"The embarrassing point for us..."
That line struck me also. Why should we be embarrassed?
The fact that Iranian people may live better than people in N.Korea, has nothing to do with their "axis of evil" status".
You're right. The regime invites, condones, supports and practices terrorism.(whether they have 2 woman vice-pres. or not).
It's refreshing to see the types of reports that Mr. Nichols has written about Iran and it's people, however.....he omits some aspects of life there, glosses over others and doesn't quite see or understand yet, some of the subtleties in the way the regime cruelly runs the country. For example, I don't recall him discussing the very high rate of unemployment, amoung young people,especially, or the problems of drug addiction and rise in prostitution. I don't believe he gave an accurate depiction of life by talking to people in cafes.
He also doesn't recognize the intentional cruelty and psychological affects of the regime "crack(ing) down episodically". It means a young couple can walk holding hands one day, and not be harrassed, and the next day be arrested and sentenced to 50 lashes for the same thing. Safer and mentally healthier to know "the rules". But this is how this regime has run things. So, you can be watching your satellite T.V. for months and months thinking everything is just fine...and one day someone comes and destroys it and arrests you and maybe beats your family or arrests them too. They lull the people into a false sense of "freedom" and then pull the rug out from under them. That's sadistic.
And he should remind his readers, that people are "stuck there." Travel (if one can afford it), is limited. And visa's to other countries are tightly controlled.
All in all, I've enjoyed Mr. Nichols' articles on Iran, but I've read enough to know that while refreshing, his vision seems obscured or 'veiled' much of the time.
Very well said, nuconvert!