71–80 of 154 posts
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If you want things to change we need to start going after the source of the governments power, the people that vote for them. T
Agreed. If we want democracy to prosper, we clearly need to start punishing people who vote incorrectly.
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There are plenty of Western journalists in Iran, but they are subject to the same internet blackout as everyone else. Embassies can use satellite communications due to diplomatic immunity, while journalists are just average nobodies who face extra scrutiny due to their jobs.
Why can't they use starlink?
Iran has been rolling out the National Information Network (essentially a whitelisted internet) for a couple years now after the Green Revolution [0]. Iran has a surprisingly robust domestic ecosystem of hyperscalers [1] and telco infra [6][7] built out over the past decade with limited outside involvement and a severe sanctions regime, and have even started exporting Iranian IT services to Uganda [2], Kenya [3], Sou…
Iran is not Syria, there's a lot of wily people in the leadership and they won't be rolled over so easily
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Yeah, or even just protectionism. Most economists I've heard say that protectionism doesn't work, but I feel like China being quiet and protectionist in the infancy of its key industries was like the move of the century for them.
Not sure tbh. China could have been like Japan per capita. Protectionism puts a big cap on economic growth potential.
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Even if 90% of the country marks the box against the regime, they’ll still announce a 90% 'landslide' victory. Voting doesn't matter, when you print your own outcome
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https://www.norwich.edu/topic/all-blog-posts/facade-democrac...
Though President Ebrahim Raisi’s sudden death in May 2024 prompted a new electoral cycle with six vetted candidates, all were affiliated with the regime and loyal to Supreme Leader Ayatollah Khamenei, ensuring little real policy divergence. The Guardian Council filtered out all but hardline male clerics and a nominal reformist, creating the illusion of choice while reinforcing conservative dominance. Moreover, the presidency in Iran holds limited authority — ultimate power resides with Khamenei, who, since 1989, has steadily centralized control in his hands, rendering both elected institutions and their leaders largely symbolic. In short, the article contends that no matter who wins, Iran’s domestic and foreign agendas — especially its nuclear program and regional interventions — will remain unchanged, as they are guided by the Supreme Leader's ideology.
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Not sure tbh. China could have been like Japan per capita. Protectionism puts a big cap on economic growth potential.
Take a look at a plot of China's gdp per year since 1980. A curve can only get so exponential.
What’s the excuse for not having the same GDP per capita 80 years later?
The curve became exponential way too late. And only after they (partially) opened up.
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Not going to defend the islamic republic with its massacres, but if there is no racial element there is no apartheid, no need to overload a precise term. This is simply turning down methods of communications to reduce protestors ability to coordinate and enable mass killings
I understand what you are saying and I was thinking about it when I wrote my comment. I still stand by the term. Apartheid literally means "apartness". Even though the segregation in this case is not on a racial basis they still classify their population into two major blocks. Some have full rights, others have none.
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Not going to defend the islamic republic with its massacres, but if there is no racial element there is no apartheid, no need to overload a precise term. This is simply turning down methods of communications to reduce protestors ability to coordinate and enable mass killings
I understand what you are saying and I was thinking about it when I wrote my comment. I still stand by the term. Apartheid literally means "apartness". Even though the segregation in this case is not on a racial basis they still classify their population into two major blocks. Some have full rights, others have none.
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Kinda envious of them that, due to sanctions, they end up with hyperscalers. Europe will never get hyperscales while being too tight with the US, and any protectionism at the service industry level would make the US go more mental than it already is.
It's not only because of sanctions. It's primarily because their leadership have deeply technical backgrounds. Most of my peers who ended up in policymaking roles in Europe (and in some cases the levers of power) all had a humanities or legal background and never worked in or adjacent to the tech industry. Assuming Iran didn't follow the path that it did, Iran would have also ended up becoming a tech hub like Israel…
That expertise wasn’t just gonna disappear in a couple of decades.
And yes, the Iranian regime is brutal and terrible. This was one time the opposition was strong enough that they may have had a chance and yet our fellow in chief decided to launch incendiary words, which only allowed the regime to paint the opposition as western funded, while not providing any actual support (there’s a reason Israel, which is at least led by competent leadership, kept quiet about the protests in Iran because they understand how their words of support would undermine them).