Iran then and now

The Shah of Iran Reza Pahlavi a US backed dictator was overthrown in 1979 and a religious dictator took control. These new leaders immediately held 52 Americans hostage for 444 days while the US stood helpless for fear that the oil supply would be cut off. Thus began 47 years of rule by a theocratic dictatorship led by Ayatollah Khomeini. Citizens were controlled by the Mullahs and women’s rights were curtailed based on Sharia Law. In 1980, Iraq led by Saddam Hussein invaded Iran and started a war that lasted until 1988, costing both nations massive resources and lives which strengthened the control by the Mullahs. During the war, the US sided with Iraq and sent chemicals that could be turned into weapons along with materials to make anthrax. These were used to synthesize mustard gas, sarin, tabun and VX and all were used against the Kurds and Iranians. Years later when Bush 43 was president he went in to Iraq based on the threat of WMD but he asked the wrong question. He asked where are the WMD instead of what happened to the WMD. Iraq claimed they destroyed them but would not say where because the ground could have been tested to confirm the destruction. While US troops encountered some scattered remnants of WMD, they did not find an active or large-scale site where the weapons were destroyed. Led by the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC), Iran embarked upon expanding their influence in the area. They set up and financed the Hezbollah in Lebanon, the PMF in Iraq, the Houthis in Yemen and various groups in Syria. The use of proxies provided Iran with “plausible deniability” and allowed them to continue their goal of destroying Israel. Iran sees Israel’s military power as a direct security challenge and a reason to develop nuclear bombs. After Khomeini’s death in 1989, the new Ayatollah Khamenei became Supreme Leader and they continued to export the revolution. Over the years Iran has attacked Americans. In 1983, 220 American servicemen were killed when an Iranian proxy blew up their Beirut barracks. President Reagan immediately pulled all US soldiers from the area and once again the US refused to confront Iran just as they did during the 1979 hostage situation. Then in 1996 several hundred US soldiers were injured when another Iranian proxy blew up the Khobar Towers in Saudi Arabia and true to form President Clinton did not retaliate. Iran continued down the path of disrupting the area and added Hamas to their list of proxies. In recent years a combination of events has put Iran in a weakened condition and the US and Israel combined forces to take military action. Iran lost their supply path to Hezbollah when Assad was deposed in Syria. Attacks by Israel in Palestine had weakened Hamas and the inability to supply Hezbollah with weapons allowed Israel to move into Lebanon. The Houthis were weakened when they tried to close the Red Sea and this left Iran without their proxies. The economic sanctions had put the Iran economy into a tail spin and the time was right to finally put an end to the regimes ability to cause havoc. The US was no longer dependent on Middle East oil and could finally act without fear. The question now is, will the American people be willing to put up with high gas prices to end the long running rogue nations desire to bring death to Israel and America or will they go back to the old days of just watching and waiting.

Iran surrender

The US plan is to cut off all supplies to Iran and force them to negotiate. Iran can go this route if they decide to fight to the end. The Guard that is now in control understands that the people see them as the ones with the guns, the ones who have already killed thousands of citizens who attempted to revolt and so they will not allow freedom for the masses. They fear retaliation. Just before the blockade began Iran stopped all exports of chemicals and directed them for home use. They are willing to sacrifice the country rather than capitulate, so this will go on for some time. They can import food overland but would have to rely on Pakistan and Turkey to allow passage. If that happened the US would bomb the rail ways. The US will try to put pressure on these countries but over time the military will get the last of the food and the people will starve. At that point the general population may rise up against the guns and a slaughter will follow.

Time saver

We constantly hear about how AI will make things more efficient but how will this be done in a way that most people can understand. I will use myself and an example. For years, I have spent time on my computer researching various new ideas and then using what I learned to help me understand the new things. Many times, this required extensive calculations that took a lot of time. Now instead of me calculating, I just use Google AI. I explain what I am trying to figure out and in less than a minute I have my answer. If AI can help a mere amateur like me, I am sure that it can be a significant time saver for those working on more complicated issues. When you are not spending time calculating you have more time to spend thinking and therein lies the real savings.

NGO fraud

DOGE was the latest attempt to reduce government spending and they were run out of town by the press, who promptly published reports on every one and every group that suffered, with the defunding of any program but they had one big success. They ended the US foreign aid (USAID) program. This was used to hand out $40 billion dollars per year to various NGO’s who in term distributed the funds to needy causes. Upon investigation it was discovered to be a kind of slush fund for different politicians. It was exposed when some of the programs were found to border on the ridiculous. To list just a few: $32,000 for transgender comic books in Peru, $2 million for sex changes in Guatemala and $20 million for an Iraqi version of Sesame Street. Later this method of waste and fraud was found in state government. In MN billions was siphoned off of Medicaid through the Minnesota Department of Education by way of various NGO’s. Fraudsters working through legitimate groups whose purpose was to provide food, childcare and homes for the poor, stole millions. Just as the strange programs of USAID should have been a warning, the fact that people were flying out of the Minneapolis Airport weekly, with suitcases full of cash did not alert any law enforcement agency of possible fraud. I am reminded of the song about the pool table in Fiddler on the Roof. Either you are unaware of the caliber of disaster represented by the presence of a pool table (fraud) or you are closing your eyes to a situation you do not wish to acknowledge. Another possibility is that the higher ups knew and were being rewarded in some way or another to look the other way.

Canadian reaction

Canada was stung by the Trump remarks about becoming the 51st state and the voters reacted by electing a liberal government. This was not the direction the people wanted to go but it was an emotional reaction that many now regret. The new PM Mark Carney was particularly upset by Trump and has put forth his zero-carbon agenda aggravating the Western Provinces. In an attempt to face down the US, Carney has recently made an agreement with China to import 49,000 EV’s in exchange for lower Chinese tariffs which were imposed by the US. This at a time when the North American auto industry is writing off $70 billion dollars in loses due to low demand for EV’s. This will have a negative effect on the Canadian auto industry but it will show the Americans that they cannot do what ever they please. One could expect individuals to react with petty squabbles but not leaders of countries.

Personal attacks

Researchers note that "affective polarization"—growing animosity toward the opposing party—has increased significantly since 1980, with party affiliation now dictating personal lifestyle decisions, such as where to live or who to marry. The women's liberation movement popularized the slogan "The Personal Is Political," They meant that work such as housework, childcare and domestic abuse were not individual failures but issues of a society rooted in patriarchy. This was followed up in the 1980’s when conservative views on talk radio and the formation of the silent majority gained momentum. Next came the expansion of social media where individuals could rant to sizable audiences. Then a dozen years ago, Trump comes on the scene using blunt, harsh and sometimes outlandish language to describe his political opponents. The left responded by going further left and we stand today with both sides in their respective corners no longer willing to listen. The debate has shifted from policy to personality where disagreements are perceived as threats to a person’s core sense of self. This is further aggravated by the idea of identity politics where people are grouped by some characteristic like race, gender, sexuality or religion. Terms like racist, misogynist, homophobic, and antisemitic are used in everyday conversation. Instead of discussing economic policies like job creation and economic growth, conversations center around different personalities using personal insults to explain their positions. With the proliferation of podcasts to make money by selling ads based on clicks the situation worsens. You can get readers by saying outlandish things rather than the mundane daily news reporting. This leads to the extremes and fosters conspiracy theories. The solution is to get back to policy but that is not very exciting.

World climate meeting

Over 50 nations are gathering in Santa Marta, Colombia, from April 24–29, 2026, for the first-of-its-kind First Conference on Transitioning Away from Fossil Fuels. I read the report in this meeting and found that there was no mention of the environmental problems associated with the mining, processing and disposal of the materials needed for wind and solar. In addition, there was no mention of the use of nuclear power. Just as the US used the New Green Deal to redistribute wealth under the guise of going to zero carbon, the international community is using climate change to redistribute wealth from rich countries to poor countries. Just as some want reparations to compensate Blacks for past discrimination, some want the rich countries, who are partly responsible for the increase in global temperatures, to pay to develop poor countries who are suffering because of the actions of the rich countries. The solution to climate change is for the rich countries to develop small nuclear reactors to replace fossil fuels and next to send these reactors to the poor countries to help them with their energy needs. This however would not involve the transfer of wealth and is not considered in the plans. If the politics were removed from the planning this would be the obvious solution.