[hollerith]

>They are not like Pakistan or North Korea etc, Iran is crazy

NK is much more pathological than Iran is IMHO. NK basically treats its citizens like slaves; I wouldn't say the same about Iran.

The only reason NK doesn't mess with its neighbors as much as Iran does is that NK is surrounded by major powers -- or in the case of SK a country with strong backing by the most powerful country in the world -- and even then they got up to kidnapping ordinary Japanese citizens and keeping them forever and denying to the world that they ever kidnapped them.

The current regime in Iran is theocratic, which makes it very different from the societies of most of us here, but strong religiosity and a lack of the separation of religion and government have been elements of Iranian society for many centuries.

Iran was interfered with by colonial powers, especially the Brits, who hoped to use Iran to secure a reliable supply of oil (before the Brits started to be able to access North Sea oil) and has definitively shaken off this kind of predation and now stand as an truly independent (albeit poor) nation. In contrast, the regime in NK has survived only because it would make China less secure to have a US ally right on its border. The regime in NK was and is not competent enough to do what Iran has done (namely, gain true independence without constant help from a great power).

I'm not saying Iran is good. I am asserting that it is definitely better than NK.