This is interesting. I would have guessed that young people in Iran would use the internet to communicate in ways that are more free than their government would prefer. But I wouldn’t have suspected that Iran was one of the… Continue Reading
This morning’s note of displeasure came from noting a brief story on CNN about another act of aggression by the Iranian navy. I’m sure the Iranians have their version of events, but it will lack credibility, just as their version… Continue Reading
Good news on the international front brought to you today by the BBC. First, it appears that our evaluation (meaning that of the United States) of the threat of a nuclear Iran has been ratcheted down from “high alert” to… Continue Reading
My favorite new prominent international villain, Mahmoud Ahmadinejad, received a chillier, and more sharply critical, reception today at Tehran University than he got at Columbia a few weeks ago. By the way, the word “villain” traces its etymology to… Continue Reading
A major, industrialized country, armed with nuclear weapons, elects a fundamentalist religious leader, and is defended by a military staffed with religious fanatics. A small group of self-selected religious elites directs the ideology from which the political and military leadership… Continue Reading
Yesterday I wrote (and today I updated) about some of the terrible things the government of Iran does to its people. Iran has an unusual governmental structure. Formally, the government is called the “Islamic Republic of Iran” and much (although… Continue Reading
But some laughably bad ones, at that. Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad spoke today at Columbia University in New York, having previously been denied permission to go to Ground Zero and lay a wreath there, ostensibly to pay respect to the… Continue Reading
The President has found his war czar. Should When things don’t go very well as Iraq’s parliament retires for a two-month recess and eventually reconvenes for its rigorous schedule of meeting for two hours a day three days a week,… Continue Reading
It would appear that we (meaning the United States) will soon have direct talks between our Iraqi ambassador and an equivalent from Iran, in Baghdad. This is a welcome development. Iran has been causing a tremendous amount of trouble for… Continue Reading
Iran has found yet another way to polarize world opinion and engage in self-aggrandizement. In one of the more transparent tissues of spin I can recall, the government of Iran has “pardoned” the 15 British sailors and marines and promised… Continue Reading