Iranian protests

I had hoped that when President Obama made nice with Iran, they would respond to the lifting of sanctions by improving the country, but no, instead they continued to spread their radicals all over, and caused the Arab world to get upset to the point that Saudi tried (and failed) to buy an Atomic bomb, and started making nice with Israel on the sly.

Essentially, it's "guns vs butter"...

AlJ has a report that suggests I am not the only one thinking this way, and this might be why the protests are happening now:

Some Iranians say it is time for the government to focus on domestic issues, and to forget about Syria and Palestine. These protesters hoped the Iran nuclear deal in 2015, which led to the lifting of many international sanctions, would ease their financial struggles. But life for many has not improved.

Government critics say the economic benefits have not been passed on because of mismanagement and alleged corruption.

oh yes: there it is again: Corruption.

People hoped that having a religious leadership watching the politicians would help that, but it didn't work with the Borgia popes and it didn't work here either.

And that this month's budget will cut vital social welfare programmes while giving more money to religious and revolutionary institutions.

film at the link.

BBC report here. 

Much of the information about what is occurring is emerging on social media, making it difficult to confirm anything.

getting news is hard, since the government controls the media and is able to censor the internet social media too. How many are protesting? Some reports say "hundreds"...

Is it the usual troublemakers (like we have here) or do they represent a lot of folks staying home and grumbling? That last part is important, since shooting and jailing a couple hundred people will stop a lot of protests, but if a lot of folks are fed up, it will make things worse.

The government got their own folks to protest too, but I heard the number in the protest was estimated at 10 thousand: a low number next to previous demonstrations.

In our prayers.