Word: westernism
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Dates: during 1970-1979
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Thus the Shi'ite leaders felt threatened when the Shah set out to create a Western-style nation in the 20th century mold. He called his campaign the White (for bloodless) Revolution. Later it was renamed the Shah-People's Revolution, but changing the name did not prevent the inevitable clash of cultures...
...rule it out. Moscow maintains a diplomatic mission in Tehran that is far bigger than that of the U.S. Intelligence officials assume that the Soviet embassy and consular offices provide cover for large numbers of KGB operatives. What is Moscow's aim? "From the Soviet standpoint," says one Western official, "the game here is pretty simple: worse is better. The Shah is their enemy, and anybody who opposes him is to be supported." Adds a former U.S. diplomat: "If you were in the Kremlin, you would say to yourself, what do we do? You strike at the most vulnerable point...
...this infiltration is Abdul Reza Hejazi, Khomeini's associate in Tehran. Himself a mullah of considerable fame, Hejazi spent two years in prison for the crime of receiving a letter from Khomeini and answering it. He stresses that despite accusations to the contrary, the mullahs are not opposed to Western advances in science, medicine and education for Iran. "Islamic civilization and Western civilization can and should merge in order to create a better civilization for all. What we are against from the West is its colonialism in all its shapes and sizes...
Much of the trouble stemmed from the fact that commercial projects were designed by a small group of Western-educated technocrats, who failed to take into account the profound effect that such changes would have on the Persian psyche. Housing projects, for example, are depressing to most Iranians, whose tradition demands an architectural style that emphasizes seclusion and privacy. Many residents of such projects feel as though they are living in public view, and they detest it. Tehran Sociologist Ehsan Naraghi, who received his doctorate from the Sorbonne, believes that under the pressure of economic development there has been...
...they pose for the West. The Administration has been careful not to upset what one State Department official calls "our most complex relationship." The reason is simple enough: few countries in the world are as important to the U.S. strategically and geopolitically. This is because of Iran's pro-Western stance, its location on the Soviet border, its relations with its important but far less stable neighbors, and its moderating role in the Middle East. The Shah is, in short, a bulwark of anti-Communism at the confluence of the Persian Gulf oil routes (see following story...