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Comment by peteretep | Hacker News Reader

Iran is nominally government by the people for the people, including guaranteed Jewish representation in parliament(!) and elections that don't appear to be completely rigged. This makes them a considerably more natural ally in the Middle East than almost any of the other states.

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The Jewish population in Iran is down nearly 95% in just the past two decades. And they the Ayatollah makes the real rules, the democratic side is largely for show.

I mean, this is a headline from just today out of Iran: http://www.nytimes.com/2016/05/17/world/middleeast/irans-har...

The religious arm in Iran is desperately trying to hold onto power. And sadly they do so with brutality. But talk to any modern Iranian with access to the Internet and they want regime change. The students tried recently and were brutally beat back. But it will change. It's inevitable. The religious side is going to try and be more and more extreme to exert their power until finally they fail. It's going to be a bit brutal, but ultimately it's going to be good news for the Middle East.

I've been hearing it's inevitable for all my life (my family left when I was 1 in 79). Who really knows and can say for sure? What's it going to take for minorities to enjoy freedom there, let alone any kind of regime failure as you alluded to.

True, I can't say for sure. I'm just very hopeful.

Meanwhile, in Saudi Arabia it's illegal for women to drive.

Iran's not perfect but they're a good deal better than Saudi Arabia.

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