Hizballah may be Tehran's client, but Iranians aren't buying the propagand

[democratic]

http://www.time.com/time/magazine/article/0,9171,1218048,00.html?cnn=yes

Parvin Heydari, an Iranian mother of two, was flipping back and forth between the nightly news and Oprah when a bulletin on an Iranian state channel caught her attention. It urged Iranians to boycott what it called "Zionist products," including those made by Pepsi, Nestlé and Calvin Klein, and warned that profits from such products "are converted into bullets piercing the chests of Lebanese and Palestinian children." As evidence, the voice-over intoned, "Pepsi stands for 'pay each penny to save Israel.'" Heydari says she changed the channel, as she has no intention of crossing Nestlé's Nesquik off her shopping list. "Lebanon has nothing to do with us," she says. "We should mind our own business and concentrate on policies that are good for our economy, and our kids."

It's impossible to know the precise origins of the current crisis in Lebanon, but since it erupted two weeks ago, the mood in Tehran has swung between indifference--the fighting rarely makes the headlines--and resentment over Iran's longstanding sponsorship of Hizballah. True, there have been officially sponsored rallies declaring support for Hizballah, whose leaders pledge religious allegiance to Iran's Supreme Leader, Ayatullah Ali Khamenei. But the emotional support for Hizballah common throughout the Arab world is largely absent here.

Iranians like Heydari believe that their country, ethnically and linguistically Persian, should stay out of the Arabs' fight with Israel and focus on improving living standards at home. "I don't think it's right to support them when our own people are hungry," says Mohammad Reza Afshari, 23, a mechanic who works two jobs yet still cannot afford to move out or attend college. The shop where he works abuts a vast mural depicting a female suicide bomber with a baby in her arms, accompanied by the words I LOVE MOTHERHOOD, BUT I LOVE MARTYRDOM MORE. Frustration with such propaganda underpins young people's reactions to the conflict. "Where are the Arabs?" asks Afshari angrily. "They're sitting around, while we're risking our position in the world."

[Ms. Clio]

1. what a repressive society Iran is

People are allowed to speak freely with reporters. Clearly in need of liberation.

[AlamoDemoc]

2. This article is many that are now circulating the Mass Media....

...I don't buy it.

[smacky44]

16. Yes, trying to convince the people how they should think.

It won't work.

[Marie26]

3. Interesting article

Thanks for posting. It seems like Iran's younger generation is sick of the Islamic Revolution. Isn't like half of Iran's population under 19? Hopefully, they'll make the country more moderate - or take out the theocracy altogether.

[leveymg]

6. Do you mean, "regime change", Marie? Is that like, "rose peddles"?

Remember Iraq? It's that country to just to left of Iran, with half the population and a quarter of the land area.

It'll be a cake walk. Load the bombers.

[Marie26]

9. Regime change!

It always works - especially when imposed from the outside by a Western superpower. I'm talking about the regime change that happens in the US every 4 years - elections. Iran is a democracy, of a kind, & people can vote. The revolutionaries are getting older now, & the younger generation will soon be the majority. And that generation seems more friendly to the West & less willing to fall for Islamic propaganda. They're 10 years away from nukes - those kids are growing up & gaining influence. That's why I think maybe the best response to the concern about Ahmajmadad is just to wait him out. He'll be out of office soon. And if a more moderate leader is elected, Iran would be less belligerant & more willing to work w/the int. community.

[Strelnikov_]

12. I Agree Fully. Iran Is Effectively Contained. And As You Note,

if the West does not piss off the young people by killing a few hundred thousand of their countrymen, they may have a critical mass in 10 years time to effect reforms.

The risks from action against Iran far outweighs any possible benefits at this time . . .

unless you are after the oil and natural gas, of course.

[AlamoDemoc]

17. Why do we always speak of other nation's youngsters and not ours? I wonder

Do we have moral issue over them?

[Ms. Clio]

7. um, they had a reformist president

and then the U.S. started calling them the axis of evil, and completely undermined it. And so they elected a hardliner who would talk tough on security. Hmmmm.

In fact, let's remember Mossadegh, too, while we're at it?

[Marie26]

10. So?

It's the same thing in Israel. The hardliners are taking over. I'm hoping the younger generation in Iran, and the US, can help end that trend.

[Ms. Clio]

13. the point is, the "younger generation" now feels threatened by the U.S.

like everybody else. As long as that continues, the current government is unlikely to change significantly.

[Marie26]

14. I don't see that

Though I'm far from an expert on Iran (and perhaps the same goes for you). Every article I've seen on the Iranian people notes the wide gap between the rhetoric coming from Iran's pres. & the people in the streets. Even Ahmadinejad reserves most of his vitriole for Israel, not the US. When's the last time you heard a good "Great Satan" speech? Young people do like a lot of things about the US - our freedom & our pop culture. The key is to keep from alienating them by dropping a ton of bombs on their country - that's one way to ensure ongoing hatred from Iran. If we'd actually talk to Iran instead of demonizing them, that would help prevent a confrontation. Maybe the next US president will be able to reach out like that.

[Ms. Clio]

15. the "mindless blather of diplomacy"

It was the previous president, Rasfanjani, who urged a "dialogue" among civilizations instead of a "clash." Alas, there won't be any dialogue with Iran with guys like Perle running the show. And a lot of really bad things can happen between now and the next president. I have little hope of any kind of sane outcome from any of this, I guess.

[brmdp3123]

4. Another interesting article regarding the Iranian people.

http://www.smithsonianmag.com/issues/2005/march/iran.php?page=1

[leveymg]

5. "impossible to know the precise origins of the current crisis in Lebanon"?

The invasion of Lebanon WAS planned over a year ago by Ariel Sharon and the Bush Administration. See, http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=show_mesg&forum=364&topic_id=1709626&mesg_id=1709626

Israel Planned Lebanon Strike w/Bush-Cheney for More than a Year
Edited on Sun Jul-23-06 12:12 PM by leveymg

Some interesting reports that Israel has been planning and talking with the Bush Administration for more than a year about its military incursion into Lebanon. According to an article in The San Francisco Chronicle, nothing about the seemingly sudden spread of hostilities in the Middle East comes as a surprise to the White House.

Of course, this coincides with the run up to American elections which predictably threaten a disaster for the GOP rivaling its military debacle in Iraq. Only a wider regional crisis, one which entails the possibility of a real war with massive American casualties, can hope to deflect that outcome.

****
This was reported in The San Francisco Chronicle Saturday:

http://sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?f=/c/a/2006/07/21...

More than a year ago, a senior Israeli army officer began giving PowerPoint presentations, on an off-the-record basis, to U.S. and other diplomats, journalists and think tanks, setting out the plan for the current operation in revealing detail. Under the ground rules of the briefings, the officer could not be identified.

In his talks, the officer described a three-week campaign: The first week concentrated on destroying Hezbollah's heavier long-range (rockets), bombing its command-and-control centers, and disrupting transportation and communication arteries. In the second week, the focus shifted to attacks on individual sites of rocket launchers or weapons stores. In the third week, ground forces in large numbers would be introduced, but only in order to knock out targets discovered during reconnaissance missions as the campaign unfolded. There was no plan, according to this scenario, to reoccupy southern Lebanon on a long-term basis.

****

[Strelnikov_]

8. A Majority Of The People In The US Don't Agree With The Current Regime

And when the time comes that they attack Iran, our protests will have as much impact as those young people's protests are having with their regime.


Does the highlighted statement describing the current political climate in Iran remind you of another country?

Iranian Leadership
globalsecurity.org
http://globalsecurity.org/military/world/iran/leadership.htm

. . .

The clear trend in Iran is that the hard-liners have indicated that they don't care what it is that the people want. They believe that they have God on their side, and they are prepared to do what is necessary in order to continue with their rule. Iran has an evolving constitutional change, which has been to reduce the powers of elected positions, like that of the president of the parliament, and to expand the powers of appointed positions from the supreme religious leader, and to expand the powers of the judiciary. So the space for elections is diminished. But only the hardest liners among the conservatives are prepared to use all-out repression at this point. That reflects this constant dynamic between hard-liners and more moderate camps within the Islamic government that is really moving toward a more representative and democratic system. The hardest-line people are the people who control the secret police, the people who control the military, and the Revolutionary Guards. And they have clearly indicated that they are prepared to use force to kill people in order to stay in power, irrespective of what the election shows.

. . .

The Revolutionary Guards Are Back
The Economist
Jun 17th 2004
http://economist.com/world/africa/displayStory.cfm?story_id=2773140
. . .

THE ramshackle traffic police in Tehran are nowadays backed up by muscular paramilitaries in camouflage fatigues. Dozens of seats in parliament and a brace of top posts have recently been filled by ex-servicemen. The generals have stopped President Muhammad Khatami's reformist government from putting a showpiece airport into operation. The Iranian Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC), set up more than two decades ago as an ideological counterweight to the less politically minded (and now less well-equipped) regular army, may be quietly taking control.

The reformists, once dominant but now being squeezed out of power, fear so. Last year their conservative opponents helped a former guardsman become Tehran's mayor. In May, another was appointed to head the broadcasting monopoly. One reformist newspaper reckons that some 90 out of 290 deputies in Iran's new parliament have a “background in revolutionary and military institutions.

. . .


The inmates are running the asylum, and we are on the glide path to the Big Smash.

[Marie26]

11. It's almost scary how much

Iran's regime resembles the US's regime. I think Ahmadinejad & Bush have a lot in common, & would really like hanging out together. Messainic meglomaniacal blowhards, both.