Are we seeing history repeat itself?

In 1953, the US deposed the leadership of Iran and installed a Shah that was loyal to the US and Israel. That led to numerous protests and the subsequent creation of SAVAK, a brutal security organisation that became synonymous with surveillance, severe repression, torture, incarceration and death of political dissidents, intellectuals, and opponents of the Shah’s regime. That in turn sparked even more protests and ultimately, a revolution led by a cleric named Ruhollah Mostafavi Musavi Khomeini, who would become the first Supreme leader of Iran, and the establishment of Iran as an Islamic Republic.

In 2026, the US is trying to depose the leadership of Iran and instal, believe it or not, another Shah that is loyal to the US and Israel. In fact they are trying to instal the exiled son of the original Shah. What could go wrong?

This is what happens when you make paper planes during history class. As Winston Churchill said, paraphrasing the philosopher George Santayana, ”Those that fail to learn from history are doomed to repeat it.”

Personally, I prefer Karl Marx’s quote: “History repeats itself, first as tragedy, second as farce.”