| GREG-STRANGE.COM |
"If you haven't found something strange during the
day, it hasn't been much of a day." -- John A. Wheeler
day, it hasn't been much of a day." -- John A. Wheeler
PROVIDING SUBSTANTIVE COMMENTARY ON THE
PEOPLE, POLITICS, EVENTS AND ABSURDITIES OF
OUR TIME. SERVED UP WITH ACERBIC WIT, YOU
SHOULD FIND IT QUITE SATISFYING.
PEOPLE, POLITICS, EVENTS AND ABSURDITIES OF
OUR TIME. SERVED UP WITH ACERBIC WIT, YOU
SHOULD FIND IT QUITE SATISFYING.
Letter From Iranian President: File Under Junk Mail
When the president of the United States receives his
country’s first formal communication from an Iranian
“president” since the regrettable unpleasantness involving
Iran’s unlawful seizure of the American embassy and the taking
of hostages back in 1979, one might reasonably expect a
conciliatory tone. You know, at the very least, something along
the lines of, “Hey, sorry about what happened, but can we just
let bygones be bygones?”
Or alternatively, if he just couldn’t bring himself to issue
even the mildest apology, however insincere, then how about
an offer to honestly discuss the issues that have Iran at an
impasse with not just the U.S., but the entire civilized world?
Well, in your dreams, Great Satan! Instead, the letter
contained a rambling diatribe against the United States,
Western-style democracy and liberalism in general. Or in
other words, all the things that make the West modern,
innovative and prosperous, so clearly differentiating it whence
this muddle-headed letter came.
In addition, there were the usual inferences that the
Holocaust was a fairy tale and that there was something fishy
about 9/11, as in, maybe, (wink-wink), the U.S. had something
to do with it . . .
The letter itself was not overtly rude. It was just so . . . out
there. By comparison, the Unibomber’s manifesto, written in a
dilapidated shack in the wilds of Montana by an obviously
disturbed sociopathic loner, was far more organized and
coherent. Granted, it might be that Ahmadinejad’s Farsi didn’t
translate well, but that doesn’t preclude the likelihood that
this was simply a letter written by an irrational man who
resides in an Islamic la-la-land.
Those who daydream of peacefully coexisting with this
radical Islamic regime that is hell-bent on getting nuclear
weapons were hell-bent on interpreting the letter as a long
awaited diplomatic opening. But such an opening just wasn’t
there, short of us all converting to Islam and submitting to the
will of the ayatollahs.
But let’s examine a few of Ahmadinejad’s specific
complaints in his letter. Amusingly, he wanted to know why
“any technological and scientific achievement reached in the
Middle East region is translated into and portrayed as a threat
to the Zionist regime.”
Well, for starters, You keep calling Israel the “Zionist
regime.” And then when you verbalize your rapturous reveries
about wiping said Zionist regime off the face of the map, it’s
pretty much understood that your tone is threatening.
Now, about those “technological and scientific
achievements . . .” What technological and scientific
achievements? If you’re talking about Iran’s glorious nuclear
program -- and what else could you be talking about? -- those
are technological and scientific achievements created by
Western infidels generations ago. Catching up with something
60 years after the fact is not much of an achievement.
But achievement or not, and being the devilishly clever
infidels that we are, we see your rush to get nukes, we hear your
talk about wiping Israel off the map, and we’re able to put two
and two together, which equals “threat to the Zionist regime.”
Here’s another issue raised in Ahmadinejad’s letter:
"Liberalism and Western style democracy have not been
able to help realize the ideals of humanity. Today these two
concepts have failed. Those with insight can already hear the
sounds of the shattering and fall of the ideology.”
That’s funny, I don’t hear anything. So stop it already,
you’re slaying me. Considering where this is coming from, this
is the mother of all knee-slappers . What have these bellicose,
authoritarian ayatollahs ever done to “help realize the ideals
of humanity?” Everything they do is designed in some way to
quash free thought, free inquiry, free expression, freedom of
religion, freedom of association, free anything that matters. In
their fanatical minds, the only acceptable path for the
realization of those “ideals of humanity” is through the strict
adherence to not just Islam, but to their particular brand of
Islam, by every last person on earth. Try something different
and you’re just an infidel with a target on your back.
Elsewhere in the letter, Ahmadinejad tried questioning how
Bush can be a follower of Jesus Christ while at the same time
telling lies, attacking countries, throwing people into
Guantanamo, supporting the Zionist regime, etc., etc., ad
nauseam. Then, after enumerating all the crimes and sins, he
asked the question: “Is there no better way to interact with the
rest of the world?”
How do you like the chutzpa of this guy? He’s “president” of
a repressive theocratic dictatorship that is universally
recognized as the world’s leading state sponsor of terrorism
and he deigns to lecture Bush about morality and hypocrisy.
He regularly rhapsodizes over his fondest wish, the destruction
of Israel, but he’s doling out advice on how to properly interact
with the rest of the world.
After a whole lot of such filler, Ahmadinejad wraps up his
18-page missive with the following:
“We increasingly see that people around the world are
flocking towards a main focal point -- that is the Almighty
God. Undoubtedly through faith in God and the teachings of
the prophets, the people will conquer their problems. My
question for you is: Do you not want to join them?”
How’s that for a loaded question? It has been interpreted
by some as a call to Bush to join Islam. Such a call is known as
a da’wa and in one of the hadiths Muhammad instructs his
followers to issue such a call before taking offensive action.
Whatever.
In summation, the letter from the Islamofascist
Ahmadinejad is a crock, as is the idea that it provides some
kind of opening for a useful dialogue between America and
Iran. Those who were hoping otherwise need to realize that
rational discussion with any of these radical, apocalyptic
Islamic totalitarians is impossible as long as their global
strategy remains the same, which is to establish Islamic
dominion over the planet.
After his important work composing the letter to President
Bush, Ahmadinejad went on the road, visiting Indonesia, the
world’s most populous Islamic nation, where university
students greeted him like a rock star, declared him “the world’s
most charismatic leader,” and carried signs declaring Bush the
“world’s #1 terrorist.”
It’s all in a day’s work for the dashing Ahmadinejad,
traveling around the Islamic world fomenting hatred for the
Great Satan and its “terrorist” leader. And the global scale
Islamic disconnect from all reality continues.
When the president of the United States receives his
country’s first formal communication from an Iranian
“president” since the regrettable unpleasantness involving
Iran’s unlawful seizure of the American embassy and the taking
of hostages back in 1979, one might reasonably expect a
conciliatory tone. You know, at the very least, something along
the lines of, “Hey, sorry about what happened, but can we just
let bygones be bygones?”
Or alternatively, if he just couldn’t bring himself to issue
even the mildest apology, however insincere, then how about
an offer to honestly discuss the issues that have Iran at an
impasse with not just the U.S., but the entire civilized world?
Well, in your dreams, Great Satan! Instead, the letter
contained a rambling diatribe against the United States,
Western-style democracy and liberalism in general. Or in
other words, all the things that make the West modern,
innovative and prosperous, so clearly differentiating it whence
this muddle-headed letter came.
In addition, there were the usual inferences that the
Holocaust was a fairy tale and that there was something fishy
about 9/11, as in, maybe, (wink-wink), the U.S. had something
to do with it . . .
The letter itself was not overtly rude. It was just so . . . out
there. By comparison, the Unibomber’s manifesto, written in a
dilapidated shack in the wilds of Montana by an obviously
disturbed sociopathic loner, was far more organized and
coherent. Granted, it might be that Ahmadinejad’s Farsi didn’t
translate well, but that doesn’t preclude the likelihood that
this was simply a letter written by an irrational man who
resides in an Islamic la-la-land.
Those who daydream of peacefully coexisting with this
radical Islamic regime that is hell-bent on getting nuclear
weapons were hell-bent on interpreting the letter as a long
awaited diplomatic opening. But such an opening just wasn’t
there, short of us all converting to Islam and submitting to the
will of the ayatollahs.
But let’s examine a few of Ahmadinejad’s specific
complaints in his letter. Amusingly, he wanted to know why
“any technological and scientific achievement reached in the
Middle East region is translated into and portrayed as a threat
to the Zionist regime.”
Well, for starters, You keep calling Israel the “Zionist
regime.” And then when you verbalize your rapturous reveries
about wiping said Zionist regime off the face of the map, it’s
pretty much understood that your tone is threatening.
Now, about those “technological and scientific
achievements . . .” What technological and scientific
achievements? If you’re talking about Iran’s glorious nuclear
program -- and what else could you be talking about? -- those
are technological and scientific achievements created by
Western infidels generations ago. Catching up with something
60 years after the fact is not much of an achievement.
But achievement or not, and being the devilishly clever
infidels that we are, we see your rush to get nukes, we hear your
talk about wiping Israel off the map, and we’re able to put two
and two together, which equals “threat to the Zionist regime.”
Here’s another issue raised in Ahmadinejad’s letter:
"Liberalism and Western style democracy have not been
able to help realize the ideals of humanity. Today these two
concepts have failed. Those with insight can already hear the
sounds of the shattering and fall of the ideology.”
That’s funny, I don’t hear anything. So stop it already,
you’re slaying me. Considering where this is coming from, this
is the mother of all knee-slappers . What have these bellicose,
authoritarian ayatollahs ever done to “help realize the ideals
of humanity?” Everything they do is designed in some way to
quash free thought, free inquiry, free expression, freedom of
religion, freedom of association, free anything that matters. In
their fanatical minds, the only acceptable path for the
realization of those “ideals of humanity” is through the strict
adherence to not just Islam, but to their particular brand of
Islam, by every last person on earth. Try something different
and you’re just an infidel with a target on your back.
Elsewhere in the letter, Ahmadinejad tried questioning how
Bush can be a follower of Jesus Christ while at the same time
telling lies, attacking countries, throwing people into
Guantanamo, supporting the Zionist regime, etc., etc., ad
nauseam. Then, after enumerating all the crimes and sins, he
asked the question: “Is there no better way to interact with the
rest of the world?”
How do you like the chutzpa of this guy? He’s “president” of
a repressive theocratic dictatorship that is universally
recognized as the world’s leading state sponsor of terrorism
and he deigns to lecture Bush about morality and hypocrisy.
He regularly rhapsodizes over his fondest wish, the destruction
of Israel, but he’s doling out advice on how to properly interact
with the rest of the world.
After a whole lot of such filler, Ahmadinejad wraps up his
18-page missive with the following:
“We increasingly see that people around the world are
flocking towards a main focal point -- that is the Almighty
God. Undoubtedly through faith in God and the teachings of
the prophets, the people will conquer their problems. My
question for you is: Do you not want to join them?”
How’s that for a loaded question? It has been interpreted
by some as a call to Bush to join Islam. Such a call is known as
a da’wa and in one of the hadiths Muhammad instructs his
followers to issue such a call before taking offensive action.
Whatever.
In summation, the letter from the Islamofascist
Ahmadinejad is a crock, as is the idea that it provides some
kind of opening for a useful dialogue between America and
Iran. Those who were hoping otherwise need to realize that
rational discussion with any of these radical, apocalyptic
Islamic totalitarians is impossible as long as their global
strategy remains the same, which is to establish Islamic
dominion over the planet.
After his important work composing the letter to President
Bush, Ahmadinejad went on the road, visiting Indonesia, the
world’s most populous Islamic nation, where university
students greeted him like a rock star, declared him “the world’s
most charismatic leader,” and carried signs declaring Bush the
“world’s #1 terrorist.”
It’s all in a day’s work for the dashing Ahmadinejad,
traveling around the Islamic world fomenting hatred for the
Great Satan and its “terrorist” leader. And the global scale
Islamic disconnect from all reality continues.