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In the early 1990s, during the middle of a secular bull market, I began work on "A Modern Approach To Graham and Dodd Investing," that was not particularly suited for the decade of the 1990s, but was ideally suited for the following "Lost Decade" of the 2000s. In the early... More
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  • Iran Gets Another Chance to Face Its Demons 2 comments
    Jun 25, 2009 3:15 PM

    One of Iran's demons is the way it treats women. Another is the country's lack of democracy. A third is its domination by "clerics" (religious men). All of these themes will come out in the movie "The Stoning of Soraya M" that is now being released worldwide, including Iran (despite being banned there).

    This was a movie about a woman "framed" for adultery in 2005. The first question is, why should a woman (or man) be stoned for adultery, even thoug it is a serious matter.(Would we want that fate for our South Carolina governor Mark Sanford, or his (married) lover?) The second, is, why should she be tried in a religious court for what would be a civil crime? What were the rules of evidence, and was there a chance for the woman to prove her innocence?

    This movie might have less relevance, except for the fact that the first, and most famous martyr of the recent "uprising" was a woman named Neda. This event effectively merges the two themes: women's rights, and voting rights. The two could join forces and bring about a second Iranian revolution.

    Sometimes art imitates life. Another, real-life, example was the production of the Hollywood movie Casablanca, about passive resistance to the German rule in that (French) Moroccan city. But Hollywood started the movie without realizing that the U.S. military had the same idea about an ideal "invasion" location. So it then rushed out the movie, late in 1942.

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    Agreed that Iranians deserve more freedom and equal rights. Agreed that the religious govt must change. However, I also think the US is not one to tell others how to live, especially given the fact that most of US' friends in that regions actually have more oppressive govts than Iran. Yes, Iran is a theocracy (as is Israel), but at least the people do have opportunities to voice their opposition. Iran also has minimum seats in its parliament for minorities such as jewish and Christian Iranians.

    With all of that said, the govt must be changed, there's no question about that. However, the change must come from within. If there are any indications of meddling by outside forces (and some indications are slowly popping up), even the ones marching on streets these days won't like it. No one, not even the young (which make up 60%+ of the country's population) will forget 'operation ajax' planned and executed by the cia in 1953, and removed a DEMOCRATICALLY elected prime minister and replaced him with a dictator that basically tortured all opposition groups for years. In fact, Mossadegh, the PM that was removed from power by the US and the UK, respected the US a great deal. He traveled to the US and met with Truman and actually said that he wished his country should do what the US has done. That is why Truman didn't want to go through with operation ajax. Of course the whole operation was based on greed, for which the US, Iran and the rest of that region is still paying. The only thing that Iranians (incl myself) wanted was sovereignty, not only on the govt side but also biz, such as oil. Again, greed ... the US and UK wanted cheaper oil and they overthrew a democratic govt! I wonder how different things would've been if 'operation ajax' was not executed. Interesting ...
    25 Jun 2009, 05:07 PM Reply Like
  •  
    In a previous piece, I referred to the shameful overthrow of Mossadegh as the start of all our problems. Certainly, U.S. interference has not done Iran any good.


    On Jun 25 05:07 PM Ali Mogharabi wrote:

    > Agreed that Iranians deserve more freedom and equal rights. Agreed
    > that the religious govt must change. However, I also think the US
    > is not one to tell others how to live, especially given the fact
    > that most of US' friends in that regions actually have more oppressive
    > govts than Iran. Yes, Iran is a theocracy (as is Israel), but at
    > least the people do have opportunities to voice their opposition.
    > Iran also has minimum seats in its parliament for minorities such
    > as jewish and Christian Iranians.
    >
    > With all of that said, the govt must be changed, there's no question
    > about that. However, the change must come from within. If there
    > are any indications of meddling by outside forces (and some indications
    > are slowly popping up), even the ones marching on streets these days
    > won't like it. No one, not even the young (which make up 60%+ of
    > the country's population) will forget 'operation ajax' planned and
    > executed by the cia in 1953, and removed a DEMOCRATICALLY elected
    > prime minister and replaced him with a dictator that basically tortured
    > all opposition groups for years. In fact, Mossadegh, the PM that
    > was removed from power by the US and the UK, respected the US a great
    > deal. He traveled to the US and met with Truman and actually said
    > that he wished his country should do what the US has done. That
    > is why Truman didn't want to go through with operation ajax. Of
    > course the whole operation was based on greed, for which the US,
    > Iran and the rest of that region is still paying. The only thing
    > that Iranians (incl myself) wanted was sovereignty, not only on the
    > govt side but also biz, such as oil. Again, greed ... the US and
    > UK wanted cheaper oil and they overthrew a democratic govt! I wonder
    > how different things would've been if 'operation ajax' was not executed.
    > Interesting ...
    28 Jun 2009, 10:14 AM Reply Like
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