May 25, 2010

Ahmadinejad was in Khorramshahr to commemorate a victory, but ...



And to think that it was meant to be a rousing speech of national pride, a speech to commemorate the liberation of the south-western city of Khorramshahr after an 18-month occupation, at the time of the Iraq-Iran war. But the Iranian president, Mahmoud Ahmadinejad, experienced a very different atmosphere: instead of the usual government-approved cries of God is Great, and Death to America, he was greeted by hundreds shouting at the top of their voices, “Unemployment! Unemployment!”

Iran’s economy, in fact, is suffering double-digit inflation and the official jobless rate stands at 11 percent. But the actual number of people looking for jobs is believed to be almost two times larger.