Very good article which also highlights the problem that too many people expect their thought leaders to fix the problems for them. Every person must become their own thought leaders and reach out to others to bring them into dialogue and action, especially Millennials, Gens Zed and Alpha.
“… to reduce the regime to a small group of villains whose elimination will somehow clear the path to democracy. That is not how entrenched authoritarian systems function. Liberation is not automatic, and it is not triggered by a single event.”
That is as much a warning about Iran as it is the United States. Even with Trump gone, the rot remains. The damage is generational and systemic.
You asked five Iranian-Americans and all five were well educated intellectuals and all denounced the intervention. Did you look for one in favor of the intervention? I have seen on Dutch television also some well educated Iranian-Dutch people that seemed to favor it. I myself look at the by US presidents started wars that were sealed by Congress but have been disastrous: Vietnam, Afghanistan and Iraq in 2001. Even with hundreds of thousands boots on the ground they didn’t produce the wanted change. It would be much better to promise gradual relief of the sanctions that cause so much misery in Iran for specified do’s and don’t’s for example no torture and no death penalties for demonstrators, and if that works asking for obeying another type of human rights and so on. No bullying but nudging.
A democratic rule-by-law based powerful country trying to bomb a dictatorship into a democracy is by definition a hypocrite and not anymore a lawful country.
Killing and abducting heads of states without due process is barbarism and a very bad example for other powerful nations.
Strengthen the UN, dispose of veto rights, go along with two-third majority of votes of all countries in the world before going to war, and love thy neighbors. Then loss of lives by wars gradually will reach zero and all the money spent on weapons to kill the human race can be used to make the world a much better place: money to fight climate change and to relieve its consequences, to end poverty in parts of the world, to have good health care everywhere in the world, etc. etc.
The governments the US and Israel continue to impose death and destruction on Islamic and non-Caucasian countries. The young generations that are suffering from this are not going to forget the actions of these governments and will forever harbor hatred towards them. This is very sad, and the repercussions will be felt for decades.
Extremely informative- and, a great illustration of how 1 minute video clips being many people’s only source of information is so highly problematic and dangerous. People spend their entire adult lives trying to gain an understanding of the complex culture and political dynamics of Iran yet we don’t want to take 10-15 minutes to read a more nuanced explanation.
I cannot begin to express my rage at the devastation the trump regime has caused here at home and around the world. Having grown up outside the US, and most recently having lived in Guatemala and Mexico, I’m well aware of the horror the US has rained down upon the rest of the world over the years. Below is a list of countries in which the US has interfered, destabilized, and/or overthrown the governments. I also lived in Chile as a child, when Allende was democratically elected. We had already moved back to the US, but two years later, in 1973, the CIA overthrew the Allende government and installed Pinochet, resulting in 20 years of horror for Chile. Guatemala has never recovered from the US-backed 1954 coup that overthrew the government of Jacobo Árbenz.
I was having pretty much this very conversation with someone yesterday but with one important distinction: Neither of us is Iranian. Her stake in the ground was (and I assume is still) that Khameni was a bad guy, and it's good that he's gone. She also pointed to the celebrations of Iranian emigres she saw on TV. I tried to make the point that nobody was going to miss Khameni, but it wasn't our place to remove him; that at no time in history had there been a "revolution" imposed from without, and there never would be. Revolution by its very definition must be organic. Foreign intervention is what led to the mullahs being in power in Iran to begin with.
It will not surprise anybody that neither of us was able to move the other from their position. This wasn't a confrontational exchange; I wasn't dealing with a MAGA ideologue, just someone who probably doesn't spend as much time neck deep in the news as I seem to. But it's *hard* to approach the argument with any sort of nuance when you're talking to someone who sees everything in a zero-sum paradigm.
And the legacy media is committing journalistic malpractice on an hourly basis in ignoring opposing viewpoints that don't support the narrative that casts America as the conquering hero (an oxymoron if ever there was one). So I appreciate these perspectives. I'd be curious to hear what someone who supports the regime has to say about it when the cameras are off.
Trump loves to kill. He is a war monger. I read so much that I recall that when he was elected, many feared that he was going to get us into a third world war. Trump is a murderer.Specifics aren’t needed to back this claim up. Read about everything he has done.
Very good article which also highlights the problem that too many people expect their thought leaders to fix the problems for them. Every person must become their own thought leaders and reach out to others to bring them into dialogue and action, especially Millennials, Gens Zed and Alpha.
“… to reduce the regime to a small group of villains whose elimination will somehow clear the path to democracy. That is not how entrenched authoritarian systems function. Liberation is not automatic, and it is not triggered by a single event.”
That is as much a warning about Iran as it is the United States. Even with Trump gone, the rot remains. The damage is generational and systemic.
You asked five Iranian-Americans and all five were well educated intellectuals and all denounced the intervention. Did you look for one in favor of the intervention? I have seen on Dutch television also some well educated Iranian-Dutch people that seemed to favor it. I myself look at the by US presidents started wars that were sealed by Congress but have been disastrous: Vietnam, Afghanistan and Iraq in 2001. Even with hundreds of thousands boots on the ground they didn’t produce the wanted change. It would be much better to promise gradual relief of the sanctions that cause so much misery in Iran for specified do’s and don’t’s for example no torture and no death penalties for demonstrators, and if that works asking for obeying another type of human rights and so on. No bullying but nudging.
A democratic rule-by-law based powerful country trying to bomb a dictatorship into a democracy is by definition a hypocrite and not anymore a lawful country.
Killing and abducting heads of states without due process is barbarism and a very bad example for other powerful nations.
Strengthen the UN, dispose of veto rights, go along with two-third majority of votes of all countries in the world before going to war, and love thy neighbors. Then loss of lives by wars gradually will reach zero and all the money spent on weapons to kill the human race can be used to make the world a much better place: money to fight climate change and to relieve its consequences, to end poverty in parts of the world, to have good health care everywhere in the world, etc. etc.
The governments the US and Israel continue to impose death and destruction on Islamic and non-Caucasian countries. The young generations that are suffering from this are not going to forget the actions of these governments and will forever harbor hatred towards them. This is very sad, and the repercussions will be felt for decades.
Thank you, as always, for dependable sources.
Extradionary set of individuals who voices and insights are needed. Thank you for raising them during this illegal,immoral war of choice. ✌️
Extremely informative- and, a great illustration of how 1 minute video clips being many people’s only source of information is so highly problematic and dangerous. People spend their entire adult lives trying to gain an understanding of the complex culture and political dynamics of Iran yet we don’t want to take 10-15 minutes to read a more nuanced explanation.
I cannot begin to express my rage at the devastation the trump regime has caused here at home and around the world. Having grown up outside the US, and most recently having lived in Guatemala and Mexico, I’m well aware of the horror the US has rained down upon the rest of the world over the years. Below is a list of countries in which the US has interfered, destabilized, and/or overthrown the governments. I also lived in Chile as a child, when Allende was democratically elected. We had already moved back to the US, but two years later, in 1973, the CIA overthrew the Allende government and installed Pinochet, resulting in 20 years of horror for Chile. Guatemala has never recovered from the US-backed 1954 coup that overthrew the government of Jacobo Árbenz.
https://www.davemanuel.com/us-military-interventions-invasions-coups-complete-list.php
Thank you Qasim for a clear picture.
I was having pretty much this very conversation with someone yesterday but with one important distinction: Neither of us is Iranian. Her stake in the ground was (and I assume is still) that Khameni was a bad guy, and it's good that he's gone. She also pointed to the celebrations of Iranian emigres she saw on TV. I tried to make the point that nobody was going to miss Khameni, but it wasn't our place to remove him; that at no time in history had there been a "revolution" imposed from without, and there never would be. Revolution by its very definition must be organic. Foreign intervention is what led to the mullahs being in power in Iran to begin with.
It will not surprise anybody that neither of us was able to move the other from their position. This wasn't a confrontational exchange; I wasn't dealing with a MAGA ideologue, just someone who probably doesn't spend as much time neck deep in the news as I seem to. But it's *hard* to approach the argument with any sort of nuance when you're talking to someone who sees everything in a zero-sum paradigm.
And the legacy media is committing journalistic malpractice on an hourly basis in ignoring opposing viewpoints that don't support the narrative that casts America as the conquering hero (an oxymoron if ever there was one). So I appreciate these perspectives. I'd be curious to hear what someone who supports the regime has to say about it when the cameras are off.
"Accountability must be consistent, principled, and grounded in law."
One of the comments by an Iranian.
There is so much ignorance of the reasons why Middle Eastern oil has turned to Middle Eastern blood on the ground.
Thank you for the excellent column, and the introduction to journalists who give information with greater focus. It’s helpful.
Something to think about…Iran discovered antimony.
https://www.heritage.org/trade/commentary/critical-mineral-critical-moment-the-antimony-crisis
And zero.
Yet another installment providing a public service to readers. Thank you.
No offense taken. But they might lump us with 🍊 IT.
Just talking about the deaths of children and the fact the dead Khomeini might be considered a martyr.
Trump loves to kill. He is a war monger. I read so much that I recall that when he was elected, many feared that he was going to get us into a third world war. Trump is a murderer.Specifics aren’t needed to back this claim up. Read about everything he has done.