by Omid Memarian
The election of Hassan Rouhani has split Iranian analysts into three groups: the overly enthusiastic, the destructively pessimistic and the cautiously optimistic. The enthusiasts and the pessimists both present potentially inaccurate analyses of Iran’s current situation, views that could ultimately lead to disappointment and lost opportunities. The clearest path to meaningful change [...]
via LobeLog
by Jim Lobe
Exactly three weeks ago, a confident Dennis Ross, President Barack Obama’s top Iran policy-maker for most of his first term, made the following assessments and predictions in an op-ed entitled, ironically, “Don’t Discount the Iranian Election:”
via LobeLog
by Gary Sick
With the surprising Iranian election over, and the moderate Hassan Rouhani elected by a clear majority, a new narrative is emerging. It asserts that absolutely nothing has changed, that Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, Iran’s supreme leader, let the election proceed for his own devious reasons, and that only he can [...]
via Lobe Log
by Marsha B. Cohen
For most Israeli politicians, the news of the election of moderate cleric Hassan Rouhani as president of Iran, is not good. That it is considered good news by anyone else makes it that much worse.
In Poland last Wednesday, two days before Iranians went to [...]
via Lobe Log
by Jasmin Ramsey
We proudly featured some indispensable analysis here at LobeLog in the run-up to Iran’s 2013 election, including scholar Farideh Farhi’s discussion of the centrists’ and reformists’ role this time around and economist Djavad Salehi-Isfahani’s informed take on the lack of economic policy debate among the candidates.
Some other articles [...]
by Djavad Salehi-Isfahani
Talking to ordinary people in Neishabour and Tehran about Iran’s June 14 presidential election, economic issues seem foremost on their minds. But whom they will vote for is based on vague promises to pull the economy out of its deep crisis rather than well-defined economic programs.
Significant differences on economic philosophy divide [...]
via Lobe Log
by Ryan Costello
Fifty years ago today, President John F. Kennedy delivered a visionary commencement speech at American University where he called on Americans to reexamine their assumptions about peace, including with our then-archrival, the Soviet Union. In so doing, Kennedy challenged a mindset that has shaped modern American foreign policy: [...]
via Lobe Log
by Farideh Farhi
I read with great interest the writing of Washington’s new Iran expert, Dennis Ross. With a title like “Don’t Discount the Iranian Election”, I thought, wow! Iran’s contested and improvised politics are finally being taken seriously. What else could that mean other than an acknowledgment that [...]
by Shireen T. Hunter
Following debate in Iran ahead of its June 14 presidential election is like watching a movie by Luis Bunuel — think the Discreet Charm of the Bourgeoisie — or looking at a painting by Salvador Dali; everything opposes reality.
Indeed, while the candidates of various political stripes vigorously and energetically discuss [...]
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Iranian Elections: Netanyahu, Neoconservatives Are the Big Losers
via LobeLog
by Mitchell Plitnick
Outside of Iran, there is no doubt that the biggest losers in Iran’s election this past weekend were the Likud government in Israel and its supporters, especially neoconservatives, in the United States.
The response of Israel’s Prime Minister to the election of centrist candidate Hassan Rouhani as [...]