Monday's Daily Briefing on Iran

DoctorZin reports, 6.6.2005:

What ails Iranians?
Reza Bayegan, Ekbatan Observer Blog:

There are no short cuts from tyranny to liberty. As it is evident in the example of Iraq, removing the dictator is only the first step in the long arduous process of democratization. Tyranny has one thing in common with liberty: it sends deep, powerful roots into the collective psyche of the society. These tenacious roots affect a population's habits, attitudes and way of life. Today those who are busy thinking of a means of putting an end to clerical dictatorship in Iran should at the same time not lose sight of the necessity of thinking out a plan for healing those malignant moral maladies caused by long term despotism. READ MORE

Troubling, yet valuable insight into the Iranian mind.

BREAKING NEWS:The Student Movement Website has been Shutdown! AGAIN! Read more here.

Here are a few other news items you may have missed.

• Roozonline explains why Iran's reformists are so worried about the June 17th elections. The reformist leaders are afraid ...the conservatives will do with them what they have done with the other political groups earlier on in the revolution.
• Iran Focus reports that British Prime Minister Tony Blair will fly to Washington for talks with United States President George W Bush on Iran, Iraq, and the Middle East peace process.
• Iran Focus reports that Iran is a source, transit, and destination country for women and girls trafficked for the purposes of sexual and labour exploitation.
• CNN Money reports that Iran opposes raising OPEC output at its meeting next week.
• Iran Focus reports that students in the University of Yazd (central Iran) have started a hunger strike today in protest against a recent government clampdown on student activists. Campus protests appear to be spreading.
• The Guardian takes a look at Iran's ban on women attending its soccer games.
• Islamic Republic News Agency reports that the Defence ministers of Iran and Nigeria underlined their defense cooperation within the framework of Islamic solidarity.
• Bennett Ramberg writing for the San Diego Union-Tribune discusses combating Iran's nuclear ambitions. His solution is a bad idea.
• Time magazine calls Rafsanjani, The Comeback Cleric.
• And finally, AxisGlobe reports on some dangerous liaisons: covert ''love affair" between Russia and Hezbollah.