This post comes under the Scanalyzer category of “Continuity” for a clear reason: modern Iran’s belligerency was reactivated shortly after the Ayatollah Khomeini took power in 1979. Iran has insinuated itself strategically throughout the Middle East so as to threaten the “little satan” with a long term intent to strike the “big satan”.
Iran’s leaders are explicitly millenarian in worldview. Many in the West simply refuse to understand - to dismiss - this long-practiced, ontological aspect of Islam: conquest of the entire world, with a single choice - either conversion or death. This is so foreign to the Western intellect that the very notion of this playing out is relegated to fantasy. This, despite the fact we have previously suffered effects from this particular “failure of imagination” (as in 9/11). Had Western thought continued in that direction, eventually, Iranian nuclear warheads would have vaporized many thousands/millions of innocent civilians.
Significantly, (stating the obvious) the West has refused to take Islamists at their word. It is fundamental fact that Islam is not merely a personal belief system for individuals, as are other Western religions. It is a total system - as in totalitarian - of organizing society along very strict prescriptions and proscriptions. To the extent any tolerance whatsoever exists, infidels - dhimmies - exist as second class subjects.
A grand hypocrisy - a shocking one, really, has operated for generations among Western progressives and intellectuals. Groups they so zealously portray as “victims” in the West - minorities endlessly said to be horribly “oppressed” according to progressive pieties - these same groups are assiduously ignored in the Islamic world. One might think that under Islamic rule, there is no problem whatsoever with misogyny, homophobia, intolerance, etc. Amplified complaints of “white supremacy” (believed or practiced by some insignificant tiny minority of bigots in the West), are laughable when compared to explicit and unending acts asserting Islamic supremacy, with explicit plans and thousands of violent acts, for global conquest.
Also assiduously ignored by Western “leaders” for generations is the Islamic principle of “tiqiyya”. This is a basic component of jihad - an often obligatory form strategic deception. Falsehood and lies are foreign to Western negotiators whose fundamental ethical precepts require forthright honesty and truth-telling. The logical conclusion of deceptive strategy can be seen as the cause of the insoluble “Palestinian” vs. Israel conflict. The former negotiate with one goal: destruction of Israel and mass murder of Jews; negotiations yield but pauses, way-stations along the way to the ultimate goal. In short, lying is an acceptable, indeed obligatory, tactic along with whatever violence is deemed necessary.
So, as has become the default for materially comfortable and decadent Western “democracies™” (that’s a separate tirade) when it comes to most every existential issue, the Iran can has been kicked down the road by Presidents before Trump. As I understand principles derivable from history and the trajectory of this particular tyranny, President Trump understood the dilemma: either strike now with the attendant certainty of criticism, mainly politically motivated or pusillanimous posing as principled (including leftist political venom and assassins), or suffer the eventual nuclear consequences. Diplomacy, after all, has become a religion - any piece of paper purporting to solve a problem - is fervently believed to be a “solution” (until the next set of leaders finds otherwise), regardless of what actually transpires on the ground. Belief in the power of ink completely subsumes reality. Recall taqiyya; recall Chamberlain’s “peace in our time”; recall Molotov-Ribbentrop Pact, etc.
Of course, we can never know what would have transpired had President Trump and Israel not acted. We will surely hear the usual Jew hatred and assertions it’s Israel’s problem, not the US’s. As I see it, Iran’s many actions over many years along with explicit, repeated intentions for the “great satan” with historical context, make clear our own jeopardy. To me, the evidence shows - clearly and convincingly (almost “beyond a reasonable doubt” and well beyond “preponderance of the evidence”) that failure to act to end this evil regime would inevitably cause catastrophic death and suffering for millions. When it comes to geopolitical decisions, evidence doesn’t get much better than this. Proving a negative, as we know….
After all the hand wringing, pearl clutching, and condescending axioms of “diplomacy”, I believe the world will eventually be persuaded that it owes Donald Trump, courageous President of the United States a great debt of gratitude. Nothing will persuade the TDS crowd (a plague of sorts of our time), so ‘nuff said to the rational about this inflection point in 21st century history.
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