David P. Goldman blogs as Spengler at
PJ Media. Today he writes about the
situation in Iran and essentially makes light of the demonstrations going on there currently. Check this out for an apocalyptic opening paragraph:
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.
Run out of water? Apparenty so.
The most violent protests, e.g. the burning of a police station near Isfahan captured on this video, happened in the boondocks where water has run out. The river that runs through Isfahan, a legendary city of gardens in the desert, literally has run dry.
Some Iranian officials warn that tens of millions of Iranians will have to leave their homes for lack of water. The country has used up 70% of its groundwater and its literally drying up major rivers to maintain consumption.
Spengler is not a little ray of sunshine, is he? He’s got me halfway convinced to write a bye-ku for Iran this afternoon, but I’ll hold off for a year or two. Maybe their shrinking population will reduce the demand for water?
