Iranian Fundmentalism Leading To Secularism

The brother of Iran's President is warning the hardliners of Iran that their violent and oppressive fundamentalism increasingly pushing the country towards secularism.

Of course it is. People don't want to live in fear or under the oppressive thumb of a thugocracy. People may be ok with a government based on Islamic ideals, so long as they have rights beyond being virtual servants of the state.

"The constitution is certainly not perfect and needs some updating but still the same constitution could be used as a basis for democracy in Iran if the laws would really be respected and not be individually be interpreted and misused in the name of Islam," Khatami said.

That statement by Khatami almost seems reasonable. I believe that, more than anything else however, it points towards a reformist pressure building in Iran - one that the hardliners cannot contain anymore. The student protests earlier this year really seem to have placed in motion a series of events that are slowly, but inexorably, leading to the eventual downfall of the hardline Iranian regime.

I think now the question is no longer whether the Iranian regime will fall, but what type of government will fill the resulting vacuum? Will it be a true democracy? A republic? A monarchy? Or simply another variation of an Islamic thugocracy?

Only time will tell, but time is running out.