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Your Abbreviated Pundit Round-up
Daily Kos —
... everybody and containing costs. Concessions made for purely political reasons could produce an unworkable monstrosity of a bill. Michael Barone: Govt. is always expensive and private is always efficient. Don't let Enron and the banks fool you, and pay no attention to the hearings on the Hill about the insurance company methods for turning a profit. There's a monster under the bed, it's called socialism, and it will eat you if you look. Fareed Zakaria: No velvet revolution for Iran. And Obama is handling it the right way. ...
NSN Daily Update: 6/29/09
democracyarsenal.org —
... Fareed Zakaria explains why the Velvet Revolution is a bad historical example to help explain the unfolding drama in Iran. ...
A Velvet Revolution In Iran?
The Daily Dish | By Andrew Sullivan —
Fareed says "unlikely":
While the regime's legitimacy has cracked -- a fatal wound in the long run -- for now it will probably be able to use its guns and money to consolidate power. And it has plenty of both. Remember, the price of oil was less than $20 a barrel back in 1989. It is $69 now. More important, as Zbigniew Brzezinski has pointed out, 1989 was highly unusual. As a historical precedent, it has not proved a useful guide to other antidictatorial movements.
The three most powerful forces in the modern ...
Iran, Iraq, and Irrational Hopes
Dean's World —
Fareed Zakaria (whose Future of Freedom is a must read) has this to say about the possibility of revolution in Iran:
It’s possible but unlikely. While the regime’s legitimacy has cracked — a fatal wound in the long run — for now it will probably be able to use its guns and money to consolidate power.
I don’t know why anyone thinks they need money. Regimes from Cuba to Burma to Cambodia to North Korea stay comfortably esconced with only the power that flows from the cracked barrel of a rusty ...
Classical Values — ... is a must read) has this to say about the possibility of revolution in Iran: It's possible but unlikely. While the regime's legitimacy has cracked -- a fatal wound in the long run -- for now it will probably be able to use its guns and money to consolidate power. I don't know why anyone thinks they need money. Regimes from Cuba to Burma to Cambodia to North Korea stay comfortably esconced with only the power that flows from the cracked barrel of a rusty gun, proving again what can be observed since the dawn of human history: leaders need neither legitimacy nor coin to quell ...
