{"id":83697,"date":"2020-03-19T21:43:53","date_gmt":"2020-03-20T03:43:53","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/admin.patheos.com\/blogs\/danpeterson\/?p=83697"},"modified":"2020-03-20T17:38:41","modified_gmt":"2020-03-20T23:38:41","slug":"a-scourge-of-biblical-proportions","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/danpeterson\/2020\/03\/a-scourge-of-biblical-proportions.html","title":{"rendered":"“A scourge of biblical proportions”"},"content":{"rendered":"\n<\/head>

\u00a0<\/p>\n

\"In<\/a>
The Shrine of Imam Ali Reda (or Reza), at Mashhad, Iran
Wikimedia Commons public domain image;\u00a0Iahsan at the English language Wikipedia)<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

\u00a0<\/p>\n

Pestilence and disease?<\/p>\n

\u00a0<\/p>\n

Check.<\/p>\n

\u00a0<\/p>\n

Earthquake?<\/p>\n

\u00a0<\/p>\n

Check.<\/p>\n

\u00a0<\/p>\n

Plague of locusts?<\/p>\n

\u00a0<\/p>\n

Check!<\/p>\n

\u00a0<\/p>\n

Jerusalem Post<\/em>: \u00a0\u201cSwarms of locusts expected to plague Africa and Middle East, UN group says:\u00a0The swarms represent \u201can unprecedented threat to food security,\u201d according to the Locust Watch website.\u201d<\/a><\/p>\n

\u00a0<\/p>\n

\u201cLocust swarm branded \u2018scourge of biblical proportions\u2019 by UN as new plague forecast: The locust swarm\u00a0ravaging East Africa is a \u201cscourge of biblical proportions\u201d according to a statement released by the United Nations as a new swarm of locusts threatens Egypt.\u201d<\/a><\/p>\n

\u00a0<\/p>\n

***<\/strong><\/span><\/p>\n

\u00a0<\/p>\n

It\u2019s interesting to note that the locust swarm or plague is expected to hit Iran, along with some other places, with particular vehemence.<\/p>\n

\u00a0<\/p>\n

What impact might this have? \u00a0We don\u2019t know. \u00a0The Iranian regime is already, or so we\u2019re told, struggling with the impact of economic and trade sanctions imposed by the United States. \u00a0Oil prices \u2014 and, therefore, oil revenues \u2014 are severely down. \u00a0The sclerotic Islamic regime is widely unpopular among many of the younger Iranian generation, who are tired of being cut off from the rest of the world. \u00a0The downing of\u00a0Ukraine International Airlines Flight 752 by the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps on 8 January 2020, which killed all 176 passengers and crew \u2014 nearly half of whom were Iranian citizens \u2014 led to mass protests on the streets calling for the removal of Iran\u2019s Supreme Leader, Ali Khamenei, and it is said that anger about that tragedy still smolders. \u00a0Most recently, the regime\u2019s apparently incompetent and dishonest response to the challenge of COVID-19 has infuriated many Iranians. \u00a0And, now, a locust plague and potential food shortages?<\/p>\n

\u00a0<\/p>\n

\u201cCoronavirus Outbreak Is Pressuring Iran\u2019s Government. That Makes Some U.S. Officials Nervous\u201d<\/a><\/p>\n

\u00a0<\/p>\n

\u201cPower Struggle Hampers Iran\u2019s Coronavirus Response:\u00a0President Hassan Rouhani has been severely criticized for not acting forcefully against the epidemic. Now he and the military, newly empowered to intervene, are fighting over control.\u201d<\/a><\/p>\n

\u00a0<\/p>\n

\u201cWhere Is Iran\u2019s Supreme Leader? \u00a0Senior leaders are sick with the coronavirus.\u201d<\/a><\/p>\n

\u00a0<\/p>\n

I predict that the regime will make at least some efforts to blame the coronavirus on the United States and Israel, which is to say on the CIA and the Mossad. \u00a0Totalitarian governments often use their monopolistic control of the news media to blame their own incompetence and their own oppressions upon external enemies. \u00a0And the Iranian government has done this before:<\/p>\n

\u00a0<\/p>\n

\"Persia<\/a>
A public domain political map of Iran, from the Nations Online Project<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

\u00a0<\/p>\n

Many, many years ago, an outbreak of anthrax occurred in the area of Ahvaz, in the very southwestern corner of Iran, near the border with Iraq and not too far from Kuwait, at the head of the Persian Gulf. \u00a0Many cattle and sheep died of the disease. \u00a0Such things happen, of course. \u00a0But one explanation apparently circulated by the Islamic Republic was that agents of the CIA and Mossad had parachuted in by night and injected anthrax into the animals . . .<\/p>\n

\u00a0<\/p>\n

\u00a0<\/p>\n<\/body><\/html>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

\u00a0 \u00a0 Pestilence and disease? \u00a0 Check. \u00a0 Earthquake? \u00a0 Check. \u00a0 Plague of locusts? \u00a0 Check! \u00a0 Jerusalem Post: \u00a0\u201cSwarms of locusts expected to plague Africa and Middle East, UN group says:\u00a0The swarms represent \u201can unprecedented threat to food security,\u201d according to the Locust Watch website.\u201d \u00a0 \u201cLocust swarm branded \u2018scourge of biblical proportions\u2019 […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1019,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[9174,8031,9108,864,4345,9168,1110,9164,9171],"class_list":["post-83697","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-uncategorized","tag-anthrax","tag-coronavirus","tag-covid-19","tag-iran","tag-islamic-republic","tag-locust","tag-persia","tag-plague","tag-regime"],"yoast_head":"\n"A scourge of biblical proportions"<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"    Pestilence and disease? 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