My father was an acquaintance of the Shah, and a friend of his Minister of Finance (I have some good stories) and the changes that have occurred since that time were incredible. It is not the 'Muslim' part that changed, it is the social culture that switched from modern to 'fundamentalist'.

If the religious fundamentalists gained control of the US, one could imagine this happening to us but with a Christian theme. Happily, we have so internalized the culture of racial and gender realization that it would be more difficult than in a country that was still, as jimjj put it, "near stone age".

Jan

Should be "...Persian nation and 98% Muslim in 1956 UN census...".

I'm curious why you would say that. The Shah of Iran had a prosperous country with a modern population. It was the Ayatollah and his bassackward ideology that inserted itself into an Arab nation (not islamic) and reverted that country to the 7C. Are you suggesting that modernizing, raising the standard of living, of millions of his people by selling his resources caused all of this islamic terrorism?

The power-hungry happened and the inherent contradictions in the Koran happened. All the atrocities that have occurred and will occur are justifiable therein.

Precisely what the Atillas of the world will never allow. We are in an existential battle with one arm tied behind us. The bastard currently residing in the White House will scorch the earth rather than give up on his progressive "legacy".

Oil and the American dollar happened!

What the hell happened? No one could make that speech today.

I traveled through Pakistan, Afghanistan, Iran and Turkey in the spring of 1968 and all were delightful places to visit. I must say, I loved the "near stone age" of Afghanistan, but the people were friendly and fun. Sad........

well, if you look at the timeframe-seems like knowledge and ideas could turn things around!

Iran wasn't always so ass backwards either. I had family friends who worked for Grumman in Iran and got out by the skin of their teeth. Talk about being pulled into the muck and mire. Agreed, that man and anyone who laughed in that crowd would be publicly executed today.

It's been many moons since my undergrad course in modern Middle East history. There has always been a disconnect to what we've seen for the past 25 years and what I read from primary sources 100 years ago. This vid fits my previous understanding, and it's enjoyable. The dood would be beheaded in heartbeat nowadays.