Yadda wrote on Apr 2
nd, 2015 at 10:26am:
Mattyfisk wrote on Apr 1
st, 2015 at 10:47pm:
Sorry, Y, you’re right. I take that back.
Nuke them.
Yep, .....that is what Iran has promised to do [to
'wipe 'them' off the map'].
Do you believe that the Iranians are just expressing moslem virtue, K ?
Is that what it is ?
Moslem virtue ?
This is a public forum.
You can express yourself, and agree with the intentions of the Iranians, .....but only if you would like to K.
Otherwise, you could just repeat; .....
Nuke them I think the Iranian government are complete bastards, Y. I also think they’ve been backed into a corner by the US on the Security Council through oppressive sanctions, following decades of policies designed to topple the Iranian regime.
I also think the US gave Iran the geopolitical clout it so badly wanted by toppling its rival, Ba’athist Iraq. The US is now left with no other option than to work with Iran to destroy the militant Sunni forces the US toppling of Saddam brought into being.
Further, I think the US could have quietly buried the hatchet with Iran years ago, and in so doing, helped to usher in a far more moderate Iranian leadership. Iranian leaders have only talked tough against the US and its client state Israel because the US have been utter bastards to them, from the CIA-installed Shah to the support of Saddam in the Iran/Iraq war, and by a succession of overtly hostile policies against Iran. Despite this, Iran has made a number of conciliatory gestures towards the US since the death of Khomeini, and all have been rejected.
The Iranian people see their government as a joke played on them by the Almighty. They see the government cronies driving around in BMWs and Mercedes despite the ban on all trade with Iran. They see the government cronies travelling overseas for health care, despite the lack of medication available to ordinary people. They see the government and its cronies sending their children to foreign schools and universities. They’ve seen the rise of a black market in basic necessities, and the creation of an Iranian Mafia, all as a result of the sanctions on Iran, sanctions that have only strengthened the regime’s hold on power.
All the Iranians I’ve met have been outward-looking, Western-leaning, and fiercely intellectual, but proud, people. They see themselves as part of a civilised Persian culture that stretches long before the arrival of Islam. They see themselves as an intellectual trading culture, going back millenia, a culture that bridged, due to its proximity on the Silk Road, East and West - a culture where, in.cities like Shiraz, Christians and Muslims worked together to cultivate and export one of the most popular wine grapes in the world. The Christians produced wine, the Muslims sultanas. Today, the second language after Farsi in Iran is French, and after that, English.
The intentions of the Iranian leadership, propped up with the revenue of one of the largest sources of oil in the Middle East, is at odds with the intentions of the Iranian people themselves. UN sanctions are aimed at encouraging regime change (or at the very least, facilitating democratic reform), but the Iranian.leadership has a tight hold on the population, thanks largely to a security aparatus secretly trained by the US during the reign of the Shah.
Despite all this, the US now has no choice but to cooperate with the Iranian regime. The US’ botched policies in the Middle East have left Iran as a dominant geopolitical force. Like many semi-peripheral countries during the cold war, Iran had a choice between Washington and Moscow. After the US-installed Shah proved too much, torturing his enemies and making them disappear in the middle of the night, Iran had an Islamic revolution - the first of its kind - and joined forces with the Soviets. The US gave up a number of opportunities to turn this around. Iran is now allied with Putin’s Russia, and increasingly warming to China. Iran is one of China’s few military allies.
Iranian foreign policy is the result of Iran being frozen out of the international community by the US. But since the US invasion of Iraq.and the Arab Spring, Iran has become a formidable player in the Middle East, much to the chagrin of the Saudis and, of course, Israel, who are forced to deal with the Iranian-backed Hezbollah in neighbouring Lebanon.
The two things Iran has going for it in economic terms: its vast oil reserves and its well-educated population.cannot, it seems at present, save Iran from the two things that hold it back: Iran’s dictatorial leadership, and the wrath of Uncle.
Thanks for giving me the opportunity to express myself, Y, although I’m not sure why you chose the subject of Iran in a thread about Bangladesh.
If you want me to offer my thoughts on the political situation in Bangladesh, please ask.