Sadly, the Iranian protesters have NO chance of changing anything. Even if they topple the regime, something as bad or worse will take over. We saw the same result throughout the "Arab Spring."
They need alternative ideas to government being involved in every aspect of their lives, but we don't even have those ideas in the mainstream in the West, and our own political systems are steadily moving to become more like Iran.
Until we address the crisis of expertise in politics things can only move in the wrong direction.
Great that you brought that up. Actually, the most viable alternative (Reza Pahlavi) is exceptionally good and liberal. His team put out a detailed transition plan for Iran in Farsi and English that I highly recommend (look up Iran Prosperity Project pdf).
I was skeptical too, but they've really got it down. The fact that it's written by a group of Western educated laywers and political scientists shows that we know how to set up a good government--we just lack the will to implement.
And of course, Trump does not respect Reza Pahlavi because he is a compassionate liberal. If he were an authoritarian like Erdogan, Trump would've installed him already.
Iran, like the rest of the Middle East, is full of low iq cousin fuckers. The Arab spring, the Iraq war, none of it worked and can never work. If you overthrew your government tomorrow it would be replaced with something else crap.
If you’ve got talent and belong to a shit race your best bet is to abandon them. Just move to the west and become western as best you can. Leave the trash to rot.
We get things like this dumb Iran war because we don’t accept racism and realize this is what the Middle East is always going to be like.
The one good thing to come of this is that sanctions will end, which will stop causing people to be poorer for no good reason. If Iran gets a nuke it will be just like North Korea or Pakistan having a nuke, it will be subject to MAD like every other nuclear power. And if they decide one day to use it that’s a big problem for Israel but not us.
Lastly, you are very ungrateful and pathetic for blaming us for not solving your problems for you. Go write another white paper, lol. I want nothing to do with you or your country.
Thank you so much for writing this. First, I want to say I'm deeply saddened by how the Iranian people have suffered, ashamed of what the United States has done in Iran especially these past months, and wish for the fall of the Islamic Republic so that Iranians can have the chance to pursue their own democratic aspirations.
It explains a concept we call Erosion Recognition Lag--which is delayed realization about authoritarian changes in US governance, particularly by international democracy aspirants who would have historically looked to the US as a beacon of freedom. It forecasts likely tragic consequences for continuing to look to this US government for democratic solidarity. I think it may help answer the question you've posed: How is it possible that the world's strongest military power failed to topple a decapitated regime that does not even have support from its own people?
No small part of the answer to why the US has behaved this way toward people who only want freedom is, sadly, that this is not the same United States as the one we grew up admiring. In the time you've been here, scholars have documented how the US has undergone significant democratic erosion. And over the past year and a half especially, that has looked increasingly like authoritarian consolidation. Literally as Iranians were calling for US government intervention, masked US security forces were killing American protesters in the streets of Minneapolis. This same government captured Maduro but left his murderous regime in place in Venezuela in order to extract oil. These are not the actions of a democracy trying to spread freedom. Rather, they are indicative of an authoritarian-leaning government pursuing power and extraction, at home and abroad.
You also asked about public opinion in America. The truth is that many Americans (though still not enough) can clearly see their own democratic system slipping away and are fighting back hard here. That means that among the Americans most sympathetic to the plight of Iranians, their attention is almost by necessity focused on pushing back against an authoritarian movement at home. Perhaps more can and should be done to coordinate between freedom-seeking Iranians and freedom-defending Americans. But that would be on a people to people basis, not with an autocratizing US government.
Of course, the US is still vastly more free than Iran, and I understand how meaningful it is that this is your favorite country and that you undertook a perilous journey to reach freedom here. But the current US government is no true friend to free or freedom-seeking people anywhere in the world. I suspect that is at the heart of some of the sorrow I sense in your piece, even if unnamed.
I wish you and your loved ones, in Iran and everywhere, peace, safety, and freedom. Just sadly at this moment it may have to come in spite of, not with the support of, the US government.
Revolutions, sanctions, and wars are often discussed in the language of strategy. This essay brings the conversation back to the people who must live with the consequences.
"Why don't the Iranians overthrow their thug regime if they hate it so much?" Why haven't we overthrown our kakistocracy when we know how horrible IT is?
Sadly, the Iranian protesters have NO chance of changing anything. Even if they topple the regime, something as bad or worse will take over. We saw the same result throughout the "Arab Spring."
They need alternative ideas to government being involved in every aspect of their lives, but we don't even have those ideas in the mainstream in the West, and our own political systems are steadily moving to become more like Iran.
Until we address the crisis of expertise in politics things can only move in the wrong direction.
Great that you brought that up. Actually, the most viable alternative (Reza Pahlavi) is exceptionally good and liberal. His team put out a detailed transition plan for Iran in Farsi and English that I highly recommend (look up Iran Prosperity Project pdf).
I was skeptical too, but they've really got it down. The fact that it's written by a group of Western educated laywers and political scientists shows that we know how to set up a good government--we just lack the will to implement.
And of course, Trump does not respect Reza Pahlavi because he is a compassionate liberal. If he were an authoritarian like Erdogan, Trump would've installed him already.
Iran, like the rest of the Middle East, is full of low iq cousin fuckers. The Arab spring, the Iraq war, none of it worked and can never work. If you overthrew your government tomorrow it would be replaced with something else crap.
If you’ve got talent and belong to a shit race your best bet is to abandon them. Just move to the west and become western as best you can. Leave the trash to rot.
We get things like this dumb Iran war because we don’t accept racism and realize this is what the Middle East is always going to be like.
The one good thing to come of this is that sanctions will end, which will stop causing people to be poorer for no good reason. If Iran gets a nuke it will be just like North Korea or Pakistan having a nuke, it will be subject to MAD like every other nuclear power. And if they decide one day to use it that’s a big problem for Israel but not us.
Lastly, you are very ungrateful and pathetic for blaming us for not solving your problems for you. Go write another white paper, lol. I want nothing to do with you or your country.
I’m so sorry for what your friends and loved ones are living through. This was hard to read, but necessary.
Thank you so much for writing this. First, I want to say I'm deeply saddened by how the Iranian people have suffered, ashamed of what the United States has done in Iran especially these past months, and wish for the fall of the Islamic Republic so that Iranians can have the chance to pursue their own democratic aspirations.
I also want to point you to a piece our Substack published shortly before the US attacked Iran this year: https://theilliberaltimes.substack.com/p/erosion-recognition-lag
It explains a concept we call Erosion Recognition Lag--which is delayed realization about authoritarian changes in US governance, particularly by international democracy aspirants who would have historically looked to the US as a beacon of freedom. It forecasts likely tragic consequences for continuing to look to this US government for democratic solidarity. I think it may help answer the question you've posed: How is it possible that the world's strongest military power failed to topple a decapitated regime that does not even have support from its own people?
No small part of the answer to why the US has behaved this way toward people who only want freedom is, sadly, that this is not the same United States as the one we grew up admiring. In the time you've been here, scholars have documented how the US has undergone significant democratic erosion. And over the past year and a half especially, that has looked increasingly like authoritarian consolidation. Literally as Iranians were calling for US government intervention, masked US security forces were killing American protesters in the streets of Minneapolis. This same government captured Maduro but left his murderous regime in place in Venezuela in order to extract oil. These are not the actions of a democracy trying to spread freedom. Rather, they are indicative of an authoritarian-leaning government pursuing power and extraction, at home and abroad.
You also asked about public opinion in America. The truth is that many Americans (though still not enough) can clearly see their own democratic system slipping away and are fighting back hard here. That means that among the Americans most sympathetic to the plight of Iranians, their attention is almost by necessity focused on pushing back against an authoritarian movement at home. Perhaps more can and should be done to coordinate between freedom-seeking Iranians and freedom-defending Americans. But that would be on a people to people basis, not with an autocratizing US government.
Of course, the US is still vastly more free than Iran, and I understand how meaningful it is that this is your favorite country and that you undertook a perilous journey to reach freedom here. But the current US government is no true friend to free or freedom-seeking people anywhere in the world. I suspect that is at the heart of some of the sorrow I sense in your piece, even if unnamed.
I wish you and your loved ones, in Iran and everywhere, peace, safety, and freedom. Just sadly at this moment it may have to come in spite of, not with the support of, the US government.
Revolutions, sanctions, and wars are often discussed in the language of strategy. This essay brings the conversation back to the people who must live with the consequences.
You seem more like a paid agent, aren't the sanctions the fault of imperial power?
"Why don't the Iranians overthrow their thug regime if they hate it so much?" Why haven't we overthrown our kakistocracy when we know how horrible IT is?
You mean why haven’t we violently overthrown our democratic government? And replace it with what?
feel bad for your country men. But nothing ever good comes out of the United States trying to take over other countries or affect elections.
So as with EVERYTHING , Dementia TACO has made things worse. How’s that Democracy in Venezuela working out as well?