Blazer Ben has a TON more credibility about Iran, at least he is willing to critically analyze it some. Creepy, clearly is worried about someone reading his messages, and my guess is he either lives in Iran, or works for their government and is being closely monitored. Tell your girlfriend that she would be irrelevant in Iran, and a 2nd class citizen. DD
Blazer ben just tells you what you want to hear and your facile little mind can't handle information that runs contrary to the propaganda that's been force fed to you over the years...Learn how to become a free thinker I'm actually in a hotel room in mid-town Manhattan with Bin Laden, Ann Coulter, and representative from Hezbollah...we're gonna have a great time! Now you should tell your mother that she should've aborted you
tiger, do you have any info and links to back that up? I've spent, in the past, a great deal of time in India, and have friends who do business there regularly. Yes, India has it's problems, but as a country of a billion people, it is inevitable that it would, just as China does. Such a large country, with dozens of languages (the reason why English is spoken by every educated Indian), and hundreds of dialects, with numerous religions, is going to have problems. On the whole, I think they have done remarkably well, and they do have a democracy, with it's flaws, to be sure, but a democracy, never the less. Iran is far more homogeneous, and much, much smaller in terms of population. And I disagree with this, "Iranian society is FAR more peaceful/stable and has a much better track record in terms of ethnic relations than India ever had" When you take away the huge difference in scale, Iran has similar problems, despite being far more homogeneous. It has restless ethnic and religious groups, some quite large, who chaff at Iranian control, and have done so for an extremely long time. It has large amounts of corruption, which I think you exaggerate a bit in regards to India. India is no Mexico. Not in my opinion. I haven't seen, "some propaganda movie/documentary designed to show Iran in a bad light," but I've read extensively about the post-Shah Iran. I was glad the Shah was overthrown, but what has replaced him has been yet another kind of nightmare for far too many Iranians, in my opinion. Students who disagree with government policies and make their feelings known have been beaten up numerous times on campus. Candidates representing reform movements have been, "disqualified," as in the last elections. People inside the government have profited from their connections, and corruption most certainly still exists. Women, who were gaining so much, for a while, have been shoved back more than a bit by the theocracy. In my opinion. No argument here, tiger. The embargo has been a bankrupt US policy for a very long time. And it's irritating that I can't go there as a tourist, which I would love to do, but our Canadian and European friends can! Keep D&D Civil.
Screw this guy and his facile questions He's completely disingenuous and ignorant Don't waste yourr time
Nobody is chanting "death to america" or have huge billboards saying that. Granted, I know most people in Iran dont agree with that bs, but as an American, they aren't getting my tourists dollar. India is doing way better than Iran, people are investing in the high tech companies there. Why are big companies like Sun,Dell, Microsoft there? Its not like Bill Gates and Michael Dell decided to pick that place cause the curry tastes good there. there has to be some friendly relations and history. The US is a pretty forgiving country, they are doing business with Vietnam now. If they keep dissing the US and the rest of the world on this nuclear or newculear (W would say) thing, then no big companies would want to invest there. I saw this movie tiger, it wasnt all about divorce. Yes the women were portrayed as very smart and independent women, yet the process of getting a divorce was painful. for a guy there, it would be easy. you cant compare that to the Saudis, those dudes are way beyond backwards. jeez, i wonder why we have bad relations with cuba? i think pissing off the US isnt a good idea. Republican and Democratic minds agree on Cuba. Cuba is much smaller than Mexico and if Cuba was somehow stuck to the US border, we'd have Cubans trying to swim the border too. Even baseball players in Cuba (held in the highest social echelon) decide to defect here. Hmm, work for Castro and get $10K or work for the Yankees and get $10million? not a hard choice. Am I not right? Iranian Americans quality of living > Iranians in Iran Cuban Americans qol > Cubans in Cuba
Wow, that was incredibly rude....and uncalled for, difference of opinion, you get backed into a corner and you send out personal insults....unbelievable. How mature of you. Creepy is sounding more and more like a Macbeth Drama queen clone...... For the record, the reason that everyone in the world is concerned about Iran having nukes is that the Mullahs that actually run the country are incrdebly unstable as far as the world is concerned. 1. North Korea 2. Syria 3. Iran Axis of evil - well no, but not exactly people friendly governments. DD
Deckard, I am NOT contending that India is more diverse and therefore has historically suffered from more ethnic strife than the relatively homogenous Iranian society. However, that was not tinman's point, he seemed to indicate that India was more 'stable' and had less problems in that regard than Iran did. He didn't qualify his argument the way you did, in which case the details are irrelevant. But yes, India has clearly had more ethnic problems than Iran did. As for the corruption issue, India isn't as bad as Mexico, but that's not saying much. There is definite corruption in Iran as well, as is the case in the USA and numerous other nations, but when corruption is so bad that it gets in the way of governing and establishing law and order, then that's when you know there's a problem. I don't disagree with that at all, in fact, I have stated in the past that both regimes, IMO, have been less than exemplary in serving the interests of their people. The problem has been that in order to show the current regime in a bad light, some posters have taken the "Shah was not as bad" approach, which I think is r****ded. True, and in some cases, the student protesters got out of hand and the police had to restore order...not uncommon. That has been my biggest beef with the current regime, as I've already mentioned in my last post. You can never completely eliminate corruption, and I never contended that Iran had no corruption in its leadership ranks. Depends, I think. During Khatami's regime (whom I thought was a great man and I lament the fact that he wasn't given a fair shot), there was some real progress being made in the country as a whole, and I thought Iran was definitely heading down the right path. Of course, Khatami was the president of Iran until only a few years ago, and it was under this same 'theocracy' you speak of, so I think the post-revolutionary regime in Iran has had a shaky, inconsistent track record, and I have already stated that Iran took some steps back in the past few years, to my dismay. Time to consider a dual citizenship, Deckard
I do have something positive to say about the Iranian Government.. The Dixie Chicks would not exist or get away with their crap there! Ok they are criticising the war, the president, thats cool and all. Saying they are not proud to be a texan ? and saying it in ANOTHER COUNTRY! What a fat coward. Deport them to Saudi Arabia or Iran, so they can cover up that fat one. Shania Twain, on the other hand would be treated like a Persian princess!
Tiger, A very fine and realistic post. Nothing wrong with looking at and admitting both the positives and the negatives about a particular government or country. The Shah getting tossed was a good thing, and the US should not have been supporting him, which ironically is the same thing we are doing to the Saudi monarchy now. However, to say that Iran is a democracy is a stretch of the truth in every sense of the word. Until people are completely free to speak their mind, and run for office without being disqualified for varying opinions from the Muslim Mullahs, they will always be thought of as a dangerous theocratic government. One which bares watching, and possibly more if they threaten world peace and stability. Personally, I hope the free thinking and progressive Iranians take hold of that government and shake it loose of the dark ages. DD
You guys are repeating the same old tired rhetoric These "issues," "points," and "questions" have all been raised, refuted, and answered before
The CIA have a term for that, it's called "blowback". DaDa, My argument is that Iran has a democratic foundation, and therefore are a democracy. However, I will be the first one to admit that some of the regime's actions in the past have been undemocratic, but that doesn't negate my opinion that the governmental foundation of Iran is democratic, even if it currently is occupied by some undemocratic actors. So, as I said, they have lots of work to do to improve upon it, but that doesn't mean they are not a democracy, they're one that hasn't matured as of yet and one that has taken some steps back in the past few years, but I am still holding out hope that some visionary leader -- alas Khatami -- will succeed Ahmedinejad and put the country back on the right path. I honestly believe that Iran has the most potential and yet unfulfilled promise of any nation in the region, and I agree that their leaderships (past and present) have failed the Iranian people, for the most part.
I do not disagree with anything you have said. I agree they have a democratic foundation, but some SERIOUS flaws in their system lead to world concerns. DD
I agree with that, they have some serious flaws and haven't matured as of yet as a democracy, but let's remember that it took a couple of centuries for America to be what it is today, don't give up on the Iranian people just yet, DaDa. Democracy is very, very difficult to preserve, it takes a lot of work, and Iran has only had a 'democratic experiment' for a very short period of time, it's still a work in progress.
