Interesting points Dr Pipes

Submitted by Vikram (United States), Jun 21, 2009 at 12:57

You may very well be right Dr. Pipes. Iran is a sham democracy because the candidates who get to run are handpicked by the supreme leader and it matters little who wins the elections. I hear that there were other, lot more moderate, pro -American candidates who were barred from running against Ahmedenijad. I think the revolt and anger on Tehran's streets reflects an outrage against the supreme leader more than it represents a support for Moussavi. Iranians are angry because they have been cheated twice.

Iran holds immense potential because, believe it or not, it is the only country in the Islamic world that has the "cultural infrastructure" to transform into a modern Western country almost overnight. Even watching the protests in Tehran through dimly lit YouTube videos, it is clear that Iran is a fundamentally different country from the rest of the Middle-east. Even through the violence you get a sense that, under the veil, Iran is more of a fun loving Latin American country than an Islamic country.

As a pro-Israeli Indian, I would say there is no more important foreign policy problem to solve for Obama than to help convert Iran into a modern secular pro-Western country.

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