Day 80: Iran

[I spent the winter writing songs about getting better]

http://www.cia.gov/cia/publications/factbook/geos/ir.html

Discuss.

[MODU]

A nation with a proud history that has unfortunately fallen prey to radical leaders.  With their repression of pro-Western politicians and youths, the aging radicals will soon find themselves displaced by a society ready to embrace the 21st century.

[afleitch]

A nation with a proud history that has unfortunately fallen prey to radical leaders.  With their repression of pro-Western politicians and youths, the aging radicals will soon find themselves displaced by a society ready to embrace the 21st century.

I agree. The youth are quiet, but demograhically they will soon call the shots (the voting age is 16 after all) It will take a decade or so but Iran will break free again.

[MaC]

A nation with a proud history that has unfortunately fallen prey to radical leaders.  With their repression of pro-Western politicians and youths, the aging radicals will soon find themselves displaced by a society ready to embrace the 21st century.

That sounds very poetic MODU

[WMS]

And if you think they're doomed to tyranny remember that there is a century-old constitutional movement to establish democratic rule there...neither the Shah nor the Mullahs liked to admit that they're usurpers of the genuine Iranian political tradition.

[DanielX]

A beautiful country, a people with cultural roots stretching back well over 3,000 years. A shame that its current leadership is every bit as bad as Tamerlane, one of the worst tyrants to run Iran.

They may actually be more receptive to non-Islamic ideas than any of the Arab cultures, in part because much of Iranian culture predates Islam - its the homeland of Zoroastrianism, and it was the center of several ancient empires (including the Medes, the Persians, and the Parthians, not to mention several early Islamic states, the Il-Khanate, Tamerlane's bloody empire, and modern Persia/Iran under several dynasties, most recently the Pahlavis).

The name "Persia" comes from the ancient Greek name for the area, "Pars". The people there have called themselves "Iranians" for quite a while, though.

[minionofmidas]

A nation with a proud history that has unfortunately fallen prey to radical leaders.  With their repression of pro-Western politicians and youths, the aging radicals will soon find themselves displaced by a society ready to embrace the 21st century.

I agree. The youth are quiet, but demograhically they will soon call the shots (the voting age is 16 after all)

They already are methinks, actually... insofar as they're allowed to.

[minionofmidas]

The name "Persia" comes from the ancient Greek name for the area, "Pars".

Er... "Persia" is the Greek form. "Fars" is the Persian form (maybe it was Pars in ancient time, not sure.)

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Looking on the map, you'll notice that Fars is just a part of Iran ... and to make it more confusing, the area where Farsi is spoken is larger than Fars but doesn't include all of Iran.
You're right to say that Iran has long been the preferred term for the country, of course.

[I spent the winter writing songs about getting better]

Of course as was pointed out in an earlier thread, there's lots of countries that call themselves something different than the rest of the world does.

[phk]

The name "Persia" comes from the ancient Greek name for the area, "Pars".

Er... "Persia" is the Greek form. "Fars" is the Persian form (maybe it was Pars in ancient time, not sure.)

You must be logged in to read this quote.

Looking on the map, you'll notice that Fars is just a part of Iran ... and to make it more confusing, the area where Farsi is spoken is larger than Fars but doesn't include all of Iran.
You're right to say that Iran has long been the preferred term for the country, of course.

"Fars" is Arab form

The first Persian to convert to Islam is known as Salman bin Farsi and his shrine is in modern-day Iraq.

"Pars" is Persian form

This comes from what Zorastrians call themselves, Parsee's.


Fars is province #19

And a great map showing the Sunni-Shia lines and the Ethnicity lines

• Persians, Azeris, Arabs, Lurs, Qashqais, Gilaki, Mazandarani, Talysh are Shia
• Kurds (most of them), Turkomen, Baluchis, Pashtuns are Sunni.

It must be rough for a country that produced Cyrus the Great to have started out the last century with a corrupt, authoritarian monarchy and ended up with oppressive totalitarian Islamic fundamentalists. At least Muhammmad Mossadegh was there inbetween.

[DanielX]

Why is it people love Mossadegh so much? He was no more than a run-of-the-mill corrupt/authoritarian leader (who were dime a dozen in South America in those days). Better than the Ayatollahs? Sure. But he was hardly a saints. Also, he nationalized the oil industries.

[Undisguised Sockpuppet]

Its a place that rocket is obsessed with

[I spent the winter writing songs about getting better]

Why is it people love Mossadegh so much? He was no more than a run-of-the-mill corrupt/authoritarian leader (who were dime a dozen in South America in those days). Better than the Ayatollahs? Sure. But he was hardly a saints. Also, he nationalized the oil industries.

Because if the US had left him alone the place would be a million times better off today. And nationalizing the oil industries was a good thing.

[Undisguised Sockpuppet]

They have no right to a standard of living above the iron age. Only westerners have any right to it.

[MODU]

And a great map showing the Sunni-Shia lines and the Ethnicity lines

I do like your map.  It does a good job of breaking down all of the ethic groups within Iran.  When was this map done?  Just interested, since many other maps I've seen show the Kurdish region extending down further into Iran, rather than just being basically locked up in the NW corner.

[MODU]

"Exclusive: Shah of Iran's Heir Plans Overthrow of Regime"

Reza Pahlavi, son of the late Shah of Iran, told the editors of HUMAN EVENTS last week that in the next two to three months he hopes to finalize the organization of a movement aimed at overthrowing the Islamic regime in Tehran and replacing it with a democratic government.

He believes the cause is urgent because of the prospect that Iran may soon develop a nuclear weapon or the U.S. may use military force to preempt that. He hopes to offer a way out of this dilemma: a revolution sparked by massive civil disobedience in which the masses in the streets are backed by elements of the Iranian Revolutionary Guard.

Pahlavi, who lives in exile in the United States, said he has been in contact with elements of the Revolutionary Guard that would be willing to play such a role, and activists who could help spark the civil disobedience.

(Cont...)