What is Digg?49 Comments
- TheGovernor, on 08/20/2008, -2/+59A bit of history:
The former King (shah) of Iran (called Pahlavi) was giving away Iran's oil in exchange for gifts to the royal family from the UK and US. In the mid 1900's, a democratically elected official, Mossadegh, nationalized Iran's oil so the profits would benefit Iranian society instead of the Shah's family.
With the help of the United States, the CIA staged a coup and kicked Mossadegh out of the country and reinstating the shah. The shah remained in power until the 1979 revolution, when he was kicked out and the Islamic Republic was created.
The reason it was an Islamic Revolution is because the Shah had all of his opposition killed or thrown out of the country to prevent another Mossadegh from giving power back to the people. The only place people could speak up against the corruption of the shah was in Islamic schools where it was sacraligious for government to interfere.. That is where support for the revolution gained steam and finally why it was an "Islamic Revolution"
I know this because my family lived through and escaped from Iran during the revolution. - inactive, on 08/19/2008, -4/+20Steven Kinzer's "All The Shah's Men" gives an excellent account of the early days of Persian oil, the exploitation by greedy western powers, the pushback by the democratic government of Iran, the overthrow of the Iranian democracy by the CIA in Operation AJAX 1953. A good read.
- theatheist, on 08/20/2008, -2/+14communism? socialism? get a ***** clue, Iran has been a monarchy for the last 2500 years. yes there was a communist uprising in the first half of the 20th century ( my grandfather was one of them) but the government did a good job of reforming them. During the Coup in the 1950s, Mosadegh wanted to reinstate Iran as a Democratic institution, until your ***** country had a hand in overthrowing him. ***** retard
- rz8472, on 08/20/2008, -1/+10And now with the power of Photoshop and the Ctrl-C and Ctrl-V buttons, Iran can increase their barrel output effortlessly.
- p51d007, on 08/20/2008, -1/+9All of this can be traced back to after the British discovered oil after WW1, carved up the "Persian Empire"
(also with the help of the league of nations) into Iran, Iraq, Kuwait etc etc....some long established tribes
were split up, or forced to move etc...screwed up the entire region, just for the sake of oil. - placidified, on 08/20/2008, -2/+9Did you just read the comment you replied to ?
- JonForTheWin, on 08/20/2008, -2/+8***** yeah it transformed Iran. Operation Ajax for the global geopolitical loss.
- placidified, on 08/20/2008, -3/+8Is it just me but wherever the British Empire involved itself in local politics of a foreign country the said country ended up in turmoil or for the worse?
- warsongs7, on 08/20/2008, -1/+5Because of US sanctions and the western world continually insisting on not giving them their rights. What they wanted was for the oil money to come to Iran rather than making the corporate executives' pockets heavier and making people in the so called '1st world countries' richer.
The same thing happened at the recent International Summit or whatever where India and China lobbied for increased profits for their impoverished farmers but the US and European nations succeeded in diverting that money to the western nations again. - cadmiumpaint, on 08/20/2008, -1/+5they still have to import all of their gasoline because they haven't invested in building refineries.
- inactive, on 08/20/2008, -1/+5Kinzer's other book "Overthrow" tells the story of 14 governments overthrown by the USA in the past 100+ years, from the Hawaiian monarchy to the colonization of Iraq. It illustrates the War Against Democracy in Guatemala ( Operation PBSUCCESS 1954 ) in Chile ( Operation FUBELT ), the War Against Democracy in Latin America in general was called Operation Condor, in which democracy was thwarted in Brazil, Argentina, etc. Ask anyone from Nicaragua, El Salvador, or Panama what a good buddy Tio Sam has been there. The War Against Democracy is not doing so well these days, witness Venezuela, Bolivia, Paraguay, Ecuador, Chile. About the only brutal puppet government left is in Columbia. Anyway, check out Kinzer's two books, your high school history book conveniently skips these dark chapters.
- inactive, on 08/20/2008, -4/+7Die Fiend.
- an0nym0us, on 08/20/2008, -1/+4I don't see the demand for oil going down any time soon. By then Iran will probably own a lot of assets, instead of the soon-to-be worthless dollars.
- kevinwiz, on 08/20/2008, -1/+4it's only a third world country socially. i've known people who have gone there who say it is definitely not third world.
- Persian5Life, on 08/20/2008, -4/+7i do not have much resentment against the British for those days, i cant really hate on them for what there parents did. an apology would be appreciated though.
- inactive, on 08/20/2008, -5/+7So your media tells you.
- mecharabbit, on 08/20/2008, -5/+7Come and listen to a story about a man named Ahmad
A poor mountaineer, barely kept his family fed,
Then one day he was shootin at some food,
And up through the ground came a bubblin' crude.
Oil that is, black gold, Tehran tea.
Well the first thing you know ol' Ahmad's a millionaire,
Kinfolk said Ahmad move away from there
Said OPEC is the place you ought to be
So they loaded up the truck and moved to Vienna.
Austria, that is.
Swimmin pools, oil executives.
The Persian Hillbillies - theatheist, on 08/20/2008, -2/+4if Anglo persian were a bit more careful, Iran could have been a country such as the Arab emirates, hell their infrastructure in the 60s and 70s was one of the best in the middle east.
- LeeSoong, on 08/21/2008, -0/+1$75,000 (£40,000) for the first 60-years worth of oil ?
Sounds like a really great deal - for the British !
Why would Iran be bitter about that ? - wunksta, on 08/20/2008, -0/+1EMINENT DOMAIN!
- inactive, on 08/21/2008, -0/+1Die Fiends
- nick1971, on 08/20/2008, -1/+2This in complete contrast to the amazing successes of US foreign policy.
Yes thank you for the Marshal plan but after this which successes have you been able to chalk up? - mitikomon, on 09/04/2008, -0/+1Like an Arab Emirates?!!
Dude I really prefer to like this than to be like them. - wunksta, on 08/20/2008, -0/+1cool thanks, i already knew about most but looks like a great read.
- RILWANK, on 08/20/2008, -1/+2BHO4Prez... you're a dick
- DeathJux, on 08/20/2008, -2/+2Way ahead of the Web 2.0 bubble.
- ZenMojo, on 08/20/2008, -2/+2Government corruption.
- cadmiumpaint, on 08/20/2008, -2/+2visit Beverly Hills today and see the magnificently gaudy Persian palaces that anyone with taste (most of their neighbors) hate with a passion.
- warsongs7, on 08/20/2008, -2/+2Rather than an apology, at least an acknowledgment of past exploitations should be done.
- theatheist, on 08/20/2008, -1/+1Persia included all those countried you noted, before England had something to do with it.
- theatheist, on 08/20/2008, -1/+1its that kind of ignorance that fuels the fire, you retards need to get a clue
- Persian5Life, on 08/20/2008, -1/+1we have been using oil since ancient times, we made statues out of tar back in those days. we have know about it for a long time but never knew how much we really had until now.
- An1mal, on 08/20/2008, -3/+3no its just you
- nick1971, on 08/20/2008, -1/+1Don't you mean der Feind - the enemy?
- xerexes1, on 08/20/2008, -1/+1BHO4Prez, I'm sure that Obama will be thrilled with your support or did you forget your sarcasm tag?
- orangefly, on 08/20/2008, -3/+3yes....he's old....
- bunnyandzombie, on 08/19/2008, -6/+5Transformed from external suppression to internal suppression.
- fluffyturtle, on 08/20/2008, -3/+2Err huh? Like your government isn't exploiting it?
Seriously what the hell is wrong with you. If anything you should thank them for finding it! - merlin484, on 08/19/2008, -5/+4Tehran Tea
- inactive, on 08/20/2008, -3/+1Die Fiend.
- LoJack, on 08/20/2008, -4/+1Aha .. Ahmad has WMD. You know what to do. Hehe...
- inactive, on 08/20/2008, -5/+2Gonna be fun times in Iran when they finally run out of oil or the world just doesn't need it anymore.
- twmulloy, on 08/20/2008, -4/+1what.
- borez, on 08/20/2008, -6/+2I wish I could discover oil in my back garden
10,000 barrels, that's all I'm asking. - kenashe, on 08/20/2008, -9/+4Iran produces 5% of the world's oil and is still a 3rd world country...
- pintomp3, on 08/20/2008, -9/+3mccain was there pushing them to drill.
- firebert69, on 08/20/2008, -8/+1***** what if iran becomes the net Dubai?
- cfuse, on 08/20/2008, -13/+5What, from a ***** to a *****? Not exactly a transformation in my book.
- inactive, on 08/20/2008, -38/+0*****, what happened to your country is entirely the fault of your people. That is what happens when you support nationalization aka communism/socialism. I hope the USA continues to destroy any country that turns towards the failed ideologies of Stalin and Mao.
Go Obama '08
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