Posted on 01/02/2018 9:10:29 AM PST by pgkdan
Unlike his predecessor, President Trump is siding with the Iranian people.
Once again, the Iranian people are rejecting their authoritarian government and repressive rule by the mullahs. The president of Iran, Hassan Rouhani, is also losing support, according to sources at the Rand Corporation. In recent days the Iranians have demonstrated in Tehran and other major cities such as Mashad and Kermanshah to protest food prices and unemployment. Some demonstrators have been shot and remarkably, there are reports of cries of “death to Khameini,” the cleric who is Iran’s supreme leader.
But this time, unlike during the Obama Administration, the White House and Department of State have expressed clear support for the Iranian people. While it is too early to form conclusions, it is possible that we are witnessing the beginning of the collapse of the Iranian theocracy. Now is the time for the United States to communicate directly to the Iranian people, calling for regime change, and promising a new rapprochement with a secular, moderate government — and assistance for the Iranian economy.
Reacting quickly with marketing instinct, President Trump voiced initial support for the demonstrators, referring to the diversion of national assets to conduct terrorism, and stating that “the world is watching.” In an uncharacteristically blunt statement, the Department of State also proclaimed, “Iran’s leaders have turned a wealthy country with a rich history and culture into an economically depleted rogue state whose chief exports are violence, bloodshed, and chaos…” On Monday, President Trump launched a Twitter attack, stating that “it is time for a change… Along with human rights, the wealth of Iran is being looted.” He has also announced that “Iran is failing…”
(Excerpt) Read more at spectator.org ...
Make Persia Great Again.
Sounds like what Democratic Mayors and Governors do.
Unless the military and “Revolutionary Guard” turn on the government this is all going to be for naught.
#thinkyouknowwhatyouaretalkingaboutagain
Unconfirmed reports on Twitter suggest exactly that — some military/police units are refusing to fire on the protesters, and are instead joining them.
So, we shall see...
Too soon to tell but the collapse of the Democratocracy ...
Iran is too important to China to be allowed to be unstable.
There will be reforms, not revolution.
The Great Game enters a new phase- the “One Belt”. US and China mostly with common goals there.
Yup. Without a Second Amendment these folks will be sitting ducks for the security forces. Just like Tiananmen Square.
I recall this happening several yrs. ago
A poll was taken of the people.
Don’t get too excited.
The people said Iran should be a nuclear power.
IOW don’t expect a nuclear policy change if the Islamic government is toppled.
Last time this happened they ended up with the Ayatola and the mullas. Maybe the sane people of Iran have had enough of that BS.
Death to the Mullahs!
The Basiji?
“Maybe the sane people of Iran have had enough of that BS.”
My engineering college dean brought in the Iranian student dissident leaders to address his senior seminar class. It was a mind boggling event. They spoke with conviction that the CIA controlled the Shah’s secret police, the NY Times, virtually everything. I had dealt with delusional people before, but these guys didn’t have anything technically wrong with them. They didn’t have the weird gait or strange eye movements. They believed what they were saying was true, not because they had something metabolically wrong with them, but because they somehow perceived a world where magical, illogical things happened.
After that I felt so sorry for Carter, who was then dealing with the Iranian hostage crisis. Carter couldn’t conceive of anybody who viewed the reality the Iranians saw. The only answer then was to beat the living hell out of them as there was no common ground to find.
Why should we assist the Iranian economy? We’re trillions in debt.
Iran has had a hand in Syria, Iraq, Yemen and ISIS, DT’s military has handed them a sound defeat in a few short months. If they know what’s good for them they will side with the people.
This has the potential to be a complete game changer in the middle east. The thing is would Russia just stand by and let a moderate secular government arise out of the ashes? There are so many variables here that it is impossible to state what will happen.
At the very least, I would think with increasing instability in Iran, it could be the deciding factor in Iraq turning towards us. This is what I had hoped would happen in 2009, an indigenous revolution within Iran. Unlike some other areas such as Somalia and Afghanistan, the Iranian people are not a bunch of backwards 12th century religious fanatics. They are an educated people and could do well in a secular state.
As I said before, there are so many variables, for one their nuke program. If the country falls into chaos, do we work with Russia and others to get in there and secure their fissionable material? We cannot just let that stay there with the possibility of another crazy coming to power.
Yes, it certainly does. I suspect that a complete removal of radical Islam from the Iranian government might be too much to hope for but any serious blow to state level support for the militant Islamic armies in the middle east would be a huge improvement. The Saudis would appear to agree.
War has impoverished empires before. The enormous transfer of gold from the New World to the Spanish Empire in the 16th century never even got them anything other than broke because they simply could not cease military expansionism. That is nothing - nothing - compared to the transfer of oil wealth to the Saudis and the Iranians in the last half of the 20th century and look what they have to show for it. This is about far more than "the price of eggs" as one dismissive comment on FR put it - it's about an entire nation co-opted to theocratic vanity and thoroughly tired of it. I can only wish them the best of luck, because they're going to need it.
Revolutionary Guard. Paramilitary militia. Key to suppressing opposition. If they are turning, this is big positive news.
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