A socialist-democrat of early days I guess.
Chinaskijan,
Thanks for these book excerpts. I realize some parts are very speculative and could be countered by other historians, but it does shed some light on 'why' the Sassanid empire with all its might, did not enjoy a decent level of domestic support when faced with the Arab invasion.
It seems like Iranians had perfected the art of TAZVIR and dishonesty, long before Islam set foot on our soil. Much like the Roman Empire, Iran was a clusterfuck of religious bureaucrats ruling the nation with an iron fist. Without the Sassanid's highly effective and complex bureaucracy, the Islamic Caliphate could not have survived.
You could argue that Islam was a godsend for the future dishonest ruling class (clerics and royals) because it gave them much more leverage than the Sassanian Avesta could have. At the same time, you could say the Sassanian system of cleric superiority was the very foundation of Islamic Caliphate.
Iran to this day remains infected with this crap.