Der Iran ist der Feind, der der Westen geschaffen hat
https://iai.tv/articles/iran-is-the-enemy-the-west-created-auid-3149?_auid=2020
Der Iran ist der Feind, der der Westen geschaffen hat
https://iai.tv/articles/iran-is-the-enemy-the-west-created-auid-3149?_auid=2020
2 Kommentare
Submission statement: The Middle East is ablaze with conflict. From Israel and Palestine, to Yemen and the recent collapse of the Syrian government, when there is crisis in the region fingers usually point in one direction. Towards Iran. But what is Iran’s grand strategy? Vali Nasr, professor of International Affairs and Middle East Studies at Johns Hopkins and described as „a leading world authority on Shia Islam“ by The Economist, argues Iran is best not thought of as a theocracy, but instead a security state. If the West is to pursue peace in the region, outside intervention is merely fuel for the revolutionary fire and true change can only come from within.
Saying this as someone that grew up in a fundamentalist religious environment: academics seem incapable of understanding – or are unwilling to accept – the sincerity of any religious faith.
It reminds me of the answer to “what did most people in the west misundersrand about the USSR?” “They actually are communists.” Meaning it was a sincere belief system, not a cynical sham hiding base behavioral economics.
And while I appreciate the authors experience – he is Iranian by birth – it jumps out to me that he went to English boarding school, Tufts, and MIT. And then has taught at Stanford, the Naval Academy, and Tufts amongst others. At a minimum, I would want to hear more from academics that actually live in Iran.
So while it would be in everyone’s interest for Iran to guide itself out of its oppressive theocratic, patriarchal – and it has to be said – virulently anti-Semitic belief system – there is zero evidence that is going to happen. And acknowledging the missteps of foreign intervention does nothing to change that, even if it does sound good at a western cocktail party.