Pictory

Face it - God Bless You!

Thank you for reminding us were we came from and where we are now. You are 100% correct. I personally could care less for the Shah but at least we were more progressive and we were not amputating each other.

The Article should say

The article should be titled Three Ass holes in Beautiful Tehran. Fuck all three mother fuckers

Anonymoush / Pahlavi sucks

Anonymoush: So we agree on that! Japan that you mentioned is in fact an excellent example of what I wish IRI had done in the past 29 years instead of yelling in the streets. It took Japan less than 30 years to be respected and counted on international platforms due to its technical achievements.
One other thing that I believe in is a solid infrastructure - we had some of it, we have almost none of it now. Everything looks like a jungle for those who go to iran often these days. Even crossing a street in the middle of a city is a challenge.

Pahlavi sucks: If you want to bad mouth pahlavis for the sake of bad mouthing them, or because you just don't like them, then that is fine; but if you want to be objective, then the site that you referred to is old news. They contain the same old lies that khomeini laid in front of the people and now morale ex-revolutionaries like Baghi are clearly saying that those were lies and vast exaggerations. Let me just give you a couple of pointers.

Poverty: Average per capita income in 1979 was around $2500. In 2006 was it was close to $1000. So whatever it was, it was way better than ghajar period (who were so desperate that sold the right to khuzestan oil fields to brits for some 20,000 pounds, if my memory serves me, to pay for their european trip) and way better than today. If you have an older parent or grand parent ask them how they had coupon for everything from sugar to bread during ghajar and early pahlavi as well as early IRI, but with plenty availability during M.R. shah.

Getting rich referred to in another video: So where are those riches now? IRI claimed that shah had embezzled $20 billion, within a few month of revolution they changed that to $6 billion (videos from those days are on youtube), and for a long time IRI has not talked much about it -- you know why? because income from oil for the last 29 years has been close to $500 billion that nobody knows exactly where it has ended up. That is multiple times larger then the total oil income for 58 years of pahlavis.

Mosaddegh: one can be pro-shah and pro-mosaddegh. Nobody knows what would have happened had shah had not returned. Consider the following:

(1) Intervention of foreigners was "of course" illegitimate, but as I said, if you are weak, independence is meaningless, and everybody jerks you around.

(2) Dismissal of parliament by mossaddegh was illegal based on iranian constitution in effect at the time.

(3) Brits and others were determined to protect their interests absent any compromise at the time. Had mossaddegh succeeded, there was a good chance that iran had partitioned since iran was way too weak and unable to protect its integrity, and brits were determined to "get at" iran.

Again, you are welcome to hate shah, but don't be deceived by old propaganda that even pro-IRI revolutionaries dispute it nowadays.

Face it

I agree with you 100% that "the only way to be counted in is to be technologically competitive." Look what Japanese have done. They retaliated the atomic bomb with their Honda's and Toyota's!

Thank you!

Yeah Right

Whoever is speaking good about Pahlavi should see these videos:

Shah wasting peoples money: //irannegah.com/Video.aspx?id=119

Shah making country dependent on US:
//irannegah.com/Video.aspx?id=110

Shah the traitor:
//irannegah.com/Video.aspx?id=108

Shah selling cheap oil to US:
//irannegah.com/Video.aspx?id=90

What progress? look at the poverty under shah:
//irannegah.com/Video.aspx?id=81

And last but not least let us NEVER FORGET the COUP against Dr. Mossadeq, the reason we are stuck with mullahs today because Shah came to power in COUP and suppressed all secular opposition leaving only the mullahs free reign . . .

//irannegah.com/Video.aspx?id=86

Anonymosh

I believe some were criticizing shah for not being part of the game, to humiliate or de-legitimize shah. I agree to the fact that shah was not in the game, but that was due to extreme weakness of iran.

One more thing, states always humiliate the weak; and we have no control over what other states do. So criticizing other states, while noble, is not useful. We need to improve upon ouerselves before we can be respected and let into the game. The only way to be counted in is to be technologically competitive.

By the way, reza shah had sent a few divisions of the army north to stop russian invasion and a few divisions south to challenge british invasion. Alas that brits had bribed few army officers to send incompatible arms parts (e.g., rifles and bullets) to make them useless at destination. That is one one of the reasons that he was detested by brits, etc.

Re: Face it

What you said about worms and shepesh in depth had nothing to do with the discussion here that the leaders of the big powers didn't even give a poop to their servant (shah) when they went to his home to decide on future of the world including Iran. The criticism is more towards the superpowers rather than the shah. Otherwise, we know that shepesh and reshk are not good for your health, and shah managed to get rid of them.

Know our country before passing judgement

Those who bad mouth shahs, do not know much about iran and iranians that pahlavis inherited: a weak country with backward people, a nothing country with nobody people. Pahlavis MADE that same country and that same people into one of the most progressive countries of the middle east with one of the most educated people of the middle east in just 58 years.

Iran that pahlavis inherited had essentially nothing, were played with by russians, brits, Portuguese, Hollanders, and anybody else that could, for a century or two prior to take-over of reza shah.

Iranians that pahlavis inherited hardly knew how to clean up their behind after excrement, let alone decide for themselves how to run a country in 20th century. People in major cities had a pool in the house that was used for everything, from washing one's behind after excrement to bathing, from washing dishes to cleaning food ingredients. As a result almost all people had stomach worms and had to drink that cherry flavor laxative on a yearly basis to get rid of some of those nasty worms. Water wells were next to sewer wells and universally had leeches in them. People in villages were in even worse condition. They mostly had heart and blood worms. They had bumps all over their bodies. In summer days, they would sit under the sun and squeeze the bumps on their bodies to force the worms out of their bodies for some relief. A large portion of popluation routinely died or disfigured due to communicable diseases. That was the condition of iranians at the beginning of pahlavi era.

But in just 20 years, with the development of city water and sewer systems, clinics and hospitals, and education, the worms and communicable diseases were gone. In another 20 years sons and daughters of the same people got basic education and then higher education and ended up in best western schools and came back as doctors and engineers, thanks to shahs, the same shahs who are bad-mouthed every day for the past 30 years now.

Do you really think those people knew anything about now-fashionable terms such as democracy and elections, or even cared about that? They needed to get rid of their blood, heart, and stomach worms first, and then fill their stomachs. Democracy needs education as a prerequisite that they did not have. Without education, democracy and elections are like placing the destiny of a six-year old child into his/her hands in the name of democracy.

It is easy for shah-era-educated next generation to be ignorant of their past or arrogant and evaluate the shahs based on 21st century standards. People who criticize shahs should know about iran and iranians of pahlavi era; then see if they are willing to deal with those kind of people; then see if they can do a better job had they been in charge instead; then criticize the shahs.

Shahs had a lot of flaws, but people that they ruled upon were far more flawed.

Shahs had corruptions, but most leaders, democratic or not, are corrupt.

It would have been much better had shahs ruled more favorable to now-educated and critical iranians, but there were very few such iranians those days. It is truly amazing that reza shah, an uneducated commoner, and his son could achieve so much in just 58 years.

Even the educated people of iran in 1979 were so easily fooled and made big big mistakes. People simply did not have the vision and wisdom to question motivations of khomeini, his first lynchings, their first votes, and the first signs of oppression. Take a look at lynching of Gen. Rahimi on this site, to see how flawed, backward, uncivilized, and ruthless even the highly educated people of 1979 (aka, "Doctor Yazdi") were, irrespective of if Gen. Rahimi was or was not guilty.

Mullas never cared about iran and iranians; they did not understand the meaning of progress, and they did not believe in it. Do you really think that people like khomeini and khamenei, born and raised in religious families, and educated in Qom and Najaf had any understanding of what a progressive country should look like in 20th century? All that they cared about were power and wealth, and even the educated people easily fell for their deceits.

Let's put emotions, idealism, and fashionable terms aside, learn more about our country and our people, and judge the past with realism.

Alas that it will take so long, 29 years so far, before we get a decent leader who can be as effective as either of the hated pahlavis.

The depth of knowledge

The depth of knowledge displayed here is astonshing!

US Navy Should Destroy ... ???

God bless America? Hardly. Truth be told, as most of the rest of the world already knows, GOD chose to shit on America soon after the native (real Americans) were raped, murdered and marginalized, and you appear to be just one of the 300 million turds which resulted from His massive bowel movement.

The Shah was not even visited

It is not just that the Shah is not in the picture, or that he was not part of the Tehran conference. The problem is much deeper than that. Only Winston Churchill, the Prime Minister of the nation that had brought the Shah's father to power through the 1921 (1299) coup, paid a courtesy visit to the Shah in Tehran. Roosevelt and Stalin did not even do that, totally ignoring the Shah, and the Shah was Iran's head of State!

No matter how hard the monarchists and die-hard royalists try, the Shah was ALWAYS nothing other than a weak man acting on behest of others, and an illegitimate ruler AFTER the 1953 coup, if not between 1941 and 1953.

Bridge of Peace

What is referred ot as "Poleh Piroozi" is what we "ta dasteh chepoondim beh mellat Iran" that particular object was as symbolic as a bridge between the two bodies.

Shah actually was invited, but he was in charge of the "Abdar-khaneh" and he served us tea, coffee, etc.

Call the embassy in Tehran if you have further questions.

Long live da Queen

Mohammad Reza Pahlavi missing in photo on purpose

The Shah was missing from the photo.

Why?

the Shah was not in 1943 a world leader.

the Shah was never a world leader.

People should understand that.

POLE PIROOZI

 WHEN YOU ARE A PUPPET YOU MOVE BECAUSE "ARBAABS" PULLS YOUR STRINGS. "POLE PIROOZI" WHAT A JOKE. NOW THE JACK ASS MULLAHS BENEFIT FROM ALL THOSE GREAT FOREGN POLICY DECISIONS. DON'T YOU JUST LOVE IT.

Just a few years later!

U.S. forces were on the verge of firing on the Iranian boats in the early Sunday incident, when the boats ended the incident and turned and moved away, said a Pentagon official.

"It is the most serious provocation of this sort that we've seen yet," said the official, who spoke on condition of anonymity because he was not authorized to speak on the record.

The incident occurred at about 5 a.m. local time Sunday as a U.S. Navy cruiser, destroyer and frigate were transiting the strait on their way into the Persian Gulf.

"Five small boats were acting in a very aggressive way, charging the ships, dropping boxes in the water in front of the ships and causing our ships to take evasive maneuvers," the Pentagon official said.

"There were no injuries but there very well could have been," he said, adding that the Iranian boats turned away "literally at the very moment that U.S. forced were preparing to open fire" in self defense.

He said he didn't have the precise transcript of communications that passed between the two forces, but the Iranians radioed something to the effect that "we're coming at you and you'll explode in a couple minutes."

Historical tensions between the two nations have increased in recent years over Washington's charge that Tehran has been developing nuclear weapons and supplying and training Iraqi insurgents using roadside bombs - the No. 1 killer of U.S. troops in Iraq.

In another incident off it's coast, Iranian Revolutionary Guard sailors last March captured 15 British sailors and held them for nearly two weeks.

The 15 sailors from HMS Cornwall, including one woman, were captured on March 23. Iran claims the crew, operating in a small patrol craft, had intruded into Iranian waters - a claim denied by Britain.

Arrogance!

It was interesting that the host (our leader "Shah-e-shahan") was not even invited in that conference! It was an insult to the entire nation. That was the attitude of the arrogant powers toward Iran back then, and it remains unchanged today.