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Culture War Roundup for the week of January 5, 2026

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One wonders what might happen if the Iranians get their Shah and the economy continues to suck and the water in Tehran continues to not flow. I mean, the Pahlavi heir might be a nice guy (and is almost certainly nicer than who's currently occupying the not-exactly-a-throne in Tehran), but that doesn't necessarily mean he and his friends know how to run an economy. (Does anybody?) As for the drought, whether that ends isn't under the government's control. The new goverment might be able to build pipelines to bring in water from other parts of Iran, but its ability to do so will be constrained by the economy, which brings things back to the first problem....

A notionally pro-western government in Tehran will almost certainly get large western loans for the purpose of immediate legitimacy-building options, and Iran can pay those loans back with oil if they need to.