Rick Steves' Iran: Yesterday and Today [Documentary]

[MachineGhost]

Join Rick as he explores the most surprising and fascinating land he's ever visited: Iran. In a one-hour, ground-breaking travel special on public television, you'll discover the splendid monuments of Iran's rich and glorious past, learn more about the 20th-century story of this perplexing nation, and experience Iranian life today in its historic capital and in a countryside village. Most important, you'll meet the people of this nation whose government so exasperates our own.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=D61uriEGsIM

[MediumTex]

MG,

Can you tell us something about this video?

Length, point of view, theme, etc.?

[lazyboy]

I recommend watching this well crafted video which I saw originally on PBS. Rick Steve's makes it clear there are limitations imposed on his film crew by the Iranian government. Yet, the video is still very informative, revealing and humanizing.

[MediumTex]

I worked with an Iranian fellow for a couple of years and I learned a lot about Iran that the news never hints at.

[lazyboy]

MT, what did you learn from your co-worker about Iran?

[stone]

I've also worked alongside people from Iran. The most striking thing to me is how similar they are to people from China, USA, India, UK, Israel, Cameroon and Singapore.

[MediumTex]

MT, what did you learn from your co-worker about Iran?

In general, I learned that the Iranian people are a lot more sophisticated than their political leaders would suggest.  I'm not sure how their clerical stupidocracy has maintained power for as long as it has.

Unfortunately, and I don't know how much this had to do with him being Iranian vs. just being a jerk, but he was a compulsive liar.  He lied about everything, including little things that didn't make any difference at all.

He also seemed to have a very elitist outlook on things.  He was always quick to point out that Persians are a much more accomplished people than Arabs, and how it really bugs a lot of Iranians to be lumped in with Arabs.

He was also a bit of a hothead.

After he left the firm I was working at we found out that he had been using other people's work for his writing samples while looking for a new job, and had failed to scrub the writing samples of confidential client information, which turned into a real nightmare for us.

Again, I don't know how much of all of that had to do with being Iranian vs. just being a jerk.  I do get the impression that lying is more accepted in some cultures than others.

[MachineGhost]

MORE THAN thirty years after Ayatollah Ruhollah Khomeini came to power—and two decades after his passing—the Islamic Republic remains an outlier in international relations. Other non-Western, revolutionary regimes eventually eschewed a rigidly ideological foreign policy and accepted the fundamental legitimacy of the international system. But Iran’s leaders have remained committed to Khomeini’s worldview. The resilience of Iran’s Islamist ideology in the country’s foreign policy is striking. China’s present-day foreign policy isn’t structured according to Mao’s thought, nor is Ho Chi Minh the guiding light behind Vietnam’s efforts to integrate into the Asian community. But Iran’s leadership clings to policies derived largely from Khomeini’s ideological vision even when such policies are detrimental to the country’s other stated national interests and even when a sizable portion of the ruling elite rejects them.

http://tinyurl.com/cz7dfdr

[Reub]

And that is exactly why they must never be allowed to obtain nuclear weapons.