Posted on 01/02/2010 6:39:42 AM PST by nuconvert
When millions of peaceful demonstrators took to the streets of big Iranian cities in June to protest what was widely assumed to be a stolen election, many in the West wondered whether the movement had the will and vision to sustain itself.
Apologists for the regime here in America and in Iran dismissed the democratic protests as the angst of a small minority of Westernized yuppies or discontented academics. Clerics loyal to the regime used the incendiary language of class warfare. They dismissed the opposition as accomplices of the Great Satan and a small minority composed of wealthy urbanites fighting to reverse the gains the poor—mustazaf—have made around the country.
Over the past six months the regime has killed dozens of demonstrators, arrested hundreds of activists, and forced hundreds of others into exile. It took false comfort in the belief that it had defeated what it self-deludingly claimed had been nothing but an American-concocted velvet revolution.
(Excerpt) Read more at online.wsj.com ...
As soon as the military stands up to the regime, refusing to fire on the populace......it’s all over for this theocratic-fascist government.
Ain’t gonna happen. The military is driving the policies of this regime. That is why even the clerics have become dissidents.
Good article. “... egregious manifestations ...”
Exceedingly well-written.
mmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmm not so sure ‘bout that one. The clerics hold the power; they pull ALL the strings. They count on the military’s support...and I still contend they could lose that support. If so, turn out the lights.
The clerics did have the power. But one of the reasons things have degenerated in Iran is that the government has in recent years become dominated by the military, presumably as a reaction to Bush’s policy. The clerics’ power has diminished, and some of them have become dissidents.
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