This. How often have you seen the Ayatollahs and top Iranian leadership blow themselves up? They like Putin like living and know that the biggest threat to their survival (other than a completely unleashed Bibi with unlimited Trump support) is initiating nuclear war.
Welcome to our community
Be apart of something great, join today!
Israel launches attack on Iran | US bombs Iran nuke sites
- Thread starter Carolina Fever
- Start date
- Replies: 2K
- Views: 32K
- Politics
- Messages
- 910
Apologies in advance for the source of this link --
ON REASON FOR MORE FREQUENT PROTESTS
Mohsen Kadivar
“Over 60 percent of the Iranian population is young. Less than 30 years old. So this is a very young population. The demands of the Iranian youth are exactly the same as the demands of other youth in other countries. The Iranian government (comprises) hardliners. Their goals are far from Iranian youth and Iranian population. So these protesters, most of them, almost all of them are young people. They experience a lot. They were detained. They were imprisoned in these recent protests. So by this rich experience, their family members are supporting them much more than before.”
“And also, their favorite national heroes, athletes and artists, are in the same vein.”
“They are so brave. They’re in the street. They’re chanting. This is not only about freedom for women. It’s freedom for the country.”
“In 2009 they chanted, ‘Where is my vote?’ In this protest, they’re chanting, ‘Where is my life?’
“They need freedom of a style of life. This mandatory style of life that the government tries to force to the Iranians – one of the particulars is about hair covering for women. This is exactly about freedom.”
* * *
ON WHETHER REGIME CHANGE IS POSSIBLE
Mohsen Kadivar
“I think this is the question of many Iranians and many protestors. The desire of Iranians, the majority of Iranians, is regime change. We can see it in their chanting and their slogans.”
“When we ask of ourselves, is it possible today in this protest? I think this is … idealistic. This protest is a step forward. We are closer to freedom for Iran, closer to a better future for Iran. But we should understand the reality of this regime.”
“This is a revolutionary, young, authoritative, non-competitive electoral regime.”
“Since 2020, this is a noncompetitive, electoral, authoritative regime in the name of Islam. Before that we had two candidates in the presidential election. One from the reformist or moderate side, and one from the hardliner side. But since 2020, the leader decided to have a noncompetitive election. This is the election we had and (current Iranian President) Ebrahim Raisi came to office.”
“Iranians tried all the ways to reform their government. The government blocked all the ways. That means there’s no way for the people, except coming to the streets and protesting and making demonstrations.”
“They tried to reform legally to change the president, to change the parliament members. I can say the majority of Iranians do not have any representatives in the Iranian parliament. The president is not representative of the majority of Iranians.”
“This regime is supported strongly by Russia and China. Those are their allies in the region. This regime is among the most powerful regimes in the region. So changing it is not so easy.”
IMO it is incredibly important to continue to draw hard distinctions between the Iranian government and the Iranian people.
The Iranian people should be our allies, and many of them want to be. They are *far* more aligned with the west in terms of culture and values than are Saudi Arabia or any of the Gulf states.
p5mmr9
Distinguished Member
- Messages
- 314
Israel is not Iran's only adversary in the region. A nuclear Iran would be a threat to Saudi Arabia,Jordan, Bahrain, the UAE, Kuwait, and Egypt.Some of these are very wealthy nation states that would seek to arm themselves similarly assuming Iran obtained a nuclear weapon. MAD not withstanding - the world would be safer without a nuclear arms race in the Middle East.
And even then - the greater threat is one of Iran's non-state actors obtaining some sort of nuclear weapon via Iran and using it against Israel or one of Iran's other enemies. It is just a destabilizing threat in general.
- Messages
- 910
This is true, and it's also true that Israeli hardliners milk that kind of rhetoric for all its worth.
I saw a Rick Steves talk once where he was talking about taking a taxi cab in Tehran, and they got stuck in traffic. The driver said "Death to traffic!" which basically translated to "Damn traffic!" And so at least sometimes when Iranians say "Death to America" they're not actually suggesting tactics.
Mulberry Heel
Iconic Member
- Messages
- 2,320
If I remember correctly Israel is the most heavily-armed small nation-state on Earth, largely thanks to us. Pretty much their entire adult population has been given mandatory military training (including nearly all Israeli women, Gal Gadot of Wonder Woman fame served in the Israeli military) and the entire nation is largely an armed camp, and has been ever since it was founded, as they were surrounded by enemies. Jordan and Egypt are no longer enemies, but there are still plenty of countries in the Middle East that would be happy to see Israel gone.
Having said that, Israel is more than capable of defending itself (and dealing out far more punishment than they take, as we're seeing now with Iran) without the USA needing to intervene militarily. There's no need for America to be sending troops or other personnel to fight with Israel, beyond Israel desperately wanting the USA to get involved to give them cover for what they're doing.
ZenMode
Inconceivable Member
- Messages
- 3,631
The only thing that may be more dangerous than young, male Islamic extremist is an old, male Islamic extremist, at the end of his life, with a nuke.
superrific
Legend of ZZL
- Messages
- 8,367
No you are living proof that propaganda, sociopathy, and arrogance is more dangerous. I'm confident that there was a time in your life when you were not like this ZenMode persona.
- Messages
- 5,561
I believe most other animals coexist better than humans.
- Messages
- 2,822
I'm not sure the bunnies in the park by my house would use the term "coexist" to describe their relationship with the coyote who frequents the park.
- Messages
- 5,561
But they do, the wolf doesn't kill all of the deer, only enough to survive. Humans have examples of genocide over land... we fight over everything.I'm not sure the bunnies in the park by my house would use the term "coexist" to describe their relationship with the coyote who frequents the park.
superrific
Legend of ZZL
- Messages
- 8,367
I know. But those countries are more rivals than enemies, at least as I understand it. I really don't have a problem with the US having a sort of global nuclear umbrella. Anyone who uses a nuke will be nuked by us.
I'm not sure that the non-state actors would be all that interested in using a nuclear weapon per se. They are more likely, in my view, to use a radiological weapon for a number of reasons. If Iran has a whole bunch of near-weapons grade plutonium just sitting around because their labs keep getting bombed, it strikes me that increases the chances of some of that hoard walking out the door.
I'm just thinking out loud. I don't necessarily fully believe any of this.
superrific
Legend of ZZL
- Messages
- 8,367
Give the wolf a machine gun and get back to us.But they do, the wolf doesn't kill all of the deer, only enough to survive. Humans have examples of genocide over land... we fight over everything.
This X1000
I wish my dog would do that to the Bunnies who eat all of my flowers. Alas, my dog is too old and slow.I'm not sure the bunnies in the park by my house would use the term "coexist" to describe their relationship with the coyote who frequents the park.
ZenMode
Inconceivable Member
- Messages
- 3,631
As I said earlier, many Democrats don't take Islamic extremism, and the associated beliefs, seriously. They are like evangelical Christians on steroids. They don't just believe their paradise afterlife is real, they KNOW it's real.
- It's why using human shields isn't an issue.
- It's why suicide bombing is almost exclusively a tool of Islamic terrorists.
- It's why, going back decades, children were used in war.
- It's why it's common for them to chant some variation of "we love death more than you love life"
It's why, when asked about the Peshawar school attack, a Taliban supporter said:
“Human life only has value among you worldly materialist thinkers. For us, this human life is only a tiny meaningless fragment of our existence. Our real destination is the Hereafter. We don’t just believe it exists, we know it does. Death is not the end of life. It is the beginning of existence, in a world much more beautiful than this. As you know, the (Urdu) word for death is ‘intiqaal.’ It means ‘transfer,’ not 'end'.
Last edited:
- Messages
- 1,246
The only solace I can offer on your "worst human in American History" thing is the person about whom you are talking is controlled, body, mind, and soul, by the only other power on Earth that has the sort of nuclear arsenal that could completely destroy the US in it entirety. China could inflect terrible damage on us. But Russia could make the Continential US unlivable.
I'm sure there are people who don't take Islamic extremism extremely, but why do you think Democrats or liberal voters fit into this category more than Indy or Repub/conservatives?
- Messages
- 323