*SCALPSWINGSTRADDLE*

[oldberkeley]

I have a few Persian friends also. There was a steady exodus out of Iran by the middle and upper classes during the Shah's time (basically any family who could afford to go and didn't work directly for the government) which only intensified after the revolution.

It drains a nation of it's most valuable resource, even more valuable than oil. It's a common pattern in many places like Iran, and partly the cause of their current problems.