The west was involved in toppling the Mossadegh government. That ultimately led to the Iranian revolution.
Interpretation
The involvement of Western powers in Iran's political affairs can have long-lasting consequences.
Salman Rushdie's quote reflects on the significant role that Western intervention played in the political landscape of Iran, particularly in the overthrow of Prime Minister Mohammad Mossadegh. This action set off a chain of events that culminated in the Iranian Revolution, illustrating how foreign interference can destabilize governments and lead to unforeseen and revolutionary changes in a nation.
In practice
In a discussion about international relations, one might cite this quote to emphasize the ripple effects of foreign interventions.
I've been fascinated by Machiavelli since I was very young. I've always felt that he had a bad rap from history, and that he was actually a person quite unlike what we now think of as Machiavellian. He was a republican. He disliked totalitarian government.
Killing people because you don't like their ideas - it's a bad thing.
faith without doubt is addiction
I am clearly vulnerable to these more passionate and volatile unstable relationships. I am trying to not be so vulnerable.
In India, as elsewhere in our darkening world, religion is the poison in the blood. Where religion intervenes, mere innocence is no excuse. Yet we go on skating around this issue, speaking of religion in the fashionable language of 'respect.' What is there to respect in any of this, or in any of the crimes now being committed almost daily around the world in religion's dreaded name?
Reality is a question of perspective; the further you get from the past, the more concrete and plausible it seems - but as you approach the present, it inevitably seems more and more incredible.
In our political system, money is power. And that means a few can have a lot more power than the rest. That's bad news for everyone else - and for our democracy itself.
The Prime Minister has an absolute genius for putting flamboyant labels on empty luggage.
[Y]ou will understand the game behind the curtain too well not to perceive the old trick of turning every contingency into a resource for accumulating force in the government.
America's government is not even aware of the gap between its commitments and action, because almost nobody in authority understands the actions that would be needed to meet the commitments.
First of all, the world criticizes American foreign policy because Americans criticize American foreign policy. We shouldn't be surprised about that. Criticizing government is a God-given right - at least in democracies.
If you don't have 30 years to devote to social policy, don't get involved.
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