[lbo-talk] Iran before Ahmadinejad (was capital punishment in Iran)

[ravi]

On 29 Apr, 2007, at 11:15 PM, andie nachgeborenen wrote:
>
> Yes, Iran is important in it own right. I don't know
> whether Doug put the point in his normally accurate
> and crystalline manner, but I think he was trying to
> say, in response to Ravi's question about why he (and
> perhaps I) were critiquing this of all the vile and
> hateful regimes around just now -- was it parroting
> the media? echoing the White House? -- and the answer
> is, no.
>
> It's because you chose _this_ regime, rather than,
> say, the regime, if it rises to that level, in Sudan,
> to defend vociferously at the moment.  And to defend
> not just against US chest beating and sabre-rattling,
> but as ma progressive standard bearer of
> anti-imperialist democracy and republicanism.

I did not intend to question any post by you (I just rejoined the  
list, and had only seen, at the time of my post, Doug's forwarding an  
article about Iran with a one line comment), so this response is from  
that perspective.

Re: standard bearer of anti-imperialism: what else is there, outside  
of maybe Castro and Chavez (each flawed in their own ways)? Tom  
Friedman's India? Putin's Russia? (actually, yes perhaps the latter,  
for much the same reason as Iran).

I find it hard to believe that one person's particular take on a  
country can trigger a forwarding of articles regarding abuses in Iran  
-- irrespective of one's own opinion on the matter? So, why not you  
gents, on the other side, give us your take on Iran? Not just  
instances of abuses you find in the society or by the government, but  
in the context of the problem of imperialism, etc?

	--ravi