IRAN – HOW SAD – AT 12:46 P.M. ET:  It does appear that the Iranian protests are essentially over.   For a few days we could dream that democracy would win.  From Reuters: 

DUBAI (Reuters) - Iran’s Revolutionary Guards said on Sunday the country’s people and security forces had put an end to unrest fomented by foreign enemies, as parliament and security officials met to discuss the boldest challenge to the clerical establishment since 2009.

There has been more than a week of unrest in Iran in which 22 people have died and more than 1,000 arrested, according to Iranian officials. The protests spread to more than 80 cities and rural towns as thousands of young and working-class Iranians expressed their anger at graft, unemployment and a deepening gap between rich and poor.

Residents contacted by Reuters in various cities have said the protests had subsided after the government intensified a crackdown by dispatching Revolutionary Guards forces to several provinces.

“Iran’s revolutionary people along with tens of thousands of Basij forces, police and the Intelligence Ministry have broken down the chain (of unrest),” the Guards said in a statement on their Sepahnews website. The Guards said the unrest had been “created ... by the United States, Britain, the Zionist regime (Israel), Saudi Arabia, the hypocrites (Mujahideen) and monarchists.”

COMMENT:  What did we learn in the days of the revolt?  We learned plenty.  We learned, with revulsion, that the Democratic Party of the United States turned its back on the Iranian people in order to support the ugly foreign policy of Barack Obama.  We learned that, by contrast, President Trump openly supported the protests, putting this country on the right side of history.  Mr. Trump should be praised for his stand.  The mainstream media ignored it.

We learned, once again, that our "allies" in Western Europe cannot be trusted.  They are allies only when we're doing something for them.  After President Trump resoundingly declared what side we were on, our "allies" refused to go along.  Even Great Britain's reaction was muted, and the French president suggested our pro-democracy stand could lead to war.  Of course, European policy was based on the large amount of commercial business done with Iran.  Democratic ideals were left behind. Liberal intellectuals have lost all interest in human rights.

We must always remember, as we symbolically walk through the American military cemeteries in Europe, that every soldier buried there died as a result of European diplomacy.  Yet, the West Europeans continue to lecture us.  Please observe that no democracy movement anywhere in the world was ever inspired by a statement made by the European Union.  It is the United States that people around the world look to.  To his enormous credit, Ronald Reagan never let them down.  Neither is Donald Trump letting them down.  It is the Obamas of this country that shame us.

January 7,  2018