The US. Is not executing its citizens in the tens of thousands. The US has not developed armaments with the express purpose of genocide.
No part of our system of belief or morality suggests that you either join our system of government or religious beliefs or become dead or a slave.
The folk who run Iran (those who are still alive) have been asked in various ways to divest of their genocidal ways and weapons. They have chosen not to do so and exposed their citizens (the ones so far unexecuted) who are also muslim to damage as one does with the sandbags around your bunker. There WILL be collateral damage just as there was at Nagasaki, Dresden, Hiroshima and Hamburg. That is their problem.
The fix to a forty plus year history of letting the mullahs run your country is difficult but achievable. If the locals choose not to do so then we would be remiss if we failed to address this issue and solve the problem.
By your reckoning the problem has been solved. I fear not.
The POTUS and his Department of WAR may have won the battle, but not the war.
The future will show that this hubris inspired and poorly thought out attack on Iran, will end up with head of Trump like that of Crassus' son figuratively on the tip of a pike.
The future will reveal that the US chose to address the issues I mentioned rather than kick the can down the road. The future will also reveal whether the folk who live there, who are SAID to want a change, are willing to make that change. If they are not that’s their problem. The US will retain the ability to identify and destroy the mullahs attempts to rearm.
I sincerely hope that you are right. DJT has certainly stopped kicking the can down the road. It is now up to the Iranians to kick the mullahs and their fellow radicals out of power.
I love your telling of the history of the early days of our Judaeogrecoroman civilisation. Your inference that Trump could be like Crassus is very fair in my mind. Crass is an apt descriptor for Trump. However, post-1979 Iran is the one fomenting proxy terror via Hezbollahs, Hamas, Houthis and IRGC at home and abroad. The oft stated aim of the theocracy to extirpate Israel must give you as a defender of civilisation some pause. The subjugation of women is not part of Persian culture, but rather the fundamentalist Islamist theocracy. Trump is doing what should have been done by Obama and Biden. Or should he have waited for them to have the nuclear bomb?
I heard someone I respect a great deal say that as for him, he didn't believe a word Trump said, only what he did. And, voila!, he has apparently "postponed" the utter destruction of the Persian civilization for another two weeks. See? Don't believe a word. People might not like his style, but there it is. That's not your decision. I love your stuff, by the way.
Trump being like Crassus and the USA being like Rome are certainly possible, but hopefully Trump is getting good advice and following it. His blustery style is part of his negotiating leverage, but I must admit that it sometimes is not very presidential. Most pundits are focusing only on their distaste for Trump (and hoping that he fails) and not what the Iranian mullahs have done and would do to their own people and to others. This lack of context makes Trump appear the bad guy, but what if he is able to rid the world of these Iranian religious zealots and the MidEast actually becomes peaceful? And Iranian oil is sold on the market to the benefit of its people instead of making weapons with which to terrorize its neighbors? Now that would be a real story!
Thanks for the history lesson. I really do enjoy your writing!
Iranian people and the Persians are one in the same people and culture. Trump's threat was misunderstood by the Western media. The ancient world and especially during the Persian empire's height of conquest, those who did not capitulate were wiped off the face of the earth both literally and culturally. The Iranians got the message, but under the influence of the hardline takeover by Mullah's and the creation of the Islamic Republic of Iran in 1979 the Mullah's (meaning master, guardian from the Arabic mawla) any threat of annihilation is not a concern. Islam provides two means to enter paradise, the first requires a man to have been rubbed on the back while in the womb by Allah, the second is to die in Jihad. Since the first condition is unknown and the second is a sure thing. No amount of rational discourse will effect the outcome of negotiations. The is a lesson taught in every history book on the Middle East, never engage Islam unless you're willing to wipe them off the map. They have very long memories because daily life is quite pointless. 911 was said to have been the payback for the defeat of Islam in the Italo-Turkish War in 1911. Ushering in the end of the Ottoman Empire.
Just to add something to think about, it's estimated 5.5 million Muslims died over the course of their defeat.
Sadly Trump has waded into a 1500 year old civil war between Shia (Persian) Islam and Sunni (Arab) Islam. Shia are outnumber 4 to 1, and outgunned 100X. With the advent of modern warfare and nukes the odd were changing rapidly. Trump is quite correct about wiping Shia out, however the end result of a world wide single Islam of Sunni Arabs will result in a world wide reign of terror against any nation harboring Muslims. This is a fact because a single Caliphate is in Islam is the signal for the last battle against the world prophecy, with the favored outcome of all the prostrating in submission to Allah.
Ill framed comparison.
The US. Is not executing its citizens in the tens of thousands. The US has not developed armaments with the express purpose of genocide.
No part of our system of belief or morality suggests that you either join our system of government or religious beliefs or become dead or a slave.
The folk who run Iran (those who are still alive) have been asked in various ways to divest of their genocidal ways and weapons. They have chosen not to do so and exposed their citizens (the ones so far unexecuted) who are also muslim to damage as one does with the sandbags around your bunker. There WILL be collateral damage just as there was at Nagasaki, Dresden, Hiroshima and Hamburg. That is their problem.
The fix to a forty plus year history of letting the mullahs run your country is difficult but achievable. If the locals choose not to do so then we would be remiss if we failed to address this issue and solve the problem.
By your reckoning the problem has been solved. I fear not.
The POTUS and his Department of WAR may have won the battle, but not the war.
The future will show that this hubris inspired and poorly thought out attack on Iran, will end up with head of Trump like that of Crassus' son figuratively on the tip of a pike.
The future will reveal that the US chose to address the issues I mentioned rather than kick the can down the road. The future will also reveal whether the folk who live there, who are SAID to want a change, are willing to make that change. If they are not that’s their problem. The US will retain the ability to identify and destroy the mullahs attempts to rearm.
I sincerely hope that you are right. DJT has certainly stopped kicking the can down the road. It is now up to the Iranians to kick the mullahs and their fellow radicals out of power.
I love your telling of the history of the early days of our Judaeogrecoroman civilisation. Your inference that Trump could be like Crassus is very fair in my mind. Crass is an apt descriptor for Trump. However, post-1979 Iran is the one fomenting proxy terror via Hezbollahs, Hamas, Houthis and IRGC at home and abroad. The oft stated aim of the theocracy to extirpate Israel must give you as a defender of civilisation some pause. The subjugation of women is not part of Persian culture, but rather the fundamentalist Islamist theocracy. Trump is doing what should have been done by Obama and Biden. Or should he have waited for them to have the nuclear bomb?
Excellent questions/conundrums. Fodder for future Notes. Cheers!
If they all allowed to have a nuclear bomb, the western world is lost forever.
Jim Marshall
I heard someone I respect a great deal say that as for him, he didn't believe a word Trump said, only what he did. And, voila!, he has apparently "postponed" the utter destruction of the Persian civilization for another two weeks. See? Don't believe a word. People might not like his style, but there it is. That's not your decision. I love your stuff, by the way.
I’ve heard people say, “Everyone takes him literally, but not seriously. It only makes sense when you take him seriously, but not literally.”
Similar to what you’re saying, I think. Interesting…
Not to minimize the gravity of the situation, but I cannot help thinking of the lines from Macbeth when reading presidential tweets.
"Life's but a walking shadow, a poor player
That struts and frets his hour upon the stage
And then is heard no more: it is a tale
Told by an idiot, full of sound and fury,
Signifying nothing."
— Macbeth, Act 5, Scene 5
Dear daughter and I are reading his sonnets at the moment. Such a pleasure!
Trump being like Crassus and the USA being like Rome are certainly possible, but hopefully Trump is getting good advice and following it. His blustery style is part of his negotiating leverage, but I must admit that it sometimes is not very presidential. Most pundits are focusing only on their distaste for Trump (and hoping that he fails) and not what the Iranian mullahs have done and would do to their own people and to others. This lack of context makes Trump appear the bad guy, but what if he is able to rid the world of these Iranian religious zealots and the MidEast actually becomes peaceful? And Iranian oil is sold on the market to the benefit of its people instead of making weapons with which to terrorize its neighbors? Now that would be a real story!
Thanks for the history lesson. I really do enjoy your writing!
Ērān delenda est, DJT. The intention to destroy a civilization requires more thought than an offhand tweet.
Iranian people and the Persians are one in the same people and culture. Trump's threat was misunderstood by the Western media. The ancient world and especially during the Persian empire's height of conquest, those who did not capitulate were wiped off the face of the earth both literally and culturally. The Iranians got the message, but under the influence of the hardline takeover by Mullah's and the creation of the Islamic Republic of Iran in 1979 the Mullah's (meaning master, guardian from the Arabic mawla) any threat of annihilation is not a concern. Islam provides two means to enter paradise, the first requires a man to have been rubbed on the back while in the womb by Allah, the second is to die in Jihad. Since the first condition is unknown and the second is a sure thing. No amount of rational discourse will effect the outcome of negotiations. The is a lesson taught in every history book on the Middle East, never engage Islam unless you're willing to wipe them off the map. They have very long memories because daily life is quite pointless. 911 was said to have been the payback for the defeat of Islam in the Italo-Turkish War in 1911. Ushering in the end of the Ottoman Empire.
Just to add something to think about, it's estimated 5.5 million Muslims died over the course of their defeat.
Sadly Trump has waded into a 1500 year old civil war between Shia (Persian) Islam and Sunni (Arab) Islam. Shia are outnumber 4 to 1, and outgunned 100X. With the advent of modern warfare and nukes the odd were changing rapidly. Trump is quite correct about wiping Shia out, however the end result of a world wide single Islam of Sunni Arabs will result in a world wide reign of terror against any nation harboring Muslims. This is a fact because a single Caliphate is in Islam is the signal for the last battle against the world prophecy, with the favored outcome of all the prostrating in submission to Allah.