I'm still trying to figure out why the citizens think it matters. The elected president has only a narrow range of actions that are contrary to the wishes of the Supreme Council.
I think maybe they're hoping for more serious change in the long term. I'm not there, but it's hardly unheard of for a relatively minor but obvious affront to trigger anger/reaction to a more widespread problem. In fact it seems like it's more the norm than not.
I've also gotta say, I find your tone disturbingly condescending. Sounds like you're saying that they'd all be staying home ignoring the (potential) fraud if only they were as smart and level-headed as you.
No, I'm saying that it must be very discouraging to know that one, the elections aren't free and fair and two, even if they were they don't make much practical difference in how the government acts. What you aren't hearing is the tone of admiration in my voice.
I'm still trying to figure out why the citizens of the US thought last November's election mattered. It's not like the current elected US president has any more powers than the former one.
That's not what I'm saying. My point isn't about a *change* in Iranian presidential powers (or authority or scope or whatever one wishes to call it). It's about the *absolute* *amount* of power the Iranian president has. In my assessment, he doesn't have much. Ergo the question: these Iranian citizens think that Mir Hossein Mousavi can make a big difference, that he would have more power than I assess him to have; I want to know why they think that.
I see far more of Tiananmen Square than I do of the Berlin Wall, the key factor being the government's and military's willingness to use force against their own people.
My point is that your suggestion that you know more about the Iranian people's situation than the people who live in it and who are risking a great deal in these protests is both ridiculous and obnoxious.
I can see you read my reply - how do you get "Harimad knows more than Iranians" from my statement these Iranian citizens think that Mir Hossein Mousavi [...] would have more power than I assess him to have; I want to know why they think that.? I wrote it in the spirit of "Iranians and I assessed differently, I want to know more about their assessment process and how they reached their conclusions."
Also? you are making assumptions about what I know, who my relatives are and where they are from, what I do for a living, and my academic background. These assumptions may be right, they may be wrong. AFAIK you have no basis for knowing whether they are or not.
I'm told (by former Iranians) that reformer presidents there have a history of being killed, along with all their supporters. Officially, "kidney failure." The president is just a puppet of the clergy and if the outcome of this all is just to settle who is president then nothing will change.
Well, vocal protest was not a lifespan-enhancing move in the USSR, either, and yet eventually the people took to the streets and the party ended up on the ash heap of history.
On the other hand, that didn't work out so well in China. We'll see which way this goes.
Reform has been slowed down in many frustrating but ostensibly legal/peaceful ways over the past ~15 years. I think a lot of Iranians saw the political process slowly getting somewhere for about a decade, and then were discouraged and disillusioned for a while, but this is the first time they've seen the regime really try to slam down the brick wall by blatantly stealing an election.
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I've also gotta say, I find your tone disturbingly condescending. Sounds like you're saying that they'd all be staying home ignoring the (potential) fraud if only they were as smart and level-headed as you.
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I see far more of Tiananmen Square than I do of the Berlin Wall, the key factor being the government's and military's willingness to use force against their own people.
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Also? you are making assumptions about what I know, who my relatives are and where they are from, what I do for a living, and my academic background. These assumptions may be right, they may be wrong. AFAIK you have no basis for knowing whether they are or not.
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I'd love to be proved wrong though.
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On the other hand, that didn't work out so well in China. We'll see which way this goes.
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