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Iran abolishes morality police

hindustantimes.com

11–20 of 266 posts

Re: Iran abolishes morality police

#11

That's significant. The ayatollahs came to power thanks to big popular support (audio cassettes of khomeini). Now a popular uprising is specifically against religious restrictions. In the meantime empirically the army has all the power of the sword. That's a step towards sidelining the ayatollahs. I guess we will see if it will evolve toward a military dictatorship (as I predict), a democracy, or the existing religio…

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Re: Iran abolishes morality police

#12
post #11

That's significant. The ayatollahs came to power thanks to big popular support (audio cassettes of khomeini). Now a popular uprising is specifically against religious restrictions. In the meantime empirically the army has all the power of the sword. That's a step towards sidelining the ayatollahs. I guess we will see if it will evolve toward a military dictatorship (as I predict), a democracy, or the existing religio…

Quoted post unavailable.

For reference: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/1953_Iranian_coup_d%27%C3%A9ta...

That was 70 years ago. Are countries, their people, and their policies immutable?

If this was a genuine question and not the snide remark that it appears to be, then a good place to investigate whether or not the UK government has any support for it or not would be to check out BBC Persia. De jure the BBC are not a government entity, but they are de facto.

https://www.bbc.com/persian

Re: Iran abolishes morality police

#13

As nntaleb postulates, once a dictatorship starts giving concessions, it is on its last legs. Therefore I do not believe this news.

Lots of dictatorships make concessions and continue to stick around: take Cuba with its market reforms of the 1990s and 2000s, ditto North Korea.

But I don’t believe this news either, but simply because I haven’t seen any reporting that independently verifies the claim being made.

Re: Iran abolishes morality police

#14
post #11

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Quoted post unavailable.

For reference: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/1953_Iranian_coup_d%27%C3%A9ta... That was 70 years ago. Are countries, their people, and their policies immutable? If this was a genuine question and not the snide remark that it appears to be, then a good place to investigate whether or not the UK government has any support for it or not would be to check out BBC Persia. De jure the BBC are not a government entity, but t…

Look what a happened in Egypt

Re: Iran abolishes morality police

#16

Does anyone trust this blood-soaked regime as far as any meaningful change goes? If the protests subside, there will be Totally Not The Old Morality Police 2.0 established in no time.

You could at least trust how any government of a country with foreign investors would react to internal instability. An overthrow of the current government, which seems to be what you're advocating for, does not necessarily result in better outcomes for all.

Re: Iran abolishes morality police

#18
post #16

Does anyone trust this blood-soaked regime as far as any meaningful change goes? If the protests subside, there will be Totally Not The Old Morality Police 2.0 established in no time.

You could at least trust how any government of a country with foreign investors would react to internal instability. An overthrow of the current government, which seems to be what you're advocating for, does not necessarily result in better outcomes for all.

"does not necessarily result in better outcomes for all"

You are right as far as the "there is always a worse alternative out there" observation goes. (Though I must note that this idea is rather trivial.)

But the alternative of tolerating the current regime on and on is pretty ghastly. If Iranians are ready to be shot dead in order to protest, the situation must be grim indeed.

I am not surprised the least that Russia and Iran now cooperate militarily. Birds of a feather flock together, and so do criminal regimes that waste lives of their own people.

Re: Iran abolishes morality police

#19

As nntaleb postulates, once a dictatorship starts giving concessions, it is on its last legs. Therefore I do not believe this news.

Well, Saudi Arabia is morphing from a religious to a secular dictatorship right in front of our eyes. They (or, more precisely, MbS) are making a lot of concessions that do not matter to them anymore, like women being allowed to drive.

Re: Iran abolishes morality police

#20

That's significant. The ayatollahs came to power thanks to big popular support (audio cassettes of khomeini). Now a popular uprising is specifically against religious restrictions. In the meantime empirically the army has all the power of the sword. That's a step towards sidelining the ayatollahs. I guess we will see if it will evolve toward a military dictatorship (as I predict), a democracy, or the existing religio…

"In the meantime empirically the army has all the power of the sword."

Isn't it the Revolutionary Guard who wields the real power of the sword? From what I have heard, the regular army is kept somewhat underinvested precisely because the young recruits cannot be trusted, while the RG consists of utterly dedicated individuals supporting the regime at any cost.

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