Iran government is blaming Bitcoin mining for the blackouts(washingtonpost.com)
washingtonpost.com
Iran government is blaming Bitcoin mining for the blackouts
https://www.washingtonpost.com/world/2021/01/16/massive-blackouts-have-hit-iran-government-is-blaming-bitcoin/
8 comments
I'm an Iranian and this is true indeed. Electricity is not cheap in Iran but people either have connection to the government or they just steal electricity. Mining doesn't require huge internet bandwidth. Many many people and companies mine various coins. Recently however, after increase in price of cryptocurrencies, the government has seen mining as mean to evade the sanctions after fall of the nuclear deal and it explains the constant electricity outages.
The sooner Biden is back in, the sooner relations with Iran can be normalised, the sooner they can sell their oil and buy power station parts from us and the happier everyone will be (except for the religious right and arms manufacturers)
please stop your America-centric view world
look at how Iran is funding terrorist groups that brutally oppress people in Iraq, Lebanon, and Yemen.
Syria is murky because they back the "official" government.
Just keep in mind the world is big and America is small and viewing the whole world in orange-man-bad shades is a really simplistic model and very very wrong
edit - example: read your last sentence: "except for the religious right and arms manufacturers"
- religious right: actually don't care much about Iran, they supported the christians Armenia over the Shia Azerbaijan 2 months ago. Secular Assad over islamist (insert 20 Al Qaeda variations). So no, Iran (and its government) shouldn't hated by the religious right
- arms manufacturers: a stronger Iran = arms race in Mid East = more sales to Irans neighbors. So relaxing sanctions will be booming business for them
look at how Iran is funding terrorist groups that brutally oppress people in Iraq, Lebanon, and Yemen.
Syria is murky because they back the "official" government.
Just keep in mind the world is big and America is small and viewing the whole world in orange-man-bad shades is a really simplistic model and very very wrong
edit - example: read your last sentence: "except for the religious right and arms manufacturers"
- religious right: actually don't care much about Iran, they supported the christians Armenia over the Shia Azerbaijan 2 months ago. Secular Assad over islamist (insert 20 Al Qaeda variations). So no, Iran (and its government) shouldn't hated by the religious right
- arms manufacturers: a stronger Iran = arms race in Mid East = more sales to Irans neighbors. So relaxing sanctions will be booming business for them
I'm British actually. :)
I only commented on the US policy as that is what's holding things up here. The EU (and even the uk) are happy and ready to trade.
Where are you from?
I'm all for a more peaceful lawful middle East. The status quo is shit.
50+ years of being tough on Iran and easy on Saudi hasn't gotten us there. Regime change in Iraq has not just failed, it was actively counter productive. The same in Afghanistan.
Maybe now is a good time to sit down with the Iranians (about the one thing no one has tried) and find a better way.
I only commented on the US policy as that is what's holding things up here. The EU (and even the uk) are happy and ready to trade.
Where are you from?
I'm all for a more peaceful lawful middle East. The status quo is shit.
50+ years of being tough on Iran and easy on Saudi hasn't gotten us there. Regime change in Iraq has not just failed, it was actively counter productive. The same in Afghanistan.
Maybe now is a good time to sit down with the Iranians (about the one thing no one has tried) and find a better way.
Im Iraqi-American :)
coincidently, Iran was pro regime change (to be clear so was I, terrible execution though) in Iraq.
For example, here are two ways I can list to show how detrimental Iran is to the stability, safety, and progress of my home country
1. Political assassinations (most recent https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hisham_al-Hashimi, an outspoken political scientist who published reports on corruption)
2. Massive corruption that inhibits the growth of the country
- For example: Per the last head of the Commission of Integrity (CoI) [0]. $250 Billion "lost" oil money only by Sabotaging Iraq's oil industry so you have to buy from them (under the table now, overt before). How? - There are 12 crude oil pipes exporting Iraq's oil. 6 of them go to Um-Qasr port [1] - 2 main ways to steal, either you poke holes on the pipe (small sized oil cartels, $250k a week or so) or political mafias that own "illegal" ports and shipyards. There are more than 60 of those (per the last head of the CoI) so they can load/unload from the ships, these mafias makes ~$5 million a week. - When the CoI would try to send inspectors, the inspectors receive messages warning them if they enter the port of Basra they would be beheaded.
This is only 1 sample of an industry where Iranian backed terrorists run to the ground. If you look at any others (from communications, to even milk) have a similar theme.
Unfortunately the sources are all in Arabic, if you would like the Arabic sources I can point you to the interview with the last head of the CoI. I have contemplated translating those to make them more widely available but that risks the lives of my relatives back home
---- [0] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Commission_of_Integrity_(Iraq) [1] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Umm_Qasr
coincidently, Iran was pro regime change (to be clear so was I, terrible execution though) in Iraq.
For example, here are two ways I can list to show how detrimental Iran is to the stability, safety, and progress of my home country
1. Political assassinations (most recent https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hisham_al-Hashimi, an outspoken political scientist who published reports on corruption)
2. Massive corruption that inhibits the growth of the country
- For example: Per the last head of the Commission of Integrity (CoI) [0]. $250 Billion "lost" oil money only by Sabotaging Iraq's oil industry so you have to buy from them (under the table now, overt before). How? - There are 12 crude oil pipes exporting Iraq's oil. 6 of them go to Um-Qasr port [1] - 2 main ways to steal, either you poke holes on the pipe (small sized oil cartels, $250k a week or so) or political mafias that own "illegal" ports and shipyards. There are more than 60 of those (per the last head of the CoI) so they can load/unload from the ships, these mafias makes ~$5 million a week. - When the CoI would try to send inspectors, the inspectors receive messages warning them if they enter the port of Basra they would be beheaded.
This is only 1 sample of an industry where Iranian backed terrorists run to the ground. If you look at any others (from communications, to even milk) have a similar theme.
Unfortunately the sources are all in Arabic, if you would like the Arabic sources I can point you to the interview with the last head of the CoI. I have contemplated translating those to make them more widely available but that risks the lives of my relatives back home
---- [0] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Commission_of_Integrity_(Iraq) [1] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Umm_Qasr
Don't misunderstand me, I'm not here to say Iran are a nice country and we should all drink tea together. I'm just saying, Iran are winning.
So we either need to drive them back. And that means a huge military operation lasting decades, costing trillions and with a lot of troop deaths. It will make Iraq look like a picnic. The USA will probably need to reintroduce the draft. The Europeans will want no part of it. And it will have to last 100 years.
Or we sit down and negotiate: stop fucking with Iraqs oil and we will let you sell yours too. Drop the nuclear program and you can access western markets instead (they already went for this). Stop pushing Hezbollah and we will guarantee your safety.
I don't think we have the stomach for the first option. So we negotiate it we lose.
So we either need to drive them back. And that means a huge military operation lasting decades, costing trillions and with a lot of troop deaths. It will make Iraq look like a picnic. The USA will probably need to reintroduce the draft. The Europeans will want no part of it. And it will have to last 100 years.
Or we sit down and negotiate: stop fucking with Iraqs oil and we will let you sell yours too. Drop the nuclear program and you can access western markets instead (they already went for this). Stop pushing Hezbollah and we will guarantee your safety.
I don't think we have the stomach for the first option. So we negotiate it we lose.