The Death Spiral of the Islamic Republic

Pajamas Media ^ | July 24 | Michael Ledeen

[AJKauf]

There’s always a certain fascination watching tyrannies coming unstuck, and the convulsions of the Iranian regime are more colorful than most, as you’d expect from such a rich and ancient culture, and from such clever and imaginative people, who specialize in illusion. Last Friday all these qualities were on display in Tehran, at a central mosque where Hashemi Rafsanjani was preaching to the faithful. As you know by now, there were millions of people in and around the mosque, and at a certain point, in a scene that would have delighted Fellini, the two sides faced off in a chanting contest. The pro-regime crowd shouted “Death to America!” And the people responded, “Death to Russia!” Then came “Death to Britain, Death to Israel!.” And the reply: “Death to China.”

Which pretty much sums up the contemporary strategic landscape, enacted in a Persian morality play in front of a mosque in Tehran. I rather think the actors understand the stakes better than we do, for they know that the Russians and Chinese are encouraging the mullahs to emulate the repression in Chechnya and Sinjiang, while blaming the actions of pro-freedom dissidents on “outside forces,” most notably the United States. The Iranians know that a victory by the regime will be understood as a terrible defeat of America, while the fall of the regime will likely reignite the democratic revolution that toppled Soviet Communism and other nasty dictatorships from the South Pole to Siberia.

It’s high drama, and the Iranians, on both sides, understand the stakes....

[frithguild]

[PGR88]

On the positive side, the Mullah’s are doing a fine job of destroying the morale and will of their own people and splitting their country. A few more years of this (obviously, without nukes, which must be taken out) and they will have neutered themselves and the shiite religion for a long time to come.

[GraceG]

Once the people there are finally able to throw the tyrants out I can only hope that the oppression against the Zoroastrians and the Baha’i end.

[Oldpuppymax]

And of course our Hussein doesn’t want to meddle!

[tbw2]

I read an interesting article a few months ago that Iran has as much drug use as China after the opium wars - but never had an opium war - and as much prostitution as Russia did after its Communist government collapsed - but it had not collapsed at the time. And for a Muslim nation with a large rural population, it was a demographic surprise with 2.1 kids per woman. ObamaCare Jokes Obama Jokes