1) Not sneering at it but everything has a cost. If authoritarians get the impression that all their past offenses will be forgiven if they hold everyone hostage and negotiate well, then there's no risk for them. And it's disrespectful to the victims.
There should be things you don't come back from.
For example, if you imprison people for political reasons, the time they spent in prison should be added up, multiplied by a punitive constant (2-3) and given to the offenders. And if that is a just punishment (I believe it it), then not doing that to them is unjust. Simple as that.
2) We should be looking for ways how to have both a peaceful transition and just punishment for the offenders.
The people most responsible got away for free by skillful negotiation (immunity in exchange for data).
Instead, the proposition should have been a) you give us the data and graciously accept your death penalty b) we repeat the experiments on you, nonlethal first. That's harsh and will make many people today recoil (because they've been indoctrinated into a 1-step moral system which seems to correlate with stability but injustice), but it's fair and just. They think those experiments were OK to perform on innocent people, so they are very much OK to perform on them (guilty people) by their own logic.
Yes, here in Poland 36 years later people still seriously argue the country would be much better if we hanged the communists off lampposts (like it was done in few other places).
There ws a great cost to a "peaceful transition". The entire judiciary was basically full of extremely corrupt people, half of the political class. Even today when the old judges are almost all gone the horrible culture they had still corrupts many younger ones (although today it is more towards incompetence and indifference rather than corruption).
Would it be better to have half a million (or possibly entire million if you count inevitable victims on the other side) die to avoid it? We are still paying the price.
There is an argument that had we sorted the communist problem successfully back then we wouldn't have politicians later that let themselves be corrupted by Putin into funding his army. And perhaps there would never be an invasion of Ukraine.
Or if we done away with the peaceful transition, the communists in other neighbouring countries would attempt to hold on to power with everything they got. Who knows.
"Should we have put 500,000 people to death?" sounds like pub conversation, to be frank. There are plenty of options between 'no repercussions for the old regime' and Rwanda.
We're going to have to wait until Boomers age out to get any form of common sense government. They've absolutely been the most damaging generation and will leave a wake of destruction for future generations to recover (or not) from.
I think that's a reasonable theory. Trump had rough experiences (i.e. was not obeyed) by Secretaries of Defense during his first term. He needs his personally loyal armed force because of that. Firing a lot of military leadership is also probably part of that.
In this case, it strikes me as a bad idea because there are advantages to having people - both parents and children - mix across income-levels. It fosters empathy, increases cultural knowledge, broadens social networks.
My impression is that the pickup truck as status symbol began with a Back to the Future product placement. You may recall that the character Marty lusts after a 1985 Toyota SR5 Xtra Cab.
I saw the movie in the theater and, at the time, found it strange that anyone would have a work vehicle as a dream car.
they were mowing down civilian and military leadership
Which 'civilians' were targets? Are we thinking of the employees of state television or Evin prison? It's unlikely the average Iranian shed tears over them.
For perspective, the Iranian protesters themselves have been burning down state television buildings this week, not to mention mosques, police stations, and other centers that the regime uses to control the people.
Nobody is talking seriously about sending foreign troops to rescue the protesters, but some strikes to take out regime targets would be welcome.
In 50 years, if the roles are reversed — if Iran has transitioned to liberal democracy; if the US has continued down the path of authoritarianism; if Americans are rising up to regain their freedom — then, yes, hopefully Iran will return the favor, and lend a hand.
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