Revolutiions in Russia and Iran

Our world has swung from a new passion for democracy at the end of the cold war to a pushback and swing to autocracy today. Now comes another swing: a revolt against ruthless autocrats.

It always seems hopeless once a dictator has seized power to get rid of him. Badly run countries in. the hands of an autocrat have managed to suppress demonstrations against their power. But no matter how much they control the courts, destroy the credible press, and are willing to kill opponents, the dissidents eventually prevail. Some outrage finally becomes the last straw for the citizens.

During the Cold War, it seemed nothing would ever take down the Soviet Union and its willing satellites. But remember the fate of Nicolae Ceausescu and his wife who had ruled Romania for 24 years. During a New Year?s speech delivered from a balcony overlooking the courtyard of his obscene new palace, somebody in the freezing crowd below began to laugh. Ceausescu order his armed guards to shoot. They did not do so; they turned the guns on him and arrested him. He was tried that night and executed in the morning.

The Romanians? last straw was that they were starving, freezing, and recoiled at the enormous, gold-plated palace of the ruling couple.

Newest last straws are emerging today in Russia and Iran. The Russians have put up with Vladimir Putin, who step-by-step extinguished the democracy they established upon the collapse of the Cold War. Stifling the press and courts, and with a rubber- stamped parliament, Putin has made a farce of his reelections, making him de facto "president for life." By murdering every possible opposition leaders, he easily put down demonstrations. His deal with the Russian public was that he would keep the peace, protect the new middle classes with food and freedom to enrich themselves, and ask them only to ignore the corruption and the demise of democracy. Every demonstration over the years has been suppressed.

Now, he has reneged on the deal. The country has serious economic problems due to sanctions imposed by the West. Putin has attempted a tried-and-true sop to Russian nationalism: an invasion of Ukraine that he expected to be as easy as his absorption of the Crimea in 2014. Instead, it has become a disaster. Ukraine is not a pushover this time, and it has the support of the US and NATO.

His army has been a disaster. Recruits are bad soldiers: either cowardly or war criminals, and they are surrendering in droves to the Ukrainians. Putin is humiliated and angry. His inner circle is no longer rubber stamping his autocracy. They have been complaining publicly, urging him to end the war. A growing number of them have died while "falling out of windows." This has been the same fate for investigative journalists too.

Violating his own promise not to institute a draft, he is ordering (and forcing) recruitment of ethnic minorities in central Siberia and the Russian East. He thought that by not recruiting from the middle class sons of Moscow and Petersburg, he could get away with it.

Again, he is wrong! The mothers in the country are demonstrating, unwilling to have their menfolk die in an unwanted and unwarranted war in Ukraine. The returning body bags are telling them the truth, despite propaganda and press censorship. Thousands of draft-age men are trying to flee the country. They have saturated the airlines leaving Russia, and now there are thousands of cars trying to cross all borders of Russia. The demonstrations are growing nation-wide.

Iran has suffered the same dilemma: aging religious leaders with the Ayatollah 99 years old. Massive corruption, an economy suffering from sanctions, and now the arrest and death of a young woman who was not wearing the hated hijab "properly." Iranian women and men are once more demonstrating and there are too many to put in jail. This is the last straw. Iran has had enough of Shia dictatorship.

The dictators are losing.

685 words
Dr. Laina Farhat-Holzman is a historian, lecturer, and author of "How Do You Know That? Contact her at Lfarhat102@gmail.com or www.globalthink.net.









Revolutions in Russia and Iran?
November 11, 2022
Laina Farhat-Holzman
Pajaronian

Our world has swung from a new passion for democracy at the end of the cold war to a pushback and swing to autocracy today. Now comes another swing: a revolt against ruthless autocrats.

It always seems hopeless once a dictator has seized power to get rid of him. Badly run countries in. the hands of an autocrat have managed to suppress demonstrations against their power. But no matter how much they control the courts, destroy the credible press, and are willing to kill opponents, the dissidents eventually prevail. Some outrage finally becomes the last straw for the citizens.

During the Cold War, it seemed nothing would ever take down the Soviet Union and its willing satellites. But remember the fate of Nicolae Ceausescu and his wife who had ruled Romania for 24 years. During a New Year?s speech delivered from a balcony overlooking the courtyard of his obscene new palace, somebody in the freezing crowd below began to laugh. Ceausescu order his armed guards to shoot. They did not do so; they turned the guns on him and arrested him. He was tried that night and executed in the morning.

The Romanians? last straw was that they were starving, freezing, and recoiled at the enormous, gold-plated palace of the ruling couple.

Newest last straws are emerging today in Russia and Iran. The Russians have put up with Vladimir Putin, who step-by-step extinguished the democracy they established upon the collapse of the Cold War. Stifling the press and courts, and with a rubber- stamped parliament, Putin has made a farce of his reelections, making him de facto "president for life." By murdering every possible opposition leaders, he easily put down demonstrations. His deal with the Russian public was that he would keep the peace, protect the new middle classes with food and freedom to enrich themselves, and ask them only to ignore the corruption and the demise of democracy. Every demonstration over the years has been suppressed.

Now, he has reneged on the deal. The country has serious economic problems due to sanctions imposed by the West. Putin has attempted a tried-and-true sop to Russian nationalism: an invasion of Ukraine that he expected to be as easy as his absorption of the Crimea in 2014. Instead, it has become a disaster. Ukraine is not a pushover this time, and it has the support of the US and NATO.

His army has been a disaster. Recruits are bad soldiers: either cowardly or war criminals, and they are surrendering in droves to the Ukrainians. Putin is humiliated and angry. His inner circle is no longer rubber stamping his autocracy. They have been complaining publicly, urging him to end the war. A growing number of them have died while "falling out of windows." This has been the same fate for investigative journalists too.

Violating his own promise not to institute a draft, he is ordering (and forcing) recruitment of ethnic minorities in central Siberia and the Russian East. He thought that by not recruiting from the middle class sons of Moscow and Petersburg, he could get away with it.

Again, he is wrong! The mothers in the country are demonstrating, unwilling to have their menfolk die in an unwanted and unwarranted war in Ukraine. The returning body bags are telling them the truth, despite propaganda and press censorship. Thousands of draft-age men are trying to flee the country. They have saturated the airlines leaving Russia, and now there are thousands of cars trying to cross all borders of Russia. The demonstrations are growing nation-wide.

Iran has suffered the same dilemma: aging religious leaders with the Ayatollah 99 years old. Massive corruption, an economy suffering from sanctions, and now the arrest and death of a young woman who was not wearing the hated hijab "properly." Iranian women and men are once more demonstrating and there are too many to put in jail. This is the last straw. Iran has had enough of Shia dictatorship.

The dictators are losing.

685 words
Dr. Laina Farhat-Holzman is a historian, lecturer, and author of "How Do You Know That? Contact her at Lfarhat102@gmail.com or www.globalthink.net.









Revolutions in Russia and Iran?
November 11, 2022
Laina Farhat-Holzman
Pajaronian

Our world has swung from a new passion for democracy at the end of the cold war to a pushback and swing to autocracy today. Now comes another swing: a revolt against ruthless autocrats.

It always seems hopeless once a dictator has seized power to get rid of him. Badly run countries in. the hands of an autocrat have managed to suppress demonstrations against their power. But no matter how much they control the courts, destroy the credible press, and are willing to kill opponents, the dissidents eventually prevail. Some outrage finally becomes the last straw for the citizens.

During the Cold War, it seemed nothing would ever take down the Soviet Union and its willing satellites. But remember the fate of Nicolae Ceausescu and his wife who had ruled Romania for 24 years. During a New Year?s speech delivered from a balcony overlooking the courtyard of his obscene new palace, somebody in the freezing crowd below began to laugh. Ceausescu order his armed guards to shoot. They did not do so; they turned the guns on him and arrested him. He was tried that night and executed in the morning.

The Romanians? last straw was that they were starving, freezing, and recoiled at the enormous, gold-plated palace of the ruling couple.

Newest last straws are emerging today in Russia and Iran. The Russians have put up with Vladimir Putin, who step-by-step extinguished the democracy they established upon the collapse of the Cold War. Stifling the press and courts, and with a rubber- stamped parliament, Putin has made a farce of his reelections, making him de facto "president for life." By murdering every possible opposition leaders, he easily put down demonstrations. His deal with the Russian public was that he would keep the peace, protect the new middle classes with food and freedom to enrich themselves, and ask them only to ignore the corruption and the demise of democracy. Every demonstration over the years has been suppressed.

Now, he has reneged on the deal. The country has serious economic problems due to sanctions imposed by the West. Putin has attempted a tried-and-true sop to Russian nationalism: an invasion of Ukraine that he expected to be as easy as his absorption of the Crimea in 2014. Instead, it has become a disaster. Ukraine is not a pushover this time, and it has the support of the US and NATO.

His army has been a disaster. Recruits are bad soldiers: either cowardly or war criminals, and they are surrendering in droves to the Ukrainians. Putin is humiliated and angry. His inner circle is no longer rubber stamping his autocracy. They have been complaining publicly, urging him to end the war. A growing number of them have died while "falling out of windows." This has been the same fate for investigative journalists too.

Violating his own promise not to institute a draft, he is ordering (and forcing) recruitment of ethnic minorities in central Siberia and the Russian East. He thought that by not recruiting from the middle class sons of Moscow and Petersburg, he could get away with it.

Again, he is wrong! The mothers in the country are demonstrating, unwilling to have their menfolk die in an unwanted and unwarranted war in Ukraine. The returning body bags are telling them the truth, despite propaganda and press censorship. Thousands of draft-age men are trying to flee the country. They have saturated the airlines leaving Russia, and now there are thousands of cars trying to cross all borders of Russia. The demonstrations are growing nation-wide.

Iran has suffered the same dilemma: aging religious leaders with the Ayatollah 99 years old. Massive corruption, an economy suffering from sanctions, and now the arrest and death of a young woman who was not wearing the hated hijab "properly." Iranian women and men are once more demonstrating and there are too many to put in jail. This is the last straw. Iran has had enough of Shia dictatorship.

The dictators are losing.

685 words
Dr. Laina Farhat-Holzman is a historian, lecturer, and author of "How Do You Know That? Contact her at Lfarhat102@gmail.com or www.globalthink.net.









Revolutions in Russia and Iran?
November 11, 2022
Laina Farhat-Holzman
Pajaronian

Our world has swung from a new passion for democracy at the end of the cold war to a pushback and swing to autocracy today. Now comes another swing: a revolt against ruthless autocrats.

It always seems hopeless once a dictator has seized power to get rid of him. Badly run countries in. the hands of an autocrat have managed to suppress demonstrations against their power. But no matter how much they control the courts, destroy the credible press, and are willing to kill opponents, the dissidents eventually prevail. Some outrage finally becomes the last straw for the citizens.

During the Cold War, it seemed nothing would ever take down the Soviet Union and its willing satellites. But remember the fate of Nicolae Ceausescu and his wife who had ruled Romania for 24 years. During a New Year?s speech delivered from a balcony overlooking the courtyard of his obscene new palace, somebody in the freezing crowd below began to laugh. Ceausescu order his armed guards to shoot. They did not do so; they turned the guns on him and arrested him. He was tried that night and executed in the morning.

The Romanians? last straw was that they were starving, freezing, and recoiled at the enormous, gold-plated palace of the ruling couple.

Newest last straws are emerging today in Russia and Iran. The Russians have put up with Vladimir Putin, who step-by-step extinguished the democracy they established upon the collapse of the Cold War. Stifling the press and courts, and with a rubber- stamped parliament, Putin has made a farce of his reelections, making him de facto "president for life." By murdering every possible opposition leaders, he easily put down demonstrations. His deal with the Russian public was that he would keep the peace, protect the new middle classes with food and freedom to enrich themselves, and ask them only to ignore the corruption and the demise of democracy. Every demonstration over the years has been suppressed.

Now, he has reneged on the deal. The country has serious economic problems due to sanctions imposed by the West. Putin has attempted a tried-and-true sop to Russian nationalism: an invasion of Ukraine that he expected to be as easy as his absorption of the Crimea in 2014. Instead, it has become a disaster. Ukraine is not a pushover this time, and it has the support of the US and NATO.

His army has been a disaster. Recruits are bad soldiers: either cowardly or war criminals, and they are surrendering in droves to the Ukrainians. Putin is humiliated and angry. His inner circle is no longer rubber stamping his autocracy. They have been complaining publicly, urging him to end the war. A growing number of them have died while "falling out of windows." This has been the same fate for investigative journalists too.

Violating his own promise not to institute a draft, he is ordering (and forcing) recruitment of ethnic minorities in central Siberia and the Russian East. He thought that by not recruiting from the middle class sons of Moscow and Petersburg, he could get away with it.

Again, he is wrong! The mothers in the country are demonstrating, unwilling to have their menfolk die in an unwanted and unwarranted war in Ukraine. The returning body bags are telling them the truth, despite propaganda and press censorship. Thousands of draft-age men are trying to flee the country. They have saturated the airlines leaving Russia, and now there are thousands of cars trying to cross all borders of Russia. The demonstrations are growing nation-wide.

Iran has suffered the same dilemma: aging religious leaders with the Ayatollah 99 years old. Massive corruption, an economy suffering from sanctions, and now the arrest and death of a young woman who was not wearing the hated hijab "properly." Iranian women and men are once more demonstrating and there are too many to put in jail. This is the last straw. Iran has had enough of Shia dictatorship.

The dictators are losing.

685 words
Dr. Laina Farhat-Holzman is a historian, lecturer, and author of "How Do You Know That? Contact her at Lfarhat102@gmail.com or www.globalthink.net.









Revolutions in Russia and Iran?
November 11, 2022
Laina Farhat-Holzman
Pajaronian

Our world has swung from a new passion for democracy at the end of the cold war to a pushback and swing to autocracy today. Now comes another swing: a revolt against ruthless autocrats.

It always seems hopeless once a dictator has seized power to get rid of him. Badly run countries in. the hands of an autocrat have managed to suppress demonstrations against their power. But no matter how much they control the courts, destroy the credible press, and are willing to kill opponents, the dissidents eventually prevail. Some outrage finally becomes the last straw for the citizens.

During the Cold War, it seemed nothing would ever take down the Soviet Union and its willing satellites. But remember the fate of Nicolae Ceausescu and his wife who had ruled Romania for 24 years. During a New Year?s speech delivered from a balcony overlooking the courtyard of his obscene new palace, somebody in the freezing crowd below began to laugh. Ceausescu order his armed guards to shoot. They did not do so; they turned the guns on him and arrested him. He was tried that night and executed in the morning.

The Romanians? last straw was that they were starving, freezing, and recoiled at the enormous, gold-plated palace of the ruling couple.

Newest last straws are emerging today in Russia and Iran. The Russians have put up with Vladimir Putin, who step-by-step extinguished the democracy they established upon the collapse of the Cold War. Stifling the press and courts, and with a rubber- stamped parliament, Putin has made a farce of his reelections, making him de facto "president for life." By murdering every possible opposition leaders, he easily put down demonstrations. His deal with the Russian public was that he would keep the peace, protect the new middle classes with food and freedom to enrich themselves, and ask them only to ignore the corruption and the demise of democracy. Every demonstration over the years has been suppressed.

Now, he has reneged on the deal. The country has serious economic problems due to sanctions imposed by the West. Putin has attempted a tried-and-true sop to Russian nationalism: an invasion of Ukraine that he expected to be as easy as his absorption of the Crimea in 2014. Instead, it has become a disaster. Ukraine is not a pushover this time, and it has the support of the US and NATO.

His army has been a disaster. Recruits are bad soldiers: either cowardly or war criminals, and they are surrendering in droves to the Ukrainians. Putin is humiliated and angry. His inner circle is no longer rubber stamping his autocracy. They have been complaining publicly, urging him to end the war. A growing number of them have died while "falling out of windows." This has been the same fate for investigative journalists too.

Violating his own promise not to institute a draft, he is ordering (and forcing) recruitment of ethnic minorities in central Siberia and the Russian East. He thought that by not recruiting from the middle class sons of Moscow and Petersburg, he could get away with it.

Again, he is wrong! The mothers in the country are demonstrating, unwilling to have their menfolk die in an unwanted and unwarranted war in Ukraine. The returning body bags are telling them the truth, despite propaganda and press censorship. Thousands of draft-age men are trying to flee the country. They have saturated the airlines leaving Russia, and now there are thousands of cars trying to cross all borders of Russia. The demonstrations are growing nation-wide.

Iran has suffered the same dilemma: aging religious leaders with the Ayatollah 99 years old. Massive corruption, an economy suffering from sanctions, and now the arrest and death of a young woman who was not wearing the hated hijab "properly." Iranian women and men are once more demonstrating and there are too many to put in jail. This is the last straw. Iran has had enough of Shia dictatorship.

The dictators are losing.

685 words
Dr. Laina Farhat-Holzman is a historian, lecturer, and author of "How Do You Know That? Contact her at Lfarhat102@gmail.com or www.globalthink.net.