bluestater3
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http://www.utne.com/web_special/web_specials_2005-11/articles/11879-1...
The Iranian Labyrinth
November 2005
By Morgon Mae Schultz,
Utne.com
Middle East expert Dilip Hiro clarifies the Iranian nuclear question
Journalist, historian, and Middle East expert Dilip Hiro is the author
of 27 books, including the encyclopedic The Essential Middle East: A
Comprehensive Guide (Carroll & Graf, 2003), Secrets and Lies: Operation
'Iraqi Freedom' and After (Nation Books 2004), and the recently
published Iranian Labyrinth: Journeys Through Theocratic Iran and Its
Furies (Nation Books 2005).
http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/ASIN/1560257164/nationbooks08-201560257164/102-1572585-4711352
Mr. Hiro spoke with Utne.com on Tuesday,
Nov. 15.
An issue of class
Does the election in June of hard-line Islamic president Mahmud
Ahmadinejad signal a shift in Iranian public sentiment away from
moderation and international outreach? If that's the case, what is
causing that shift?
It's not a question of hard line or soft line. Basically what happened
with the final runoff election was there was a clear-cut competition
between the very rich [Akbar Hashemi Rafsanjani] and somebody who's
quite an ordinary fellow, who is actually the son of a blacksmith, and
got a PhD from Tehran University, and lived in South Tehran, which is a
poor area. And so the election results of 5-to-3 -- Ahmadinejad got 63
percent and Rafsanjani got 37 percent -- that division shows that the
working class and peasantry and the lower-middle class voted for
Ahmadinejad. Whereas the middle class and the upper-middle class voted
for Rafsanjani.
read the rest at: http://www.utne.com/web_special/web_specials_2005-11/articles/11879-1...
The Iranian Labyrinth
November 2005
By Morgon Mae Schultz,
Utne.com
Middle East expert Dilip Hiro clarifies the Iranian nuclear question
Journalist, historian, and Middle East expert Dilip Hiro is the author
of 27 books, including the encyclopedic The Essential Middle East: A
Comprehensive Guide (Carroll & Graf, 2003), Secrets and Lies: Operation
'Iraqi Freedom' and After (Nation Books 2004), and the recently
published Iranian Labyrinth: Journeys Through Theocratic Iran and Its
Furies (Nation Books 2005).
http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/ASIN/1560257164/nationbooks08-201560257164/102-1572585-4711352
Mr. Hiro spoke with Utne.com on Tuesday,
Nov. 15.
An issue of class
Does the election in June of hard-line Islamic president Mahmud
Ahmadinejad signal a shift in Iranian public sentiment away from
moderation and international outreach? If that's the case, what is
causing that shift?
It's not a question of hard line or soft line. Basically what happened
with the final runoff election was there was a clear-cut competition
between the very rich [Akbar Hashemi Rafsanjani] and somebody who's
quite an ordinary fellow, who is actually the son of a blacksmith, and
got a PhD from Tehran University, and lived in South Tehran, which is a
poor area. And so the election results of 5-to-3 -- Ahmadinejad got 63
percent and Rafsanjani got 37 percent -- that division shows that the
working class and peasantry and the lower-middle class voted for
Ahmadinejad. Whereas the middle class and the upper-middle class voted
for Rafsanjani.
read the rest at: http://www.utne.com/web_special/web_specials_2005-11/articles/11879-1...
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