looks like they just firebombed their Gorbachov's house/museum
not me saying that, i had just noticed post #10 and replied to it (dry humour is hard over the internet)Uh, wtf is with your analogy? Khomeini = Gorbachev to you?!?
to the last question - money spent by the state department is 100% our best "defense" spending. when we create allies and help partners develop strong institutions, we don't need 10 super carriers and a defense budget of the next 5+ nations combined.Putting this here as a recommended view. Jon Stewart hosts podcast on foreign policy with Hillary Clinton and Condoleeza Rice. Really intelligent discussion by all three. I have doubts about Rice’s continued of WMD but worth a listen
Mr Montazeri was at a religious conference when he was asked if the morality police was being disbanded.
"The morality police had nothing to do with the judiciary and have been shut down from where they were set up," he said.
Control of the force lies with the interior ministry and not with the judiciary.
On Saturday, Mr Montazeri also told the Iranian parliament the law that requires women to wear hijabs would be looked at.
Protesters seeking to maintain their challenge to Iran’s clerical rulers have called for a three-day economic strike and a rally in Tehran’s Azadi Square on Wednesday. Similar calls for strike action and mass mobilisation have in past weeks resulted in an escalation in the unrest.
Some European diplomats believe an irreversible turning point has been reached from which Iran’s leadership will not recover.
...
“They are having a dialogue with themselves but the main population finds the offers of reform largely an irrelevance.”
The diplomat also detected tensions within the regime over how to respond to the protests, saying: “There is a lot of internal disharmony around different bits of the particular security apparatus in terms of passing responsibility for handling the protests.”
it appears that was fake news
some possible good news, these are the little peckers that would beat people for showing too much hair etc
Iran is not an Islamic country as the overwhelming majority of Iranians have publicly denounced that religion.
Iranians are assigned “Muslim” at birth by the state and cannot legally change that designation as the penalty for apostasy under Sharia law is death.
Most Iranians are irreligious/borderline atheists, but a collective yearning for the revivalism of Zoroastrianism is felt.
During his 37-year-long rule, Iran spent billions of dollars' worth on industry, education, health, and military spending, and enjoyed economic growth rates exceeding the United States, the United Kingdom, and France. Likewise, the Iranian national income rose 423 times over, and the country saw an unprecedented rise in per capita income—which reached the highest level at any point in Iran's history—and high levels of urbanization.
The people truly are.The regime is a joke and the Persian people are beautiful folk!
A year later a simple dance have gone viral inside Iran;
The regime is a joke and the Persian people are beautiful folk!
Some time ago I saw a documentary on Iran, and gosh it is a country full of beauty and rich history. Every Iranian I've met has been absolutely wonderful (including several coworkers).The people truly are.
Anthony Bourdain - Parts unknown- Iran was an eye opener for me.