What ya mean “no water”? Are they all relying on bottled water, like the whole country? Cant watch youtube
From what I’ve heard, the current government tapped the groundwater table to push farming. Now, there isn’t enough groundwater to accommodate the difference between water demand and river water.
It sucks for Iran.
Meanwhile, the rest of the world will completely disregard this cautionary tale and continue to extract groundwater to farm until only saltwater remains.
Then, as billions of people are dying of starvation, thirst, and societal downfall, the elite will finally prioritize desalination R&D and if/when they get something to work they will hail it as a revolutionary step for humanity and completely disregard the fact that this R&D / subsequent proliferation could have been initiated decades ago when the problem was first apparent.
Voila, no more overpopulation crisis, and water, what the civilized world once considered a human right, is now used as a method for exerting control, as it is only ever potable (sans rainwater) after being processed.
Lol oh look, people in power are myopic and prioritize short term benefice over long term thonking; I wonder how often that happens!
people in power are myopic and prioritize short term benefice over long term thonking
I’m not sure “maintaining adequate levels of domestic crop yield” is a short-term benefit. They’re stretched for water because they’re in a historic drought during a climate catastrophe. This is a no-win situation, exacerbated by the constant threat of military invasion by nuclear superpowers and their rabid fascist local proxies.
The Iranian government can’t summon rain from the heavens any easier than their Saudi or Qatari neighbors. Those states just have the benefit of access to western markets and engineering firms for enormous desalination plants. Meanwhile, Iranians’ energy infrastructure - necessary to run the pumps and pipelines that irrigate much of the country - have been subject to repeated bombardment by Israeli and US aircraft. Most notably, their civilian nuclear program was crippled by Trump’s B-2 bombing run in June. But this is just the tail end of the damage inflicted by the eleven day shootout with Israel.
Coming soon to a theater near you
There’s a good real life lore video on nebula. They killed their traditional agricultural system with an extractive well water fueled one which depletes aquifers. Neighboring rivers from other countries got dammed. They rerouted their own rivers for dams and dried out lakes and flooded a salt deposit making the whole river salty. They also focus a lot on domestic agriculture at the expense of water depletion. All around poor mismanagement using outdated American plans to build their dam infrastructure without environmental assessments.
But they do have plenty of oil, right?
Yeah, but it’s not as healthy to drink.
I guarantee a pint of crude oil contains all the calories you need for the rest of your life.
Mediterranean diet mate, you’re missing out on the best stuff…
Same thing is happening in Iraq.
After all the fighting, suffering and genocide in the region, it’ll all be for nothing once climate change makes it uninhabitable.
It was the oil wells and not the people who’s been “liberated” all along.
If there had been less spent on war they could have built some infrastructure to help with the situation.
They’ve had “infinite” free money for decades and have had Norway as a clear example to follow but have chosen to squander it all.
Gee, I wonder why they didn’t use their free money to improve their country. Was it the (at least for a while) US-backed dictator getting US aid and weapons to send young Iraqi men to their deaths? Or was it the US sanctions killing thousands of Iraqi children and impoverishing the rest of the population? Or was it the US invasion plunging their country into over a decade of civil war and instability that continues to this day? I suppose we’ll never know!
Them trying to use the oil for their own means is what started this mess. They did not have infinite money
So, it begins…
Minute 1:30, it calls them a “fascist dictatorship”…
Look, I’m not going to apologize for Iran in any manner. But calling them fascist isn’t, its not quite right. Fascism is a form of political identity. It has a specific meaning. The regime in Iran might be terrible, but its not fascist, per se…
Also the comments on this video are wild.
This video is hard to suffer through. I’d love to hear a deep dive, but I can’t stomach this.
Yeah they’re a totalitarian theocracy
Iranians have a more democratic society than any other country you could name in the region.
What they are is under siege. The eleven day war with Israel crippled their domestic infrastructure. And the ongoing sanctions placed by the US prevented them from rebuilding in a timely manner.
That’s like saying that out of a rhino, a hippo and a horse, the horse is best at flying because it can jump. Iran isn’t democratic. It’s a single party theocracy that jails or murders it’s people for saying mean stuff about the unelected leader that was supposedly chosen by god.
Weird. Almost like picking fights with countries that can kerb stomp you blindfolded is a terrible idea.
Theocracy, fascist, dictatorship, the difference is fun for political majors to circlejerk about, but at the end of the day, these governments are hell for the populace.
They torture, imprison and kill people that are different, people that dare dissent.
As an Italian, I can tell you that I call theocratic regimes whose power is based on individual control and punishment at scale, fascist regimes.
I know that totalitarian or, in some other cases, authoritarian would be more appropriate, but at least in my culture fascism has been the first and the archetype of all totalitarianisms.
Not letting Iran enjoy the deserved hate it derives from an even longer history of antifascism would be too big a discount.
I’ve never heard of Iran being called fascist. It is a militant theocracy.
I’ve only ever heard it called fascist by people at both a) have no idea what iran is or b) have no idea what a fascist is.
“a populist political philosophy, movement, or regime (such as that of the Fascisti) that exalts nation and often race above the individual, that is associated with a centralized autocratic government headed by a dictatorial leader, and that is characterized by severe economic and social regimentation and by forcible suppression of opposition”- merriam webster.
Autocratic-check Dictatorship-check Economic and social regimentation-check Suppression of opposition-check The only thing missing is nation/race above the individual and arguably their extremist theism could be considered sufficient for this as well.
Your “checks” apply to every dictatorship.
There is still a difference between fascism and theocracy. Words have meanings.Words have meanings.
The world in 2025:
Is a theocratic dictatorship and better than a fascist dictatorship?
The oppressed women and any non-Muslim (or even just non-strict-adherents) wouldn’t feel a difference.
No it’s not better, and I didn’t say it was.
But “bad” =/= “fascism”.Wait, when isn’t Fascism bad?
Work on your reading comprehension.
I’m all for splitting hairs over semantics, and I’ll agree with you that “fascist” probably isn’t the best label for Iran
But if you take a step back and look at the big picture, it does look a hell of a lot like fascism.
Extreme right wing, militaristic government, social and economic regimentation, charismatic, authoritarian dictators, focusing a whole lot of hatred and blame on people in the nation who don’t conform and towards external enemies, etc.
I don’t know that they’re exactly nationalistic, but they do have religion filling pretty much that same role, and let’s be real, the line’s pretty damn blurry between religion and government there.
And they don’t exactly make racial/ethnic superiority a centerpiece of their identity, but they’re certainly not exactly sitting around singing “Kumbaya” with their minorities either, and again we have religion filling a pretty similar role in other ways.
You can get into the weeds about the specific philosophies at play here and about the history that led them to their current situation, and there’s certainly merit in doing that, but as far as the casual observer is concerned, they do look and quack a hell of a lot like fascists, and while it’s not the best label for what they have going on it’s certainly not the worst either. I’d maybe prefer to slap a qualifier on it- something like pseudo-fascist, islamo-fascist, maybe something like “Farscism” if we want to get a little cutesy with the wordplay to separate it from “classic” fascism.
And similarly I’d probably want to slap a few qualifiers onto the term “theocracy” as well before applying it to Iran, I don’t think that just that one word really points the whole picture.
And now that I’m looking at it, “fascist theocracy” might be a contender for how I’d label them.
Not for idiots they don’t!
Populist… It’s the second word in your quoted definition probably because it’s important
“a populist political philosophy, movement, or regime (such as that of the Fascisti) that exalts nation and often race above the individual, that is associated with a centralized autocratic government headed by a dictatorial leader, and that is characterized by severe economic and social regimentation and by forcible suppression of opposition”- merriam webster.
Well Merriam Webster is wrong. See: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fascism#Definitions. Fascism is a pretty complicated class of ideologies, but a characteristic attribute of fascism is always seeking enemies internal and external and “punishing” them and that is simply not present in Iran.
Uh, doesn’t Iran’s government obsess over Israel and the USA, and people at home who don’t follow Sharia?
Iran doesn’t “obsess” about the US and Israel; they’re geopolitical rivals with the US and Israel. This is like saying Russia or China obsess about the West. As for Sharia, I don’t know shit about the Iranian justice system, but theocracy does not equal fascism. These are two completely different things.
Which of those refers to their geopolitical rivals as “great satan”?
But bringing in Russia is somewhat ironic here. Modern Russia has many fascist traits. Fascism is on the rise…
Which of those refers to their geopolitical rivals as “great satan”?
If someone does to you what America did to Iran you’d call them Satan too. There’s still no basis for the fascism accusation; countries under fascism will do more than call their rivals bad words.
Modern Russia has many fascist traits.
Yes, and it’s not because they hate America. Russia has everything from violence against minorities and expansionism to literal genocide. Contrast to Iran’s somewhat aggressive but restrained foreign policy.
fascism is always seeking enemies internal and external and “punishing” them
- Morality police definitely not hurting anyone. /s
- Iran is not in opposition to western imperialism at all, actually, they are surrounded by friends. /s
That being said, I don’t think I would characterize Iran as fascist.
If you really want to define fascism, you need to understand how it appears:
Fascism is a counter-revolutionary reactionary movement led by finance capital and a form of dictatorship of the bourgeoisie which emerged during periods of economic crisis in imperialist countries. In other words, fascism is capitalism in decay.
Thus many of its characteristics becomes an aesthetic dependant on the specific material conditions and social superstructure of its origins.
Asianometry covered it two years ago.
Not as “fresh”, but he’s got a pretty good reputation for deep dives and puts sources in the video.
How much of it did you watch? I watched all of it and thought it was very informative, despite a few errors. I don’t think they spent too much time on WHY the government is inept, just HOW inept it is. They shit on the current government and the Shah before them so I don’t see them playing favorites.
Iran is pretty fascist-adjacent so it’s an easy mistake to make. They hit almost all the notes to play that song.
I just finished with it and its terrible in this regard. There is no disambiguation between “just the facts” and the author/ narrators political opinions and identity. Not to say those opinions are wrong or invalid but its incredibly important to separate them and to clearly identify which is which, which even the most amateur journalist understands.
Its the framing that’s the problem, and its often what a framing leaves out that ends up being more telling. You might re-watch it with a lens for what is missing rather than what is said, and honestly, its not my job to make the gaps in your political education apparent. Like, if you come away from this video with its explanation of “why” things in Iran are the way that they are, you’ll come away wildly miseducated.
Just because something agrees with your bias, this doesn’t make it correct.
It’s definitely glossing over some stuff, like when it talks about the unwillingness of neighbors to trade with them and chalking it up to “burned bridges”, I imagine the aggressive US sanctions they’ve been under played a big role there.
Fascism is contantly evolving, thus calling it one is fitting. It’s not just swastikas, and some realized they can deflect accusations of fascism with stuff like being “anti-swastika”, but only performatively (see Russia for that example).
Fascism is a political buzz word. In some ways it is like communism was back in the cold war.
I don’t agree. Calling it a buzzword diminishes the terrible things that are happening in the world. There’s really a lot of parallels to the 1930s which is really worrying because the 1930s led to the 1940s.
And continues to be in contemporary commentary.
Some articles on the topic, for those who prefer text to video:
https://www.bbc.com/news/articles/cy4p2yzmem0o
https://www.nytimes.com/2025/11/09/world/middleeast/iran-water-rationing-drought.html
Thanks.
Iranian law stipulates that 85 percent of domestic food be produced locally, Morad Kaviani, professor of geography and hydropolitics at Iran’s Kharazmi University, told state television last week.
However, he added, Iran does not have the water and soil capacities, and nearly 30 percent of agricultural produce is wasted due to a lack of infrastructure, outdated irrigation practices and misguided crop selection.
Sounds like one of the biggest root disasters, eh?
So, this situation may only slightly be related to AGCC, but it does seem ominous in painting a certain picture of the future. I wonder if and when Russia and China step in, here…
Protip; first time you use an acronym, parse it, and then you can continue referring to it with the abbreviation.
ROFL (rolling on the floor laughing) as an example could be used to denote something that was, to the receiver, funnier than LOL (laughing out loud)
What is an AGCC?
Anthropomorphic, global climate change.
Anthropogenic*, no?
Morphic is about shape/form.
Genic is about origin, like we are causing the climate change.
Does someone have a climate change fursona?
Yeah, my girl dresses as Gaia from Captain Planet, then I come in and wreck the shit out of her.
anthropogenic
Since we’re being sticklers here, the correct term would be Anthropogenic, as in comes from humans, anthropomorphic would be global climate change with human appearance or qualities.
Holy shit, what made you think anyone will understand that abbreviation?
I don’t know… I’d never seen the acronym before, but it seemed fairly obvious in context… (as Anthropogenic Global Climate Change, obviously), especially given that “global warming” seems to be falling out of use due to it being at the same time too specific and not enough…
Er, well… it’s now year 2025, AGCC has been scientifically documented and publicly talked about for decades, and is now arguably the biggest existential threat to humanity?
You know… as seen in increasingly dangerous storm systems year after year, rising global temps year after year, more wildfires, more droughts, rising ocean acidification, rising difficulty growing crops, the holocene extinction accelerating… things like that? All are directly impacted by AGCC, to name a few.
Getting harder and harder to live under a rock, tell you hwat.
I’m not questioning how real anthropogenic global climate change is. I’m questioning your decision of using just the initials assuming everyone understand automatically.
When I googled “AGCC meaning” the suggestions were:
AGenesis of the Corpus Callosum
Alderney Gambling Control Commission
Arab Gulf Cooperation Council
Aberdeen & Grampian Chamber of Commerce Action for a Global Climate Community
Agencia Comercial Spirits ltd (AGCC)I didn’t assume. People are going to understand and misunderstand terms no matter what acronym or definition is used, like CC or GCC. Or they’ll deny, get it twisted, whatever. Or ask a curious followup, as you did.
When I googled “AGCC meaning” the suggestions were:
Well, context is king. If you asked what it meant within that sentence, then it might be able to narrow things down better. We all do this all the time, of course.
Not OP - I’ve been exposed to Climate Change news to the point of possible depression but I’ve never seen the concept referred to as AGCC before too
One way that serves a purpose is in making it clear that this isn’t just some natural variance going on, for example in taking on the hand-wavers who like to say ‘oh, it all goes in cycles; nothing to worry about!’
So GCC sometimes gets appended with an “A” for “anthropomorphic” to make it crystal clear that (just like the Holocene Extinction) it’s largely (or wholly) man-made. Personally I tend to fluctuate between terms, mainly based on recency bias and just whatever my naked ape brain happens to settle on. :P
So US sanctions and hostility basically caused the water crisis because they’re forced to maintain food security by growing it at home… In essentially a desert
Eh, reading the first article, it sounds like it was even more than that, as in: too much middle-management involved in making key water decisions, too much zeal post-revolution in building new dams, too much waffling and inadequate resoluteness at the leadership levels across several decades.
In other words, the sanctions were no doubt a major blow, but the real issue seems to be how Iran responded to the blow. Plus a bunch of other stuff on top that didn’t help.
Meanwhile, something I have no idea about is whether Iran’s regional allies, plus China & Russia, could have used trade and such to help offset the sanctions in the first place…?
And do ya reckon there’s 0 espionage from Israel or other states
Meanwhile, something I have no idea about is whether Iran’s regional allies, plus China & Russia, could have used trade and such to help offset the sanctions in the first place…?
They could almost certainly offset it enormously. Rice and beans shipped in from China are unlikely to cost much more than those from the US.
My bet is that “85% domestic production” threshold is less a result of sanctions, and more either (a) self-imposed isolationism, or (b) protectionist policies designed to empower one or other political faction in the country.
Sounds about right; thanks!
Iran has open trade relations with China, Russia, and Turkey, which all have significant agricultural output. It also does quite a bit of trade with Europe despite sanctions. It does not have to artificially limit itself to importing only 15% of its food, especially given that irrigation is contributing to an unsustainable water crisis.
Note that just because they have open trade relations with a state doesn’t mean they can import whatever they want. It’s a Cuba situation; US secondary sanctions target businesses and they’re harsh. Water mismanagement is obviously a major cause here, but don’t underestimate the effect of Western sanctions on smaller countries.
us sanctions because ISRAEl does not like them, theres no other reason, the NUkes were just an excuse.
Pray harder. That’s what gods are for. Maybe you’re doing it wrong?
Please, do not forget that behind the religious zealot speaking on TV, there are millions of good people in immediate danger. That should ring a bell…
But >99% are muslim, so…the <1% are those “good people”? or do you meant those amongst the 99%? To me, it does not matter anyway. If e.g. germany would be 100% Nazis, except me, I’d still be considered one. I could emigrate or collaborate through apathy. But I surely couldn’t complain when being shot for being a Nazi.
Fuck you. Seriously, go fuck yourself to hell you unempathetic fuck. No one should care when this inevitability of climate change happens to you I guess. Most people in Iran are not religious fundamentalists. They live under an unpopular government. This is a problem of climate change affecting millions of people in a big city and your answer is this. Fuck you.
Take a selfie
I didn’t realize MAGA level thinking was on Lemmy now. Fuck. Time to go.
I’m not even close to being in that silly joke of a country, let alone being a fan of that clown. If I’d be from there, I wouldn’t even know where Iran is. Or what.
This comment is also cringe
More MAGA level comments from people who use “cringe” as an adjective.
Damn, I didnt realize that lemmy.world was into islamophobia like that. Guess its time to find another place to spend my time.
There’s a difference between [anything else of a reason] and a phobia. But you’re free to use pop-buzzwords, if you’d prefer to.
This is such a weird response that multiple people are making. Not that you’re seeing a trend of Islamophobia, but just one shitty comment. And rather than merely chastise that commenter and chase them off, you suggest abandoning the platform - making it more friendly to more shitty commenters. Why cede the space to them?
I haven’t seen much Islamophobia here specifically, but all of Lemmy is generally anti-religion, while still being very humanist. This comment was particularly horrible by any standards because of the sheer lack of empathy for widespread human suffering. That is not merely anti-religion, it is anti-humanist, and that is why it’s being downvoted.
If only they could do something to get rid of those sanctions …
