Friday, January 9, 2026

Iran

One hestiates to hope, but Iranian protesters have taken control of several cities and burned numerous police stations and other government buildings. In some cities, the police have joined them. Could it be?

Posted by at
Labels:

1 comment:

Anonymous said...

Protests are one thing - but there's simply isn't any unity or leadership in the opposition, and there hasn't been for decades.

Even if they manage to oust Khamenei, what happens then, other than squabbling and infighting? It'll just create a power vacuum, and very bad things happen in power vacuums. With people unable to agree on what to do to reform the country, I'd think it would most likely descend into a military junta.

But that's only the Persian side of the equation - the Kurds complicate things massively. There are already reports of ethnic violence playing out as we speak. The Kurds have every reason to join the protests against Khamenei, but most of them are staying away or limiting their involvement out of fear that they will be scapegoated and demonized - whether by the theocracy if it stays in power, or by whatever faction might replace it and need to prop itself up with ethno-nationalist violence to win popular support. In fact, the government in Tehran is already blaming the protests on a Kurdish plot. It's a powder-keg situation, and civil war or genocide are not remotely off the table.

January 10, 2026 at 7:06 AM

Post a Comment

Subscribe to: Post Comments (Atom)