Iran Is Not Our Friend, Is Not Stupid, Is Not Weak, And It Thinks It Can Beat Us [CBD]

The author checks all of the correct soft-leftist boxes, but the vitriol for America on the part of Iran is hard to hide. ‘We Don’t Want to Forget': In Tehran, Revenge Is a National Ethos The article elucidates on a personal level the visceral, almost genetic hatred of America that pervades Iran. Yes, many Iranians are educated, urbane, almost Western, and hate the Mullahs. Just look what happened a few short years ago. But what the West fails to appreciate is the patriotism of the man on the street. They love their country more than they hate the fundamentalists, and that allows Iran to present a unified front against its enemies...first among them being America.

“Yes, we won these negotiations, but we did not win what the Americans were betting,” he said. “We will take what we want from this and do what we will. It’s like a proposal, Annika. Someone may ask for your hand, but if you don’t say yes there is no marriage.”

There was no shyness about Keshvari, and despite the fact that I am a Western, Jewish journalist with a record of pro-Israel writing, he didn’t seem to mince his words. With a sense of glee, he told me that, with the current power-shift in the Middle East, the West is finally about to get what it deserves.

“This is not a collaboration, nor is it the 1980s. This time we are not victims of someone else’s will, this time we are in control and get to rule ourselves for the good of our own people.”

The hubris of assuming that Iranians are naive and weak and can be dominated by the might of America in any negotiation has been proven spectacularly wrong, as Obama's "treaty" is simply a method by which Iran gets exactly what it wants from the West, namely money and access to markets, and gives up....um....something to be named later.

And sure, they hate Israel, and are more than willing to destroy it. But I wonder whether some of that hatred is reflexive, because they see Israel as simply a vassal state of America. And part of it is simply geopolitics, because Israel is a Western outpost in a very Arab and Muslim neighborhood.

I don’t hate Israel and, though I know it’s hard to understand from the outside, there is a difference between hate and hate. Annika, to tell you the truth, I would love for Iran and Israel to work together and make America irrelevant in the Middle East. Together we would put them out of business. I don’t hate Israel. I hate America. Anti-Zionism is a slogan here, but Anti-Americanism is in our blood.

Iran is a textbook example of why we need a strong military. They will always be our enemy, and they are far more focused on the long game.

posted by Open Blogger at 01:26 PM

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