USA to Iran is not even comparable for terms of human rights etc. Regardless of who's the president. The president of Iran denies the Holocost existed. The King of Saudi Arabia acknowledges that the Holocost happened. Come on! why are you defend their regime? I really dont get it. Where would you rather live in America or Iran?
