Weekend Roundup: Why the ‘Persian Spring’ May Succeed Where the Arab Spring Failed
I’m no expert, but I do tend to notice the positive developments in Iran, on those rare occasions they are deemed newsworthy here. This looks like a sea change in attitudes there, particularly as the young come up in government. I broke out the quote as it nicely flies in the face of right wing accepted wisdom here.
He has long ago moved away but for a few years i had the pleasure of teaching a young man and his sister from Iran defensive skills. After class we would have long interesting talks about the realities on the ground in Iran circa 2000. I learned a lot about his fellow Iranians. I expect to live to see Iran as a major positive player on the world stage.
Muhammad Sahimi sees an inexorable outcome down the road: “The hard-liners that have isolated Iran and repressed its people are on the wane,” he writes. Trita Parsi assesses the impact of the nuclear deal between Iran and the West on the vote. “The election results are also a vindication of the Obama administration’s outreach and negotiations with Iran,” he says. “For decades, moderates in Iran could not demonstrate the benefits of their moderate policies because of an unwillingness in Washington to play ball and negotiate directly with Tehran.” Arms control expert Joe Cirincione argues that the tough new sanctions against North Korea imposed this week by the U.N. Security Council — with unprecedented U.S. and Chinese cooperation — should be the prelude to negotiations like those that produced the Iran deal. We also publish this week the final installment of a graphic novel that captures what it is like to be gay in Iran.
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