Hardline Fundamentalists claim decisive victory in Persian elections

[monkspider]

Originally posted by Shi Huangdi
And by the way, Iran refers to the geographic name of the area. Persia refers to the dominant ethnic group, the Persians, but there are ethnic minorities. Persia is a racist name to call the country.

Good one Shi, I'll bite.
I suppose, Russia, Germany, France, and so forth are racist names as well, no?

[Ramo]

And by the way, Iran refers to the geographic name of the area. Persia refers to the dominant ethnic group, the Persians, but there are ethnic minorities. Persia is a racist name to call the country.

You have it backwards. Iran (as in Aryan) refers to the ethnic group of Indo-Europeans that settled in "Persia" and surrounding areas. Persia (as in Persis or Pars) refers to a geographic region.

[Giant_Squid]

I find Iran more helpful because it allows one to differentiate between ancient Persia (which was totally different and a much bigger area) and...well...Iran. But my real reason for posting is this random comment on the pressingly important matter of Iran's name:

"I think we should take Iraq and Iran and combine them into one country and call it Irate. All the pissed off people live in one place and get it over with."
--Denis Leary

[Gatekeeper]

Originally posted by Seeker
I had hoped the "Persian" youth would stay in their idealistic mode a little longer....if they just make the jump straight to Western style cyniscism and decadence with no intervening period of idealism they won't gain anything.

Yeah, they don't even have a representative government yet. They gotta have that for a century or two before they're allowed to become decadent and stop voting in droves.

Gatekeeper

[Felch]

Originally posted by Shi Huangdi
And by the way, Iran refers to the geographic name of the area. Persia refers to the dominant ethnic group, the Persians, but there are ethnic minorities. Persia is a racist name to call the country.

And would Turkey be Anatolia or Asia Minor.

I like Asia Minor. It's demeaning. Puts a barbaric country in its place.

[Shi Huangdi]

Originally posted by Felch X


And would Turkey be Anatolia or Asia Minor.

I like Asia Minor. It's demeaning. Puts a barbaric country in its place.

If they refuse to cooperate with the war, maybe we should switch their name to that on the map

Ramo: You are wrong. The region is the Iranian plateau. Persian is an ethnic group

http://www.cia.gov/cia/publications/factbook/geos/ir.htm

Persian 51%, Azeri 24%, Gilaki and Mazandarani 8%, Kurd 7%, Arab 3%, Lur 2%, Baloch 2%, Turkmen 2%, other 1%

monkspider: "I suppose, Russia, Germany, France, and so forth are racist names as well, no?"

I think was admirable of them to change their country's name so it doesn't indicate supremacy of one of the ethnic groups.

[Felch]

Damnit, I can't get a rise out of BD to save my life.

[Ramo]

Ramo: You are wrong. The region is the Iranian plateau. Persian is an ethnic group

Look at the etymology. The state Persia adopted Iran as an assertion of nationalism. Iran is derived from Aryan. Persia's etymology is connected to the city Persis and the province Pars. It could be that there's a backlash against tying people to being "Aryans" due to the Nazis' use of the word, etc., but this is history.

[The Mad Monk]

I thought both Iran and Iraq together are Persia.

[Spiffor]

Aren't Iraqis mostly Arabs ?

[Spiffor]

Originally posted by obiwan18
And Khomeini increases personal luxuries to 60%, and the people incite, "we love the Ayatollah day."

NO revolution, and trade increases to Democratic levels.

You're right, I forgot this. I need to play Civ2 from time to time I guess

[uh Clem]

Dubya prefers Persia, because he's never been able to understand why Iraq is sometimes spelled with a q and sometimes with an n.

[chequita guevara]

Let's just call them the Safavids!

[Berzerker]

MtG -

Khomeini's fundies started operating in Iraq the moment Khomeini seized power, and that was one of the main reasons Saddam attacked Iran - Iraqi officials assassinated, sedition in the mosques, etc.

Can you clarify this? I read Iraq was still fuming over having to give up a waterway in southern Iraq to Iran under the Shah back in 1975 to get the Iranians to stop supporting a Kurdish rebellion. The land "grant" from Iraq to Iran effectively shut off Iraq's access to the Persian Gulf.

[Az]

I think was admirable of them to change their country's name so it doesn't indicate supremacy of one of the ethnic groups

"France" not indicating the supremacy of an ethnic group? I always thought it came from "Franks"... All the rest are just ways to bring the country together, like "What we have in common".