I’m half German and my uncle was a senior official in the German Embassy in Tehran in the 70s and 80s. He was involved in negotiating the (supposedly peaceful) nuclear deals between the German government and the Shah, which was the original technological basis for Iran’s current nuclear weapons program. My uncle married an Iranian / Pers…
I’m half German and my uncle was a senior official in the German Embassy in Tehran in the 70s and 80s. He was involved in negotiating the (supposedly peaceful) nuclear deals between the German government and the Shah, which was the original technological basis for Iran’s current nuclear weapons program. My uncle married an Iranian / Persian and I have numerous Persian cousins.
Persians are highly intelligent, cultured and attractive people. Their culture is one of the oldest in the world. They are not Arabs and historically regarded Arabs with contempt as primitive barbarians.
The regime that took over from the Shah is one of the cruelest and most effective governments in the world. We should have been taking Iran exceptionally seriously as a strong regional power with aggressive designs to dominate its region.
Instead, this brilliant, strategic nation has been playing America like a piano for decades. Just observing from the outside, President Obama and the Obama Administration appeared to have crossed a bright line into treason during their Iran negotiations. This article seems to confirm the infiltration of America’s defense and policy establishments by Iranian agents and the active collusion by Obama and Biden (aka Obama Administration 2.0) officials with Iran.
In a sense, this is no surprise given Obama’s betrayal of America, and it is certainly the most plausible explanation for the Obama Administration's disastrous Iran policy.
A nuclear-capable Iran will never have the scale of Russia or China, but they have perfected the deadly art of both covert and overt terrorism, starting way back with the bombing of the Marine barracks in Lebanon under Reagan, and we can expect them to continue to punch way above their weight in the international arena. Soon they will be be able to add the threat of nuclear weapons (not necessarily mounted on ballistic missiles) to their deck of cards.
The deepest question is why Barack Obama himself has chosen to lavishly fund and arm with nuclear weapons a regime that is perhaps America’s most implacable enemy?
"The deepest question is why Barack Obama himself has chosen to lavishly fund and arm with nuclear weapons a regime that is perhaps America’s most implacable enemy?"
"The enemy of my enemy is my friend". It's becoming clearer by the day that the Obama/Biden Administration 2.0 is by far "America’s most implacable enemy"
Thanks for this Chris. You have articulated my instincts eloquently. But I find the "[T]hey are not Arabs and historically regarded Arabs with contempt as being primitive barbarians" thing concerning and off-putting. Perhaps instead of Putin rebuilding the USSR we should be concerned about Iran rebuilding and expanding the Achaemenid Empire.
Well, Persia’s ancient glory plus Iran’s Shia brand of Islam create a complex situation and it’s very difficult to forecast what lies in the future for the region—but adding nukes to the mix was a terrible mistake.
That’s because Obama is the President Buchanan of the 21st century. America almost didn’t survive the Buchanan Administration, and I doubt there’s a Lincoln to save us this time—unless it’s possibly Vivek.
Although some Buchanan Administration officials actively transferred weapons and ammunition to southern-based military facilities right up to the end of the Buchanan Administration.
Totally agree--they are wonderful people, and as you say so highly civilized, and once full of the joy of life: attractive, high spirited, poetic, gracious and elegant, intellectual, heirs to some of the greatest architecture in the world, Persians are civilized in the deepest sense.
That’s the tragedy, Bruce. They didn’t “cede control”, their country was stolen from them. They are now helpless just as the equally talented and cultured Germans were in 1933, as the Russians and Syrians and Nicaraguans and Venezuelans and Zimbabweans (etc etc) are today. They must feel such rage, and such futility...
Except that many of them did support the revolution because they felt that the Shah's push to modernization was too much too soon. There is disparity of opinion within Iran itself re: liberalism vs. conservatism. While it may seem that the entire population is against the regime, a substantial number are not. This, in part, explains why a counter revolution never seems to take off successfully. Perhaps the number in favour of a counter revolution is growing but part of the complexity is not being aligned on what the next government should be.
I’m half German and my uncle was a senior official in the German Embassy in Tehran in the 70s and 80s. He was involved in negotiating the (supposedly peaceful) nuclear deals between the German government and the Shah, which was the original technological basis for Iran’s current nuclear weapons program. My uncle married an Iranian / Persian and I have numerous Persian cousins.
Persians are highly intelligent, cultured and attractive people. Their culture is one of the oldest in the world. They are not Arabs and historically regarded Arabs with contempt as primitive barbarians.
The regime that took over from the Shah is one of the cruelest and most effective governments in the world. We should have been taking Iran exceptionally seriously as a strong regional power with aggressive designs to dominate its region.
Instead, this brilliant, strategic nation has been playing America like a piano for decades. Just observing from the outside, President Obama and the Obama Administration appeared to have crossed a bright line into treason during their Iran negotiations. This article seems to confirm the infiltration of America’s defense and policy establishments by Iranian agents and the active collusion by Obama and Biden (aka Obama Administration 2.0) officials with Iran.
In a sense, this is no surprise given Obama’s betrayal of America, and it is certainly the most plausible explanation for the Obama Administration's disastrous Iran policy.
A nuclear-capable Iran will never have the scale of Russia or China, but they have perfected the deadly art of both covert and overt terrorism, starting way back with the bombing of the Marine barracks in Lebanon under Reagan, and we can expect them to continue to punch way above their weight in the international arena. Soon they will be be able to add the threat of nuclear weapons (not necessarily mounted on ballistic missiles) to their deck of cards.
The deepest question is why Barack Obama himself has chosen to lavishly fund and arm with nuclear weapons a regime that is perhaps America’s most implacable enemy?
"The deepest question is why Barack Obama himself has chosen to lavishly fund and arm with nuclear weapons a regime that is perhaps America’s most implacable enemy?"
"The enemy of my enemy is my friend". It's becoming clearer by the day that the Obama/Biden Administration 2.0 is by far "America’s most implacable enemy"
Thanks for this Chris. You have articulated my instincts eloquently. But I find the "[T]hey are not Arabs and historically regarded Arabs with contempt as being primitive barbarians" thing concerning and off-putting. Perhaps instead of Putin rebuilding the USSR we should be concerned about Iran rebuilding and expanding the Achaemenid Empire.
Well, Persia’s ancient glory plus Iran’s Shia brand of Islam create a complex situation and it’s very difficult to forecast what lies in the future for the region—but adding nukes to the mix was a terrible mistake.
Agreed. I keep seeing scenes from the 300 playing in my head.
I like how out of all the long history, Obama is the only POTUS mentioned.
That’s because Obama is the President Buchanan of the 21st century. America almost didn’t survive the Buchanan Administration, and I doubt there’s a Lincoln to save us this time—unless it’s possibly Vivek.
Yeah....that's why...Buchanan.
He indeed is the worst. The traitors around Buchanan had honor and left.
Although some Buchanan Administration officials actively transferred weapons and ammunition to southern-based military facilities right up to the end of the Buchanan Administration.
It always saddens me to remember that the once highly civilized Persian people have been brought so low.
You've never thought about that once, not until today.
Totally agree--they are wonderful people, and as you say so highly civilized, and once full of the joy of life: attractive, high spirited, poetic, gracious and elegant, intellectual, heirs to some of the greatest architecture in the world, Persians are civilized in the deepest sense.
Clearly not all Persians are civilized in the deepest sense. There, as here, the good people have ceded control to totalitarian lunatics.
That’s the tragedy, Bruce. They didn’t “cede control”, their country was stolen from them. They are now helpless just as the equally talented and cultured Germans were in 1933, as the Russians and Syrians and Nicaraguans and Venezuelans and Zimbabweans (etc etc) are today. They must feel such rage, and such futility...
Except that many of them did support the revolution because they felt that the Shah's push to modernization was too much too soon. There is disparity of opinion within Iran itself re: liberalism vs. conservatism. While it may seem that the entire population is against the regime, a substantial number are not. This, in part, explains why a counter revolution never seems to take off successfully. Perhaps the number in favour of a counter revolution is growing but part of the complexity is not being aligned on what the next government should be.
More likely the good people have relocated as have some of the bad people. The former came with dreams, the latter to destroy us.
Quite right Bruce!