On the protests in Iran

US politicians & media dream of regime change in Iran


Paul R Pillar at ConsortiumNews
Gazing at Iran Through a Distorted Glass
With any country that, like Iran, has been the subject of acrimonious debate in Washington, pronouncements by American observers about events in that country have more to do with politics here than with what is going on over there.  So it has been with much of the spinning and interpreting of protests in Iranian streets during the past few days.  Some guidelines for intelligent, responsible, and useful commentary on those protests are in order, and applicable no matter what are the policy preferences of whoever is commenting.
The first guideline is to apply a large dose of agnosticism to the question of where the protests are heading.  The future course of popular unrest in any country is inherently difficult to predict.  That future depends on the vicissitudes of emotion, the complex interplay of different issues and political forces, and the especially unpredictable ways in which minor incidents can spark much larger responses.  A current trajectory cannot be extrapolated into the future, partly because of the effects of decisions not yet made.  In the current Iranian case, security elements of the regime have refrained so far from using most of their capability to crack down on protesters, but have strongly hinted that the capability may yet be used.  Such use would change the game being played in Iranian streets, but again with much uncertainty about where things would go from there....

Trump’s Vow to Support Iran Opposition Carries “No Credibility” as Demonstrations Enter Sixth Day


From MoonOfAlabama

The reaction to the minor protests in Iran drive another wedge between the U.S. and Europe. It exposes the belligerence of the Zionist lobby and its influence in the U.S. media and politics. The issue shows the growing divergence between genuine U.S. interests and the interests of Israel.

Some anti-government demonstration and attacks on public institutions continue in Iran. But, as the graph shows, such protests and riots continue to decrease. Yesterday's events took place in only 15 places while, since December 28, a total of 75 towns and cities had seen some form of protest or incidents. Additional to these several pro-government marches took place yesterday each of which was by far bigger than the anti-government events.....