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No, Iran Is Not "Opening Up"
(Washington Post) Anne Applebaum - Iran is not "opening up" or becoming "more Western" or more liberal. Maybe Iran's foreign minister will now pick up the phone when John Kerry calls. But other than that, the nature of the Iranian regime has not altered at all. On the contrary, the level of repression inside the country has grown since the "moderate" Rouhani was elected in 2013. In 2014, Iran carried out the largest number of executions anywhere in the world except for China. Women who don't wear veils are still vulnerable to arrest and sentencing. There isn't much point in wishfully hoping that foreign investment will "open up" Iran, either: In the current circumstances, foreign investment is far more likely to enrich the existing elite. If so, the result will be greater repression, more effective disinformation and, of course, more money for the export of the ideology of the Iranian revolution to Syria, Lebanon and Iraq.