Well, I can't give you numbers, but the biggest manufacturing industry here is the car industry. Their overpriced cars only can compete with Korean and Japanese cars with heavy custom fees on those cars. Anyway, fun part is, they've managed to establish car factories in some countries abroad or sell the cars they make here, obviously at a lower price than we could get.

We have pharmaceutical factories and home appliances producers as well. I remember during the war, everything was made right here, you couldn't find a single item made outside here in any store. But these stuff can in no way compete with most of what's made abroad. So when Ahmadinejad came to power, he let the military into commerce and they imported everything from abroad, and that's how many manufacturers here went bankrupt. Most notably the sugar industries were shut down, since they couldn't compete with the lower prices of what was imported. Now with the sanctions imposed, they neither can import much, nor the manufacturers inside are there anymore to pick up the slack.

The depth of corruption of Ahmadinejad and Pasdaran is more than I can explain here. Astronomical amounts of money is missing here or there. High ranks within insurance companies, banks, etc. have embezzled money. Even he, himself while the mayor of Tehran has embezzled money.

The revenue of oil sold during his presidency is as much as what was made before him combined, but instead of putting it into manufacturing, infrastructure and creating jobs, he started paying monthly subsidies so that people do what they want with it. The result was a 100% inflation rate.

Sounds like a history that even the people of that country hate.

Why can't the people get things changed there?
Why do people support this form of rule if things are so wrong?

and I guess the really big question is why do they hate others so much including America if their country has so many problems to work out. Are we just someone they can rally against to hide these problems?

Do they just keep leading the people along with lies?

Karl, if I'm going to answer a question, I expect the person asking it have at least a tiny bit of interest in the subject and not just voice their prejudices in the form of questions like "why all of you hate us so much."

Karl, read your history. Iran (fka Persia) is an ancient and great civilization that, like most of West and South Asia was randomly carved up by the British, who made a total mess of things by inventing countries.

After WWII, when the cold war was starting up, the CIA decided the legitimate government of Iran was not to its liking, and decided to replace it with a puppet in the form of the late and not lamented Shah of Iran. While he was a fierce anti communist, and did our bidding at all times, he was also a brutal dictator who tortured, jailed and killed his own people. He stole from the country and basically kept all freedom down during the years he was in power. The people of Iran, who suffered under him knew that but for the US, he would have never assumed nor stayed in power. When they finally had their uprising in the seventies, and they got rid of the Shah, extremists took over the revolution, leading to the ascendency of Khomeni, a religious fanatic, who moved the seat of real power from Teheran, a truly international city to Qum, a religious stronghold, from where the religious fanatics who really run the country still rule. By all accounts I have heard from Americans who have traveled in Iran, the people there do not hate us at all. Quite the contrary. They are still bitter about what we did, and with good reason, but most of them do not hate us. The religious fanatics do, and this is reflected in their propoganda.
In my opinion all this nuclear nonsense and all this talk of a war with Iran is coming from our side for the most part...and at the urging of the Idraeli lobby and Netanyahu. We make no friends there with people like John "I Never Saw A War I Did Not Like" McCain singing "bomb bomb bomb bom Iran" as a joke.

It is a terrible situation, and we are paying the price of a radical backlash to our mistaken policies of the late forties and early fifties.

SORRY your questions didn't make it pass the Iranian Censors.

Please resubmit in a more a$$ kissing way.

Even tho DT seemed to answer most of your questions I think you can understand the rest by the reaction you have gotten.

Many of the countries in that area of the world have had unrest for as long as you can look back in history.
It has become part of their culture some would say.

Change will never really take place in a timely maner as far as I can see. The more people from the outside get involed the more they are pulled down into the grief. My opinion of the mess is that it will some day come to a head and Isreal will bomb the place and all hell will start.

Mean while the people over there suffer, but what else is new? it seems to be hapening all over this world. Even here with so many people just getting by.

If you get a chance go back and read about how they hang gay people in the streets. They have no vote like we have going on here for an example.

Are you kidding? Unrest as part of a culture? In that area?
Well, almost all countries in the world have had unrest for as long as you can look back in history. This includes the US, who were involved in wars at any time during their existence. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_wars_involving_the_United_States

Yes, Really...you can't seem to understand the difference between what I said and what your trying to spin.

I wouldn't mind FS, he is hurt from past discussions and it shows. In fact, nothing short of Israel bombing the whole Iran would soothes his hurt feelings.

Thanks, maybe we start a "Dear Afy" thread, where users can submit questions to you about your country and your favorite television shows.
(I swear, without you and TIS I don't think I'd know what's on the TV now-days!)

But yeah, that makes sense. I mostly asked because I've seen the idea floated around that the reason the US wants to get involved in Syria is that it'll pave the way to take over the Iranian oil fields.

Feel free to ask anything and I try to answer them to the best of my knowledge.

About that idea, I'm not sure how that would help the US to have control over Iranian oil fields. I mean, they were right beside those fields while they were in Iraq. We don't have any borders with Syria. Iraq stands between us. I heard Romney saying that Syria is Iran's way to open seas, but we've the whole Persian Gulf right down in the South, near the oil fields; we don't need Syria. In fact when I say Iran is organizing Hezbollah from Syria, I wouldn't think that with Syria out of the picture, anything changes much, since Hezbollah is in Lebanon and has a political stronghold in their parliament, so technically Iran doesn't need Syria to organize Hezbollah either. Keeping Syria in Assad's hands looks more like Islamic Republic trying to send a message that it's a major player in the Middle East. Downright shameful. All that said, I think I prefer Assad to what's inevitably coming next.

Yeah, good list of U.S. wars. Then there's Europe.
Last Century there was WWI WWII "The Troubles" in Ireland, and the war that ensued when Yugoslavia broke up.

Then there have been countless tribal wars in Africa, and Asia.

But its only in the middle east where some people seem to think its "in their blood." Thats what watching Fox News will do to people's bigoted "minds."

Sorry, wrong as always- It/you would have to hold some "meaning" to me to hold a gruge. Since you don't
I do not, As they say - Your small potatoes.

Nothing you could ever say towards me would cause me "hurt as you say" That in itself makes me laugh just reading your foolishness. You try to be a snide tongue one but you fail each time you try it.

The real question is why you had to be such a witch toward the other poster, Karl? What did he ever do to you? Just because you got a bug up you A$$ on the way he asked some simple questions? You could of just answered them like DT did without being such a ...... and showing your ture colors. Oh WEll


Only the future will tell if my thoughts on Isreal will be true or not. I guess we will just have to wait and see- won't we.
But if you are not worry about such things, I am glad for you.

But I know I'm right. In fact, with every post you further prove my point.

Israel is going to end up on the ash heap if history if they don't watch themselves.