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Springtime for Iran
[Chicago Tribune] Editorial - It's spring in Iran, a time when a hard-line Islamic regime's thoughts turn to repression and crackdowns. These days the Modesty Police roam the streets of Tehran, stopping women who dress inappropriately. Their targets: women who wear small head scarves or short, tight coats or cosmetics or bright nail polish or large sunglasses or short socks ... just about anything that may be deemed un-Islamic. Most get a warning, which is better than it was in the early days of the Islamic revolution. Then, violators were fined, jailed and flogged. We can understand why the rulers of Iran are sensitive. They're driving the country deeper and deeper into isolation - with two sets of UN sanctions in place and more likely coming - all to keep an outlaw nuclear program going. Despite the country's oil wealth, the Iranian economy is feeble; the good times promised by Ahmadinejad haven't materialized, and never will without serious market reforms.