Persia aka the Islamic Republic of Iran

A couple of weeks ago the main focus of Newsweek was Iran. The various articles were about a number of things; nuclear power and what it means to Iranians, the numbered days of President Ahmadinejad (The elections are being held on friday), the balance of power with the president and supreme leader, Obama's attitude toward the Iranian people, Rahm Emanuel's hopeful connections to the mideast, and simple photographs of what Iranians look like, who they really are. 

Reading these articles was fascinating. It frustrates me that I know so little about so many of the mideast nations. I think the fascination started early on when I read Kite Runner. Iran as an Islamic nation has a rich history of religion and culture mixed with power and terror all at once. Its a beautiful land that can at times look terribly dark to the West. I think this only aides in my fascination. Its a beautiful exotic country that is completely different from anything in the West. 

Although I don't really know much about Iran as a whole, this election and these times are fascinating to me. The biggest challenger to President Ahmadinejad is Mir Hossein Mousavi. A reformist who was a political leader in the 80s after the fall of the Shah. He left the scene in 1989 and became...an abstract painter. (lol)He's been out of the political spotlight for 20 years. Well when these elections came around Khatami, another reformist candidate, urged Mousavi to run, but he refused time and again. Instead Mousavi threw his support behind Khatami, even campaigning with him. Then something made Mousavi change his mind and he joined the race a little late. 

Now Mousavi has more support than his friend and is on his path to replace the president. Why? Well.... Ahmadinejad made a lot of promises for social rights, especially to women. He failed to live up to this, even sending out morality police to force women to wear headscarves that completely cover their hair.  He also promised to fix the economy and instead kept flirting with western media, taunting the US. Needless to say, the Iranian people are pissed. They aren't preoccupied with western relations, they want someone to fix their country, to focus on them, and to leave social norms like head scarves out of government. Its almost pointless that Ahmadinejad even taunts the US because the Supreme Leader is the one who controls foreign relations, including the decision to go to war whether it be nuclear or not. His flirtations with the West merely gives off an inaccurate impression of Iranians. Yes, the have nuclear power, so do we, so do numerous other countries. At this point, the people no longer see him as their leader.

Mousavi is a reformist. He has plans to do those things that Ahmadinejad promised. He has a large amount of support from the young people (a staggering majority of the population in Iran) and women. Women who are very unpleased with the former president. Mousavi is adamant about bringing more women into the government, even his cabinet. The young people and women are eating it up. So Mousavi is doing much better than Ahmadinejad. Some say he has 50-80% of the populations approval. We shall see on friday.

There is better information in these articles, I thought they were wonderful, so take a little read.

About the Iranian people

http://www.newsweek.com/id/199147

http://www.newsweek.com/id/199144

Photos of Iranian people

http://www.newsweek.com/id/199011

About the upcoming election

http://www.newsweek.com/id/199150

http://www.npr.org/templates/story/story.php?storyId=105190617

http://www.cnn.com/2009/WORLD/meast/06/09/gerges.iran.election/index.html

About their nuclear power

http://www.newsweek.com/id/199149