posted by SpockIran and their shenanigans aren't going to "go away".
Based on what? Your personal psychological evaluation of the decision-makers?
posted by RotinajWhat about us and our shenanigans? We ever going to just “go away”?
Not until we're no longer the world power. I'd wager the Neo-Assyrians, Neo-Babylonians, Persians, Greeks, Romans, Portuguese, etc. all thought their empires would last forever. Ours is simply the Johnny-come-lately, powerful though it may be.
As for our shenanigans, it's just business as usual. More meddling and aggression, followed by more blowback. The cycle will continue.
In fact, let's recap:
- In 1953, the US government initiated Operation Ajax and helped the British government overthrow the democratically-elected, secular Iranian government and empower a dictator (because the Brits wanted that sweet, sweet Iranian oil), laying the foundation for the eventual ousting of that dictator and the plunging of Iran into decades of authoritarian theocracy and global pariah status.
- When that revolution came in 1979, revolutionaries besieged the US embassy, believing (correctly, but who's counting?) that the US government had shown itself to be an enemy of the Iranian people. They took American hostages, and the "hostage crisis" lasted more than a year. American warmongers on both sides of the aisle have wanted to carpet bomb Iran ever since.
- For most of the 1980s, Iran and Iraq were engaged in a brutal war in which more than a million people were killed. The US assisted Saddam Hussein in launching chemical weapons attacks against Iran that killed tens of thousands, and Uncle Sam even shot down an Iranian airliner full of civilians (Iran Air 655, if you're curious).
- On several occasions after 9/11, the Iranian government made diplomatic overtures to the US to settle outstanding hostilities and chart a path to peace. In exchange, they wanted a seat at the table regarding the futures of Afghanistan and, later, Iraq. Their overtures were rebuffed at every turn.
- The neoconservatives (including the Bush crew and warmongering interventionist Democrats like Hillary Clinton) have been nurturing a distaste for Iran since 1979. They've never accepted the complete failure of US intervention in Iran, and the Israeli ethno-state has its hooks sunk deep in their worldview.
- Obama did a good job (and you know it pains me to say that) keeping the wolves at bay, even thought the $1.7 billion was complete horseshit. Either way, the Democrats' nomination of warmonger Hillary Clinton and the ascent of Trump all but guaranteed we'd be headed toward a flashpoint, and unfortunately, Obama did a shitty job by continuing a precedent that the the President can start a war any time he wants without bothering to ask Congress.
There is no reason the US and Iran need to be enemies. The Iranian people are not our enemy. They've endured generations of torment at the hands of the imperialist powers, all because their ancient civilization happened to be sitting on top of some oil, and the Limeys wanted it.
Iran's hostility to the US is not irrational, it's the end result of decades of aggression and antagonistic meddling toward the Iranian people by the US government that has already resulted in untold thousands of deaths.
But there's good news, too. There is generational change happening in Iran, and generational opposition to its authoritarian government. There is a legitimate chance at peace if the warmongers can just be kept down long enough for the people harboring these old hatreds to age out. The only thing that is going to ruin it is if some simpleton thug in charge of the most powerful military on earth decides to start a war because his feelings are hurt.
And here we are.
posted by SpockWe get shenanigans because we spend trillions.
I admire your open admission of your own sense of entitlement.
