The potato revolution continues
Writing on ForeignPolicy.com late last month, analyst Mehrzad Boroujerdi described Mir-Hossein Mousavi’s Iranian election campaign as something of a potato revolution: [P]otatoes, it seems, have everything to do with the Iranian elections this year. Ramping up the public distribution of potatoes, along with a wide range of other government subsidies and alms, has become Ahmadinejad’s ...
Writing on ForeignPolicy.com late last month, analyst Mehrzad Boroujerdi described Mir-Hossein Mousavi's Iranian election campaign as something of a potato revolution:
[P]otatoes, it seems, have everything to do with the Iranian elections this year. Ramping up the public distribution of potatoes, along with a wide range of other government subsidies and alms, has become Ahmadinejad's preferred strategy for buying votes. While the Western world has focused on the incumbent's inflammatory statements about the Holocaust and his confrontationist nuclear policy, his domestic critics have focused their ire on his flawed economic remedies and populist demagogy, in addition to his erratic diplomatic style. Hence, potatoes, and the surprise return of Mousavi, a man little known outside Iran.
Writing on ForeignPolicy.com late last month, analyst Mehrzad Boroujerdi described Mir-Hossein Mousavi’s Iranian election campaign as something of a potato revolution:
[P]otatoes, it seems, have everything to do with the Iranian elections this year. Ramping up the public distribution of potatoes, along with a wide range of other government subsidies and alms, has become Ahmadinejad’s preferred strategy for buying votes. While the Western world has focused on the incumbent’s inflammatory statements about the Holocaust and his confrontationist nuclear policy, his domestic critics have focused their ire on his flawed economic remedies and populist demagogy, in addition to his erratic diplomatic style. Hence, potatoes, and the surprise return of Mousavi, a man little known outside Iran.
Well, Mousavi looks to agree. Speaking at a rally today, an observer’s twitter feed reports him saying:
These masses were not brought by bus or by threat. They were not brought for potatoes. They came themselves.”
Potatoes, it seems, just don’t buy what they used to in Iran… and I doubt revolution was the purchase that Ahmadinejad had in mind.
Elizabeth Dickinson is International Crisis Group’s senior analyst for Colombia.
More from Foreign Policy


Lessons for the Next War
Twelve experts weigh in on how to prevent, deter, and—if necessary—fight the next conflict.


It’s High Time to Prepare for Russia’s Collapse
Not planning for the possibility of disintegration betrays a dangerous lack of imagination.


Turkey Is Sending Cold War-Era Cluster Bombs to Ukraine
The artillery-fired cluster munitions could be lethal to Russian troops—and Ukrainian civilians.


Congrats, You’re a Member of Congress. Now Listen Up.
Some brief foreign-policy advice for the newest members of the U.S. legislature.