"Eto dazhe horosho -- chto poka nam plokho."

This saying from Soviet times -- that "it is even good, that right now it is bad for us" -- might be applied to the Islamic Republic of Iran. The imprisonment and torture of Ali Dashti, the killing of thousands of journalists and writers, has drive out many, some of whom are in Los Angeles, some in Stockholm or Paris or London; all of them want the Islamic Republic of Iran to end, though some prefer Tudeh or something like it in the Mossadegh-line; others look forward to a restoration of the monarchy, this time not quite so corrupt and quite so unintelligent, but limited by a strong parliament; and there are others who, having thrown off the shackles of filial piety, have decided that Islam is not for them, and some of those give it up for vague hints of Zoroastrianism, or Christianity, and some for -- nothing at all.

The worse the Islamic Republic of Iran gets, the more thoroughly awful and stupid it is, the better for those who have understood that Khomeini was no sport, but part of a long tradition, a well-trained graduate of a seminary in Qom, whose opinions are perfectly justified by Qur'an, Hadith, and Sira, which do not offer a Sunni version, and a different Shi'a version. It was the Shah, and his father, in their better treatment of non-Muslims, and their attempts to limit the social and political influence of Islam, who were the sports. This went unrecognized by a large number of the Iranian elite, that benefited from this atmosphere, but never came to grips -- why should they? -- with Islam and the horror of Islam. Now they will have to do so. For there are always many more primitive people than non-primitive. And the belief-system therefore matters. If it is Christianity or Buddhism or Judaism or Hinduism, the results are not necessarily bad. With Islam, they are. That's it.

Eto dazhe khorosho, chto poka im [the Iranians] plokho.

Posted by: Hugh at October 26, 2005 11:10 AM

I have no idea what that first paragraph(of the previous comment)meant. Could you people try to claify yourselves before you post?

Posted by: el greco at October 26, 2005 12:09 PM

Lest we not forget that Iran (an its good friend China) lead the charge to wrest control of the DNS root servers away from the US into a "more fairly balanced international governing and oversight" committee. Blocking content or specific IP addresses is not difficult, but only temporary as circumvention of censorship is easily achieved. Control of the DNS allows entire domains to be taken down at once rendering multiple IP address effectivley as non-existent.

Of course the short sighted EU has been eager in obtaining the support of Iran and China, not seeing this as censorship issue, but as a tax issue wherein tax revenue can be recognized from each URL being resolved at the DNS server to an IP address. The EU needs this new tax to keep their social welfare from going bankrupt.

Posted by: Lisa at October 26, 2005 12:56 PM

"I have no idea what that first paragraph(of the previous comment)meant. Could you people try to claify yourselves before you post?"
-- posted by el greco

He's saying that as horrific as the Islamic Republic of Iran is now, it'll prove a good thing over the long haul by demonstrating that the only possible result from Sharia (i.e., Islam-as-government) is complete incompetence and absolute evil.

Incompetence and evil are, after all, the very quintessence of the Religion of Peace.

Posted by: Chaz MarteL 732 at October 26, 2005 1:03 PM

The idea of a Moslem feminist is almost as comical as the persona of Malik Zulu Shabaz, Grand Potentate of the New Black Panther Party.

I say almost because how can one be intimidtor macho and at the same time be a cup-rattling victimist?

Posted by: Chaz MarteL 732 at October 26, 2005 1:06 PM

The first paragraph was a Russian phrase, taken from a song in a Soviet movie (in the 1960s) made from a book by Kornei Chukovsky. The movie was "Barmaley," the scary scary fellow who would scare you. And there are African placenames, that as a result of Barmaley and Dr. Aibolit, have special significance for tiny Russians, and bigger Russians too. We Americans hear the words "Zanzibar" and "Limpopo" as exotic, but for Russians there is more than that, there is childhood magic in "Limpopo" that no non-Russian would feel in quite the same way, because of Kornei Chukovsky.

There is an obvious political significance to the words, and not only for the long-suffering denizens and moviegoers in Soviet Russia. But there was no need to be puzzled -- the phrase is immediately translated in the very next sentence, the first sentence of the second paragraph.

When it comes to allusions, I try to play fair.

Posted by: Hugh at October 26, 2005 1:08 PM

Re: my last post

I apologize to the good Malik Zulu for misspelling his surname. It should be Shabazz, not Shabaz.

Don't wanna disrepect Mr. Malik Zulu Shabazz's ancestors.

Nor do I wish to disreprect Moslem feminists, who upon further reflection must certainly have the most flexible minds on earth.

Posted by: Chaz MarteL 732 at October 26, 2005 1:10 PM

Chaz Martel I quite agree with you, the very idea of an Islamic feminist is oxymoronic.

Makes as much sense as a gay Republican :)

Watching Iranian news (al Alam) yesterday, Ahmadinejad has banned all music, movies, literature that has even a whiff of feminism, alcohol, drug abuse, or is secular. Hmmm, maybe they want to prevent earthquakes, hurricanes and tornado's..wonder if he gets his script from Pat Robertson and the 700 club?

Posted by: Nariz at October 26, 2005 7:47 PM

Nariz, please be advised that Pat Robertson is an Ivy League Man. Given that he has the Received Wisdom, you have NO STANDING to criticize this olympian elite. How dare you.

Posted by: Chaz MarteL 732 at October 26, 2005 9:14 PM