Tuesday, June 15, 2010

What Hope in Iran?

Reuel Marc Gerecht, once a CIA operative in Iran, is optimistic about the chances of democratic change: "30 years of theocracy have done an astonishing job of Westernizing Iran’s culture and political preferences."

2 comments:

Unknown said...

I'm sure it's true that theocracy has effectively secularized a large number, even a majority of Iranians. But this guy sounds like a manic-depressive who's missed his lithium treatment, and is on the upswing. Everything is superlative (the greatest Islamic philosopher since al-Ghazali, etc.) and suppositions become facts (the summer crackdown "probably" delegitimized the regime, etc.). You could write the same things about the tea party movement, and predict the US is on the verge of a revolution, which it isn't.

The major problem is that the existing regime is homegrown, and nationalist, unlike the ones that were overthrown in eastern Europe in 1989. This means it's got a ready-made base of real emotional support. US interference will only engage that base even more than it already is.

John said...

I agree. The Iranian regime may have lost the support of the majority, but they still have millions of supporters, control of the government, and lots of money, so they will be very difficult to dislodge.