Letters to the Editor
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I know the tomato question is just symbolic...
...of the larger issues discussed in this story, but a question occurs to me:
Why don't they just grow their own?
Really. Tomatoes are ridiculously easy to grow. You just need some good soil (a really big potful will do if you don't have any ground to plant in), some seeds (which are provided for free in every tomato), water and sunshine. Look over the plant for bugs every morning, and that's about it. You don't even have to replant it when it dries up - just let one or two fall into the soil and decompose and it'll replenish itself.
All you need is that first couple of tomatoes. I'm sure people could chip in money together to buy some, split the seeds and plant away.
Or is there some reason why people in Iran can't grow their own tomatoes? Is it illegal somehow? Why depend on professional growers, who will happily bilk people for too much money? Why don't people ever seem to think of doing things like this for themselves?
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A raging inferno in making - for no solid reasons.
Thanks for Mr. Majd's article. It is very true that Iran needs economic restructuring to combat inflation, to take price control measures for essential commodities, to reduce unemployment etc. Also - the hard-liners in Iran need to be controlled for their irresponsible and dangerous behaviors.
On the other hand - some things are out of Iranian control - this is unfortunate that US has started building a case for heavy strike against Iran over its alleged interference in Iraq. However, this virtual reality created out of foggy evidences can destroy thousands of lives when transformed to Iranian reality!
It's highly unfair to fully blame Iran for the violence in Iraq. Americans are also active agents behind this violence and so are the Sunni Arab countries that also back groups inside Iraq.
Iranian middle-class intellectuals are constantly arguing that the disintegration of Iraq is not in Iran's interests and they would like a stable neighbor [perhaps with Shi'ite government though]. As long as it's psychological warfare by the US - it's better - are we ready for mass manslaughter again?
In the Iranian world people are showing varied opinion about the imminent US attack. Moderates are very worried about American attack, but the bloody hard-liners like President Ahmedinejad seem to dismiss the possibility by hailing the military power of Iran. Whatever the variations in opinion may be, the bare fact is that Iran is not at all capable to withstanding a full-fledged US attack.
And of course - it is tensions over Iraq that have escalated sharply in recent weeks with the US arresting Iranians they say are members of the elite Qods Brigade of the Revolutionary Guards. We have bloody examples in hand taken from recent past. The kidnapping of two Israeli soldiers last summer by Hezbollah in Lebanon triggered a nasty and fruitless war .
One big problem inside Iran is that the local media is heavily controlled and censored and many Iranians do not speak or read a foreign language to allow them to access the international press. I wish Mr. Majd would have touched this problem of lack of communication inside Iran.
I would like to hope for a better future for both Iranians and the Americans.
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The view from The White House
The White House view Iran as their source of problems in Iraq, where the war is a series of failures caused by the most agressive and incompetent american administration know to Iranians.
Reccently many voices in the American Adminstration including the presient's have been raised and they publicly declared that Iran was the biggest hurdle Bush had to deal with to "win" the war.
The wheel is in motion, but which one is the question.
What this administration is trying to do is unclear simply because they don't know what to do. Ask your self
When was the last time this administration did anything right?
The adminstration is a success stroy of failures, and there is nothing it can do now to convince us of the contrary.
The view from the White House is probably unclear to the president and to his aides and to their armada of experts, therefore we need early presidential elections so we can have someone with a view and a plan residing in Washington.
By the way, newxt time why don't we vote on a Sunday and get more people to the booths and express our profound unrest with this administration.
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I think I can answer your question
"Or is there some reason why people in Iran can't grow their own tomatoes? Is it illegal somehow? Why depend on professional growers, who will happily bilk people for too much money? Why don't people ever seem to think of doing things like this for themselves?"
Imagine something similar happening in the United States, or basically any modernized state. People do not like doing things for themselves ; ) (how many people started taking the bus when gas prices went through the roof?) Even gardening enthusiasts tend to like the smaller things like herbs and spices. And really, for people who have tomatoes in just about everything, growing that many would probably be quite a pain in the ass, one for which you would also need a backyard.
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They tell me atomic bombs are expensive
Maybe Tehran needs to revisit that decision tree for embarking on an expensive, long term, high risk atomic bomb program?
If we look back to 1990 we see that the precipitating event to Iraq's invasion of Kuwait was its German bank creditors calling in their loans for Russian weapons the Iraqis couldn't afford. They invaded Kuwait to get their hands on hard cash assets.
So while they piss away billions they don't have on national pride weapons they don't need at the same time that Iran, an oil exporter has to import more than 80% of its gasoline, because it doesn't invest in productive infrastructure.......Maybe they need to think hard about some very basic decisions they've made.
I remember reading a book by D.P. Moynahan where he described a visit to the CCCP and he commented that he knew they were doomed to collapse when the driver of the limo that picked him up broke off the gearshift in his hand. If that was the best they could do then they were going to implode.
Same thing with Iran. They will implode like all the other nations that insist on building solid gold statues to themselves. It matters little what the blogging class and sidewalk chatterati thinks about that.