October 25, 2006: The major industrial countries cannot agree on a list of sanctions to be imposed on Iran. Meanwhile, Iran says it will ignore any sanctions, or maybe even retaliate. Iran remains confident that its trading partners, China and Russia, will continue to provide diplomatic and economic support. Russia can supply any weapons technology Iran might want.
October 23, 2006: About a fifth of the population lives below the poverty line (which is quite low in Iran), and at least 200,000 workers, in fifty different enterprises, have not been paid for months. The government has mismanaged the economy since the religious dictatorship was established two decades ago. But the clerics refuse to reform, or allow democracy. Increasingly, the clerics try to blame all the problems on foreigners.
October 21, 2006: President Ahmadinejad threatened the West with more terror attacks if they did not stop their support for Israel. The same punishment has been threatened if the West tries to impose more sanctions on Iran.
October 20, 2006: About ten percent of the population now has access to the Internet. But what really frightens the government is the availability of wideband access, and the downloading of music and video files. The government has tried to keep Western media out of the country by banning satellite dishes, and is now trying to choke off the Internet connection.
