I am breaking from my usual commentary on autism to express some thoughts about Iran and the brutal suppression of the Iranian people by what is clearly nothing more than a military dictatorship. Even if one's life is affected by autism, as mine is with the severe autism of my youngest son, we still live in a larger world and can not simply ignore profoundly significant events.I do not profess to be an expert on Iran, far from it. In my limited, ill informed understanding of Iran I had believed that it was a theocratic autocracy, a theocracy, which had begun experimenting with democratic processes. My vague, obviously ill informed, view of Iran has been shattered in recent weeks and days. I do not understand how any religious based government could unleash murders upon their own people. I do not understand how any legitimate government, and certainly not a government which professes to subscribe to one of the world's great religions, could decide to execute people like the beautiful young woman known as Neda, slain, murdered, executed by a cold blooded, cowardly sniper's bullet.
CNN has strengths and weaknesses as a news organization. One of its shining lights is unquestionably Fareed Zakaria, editor of Newsweek International, whose Sunday afternoon show on CNN focuses on intelligent, well informed discussion of international events with key world figures and analysts. This week Mr. Zakaria was questioned briefly by Wolf Blitzer about the events taking place in Iran. He noted that in the short term the people with the guns and money would probably prevail as they usually do ... in the short term. In the long run this could be the beginning of fundamental change in Iran.
When any government relies on guns alone to maintain control, to the point of executing their own innocent people with snipers' bullets, that government has only one ideology - power at any costs. That to me is the essence of a dictatorship, a military dictatorship. They can claim to worship God if they wish but what such a government really worships is the power of the gun.
Fareed Zakaria knows much more than I do about international affairs and events in Iran. He is probably right about the short term picture in Iran. In the long term though I hope the people of Iran achieve the freedom they are desperately seeking.
Fareed Zakaria knows much more than I do about international affairs and events in Iran. He is probably right about the short term picture in Iran. In the long term though I hope the people of Iran achieve the freedom they are desperately seeking.
autism
Iran's current gov't was created in the 1950's by the USA and Britain because Iran was headed to a democracy and decided that it was going to control it's own oil.
ReplyDeleteThe CIA's first Coup http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Operation_Ajax in Iran occurred at this time and as usual.... the USA's "let's put in someone that is friends with us" way of controlling countries - bombed yet again.
Let's see... the Taliban in Afghanistan, Saddam Hussein in Iraq, Iran, Panama's Noriega... and the list goes on.
IMO they created the very mess... but they do a poor job cleaning it up and are good at claiming it wasn't their fault.
I know the Western powers were involved in countries throughout the Mid-East and Africa and left the people of those countries with dysfunctional governmental structures but Iran has not been under direct US influence for 30 years.
ReplyDeleteIt is the current regime in Iran that is murdering its own people. That regime, its leaders, its military and para-military forces are responsible for the bloodshed today.
I hope the people of Iran achieve their freedom and do not have to answer to dictators in Tehran or elsewhere in the world.
I too hope that the freedom they seek is won. Like many women around the world, am awed and inspired by the brave & beautiful "lionesses" that have participated in the protests.
ReplyDeleteMy father watches the news for hours every night, flipping through all the cable news networks to get a variety of perspectives and opinions.
ReplyDeleteIf it weren't for that I wouldn't know much or be interested.
It's hard to realize there is a world out there without ME and this is all quite abstract.
But, I try anyway.
I think watching the news has been a way to help me become more aware of the world, actually. It reminds me that there IS a world, that it doesn't revolve around me.
I think like you that it is essential for us to remain interested in wider issues than autism. And like you, I feel appalled by the situation in Iran and in Middle East in general. This is a painful crisis as we have seen many. Even if our Western societies played a part, at the very least historically, the only positive I see with today’s Iran crisis, is that it appears to me to be fractions within the countries without external international forces playing a part (or maybe I am naïve). I see positive in as much as I see a greater awareness of individual freedom and limitation of religious extremes. A crisis like this was bound to happen and no doubt many more will happen until true moderation and some level of fairness/democracy can prevail. I think, we should remain informed and aware, but only intervene diplomatically in other countries unless carnage is taking place, e.g. Rwanda. The international interventions in Iraq were very unjustified and dramatic, a total waste of life and money when we had so much to deal with in our own countries.
ReplyDeleteTHERE IS NO ACTUAL EVIDENCE OF ELECTION FRAUD IN IRAN. Every claim about election rigging has a rational counter-claim.
ReplyDeleteTHINK: Why would the regime resort to fraud when the oppposition candidate Mousavi is very much a regime supporter?
Get the FACTS at IranAffairs.com
Anonymous 4:59
ReplyDeleteThank you for expressing your opinion.
Assuming what you say to be true does that justify the execution of Neda and other Iranians for expressing their opinions?
The worst part, in Iran is not a military dictatorship. It is an ideological dictatorship - the ideology being political Islam (I say polictical to separate it from Islam as a religion).
ReplyDeleteIdeological dictatorships are much, much worse than mere dictatorships based on military suppresion of the people (I lived in a country ruled by an ideological dictatorship).
Ideological dictatorships are poisonous. They pervert the thinking of the people. The perversion goes to such a degree that even in freedom people do not think or act normally. One should only take a look at the Eastern Block immediately after the fall of communism. Those societies were crippled - and they still are, to some degree.
I assume there will take one or two generations in Iran after the fall of the current regime until the Iranian society will become normal.
I agree with Anonymous that there was no fraud in Iran and, in fact, most Iranians support President Ahmadinejad. But, this is in fact, irrelevant.
What value has the correct election of Mr. Ahmadinejad if the country has no free press, when you can be legally killed if you put Islam under question, when the religious elders keep an iron fist upon the country, when indoctrination takes place from the early years of Iranian children's life and when there is no separation of religion and state?
In my country, too, Nicolae Ceauşescu, the latest dictator, was winning election after election with 100% of votes. Yet, the leading role of the Communist Party was enshrined in the Constitution and you could go to many years in jail simply for putting Communism under question.
No, criticizing the Party, the ideology or the leader was forbidden. Saying positive things about those was encouraged - and, in fact, Communism did many good things to the people, but the bad things greatly outweighed the good ones.
I guess it is not very different in Iran. The Islamic Revolution brought some good things to the Iranian people and the regular citizen still supports it (mostly because he doesn't know better).
But because they suppress the most important need of a human being - which is FREEDOM - the Islamic Republic will not last forever.
Yet, the days of that regime are not over - unfortunately. But eventually it will come to an end, I have no doubt about it.
Well Big Boy???
ReplyDeleteThis was written so good that I'll have to send people from my blog to yours!!
Of course I'll have to use the picture I took this week!!!
lol
:P
We must not keep quite at this moment. The situation in Iran is getting worse by the minute. The events happening in Iran are really sad. I really hope that Iran's people get back there freedom of speech and democracy.
ReplyDeleteIranian people, we are with you.