Truculent, xenophobic Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad continues his game plan for repealing the last millennium. He has now banned all Western music, including classical, from Iran’s state radio and TV stations.
All this does, however, is underscore the Islamic Republic’s commitment to hypocrisy. This is no Talibanned-in-Tehran. Behind the closed doors of the well-off and influential, the liquor still flows, the fashions still reflect Western taste and satellite dish owners still receive entertainment from outside the Muslim cloister.