One of the ways Israel defeated Iran

I don't approve at all of Israel's actions in Gaza after they removed any serious military threat from Hamas or Hezbollah more than a year ago. Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu's declaration today that Gaza will become essentially a military protectorate of Israel means that, at least as long as Netanyahu can stay out of jail (his entire reason for staying in power at this point), Israel is no longer a democracy.

That said, Israel's utter humiliation of Iran and removal of Iran's proxies from the theater of combat will be the subject of military histories for a very long time. Politico has some of that story today, detailing how the Mossad recruited an army of Iranians in Iran to assist them against the Iranian regime:

The secret war between Israel and Iran has attracted far less public attention but has also played a significant role in the region’s changing balance of power.

In 2018, Israeli-trained operatives broke into an unguarded Tehran warehouse and used high-temperature plasma cutters to crack safes containing drawings, data, computer disks and planning books. The material, weighing over 1,000 pounds, was loaded onto two trucks and driven into neighboring Azerbaijan. Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu displayed the material at a press conference in Tel Aviv and said it proved Iran had been lying about its nuclear intentions.

One key to the spy agency’s success is the ethnic composition of Iran. Israeli officials noted in interviews that roughly 40% of the country’s population of 90 million is made up of ethnic minorities: Arabs, Azeris, Baluchis, Kurds and others.

The Mossad’s espionage efforts were helped by a geographic fact. Iran is bordered by Iraq, Turkey, Azerbaijan, Armenia, Pakistan, Turkmenistan and Afghanistan. Smuggling is a way of life in the region, as thousands of people earn their living using donkeys, camels, cars and trucks to carry drugs, fuel and electronics across the borders.

The Mossad had developed contacts with smugglers — and often with the government intelligence agencies — in all seven nations.

The problem facing Iran's regime is the same that all authoritarian governments ultimately have: they're fundamentally incompetent. Once pleasing the Dear Leader becomes more important to keeping your job than actually doing your job, it's hard to have integrity. The competent people get replaced with incompetent lickspittles, all up and down the chain. Just look at the OAFPOTUS and his Cabinet of Deplorables.

Iran's regime and its history also support Frank Herbert's observation that "all rebels are closet aristocrats." So do the OAFPOTUS's droogs. (Herbert also wrote, "Absolute power does not corrupt absolutely, absolute power attracts the corruptible." I'll end with that this afternoon.)