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Iraq was not an Islamic regime in the same sense. It was not a theocracy. There were non Muslims in senior political positions. The Iraqi government was a lot
by graemep 8mo ago
Iraq was not an Islamic regime in the same sense. It was not a theocracy. There were non Muslims in senior political positions.
The Iraqi government was a lot more stable.
What exactly do you imagine will replace the Iranian government that is worse?
- riffraff 8mo agoWas ISIS better or worse than Iran's government is now?
- bojan 8mo agoThat all being said, we are talking about different cultures. Iranians are on average more educated than Iraqis were/are, and the country is ethnically more homogeneous. So I have hope that they'll find a way to organize when the current regime falls.
- dastuer 8mo agoAnd we’re mostly not religious at all. We have Ramadan here now. No one cares. Arab influencer come and make videos and are shocked Everyone eats and drinks during the days we don’t care
- rwyinuse 8mo agoYeah this is what lots of Western people don't get. The cultural / ideological gap between rulers and those being ruled appears much larger in Iran than in most other Muslim countries. Many countries have hardcore conservative rulers AND population, but in Iran the problem is mostly just the rulers. With better government, Iran would have so much potential.
- Al-Khwarizmi 8mo agoI know that, but what I don't get is with a society like that, how can a theocratic government last for so long? Maybe I'm being naive, but authoritarian governments tend to fall when an educated population is against them. Iran looks like a weird case to me in this respect in that the population seems to be against (and honestly, seems to be quite brave) and still the theocracy goes on and on. Anyway, best of luck in this. Your people deserve better.
- dastuer 8mo agoThank you. Yes, it’s complex. Firstly, the regime isn’t truly theocratic. There are many online videos of regime family members enjoying parties and alcohol. The second piece: I assume 10-20% of people were participating in the exploitation of our country. They kept the other 80% in control for a long time.
- Revanche1367 8mo agoYet another very recent account on HN claiming to be Persian and speaking about things on the ground in Iran. Can’t you guys at least try a little harder to be convincing?
- yard2010 8mo agoPlease provide sources when claiming such bold claims.
- mathgeek 8mo agoNot the GP nor claiming anything , but https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Demographics_of_Iran https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Demographics_of_Iran is what you are asking for.
- bojan 8mo agoI don't understand this. What you call bold claims are easily verifiable facts. Demographic and education level statistics are widely available online, choose your source of choice. I'm pretty sure there are also a lot of people on this site that anecdotally know this from their contact with Iranian diaspora.
- RobertoG 8mo agowhat are you talking about? Iran is a sophisticated country with a parliament and elections, with a powerful civil society. It has 90 million inhabitants. They graduated more women in STEM disciplines than the USA. Yes, it's a theocracy, but it's more free than Saudi Arabia for instance. Are the Americans going to bomb the Saudis next? or only if Israel ask for it?
- graemep 8mo agoWhat exactly did I say that you disagree with?
- kqr 8mo agoNothing at all could be worse! One of the issues with Iraq was that Rumsfeld didn't want to acknowledge that it takes more personnel post-toppling (to rebuild infrastructure and institutions) than during invasion. It seems like the current government could be prone to make the same mistake. I recommend anyone interested in this to read Cobra II. It's an excellent book.
- apexalpha 8mo ago>What exactly do you imagine will replace the Iranian government that is worse? A regime that only controls the capital, leaving the rest of the country in a power vacuum leading to internal conflicts and sectarian violence that will eventually spill over the borders into Afghanistan, Azerbaijan, Iraq etc...
- blks 8mo agoNo government and another perpetual war zone.
- Matl 8mo agoIraq was attacking its neighbors every couple of years, Iran is not. Iran has shown that it is remarkably sane actually, given the aggression shown towards it by Israel and the US and has made a lot of efforts to reach a deal. Remember, it was the US that exited the JCPOA and now it wants Iran to give up all its misses so that they would be defenseless. I have no love for theocracies, but I do think the Iranian system is a lot better than the likes of Saudi Arabia, which we're buddy buddy with. Oh and I guess the founder of Syrian branch of AQ and deputy head of ISIS running Syria is better that what was before too, in your book?
- tonyedgecombe 8mo ago>Iraq was attacking its neighbors every couple of years, Iran is not. Nonsense. Iran has been stirring up trouble in the region for a long time.
- Matl 8mo agoIndeed, Israel just wants to occupy the Palestinians in peace. Perhaps you forgot that it was Iraq who attacked Iran and Kuwait while Iran attacked no country but hey.
- tonyedgecombe 8mo agoYou do realise both Israel and Iran can be bad actors in this space?
- jonnybgood 8mo agoIran attacks its neighbors through proxies: Hizbollah, Houthis, Shiite militias, and Hamas. These groups are armed and funded by Iran.
- Matl 8mo agoOh yes, and the fact that Israel is just sitting there occupying millions of Palestinians, attacking Syria, Lebanon etc. despite a 'ceasefire' has nothing to do with why these groups continue to exist, I am sure. Iran's funding for these groups is a part of its 'defense in depth' strategy since it doesn't have the capability to project power otherwise. I am not saying that it is the right thing to do, but I am also not that surprised that backed into a corner, they're trying to build regional proxies. It's not like the US and Israel are not doing the same in and around Iran. But I like how these statements, like yours, are always made with zero context and hope for an uninformed audience to upvote them.
- bhouston 8mo ago“ There were non Muslims in senior political positions.” What are you talking about? Iraq is >95% Muslim, but there are a few different sub groups. With those numbers there were few in government then and now who are not Muslim. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Religion_in_Iraq https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Religion_in_Iraq
- graemep 8mo agoIts very much Muslim minority, but having even a few in senior government positions (e.g. Tariq Aziz, who was foreign minister) is an indication that its not a theocracy. IT was a dictatorship, of course, but not a theocratic one.
- justin66 8mo agoIraq’s Ba’ath party were secularists.