Saturday's Daily Briefing on Iran

DoctorZin reports, 5.7.2005:

Freedom and Justice in the Modern Middle East
Bernard Lewis, Foreign Affairs:

To speak of dictatorship as being the immemorial way of doing things in the Middle East is simply untrue. It shows ignorance of the Arab past, contempt for the Arab present, and lack of concern for the Arab future. Creating a democratic political and social order in Iraq or elsewhere in the region will not be easy. But it is possible, and there are increasing signs that it has already begun.

Bernard Lewis is Cleveland E. Dodge Professor Emeritus of Near Eastern Studies at Princeton University. READ MORE

A long but valuable read!
Here are a few other news items you may have missed.

• IranMania reports that Iran's Supreme Leader Ayatollah Khamenei said that the enemies know attacking Iran will cost them dear, and that they will take their dreams to that effect to the grave.
• The Committee to Protect Bloggers has published several reports on recent roundtable discussions on anonymous blogging.
• Slate online magazine asks "Can Iran's A-Bomb ambitions be stopped?"
• National Public Radio reports that "In Iran, everybody hates the regime... including the regime."
• VOA News reports that U.S. State Department deputy spokesman Adam Ereli said "In our view, this unrest and these arrests involve the denial of rights of minority groups in Iran."
• And finally, a cartoon: Iran-EU3 Talks go nowhere.