Protest Special: Why Tunisia Can But Iran Can't (Eshraghi)

The surprising rapidity with which Tunisians unseated President Zine el-Abidin Ben Ali has been watched keenly in Iran, not least by the political opposition known as the Green Movement.

As Iranian blogs and Facebook messages abound with the punning phrase, “Tounes tounes, Iran na-tounes” –-- meaning “Tunisia could, Iran couldn’t” --- there has also been sober reflection on why this was the case; why the massive protests that followed the disputed presidential election of June 2009 came to nothing in the end.

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