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Syria-Lebanon-Iran | |||
Ordinary Iranians fearful as prospect of sanctions looms | |||
2006-08-20 | |||
The middle-aged housewife lugging her food shopping in a white plastic bag had a lot to say about her worries for her three grown-up children living here. With the fighting over in Lebanon, many here fear the world’s attention may now focus on Tehran — and that international sanctions will be imposed if Iran does not suspend its nuclear research programme by the end of the month. “Like many people here I am worried,” said the woman. “Sanctions cannot be a good thing. Just look at how the people in North Korea are living.” The woman would not give her name for fear of persecution, even though what she said would not normally be rated as subversive by the authorities. “Just look at how prices have gone up in the past eight months,” she said looking at her shopping bag of bread, milk, yoghurt, olive oil and vegetables. “Imagine how far up the prices would go once sanctions are imposed. I am really worried for my children.” Yet at the same time she could see why Iran was searching for alternative sources of energy. “Even today there are some parts of the country which, under the scorching 50 degrees heat, are facing power cuts,” she said, reflecting Iran’s argument that its nuclear programme is aimed at making not bombs but electricity.
He said Iran had managed to build a consensus in the world against itself by its rhetoric.
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Posted by:lotp |
#12 Much like the old NRA bumpersticker that says: FORGET THE DOG, BEWARE THE OWNER Apropos Iran: FORGET THE SANCTIONS, BEWARE THE BOMBS |
Posted by: Zenster 2006-08-20 21:39 |
#11 That's worth a lot. |
Posted by: Nimble Spemble 2006-08-20 20:58 |
#10 During the Pahlavi regime, Fort Bragg sent many mobile training teams to Iran to assist their army. It was said to be a pretty damn good tour. No reminder required regarding the termination of that effort. As a young techie I had an offer to spend 24 months in Teheran working on an Iranian system parallel to the one I'd worked on for the JCS command center. Great salary and benefits, travel etc. Husband flat refused to go. I thought about it for a while (no kids at that point) and eventually agreed to turn it down, although I would have come home w/ enough savings for a townhouse. 18 months into what would have been my contract term the Shah fell. I'm still not sure if it was good or bad that I didn't go, but we've been married 32 years now FWIW. ;-) |
Posted by: lotp 2006-08-20 20:35 |
#9 The entire thing about nuclear power is a farce. Nuclear energy requires water - tons of water - for cooling. You can't build a nuclear power plant in a desert (unless you're Israel, and willing to pump the water a hundred miles or more). Now, if they want to build nuclear power plants along the coast, and use the excess heat to run desalination plants, I could believe that. The rest is just bulls$$$. |
Posted by: Old Patriot 2006-08-20 20:31 |
#8 Okay, okay...we'll make that Mini-sanctions. The on-going military training ops you have going on has made many of our MSM and Congressional patriots (as well as roughly 50% the USA civilian population)decide to rethink this issue. Surely, common ground can be found in this quagmire! asymmetrical triangulation (at) |
Posted by: at 2006-08-20 19:13 |
#7 There are many good people there. During the Pahlavi regime, Fort Bragg sent many mobile training teams to Iran to assist their army. It was said to be a pretty damn good tour. No reminder required regarding the termination of that effort. |
Posted by: Besoeker 2006-08-20 12:15 |
#6 I'm told by co-workers with family still there that there's two tiers in Iran society. This guy quoted is one of the educated, the middle-upper class. They bear much of the brunt from the mullah's policies, socially and politically. The base of support for the MM's is the uneducated populace. When they lose them, the MM's will only hold power by the barrel of a gun, a la Mugabe |
Posted by: Frank G 2006-08-20 12:10 |
#5 a young graduate student was even more worried. “Sanctions mean isolation,” said the student of metallurgy who preferred not to give his name, “just like what happened in Iraq before, and in North Korea now.” Refreshing, a very astute lad I'd say. |
Posted by: Besoeker 2006-08-20 12:05 |
#4 The problem is that this is coming from the urban areas. When the farmers and villagers start belly-aching, then the government is in trouble. |
Posted by: Fordesque 2006-08-20 12:02 |
#3 T-2 days. Wonder what they'll think of sanctions come Wednesday morning? |
Posted by: Tony (UK) 2006-08-20 10:25 |
#2 Stop bellyaching, you'll love the drive of a Russian car. |
Posted by: Perfesser 2006-08-20 05:35 |
#1 Has Iran ever expressed any logical reason for preferring nuclear fuel over oil for electricity generation? Is there some reason they haven't explicitly expressed that we should know about? Pollution, perhaps? |
Posted by: gorb 2006-08-20 01:50 |