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Ignore All the Iran Experts
foreignpolicy.com ^ | June 19, 2009 | Charles Kurzman

Posted on 06/19/2009 3:56:24 AM PDT by don-o

Troops are out in Iran this week, but in many cases the crowds have grown so large that the security forces are standing back and letting them swarm silently and peacefully through the boulevards -- just like in 1978.

Chants of Allah-o-akbar, God is great, reverberate from rooftops at night, expressing popular revulsion against the dictatorial regime -- just like 1978. The government has assaulted university campuses and shut down the opposition's offices, but these and other crackdowns have only sparked further protest -- just like 1978.

Are we witnessing a repeat of the Islamic Revolution that brought down the monarchy 30 years ago?

(Excerpt) Read more at foreignpolicy.com ...


TOPICS: News/Current Events
KEYWORDS: iran
Charles Kurzman is professor of sociology at the University of North Carolina and author of The Unthinkable Revolution in Iran.
1 posted on 06/19/2009 3:56:24 AM PDT by don-o
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To: don-o

IIRC, the previous regime fell when Jimmy Carter told the Shah that the United States would no longer support him. Is there a similar external tipping point today?

I think not; it’s going to come down to what the police and army do.


2 posted on 06/19/2009 4:01:31 AM PDT by don-o (My son, Ben - Marine Private FC- 1/16/09 - Parris Island, SC - Lnc Crprl -6/4/09 - 29 Palms, CA)
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To: don-o
God, I hope he's right.

We have such a long, long list of particulars to settle with the mullahs, who have acted like the Sect of the Assassins, sometimes through the state, sometimes privately, sometimes through intermediaries (like Khaddafi's spooks who destroyed Pan Am Flight 103 over Scotland).

3 posted on 06/19/2009 4:01:50 AM PDT by lentulusgracchus
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To: don-o
I think not; it’s going to come down to what the police and army do.

If they don't turn on the students and the protesters, they'll have to take on the Quds Force, the basiji, and the Pasdaran, the mullahs' Waffen SS.

4 posted on 06/19/2009 4:03:46 AM PDT by lentulusgracchus
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To: lentulusgracchus

Yup.


5 posted on 06/19/2009 4:04:48 AM PDT by don-o (My son, Ben - Marine Private FC- 1/16/09 - Parris Island, SC - Lnc Crprl -6/4/09 - 29 Palms, CA)
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To: lentulusgracchus; don-o
If the main Quds Force and Pasdaran barracks disappeared in a sudden glare of fuel-air explosions, that might help.

</helpfully>

6 posted on 06/19/2009 4:05:50 AM PDT by lentulusgracchus
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To: don-o

Good article by Charles Kurzman. Thanks for posting.


7 posted on 06/19/2009 4:14:45 AM PDT by PGalt
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To: don-o
Are we witnessing a repeat of the Islamic Revolution that brought down the monarchy 30 years ago?

Not until we see some mullahs swinging from lampposts.
8 posted on 06/19/2009 4:18:00 AM PDT by Terpfen (Ain't over yet, folks. Those 2004 Senate gains are up for grabs in 2 years.)
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To: don-o

And, if 0bama would take the correct approach, to support the people of Iran in their need and desire for a change in leadership and government, it would provide a tremendous boost for the forces of freedom in the cleric cowled country.

But, that would be asking too much, now wouldn’t it? That would fly in the face of 0bama’s muslim roots.


9 posted on 06/19/2009 4:35:56 AM PDT by PubliusMM (RKBA; a matter of fact, not opinion. 01-20-2013: Change we can look forward to.)
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To: lentulusgracchus
If the main Quds Force and Pasdaran barracks disappeared in a sudden glare of fuel-air explosions, that might help.

Amen to that!

10 posted on 06/19/2009 4:38:28 AM PDT by agere_contra
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To: PubliusMM

Saw a headline this morning that EU leaders had made some sort of statement in support of the rising Iran. But, I do not have time to find it now.

Obama is certainly late to the dance on this one.


11 posted on 06/19/2009 4:39:32 AM PDT by don-o (My son, Ben - Marine Private FC- 1/16/09 - Parris Island, SC - Lnc Crprl -6/4/09 - 29 Palms, CA)
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To: don-o

Little do these students know they will be going from the frying pan into the fire.

Their new dream leader is an evil despot.


12 posted on 06/19/2009 4:39:39 AM PDT by Carley (OBAMA IS A MALEVOLENT FORCE IN THE WORLD)
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To: Carley

Think bigger.


13 posted on 06/19/2009 4:40:29 AM PDT by don-o (My son, Ben - Marine Private FC- 1/16/09 - Parris Island, SC - Lnc Crprl -6/4/09 - 29 Palms, CA)
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To: don-o
Chants of Allah-o-akbar, God is great, reverberate from rooftops at night, expressing popular revulsion against the dictatorial regime ....

Does anyone detect any dissonance?

14 posted on 06/19/2009 4:45:14 AM PDT by monocle
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To: don-o

Ahmedinajihaad - You Lost, I Won. Get used to it.


15 posted on 06/19/2009 4:51:13 AM PDT by epluribus_2
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To: don-o

I fear a ‘Devil Mullahs Saturday’ is likely.

Khamenei the Tyrant will order the mass murder of the Iranian People, to keep the rest enslaved to him.


16 posted on 06/19/2009 4:56:55 AM PDT by DGHoodini (The New York Times, are lying 'Rats!)
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To: don-o

I recall back in the Carter days all of the excuses why the bad Shah should go. He was such a nasty guy. Fast forward to the present and the media is completely silent about all of the murders the Mullahs e al have committed in the name of Islam. That and the fact they’ve taken a modern country to the brink of bankruptcy all the while working up a nuke or three. This is the legacy of Jimmy Carter, the peanut farming clod from GA.


17 posted on 06/19/2009 6:03:35 AM PDT by 556x45
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