Sigh. Iran.

"A global village will have its village idiots."

--Cambridge Astrophysicist Martin Rees

We have tried to pretend that the Middle East, with all its complicated problems, is just a bunch of irrational cave men, but we can't keep pretending. We keep taking Ahmadinejad so seriously. Our favorite presidential wannabe, Mitt the Twitt, said "For all of the Soviets' deep flaws, they were never suicidal. Soviet commitment to national survival was never in question. That assumption cannot be made to an irrational regime (Iran) that celebrates martyrdom."

That is complete bullshit. First of all, stop longing for the "simple" days of the Cold War. We had our head in the clouds then, and that's why we ended up with such a mess in the Middle East. Do I really need to remind everyone that Iran had a democratically elected government in 1953 that the CIA overthrew, giving full power to an evil dictator? There would never have been an Islamic Revolution if it wasn't for us playing Iran against the Soviets.

Second of all, THERE IS A DIFFERENCE BETWEEN INDIVIDUAL MARTYRS AND NATIONAL SURVIVAL. The Japanese were happy to send a few dozen men and airplanes into oblivion, but do you think they wanted to get the bomb? Iran may support Hezbollah, but that doesn't mean they want a nuclear war. A minority of people in the country, including their president, want the complete destruction of Israel at all costs. All costs to the guerilla fighters. They don't want to lose their cushy lifestyles over it. And the rest of the country just wants to be left alone.

It is my understanding that Iran's government is made up of a Parliament, a President, a Leader, and the Guardian Council. The Parliament and President are voted on by the electorate, the Leader holds his position for life and has sway over all others (though not complete power), and the Guardian Council can veto any legislation the Parliament passes which it does not like.

Now the whole government is Islamist, there are no opposition parties, and everyone agrees that the government should at least include some aspect of the Sharia, Islamic Law. But the strange thing that has happened since the 78-79 revolution is that there has been more and more division within the one government party. There are conservatives and reformists and moderates just like our government, they just all work within the assumptions of an Islamic context.

In the late 1990s and early 2000s, the people voted in huge numbers for reformists, and had a more reformist-leaning president. But most of the reformist legislation was vetoed by the Guardian Council. As I know I would, most left-leaning voters got fed up and didn't vote in the 2005 elections because they felt like it wouldn't matter. And a very strong conservative who appealed to voters based on his domestic economic ideas won. And his name is Ahmadinejad. And he's a fucking loon.

When this village idiot gets up and speaks of wiping Israel off the face of the earth, we need to remember that the only people cringing more than us are the Iranians. Both conservative and reformist politicians have been outraged by his horrible PR in the world arena (sound like a familiar problem?). What we forget (and Bush probably doesn't know) is that Ahmadinejad "does not control foreign or nuclear policy, nor do his statements indicate that Iran is suddenly going to launch aggressive wars that it cannot win" (Keddie, "Modern Iran," p.338).

Iranians are not stupid. They are not going to fire off a nuclear missile because they know that their country would soon become nothing more than a smouldering pile of rubble. If they want nuclear capability, it is to make countries like the U.S. think twice about pre-emptive attacks. All this "fight Israel, the Imperialists are trying to split Muslims in half, do not fight shi'ites or sunnis, fight Israel" crap is just a sad attempt at trying to convince Muslims that the only reason they're fighting each other is because of us. Turning all that energy against Israel would create stability, benefiting Iran and the whole region. Ahmadinejad is just trying the old trick of using a common enemy (somehow it always seems to be Jews) to unite the people.

I'm not sure if they really want uranium for domestic energy or if they're building a bomb. But why do we care so much about Iran? What about all the other countries that are getting uranium or nuclear technology? Anyone remember a little country called Venezuela? HELLO?

Iranians were a huge help to us in Afghanistan. They have been dealing with Afghan refugees since the Russians invaded in 1980. They helped our armed forces know where to go and who to talk to. And the thanks they get is the "Axis of Evil" speech where they're listed next to North Korea as a huge threat. Yes they support the Palestinians. And there may be trouble with arms flowing over the border into Iraq. But the former is a serious difference in point of view that can only be helped by diplomatic means and the latter is a complicated problem with a complicated answer - also best dealt with by diplomacy.

Our figurehead makes us look like morons in the world arena. Europeans shake their heads and say "I'm sorry, you poor things" about his being our president. Why aren't we doing the same thing with Ahmadinejad? If the reformists hadn't been so pissed and not voted, he wouldn't be there. And the government has tried to rein him in in recent months, as they're horrified that he's running his mouth off in front of the world. He and Bush have a "Bring it ON" mentality. It's going to get both of them into trouble. And their parliament/congress know it.

The more we fuck with Iran, the more they'll hate us and the more they'll support idiots like Ahmadinejad in their government. If we got bombed tomorrow, Bush's approval ratings would go through the roof. Ahmadinejad will suddenly become popular over there if we attack. Iran is in no way a "friendly nation," but they are not a direct threat to us unless we make them one. We need to get off Iran, or we'll be fighting the entire Middle East.

The more we bomb people, the more they want to hurt us. Why can't we get this through BushCo's heads????