It’s becoming more and more clear that Iran is the prime mover right now in the Middle East. As columnist Mark Steyn points out: …these territories [Gaza and Lebanon] are now in effect Iran’s land borders with the Zionist Entity. … Continue reading →
I’m not going to pretend to be an expert on the balance of power in the Middle East. But I do read, and I can think. And what I read lately has convinced me that, in the current Middle East … Continue reading →
At the 1968 Democratic convention in Chicago, antiwar-protesters who massed outside were beaten with bully clubs by Chicago police. The entire episode was covered heavily by the media. This fact was not lost on the students, who chanted loudly, “The … Continue reading →
My original post about the (now pretty much debunked) report of an Islamic dress code law for minorities quoted that report as stating that the clothing designations were to apply to Jews, Christians, and Zoroastrians in Iran. That got me … Continue reading →
In the Atlantic article I discussed yesterday, a name on the first page caught my eye: Sadegh Ghotbzadeh, the Iranian foreign minister at the time of the hostage crisis. Suddenly, although I hadn’t thought of him in decades, the memory … Continue reading →
This piece from the Atlantic Monthly Online, “The Desert One Debacle,” about the Carter administration’s attempt to rescue the embassy hostages in Iran in 1980, is a sobering read. I vaguely remember the incident–just one in a long line of … Continue reading →
Christopher Hitchens (previously no special friend of Israel’s) deconstructs Juan Cole’s Dowdification of Ahmadinejad’s threats to Israel in this Slate article (via Austin Bay) entitled “The Cole Report: when it comes to Iran, he distorts, you decide.” Hitchens’s contention is … Continue reading →
I would say that Iran’s President Ahmadinejad (and is anyone else besides me incongruously reminded of food–trout almandine, for example–by his name?) is dropping any show of being amenable to pressure from international bodies such as the UN–if he’d ever … Continue reading →
It’s a wonderful world, full of magical events. Like this one, for example (via Dr. Zin at Regime Change Iran): The U.N. Commission on Disarmament elevated Iran to a leadership post – despite the terrorist regime’s dogged pursuit of nuclear … Continue reading →
President Bush is hardly unique in having his detractors. But their ferocity and lung power has been impressive at a time when the whole world is watching–and waiting. Everyone knows Bush is not popular. And anyone who knows anything about … Continue reading →
This blog isn’t really becoming an “all Iran, all the time” zone. But at the moment, the conundrum we face over Iran is particularly pressing, involving some very basic ethical and tactical questions that interest me. So, here we go … Continue reading →
History (like life) must be lived forwards, but can only be understood backwards, if at all. That adage came to mind as I was reading this piece by the inimitable Mark Steyn. Assignment, class: compare and contrast the clarity of … Continue reading →