Iranians displeased with Ahmadinejad

Boston Globe ^ | 1/20/07 | Boston Globe

[freedom44]

TEHRAN, Iran --Prices for vegetables have tripled in the past month, housing prices have doubled since last summer -- and as costs have gone up, so has Iranians' discontent with hard-line President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad and his focus on confrontation with the West.

Ahmadinejad was elected last year on a populist agenda promising to bring oil revenues to every family, eradicate poverty and tackle unemployment. Now he is facing increasingly fierce criticism for his failure to meet those promises.

He is being challenged not only by reformers but by the conservatives who paved the way for his stunning victory in 2005 presidential elections. Even conservatives say Ahmadinejad has concentrated too much on fiery, anti-U.S. speeches and not enough on the economy -- and they have become more aggressive in calling him to account.

"The government has painted idealistic goals like tackling housing problems and unemployment ... but no solution has been offered," said Mohammad Khoshchehreh, a prominent conservative lawmaker, told The Associated Press.

[Dog Gone]

Maybe Hugo Chavez will send him cheap heating oil.

[lonestar67]

yup

and the economy is about to get even worse


bring the revolution

[musicman]

Almost everyone seems to think this guy is bad for the "global neighborhood".......

[elhombrelibre]

Gee, it sounds like even the reporters at the Globe have turned on him. What's next the New York Times won't call him "Mr. President." I'm thinking he's in real trouble when these "template Liberals" can even see problems for him in Iran.

[I_Like_Spam]

Its only a matter of time before Mr. Ahmadinejad's head is lopped off on Iranian TV.

The Iranian people don't appreciate him any more than anyone else, the thought that they like tyranny is an absurd one.

For decades, the liberals assured us that the folks in E. Europe totally backed their communist states. That was proven to be a lie, and so is the idea that the islamic fascists have captured the hearts of their people.

The Iranian regime will fall, the only question is how and when.

[Moonman62]

The inflation has hit Iranians hard, along with unemployment, which the government puts at 10 percent but which economists say could be as high as 30 percent. The government also says inflation is 11 percent, but experts estimate it at 30 percent.

How can they have high unemployment and high inflation at the same time? Somebody should forward this to the Federal Reserve.

[Constitutions Grandchild]

"The Iranian regime will fall, the only question is how and when."

I'd add one more question to your sequence..."and how much damage he will do before he does."

[Spok]

I like to think that we are behind Iran's economic problems; it's so Reagan-esque.

[popdonnelly]

Ahmadinejad is doing Khamenei's bidding. It doesn't matter whether Iranians don't like it.

[Capt. Tom]

I wonder if his approval ratings are as low as Bush and Blair's? - Tom

[bert]

Antiwar pacifists look for a silk lining in a sow's ear.

This is media bias at its worst. The Globe will get us killed.

[kalee]

"Ahmadinejad was elected last year on a populist agenda promising to bring oil revenues to every family, eradicate poverty and tackle unemployment. Now he is facing increasingly fierce criticism for his failure to meet those promises."


Promises, shmomises, the only promises he is serious about are getting a nuke, bringing the 12th imam out of the well and destroying Israel. If the Iranian people are unhappy with him now; just wait until he ignites a war with Israel and the West and they get thumped annd if his war is nuclear, they may not be around to express their unhappiness.