Iran’s new president; US political media mystery
Iran’s new president
“Iran’s New President Promises Changes. Can He Deliver?”
“Masoud Pezeshkian, a widowed doctor, portrays himself as a reformer who can bring social and economic shifts.” “He has portrayed himself as a modern leader for a new era in Iran, a religious man who considered his wife an equal partner when she was alive.”
He “has sought to come across not as a disrupter but as a more pragmatic fixer.” To be a fixer though, he “will have to bargain with Mr. Khamenei.”
He is “Iran’s most credentialed president” with the academic background and foreign-language fluency–and training in Harvard. He was also a student activist during the revolution and a volunteer surgeon during the Iran-Iraq war.
In a column, he described his foreign policy as ‘opportunity-driven.’ The ties with China and Russia are emphasized; the cooperation with Europe is open; but wouldn’t back down to the US pressure. (in an optimistic interpretation, the last one would be more of face-saving?)
Critics say his reform agendas are limited against the deeply entrenched Iranian establishment.
BOA problems
“Bank of America profits fall as it pushes up provision for bad loans”
“BofA’s profits fell 7 per cent to $6.9bn, [though] a smaller drop than the 10 per cent analysts had projected.” Their “interest income fell for the third quarter in a row” despite the growth in other areas of Wall Street activities.
In essence, an indicator showing “strain of higher rates on banks and borrowers”
Not news: bothsidesism mystery
It is really a great mystery (and thus pure pain to me who’s too partisan and emotionally invested to remain a simple bystander) as to how bothsidesism is prevalent in the election year mainstream news media in the United States and beyond. I can only conjecture that the real culprit is the desk given that the contents aren’t as extremely normalizing the far-right as the titles and images. Nonetheless, the extent to which the media avoid confronting the apparent anti-democratic and rule-breaking aspect of the American far right is mind-boggling.