Friday, July 20, 2007

"On the Streets of Tehran"

Michael Hirsh, in NEWSWEEK, argues for engaging Tehran and says that repression in Iran is "overstated". Read more here.
"What’s the story? No, it’s not that the Iranian revolution is fading away. Quite the contrary. The revolution has gotten so deeply under the skin of this society nearly three decades later that the regime feels, if anything, more relaxed about its unchallenged power than ever. The political opposition is all but gone, and the current government led by the radical Islamist president, Mahmoud Ahmadinejad, is adopting a rather savvy tack of letting people enjoy themselves a bit and, above all, make money (no alcohol or drugs, except in the privacy of your own home), despite the rising inflation rate brought on by international sanctions. He's banking on a little capitalism and extra freedoms, in other words, to relieve any urge to revolt..."

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