Thanks for the DataRepublican link! That was the best one-stop shopping on the Iran War I’ve seen.

For those who missed it:

https://datarepublican.substack.com/p/data-analysis-of-the-state-of-the

My favorite bit:
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China is losing 17 million barrels per day of discounted iranian oil and faces secondarysanctions

https://datarepublican.substack.com/i/190345817/fact-7-china-is-losing-17-million-barrels-per-day-of-discounted-iranian-oil-and-faces-secondary-sanctions

Punishing a jihadi, or amateur terrorist.to-be, is A CRIME AGAINST ALLAH AND ISLAM, and the whole town is inflamed,

Comes to mind that the greater the difference in the ratio of first-cousin marriage between city and country, the greater the advantage of the city in civilized pursuit
and the greater the facility with the recruiting mindless terrorists in the country.

That pretty much describes the overall plot arc of the SF series by Lois McMaster Bujold featuring Miles Vorkosigan. The bolded section is specifically addressed in her novella, “Mountains of Mourning,” which I reread earlier this month.
I’m binge-reading the whole series (slowly, with a magnifying glass), so I can move forward with the project of clearing my bookshelves, one favorite at a time.

Here’s one way to do it:
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* Fill a glass with ice and add rum.
* Squeeze in the lime juice.
* Pour cola until the drink is topped off. Give it a stir.
* Garnish with lime wheels or a lime wedge.

https://abeautifulmess.com/cube-libre/
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So, just a rum and coke with lime. I went through a rum and coke phase. I’m sure a bit o’ lime wouldn’t have hurt.

“CUBA LIBRÉ!”
https://instapundit.com/782624/

Soon to be “NY LIBRÉ”?

For that matter, Iran has been a nation for thousands of years (and “Iran” was the original name, with “Persia” coming somewhat later). It had an experience of modernity, too, under the Shah. It has close to 100% literacy.

Thanks for the reference. However, there were orientation films for occupation troops and those provide a more nuanced look
You tube has “Your Job in Gernany”. The twelve-minute one is the complete version. “Our Job in Japan” has the same goal but a completely different voice, based on the view of the recent histories of the two countries.

A lot looks at the immediate post-war views of the cultures of the two countries.

Political scientists use the term “nation state”. That presumes two things. One is a legally constituted state with a central government, recognized internationally, at least nominally in charge of and responsible for all of its territory, recognized borders. The other, “nation”, implies shared cultures, languages, agreed-upon history. The two are not necessarily found together. Nigeria is a state, including several tribes of different cultures and histories who fight each other and the central government. At best, it’s a state containing several nations.

The, not very, semi-autonomous Native American tribes within the US might be considered separate nations…or not.

So I guess regime change, like pretty much everything beyond fourth-grade arithmetic, depends on definition.

At one end we convert a nasty bunch from those making trouble abroad to a nasty bunch, possibly the same guys, who stay home. That might be enforced by the occasional bomb on the relevant head.

Or we might get to a Norman Rockwell version of, in current circumstances, Islamic governance.

Or someplace in between.

To the extent the latter case can be made, a certain portion of the population has to appreciated it and want to participate There are, apparently, numerous montages of the Old Days, post WW II, photos of capitols of Muslim countries day to day. It’s always attractive young women in dresses, knee length, heels, blouses, big smiles, free hair. The latest I saw was college women in, for heaven’s sake, Kabul in 1972.

The big cities could be, if allowed, more like that today, but that would require regime change. What happens out in the hills would be different and couldn’t be forcibly converted. But as long as the big cities were protected, and travel as well, the westernization might spread. The more egregious offenses n the hills cold be punished egregiously, perhaps, if the mechanisms to do so could be maintained. Meantime, the temptations might sell themselves to the hillbillies. This would be a heck of an effort, but the opportunities it provides would attract at least some international interest; foreign professors in various disciplines at the university, for example. VIctoria’s Secret (I kid, I thnk). And the relevant embassies.

And efforts to change circumstances in what might be called “rogue” regimes which seem to be breaking out, nuclear or conventional aggression, should not be called “regime change” in order to dismiss their possibilities of success. You can always bomb a nuke facility without a single boot on the ground.

You’ll note the footage of the IDF’s efforts against Basij bases are artificially dramatic. First, the instantaneous shock of the initial explosion. Then the slo-mo expansion of the shock wave and its detritus.

Those are not particularly big munitions. Might be the equivalent of our 81mm mortar round, or less, which weighs maybe ten pounds. This demonstrates extreme confidence in the accuracy of the weapon, a confidence which is obviously merited. That close a hit and you don’t need much more than a cherry bomb. Which means the guys on the ground are not going to wonder if they should call for another down the block. Or not. Also, the Basij crew are going to be looking over their shoulders for the next sure thing.