Born out of wedlock!
"Drop in birth rate troubles Iran leaders" by Thomas Erdbrink | New York Times June 08, 2014
Speaking of litter.
TEHRAN — In Iran, hospital delivery stays are now free, and women get longer maternity leaves. Reversing policies to control population growth, the government has canceled subsidies for condoms and birth control pills, and eliminated free vasectomies.
Billboards in the capital show a laughing father with five children riding a single tandem bicycle up a hill, leaving far behind an unhappy looking father with only one child. Those parents who have five children are now eligible for a $1,500 bonus, not that many here are likely to be tempted.
“When I see those, I wonder, how can that father even smile?” said Hadi Najafi, 25, an unemployed professional soccer player. He said he did not have the money to marry.
“Anybody with a lot of children is either very rich or very irresponsible,” Najafi said. “There is no other way.”
The demographic problem has also become entwined with Iran’s long-running conflict with the West over its nuclear program.
Who did that?
One of the leading sources of Iran’s economic troubles is the series of harsh Western economic sanctions imposed in recent years to punish Tehran for its suspected pursuit of a nuclear weapon and to bring it to the negotiating table.
Iran’s population policies have always been erratic. Though the population has doubled since 1979, most of the increase came in the years after the 1979 revolution, when sheer joy and hopes for a better future prompted many to have large families.
The government also pushed procreation as a patriotic gesture during the bloody Iran-Iraq war, which ended in 1988 at a cost of at least 300,000 Iranian lives.
A war in which the U.S. played both sides, and in which Henry Kissinger famously said, “It’s a pity they both can’t lose.” Looks to me like they both did.
The other part of that is the inference and analogy to Nazi Germany and the Soviet Union. Making women have kids!
***********
Fearing that the country’s economy would not be able to provide jobs for the growing number of young people — a situation with potentially explosive political repercussions — Iran’s more moderate clerics introduced a “fewer kids, better lives” campaign to bring down the birthrate. But the number of children per couple has now dwindled to 1.3, more typical of a developed, high-income country like Germany, which is spending heavily to increase its fertility rate, now 1.4.
Paradoxically, Iran has never had more people of reproductive age. A little less than 70 percent of the population of 77 million is younger than 35, with most of them living in or near cities and increasingly embracing urban culture.
Some women and human rights activists suspect that the drive for more children is also aimed at keeping them at home.
“It will make them more financially dependent on their husbands and the political system and prioritize the family’s well-being over women’s health and education, and will make women’s mobilization much more difficult,” said Azadeh Kharazi, a sociologist.
Somehow that is considering wrong?
Talk about being self-centered!
--more--"
WTF? The kid looks like he is diseased!
NYT couldn't find a better photograph?
Now I don't want to create a dust-up or anything, but Iranians appear willing and able:
"Turkey plans rail link with Iran as countries prepare for lifting of nuclear sanctions" by Selcan Hacaoglu | Bloomberg News June 10, 2014
ANKARA, Turkey — Iran and Turkey have moved to strengthen business ties as Hassan Rouhani, the first Iranian president to visit Turkey in 18 years, seeks to reengage his country in the world economy as sanctions ease.
Uh-oh.
The two governments reached agreement to link the railway network between the neighbors and improve cooperation in banking, Rouhani said Monday at a news conference with Turkish President Abdullah Gul.
Rouhani was accompanied on the trip by more than 100 business representatives, seven ministers, and central bank Governor Valiollah Seif, according to his Twitter account.
Although Iran and Turkey support opposing sides in Syria’s war, Gul hailed Rouhani’s visit ‘‘as a turning point in economic relations.’’ The two countries seek to double annual trade to $30 billion by 2015 in the event of ‘‘unfair’’ sanctions against Iran being lifted, Turkey’s Development Minister Cevdet Yilmaz said last week.
The prospect of a final nuclear accord between Iran and world powers is encouraging more governments and companies to prepare for a possible lifting of sanctions, which would unlock trade with the Persian Gulf’s most populous country.
US and Iranian officials are holding an extra round of meetings in Geneva to revive momentum in the push for an accord on Iran’s nuclear program.
The two sides met for five hours Monday and will reconvene Tuesday. The bilateral sessions were needed because ‘‘we are a critical juncture in the talks’’ and time is running short, State Department spokeswoman Marie Harf said in Washington.
US Deputy Secretary of State William J. Burns and Deputy National Security Adviser Jake Sullivan participated in the meetings in Geneva. They are trying to assess whether Iran is serious about reaching an accord to curb its nuclear program or stalling for time and seeking to weaken sanctions, said one official involved in the deliberations.
The drive toward a final accord with Iran stumbled at the latest round of talks with world powers in Vienna last month, endangering the progress made since November’s preliminary agreement. With that process due to resume next week, Tuesday’s additional meetings reflect growing urgency as the July 20 target for a deal nears.
World powers, led by the United States, agreed in November to ease some sanctions on Iran in return for curbs on the nuclear program.
--more--"
I gave you twins.
UPDATE: Zoroastrians go to Iran to celebrate faith
Make that triplets.
