Why does Reza Pahlavi get so much media attention?
Why does the mere mention of his name bring up so much lively debate on web sites, Internet chat rooms, Iranian TV and radio shows?
Why did people hail Reza Pahlavi as their leader during the recent disturbances in Iran?
Why is there a ban on the mention of the name of "Shah" in the Islamic Republic's press?
According to some of his critics Reza Pahlavi is a common unemployed suburban father, or as Elaine Sciolino of the New York Times claims a "footnote in history."

Other denouncers claim that Reza Pahlavi has a total of two to three thousand followers worldwide mostly composed of toothless balding octogenarian imperial generals and corrupt former courtiers in Paris, London and Los Angeles and is therefore "white noise" in Iranian political statistics.

Unlike most Iranians who generally first prepare the answers and then ask the questions, I have to admit that I do not know how many people would vote for Reza Pahlavi if there was a referendum held today nor do I claim to know the answer to some of the questions above.

It does however seem logical to assume that Reza Pahlavi has an important view point on Iranian politics if the CNN, the BBC, Newsweek, Washington Post, Wall Street Journal, the Guardian, the Independent, the Daily Telegraph and LeMonde interview him or write about him.

After all, Iran has a former president of the Islamic Republic, former prime ministers, heads of Marxist and Islamist guerilla organizations, leaders of the secular national front, followers of Bazargan, dismayed former revolutionary guards, radical supporters of Khatami all in exile and in opposition to the Islamic Republic.
Why are not they the subject of such intense scrutiny?
The typical Iranian answer is a variation of the all too familiar conspiracy theory.
The old CIA, Mossad, MI6 network is up to it again to have another 28th of Mordad.

On a saner note, even if such conspiracies did in fact exist, can the theorists come forward and explain why would the CIA select a man that they claim is a "has been" jet setter with no followers, tribe or army?
I think the rational possibility to explore is that Reza Pahlavi has a rather sizable constituency inside and outside Iran and his popularity is neither a foreign plot nor a passing trend but is caused by profound socio economic changes in Iran. This however raises other questions.
Was not there a genuine revolution in Iran where people overthrew the monarchy?
There is no question that we had a populist revolution in Iran with the specific aim of toppling the Pahlavi regime. This was no sinister plot of the British or the CIA.

There is however nothing noble or legitimizing about a revolution. Societies can make mistakes the same way that their components i.e. individuals make mistakes. Hitler, Mussolini and Stalin all came to power through popular revolutions with disastrous consequences for their societies.

The fact that the Iranian modern middle class threw in their lot with the Mollahs twenty-three years ago does not mean that the new generation has not learnt from the past and should be condemned to repeat their mistake and not change course.
Did not people turn out recently in millions to elect Khatami as their president? Continue

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