When Will Iran's Regime Finally Cave In?

by Giulio Meotti • April 8, 2019 at 5:00 am

"Yes, the accused fled from a country where virtual bullies push against science, knowledge and expertise and resort to conspiracy theories to find a scapegoat for all the problems because they know well that finding an enemy, spy or someone to blame is much easier than accepting responsibility and complicity in a problem". — Kaveh Madani, one of Iran's leading environmentalists, who recently fled to London.
Despite its economic crisis, Iran continues to provide hundreds of millions of dollars every year to terrorists. " When you throw in the money provided to other terrorists, the total comes close to one billion dollars. Let's pause to consider that, because it bears repeating:The Iranian regime spends nearly a billion dollars a year just to support terrorism". — Nathan A. Sales, U.S. State Department Ambassador-at-Large and Coordinator for Counterterrorism.
This impressive decline of the Iranian regime is being accompanied by petty and repressive laws. Iran recently handed down a sentence of 33 years in prison and 148 lashes to a prominent Iranian lawyer, Nasrin Sotoudeh, who dared to defend girls who were protesting Iran's forced veiling laws. In another recent incident, an Iranian couple were arrested after their public marriage proposal went viral on social media.

Iran recently handed down a sentence of 33 years in prison and 148 lashes to a prominent Iranian lawyer, Nasrin Sotoudeh, who dared to defend girls who were protesting Iran's forced veiling laws. Pictured: Nasrin Sotoudeh. (Image source: Hosseinronaghi/Wikimedia Commons)

The Islamic Republic of Iran today, through its terror proxies and puppet regimes, has been extending its hegemony to many capitals of the Middle East: Tehran, Baghdad, Damascus, Beirut, Sanaa. Iran continues to threaten the Middle East, the Mediterranean basin and potentially Europe. Forty years after its theocratic revolution in 1979, the mullahs speak (wishfully, one assumes) of a "declining" America.

"America cannot manage its own affairs now", Ayatollah Ahmad Jannati, the secretary of the powerful Guardian Council, said on state television. "Millions of people are hungry there and America's power is in decline". Such declarations may be intended to hide Iran's own terrible decline, fleeing reality and crumbling from within.

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India: Women's Plight Remains Grim

by Jagdish N. Singh • April 8, 2019 at 4:00 am

In spite of the recurring lip service, however -- as well as attempts at reform -- the situation for women in India remains unacceptable. Women face discrimination in every aspect of life.
Women in India also continue to be victims of various forms of violence, including being aborted, infanticide, genital mutilation, honor killings, acid attacks, sex-trafficking and rape. In fact, 99% of sexual assaults go unreported. Last year, two cases of child rape, allegedly perpetrated by police officers and a politician, led to mass protests demanding greater protection for women and children.
"The cultural design of oppression is so clever, that it instils a habit of distrust and trains women to demean, dismiss and discount other women... The real genius of this system lies in the fact that oppression has been recast as a virtue." — Deepa Narayan, author of Chup: Breaking the Silence About India's Women.

In India's crucial agricultural sector, women are paid 22% less than their male counterparts. (Image source: Neil Palmer/CIAT/Wikimedia Commons)

Addressing an International Women's Day gathering in Varanasi on March 8, Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi stressed the "crucial role" that women play in his country's development.

Indian President Ram Nath Kovind echoed this sentiment on social media, tweeting:

"Women are the sheet-anchor of society, an inspiration for their families and for our nation. Let us strive to ensure equality of opportunity for every women [sic] and every girl child."

Less than three months earlier, "women's empowerment" was also a theme at India's annual January 26 Republic Day parade.

In spite of the recurring lip service, however -- as well as attempts at reform -- the situation for women in India remains grim. Women face discrimination in every aspect of life. Before they are even born, their existence is under threat: mothers are pressured to abort female babies.

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