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Iran abolishes morality police

hindustantimes.com

41–50 of 266 posts

Re: Iran abolishes morality police

#41
post #32

That's significant. The ayatollahs came to power thanks to big popular support (audio cassettes of khomeini). Now a popular uprising is specifically against religious restrictions. In the meantime empirically the army has all the power of the sword. That's a step towards sidelining the ayatollahs. I guess we will see if it will evolve toward a military dictatorship (as I predict), a democracy, or the existing religio…

You do realize I assume that in the whole of middle east, Israel and Iran are the only reasonably functional countries where people get to elect their government to some extent and the people leading the government actually change based on the vote? Maybe that's why the governments hate each other :-) Perhaps Lebanon as well but the country has been non-functional for a long time. Every other country including every…

Elections where even Khomeini's grandson was barred from candidacy are a sham.

We had fake elections in Communist Czechoslovakia as well. Guess what, the United National Front Candidate List always won with tremendous majority.

Re: Iran abolishes morality police

#42
"The morality police [...] were established under president Mahmoud Ahmadinejad, [and] began patrols in 2006."

I didn't realize they were formed that recently; I thought it would have been created at the start of the regime.

Yashar Ali (@yashar) on Twitter has been covering these protests extensively. I'm waiting for him to comment on this, but it doesn't appear he's awake yet.

Re: Iran abolishes morality police

#43
post #34
post #32

Earlier quoted context omitted.

You do realize I assume that in the whole of middle east, Israel and Iran are the only reasonably functional countries where people get to elect their government to some extent and the people leading the government actually change based on the vote? Maybe that's why the governments hate each other :-) Perhaps Lebanon as well but the country has been non-functional for a long time. Every other country including every…

There are no real elections in Iran, since every significant challenger to whomever the Supreme Leader decides to support will be disqualified (e.g. Raisi's election).

You mean like the center-right in Israel that will always win against the Arab left?

Re: Iran abolishes morality police

#44

That's significant. The ayatollahs came to power thanks to big popular support (audio cassettes of khomeini). Now a popular uprising is specifically against religious restrictions. In the meantime empirically the army has all the power of the sword. That's a step towards sidelining the ayatollahs. I guess we will see if it will evolve toward a military dictatorship (as I predict), a democracy, or the existing religio…

The moral police was introduced under Ahmadinedshad‘s rein, so not long ago. It is not a fundament of the current regime.

Re: Iran abolishes morality police

#46
post #34

Earlier quoted context omitted.

There are no real elections in Iran, since every significant challenger to whomever the Supreme Leader decides to support will be disqualified (e.g. Raisi's election).

You mean like the center-right in Israel that will always win against the Arab left?

An Arab party and two leftist parties were in the last coalition, though the Arab party was Islamist and the leftists parties were not Arab parties.

Re: Iran abolishes morality police

#47

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Lots of dictatorships make concessions and continue to stick around: take Cuba with its market reforms of the 1990s and 2000s, ditto North Korea. But I don’t believe this news either, but simply because I haven’t seen any reporting that independently verifies the claim being made.

Cuba actually has a democratic process, believe it or not.

Many dictatorships actually do. The question is more like "is it a process that only exists on paper?". If an election ends with a 98% approval of the supreme leader (or whatever the designation), then it's probably rigged and just for show...

Re: Iran abolishes morality police

#48
post #31

As nntaleb postulates, once a dictatorship starts giving concessions, it is on its last legs. Therefore I do not believe this news.

On the contrary, throwing small concessions to the rabble helps a dictatorship remain in power. Refusing to bend only makes it more susceptible to a revolution gaining enough momentum.

s/a dictatorship/the establishment/g

and then reflect back on the BLM protests...

Re: Iran abolishes morality police

#49

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Lots of dictatorships make concessions and continue to stick around: take Cuba with its market reforms of the 1990s and 2000s, ditto North Korea. But I don’t believe this news either, but simply because I haven’t seen any reporting that independently verifies the claim being made.

Cuba actually has a democratic process, believe it or not.

So does Russia, believe it or not.

Re: Iran abolishes morality police

#50
post #34
post #32

Earlier quoted context omitted.

You do realize I assume that in the whole of middle east, Israel and Iran are the only reasonably functional countries where people get to elect their government to some extent and the people leading the government actually change based on the vote? Maybe that's why the governments hate each other :-) Perhaps Lebanon as well but the country has been non-functional for a long time. Every other country including every…

There are no real elections in Iran, since every significant challenger to whomever the Supreme Leader decides to support will be disqualified (e.g. Raisi's election).

You should consider doing research. Even Wikipedia gives a good start. As everywhere, maintaining power is a balancing act and has flowed between factions

https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Iranian_Principlists

https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Iranian_Reformists

https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Iranian_pragmatists

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