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WHAT THE WORLD

Iranian Man Divorces Wife For Using Instagram, Remarries ... Happens Again!

Iranian Man Divorces Wife For Using Instagram, Remarries ... Happens Again!

TEHRAN — An Iranian man who divorced his first wife over her "secretive" use of Instagram is now ending his second marriage for the same reason.

Tehran-based Shargh daily cited the anonymous man from an unnamed city as admitting he had a "good life" with his first wife, until he found she was on Instagram without his knowing.

The Shargh article of May 6 reported that the discovery of the social media activity, and subsequent divorce, left the man "in shock for a few months ... I came to hate online networks."

After meeting his current wife, he said she agreed to marry under his stated condition that she avoid all social media. He told the daily, "We had no differences," until his wife "broke all her promises. She once told me she would like to open an Instagram page. I reminded her she was not allowed to do that." She did anyway, and after noticing "suspicious behavior," the man used a friend's Instagram account to find hers. The man said he would end this marriage too as his wife "had made me distrust her."

Twice the wives made their choice.

Azar Hadipur, a family counselor working with police in the province of Qazvin to the west of Tehran, told the newspaper that social networks had affected "practically all societies in recent years' and their "misuse" was harming couples. She suggested families shouldn't necessarily shun these platforms, but learn to use them properly.

Divorce law in the Islamic Republic of Iran are based on Sharia, and a woman can only seek divorce with a judge's order, while a man can get divorce by declaring it verbally. Estimates are that some 20% of Iranian marriages end in divorce. In the case of this one husband, twice a wife had to choose between him and social media. And twice, the wives made their choice. One is left asking: Is it social media, or the husband?

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Geopolitics

Why The World Still Needs U.S. Leadership — With An Assist From China

Twenty years of costly interventions and China's economic ascent have robbed the United States of its global supremacy. It is time for the two biggest powers to work together, to help the world.

Photograph of Chinese President Xi Jinping and U.S. President Joe Biden walking side by side in the Filoli Estate in the U.S. state of California​

Nov. 15, 2023: Chinese President Xi Jinping and U.S. President Joe Biden take a walk after their talks in the Filoli Estate in the U.S. state of California

Xinhua/ZUMA
María Ángela Holguín*

-Analysis-

BOGOTÁ — The United States is facing a complex moment in its history, as it loses its privileged place in the world. Since the Second World War, it has been the world's preeminent power in economic and political terms, helping rebuild Europe after the war and through its growing economy, aiding the development of a significant part of the world.

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Its model of democracy, long considered exemplary around the world, has gone through a rough patch, thanks to excessive polarization and discord. This has cost it a good deal of its leadership, unity and authority.

How much authority does it have to chide certain countries on democracy, as it does, after such outlandish incidents as the assault on Congress in January 2021? The fights we have seen over electing a new speaker of the House of Representatives or backing the administration's foreign policy are simply incredible.

In Ukraine's case, President Biden failed to win support for the aid package for which he was hoping, even if there is a general understanding that if Russia wins this war, Europe's stability would be at risk. It would mean the victory of a longstanding enemy.

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