The other side of the fence. Demographics and Iran.
Our media is clearly top-down and self absorbed. Almost all the coverage on the Iran deal has been "here's what the decision makers think" (nothing new there I know) and it's all about what this means to ME!!! meaning the US. I saw one commentator mention that we USA!!! were really the last holdout on this. All of the P5+1 were for it which would have left us USA!!! trying to sanction Iran by ourselves.
For all the talk of changing demographics in our internal politics and the need to reach out or keep tight these changing numbers I have not heard anyone do the same for Iran.
Why did Iran feel the need to begin this process?
Unfreezing assets? Sure
Lifting sanctions and re-entering the world economy? Of course
Because their demographics are changing too? A-ha!!
The demographics are changing, specifically AGE. Their population has been screaming to be a part of the world again for close to a decade. The youth especially but even middle aged Iranians who were about the same age I was in 1979. The old guard is dying off. The Iranian religous leaders will still be the leaders but they saw the writing on the wall. They could keep the masses at bay brutally or they could make the move that they did. Preventing problems is a lot easier and cheaper than dealing with problems, like a turn politically.
With Cuba both sides finally admitted that what we were doing was a waste of time. The situation in Iran is very much, to me, like the Wall coming down. It was delayed for a bit longer than it needed to but finally the leadership realized that continuing was avoiding the inevitable and it was what their people wanted. And it prevented having to make really tough internal choices.
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