Iran: The Israeli Threat

The Iranian Mullahs are spending fortunes on military hardware to protect their super expensive nuclear programs. Naturally, this is leading to some discontent as the rest of the country is falling apart. Let's keep the pressure up and see how long it takes for them to collapse.

Iran: The Israeli Threat: "The government continues to fight on several fronts. At home, the secret police have managed to neutralize student reform organizations by jailing the leaders of any groups that show up. Adult reformers are easier to deal with. Threaten their livelihoods, and ability to support their families, and they are tamed. That leaves the Internet pests, who are particularly troublesome because they stay hidden and pass information to foreigners. Attempts to police the Internet have been stymied by exiled Iranians passing on technical tips on how to avoid such censorship. So while there are fewer political demonstrations, the population still seethes, and grows more unruly. Newspapers are now banned if they report economic problems. That sort of things is making people angrier than the loss of political freedom.

In Iraq, things are not going well at all. Last year's surge offensive destroyed al Qaeda, and this year rolled on to crush the pro-Iranian Mahdi Army. Meanwhile, the Iranian backed Badr Brigade (the military arm of the ISCI, or Islamic Supreme Council of Iraq) kept their heads down and played by the rules of electoral politics. While ISCI was kept alive for years inside Iran, they have not shown a lot of gratitude. Most ISCI members are not willing to turn Iraq into a junior partner in Iran's Islamic world empire. ISCI wants more power within Iraq, and doesn't want to share it with Iran."