Make the Deal
The President - sorry, I meant 'Obamahitler' - seems to have cut a nuclear deal with Iran. All the usual Maiden Aunts are just shocked and appalled that such a thing could happen. And they're going to stomp their little foot until it goes away. But, thankfully, it's not going to go away.
Iran and the US are at an historic impasse. Iranian nuclear ambitions are an absolute non-starter with the developed world. We just can't have a nuclear Iran. It's be like watching a five-year0old walk around with a loaded assault rifle. It's much better to stop him before he gets the thing loaded than try to afterward.
And yet, Iran believes that it has a unique place of leadership in the Islamic world. They are the Yin to Saudi Arabia's Yang. They support any and pretty much all Shia causes, especially when they get a poke at Sunni Saudi's eye.
But here's where it's important to distinguish between 'terrorism' and 'revolution.' Because the 'terror' that Iran supports is mostly Shia Islamic revolutionaries who are trying to replace failed states that are Western or Saudi backed. So Iran supports - with weapons and money - the Shia fighters in Iraq and Syria opposing ISIS. And they are supporting Shia revolutionaries in Yemen who are trying to replace a failed Saudi client government there.
Outside of the American-created mess in Iraq, where are the Iranians supporting actual 'terrorism?' The working definition of 'terrorism' here is violence that is not part of an attempt to build a country or violence to oppose the creation of a country. Iran supports that sort of violence in Iraq. And they support Hamas in Lebanon and whatever's left of Syria. But Hamas, while chucking rockets and murdering Israelis when given the opportunity, are also a quasi-nationalistic force. They have stepped in to replace the infrastructure of two failed states.
The point being that they really are not a force for any sort of good in the world, but they're also not the caricatures of bloody Arab menaces that the right in the US and Israel like to paint. Hell, they're not even Arabs! Ian also has a youth bomb that's about to explode. Their population is slanted wildly to a young generation just starting to mature. If the current Iranian government doesn't do something about making these kids happy and quiescent, that might be the end of them. There is great internal pressure from these youth for Iran to stop being the world's top asshole state.
The US has nothing to fear from Iran, but Israel really does. Israel can deal with the various client forces of Iran, but not a nuclear Iran. They really are dumb and hateful enough to use a nuclear weapon on Israel. We can't afford to find out if that's true or not. So what do we do about it?
The Crazy Right in the US wants endless war - as long as they aren't threatened. War not involving the offspring of the wealthy is part of the foundation of modern American right-psychoses. They really want to bomb Iran and have a replay of the fun we had in Iraq all over again. And they're using the Israeli right to do it. Their message is: "brave Bibi is standing up to Iran but Obamahitler is selling him out." They couch their opposition to the Iran deal as defense of Israel.
And the American press buys it. Not just Fox -this is the story in the Washington Post:
Hey! That's not Obama!
Don't believe the hype. This is the next war that the Crazy Right wants.
Look: there are two ways to avoid a nuclear Iran. One involves mass death and destruction. It involves colossal profiteering by defense contractors. And it calls for Republicans to wave a blood-drenched flag on their way to the next election.
The other way is to cut a smart deal and enforce its terms. Is that really a choice?
Iran and the US are at an historic impasse. Iranian nuclear ambitions are an absolute non-starter with the developed world. We just can't have a nuclear Iran. It's be like watching a five-year0old walk around with a loaded assault rifle. It's much better to stop him before he gets the thing loaded than try to afterward.
And yet, Iran believes that it has a unique place of leadership in the Islamic world. They are the Yin to Saudi Arabia's Yang. They support any and pretty much all Shia causes, especially when they get a poke at Sunni Saudi's eye.
But here's where it's important to distinguish between 'terrorism' and 'revolution.' Because the 'terror' that Iran supports is mostly Shia Islamic revolutionaries who are trying to replace failed states that are Western or Saudi backed. So Iran supports - with weapons and money - the Shia fighters in Iraq and Syria opposing ISIS. And they are supporting Shia revolutionaries in Yemen who are trying to replace a failed Saudi client government there.
Outside of the American-created mess in Iraq, where are the Iranians supporting actual 'terrorism?' The working definition of 'terrorism' here is violence that is not part of an attempt to build a country or violence to oppose the creation of a country. Iran supports that sort of violence in Iraq. And they support Hamas in Lebanon and whatever's left of Syria. But Hamas, while chucking rockets and murdering Israelis when given the opportunity, are also a quasi-nationalistic force. They have stepped in to replace the infrastructure of two failed states.
The point being that they really are not a force for any sort of good in the world, but they're also not the caricatures of bloody Arab menaces that the right in the US and Israel like to paint. Hell, they're not even Arabs! Ian also has a youth bomb that's about to explode. Their population is slanted wildly to a young generation just starting to mature. If the current Iranian government doesn't do something about making these kids happy and quiescent, that might be the end of them. There is great internal pressure from these youth for Iran to stop being the world's top asshole state.
The US has nothing to fear from Iran, but Israel really does. Israel can deal with the various client forces of Iran, but not a nuclear Iran. They really are dumb and hateful enough to use a nuclear weapon on Israel. We can't afford to find out if that's true or not. So what do we do about it?
The Crazy Right in the US wants endless war - as long as they aren't threatened. War not involving the offspring of the wealthy is part of the foundation of modern American right-psychoses. They really want to bomb Iran and have a replay of the fun we had in Iraq all over again. And they're using the Israeli right to do it. Their message is: "brave Bibi is standing up to Iran but Obamahitler is selling him out." They couch their opposition to the Iran deal as defense of Israel.
And the American press buys it. Not just Fox -this is the story in the Washington Post:
Hey! That's not Obama!
Don't believe the hype. This is the next war that the Crazy Right wants.
Look: there are two ways to avoid a nuclear Iran. One involves mass death and destruction. It involves colossal profiteering by defense contractors. And it calls for Republicans to wave a blood-drenched flag on their way to the next election.
The other way is to cut a smart deal and enforce its terms. Is that really a choice?
posted by fiduciary at 11:29 AM
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