Here's an excerpt from Pourzal's article:
<blockquote>The top vote-getter of the first round of elections, Ali Akbar Hashemi Rafsanjani, has in recent years used his appointed position as the head of the powerful Expediency Council to champion opening Iran's economy to massive foreign investment and "innovation." He is a business tycoon and Iran's richest man who ran but failed to get enough votes for a seat in the Majlis (parliament) in 2000. Ever since his two terms as president from 1979 to 1987, Rafsanjani has been known as a defender of property rights and IMF- style "adjustments" in labor and banking laws. The reform parties share his passion for privatization, deregulation, and an end to multibillion-dollar public subsidies. Eight years of reformist struggle to establish "the rule of law" showed results last December and February, when Iranian courts ruled in favor of US-based multinationals Proctor and Gamble and Time Warner in trademark infringement cases.
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Ahmadinejad's constituency apparently does not buy his rivals' argument that the best way to reduce unemployment is to stimulate economic growth -- now about five percent annually -- with enough concessions to Washington to have the US trade sanctions lifted. Ahmadinejad insists on government loans to small businesses and better distribution of wealth as the primary engines of job creation.</blockquote>
As those of you who know my view on the matter can see, I agree with Pourzal wholeheartedly!
What else? Upcoming articles include Derek Seidman's fascinating interview with Baltimore rapper Son of Nun; Doug Ireland's superb article on the re-opening of Pier Paolo Pasolini's murder case; Chesa Boudin's reflections on Venezuela; Michael D. Yates' moving autobiographical sketches; Sunny Taylor's meditations on militarism, anti-militarism, and disabled bodies; Seth Sandronsky's interview with California Federation of Teachers Kenneth Burt; Martin Hart- Landsberg's analysis of the hollowing out of South Korea's economy; and many others.
Yoshie Furuhashi <http://montages.blogspot.com> <http://monthlyreview.org> <http://mrzine.org> * Mahmoud Ahmadinejad: <http://montages.blogspot.com/2005/07/mahmoud- ahmadinejads-face.html>; <http://montages.blogspot.com/2005/07/chvez- congratulates-ahmadinejad.html>; <http://montages.blogspot.com/ 2005/06/iranian-working-class-rejects.html>