The Iraniha have a love-hate realtionship with many nations.
When I was there, I never ceased hearing from them how evil the British and the Russians (in that order) were. Yet, they did tons of business with the Russians and I noticed there were far more British expatriates than Americans working in Iran at the time. We have now replaced the British and the Russians as the great evil but given the Iranian ability at haggling and the personality conflicts of Persian Empire(s) and self deprecation, I suspect that the dislike that best serves will be that voiced. I also suspect they could and would throw in the Germans, the French, the Canadians (for their wireless technology) and / or the Bahamas if that suited...
and San Marino... :D
The blame game won't work this time
This time the young population of all of Iran is adamant about a new election, which they will somehow wrangle...my best guess.
A computer analysis by a London think thank this weekend of two major voting block provinces within Iran have more than 100% of eligible voters voting in this recent election.
Why am I not surprised?
I look for more violence, then for the splits in the government and in the religious hierachy to become "sharp and absolute" and at last the police and the regular military to switchsides, but the Revolutionary Guard may hand in there a while longer for the crooks benefit.
Police Run from Protesters
http://www.bbc.co.uk/persian/iran/20..._clashes.shtml
Iranian riot police run away from protesters in the above BBC video (@ 2:20). Pretty amazing.
This links to some earlier posts ....
re: their man in Beirut - punch this.
Some interesting commentary...
Proving once again that there is an international language, here is some commentary from Al-Hayat Al-Jadida on the recent elections.
http://www.memri.org/images/uploaded/ia_53409_2.jpg
Once again, a big "Thank You" to MEMRI.
Thoughts on the Iranian Army and the Revolution
Although the Iranian Army largely paved the way for Khomeini and the "Revolution" when they "stood aside" and "recommended" that the Shah leave for "health reasons" the Iranian Army has always been rather lukewarm towards the Ayatollahs; Hence the establishment of the IRGC in the first instance. The fact that the Iranian Army is now tacitly supporting what the Western media rather fllipantly call a "revolutionary" movement elides the fact that they were also largely supportive (if not en bloc) during the tenure of Khatami and the 17th Khordad reform movement of which, and this should be remembered, the current events is an offshoot. Many of Khatami's alter kampfer (and even Rafsanjani's family) are associated with the current events. The Army, however, would never challenge the rule of the Faqih but would, as before, more than likely simply stand aside especially given the existence of the highly motivated IRGC and their adjunct, the Basij militia (a factor they didn't have to take into consideration before).