World's Smogiest Capitol City

[Perknose]

Teheran

TRAVELLERS flying into Tehran were recently denied their usual view of the sprawling metropolis and its majestic mountain backdrop. Instead they found themselves staring into a thick brown haze. Somewhere down in the murk a lot of old people and asthmatics were dying.

Shielded from the cleansing winds by the Alborz massif, teeming with cars and encircled by cement factories and power stations, Tehran has long been notorious for pollution, particularly during dry winters of still air such as this year’s. But air quality has recently been worse, for longer, than ever before. A Tehran city councillor recently claimed for his capital nothing less than a “new world record” in air pollution.

A leaked statistic from the health ministry said that 3,600 people had died from air pollution in Tehran in the first nine months of the year. At the peak of the latest crisis, hospital admissions were said to have risen by at least a third and the corridors of local clinics were full of wheezing old people and pregnant women waiting for oxygen.

For a while, the government of President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad gave an impression of concern. Schools were closed and the number of cars permitted to move around the city cut by half, while crop sprayers soared over the city centre in an effort to thin the aerial mush. Inspectors duly detected a slight improvement in air quality, but complaints from shopkeepers and bazaar traders soon became too loud to ignore, and the car restrictions were lifted. Three days later, on December 18th, public attention was distracted by Mr Ahmadinejad’s controversial subsidy reforms, which have sent the price of petrol and bread rocketing and brought the police onto the streets in case of disturbances.

The authorities insist they are determined to reduce the capital’s pollution. “This”, retorts a Tehrani, “is what they say every winter, and nothing gets done.” For a city serving 13m people, public transport is inadequate and the government twitchy about anything smacking of civil society. As a result, the country has so far had no effective green movement (as opposed to the opposition Green Movement, led by Mir Hosein Mousavi, who is widely believed to have defeated Mr Ahmadinejad in the presidential election of June 2009).

Official attitudes to cars are contradictory. On the one hand, Tehranis are encouraged to use the capital’s small and overloaded underground railway. On the other, the government, with its big stake in the car industry, relentlessly promotes car sales, even in Tehran, which already has 3.5m of them.

Ettelaat, a newspaper close to the establishment, recently suggested that the poor quality of Iranian-made petrol may explain the recent increase in pollution. That was a gaffe, for Iran’s declared self-sufficiency in petrol production has also been trumpeted as a source of national pride, which would be pricked if it were blamed for the deaths of hundreds of citizens. The next day, Ettelaat was contrite. “The great success of the sons of the people in producing high-quality petrol” ran its headline, over a picture of an Iranian refinery purring away under a flawless blue sky.

I hope to hell Iranians find a way to escape the Islamo-facist yoke of the mullahs, Mr. Dinnerjacket, and the Revolutionary Guards thugs in their employ.

 

[Albatross]

Iran could have been a developed country by now if it hadn't been for for the Revolution.Too bad many countries have wasted a large part of the 20th century on fantasies,either forced or by their own stupidity.

 

[dawp]

Iran could have been a developed country by now if it hadn't been for for the Revolution.Too bad many countries have wasted a large part of the 20th century on fantasies,either forced or by their own stupidity.

Look up operation ajax. That was a direct cause of the revolution in '79 and is something we did to them. We have no one else to blame for the current Iran except ourselves.

 

[Genx87]

Look up operation ajax. That was a direct cause of the revolution in '79 and is something we did to them. We have no one else to blame for the current Iran except ourselves.

Direct cause that happened nearly 30 years before? AJAX was a terrible decision but come on. Direct implies something that didnt take nearly 2 generations to occur.

 

[Thump553]

Impressive that they finished below Mexico City-that took some real effort. But where gas sells for pennies a gallon and there are essentially no environmental standards this is the natural result.

 

[JeffreyLebowski]

Look up operation ajax. That was a direct cause of the revolution in '79 and is something we did to them. We have no one else to blame for the current Iran except ourselves.

Yes, another poster that blames everyone's issues on America.
So Iran was made to be more friendly with the US/Western world, in the early 50's, then under it's own people's revolution to oust the Shah, they created their society as it is today. They are to blame. We just tried to bring civilty to the savages (and steal their oil) in the 50's.

 

[dawp]

Direct cause that happened nearly 30 years before? AJAX was a terrible decision but come on. Direct implies something that didnt take nearly 2 generations to occur.

Yes, another poster that blames everyone's issues on America.
So Iran was made to be more friendly with the US/Western world, in the early 50's, then under it's own people's revolution to oust the Shah, they created their society as it is today. They are to blame. We just tried to bring civilty to the savages (and steal their oil) in the 50's.

Who was installed as ruler by operation ajax and who was overthrown in the '79 revolution?

 

[Genx87]

Who was installed as ruler by operation ajax and who was overthrown in the '79 revolution?

26 years later? What part of what I said didnt sink in with you?

 

[Zebo]

Impressive that they finished below Mexico City-that took some real effort. But where gas sells for pennies a gallon and there are essentially no environmental standards this is the natural result.

Yeah but at least in Tehran you don't have to worry about getting waxed or kidnapped at any second. +1 for mullahs

 

[sandorski]

Yes, another poster that blames everyone's issues on America.
So Iran was made to be more friendly with the US/Western world, in the early 50's, then under it's own people's revolution to oust the Shah, they created their society as it is today. They are to blame. We just tried to bring civilty to the savages (and steal their oil) in the 50's.

Fail. He was 100% correct. Iranians may have traded one Dictatorial Yoke for another, but at least they had some Input into the one they currently have.

 

[Pocatello]

Yeah but at least in Tehran you don't have to worry about getting waxed or kidnapped at any second. +1 for mullahs

Kidnapping and intimidation are not done by drug mafia but by the government (The Basij militia members on motorbikes).

 

[dawp]

26 years later? What part of what I said didnt sink in with you?

if you're too dense to trace the link, that's not my fault.

 

[Pocatello]

Fail. He was 100% correct. Iranians may have traded one Dictatorial Yoke for another, but at least they had some Input into the one they currently have.

Yes, very true, the Iranians are the ones responsible for the current government. The current Iranian government still has the support of the majority. The educated people in the big cities may not like the current government, but the poor, uneducated class still support the mullahs. Most Iranians still support the Revolution which ousted the Shah, but many are questioning the power of the mullahs over their daily lives and government.

 

[jhu]

Wow. I would have thought 北京 would be at the top. I guess the 2008 Olympics helped just a smidgen.

 

[Genx87]

if you're too dense to trace the link, that's not my fault.

What link? You are taking two complicated points in history 26 years apart and drawing a line between the two and claiming one is completely responsible for the other action. Silly if you ask me. Life is much more complicated than that.

 

[dawp]

What link? You are taking two complicated points in history 26 years apart and drawing a line between the two and claiming one is completely responsible for the other action. Silly if you ask me. Life is much more complicated than that.

Do you think the '79 revolution would have happened if the Shah wasn't in power at the time? We did support him the whole time he was in power.

 

[JeffreyLebowski]

Fail. He was 100% correct. Iranians may have traded one Dictatorial Yoke for another, but at least they had some Input into the one they currently have.

You mean the dictator they have know that everyone knows stole the last election. You don't have input on who your dictator is. That's why they are dictators.

The only thing that is FAIL here is people like you that have no ability to think, only react emotionallyand like to shift blame.
Iran is a shit hole because of Iranians. Not Americans.

But I guess you are fine with Governments shooting women that march in peaceful protests.

 

[JeffreyLebowski]

Do you think the '79 revolution would have happened if the Shah wasn't in power at the time? We did support him the whole time he was in power.

If we hadn't put the Shah into power, Iran would have never had the ability or funding to move out of the 19th century. It would be a worse crap hole now than it is.

 

[sandorski]

You mean the dictator they have know that everyone knows stole the last election. You don't have input on who your dictator is. That's why they are dictators.

The only thing that is FAIL here is people like you that have no ability to think, only react emotionallyand like to shift blame.
Iran is a shit hole because of Iranians. Not Americans.

But I guess you are fine with Governments shooting women that march in peaceful protests.

Fail again.

 

[ElFenix]

Do you think the '79 revolution would have happened if the Shah wasn't in power at the time? We did support him the whole time he was in power.

i think that mullahs probably would have come to power had mossadegh not been removed by the US at the brit's proding. i don't think mossadegh was in a particularly untenuous position what with the ease he was removed. it probably would not have been the shah that was in power between mossadegh and the mullahs, as he was a rather meek guy that really didn't seem cut out to lead.

 

[Jaskalas]

If we hadn't put the Shah into power, Iran would have never had the ability or funding to move out of the 19th century. It would be a worse crap hole now than it is.

No nuclear weapons in the 19th century. Leaving them there would have been good.

 

[piasabird]

I guess some people missed the last round of elections (Joke) in Iran and how the votes are not even counted. The Mullahs just announce a winner they like. Of course this caused rioting in the streets. Do you think the people in Iran are happy they had a say in the running of their own country after all of that????

 

[Orignal Earl]

They should invest in a couple of nuclear power plants.