Total number of comments: 3 (since 2013-11-28 16:55:38)
Lior Sternfeld
is the William J. and Charlotte K. Duddy University Endowed Fellow in the Humanities and Associate Professor of History and Jewish Studies at Penn State University and the Templeton Fellow at the Foreign Policy Research Institute. He is the author of Between Iran and Zion: Jewish Histories of Twentieth Century Iran and the co-author of Jews of Iran: photographic chronicle
Michael,
There are many reasons why the uprising in 2009 failed in Iran, and succeeded elsewhere (couple years later). One main reason, in my opinion, is related to world politics. While Mubarak, Ben Ali, and co. were to be held accountable by the US and Europe, the Iranian regime had Russia and China to beck them up, and couldn't care less about the ways they will use to keep the opposition quiet. The US couldn't and shouldn't do anything to actively support the movement, besides showing the moral support, it had given (in parts). If you're asking whether the elections were actually stolen, then my answer is yes. Watching the political scene before the elections (mass demonstrations throughout Iran), during the campaign, and history of voting patterns (Azeris to Moussavi- a candidate of Azeri origins), one can understand that there is no other option. The elections were stolen.
Did I answer your question? If not, I apologize- try to rephrase.
Hi John,
I don't know if I would go as far as depicting Ahmedi-Nejad as more pragmatic, but the thing is that understanding the whole situation better, suddenly put more options on the "single-option-table"...
Hi Nathan,
I couldn't find more detailed and accurate accounts of the recent utterances, but this one conveys it pretty well:
http://www.pbs.org/wgbh/pages/frontline/tehranbureau/2012/02/news-ahmadinejad-camp-attacks-khamenei-revolutionary-guards.html