Reviving the Iranian revolt

I am proud of what my parents' generation did in 1979


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Reviving the Iranian revolt
by hoder
20-Feb-2008
 

At the height of the Iranian revolution in the winter of 1979, French philosopher, Michel Foucault, described what he was seeing in Tehran as "perhaps the first great insurrection against global systems, the form of revolt that is the most novel and the most insane."

"Islam," he wrote, "which is not simply a religion, but an entire way of life, an adherence to a history and a civilization, has a good chance to become a gigantic powder keg, at the level of hundreds of millions of men."

Such praising words about the Iranian uprising are probably the very reason few have even heard of Foucault's dispatches from Tehran for the Italian newspaper, Corriere Dela Sera, in 1978-79.

Twenty nine winters later, the Islamic Republic of Iran is more independent, stable, confident and technologically advanced than ever, while it has remained as the most serious and continuous challenge to the U.S. hegemony in the world.

But what can explain the survival of the outcome of such revolt? What will the future look like for Iran, whose most of its young population now have no first-hand experience of that revolt?

The rise of the first non-cleric president of Iran, Mahmoud Ahmadinejad, can point to some answers.

For sixteen years, Iranian government was in the hands of the Euro-American educated bureaucrats who were gradually departing from the specific subjectivity (rejection of the universals, in Foucult's term) which brought about the Iranian uprising of the 1979. The spectre of modernity slowly started to dominate everything, from the economy to the politics, and the two consequtive administrations picked up a similar project of modernization which the shah had previously failed to continue, and with it, the gloomy consequences started to wane in too: corruption, incompetence, and socio-economic inequality.

The elite's vision of economic and political "reform" was transforming Iran into a very similar country under the shah, only with an Islamic posture. At the same time, the Europe and the U.S. were not only happily watching as Iran was practically undoing its revolt, but even assisting and accelerating the process.

Then came the shock. Ahmadinejad, an outsider to the Iranian establishment who was never taken seriously by journalists and politicians alike, won the election. Compared to his main rivals, he had lower religious credentials, less support from the elite, less money for campaigning, and gave zero promises to normalize relations with the U.S. Instead, he travelled much more around the country and met face-to-face with the forgotten majority of Iranians, talked more about economic equality, and promised more of a serious war on corruption.

He simply pledged a return to the abandoned values of the 1979 uprising, with independence, freedom and justice at the centre. (His promises about a more relaxed attitude toward religious code are reflected in its talks with the British rocker Morrissey to have one of the first non-Iranian rock acts after 1979.)

If Western journalist leave the Northern part of Tehran more often, they will be able to observe how much Ahmadinejad represents a passionate revival of the core values of the uprising. They will also discover how Islam is functioning as the best, but not the only, carrier of those values.

Like many Iranians who have lived in the West for the past 7, 8 years, the rise of Ahmadinejad (and also travelling to other parts of the Middle East) has incited a radical change in the way I see myself, relate to Iran, and view the world. I have finally realised what it was that the entire Iranian nation revolted in order to achieve and how valuable this subjectivity is to empower the world of the marginalised, the poor and the oppressed.

This doesn't mean I don't see the unfortunate intolerance the Iranian government sometimes shows toward dissent and difference. But I argue that such intolerance is a direct consequent of the existential threat that the big powers have posed toward Iran since the day it succeeded in its revolt.

As a post-revolutionary Iranian, who is not religious a single bit, I am proud of what my parents' generation did in 1979 and I do whatever I can to protect and improve the Islamic Republic of Iran in its promises of independence, freedom and justice.

This has predictable made me being labelled as an "agent of the regime", by many exiled Iranians who always do that to anyone with whom disagrees with. But you will see millions like me if you ever visit Iran and not be trapped in those parties in Northern Tehran.

Hossein Derakhshan is a London-based media analyst and writes the Persian-English blog at hoder.com. this article first appeared in The Guardian.


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more from hoder
 
Darius Kadivar

Maxine Nightingale Advice to Hoder ...

by Darius Kadivar on

Mind you its from 1975 not 1979 so you have some time ...

//www.youtube.com/watch?v=kNLcI8NYDhc&feature=related


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Not about Free Speech

by Jesus (not verified) on

It is so ridiculous, and funny to see islamist, and supporters of Hoder, who can not be anything but supporters of IR(because of such egregiously unfair view of the revolution)talk about free speech.
It is also funny to see the the deceptive victim role islamist always play to get their agenda advanced.
This is not about free speech. No one is preventing Hoder from writing or speaking out. No one is or should ever threaten to harm him, most of us here would condemn that. But throwing insult at him, and calling him names is part of a free, and "sacred-less" discourse. Some people will choose to reply to his analysis by their own analysis. Some people like me see no worth or value in that.
I would not let my "najes" dog pee on the paper this article was printed on, that is the value I assign to this article, so I reply to it in the manner which I see fit. If he does not like it, he can go publish his trash some where else. He has in essence insulted many iranians by publishing such unequivocal, and biased support of IR. IR has killed many Iranians, and it is a criminal government.


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Getting a rise of out of

by sickofislamist (not verified) on

Getting a rise of out of Islamists means more to me than any monetary compensation...I wouldn't trade it with a billion dollar in cash.


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//en.wikipedia.org/wiki/

by Anonymous347 (not verified) on


Darius Kadivar

HODER Come and JOIN THE FORCE ;0)

by Darius Kadivar on

 

The Empire Strikes Back/ Luke vs Vader

//www.youtube.com/watch?v=frX00n3gngU

The Force is with you But you are not a Jedi Yet !

You are My Son !


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wanna be controversial

by Anonymous347 (not verified) on

This guy is a joke period

I bet he himself does not truly believe in what he says. Do not even bother to visit his blogspot or whatever. He wants to be controversial and is only looking for attention, and probably FAME.

He accuses all those disagreeing with him as a bunch of intolerant exiles (who label and accuse anybody they disgree with as agents of the regime) then he turns around, mocks and calls those he does not like and/or most probably do not share his two-cent warped biased views as "charlatan" and "vatanforoosh" lol

I see he managed to generate a lot of traffic for Iranian.com.


Daryush

Well good for you

by Daryush on

Now we have a task in hand to fight internally and externally. I care more for us getting out of the western trap and the solution is unifying the Iranians.

I don't care what you think about the Iranian revolution, what I care about is the route that we now have to take, internally and externally. Even if you are pro IRI, you need to talk and focus on that. It's waste to talk about things that are past and obviously you have not learned from!


Darius Kadivar

Googoosh's Advice to Hoder : Q Q bang bang

by Darius Kadivar on

sorry for repeating repeating :

//www.youtube.com/watch?v=H7jx_u5zapA


Iranian-

Re: sick of sickofislamists

by Iranian- on

I think you meant 'who is paying sickofislamists'. That is a good point!

I guess I have an idea who it might be. But I hate to keep repeating myself.

 


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Revolt(ing) indeed!

by Behshid (not verified) on

So proud, though not proud enough to actually live there.

I seem to recall another article you published early '07, in the Guardian also:
"Impeach Ahmadinejad"- Change your mind did you?

You must be a memeber of the infamous "Hezbeh Bad".

Bloody buffoon.


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Who is paying you?

by sick of sickofislamists (not verified) on

“It is difficult to get a man to understand something when his salary depends upon his not understanding it.”

—-upton sinclair

Sure. I agree. So who is paying you????!!!!


Darius Kadivar

For Hoder playing in the school courtyard ;0)

by Darius Kadivar on

 

Q Q Bang Bang - Googoosh :

//www.youtube.com/watch?v=H7jx_u5zapA

Baleh Agha Hoder, Baleh ...


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Couldnt have said it better....

by Antibullshit (not verified) on

Dr. from Qom,
Finally a breath of fresh air in reading your comments. I hope the real Dr. elequent from Qom also reads your posting.It might improve his english a tad.

Please check this out:

nahidroxan.blogspot.com

Javid_Iran


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Don't love / hate him madly

by Anonymous-today (not verified) on

I have a laugh every time one of Derrakhshan's pieces appears on this site. The same usual suspects burst veins and keep asking the eternal questions: why do we pay any attention to this guy? Why do we bother? Why not just ignore him? Get lost Hoder, blah, blah, blah. come on, guys. You love / hate Hoder. He presses your buttons, squeezes your lemons, tickles your fancy. This blogging business is by and large the electornic equivalent of gossiping and most of you are worse gossipers than a bunch of old ladies. Prove me wrong. next time Hoder posts here, let's see how many of you can stay away.


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Iranian-, Hoder, et

by sickofislamists (not verified) on

Iranian-, Hoder, et al:

“It is difficult to get a man to understand something when his salary depends upon his not understanding it.”

—-upton sinclair


Iranian-

hoder; Thanks for your frank point of view

by Iranian- on

We Iranians like any other country have pro and anti government people. Even in this beautiful country, the USA, I have known some Americans who talk very much as if the US government is the enemy.

I remember at the time of Shah, I overheard people in 'secret' high school gatherings in Tehran where to my shock students were strongly anti-Shah. Some of those students are older guys, some live in abroad and are now anti-IRI.

Now we have this bunch who are unfair to you in your freedom of speech. It is normal. As Americans say, you can't make an omelet without breaking an egg!


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People People People

by Areyo Barzan (not verified) on

Please do not make an ass of yourselves.

Most of you are too young to have even been there in 1979.  What you have read or heard about the event was either the propaganda doctoring by mullahs, or the opposition’s bushtit to glorify their act of stupidity and show it as what it was not.

Remember I was there is person saw it all and heard all the bull shit first hand

The 1979 “revolution” (if we can call it as such.) was not about justice, political freedom or foreign influence in Iran. Most of the people in the streets did not even know and still do not know the first thing about foreign policy and world affairs.

Those in the street in 1979 were mainly two groups. The first on were people like MKO communists, Mullahs and other political organizations who were in it for themselves and dispirit to get into the power, and of course when mullah got the upper hand made sure that they would never revolt again. The second group were the average idiot who did not know any thing about any thing and all they wanted was their $60 of oil money per day.

For those who actually know a thing or two about world affairs and have bothered to read a few books and analysis from the politicians and journalists of that era, the reason behind the event was noting but the strength of OPEC which hiked the price of oil to $40 per beryl in 1978.The west was not simply willing to pay that much and that was why they betrayed their loyal ally(the Shah ) and chose to deal with the devil(Khomeini).
This was exactly the same reason for invasion of Iraq in 2004, because Saddam started to sell oil in Euro and was threatening to break the controversial petro dollar arm cycle.
Well! So much for those who are still hopeful that the West will come to their rescue.

Now I am not asking you to believe my world. Just open a few non bias books and read it for yourselves

Here is a good read
Century of war, Anglo-American oil politic and the new world order
By William Engdahi

//www.amazon.com/Century-War-Anglo-American-Politics-World/dp/074532309X

It is about height times to wake up and smell the coffee


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You can not change the

by M.D. from Quom (not verified) on

You can not change the truth... The conspiracy theory and the confrontation with a fabricated superpower enemy is not a new trick but an old one manipulated by so many nondemocratic systems hijacked by the brutal suppressing parties in so many communist countries from Russia to even today's China...

The enemy of of Iran is the monarchy of IR not any outsiders.

It's been almost 30 years that the IR claiming as the most independent regime of the Iran( A nonsense term) has been justifying all the problem of the Iran due to the enemy's conspiracies... I like to say you can not have it both way! you can not claim youre independent and the same that much weak that the outside activity of a country like the US which whom you do not have even any formal relationship devastatingly been impacting Iran! If the claim is true it implies the IR is either too weak or too dumb and in both cases failed and certainly not eligible to run the country and should walk away... (Ignore the democracy and human rights and Freedom of speech and civil rights and social freedom approving the minority dominating the majority)

We have an undeniable decaying totalitarian system desperately trying to solidate its collapsing authority in IRAN and the free circulation of information is its mortal virus which it can not get rid of!!! so time is against them like all monarchies... .

Let me tell you about Obama and the picture you distorted... Assume he is the president then the fist thing which will happen in the best case scenario will be his unconditional talk to Iran! You know what?! We love it!!! It will betray their behind the curtain games with Iranians... IR wont do it cause confronting the US is a fraud by them feeding their very fundamental games they play for the people in Iran... They have to evade this.. they need a constant enemy to be accused all the time and responsible for all the catastrophes and a constant pretext to suppress journalists, media( if we have any non-gov one!) and the people, to keep the country in an extraordinary situation and manipulate that enemy conspiracy to accuse and arrest every one they want under the pretext of jeopardizing the national and the regimes interests and security.

Mr. Lunatic M.D. try to read and memorize every word. Your homework tonight is to right the above at least 50 times until it sinks in through your thick diseased brain. Greetings...


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Nothing gives more

by sickofislamists (not verified) on

Nothing gives more satisfaction than the thought that Q, Hoder, Abarmard do actually represent the Mullafia's side.

Q et al are bunch of immature genuine angry narcissitic, bald, 40+ year old-- hired on Iranian.com as blog Gestapos-- who never learned to interact with other people. All they can do is to express themselves in temper tantrums, all others are dumb. They overreacts to every criticism perceived or otherwise and always acts with inconsistent, puerile and impulsive manifest hostility incapable of analytical thinking and logical reasoning. They personify the Mullafia in charge in Iran.


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چی چی میگی؟

راحت الحلقوم (not verified)


این خارکسه بازی ها چیه؟ برید دنبال کار...


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Some burning questions....

by Antibullshit (not verified) on

1. What was Nato and Ayatollah BBCs role in so called Iranian revolution that you are proud of...?
2.If regim's western masters would stop exporting gasoline to Iran would your Supreme leader go back to riding a donkey in Kirabad?
3.The price of Oil has gone up ten fold in the last 10 years. Have the average Iranian's life improved 10 fold?

Javid_Iran


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The

by Land of Oghadehis (not verified) on

The fascist/opportunist-Islamists tie themselves in knots to defend the indefensible. I don't think I have ever seen a more evil and morally bankrupt bunch of devil possessed cretin than these so called "Religious" men of cruelty and death. They are in fact, "not religious" at all. They are psychopaths from the gutter who use religion to contorl and impose their will on others. If Iran is ever to remain Iranian, we need to cleanse the country of these psychopathic criminals, oghdehis.


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the fact about the invisible Iran.

by Markux (not verified) on

"If Western journalist leave the Northern part of Tehran more often, they will be able to observe how much Ahmadinejad represents a passionate revival of the core values of the uprising. They will also discover how Islam is functioning as the best, but not the only, carrier of those values."

But not only the western journalist should pay attention to the real Iran , the other Iran not just a very small part of Iran. What the rest Iran needs to be visible is the independence from the the stranglehold of the central government, any central government. Iran needs to form a federalist government to give the "states", more autonomy. Only then the rest of Iran becomes visible.


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RE: I am proud of what my parents' generation did in 1979.......

by Patriot (not verified) on

Mr Faribors Maleknasri( Oh sorry Youre M.D. too!!! as if some one posting an ad! well I just have a high school diploma so My English style is not like an MD sorry! )

What a pointless speech! Regardless of the fact that what you mentioned got nothing to with the debate upon Derakhshan, I like to remind how you have implied the symptoms of all fascist regimes like IR which relies on a single monotone party relying on a outdated rusted ideology taking a country to the middle centuries.

Iranians didnt have the revolution to confront countries like the US; They also have not done it to platinize their foreign policy of the Shah, they did it to regain their political liberty a precious gift they have been looking since the constitutional revolution. But their revolution was hijacked and rubbed by the Mullahs whom had used to be trusted... now they not only didnt regain that but also lost the social freedom and civil rights they already had as well as now have to endure a minority with the average intelligence far less than the average intelligence of their society dominate their lives and resources.... the Iranian national benefit has been replaced by the ideological criteria...

The fact that they are even afraid of a free filtered election implies the validity and the level of their dependency to the majority of the people of Iran today and thats enough for any one to judge.

The fact that most of Iranians have to hide their real identity to express themselves would be sufficient to disqualify the level of freedom of speech and political liberty in Iran.

You can not change the truth... The conspiracy theory and the confrontation with a fabricated superpower enemy is not a new trick but an old one manipulated by so many nondemocratic systems hijacked by the brutal suppressing parties in so many communist countries from Russia to even today's China...

The enemy of of Iran is the monarchy of IR not any outsiders.

It's been almost 30 years that the IR claiming as the most independent regime of the Iran( A nonsense term) has been justifying all the problem of the Iran due to the enemy's conspiracies... I like to say you can not have it both way! you can not claim youre independent and the same that much weak that the outside activity of a country like the US which whom you do not have even any formal relationship devastatingly been impacting Iran! If the claim is true it implies the IR is either too weak or too dumb and in both cases failed and certainly not eligible to run the country and should walk away... (Ignore the democracy and human rights and Freedom of speech and civil rights and social freedom approving the minority dominating the majority)

We have an undeniable decaying totalitarian system desperately trying to solidate its collapsing authority in IRAN and the free circulation of information is its mortal virus which it can not get rid of!!! so time is against them like all monarchies... .

Let me tell you about Obama and the picture you distorted... Assume he is the president then the fist thing which will happen in the best case scenario will be his unconditional talk to Iran! You know what?! We love it!!! It will betray their behind the curtain games with Iranians... IR wont do it cause confronting the US is a fraud by them feeding their very fundamental games they play for the people in Iran... They have to evade this.. they need a constant enemy to be accused all the time and responsible for all the catastrophes and a constant pretext to suppress journalists, media( if we have any non-gov one!) and the people, to keep the country in an extraordinary situation and manipulate that enemy conspiracy to accuse and arrest every one they want under the pretext of jeopardizing the national and the regimes interests and security.

About the America's economy! America's economy depends on a free market not the state so as far as people look for their best interests they will rock and still have to see new individual states like Ebay and Google with more powers than more countries popping up here! However what you said was a distracting nonsense issue which has nothing to do with our country Iran but I tell you this :

Iran's Annual Income(70 billion)*10= US Defense Budget

(Europe+China+Rssia)*2= 12 TRILLION DOLLARS = THE ECOMONEY OF THE US

No matter the US is weak or strong I dont care as my issue is Iran not the US afairs manipulated by guys like Derakhshan to distort the truth and distract the people... I dont care about any outside issue as I am Iranian and my priority is first my society and my fatherland hence I dont care on you guys proving or disapproving correctly or decisively any controversies regards tot he US or any other country but IRAN. It wont make me give up my absolute rights as a citizen of Iran...

You cant do it always and every single day the party of TRUTH gets bigger and the party of Superstitious Polaroid IR gets weaker and thiner... so you have to struggle more to hire new fans and its getting harder and harder

Let me tell you the untapped chapter of Iranian History which always thrives me... Just read read thee uropian history since 14-17th century! The Iranian renaissance is coming!

Good luck Don kishot...


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Well Well Well!

by Areyo Barzan (not verified) on

It is one thing to act stupid but it is quiet another to be proud of one’s stupidity

 

It never fails to amaze me that after 28 years of humiliation, misery, social and economic devastation there are still Iranians who try to make excuses for their foolish act of 1979. After all these years and after paying such hefty price they are still stubborn as a mule and still are trying to dodge their responsibility for such act of foolishness and stupidity  Still they  are trying to legitimize their blunter and refuse to accept that they have made a mistake.. what this with us Iranians and admdision of our mistakes. Why is it so difficult for us to admit that, yes we were in the wrong and we made a mistake. No more excuses and no more bull shit

 Isn’t the first step towards recovery and amending one's mistakes the damages caused by it, acceptance of those mistakes and admission of guilt.

 

This reminds me of an or poem saying

 

Aan kas keh bedaanad va bedaanad keh bedaanad

                        Asle sharaf az gonbade aflaak beraanad

 

Aan kas keh bedaanad va nadaanad keh bedaanad

                        Beedar konidash keh bas khofte namaanad

  

Aan kas keh nadaanad va bedaanad keh nadaanad

                        Aan ham kharake lang be maghsad beresaanad

 

Aan kas keh nadaanad va nadaanad keh nadaanad

                        Dar jahle morakkab abad odahr bemanad

 

And it is obvious that the writer of the above article and those idiots who still are not willing to accept the stupidity and mistakes of 1979 belong to which category


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Final word for Hoder

by Ali H (not verified) on

Hoder.....you need to see a RAVANKAV asap! Your egomania is making you make a fool of yourself every single day of your life these days.

Dude you need to have yourself checked up by some shrink....
And by the way, your parents were not alone in being stupid but the might have outdone so many other parents in transferring their stupidity to their fucked up kid.
Khoda be rahe rast hedayatet kone.


ghalam-doon

In defense of hoder

by ghalam-doon on

Hussein keeps saying that he has got no friends left in the
world. Maybe he should broaden his horizon and try to understand other people’s
point of view. I totally agree with him that there are Iranian collaborators working with the empire to bring down the only independent and sovereign state
in the region. They use every means in their arsenal including the talk of war
to try and bring down the legitimate government of Iran. But there are also people who
oppose the brutality of the Islamic Republic. Unlike the people who rule their
country, they believe in a secular form of government. It does not mean they
are anti-Islam. Revolution and its leader were many things that he describes in
this piece. On the other hand it wasn‘t many things that it could be but
unfortunately they never materialized. That’s why we have millions of Iranians
inside and outside of the country who oppose this government. As long
as we have a government that does not tolerate dissent and has “red lines” that
no one could cross we will be in this mess.


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Too much air time

by Iva (not verified) on

Halla in bacheh ye gohi khord, shoma ha chera khodetoono inghadr asabani mekonid. Baba jon, in ham hoghogesho az akhondha megireh va in ghadr mard nist keh begeh che zolmi akhonda darand bar sar-e melate Ian me-avarand.

in ham mesle raeesesh, ahmaghinejad, ye chaploosi keh bayad harfahaye balatar az khodesho noshkhar bekoneh, velesh konid.


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i feel sorry for all the

by babak1234 (not verified) on

i feel sorry for all the guys who are spending so much time swearing at him, or trying to undermine him. he is just fuc...ing with your head, and you are all into it.he does ont like you and that is the best way to piss you off. you are bunch of loosers.


Darius Kadivar

Ardeshirkhankhan

by Darius Kadivar on

 

THAT'S  Precisely My Point What is he proud of then ?

I also like Belly Dancers does that make me a Pimp ? : 

//www.youtube.com/watch?v=ucKDPh0uOjI&feature=related

He just made it into a personal matter not me by bringing in his parents in the picture. So Our Parents Suck and deserved being kicked out of the country ?

I don't share the personal attacks or death threats on him by stupid people. HE DESERVES TO EXPRESS HIMSELF. BUT He has to expect CIVILIZED responses underlining his contradictions when he goes too far.  

Other wise I really don't care or indulge in personal attacks. We all have our contradictions but Jesus he even published this Junk in the Guardian with his Revisionist Opinions.

How Old was he anyway at the time of the Revolution to allow himself to draw a clear line between Good and Bad Guys ?

Otherwise he has a good taste for Girls and Good Wine from what I see. I share that Sin ;0)

My humble Opinion,

DK