I have a great friend in Amsterdam, an Iranian. He is not Muslim, he is secular. His family moved to Germany when he was 16 just before the fall of the Shah.
He loves American football and played halfback as a young man for the European Football League which is an American style football league in Europe. Europe really loves American style football, so much so that the NFL is going to open a franchise in London. He had to quit when he hurt his back.
My friend has an amazing knowledge and experience with the oil and gas industry. His office is a stone’s throw from the HQ of Royal Dutch Sheel in Amsterdam.
For whatever reason we hit it off years ago and our friendship grew mostly because of our affinity for honesty and integrity. His English was perfect and I learned a lot from him.
When Obama was elected, he asked me “Is America sick?”. He was so well-tuned with global events and with American politics. He had traveled and lived in America. He loved America and thought it was the only nation that could keep the world from devolving into a chaos of dictatorships.
So he told me about Iran during the time of the Shah and why people rejected the Shah.
During the time of the Shah, Iran was a very prosperous nation. It had one of the highest living standards on Earth. And its industries were diversified and its educational institutions were quite respectable. The Iranian population enjoyed everything that Americans are accustomed to and had very little need to import anything. It had very productive farming, the people had plenty to eat. Most families owned a car and a home. Kids studied and went to college, law and medical schools, and those that didn’t go to college became highly skilled at crafts and arts. And the country was stable, politically and economically. There was virtually no crime, women felt safe and could walk the avenues with short skirts if they desired.
The Shah had some state police that went too far with a vigilante type of justice. They reacted to religious extremists who protested against Iran’s secular culture. For many reasons, the affluent Iranian society reacted negatively against the harsh actions of the Shah’s police agents, many who acted without authority of the Shah. The Iranian society wanted Iran to accept religious leaders and better integrate them into Iranian society. The problem was that Iranian Mullahs had zero tolerance for the Westernized values that Iranian society had adopted.
My friend said when the Mullahs took over, they controlled everything, from who had what job, who was allowed to marry who, to what was worn in public and what behavior was expected. He still had contacts back in Iran who told him the farms had come to a halt, there was very little food, that most things had to be imported, and young men and women caught necking on a bench would be arrested and punished or jailed. There was no freedom, only misery.
My friend wanted the US to go and kick the crap out of the Mullahs and throw out the regime. So he was quite confused when Hussein Obama was elected. He could never understand how Americans let that happen.
So this gives a bit more of the picture of what Iranians on the ground suffer. The older generation longs for the past, the new generations are miserable.
It’s possible our President and his Administration can turn Iran around and bring it back to the prosperous nation it once was. My sense is that Iran’s return to prosperity will be quicker than Korea’s path to prosperity.
Just the prospect of both North Korea and Iran becoming stable prosperous countries seems unreal. No one could have thought it possible just two years ago. And yet here we are, thinking it, witnessing it take form, shifting our outlook. What an amazing turnaround in such little time. There’s a ways to go yet but we can see it is possible now. That in itself is amazing.
“My sense is that Iran’s return to prosperity will be quicker than Korea’s path to prosperity.”
It sure could be, although North Korea could have some real aces, if they play their cards right (like all the South Koreans that could help).
Iran has the most pro-American population in the region, outside of Israel - yet they are ruled by the most overtly anti-American Government on Earth.
Iran has huge reserves of oil, that can be brought quickly to market to fund development. There is a diaspora from Iran that still speaks Persian, but is now embedded within Europe and America businesses. And Iran has a much larger stock of human capital than North Korea - 80 million to 25 million.
Back in the day I had an Iranian co-worker who escaped before the fall and he may have been a young teen at the time and said it was party central, a young mans perspective, but let that go. Yes very American like it was.
Notice Korea falls 1st, now Iran is teetering. Hmmmm, would we have gotten this with She who shall not be named? Was this all planned out by our Very Stable Genius and his team? You know break these too newkee parters apart and now they can't do research and now Iran has to fund all their despotism against Israel alone? Do I stand alone or was the Attack on Syria over a year ago, the MOAD in Pahhhhkeeestan as Dear Leader would say and the Spec-Operators in Yemen over a year ago all related to pressure against Iran? With Iran collapsed doesn't that mean no funds for all the despots against Israel? Doesn't that mean a Peace deal between the PA and Israel are possible?
Can you just see the meltdown on CNN and amongst all the liberal progs when that happens?
Believe, I have been convinced since last March that is where PDJT has been heading w/ his relationship with the Saudi's, the GSC, and Jarrett going back in forth, most recently to Jordan and the King here yesterday....