They Cry For Bread

Could the worm in Iran be turning?

American policy toward Iran is based on a long-standing grudge against the Middle Eastern country for having held 52 of our fellow citizens hostages for fourteen months, and our resistance to reaching out to the Iranians like other Western nations have done constitutes prima facie evidence that the so-called Deep State is run by a cadre of Irish guys.  But we also have a legitimate displeasure with their theocracy, an elected government operating under the strict rules of Islamic law and under the watchful eye of a Supreme Leader, the Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, who can overrule anything the president and the Majlis (Parliament) advocate.  But nothing that people in Iran have been fighting for - not even democratic reform and economic expansion - matters as much as the ability to get food.

Iran's economy has improved since it entered the very nuclear deal that Donald Trump has tried to undermine during his occupation of the White House, as well as its oil exports, but average Iranians  aren't seeing the benefits of any of that.  They can't afford bread, poultry and eggs, and so they have recently been protesting  in the streets of Tehran just hours after pro-government, anti-American demonstrations have also been held.  It seems to me, though, that the anti-government protests are more genuine.  They want to eat, and they're not buying government propaganda that everything is hunky-dory, nor are they swallowing any excuses from the Islamic Republic's supporters.

You know what happened the last couple of times people demonstrated for food?  In say, France, or Russia?  

And Trump has taken notice.  "The entire world," he said via Twitter, "understands that the good people of Iran want change, and, other than the vast military power of the United States, that Iran's people are what their leaders fear the most . . ..  Oppressive regimes cannot endure forever, and the day will come when the Iranian people will face a choice. The world is watching!"

For once, Trump is right.  Economic dislocation will only undermine the mullahs, and the Islamic government in Iran could crack up.  Of course, the same rules apply to Trump's own administration.  Just look at his poll numbers.