Mohammed Morsi of the Muslim Brotherhood, now President of Egypt, has two superb reasons to duck Iranian courtship in favor of visits to Saudi Arabia and the USA for his first state trips.
Motive #1: Morsi is extremely ticked off by outrageous IRI megalomanic claims that both the Brotherhood’s victory in Egypt and the Arab Spring were “inspired” by the Iranian Revolution.
Motive #2: Above all Morsi fears the repercussions if Egyptians, outside investors and foreign tourists got the idea he wanted to pursue failed and historically dated Iranian model. What sense would that make when a vastly superior and far more humane Islamist style has captured everyone’s attention? Under Khamenei’s leadership the IRI has become a simple personal fief –increasingly autocratic, sadistic, corrupt, etc., with no prospect of hope. Meanwhile Erdogan was creating the “Turkish miracle.”
No muslim can avoid noticing that in just a decade and without a single drop of oil, Erdogan accomplished a thousand times more the oil rich mullahs who had 33 years of rising oil prices to accomplish anything other than turning Iran into a mass poorhouse–a giant prison for mind and body. By comparison Turkey is now breathtakingly prosperous, economically competent and a relative (not absolute) treasure house of treasured personal and political freedoms. If this were a horse race,Turkey looks like Secretariat while the IRI resembles a broken down, knock-kneed nag on its last legs. Even in Iran itself, despite all efforts at concealing facts, people express admiration for Turkey while mourning their own desperate plight. For a perfect example see:
There is a strong connection between Khamenei’s ultraconservative decision-making and Iran’s dismal economy today. Twice Khamenei–a gut-level, inborn reactionary–vetoed badly needed major reforms (in the Khatami Era and 2009) thus destroying future prospects beyond recall. Today the Iranian model is more more broke, more brutal and less inclusive than ever. Meanwhile, Moussavi–the man who almost single handedly salvaged the economy after the Iran-Iraq war is rotting away under house arrest after daring to run on a platform advocating essential reforms.
HISTORICAL RECAP REVEALS DEPTH OF IRAN’S FAILURE
Before the 1979 revolution Iran was #1 in the world in economic growth! Look at her 33 years later. In 1979 Oilless Turkey and oilless South Korea were so far behind Iran in per capita income as to be economically invisible (especially South Korea). In 2012 South Korea’s per capital income is more than 20 times that of Iran! Well at least somebody got rich in the meantime–mullah millionaires that include Khamenei’s despised offspring, Murderous Motaba–a central figure in the 2009 election rigging and subsequent horrors. CAUTION
The growth rates we see in China and Turkey canot be sustained forever. In an already poor Iran almost totally dependent on oil revenue, any future downturns in the world economy will have disasterous internal consequences. After the oil runs out it may look more like Taliban Afghanistan than Erdogan’s Turkey. Even so when a recession does arrive in Turkey or China look for relieved Iranian propagandists to make the best of it. I doubt anyone will be fooled.
