Putting the Iran election in context: views from around the world
Interesting post on globalpost. A lot has been said about what’s happening internally, which has given us a rather visceral, extremely valuable, but perhaps narrow view of the struggle. Globalpost attempts to give more color to the situation by pinging various viewpoints from all over the world. What does this election mean to people in other countries? This is only a snippet of the first few, click the link at the bottom to see more.
Given the historic close ties between Caracas and Tehran — both rebel members of OPEC whose leaders are crusaders against perceived American “imperialism” — it’s not surprising that the virtual silence from Venezuela on the topic of the election is audible.
Some Iraqis hoped that these recent elections might put a new leader at the helm of Iran who would pose less of a threat to their country. But as one construction worker told me, Mahmoud Ahmadinejad’s reelection changes little for them. “So Iran will continue to influence our politics like before,” he said. “But with the American army here and a bigger Iraqi army, at least we don’t have to worry about getting attacked by their army.”
It may be an earthquake for Iran, but it is barely a tremor for most Afghans. While Kabul residents seem to be watching the riots in Tehran with interest, the central issue — a growing movement against a fundamentalist dictatorship — does not seem to register.
There have been no rallies or vigils or events suggesting a Moroccan public riveted by news from Iran. Perhaps it’s the 3,200 miles separating Rabat from Tehran; perhaps there’s a culture gap between francophone, largely Sunni Morocco and the mostly Shiite Persian speakers to the east. But it’s also true that the latest Moroccan dogfight — nationwide local elections in which a brand new party swept into power — have sucked up much of the journalistic oxygen, and ink.
There were no reports of protests outside the Iranian embassy or anywhere else in capital city, Jakarta, though several Muslim intellectuals here voiced their disapproval of Ahmadinejad’s leadership in the Muslim world. The two countries have increased bilateral ties in recent years, cooperating in economic, industrial and social sectors. Indonesians, however, are predominantly Sunni, and although Muslim, share little of the Shiite Iranian leadership’s ideological zeal.
via Iran election: The global view | GlobalPost.
