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| Syria-Lebanon-Iran |
| 28 photos show what Iran looked like before the 1979 revolution turned the nation into an Islamic republic |
| 2024-04-17 |
| [Bus Insider] In the decades before the Islamic revolution of 1979, Iran was ruled by the Shah, whose dictatorship repressed dissent and restricted political freedoms. But he also pushed the country to adopt Western-oriented secular modernization, allowing some degree of cultural freedom. Under the Shah's rule, Iran's economy and educational opportunities expanded. Britain and the US counted Iran as their major ally in the Middle East, and the Shah forcefully industrialized large segments of the country. But the Shah's increasingly authoritarian measures and his eventual dismissal of multiparty rule set the stage for the infamous revolution. Still, for a period of almost 40 years, the Shah led Iran through a series of sweeping changes. |
| Posted by:Besoeker |
| #6 ^^^^^ Perfect Heinlein choice Grom! |
| Posted by: NoMoreBS 2024-04-17 14:05 |
| #5 #3 “Democracy often works beautifully at first. But once a state extends the franchise to every warm body, be he producer or parasite, that day marks the beginning of the end of the state. For when the plebs discover that they can vote themselves bread and circuses without limit and that the productive members of the body politic cannot stop them, they will do so, until the state bleeds to death, or in its weakened condition the state succumbs to an invader—the barbarians enter Rome.” ― Robert A. Heinlein, To Sail Beyond the Sunset |
| Posted by: Grom the Reflective 2024-04-17 10:28 |
| #4 How about a triple set: Iran before 1979, Iran now, Iran in June? |
| Posted by: Grom the Reflective 2024-04-17 10:25 |
| #3 One of the misbeliefs of conservatives is that democracy is natural. It's one of the hardest systems to operate and requires sufficient checks and balances and the obstruction of concentrations of power. Otherwise, history shows man naturally adheres to tribalism, territorial imperative, and hierarchies for order. |
| Posted by: Procopius2k 2024-04-17 07:41 |
| #2 Iran was ruled by the Shah, whose dictatorship repressed dissent and restricted political freedoms. Oh, the post civil war through the 1930s were not tranquil times of labor or civil rights in this country either. 'Modernization' is often times painful and bloody even in Western societies. |
| Posted by: Procopius2k 2024-04-17 07:38 |
| #1 'Authoritarian'? Possibly. Then again the fact that he was going after Land Reform might have had something to do with his exit. Especially since the mullahs owned upwards of 2/3 of the country. |
| Posted by: Cesare 2024-04-17 07:15 |