Iran, and the Rest of the World

Just finished reading Stephen Kinzer's All the Shah's Men, which is going on the recommend list. It's an account of the CIA-backed coup against the Iranian prime Minister, Mohammad Mossadegh, in 1953. 

I'm young, of course, so my knowledge of Iran has been relatively limited to wondering why the utter crackpots Mahmoud Ahmadinejad and Ayattolah Ali Khamenei were allowed to run the country. After reading this book, though, Iran's feelings about the Western world make much more sense. We (being the U.S. and Britain, though the others certainly helped) destroyed the nation's chance at successful democracy. Iranians were so long opposed to the U.S. and the U.N. because we represent a threat to their sovereignty and their traditions.

Of course, to some extent, the tide has changed in Iran. While Ahmadinejad and the government still seek to remain independent, as with the secrecy of their nuclear operations, many younger Iranians have become pro-West. This is not unusual to see: young generations are naive and forgetful and do not understand the tragedies of the past. For now, though, the elders are still in power and it will be sometime before an Iran that does not resent us comes to be.