01-06-2020, 11:15 AM
** 06-Jan-2020 World View: The Iran hysteria
The hysteria continues. I've just heard a lengthy report on MS-NBC
from Richard Engel, NBC News, Chief Foreign Correspondent. He says
that he's never seen anything like these crowds. He's says they're
all crying. He says that the assassination of Soleimani has
spectacularly backfired on Trump. He said that two months ago, Iran's
government was in crisis because the streets were crowded with
anti-government protesters, and now the assassination has united "all
factions" of Iran's government into anti-Trump protests. Now there
are massive shows of support not only for the government but also for
the IRGC.
Engel: "This is a seminal moment. It shows that all people -- young
people, old people -- all are now behind their government in a way
that they were not just a few weeks ago."
You would think that Richard Engel, NBC News Chief Foreign
Correspondent, wouldn't be such an idiot, wouldn't you? According to
Engel, all those young people who have been protesting for years about
the poverty, corruption and incompetence of Iran's government have
suddenly changed their minds, and now they ignore the government,
despite the poverty, corruption and incompetence.
In just the last couple of months, Soleimani oversaw the brutal
torture, rape, jailing and murder of thousands of peaceful mostly
young anti-government protesters, and it never occurs to Engel and the
other idiots that the reason that they're all crying is because
they've been ordered to go out into the streets and cry, and may even
have been given some financial incentive to do so, as other reports
have suggested.
I have an interesting speculation about this situation. A lot of the
young people in the streets now weeping over the death of Soleimani
are just happy to be out in the streets at all, without being tortured
or killed by the IRGC. The speculation is that they see this as an
opportunity to make to turn these street demonstrations around into
anti-government protests as soon as they can when the current fervor
ends. The IRGC would be able to torture and kill them because these
anti-government protests would be in the international spotlight.
That's just speculation.
On the other hand, we're all shocked that the NY Times lead opinion
writer, Thomas Friedman, apparently supports the assassination:
Friedman goes on to explain why Soleimani was such a disaster.
Friedman actually does know a great deal about Iran and the Mideast.
In my book on Iran, I quoted at length some of the things that
Friedman wrote in 2002, including the following:
So Friedman, at least, uniquely has some idea what's going on in Iran,
and even understands some generational theory.
The hysteria continues. I've just heard a lengthy report on MS-NBC
from Richard Engel, NBC News, Chief Foreign Correspondent. He says
that he's never seen anything like these crowds. He's says they're
all crying. He says that the assassination of Soleimani has
spectacularly backfired on Trump. He said that two months ago, Iran's
government was in crisis because the streets were crowded with
anti-government protesters, and now the assassination has united "all
factions" of Iran's government into anti-Trump protests. Now there
are massive shows of support not only for the government but also for
the IRGC.
Engel: "This is a seminal moment. It shows that all people -- young
people, old people -- all are now behind their government in a way
that they were not just a few weeks ago."
You would think that Richard Engel, NBC News Chief Foreign
Correspondent, wouldn't be such an idiot, wouldn't you? According to
Engel, all those young people who have been protesting for years about
the poverty, corruption and incompetence of Iran's government have
suddenly changed their minds, and now they ignore the government,
despite the poverty, corruption and incompetence.
In just the last couple of months, Soleimani oversaw the brutal
torture, rape, jailing and murder of thousands of peaceful mostly
young anti-government protesters, and it never occurs to Engel and the
other idiots that the reason that they're all crying is because
they've been ordered to go out into the streets and cry, and may even
have been given some financial incentive to do so, as other reports
have suggested.
I have an interesting speculation about this situation. A lot of the
young people in the streets now weeping over the death of Soleimani
are just happy to be out in the streets at all, without being tortured
or killed by the IRGC. The speculation is that they see this as an
opportunity to make to turn these street demonstrations around into
anti-government protests as soon as they can when the current fervor
ends. The IRGC would be able to torture and kill them because these
anti-government protests would be in the international spotlight.
That's just speculation.
On the other hand, we're all shocked that the NY Times lead opinion
writer, Thomas Friedman, apparently supports the assassination:
Quote: "Thomas L. Friedman - Trump Kills Iran’s Most
Overrated Warrior
One day they may name a street after President Trump in
Tehran. Why? Because Trump just ordered the assassination of
possibly the dumbest man in Iran and the most overrated strategist
in the Middle East: Maj. Gen. Qassim Suleimani."
https://www.nytimes.com/2020/01/03/opini...imani.html
Friedman goes on to explain why Soleimani was such a disaster.
Friedman actually does know a great deal about Iran and the Mideast.
In my book on Iran, I quoted at length some of the things that
Friedman wrote in 2002, including the following:
Quote: "Iran has the bomb. ... No, no not that bomb. This
bomb is hiding in plain sight -- in high schools, universities and
coffee houses. It is a bomb that is ticking away under Iranian
society, and over the next decade it will explode in ways that
will change the face of this Islamic Republic. It's called here,
for short, ''The Third Generation.'' ...
The third generation are those Iranians from 16 to 30 who have
come of age entirely under Islamic rule. They never knew the
Shah's despotism. They have known only the ayatollahs'. There are
now 18 million of them -- roughly a third of Iran's population --
and they include 2 million university students and 4 million
recent university grads. ...
Quick quiz: Which Muslim Middle East country held spontaneous
candlelight vigils in sympathy with Americans after Sept. 11?
Kuwait? No. Saudi Arabia? No. Iran? Yes. You got it! You win a
free trip to Iran. And if you come you'll discover not only a
Muslim country where many people were sincerely sympathetic to
America after Sept. 11, but a country where so many people on the
street are now talking about -- and hoping for -- a reopening of
relations with America that the ruling hard-liners had to take the
unprecedented step two weeks ago of making it illegal for anyone
to speak about it in public."
So Friedman, at least, uniquely has some idea what's going on in Iran,
and even understands some generational theory.
