interesting article on Iran... was not aware of the situation over there... this paints a pretty grim picture of what is happening... Before we wax too eloquent about the democratic aspirations of the great Iranian people, we should keep in the mind that the most probable scenario for Iran under any likely regime is a sickening spiral into poverty and depopulation. Iran has the fastest-aging population of any country in the world, indeed, the fast-aging population of any country in history. It has the highest rate of venereal disease infection and the highest rate of infertility of any country in the world. It has a youth unemployment rate of 35% (adjusted for warehousing young people in state-run diploma mills). And worst of all, it has run out of water. The norm is NOT democracy -- the norm is extinction
Technology could probably solve their water problem, but which entity would ever take the risk? The political stability of the region makes it akin to a nest of rabid skunks.
Good article. I use to read this guy all the time in Asia Times overseas when I could get my hands on a paper. Actually, the scenario is about the same in many third-world countries and certainly the Islamic ones. They all had this huge population growth spurt and now that spurt has come of age and they isn't any future for them, definitely no employment. I have a good Iranian friend that lives in Kazakhstan. He's a Ph.D and speaks something like 6 languages and he said he would never go back because there is no future there so he's a teacher in Almaty. Anyway, the thing is this is playing out not only in Iran but many, many parts of the world and, in truth, it is quite a dangerous situation because people get violent when they get hungry, usually leads to war.
Given their terrain and water resources in Iran, and its present population, it will be increasingly difficult to grow their food and furnish water to the urban areas under any conditions. The obvious answer, use their oil resources to import food and optimize the water for the urban population, creates a new problem, what do you do for employment for most of the population that is no longer needed. I know that there is no easy solution or even if there is a solution, but I doubt very much that a conservative religious state will be able to handle the situation. Sadly the solutions found in Syria, Somalia, Lebanon, Zimbabwe, Sudan, etc would seem to indicate that although Trump's statements may not be politically correct, there may be a certain measure of truth in them.
@duane I quite agree. And, as for Trump's statements - well - I myself has referred to a lot of those places as exactly that because that is exactly what they are. Heh, reality bites! I realizes a President shouldn't be speaking like that but I sort of enjoy his salt-of-the-earth ways and words. I find it refreshing given what we have been fed these past decades. Personally, I think Iran has everything it needs to pull itself out of the coming crash. They have the oil money which could built desalination plants, like many of the other Mideast countries, and they have a large educated work force. What they don't have is the trust of the rest of world due to their whacko political and religious leaders so a change of leadership across the board might be just the thing to bring prosperity. They need to be more concerned about happenings at home then funding and supporting outside ventures... I might add, it's the same thing the damn American politicians should be doing.
While I don't know if the desalination would work, I totally agree with your comments, on their problems and ours.
We saw quite a bit of Water shortages when I was in the sand box, and while there are good ideas, it all comes down to ether desalination, or what Israel does, ship it in! Unless they can build large capacity water plants, there finished! China has much the same problem, not enough water for the land, and land that cannot grow crops! The world is over populated, food resources are failing and are becoming infected/infested and the climate shift is pushing growing areas in different directions! What is happening in these third world countries is the canary in the mine, soon it will spread , and its coming faster then we think. Hell, the U.S. is suffering from crop failures all ready, the citrus industry is really tanking, and many of our other crops are at sever risk, and those G.M.O.s are not going to save us, the corn crops are starting to show signs of trouble! Today is a good lesson to watch and learn from, and Iran is in the throws of massive failures! Who is next?
I’ve never met an Iranian I didn’t like. However they were all expatriates. They were civilized, religiously secular, intelligent, morally sound, and dedicated to the work they did. If the nutty ass theocracy they are governed by can’t keep up the basic utilities they will fail.
The water shortages are relatively easy to solve, it simply takes money. RO and membrane filtration will work. RO is a a bit more dependent on power, but both will produce water to any particular level of purity. That said, I'd really hesitate to spend the money building a plant when the tribes can't decide who is in charge. (Input to those plants can be sewage or seawater, good water will come out, IF the operators don't get shot.)
I wasn’t aware that there were effective tribal differences in Iran. I figured Persia had worked that out thousands of years ago. I thought the differences were ruling minority Islamic fanatics vs civilized educated people wanting a secular government. Not unlike Turkey, Jordan, or Egypt. Much less fanatic than Saudi Arabia or Yemen
Not since the Shah was assassinated and the Ayatollah Khomeini took power. ETA - Stupid frakin phone auto-correct! Thanks for the catch @chelloveck
I never new George Bernard had been assassinated.....perhaps Pygmalian was not as good as I had thought. Some literary reviewers can be absolutely brutal!