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I'm no longer living in Iran for a few years, so this is based on my close friends' observations, not mine. People are doing their best and the riots are inten

by aljgz 4y ago

I'm no longer living in Iran for a few years, so this is based on my close friends' observations, not mine. People are doing their best and the riots are intensifying. But the riot police is using warfare to scatter them and when it does not work, they fire directly into the crowd, killing and wounding many. People have no way to fight back. Sanctions are a serious problem for a SWE who lives in Iran. It's almost impossible to work for a foreign company. 40+ years of 40%+ inflation has hurt the economy so bad that more and more people are going down the Maslow's hierarchy. Lots of internet services (youtube, facebook, twitter, telegram, to name a few) are blocked by the government. Many others block requests from Iran because of sanctions. You cannot download java from the official source, you can guess the rest. Any paid service is out of question, as the country is shut off from international money transfer. Even after migrating to a western country, I still cannot work for any of the big American companies, until I become a PR of this new country. While I was working in another country, banks were afraid of opening an account for me and eventually gave me an account with no internet banking and no credit card. I've been checking out HN for many years. It's the only remaining social network of like minded people, that has managed to stay clean of what infects others. When I was in Iran (and while it's just a few years ago, things were much better at that time), I would go hiking, camping, biking, played tennis, much like what I do now.

boeingUH60 4y ago
>While I was working in another country, banks were afraid of opening an account for me and eventually gave me an account with no internet banking and no credit card. This is something that gets to me about sanctions. It seems they prevent everyday citizens just wanting to work and live from doing so, while the government elites still get to enjoy themselves because they can easily find ways to circumvent it. What's then the point?
- snovv_crash 4y ago
  > What's then the point? It eventually makes things hard enough for the normal people that they revolt and (hopefully) replace the government.
  - boeingUH60 4y ago
    That may be the intention, but that's not the reality of sanctioned countries. Iran, North Korea, Cuba et al are still rolling with their old rich leaders in pleasure, but an agonizing populace. It's really sad-- some countries are just unlucky :(
    - aljgz 4y ago
      We can argue that it's not even the intention. If a government shoots civilians, there is little hope to overthrow them by riots alone. Things can change if police, army and riot police start to disobey order. Also when there is foreign aid to arm people. FWIW, I believe that sanctions serve to 1- Limit the reach of a regime's activity overseas. Iran's government was supporting several militant groups in the middle-east. Sanctions also had a huge effect on the country's nuclear program. 2- Force them to negotiate. That actually worked with Iran (but Trump reversed it)

by aljgz 4y ago

boeingUH60 4y ago

>While I was working in another country, banks were afraid of opening an account for me and eventually gave me an account with no internet banking and no credit card. This is something that gets to me about sanctions. It seems they prevent everyday citizens just wanting to work and live from doing so, while the government elites still get to enjoy themselves because they can easily find ways to circumvent it. What's then the point?

snovv_crash 4y ago
> What's then the point? It eventually makes things hard enough for the normal people that they revolt and (hopefully) replace the government.
- boeingUH60 4y ago
  That may be the intention, but that's not the reality of sanctioned countries. Iran, North Korea, Cuba et al are still rolling with their old rich leaders in pleasure, but an agonizing populace. It's really sad-- some countries are just unlucky :(
  - aljgz 4y ago
    We can argue that it's not even the intention. If a government shoots civilians, there is little hope to overthrow them by riots alone. Things can change if police, army and riot police start to disobey order. Also when there is foreign aid to arm people. FWIW, I believe that sanctions serve to 1- Limit the reach of a regime's activity overseas. Iran's government was supporting several militant groups in the middle-east. Sanctions also had a huge effect on the country's nuclear program. 2- Force them to negotiate. That actually worked with Iran (but Trump reversed it)