I would like to challenge Chris Auclair’s notions that the government of the Islamic Republic of Iran is somehow “fickle” and “volatile.”

As far as I understand the word, the Iranian state is anything but fickle: it has had steady leadership and stable administrative processes since the time of its conception nearly thirty years ago.,Dear Editor,

I would like to challenge Chris Auclair’s notions that the government of the Islamic Republic of Iran is somehow “fickle” and “volatile.”

As far as I understand the word, the Iranian state is anything but fickle: it has had steady leadership and stable administrative processes since the time of its conception nearly thirty years ago.

Anti-government factions are mostly civil and the reformist movement is represented on major levels of decision making, including the Majles-e Shura-ye Eslami, Iran’s 290-member legislative body.

In terms of foreign affairs, Iran is generally amicable. Since being reconstituted as the Islamic Republic, it has engaged in no conflicts upon its own volition. It has stood consistently against the West’s parasitic relationship with developing nations and shunned international bullying.

The assertion that Iran is volatile (fickle’s mean-tempered older brother) is similarly confusing for those reasons noted above.

And if Iran is volatile, what would that make the United States?

We are a country which has begun two brutal wars in half a decade; we are a country led by a man who was originally thrust into the presidency after being out-voted by some 500,000 ballots; we are a country wherein a major city was ravaged while authorities idled. A wise man’s paradise for sure.

Iran is a nation on the verge of becoming a significant world power. It has much to gain, but it has far more to lose if it acts foolishly. Ali Khamanei knows this, Mahmoud Ahmadinejad knows this. The people of Iran, to whom the government is responsible, certainly know this.

If there is a “rogue state” to fear, it is our own, which reels and lashes out like a wounded animal as its empire unravels more and more with each new day.

-Phil Primeau

Freshman Political communication major