Tag Archives: Abbas Milani

The National Interest: Ahmadinejad vs. The Ayatollah

AHMADINEJAD AND his oligarch cronies have been having a rough couple of months. The ayatollah is out for blood, and those in “elected” office are under attack.

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Video: Charlie Rose – A look at Iran

Charlie Rose | September 23, 2010> A look at Iran with Haleh Esfandiari of the Woodrow Wilson International Center for Scholars, Farnaz Fassihi of ‘The Wall St. Journal,’ Abbas Milani of Stanford University and Karim Sadjadpour of The Carnegie Endowment for International Peace. Watch the video at CharlieRose.com >>

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Iran’s Hidden Cyberjihad

Foreign Policy | June 7, 2010 By Abbas Milani Taking a cue from the Soviets, the regime is creating a new Iron Curtain — online. To the untrained eye or the rushed glance of a tourist, there is an eerie calm in Iran right now. And Iran’s brutal rulers have done everything imaginable to turn [...]

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The Good Ayatollah

(Foreign Policy) | March 26, 2010 Why my former cellmate’s legacy will live on. BY ABBAS MILANI If 2010 turns out to be the beginning of the end of the Islamic Republic of Iran, it may well be because of the death of one of the regime’s founders, a man I met three decades ago [...]

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The Mousavi Mission

(The New Republic) | February 17 Abbas Milani Iran finds its Nelson Mandela. Traditional Iranian husbands, the sort found in the highest ranks of the Islamic Republic, sometimes refer to their wives as “the house.” For them, this is not just an expression of their understanding of gender relations. It is viewed as a necessary [...]

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Dawn of the Age of Justice

The people have not sat idly by, and in the past month a clear distinction has been made between the people on one-side, and the regime on the other. The world has seen the people’s aspirations for freedom, and their bravery in the face of terror and the tyranny of a false theocracy. The world has also seen the last shred of legitimacy that the government of Iran may have held disappear to reveal what can be safely described as a government structured like a mafia that sees itself as God’s representative on earth with the right to butcher its own people. It can’t be more clear than that.

The price has been paid in blood by the Iranian people. And blood has been spilled across every facet of Iranian society.

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The New Democrats: An intellectual history of the Green Wave

What we are witnessing right now in the streets of Tehran is, first and foremost, a political battle for the future of the Iranian state. But closely linked to this political fight is also an old theological dispute about the nature of Shiism–a dispute that has been roiling Iran for more than a century.

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Clerical Leaders Defy Ayatollah on Iran Election

“This crack in the clerical establishment, and the fact they are siding with the people and Moussavi, in my view is the most historic crack in the 30 years of the Islamic republic,” said Abbas Milani, director of the Iranian Studies Program at Stanford University. “Remember, they are going against an election verified and sanctified by Khamenei.”

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Forbes: Tyranny Loses In Iran

A tyrannical triumvirate, one that is led by Ayatollah Khamenei and supported by the military might of the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC) and the street presence of gangs with ranks numbering at least a few million, seems hell-bent on forcing Mahmoud Ahmadinejad on the reluctant and still-resisting people of Iran.

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Feature: Instagrams from Iran (picture compilation)

A few pictures from Iran, taken by ordinary people and posted to Instagram

Iran Feature: Former Detainee Sarah Shourd “The Plight of Iranians and 3 Decades of US Foreign Policy”

The incredible thing for me was that so many Iranians worldwide took the time to care about us despite the thousands of other political prisoners they have to worry about. “I’m an Iranian boy ashamed for what our government did to three American hikers,” another message on Facebook says. “I want you to know Iranian people are with you and against their own government. Iran’s regime is not chosen by Iranian people. They kill and torture us and we are all in a very big prison named Iran.”

Iran Feature: The Supreme Leader Is Worried — Three Developments You Probably Don’t Know

Our partner, EAWorldView, has published a ground-breaking piece on Iran’s Supreme Leader. This is a must-read.

Live-blog: Russia, what’s next?

Live-blog: Egypt Elections, Day 1

A historic day: The first post-Mubarak elections in Egypt

Journalist Mona Eltahawy’s harrowing ordeal – beating, sexual assault and arrest in Egypt – in her own words and tweets

“The past 12 hrs were painful and surreal but I know I got off much much easier than so many other Egyptians.”