| 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.
Obsession With Israel is Crack Cocaine for Koranic Crazies
At the recent Arab Conference of Iraqi Neighbors in Tehran
(sounds so innocuous, doesn‘t it?), Iranian President
Mahmoud Ahmadinejad imparted these words of wisdom to his
audience: “The basic problem in the Islamic world is the
existence of the Zionist regime, and the Islamic world and the
region must mobilize to remove this problem. It is a . . . regime
that prevented the progress of the region’s nations . . .”
It’s the kind of talk that absolutely brings the house down at
conferences in that part of the world. It’s like pushing a button
that sends impulses directly to the pleasure centers in the
radical Islamic brain. Call it crack cocaine for Koranic crazies.
Actually, given the subject matter of this particular
conference, you wouldn’t think the main focus of discussion
would be the need to eliminate Israel. But you can bet your
sweet Koran that if a conference gets hosted in Tehran about
anything from sturgeon fishing in the Caspian Sea to thirteenth
century Persian poetry, somebody’s going to find an excuse to
bring up the Zionist regime.
But getting back to Ahmadinejad’s thesis . . . In reality, the
basic problem in the Islamic world is not the existence of the
Zionist regime, but rather that it thinks that its basic problem
is the existence of the Zionist regime. It is perhaps the biggest,
most pathetic cop-out in human history.
In the entire history of civilization, has there ever been a
more ludicrous sticking point supposedly responsible for the
inability of a huge swath of the planet to advance or improve
itself? Imagine everyone living in that Islamic swath
stretching some 8,000 miles from one end to the other believing
that their basic problem stems from the existence of one tiny
country smaller in size than the state of Vermont. That is the
very definition of mass insanity. If they were all waiting
around for the mother ship to whisk them away to another
planet, it wouldn’t be any crazier.
It is especially insane considering all the obvious things that
are really wrong with so many Islamic countries. For instance,
if I had to rattle a few of those things off the top of my head,
they would be horrible authoritarian leadership, religious
fanaticism, tribalism, ignorance, backwardness, intolerance
and a pathological aversion to modernity. But hey, the Islamic
crazies all say, forget about such nattering details. What’s
wrong with us is the existence of the Zionist regime.
So some of them wage a never-ending terror war against
Israel (since they can‘t defeat it militarily), pouring all their
energy and creativity into a useless, destructive endeavor that
is doomed to failure. In doing so, they are the world’s greatest
squanderers of human potential and allotted time on earth.
Just imagine if they used all that time and energy doing
something constructive. They might actually turn the region
into something other than one of the world’s armpits.
The current case in point is Hezbollah in southern Lebanon.
As everyone in the known universe is aware of by now,
Hezbollah is Iran’s proxy army in the terror fight against the
Zionist regime. For whatever addleheaded reason (maybe to
draw attention away from the nuclear issue swirling around
their Iranian puppeteers), they decided to start an unprovoked
war with Israel. That Lebanese civilians are the ones being
hurt the most is an unfortunate consequence of Hezbollah’s
hijacking of much of the country.
But don’t make the naive mistake of thinking that Hezbollah
cares about Lebanese civilians. When you put rocket launchers
in the living rooms of civilians, you can’t with a straight face
claim to care about them. Not only do they not care, they
actually desire the deaths of as many Lebanese civilians as
possible from Israel’s retaliation. Why? For the cynical
purpose of making Israel look bad.
And lo and behold, brain-dead people the world over fall for
it without fail. If you don’t believe it, take a tour of some of the
left-wing blogs and you will read some of the most despicable,
mind-blowing stuff imaginable praising the terrorists of
Hezbollah and comparing Israelis to Nazis.
Not withstanding all that, some things have changed in the
world in recent times. For instance, if this had been the usual
scenario in, let’s say, pre-9/11 days, the United States would
have been involved right from the get-go in tedious “shuttle”
diplomacy between various regional despots and sheikdoms in
the hope of quickly defusing the situation. But since 9/11 and
the Bush administration‘s declaration of war against radical
Islamic terrorism, gratuitous calls for ceasefires from the usual
terror appeasers are being pretty much ignored by the U.S. So
far, Israel is being given free rein to destroy as much of
Hezbollah as it can. Think of it as vermin control that is long
overdue.
And for perhaps the first time ever, some of the so-called
moderate Arab states have publicly voiced displeasure with
Hezbollah’s “irresponsible adventurism,” which they believe
could pose a potential danger to the entire region. No, they
haven’t suddenly fallen in love with the idea of Israel’s right to
exist. They’re worried about Iranian/Shiite hegemony in the
region which ultimately is interpreted as a far greater threat to
predominantly Sunni countries like Saudi Arabia, Egypt and
Jordan.
In other words, it has finally dawned on those Arab states
that the Persian state of Iran wants to be top dog in the
neighborhood and nobody’s going to sleep well at night if that
happens, particularly if Iran goes nuclear. When you combine
Iran’s quest for nukes with its incessant talk about wiping
Israel off the map, it’s hard to totally avoid the mental image of
mushroom clouds in the Middle East. Granted, only the
craziest of crazies want such a thing to happen, but some of
those crazies appear to be in power in Iran.
Why are they so singularly obsessed with Israel? Why does
Ahmadinejad believe that Israel is a “regime that prevented the
progress of the region’s nations?” Why do they pour every
ounce of their souls into the hatred of and plotting against the
Zionist regime? How can they believe that Allah, the presumed
supreme being and creator of the infinite universe, is pleased
by such murderous depravity? You might as well ask what
makes Charles Manson tick.
But not everyone in Iran wants to obsess endlessly over the
Zionist regime and all its supposed offenses against Islamic
humanity. Time magazine recently ran an article about the
view from inside Iran that was subtitled “Hizballah may be
Tehran’s client, but Iranians aren’t buying the propaganda.”
One Iranian mother -- fed up with constant televised bulletins
urging Iranians to boycott “Zionist products” -- was quoted in
the article: “Lebanon has nothing to do with us. We should
mind our own business and concentrate on policies that are
good for our economy and our kids.”
Exactly! Precisely! An astute observation of reality utterly
unfettered by paranoid delusions involving the Zionist regime.
Just an average Iranian who would like to have some
semblance of a normal, decent life without the insanity offered
by her leaders. But it ain’t gonna happen as long as the
ayatollahs and the mullahs and Ahmadinejad are running
things.
More insanity is exactly what she and her fellow citizens are
likely to get as their leaders continue their quest for nukes and
their provocative language about ridding the world of the
Zionist regime. But what’s going to shield Iran from nuclear
retaliation if it comes to that? You have to wonder how many
average Iranians are okay with becoming involuntary martyrs
for the world’s most psychopathic and useless cause: wiping
the Zionist entity off the map.
By fighting Hezbollah in Lebanon, Israel is doing the world a
favor, but it’s not enough. Hezbollah is just the proxy for a
larger evil. Iran has to be dealt with sooner or later by a
reluctant world, and the longer the world waits, the harder and
bloodier it will likely be.
At the recent Arab Conference of Iraqi Neighbors in Tehran
(sounds so innocuous, doesn‘t it?), Iranian President
Mahmoud Ahmadinejad imparted these words of wisdom to his
audience: “The basic problem in the Islamic world is the
existence of the Zionist regime, and the Islamic world and the
region must mobilize to remove this problem. It is a . . . regime
that prevented the progress of the region’s nations . . .”
It’s the kind of talk that absolutely brings the house down at
conferences in that part of the world. It’s like pushing a button
that sends impulses directly to the pleasure centers in the
radical Islamic brain. Call it crack cocaine for Koranic crazies.
Actually, given the subject matter of this particular
conference, you wouldn’t think the main focus of discussion
would be the need to eliminate Israel. But you can bet your
sweet Koran that if a conference gets hosted in Tehran about
anything from sturgeon fishing in the Caspian Sea to thirteenth
century Persian poetry, somebody’s going to find an excuse to
bring up the Zionist regime.
But getting back to Ahmadinejad’s thesis . . . In reality, the
basic problem in the Islamic world is not the existence of the
Zionist regime, but rather that it thinks that its basic problem
is the existence of the Zionist regime. It is perhaps the biggest,
most pathetic cop-out in human history.
In the entire history of civilization, has there ever been a
more ludicrous sticking point supposedly responsible for the
inability of a huge swath of the planet to advance or improve
itself? Imagine everyone living in that Islamic swath
stretching some 8,000 miles from one end to the other believing
that their basic problem stems from the existence of one tiny
country smaller in size than the state of Vermont. That is the
very definition of mass insanity. If they were all waiting
around for the mother ship to whisk them away to another
planet, it wouldn’t be any crazier.
It is especially insane considering all the obvious things that
are really wrong with so many Islamic countries. For instance,
if I had to rattle a few of those things off the top of my head,
they would be horrible authoritarian leadership, religious
fanaticism, tribalism, ignorance, backwardness, intolerance
and a pathological aversion to modernity. But hey, the Islamic
crazies all say, forget about such nattering details. What’s
wrong with us is the existence of the Zionist regime.
So some of them wage a never-ending terror war against
Israel (since they can‘t defeat it militarily), pouring all their
energy and creativity into a useless, destructive endeavor that
is doomed to failure. In doing so, they are the world’s greatest
squanderers of human potential and allotted time on earth.
Just imagine if they used all that time and energy doing
something constructive. They might actually turn the region
into something other than one of the world’s armpits.
The current case in point is Hezbollah in southern Lebanon.
As everyone in the known universe is aware of by now,
Hezbollah is Iran’s proxy army in the terror fight against the
Zionist regime. For whatever addleheaded reason (maybe to
draw attention away from the nuclear issue swirling around
their Iranian puppeteers), they decided to start an unprovoked
war with Israel. That Lebanese civilians are the ones being
hurt the most is an unfortunate consequence of Hezbollah’s
hijacking of much of the country.
But don’t make the naive mistake of thinking that Hezbollah
cares about Lebanese civilians. When you put rocket launchers
in the living rooms of civilians, you can’t with a straight face
claim to care about them. Not only do they not care, they
actually desire the deaths of as many Lebanese civilians as
possible from Israel’s retaliation. Why? For the cynical
purpose of making Israel look bad.
And lo and behold, brain-dead people the world over fall for
it without fail. If you don’t believe it, take a tour of some of the
left-wing blogs and you will read some of the most despicable,
mind-blowing stuff imaginable praising the terrorists of
Hezbollah and comparing Israelis to Nazis.
Not withstanding all that, some things have changed in the
world in recent times. For instance, if this had been the usual
scenario in, let’s say, pre-9/11 days, the United States would
have been involved right from the get-go in tedious “shuttle”
diplomacy between various regional despots and sheikdoms in
the hope of quickly defusing the situation. But since 9/11 and
the Bush administration‘s declaration of war against radical
Islamic terrorism, gratuitous calls for ceasefires from the usual
terror appeasers are being pretty much ignored by the U.S. So
far, Israel is being given free rein to destroy as much of
Hezbollah as it can. Think of it as vermin control that is long
overdue.
And for perhaps the first time ever, some of the so-called
moderate Arab states have publicly voiced displeasure with
Hezbollah’s “irresponsible adventurism,” which they believe
could pose a potential danger to the entire region. No, they
haven’t suddenly fallen in love with the idea of Israel’s right to
exist. They’re worried about Iranian/Shiite hegemony in the
region which ultimately is interpreted as a far greater threat to
predominantly Sunni countries like Saudi Arabia, Egypt and
Jordan.
In other words, it has finally dawned on those Arab states
that the Persian state of Iran wants to be top dog in the
neighborhood and nobody’s going to sleep well at night if that
happens, particularly if Iran goes nuclear. When you combine
Iran’s quest for nukes with its incessant talk about wiping
Israel off the map, it’s hard to totally avoid the mental image of
mushroom clouds in the Middle East. Granted, only the
craziest of crazies want such a thing to happen, but some of
those crazies appear to be in power in Iran.
Why are they so singularly obsessed with Israel? Why does
Ahmadinejad believe that Israel is a “regime that prevented the
progress of the region’s nations?” Why do they pour every
ounce of their souls into the hatred of and plotting against the
Zionist regime? How can they believe that Allah, the presumed
supreme being and creator of the infinite universe, is pleased
by such murderous depravity? You might as well ask what
makes Charles Manson tick.
But not everyone in Iran wants to obsess endlessly over the
Zionist regime and all its supposed offenses against Islamic
humanity. Time magazine recently ran an article about the
view from inside Iran that was subtitled “Hizballah may be
Tehran’s client, but Iranians aren’t buying the propaganda.”
One Iranian mother -- fed up with constant televised bulletins
urging Iranians to boycott “Zionist products” -- was quoted in
the article: “Lebanon has nothing to do with us. We should
mind our own business and concentrate on policies that are
good for our economy and our kids.”
Exactly! Precisely! An astute observation of reality utterly
unfettered by paranoid delusions involving the Zionist regime.
Just an average Iranian who would like to have some
semblance of a normal, decent life without the insanity offered
by her leaders. But it ain’t gonna happen as long as the
ayatollahs and the mullahs and Ahmadinejad are running
things.
More insanity is exactly what she and her fellow citizens are
likely to get as their leaders continue their quest for nukes and
their provocative language about ridding the world of the
Zionist regime. But what’s going to shield Iran from nuclear
retaliation if it comes to that? You have to wonder how many
average Iranians are okay with becoming involuntary martyrs
for the world’s most psychopathic and useless cause: wiping
the Zionist entity off the map.
By fighting Hezbollah in Lebanon, Israel is doing the world a
favor, but it’s not enough. Hezbollah is just the proxy for a
larger evil. Iran has to be dealt with sooner or later by a
reluctant world, and the longer the world waits, the harder and
bloodier it will likely be.