History Doesn't Begin When One Has Their First Political Thought
This is an article about a future article. The research I've done for that future article was so interesting to me I decided to share that before I write my actual article. That way, when I publish the article there may be a few readers who took the time to put it into context by doing their own research. by Jahfre Fire Eater
(libertarian)
Saturday, February 20, 2010
I found a wonderfully humorous article by chance this morning. I really just wanted to know the American interpretation of what a Persian/Farsi speaker would call an American in casual conversation with a neighbor. Like, Yankee, or gringo, or ... whatever. I didn't find that but what I found was a gem.
I was doing research in preparation for writing an article on the history and evolution of the Iranian/American diplomatic relationship. In my view this relationship cannot be understood in a vacuum. It relates to the US involvement in Afghanistan, therefore 911; involvement in Israel, Saudi Arabia, Palestine, Syria, Iraq and so on. Looking at Iran or any of these other current problems in isolation is like playing chess by assuming each piece can be played as an entity independent from the others and as silly as a person believing they can declare themselves sovereign to avoid the consequences of being part of a larger reality than they would prefer.
I started with the Time Magazine Man of the Year article from 1951 because it summarizes the British role in shaping regional attitudes towards westerners and sets the stage for the USA taking over the oppression and manipulation of Middle Eastern rule from the Brits. He was Mohammed Mossadegh(Mossadeq), Premier of Iran until a 1953 CIA instigated Coup d'tat deposed this democratically elected leader...marking the first of many examples of the USA supposedly making the world safe for democracy by oppressing democracy that does not bow to Washington.
The Time article neatly summarizes the Palestine/Arab attitudes towards the USA with this paragraph:
To catch the Jewish vote in the U.S., President Truman in 1946 demanded that the British admit 100,000 Jewish refugees to Palestine, in violation of British promises to the Arabs. Since then, the Arab nations surrounding Israel have regarded that state as a U.S. creation, and the U.S., therefore, as an enemy. The Israeli-Arab war created nearly a million Arab refugees, who have been huddled for three years in wretched camps. These refugees, for whom neither the U.S. nor Israel will take the slightest responsibility, keep alive the hatred of U.S. perfidy.
Generally I think the world would be a much safer, saner place today if the British had managed to restrain their need to "help" everyone they met in their adventures by oppressing their countries and cultures--but they didn't--they couldn't and if they had the prosperity to do it again they would do so with gusto, no doubt. This time, instead of sacrificing heathens to their God they would be sacrificing prosperity to their Socialism...just like Obama is doing. US empire builders were and are far more powerful and deceitful. That is doubly unfortunate because the empire building actions undertaken by the USA since the 1940's have not been driven by the same arrogant and violently ignorant altruism that centuries of British used to justify killing anyone who preferred their old lifestyles to the one the Brits imposed on them at gunpoint.
So, during the collapse of the British Empire the USA stepped up with a fear-based motivation for manipulating and controlling the politics of the region. (First Communism, then Anti-semitism, Oil and religious war, these Arabs, Persians and Turks scare Americans in every way imaginable, for political reasons.) We have never made the claim that we are there to "help" anyone...even though we fund the conflicts on all sides with our "aid." Oh the irony. Politics is the art of ensuring our future is decided by reactions to fear than the guidance of reason in both foreign and domestic policy and strategy.
Anyone who thinks 911 was unprovoked or the "beginning" of anything and who is open minded enough to consider that history didn't start when they had their first political thought should learn about the CIA's activities in the Middle East and in Iran specifically regarding Mossadeq and the Shah. Anyone who thinks 911 "justifies" a war in Afghanistan (but not in Iraq, LOL) but who is still open to new input should search for the words "Afghanistan Graveyard of Empires" and read several of the resulting articles and resources such as:
The book, Empire of Debt, by Bill Bonner and Addison Wiggin lays out, action by action, consequence by consequence, how the US behavior in the Middle East matches the patterns of dozens of previous empires in collapse. It also points out that many collapsed after they conquered Baghdad and got sucked into Afghanistan: Graveyard of Empires.
The future article I referred to in the description of this article will attempt to put our current situation into the larger context and examine the likely consequences of our possible future actions in the region. It's all related.
-Jahfre Fire Eater
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I am disappointed in that your only recommended reading for the replacement of Mossadeq by the Shah is an entertaining Time magazine article and further that you recommend the mostly know nothing book Empire of Debt. I had perceived your mind of being of a much higher caliber.
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