UPDATE 2015 GMT: Director Ashgar Farhadi's interview after the Oscars ceremony, including his assessment of the regime's reaction to his film's award:
In the real world the Green Movement is stalling because it brought too many from Farhadi's couple A and not enough from couple B on to its side. Not simply because there are way more Bs than As, but because couple A have stuff to fall back on (potential for emigration, material wealth to cash in moment of crisis) and couple B have only faith and an apparently endless ability for suffering.
Khamenei and Ahmadinejad both overestimate the reliability of this power base. This couple and this class are also capable of unravelling under pressure.
Monday, February 27, 2012 at 7:38