Greenwald's piece seems mostly tangential w.r.t. the topic in which it was posted.
He's touching on the recent assassination of Mohsen Fakhrizadeh (likely by the Mossad but also likely with the approval and cooperation of the Trump administration) but he's also putting it into the context of previous administrations' actions and its reception in the press.
(Re)making peace with Iran will be a major foreign policy challenge for the incoming administration. Think of it as the background to that challenge.
I had read it, and then some. It's more of an "American Justice" rabbit hole.
Greenwald's piece seems mostly tangential w.r.t. the topic in which it was posted.
He's touching on the recent assassination of Mohsen Fakhrizadeh (likely by the Mossad but also likely with the approval and cooperation of the Trump administration) but he's also putting it into the context of previous administrations' actions and its reception in the press.
(Re)making peace with Iran will be a major foreign policy challenge for the incoming administration. Think of it as the background to that challenge.
Trump is not an historical aberration. He is an ugly mirror.
American memories of past violent acts are generally short and incomplete if not romantically revised.
If it is a question of assigning partisan blame for the Sept. 11th attacks in 2001, it is the Democrats.
That said, it is unfortunate that the writer Glen Greenwald appears to endorse the War on Terror. The War on Terror has been useful to dehumanize and demonize innocent civilians so they are politically easier to kill. The War on Terror justifies not engaging and talking with some groups or nations and thus perpetuating some conflicts for decades.
The War on Terror implies that American voters are fundamentally ignorant and easy to manipulate by organized special interests.
I'd be interested in reading the article you seem to have found.
This screed is long and brings up many related questions, but at the core it calls out the American left/media nexus for appalling hypocrisy. Assassinating people around the world is bad when done by proxy, bad when done by direct covert action, bad when done by a Republican administration, bad when done by a Democratic administration. Partisan outrage is posturing, not a principled stance.
When youâre reduced to sitting on Twitter trying to distinguish your own global assassination program from the one youâre condemning, that is rather potent evidence that you are among the absolute last persons on earth with the moral credibility to denounce anything. Thatâs particularly true when you directed your unilateral assassination powers onto your own citizens, ending several of their lives.
But thatâs the Trump era in a nutshell: the most bloodthirsty monsters and murderers successfully whitewash their own history of atrocities by deceiving people into believing that none of this was done prior to Trump, and that their flamboyant opposition to Trump â based far more in stylistic distaste for him and loss of their own access than substantive policy objections â absolves them of their own prior, often-worse monstrosities. Call it the David Frum Syndrome.
Trump is not an historical aberration. He is an ugly mirror.
American memories of past violent acts are generally short and incomplete if not romantically revised.
If it is a question of assigning partisan blame for the Sept. 11th attacks in 2001, it is the Democrats.
That said, it is unfortunate that the writer Glen Greenwald appears to endorse the War on Terror. The War on Terror has been useful to dehumanize and demonize innocent civilians so they are politically easier to kill. The War on Terror justifies not engaging and talking with some groups or nations and thus perpetuating some conflicts for decades.
The War on Terror implies that American voters are fundamentally ignorant and easy to manipulate by organized special interests.
This screed is long and brings up many related questions, but at the core it calls out the American left/media nexus for appalling hypocrisy. Assassinating people around the world is bad when done by proxy, bad when done by direct covert action, bad when done by a Republican administration, bad when done by a Democratic administration. Partisan outrage is posturing, not a principled stance.
When youâre reduced to sitting on Twitter trying to distinguish your
own global assassination program from the one youâre condemning, that is
rather potent evidence that you are among the absolute last persons on
earth with the moral credibility to denounce anything. Thatâs
particularly true when you directed your unilateral assassination powers
onto your own citizens, ending several of their lives.
But
thatâs the Trump era in a nutshell: the most bloodthirsty monsters and
murderers successfully whitewash their own history of atrocities by
deceiving people into believing that none of this was done prior to
Trump, and that their flamboyant opposition to Trump â based far more in stylistic distaste for him and loss of their own access than substantive policy objections â absolves them of their own prior, often-worse monstrosities. Call it the David Frum Syndrome.
Iran analysts and nuclear experts say these attacks do not fundamentally alter Iranâs trajectory if it is seeking nuclear capabilities; at best, they delay progress by a few months or a year. There is no way, short of regime change or armed invasion, that countries can deter rivals determined to obtain nuclear weapons.
But the actual demise of the authoritarian regime that's been in power since 1979 will come more from acts like the one taken by Kimia Alizadeh, Iran's only female Olympic medalist. Late last week, the bronze medalist in Taekwondo in the 2016 Summer Games announced via Instagram that she has fled her home country due to the systematic oppression of women. Via CNN:
"Let me start with a greeting, a farewell or condolences," the 21-year-old wrote in an Instagram post explaining why she was defecting. "I am one of the millions of oppressed women in Iran who they have been playing with for years."â¦
"They took me wherever they wanted. I wore whatever they said. Every sentence they ordered me to say, I repeated. Whenever they saw fit, they exploited me," she wrote, adding that credit for her success always went to those in charge.
"I wasn't important to them. None of us mattered to them, we were tools," Alizadeh added, explaining that while the regime celebrated her medals, it criticized the sport she had chosen: "The virtue of a woman is not to stretch her legs!"
I think one of the lessons of the Arab Spring is that western countries have very limited ability to influence the events and it is probably better to lay low in most cases. That seems particularly true about Iran. Obama should have been a lot smarter about Libya and Syria. Egypt, too.
I think one of the lessons of the Arab Spring is that western countries have very limited ability to influence the events and it is probably better to lay low in most cases. That seems particularly true about Iran. Obama should have been a lot smarter about Libya and Syria. Egypt, too.
Strictly speaking any "spring" in Iran can't be described as Arab. Iranians are not Arabs, ethnically speaking. Jus' sayin'.
But the actual demise of the authoritarian regime that's been in power since 1979 will come more from acts like the one taken by Kimia Alizadeh, Iran's only female Olympic medalist. Late last week, the bronze medalist in Taekwondo in the 2016 Summer Games announced via Instagram that she has fled her home country due to the systematic oppression of women. Via CNN:
"Let me start with a greeting, a farewell or condolences," the 21-year-old wrote in an Instagram post explaining why she was defecting. "I am one of the millions of oppressed women in Iran who they have been playing with for years."â¦
"They took me wherever they wanted. I wore whatever they said. Every sentence they ordered me to say, I repeated. Whenever they saw fit, they exploited me," she wrote, adding that credit for her success always went to those in charge.
"I wasn't important to them. None of us mattered to them, we were tools," Alizadeh added, explaining that while the regime celebrated her medals, it criticized the sport she had chosen: "The virtue of a woman is not to stretch her legs!"
I think one of the lessons of the Arab Spring is that western countries have very limited ability to influence the events and it is probably better to lay low in most cases. That seems particularly true about Iran. Obama should have been a lot smarter about Libya and Syria. Egypt, too.
But the actual demise of the authoritarian regime that's been in power since 1979 will come more from acts like the one taken by Kimia Alizadeh, Iran's only female Olympic medalist. Late last week, the bronze medalist in Taekwondo in the 2016 Summer Games announced via Instagram that she has fled her home country due to the systematic oppression of women. Via CNN:
"Let me start with a greeting, a farewell or condolences," the 21-year-old wrote in an Instagram post explaining why she was defecting. "I am one of the millions of oppressed women in Iran who they have been playing with for years."…
"They took me wherever they wanted. I wore whatever they said. Every sentence they ordered me to say, I repeated. Whenever they saw fit, they exploited me," she wrote, adding that credit for her success always went to those in charge.
"I wasn't important to them. None of us mattered to them, we were tools," Alizadeh added, explaining that while the regime celebrated her medals, it criticized the sport she had chosen: "The virtue of a woman is not to stretch her legs!"
Ok regardless of your political persuasion or opinion of that General dude, it doesn't take a 2 year old to do the cost-benefit analysis and know this was a ridiculous move. I got no love for those Mullah assholes, but I do have sympathy for the Persians who suffer under their oppression. There is no way to put lipstick on this pig.
I got no love for those Mullah assholes, but I do have sympathy for the Persians who suffer under their oppression. There is no way to put lipstick on this pig.