As a longtime Venezuela-watcher, I can tell you: Protests are such bee ess. In the face of an implacable socialist (or any ideological) regime, Venezuelans have found themselves protesting for 20 years now, in vast, vast, numbers, and the regime's grip remains as tight as ever. What's more, there are no little reforms as a result of the protests. The regime is not budging an inch. They can protest all they like, the horridness they protest only gets worse. I'm going to infer the same situation is operative in Iran. Iranians can protest till the cows come home, whether it's the truckers protesting artificial costs, teachers protesting theft of their pensions, villagers protesting mismanagement of water resources, kitchen-sink Iranians protesting the 131.15% inflation (admittedly no match for Venezuela's 40,000%), according to inflation expert Steve Hanke, and locals always protesting corruption.... Until now. Apparently the mullahs and their goon squads...(Read Full Post)