*** 4-Jan-20 World View -- Iran faces tough choices after Soleimani assassination
This morning's key headlines from
GenerationalDynamics.com
- Iran faces tough choices after Soleimani assassination
- Iran's disastrous miscalculation after 40 years of war
- US airstrike kills IRGC leader Soleimani
- Iran plans for retaliation
- Threats of war between Iran and America
- Some known unknowns
- The future of Iran
- Update
****
**** Iran faces tough choices after Soleimani assassination
****
Gen. Qassim Soleimani (when he was alive) (AP)
On Friday, BBC reporter Rebecca Kesby interviewed Ghanbar Naderi,
political editor for Tehran-based Kayhan International newspaper.
During the course of the interview, the following exchange occurred:
<QUOTE>Rebecca Kesby: "You say this is uncharted territory.
But surely the Iranian authorities would have been prepared for
this. He [Qassim Soleimani] must have known himself that he was a
target."
Ghanbar Naderi: "Rebecca, nobody took president Trump seriously.
They never thought that when he said he threatened Iran he was
going to make good on his threatened promises, but that's exactly
what he did. And they were all caught off guard. They never
expected General Soleimani to be assassinated in
Iraq."<END QUOTE>
In my previous article, I included a narrative of Iran's actions
leading up to Iran's attack on the US embassy in Baghdad. (
"1-Jan-20 World View -- US sends troops to Baghdad to defend embassy from Iranian rioters"
)
As I explained in that article, this was right out of Iran's playbook,
ever since the 1979 Islamic revolution civil war, in which they were
propelled to success by the "American Hostage Crisis," taking 52
American diplomats hostage for 444 days. Since then, the hardline
government in Iran has been trying to duplicate that success although,
as I've explained many, many times over the years, what works in a
generational Crisis era in 1979 will not work in a generational
Awakening era today.
Iran's government is in serious trouble. The economy is crippled, and
most young Iranians blame that on the foreign military adventures by
the Iran Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC), headed by General Qassim
Soleimani. There have been months of massive anti-Iran riots and
demonstrations in both Iraq and Iran, and in Iran, Soleimani has
overseen the torture, rape, jailing and slaughter of thousands of
peaceful anti-government protesters in Iran. So the takeover of the
Baghdad embassy was a desperate attempt to repeat the 1979 success,
and unite the country against America.
But the takeover was a flop from the start. Some fires were set and
some property was damaged, but it fizzled quickly, and within 24 hours
the Iraqi armed forces were guarding the US embassy from the
Iran-backed attackers. In my last article, I said that this would be
the most likely outcome, during a generational Awakening era.
****
**** Iran's disastrous miscalculation after 40 years of war
****
So Iran's entire US Embassy attack didn't last 444 days, but was a
failure and a flop within 24 hours.
But it quickly got a lot worse, because Iran made a disastrous
miscalculation. As was revealed by the BBC interview with Ghanbar
Naderi quoted above, and by other sources as well, the Iranians never
took Trump seriously and never believed he would respond and kill
Soleimani.
Iran had good reason to believe that Trump would not respond. For 40
years, Iran has been conducting asymmetic warfar against the US and
Israel, using its proxies, like Hezbollah, Hamas and the Houthis, and
its allies in Lebanon, Iraq and Yemen, to attack America and its
allies with impunity, while claiming deniability.
Here's a list of some of the most recent attacks in the just the last
few months:
- Shooting down a US drone with a surface-to-air missile over
the Strait of Hormuz in June.
- Multiple attacks on oil tankers in the Persian Gulf and the Sea of
Oman
- Attacking Aramco oil refineries in Saudi Arabia
- Months of artillery attacks on American bases in Iraq, finally
killing an American on Friday.
- Attack on the US Embassy in Baghdad. This is generally considered
to be an act of war.
In each case the Iranians were warned not to repeat these actions, but
the warnings were never followed up with actions, and the Iranians
came to believe that they could continue such attacks with impunity,
and Trump would never respond. As Ghanbar Naderi said, "Nobody took
president Trump seriously."
****
**** US airstrike kills IRGC leader Soleimani
****
Gen. Qassim Soleimani, Iran's most important military figure, and head
of the Iran Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC), was killed by an
American airstrike at Baghdad’s international airport on Tuesday.
The strike also killed Abu Mahdi al-Muhandis, a top Iraqi military
figure, the deputy commander of Iran-backed militias known as the
Popular Mobilization Forces (PMF) in Iraq.
So the Iranians had every reason to believe that the attack on the US
Embassy would be met with words and no action. This turned out to be
a major miscalculation.
Not only was Soleimani killed, but in fact the entire operation has
failed in that it did nothing to unite people the way the Iranian
Hostage Crisis did in 1979. In Iraq, the anti-Iran protesters are
celebrating and cheering the killing of Soleimani.
In Iran, the feelings are mixed. Soleimani was a hero of the
Iran/Iraq war, which killed 1.5 million people, and Soleimani was
responsible for killing many Iraqis. Like any war hero, Soleimani is
revered by Iranians who lived through that war. But Soleimani has
also been responsible for the torture, rape, jailing and slaughter of
thousands of peaceful anti-government protesters over the years, and
those victims are cheering his death.
So it's hard to see this as anything but a disaster for the Iranians.
It resulted in the death of a top general, and did not achieve its
objective.
However, the United States has gained quite a bit, and not just from
the death of Soleimani. Donald Trump has proven (again) that he's
willing to back up his words with actions, something that's almost
unheard of from politicians, and that's a message that will be heard
'round the world, especially in North Korea and China.
****
**** Iran plans for retaliation
****
Pundits and analysts are saying that Iran must now retaliate, and
everyone is wondering how they will do that.
They could repeat some of the actions that I listed above -- attacking
oil tankers, launching artillery attacks, etc. -- but that would be
more of the same, and would not really impress anyone.
The speculation is that Iran will be planning something spectacular --
perhaps blowing up an American embassy or business or something in
some other country, or a European target in Europe.
One analyst said that Iran would have to walk a very difficult line in
such an action. It would have to be large enough to count as
retaliation, but not so large that it would provoke a heavy military
response by the United States, perhaps destroying Iran's oil fields.
One other problem for Iran is that various officials in other
countries -- Afghanistan, Iraq and Lebanon -- are expressing the hope
that Iran will not retaliate on the US in their countries, and any
Iran attack on America in one of their countries would violate that
country's sovereignty.
Some speculation is that Hezbollah will conduct some terrorist attack
against America and Israel. Hezbollah is already poor, because of the
anti-Iran sanctions, and crippled from having fought for years in
Syria. At any rate, America and Israel claim that they are always
ready for a Hezbollah terrorist attack.
Another speculation is an Iranian cyber attack. The US is under
constant cyber attacks from numerous countries, so it's hard to see
how this would be different.
****
**** Threats of war between Iran and America
****
There will NOT be a war between American and Iran.
This is despite the fact that the media have been filled with screams
by hysterical, apoplectic left-wing politicians who claim that we'll
be at war by Monday. Any clash would fizzle quickly. Some have said
that Trump will be involved in something worse than the Vietnam war
and it would last for years. Such is the idiocy of the left. They
should spend more time fantasizing about girls, rather than wars.
Almost all reporters and politicians making such claims are so
ignorant that they couldn't find Iran on a map, and certainly know
nothing about Iran's history.
As I described in my book on Iran, Iran's 1979 civil war was triggered
generationally by the 1890 Tobacco Revolt, the 1905-09 Constitutional
Revolution, and the 1963 White Revolution in which Ayatollah Ruhollah
Khomeini was exiled. During all this time, the UK, Russia and later
America were bogeymen that various Iranian politicians blamed for
their own failures.
As I described in my book on Iran, Iran suffered major humiliating
defeats in nationalistic border wars during the 1800s. As a result,
Iran takes pride in saying that it no longer invades anyone, and
points to the Iran/Iraq war as a case where it was invaded.
However, under the insanity of the Islamic republic, Iran now serves
its nationalistic drives not by invading anyone, but by funding other
groups to conduct proxy wars, as previously described.
The problem is that, just as the 1800s border wars failed
spectacularly, the new proxy war strategy is also failing
spectacularly. Instead of getting soldiers killed in foreign wars,
Iran is spending huge amounts of money to pay other groups to get
their soldiers killed in proxy wars.
This has caused enormous economic problems in Iran, and a lot of
people are furious at wasting money on the foreign proxy wars. But
Iran's main problem is that the older generations have a hate-America
foreign policy, while the younger generations love the West and
America, and the size of the younger generations is growing every day.
Iran's last generational crisis war was the 1979 Islamic Revolution
civil war, combined with the 1980s Iran/Iraq war, and now the hardline
geezers are paying the price for their democide policies following
both those wars. Both Iran and Iraq are close to Awakening era climax
events, and looks like the most likely result will be for Iraq to
eject Iran, and for Iran to eject the hardline geezers. But this is
speculation, and it remains to be seen.
However, one thing is certain: Iran cannot now abandon its
centuries-old policy of avoiding foreign wars and sponsoring proxy
wars.
****
**** Some known unknowns
****
During the Iraq war, Donald Rumsfeld liked to say that "unknowns" were
broken up into two groups -- "known unknowns," where you know that you
don't know something, and "unknown unknowns," where you don't have any
clue at all.
So it's worth pointing out that there are some known unknowns in the
current situation that will reveal themselves in the next few days,
and readers may wish to watch for them.
- There have been several reports that on Thursday or Friday,
the US sent a note to Iran through the Swiss embassy, and that Iran
has replied. We'd all love to know what was in the note.
- On Sunday, the Iraq parliament will take a vote on expelling all
American soldiers from Iraq. America is in Iraq at the invitation of
Iraq, to aid and support the Iraqi security forces as they search for
and clear ISIS sleeper cells hiding in the deserts. Iraq got burned
when America left Iraq in 2011, in that ISIS was in control of 2/3 of
the country by 2014, so the Iraqis don't want to go through that
again. However, the biggest bloc in Iraq's parliament is the pro-Iran
bloc, the vote on Sunday will be an interesting test.
- Next week, the Trump administration is going to give a briefing to
the entire Senate on the Iranian threats that led to the assassination
of Soleimani. There are sure to be leaks, and those should be
interesting.
Of course, the biggest unknown is how Iran is going to retaliate. And
that will probably remain unknown until it happens.
****
**** The future of Iran
****
Iran's future is dominated by the fact that the old hardline geezer
survivors of the 1979 civil war are dying off, and the younger
generations are pro-American and pro-Western.
At some point, there will be some kind of "regime change," a
generational Awakening climax where the younger generation takes
control of the government. However, this "regime change" cannot be
rushed by Trump or any outside. It totally depends on internal
generational forces.
As regular readers know, Generational Dynamics predicts that there is
an approaching Clash of Civilizations world war, pitting the "axis" of
China, Pakistan and the Sunni Muslim countries against the "allies,"
the US, India, Russia and Iran. Part of it will be a major new war
between Jews and Arabs, re-fighting the bloody the war of 1948-49 that
followed the partitioning of Palestine and the creation of the state
of Israel. The war between Jews and Arabs will be part of a major
regional war, pitting Sunnis versus Shias, Jews versus Arabs, and
various ethnic groups against each other.
The exact scenario that will lead to this world war, but it's always
possible that the current crisis will turn out to be a step on the
way.
John Xenakis is author of: "World View: Iran's Struggle for Supremacy
-- Tehran's Obsession to Redraw the Map of the Middle East"
(Generational Theory Book Series, Book 1), September 2018, Paperback:
153 pages, over 100 source references, $7.00,
https://www.amazon.com/World-View-Suprem...732738610/
****
**** Update
****
As I'm writing this late on Friday evening ET, there are reports over
airstrikes on a convoy in northern Baghdad. The reports are confusing
since some reports indicate that it isn't an American operation.
Sources:
Note: The following articles are useful for facts, but they're all
pretty idiotic as far as analysis is considered, since they're almost
all predicting a war, which won't happen for the reasons that I've
given. Most of the analysis is written by people knowing less than
nothing about the history of Iran, and probably couldn't find Iran on
a map. In other words, most (though not all) of these articles are
written by idiots.
Note: Michael O'Hanlon, Brookings Institute, is referenced in the
Fox News article below. O'Hanlon is the only analyst that I know of
in Washington who knows what he's talking about, and this has been my
opinion for over a decade. He's sometimes anti-Trump or pro-Trump,
but he always talks sense -- which no one else does, ever.
- Qassim Soleimani / Abu Mahdi al-Muhandis / Iran’s Gen. Soleimani killed in airstrike at Baghdad airport (AP, 2-Jan-2020)
- Iran vows revenge after U.S. drone strike kills elite force commander (Washington Post, 3-Jan-2020)
- Trump's assassination of Soleimani: Five things to know (Al Jazeera, 3-Jan-2020)
- Bloomberg blasts Sanders' 'outrageous' claim that Soleimani strike was an 'assassination' (FoxNews, 3-Jan-2020)
- The US Recently Made a Smart Move Toward Iran. Killing Soleimani Wasn’t It (Defense One, 3-Jan-2020)
- The Soleimani assassination was short-sighted for US strategy and destabilizing for Iraq and the region (The Hill, 3-Jan-2020)
- Iran / The assassination of Qasem Soleimani: Likely consequences (Atlantic Council, 3-Jan-2020)
- How will Iran retaliate for the assassination of Qasem Soleimani? (Jerusalem Post, 3-Jan-2020)
- The Soleimani Assassination Is America’s Most Consequential Strike This Century (The Atlantic, 3-Jan-2020)
- Was it legal for Donald Trump to order the killing of a top Iranian general? (NBC News, 3-Jan-2020)
- Airstrikes targeting Iraqi militia reported north of Baghdad – live (Guardian, London, 3-Jan-2020)
Related Articles:
KEYS: Generational Dynamics, Iran, Iraq, Qassim Soleiman
Rebecca Kesby, Ghanbar Naderi, Kayhan International,
Islamic revolution, Iran/Iraq war, Iranian Hostage Crisis,
Popular Mobilization Forces, PMF, Iran Revolutionary Guard Corps, IRGC,
Saudi Arabia, Aramco, Afghanistan, Lebanon, Hezbollah, Hamas, Israel
Permanent web link to this article
Receive daily World View columns by e-mail
Contribute to Generational Dynamics via PayPal
John J. Xenakis
100 Memorial Drive Apt 8-13A
Cambridge, MA 02142
Phone: 617-864-0010
E-mail: john@GenerationalDynamics.com
Web site:
http://www.GenerationalDynamics.com
Forum:
http://www.gdxforum.com/forum
Subscribe to World View:
http://generationaldynamics.com/subscribe