Tuesday, April 10, 2007

What has Iran ever done for me?

A commenter recently asked:

what are the main contributions to the health and happiness of the world that iran has made outside of its borders in the last 50 years?


Another commenter responded that Iran houses more refugees than any other country in the world. That is true. There are many Afghanis and Iraqis here. Someone from the UN told me that it is hard to count the number of Afghanis because they make every effort to disappear into Iranian society.

Going back a bit more than 50 years, we should not forget that Iranian diplomats were instrumental in saving many Jews during the Holocaust and that many Armenians found refuge in Iran as well when they were being killed by the Turks.

That's not too shabby, I would say...

14 comments:

Mr. Smarterthanyou said...

More than 50 years ago would be pre-Theocratic Iran. The potential contributions of a post-US invasion Iran would be huge, as the Iranian people themselves really have a lot to contribute. But each year of theocracy lessens that.

Anonymous said...

Most of the refugees have been taken in post-revolution times.

Anonymous said...

Mr. Smarterthanyou,

Please get back to your cave...

Anonymous said...

The US has already had its chance to meddle into Iran's government. That is what got us the revolution to begin with. Any "post-Us invasion" Iran would be horrid and bloody, just like the post-invasion Iraq is.

Maybe if the US stopped pushing Iran and putting a noose around its neck, things could become more peaceful.

VinceP1974 said...

If only the US would act the role Iran has given it in "World without Zionism" huh daniel?

VinceP1974 said...

Well it looks like the Islamic Republic is going to contribute something to the world (other than death) after all..

I have to say, I admire their tenacity in making sure the UK is fully fully fully humiliated as any dhimmi should be to ensure he feels himself subdued.

http://www.jihadwatch.org/archives/016014.php



Iran to make movie, book about UK sailors
Robert 4/11/2007 7:06 AM
"In a bid to disclose the whole truth." And why not? A flick about their humiliation of the once-proud British will probably perform spectacularly at the box office all over the country.

"Iran Makes Movie, Book about UK Sailors," from Novinite, with thanks to the American Israeli Patriot:

Iran will shoot a movie and publish a book about he detention of the fifteen Royal Navy crewmembers in a bid to disclose the whole truth, DPA reported, citing a statement of Iran armed forces.
The statement, circulated to foreign journalists in Tehran, says that the documentary and the book will trace the whole process, starting from the detention of the British sailors, their interrogations and what was described as "their confessions that they strayed into Iranian waters."

Mr. Smarterthanyou said...

Hey Anon, grow some balls and post with your name.

Anonymous said...

Interesting facts about Iranians who have migrated to US. They contribute $600 billon/year to U.S. Economy.

Factsheet on the Iranian-American Community From MIT

Iranian Studies Group Research Series – October 2003
Estimated Population in the U.S. (Source: 2000 Census, July 2003 update)
Persons claiming primary and secondary Iranian ancestry: 338,266 *
* The Iranian-American community believes there may be serious underestimation of the actual population due to adverse perceptions of Iranian-Americans on claiming Iranian ancestry. Higher bound of the uncertainty range is estimated at 540,000 people.

Educational Attainment (Source: 1990 Census, 2000 Census data not yet available)
High School Diploma and Higher 90.8% (Second highest among 67 ancestry groups)
Bachelor’s Degree or Higher 56.2% (Second highest among 67 ancestry groups)
Master’s Degree of Higher 26.2% (Highest among 67 ancestry groups)

Income Levels (1990 Census data, 2000 data not available)
Median household income: $36, 800 (20% more than National average)
Median family income: $42,000 (20% more than National average)

Iranian-Americans and the U.S. Economy
Iranian-Americans have founded and served in senior leadership positions of many major U.S.
companies, many of them in the Fortune 500. The following ten Iranian-Americans have been
engaged in the senior leadership of companies worth over $1000 Billion.



Name Position Company Company Value
(in US$ billion)and Fortune 500 rank

Golnar Motaharipour VP for LD General Electric 284.2 2
Shaygan Kheradpir CIO Verizon 90.9 4
Hossein Eslambolchi CTO AT&T 200.2 8
Nasser Greyeli VP for Technology INTEL 202.2 18
Ali Sajassi Chief Architect CISCO 139.2 35
Behrooz Abdi VP& GM for SPS Motorola 31.7 43
Bahram Mahbod VP for e-services Oracle Corporations 67.2 88
Farhad Shakib VP & GM Nortel Networks 17.8 95
Behrooz Zarrabi Manager Lucent Technologies 12.7 133
Pierre Omidyar Founder and CEO Ebay 5.2 445
Source: Corporate Governance Websites and Reuter company value estimates 2003

Iranian-Americans and the U.S. Academia
Hundreds of Iranian-American tenured and tenure-track academics are teaching and doing research at top-ranking universities in the U.S. According to a preliminary list compiled by the MIT Iranian Studies Group Research Team, there are over 500 Iranian-American academics teaching at Universities such as MIT, Harvard, Carnegie Melon, Yale, Princeton, University of California System (Los Angles, Berkeley, Irvine, San Diego), Stanford, USC, Georgia Tech, University of Wisconsin, University of Michigan, University of Illinois, California Institute of Technology, Boston University, University of Maryland, George Washington University, and hundreds of other universities and colleges throughout the United States.
For more info click here.

http://isg-mit.org/projects-storage/census/Factsheet.pdf

http://isg-mit.org/projects-storage/census/socioeconomic.pdf

Can you imagine what they could do for Iran if Iran was a democratic country?

Kamran and Tori said...

Serendip, Good point! Sometimes I think that what could eventually push Iran forward is its diaspora... But that's a long story...

Serendip, I have a question for you: The Iranians I know who live in Europe and the US have significantly altered personalities because of the influences of the culture surrounding them. Do you think they could have achieved as much had they stayed in an imaginary democratic Iran?

Anonymous said...

Dear et: sorry for getting back to you so late. Can you define "imaginary democracy"?

You can also email me at:

deletion10p13@inbox.com

Kamran and Tori said...

By "imaginary democracy" I simply meant one that we imagine would have or could have existed in Iran: not a sham democracy as could also be understoond by that statement.

Anonymous said...

No, I don't think so...not that Iranians are that much different than Americans. I lived in Los Angeles during the Big Earthquake. I remember going back home from UCLA, it was pandamonium. Noone stopped for the red lights or followed any of the rules. I think having laws that are enforced seriously has a lot do with people behaving themselves. I hope I'm making sense...Have a wonderful week.
p.s. Also, Americans learn to respect and revere laws for the collective good of the country via socialization in school. However, as you probably know, respecting laws and rules go aganist Iranian nature, having lived under one corrupt and tyrannical ruler after another for centuries.

Troy Pickard said...

This one is an easy question for ignorant Americans to ask, because it takes advantage of the fact that the Americans and Europeans were exploiting Iran for most of the latter half of the twentieth century.

If anyone asks the more-fair question of "what have the Persians ever contributed to the world at all," a good starting point would be to say, "Well, have you ever heard of a little drink called wine?"

Mr. Smarterthanyou said...

What has any muslim nation contributed in the last 500 years would be a better question.

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