01-08-2022, 03:04 AM
During the Iranian Revolution President Carter warned Shah Reza Pahlavi that, whatever he did, he was to never order any violent attacks upon peaceful protesters. In 1989, the Romanian Revolution became a trap for Nicolae and Elena Ceausescu because they gave the Securitate (secret police) and the Romanian Army orders to shoot to kill. The Army turned against the Securitate and effectively cleared the streets for peaceful protesters. Meanwhile neighboring states (including the Soviet Union) closed escape routes for the Ceausescus. Supposedly they were headed to Iran, but that had three problems for them. First, their plane was overloaded, so had it gotten out of Romania it would have likely crashed into the Black Sea. Well, at least their loot was saved. Second, they would have been arrested in Turkey, one country they would have to get through to get through Iran if they wanted to stay clear of the Soviet Union, and they would have been returned to Romania for judgment. Third, the Soviet Union would have arrested them and returned them to Romania for judgment.
One gets at most a few days of spurious safety for having the troops and secret police shooting peaceful protesters. Most likely either the troops turn on one. When the revolution has the Army on its side, the revolution is over.
One gets at most a few days of spurious safety for having the troops and secret police shooting peaceful protesters. Most likely either the troops turn on one. When the revolution has the Army on its side, the revolution is over.
The ideal subject of totalitarian rule is not the convinced Nazi or the dedicated Communist but instead the people for whom the distinction between fact and fiction, true and false, no longer exists -- Hannah Arendt.
