Word: westly
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Dates: during 2000-2009
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...During more than a week in Iran, I interviewed as many people who admired Ahmadinejad as were appalled by him. On election day at the Hossein Ershad Mosque in north Tehran, I spoke with Ismail Askari, the head of the taxi drivers' union in the city of Malard, just west of Tehran. He was a Mousavi supporter, but he admitted, "Most of the people in my cab have been happy with the present government...
...ultimate journalistic cliché to quote a cabdriver, I can't resist this one: on the Saturday before the election, I attended a large and metaphoric Mousavi rally - someone had cut the electricity, so the candidate couldn't speak - in the city of Kharaj, about an hour west of Tehran. The cabbie who drove us back to Tehran said his parents were divided on the election. "My mother supports Mousavi, and my father supports Ahmadinejad," he said. "I was uncertain until I saw them debate. Ahmadinejad seemed stronger. I don't think I would want Mousavi negotiating with other governments...
...Tehran Tiananmen? The harsh language used by Ahmadinejad and the Revolutionary Guards to describe opposition protests - and their invoking of the specter of an Eastern European-style "velvet revolution" backed by the West - appeared to be generating a narrative that would justify a bloody crackdown, a massive use of military force that would terrify the opposition into submission. Clearly the limited violence unleashed by the Ahmadinejad camp thus far has failed to intimidate Mousavi and his supporters. But while it would almost certainly empty the streets, the "nuclear option" of a Tiananmen Square-style crackdown would be a potentially fatal...
...cramped, but fans will find the bordello red curtains, shisha-smoking rooms and irreverent menu essentially unchanged. Another French Quarter landmark forced to close was the perennially popular Emperor. The owners recently opened a fresh venture, the Mandarin, tel: (84-4) 3719 1168, on the banks of West Lake. Though the new venue lacks the imperial dining ambiance of the original, patrons can still sample some of the old Emperor's signature dishes...
...delightful addition to West Lake is the Love Chocolate Café, tel: (84-4) 2243 2120, plugging a gap in the market for decadent Western desserts, heart-shaped cookies, cayenne-pepper-espresso brownies and the like. But perhaps the most telling opening - in terms of the area's newfound cachet - is that of the Intercontinental West Lake, tel: (84-4) 6270 8888. The hotel has three smart restaurants - a French bistro, an Italian restaurant and one that serves Vietnamese-Chinese cuisine - as well as a bar set on its own island in the lake. Only the prices are hard...