shahinc said:
I like to be the first who congratulate Iran in choosing its new President. I for one , thought this election was a just a circus. After the first round, I thought again that this is just a game to make Rafsanjani next president.
Well, I guess I was wrong.
People of Iran have spoken and decided to go with Ahmadi Nejat. There will be some huge changes in Iran and I hope this is all for the best and Iran moves to a better economic state.
It is evident that the main concern of our people is their economical needs. Well, I hope Ahmadi and his cabinet be successfull to improve the situation and bridge the gap between rich and poor in Iran.
Zendeh Bad Irani va Iran.
A few points I would like to make regarding your post and this election:
1- Don't forget that this election was only free after the 7 candidates had been hand picked by a non-elected group of fundamentalist clergy. So we can't not really say that Mr. Ahamadinejad is 'people's choice'.
2- One positive outcome of this election IMO is that Mr. Rafsenjani got out with a bloody nose. When I went to Iran 2 years ago, everywhere people were taking about how corrupt he and his family are and how they have become billionares over the past 25 years by their wheelings and dealings. Rafsenjani couldn't even win a seat in the Majles representing Tehran, remember? I hope Mr. Ahmadinejad moves to curb his powers now that people have shown him the finger!
3- There was a danger that Rafsenjani would sell out to the Europeans and sign an international agreement formally giving up nuclear technology. While I am no fan of nuclear arms or even Russian-made unsafe nuclear reactors, I don't like Europeans and Americans bullying us around. Whether we need nulcear technology or not should be our business. Also, having seen the catastrophe in Iraq, I am seriously reconsidering my position with regards to nulcear arms. As long as Neocons are in power, that may be our best defense, sad as it is, it works.
4- People are worried about 'social restrictions' under Ahmadinejad. While I'm all for social freedom and believe girls should be able to wear whatever they like and boys and girls should be able to associated freely without fear of persecution, but the lack of social restrictions is only a minor problem. There are much more grave problems in Iran right now that it may be worth giving up some social freedom if these problems can be addressed. Three major problems in Iran are (a) drug addiction, (b) prostitution, and (c) unemployment. These problem are not mutually exclustion and are inter-related. These are society cancers that need to be dealt with invasively. Fariba utterly failed to deal with these issues. I hope Ahmadinejad and do something.
5- Election of Ahamdinejad may be a reaction by the Iranian people to Neocons and Shahallahis. The Neocons and Shahallahis recently had been pushing hard for regime change and possibly reinstalling Reza Pahlavi. IMHO, if there is one achievement in the past 25 years that we can point to, is that Iranians got rid of the concept of 'shah' and despotism that had gripped our people for ages. 25 years is a blink in history and if the only achievement of this period is a transition from Shahi system to a republic, then in the long run all the sacrifice may be worthed.
spin
and again thank God i don't live in Iran anymore
