A reader writes:
It seems to me your reader is on to something very important. In my own recent visit to Iran, I didn't speak with every single member of the opposition within Iran, but I did get a strong sense from those I did listen to, that their nationalism overrides most other concerns. Iran is the most USA-friendly country in the entire Islamic world. But there is no way the Iranians I met would see any form of US intervention positively.
Also, I was surprised by the number of Iranians I met who felt they had a legitimate democratic system that was only temporarily hi-jacked by Ahmedinijad and his gang. In my (amateur) view, a lot of the green movement seemed to be be people who wanted a return to the legitimacy of their own system, not at all a proximation to western society.
I can understand the Iranians who feel like this.
Iran is a wonderful country. Beautiful, rich, filled with 5000 years of world heritage, filled with the nicest people in the world. Seriously. These people are good (if a bit full of themselves – but they have a reason to be so). The comparison with Texans isn't completely off the mark, if Texans had world-class monuments, artworks, poets, thinkers, wines, cuisine etc.
Now don't misunderstand me. Iran has a vile dictatorship, ruled by gangs and nuts. But it is also a lot more than that. And it is in no way comparable to any of the other problem-countries of the Islamic world. Rather than comparing Iran with Syria and Iraq or Pakistan and Afghanistan, one should compare it with Russia, Poland or maybe (less) the Czech Republic. A highly developed, cultured and civilized country with a really, really bad government, which has its legitimacy from the least intelligent dealings of the Cold War.
They also have a system that facilitates this bad government, but as I see it, relatively few Iranians recognize this. And anyway – as one smart Iranian put it – the US system is far more corrupt and far less democratic. I don't agree with this common Iranian point of view, but I understand it.
The Dish 