Even the regime hates the regime.

• Author: Abrahamson, James L.
• Position: Brief article

'EVEN THE REGIME HATES THE REGIME'

By Karim Sadjadpour, Carnegie Endowment for International Peace

http://www.foreignpolicy.com/articles/2010/06/11/even_the_regime_hates_the_regime

Televised reports of the response to last summer's Iranian elections, particularly the regime's brutal efforts to break up the huge demonstrations and silence opponents who had taken to the streets, probably represent for most Americans much of what they may know about Iranian opposition to the Islamic Republic of Iran, which seized power in Iran thirty years ago.

In his 11 June article in Foreign Policy, Karim Sadjadpour hastens to amend that conclusion. In his opinion, even devoutly Muslim Iranians believe that their government has "profoundly underperformed for decades," and "even the regime hates the regime." What he calls Iranian disgust with "revolutionary rot runs deep" and existed long before last summer's Green Movement.

Before becoming associated with the Carnegie Endowment, Sadjadpour worked for four years in Washington, DC and Tehran as an analyst for the International Crisis Group, in which capacity he conducted "dozens of...