Teaching Comparative Government and Politics

Tuesday, August 07, 2007

Weak regime, strong state

These actions may be signs of a weak regime, but it's a regime still in control of the power of power of the state. Whether its exercise of those powers strengthens the regime or weakens it is still open to question.

Reformist paper closed by Iran for second time

"Authorities in Iran closed down the country's leading reformist newspaper yesterday in the latest stage of an offensive against President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad's opponents in the media.

"Shargh, which has been critical of Mr Ahmadinejad, was ordered to shut after running an interview with an anti-regime poet last Saturday...

"Shargh's editor, Ahmad Gholami, suggested that Saturday's interview was merely an excuse for the latest closure. 'Publication of an interview is not a plausible justification for banning a newspaper,' he said.

"Ham Mihan, a moderate newspaper, and ILNA, a trade union-linked news agency, were closed last month. Twenty-seven MPs recently wrote to Mr Ahmadinejad complaining about official filtering of news-based websites. They also urged him to ease the confrontational approach towards critical media."



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