A peek inside Iran: From the schools to upper-class

Friday's Daily Briefing on Iran.
A peek inside Iran: from schools to the upper middle class.

• The Wall Street Journal provided a frank assessment of the well-to-do Iranian who does as he pleases behind the walls of his private mansions and villas. In return for his private comforts, the affluent Iranian is happy to sacrifice freedom of speech, most of his civil rights, and his freedom of association. The upper-middle class has been bought off by this pact, which makes a virtue of hypocrisy.
• Time Magazine reported on the Islamic Republic's indoctrination of the young in school.

The UNSC internal debates on the Iranian sanctions.

• The Independent reported that the United States indicated yesterday that it wants tougher sanctions on Iran - for refusing to suspend uranium enrichment - than the measures in a UN resolution drafted by Britain , France and Germany.
• Dow Jones Newswires reported that Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov said a draft U.N. Security Council resolution proposed by European nations to impose sanctions on Iran doesn't match existing agreements between major powers.
• The New York Times reported that the United States and three European allies have given Russia and China a draft text for a Security Council resolution against Iran ’s nuclear program. The proposal includes the extraordinary step of preventing Iranian students from studying nuclear physics at foreign universities and colleges.
• I Focus reported that Russia is ready to guarantee that Iran will not get hi-techs (sensitive technologies) connected with uranium enrichment and processing of used nuclear fuel, the Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov announced, cited by RIA Novosti.
• The Wall Street Journal argued that Mohamed ElBaradei, the director general of the U.N.'s International Atomic Energy Agency, is supposed to be the Jack Webb of the nuclear nonproliferation scene, a "just the facts" man who reports his findings to his political superiors in the U.N. Security Council. Lately, however, he's been sounding more like the real life Jimmy Carter than the fictional TV detective.

Here are a few other news items you may have missed.

• The New York Sun reported that while the world was focusing on North Korea last week, Iran 's mad scientists were hard at work preparing for the annual Quds Day celebrations. Most of the Western press outlets that reported on the popular holiday simply downplayed it as just another "anti-Israel" day. However, this year's revelries focused both on calling for the annihilation of America and embracing Iran 's nuclear program.
• FrontPageMagazine.com reported on the the Iranian leadership's recent campaign to present itself as a beacon of liberalism and modernism in the Middle East . In a speech given at Harvard in September, for instance, Khatami preached an end to violence.
• GlobalResearch.ca reported on a massive concentration of US naval power in the Persian Gulf and the Arabian Sea . Two US naval strike groups are deployed: USS Enterprise, and USS Iwo Jima Expeditionary Strike Group. The naval strike groups have been assigned to fighting the "global war on terrorism."

Thank you, Doctor Zin and team, for gathering all this important news that doesn't seem to be important at home because it is election season. I sure wish people in the USA would realize that this affects all of them, not just the Iranians. And the impact on Iranians is horrific! Imagine what it would be here? Hmm...