I believe that the "careless" Obama is guilty of copy write infringment ...

NEW DEAL: During Press Conference Shah Explains that the goal of  “The Great Civilization” is to establish a Welfare State for all Iranians  (1971)

;0)

With all due respect dear Dariush, but you have been campaiging for so long , for someone who has been dead for many years now!

My Good Man If by now you and your "Secular Democrat" Role Model Esmail Nouriala had the slightest clue or understanding of what I or my likeminds have been talking about all these years you would know that I am not campaigning for a dead man but an institution : The Monarchy !

and a Dynasty which is still alive and kicking ...

The World is not limited to Dubai and Washington or Los Angeles you know ...

Guess which country is the best place to grow old (it's not the US)

Related:

World's Top Democratic Governments: Economist Intelligence Unit's Democracy Index (Huffington Post)

For some reason, most monarchists have this ill-conceived notion that the right wing nutcase party in the US is on their side!

WRONG, or as I've heard: FAIL!

DK, don't be so dramatic; you couldn't be more wrong.

I would be the last person in the solar system accused of "bringing mullahs to power", so watch what you say.

As much as I believe that overall, the Pahlavi era was good for Iran (and I am not a monarchist, but a realist), I also believe that the time for monarchy has passed.

However, given the wishy washy pysche of our people and their membership in the "hezbe baad" (the party that swings with the wind), anything is possible. So, hang in there buddy, you never know.

Ex_CoP often when a fellow Iranian claims to be a "realist" it's usually a convenient way of escaping accountability for his or her own poor choices ...

That's why rather than debating with a Monarchist political philosophy you'd rather associate him to 'Neo Con War Mongerers' or 'Israeli Lap dogs', 'Hezbeh Bad' or anything that would avoid debating on the historical choice you or your parents made back in 1979.

If you think I have the slightest sympathy for John McCain or Barak Obama or even Sarkozy You are dead Wrong ...

In Politics like on a Chessboard you support what you believe can bring you closer to a given objective. History has taught us enough about betrayal to know that any support at a given juncture is purely tactical and not one of blind loyalty let alone "brotherly love" for any of the above individuals.

I voted for Obama the first time round because I saw the disastrous record of the Bush administration ( for whom I never voted) ... but the second time round I gathered enough information to understand and predict what would happen: The Grand Bargain with the Islamic Republic.

I invite you to go and read my blogs in chronological order on the Iranian.com archives Here :

http://iranian.com/main/member/darius-kadivar.html

and you will have the evidence of my claim.

So my conscience is clear all the more that I didn't even vote for Romney ! 

Any of you Iranian Americans who claim you never thought that would happen are either being intellectually dishonest or lying to save your face. 

But when it comes to our history it is amazing that when we monarchists challenge you on any given issue your argument at best is ... "it wasn't us but the mullahs ...", or "our revolution was actually highjacked" ... or "it's the Shah's fault because he created the Hojjatiehs ..." or "Modernity is incompatible with Monarchy" and so on ...

But then if you expect Monarchists ( Constitutional or Absolute) to be accountable for their Choices why aren't you accountable for yours ? ...

I can also claim the Monarchy under the Pahlavis or any other previous Monarch was highjacked by hardliners and that it was the Jomhurykhahs (secular or not) which didn't allow us to reform into the type of ideal European like Monarchies which operate as Parliamentary Democracies  ...

So when it comes to history it's Record against Record !

You can't on one hand come and blame us for the shortcomings of the system of government we support and advocate but not accept to be held accountable for the record of the Revolution you initially approved even if you probably regret that it's outcome led to a theocracy   ... otherwise you wouldn't be calling the heir to the Peacock Throne "Mr. Pahlavi" ... 

If as Monarchists we are to be challenged in respect to our history then Republicans cannot escape being held accountable for theirs ...

Let's say that Even if tomorrow Iran becomes a Secular Republic, it's very foundation will be linked to what happened back in 1979. So you cannot merely say we will wipe history and start all over again. The justification of merely having a Republic in the same way the French built upon Robespierre and the Reign of Terror will continue to hunt your Legacy. 

Your thinkers and likeminds will have to adress that when confronted to historical debates even in the realm of politics.

As such I can tell you that the concept of the Monarchy with or without a King is far from dead in Iranian society for deeply rooted historical and cultural reasons.

It took the French 200 years to build their republic, the Revolution in Iran is barely 3 decades old and the memory and scars that this revolution printed in our minds is still fresh and debates on Monarchy VS Republic is not something which can ever be avoided in the realm of Iranian politics regardless of which form a Post IRI iran will look like. 

The proof is that even to this day the Islamic Republic is troubled with the Shah to the degree that they are obsessed to offer their revisionist history of his rule in TV series like this one:

Expensive serial "Shah Enigma" about the life of the late Shah

As such as far as the record of accomplishments under the Pahlavi era is concerned regardless of it's shortcomings I don't think as a Monarchist let alone Iranian it is something we can dismiss or feel ashamed of particulalry in comparison to what our country has experienced in the past 3 decades.

Personally I take pride in considering myself as having and being part of the Pahlavi Generation not that of the Revolution I never endorsed nor supported. As a Monarchist intellectual I believe that reminding readers of what we had is not merely about showing off but highlighting the genuine progress which our generation or that of our parents mindlessly dismissed only to end up with the current theocracy. So ultimately the outlook I offer is one on an era I happen to be proud of despite all it's shortcomings ... and as historian Nial Ferguson would say it's not because a given political system failed that it was wrong !

As for "let's not be so dramatic" ... well I'm sorry that is precisely where I disagree ... what we are seeing in Iran and the world as a consequence IS Dramatic ...

I refuse to subscribe to the motto "Lengesh Kohn" just because other people deem they have more "realistic" outlooks or some moral superiority than us ...

The role of the intellectuals and intelligentsia ( and I am sure you and DavidET are one in your own Rights) is not only to Complain ... it is also to enlighten, try and offer solutions and fresh outlooks as opposed to the clichés fed to us for the past 3 decades ...

Farrokhzad on why he is a Monarchist and Political activist   

So sure I will hang on there ... but not with the objective of "winning" the argument but for seeing a minimum of intellectual honesty and accountability from those who don't share our political philosophy or historical outlook but who are willing to accept their share of responsibility is what has happened to us as a nation.

It's not just about being "sorry" or being held "responsible" ... it's about being intellectually honest, consistent and coherent in our beliefs ...

Otherwise we can all play the "Blame Game" ... but then might as well avoid the slightest debate on anything ... whether it comes to Politics, Art, Economy, History ... you name it ... they are all interconnected at some point in time and space. 

Contrary to what DavidET self righteously claims I don't think I have failed on that account in the past 13 years of regular contributions here or elsewhere ...

I even validated the experience of the past 13 years with a degree in Journalism and Communication from the University of Tours in France  so I don't think I deserve to be "lectured" as if I were some kind of Political Zealot ! 

At worst at least display some sense of humor ... I've noticed most Jomhurykhahs ( secular or not) particularly fall short on that !

Other than that ... no hard feelings ... 

Dramatic as in you tend to fly off the handle too quick.

I was a teen when this islamist takeover happened and right then said that Iran was in trouble. I have been proven right every day since that day. So, please....don't you ever equate me with the asswipes who supported the deconstruction of my ancestral land. Just because I express the reality and it is somehting other than what you'd like to see doesn't make me a supporter, then or now - or in a million years.

Suffice it to say that what I've seen in the past 35 years - first as a teenager and then as a grown man, is that the ommatie mentality in us Iranians has reached a point of no return. This would be the point where the people replace secular monarchy with religious monarchy. The point where the more ragged looking one is, the more divine he's perceived to be. 

I am afraid that we Iranians have had our chance and blew it. 

Funny, I always thought you were in Europe, but you say you voted for Obama.....Obama is not gonna deal with Iran, he just doesn't want another war - and I agree.

I didn't say you were a supporter ... I said when you defend a given political system then you also inherit the history associated to it.

Let's say tomorrow a referendum is held under international supervision ( not that the outcome would be respected or irreversible ... just look at Egypt ) ... but let's say you had a choice and you were to choose between: A Monarchy and a Republic !

Whatever the decision you would make will be one which will be part of a bigger picture of national and historical importance. Therefore you will make up your mind based on a conclusion shaped by your understanding of history and one which may or may not be shared by the rest of our compatriots at the Ballot Box.

But will that put an end to the debate on the legitimacy or not of the Monarchy Vs Republic ?

I don't think it will ... no matter how pluralistic our society becomes that debate will endure particularly in a country like Iran with such a strong and rich royal heritage.

For instance today in Romania or Serbia there is a resurgence of the Royalist movement which is spearheaded by not just the exiled Royal Family which has returned but also by Deputies and Parliamentarians who are campainging through a political process to restore the former Constitution (Same thing in Libya with to date less success given the war stricken situation) which prevailed under the Monarchy. Yet despite the fact that people thought that Royal Heritage in these countries was wiped definitively and irreversibly from the memory of the people due to the Communist rule and propaganda which prevailed for more than half a century ... paradoxically we see an emergence of not just nostalgia but of a will to translate that longing in political terms. In the case of Iran it's barely 3 decades since the  abolishing of the monarchy ... that's not long enough to make people forget what we were like ... I speak regularly be it on FB or I meet Iranian expats of the young generation many born after the revolution who tell me very openly that they are monarchists and unapologetic .. and they tell me that memory continues to weigh on our national and collective mindset as a trauma which we still haven't manage to overcome. 

So I am not at all convinced that the prospects of restoring the monarchy is unrealistic ... far from that ...

There will be a frustration whatever the outcome of such a referendum and from that frustration we will see the emergence of political parties advocating a given system of government, a given political stance (left wing or right wing or centrist) but also ideological and philisophical battles shaped from the numerous experiences our nation has had in the past 3 decades and beyond.

Even when it comes to Nationalism ... the mere fact that this regime replaced the "Sun and Lion" with an Arab Sickle has created such a deep rejection of the Islamic Identity by a certain portion of the population who could equally identify themselves with the Monarchists, Mossadeghis or Republican and be surprised to find common ground in their common rejection of those Melli Mazhabis who today constitute the Reformist groupes both inside and outside Iran.  

The political landscape which will emerge after an eventual fall or implosion of the Islamic Republic ( if that ever happens in our life time) will set energies free and no one be it a wannabe President or Wannabe Monarch can govern without an alliance of various political groups.  

That requires leaders who understand the political dynamics of society and that struggle for power cannot be achieved without a give an take process nor without mutual concessions by various sides of the political spectrum ... what are you as let's say a Republican ready to give to a Monarchist or a Leftist or any other group you wish to rally to your cause so that they respect you or come to terms on a common agenda and vice versa ...

So the real question is are Iranians capable of that ? Are we Persians Nation Builders worthy of our ancesteral land or merely a bunch of people living in self denial and at best wishful thinkers who just wish to contradict one another ?  

There are days I really wonder ... for instance when I see a guy like Ramin Jahanbegloo  set up a Manshoor 91 which the Crown Prince accepted to sign but that he himself doesn't want to Join the Crown Prince's National Council ... then why should I as a Monarchist ever trust a Republican in a Post IRI IRan knowing he would be the first to betray our would be King ?

Same thing for this Self Proclaimed "Secular Democrat" Esmail Nouriala who boasts about his own grandfather as having accomplished as much as Reza Shah for IRan ... I ask myself who will take such a clown seriously in a Post IRI Iran no matter how his ideas or observations may be pertinent on a given subject ... 

No nation can build anything if it does not seriously reexamine it's past, a nation that merely praises it's so called intellectuals but never holds them accountable for what they advocate is a nation which ultimately can be easily manipulated.

Take the Weimar Republic born on the rubbles of WWI in Germany ... it lasted less than a decade or so and what followed was a fiercely nationalistic and undemocratic movement known as national socialism.

Had the Germans of that generation who despite such great poets, writers, musicians and intellectual life given a little more thought about what they really wanted and what was achievable probably they and the world they lived in wouldn't fall for such ideological demagogues.

If Iranians hope to see a lasting and enduring democracy to prevail in a Post IRI Iran then they need to be honest about themselves and their past both as individuals as well as being part of a much larger entity which we all love and cherish in our own right and which is Iran. 

If not what you will ultimately risk ending up with is a Republic of political upstarts with no sense of history who could plunge the nation is a far greater crisis than anything we have seen or heard to date.

When you see the way the Islamic Republic doesn't hesitate to support a regime like that of Syria and the horrors which emerge from that region, do you think that will leave our society immune ? 

We are prolonging the life of a regime which is a partner of that Crime which is as horrendous as anything Hitler did ... 

Have the likes of Shirin Ebadi, Ramin Jahanbegloo, The Sadri Brothers and all these Moralist Melli Mazhabis ever reexamined their own conscience before demanding from Crown Prince Reza to apologize for his Fathers deemed crimes or when they have the arrogance of calling him : "Mr." ? ...

That's why I say ultimately when one defends a given political system you are also endorsing a political, historical and intellectual outlook born from the events we have mutally experienced.

As long as a genuine debate and reexamination of the past by our contemporaries won't occur on a national scale the trauma of what happened in 1979 will continue to haunt us all  and prevent us from seriously considering what we all hope for and that is a free and democratic Iran let alone build a nation that takes responsibilities for it's actions as a respected member of the civilized world.