The New Republic

Ahmadinejad is the best propaganda tool Israel has in its arsenal. Someone in Israel wondered why Israel did nothing to harm the shlemiel when he was shouting at its northern frontier: http://simplyjews.blogspot.com/2010/10/by-its-inaction-israel-permits-irans.html

- noga1

October 18, 2010 at 3:17pm

The mad Dr. A'jad is not raving. He chooses his words carefully to nurture belief in the following simple fable: "Once upon a time, all the dark-skinned peoples of the earth lived together in peace and in harmony with the earth. Then, one day, the rapacious white man came from the West and destroyed Eden. He brought his filth and disease, and he enslaved the noble native peoples who were forced to do his bidding. He robbed all the nations of their wealth while his machines destroyed the earthly paradise. But, today, the noble native peoples of the earth are joining hands all the way from Venezuela to Turkey to Iran, and together they will find the strength to cast off the shackles of the white man and regain their freedom." But, wait, you might ask: "How do the Jews and Israel fit into all this?" It's really quite simple: "The white man's civilization is secretly controlled by the Jews; they scheme and manipulate from behind the scenes to further the white man's dominion for their own nefarious ends. They even arrange disasters like 9/11 to elicit sympathy and sow confusion by blaming the noble native peoples of the earth for their own actions. The so-called Holocaust is just another example of this same treachery." It's often hard to distinguish between those who buy into this story and those who merely retell it and embellish it for their own ends. Some buy into the first part, but have their doubts about Jewish sequel. But in its simplicity, it's the core mythology that connects the anti-globalists, the anti-Zionists, the anti-Americans, and the anti-semites. It's the rainbow bridge that unites the Chomskys, the Greens, the Jihadists and the skin-head soccer hooligans. Apart from the role of the Jews, which is archetypal fantasy, the rest is based in facts. The problem is that the facts are always drawn from what is worst about the West and rigorously exclude all the best that has been achieved. And the storytellers who would restore the primal harmony turn out to be murderous psychopaths like Hitler, Stalin, and Dr. A'jad. What a pity that, in their insanity, they always believe that the first step towards the restoration of earthly bliss is to destroy the Jews. As they say, the road to peace on earth runs right through Jerusalem...

- willjames77

October 19, 2010 at 12:07am

OK so explain this: how come Iran is called Iran? This "white people vs brown people" thing isn't what Ahmadijenad is all about imo. I think he's a true believer in his particular version of religion and he appears to be trying to start a specifically anti-Jewish holy war. OR, attacking Israel will indeed start a major war, with the relative value of petroleum products skyrocketing and benefiting guess who. Take your pick. Either way, it is depressing. And, it's irresponsible for the media not to publish exactly what this jackass is saying.

- Sophia

October 19, 2010 at 12:50am

I agree with Sophia, Will. Jads does not give a hoot for dark skinned people. Racism is pretty embedded in Islam; some relief is allowed to blacks who convert to Islam but it does not get rid of the innate racism, the mothermilk contempt for what they consider inferior people. Anyway, Persians, de-souche, I believe are considered caucasians, not semitic like the Arabs. Though I have read, and heard, that the current regime is mainly made up of ayatollahs descended from Arab origin. I wouldn't have a way of confirming it because those were private persons speaking. I think he is on an anti Jewish crusade believing it's the Jews who impede Iran's progress to get its rightful place in the universe.

- noga1

October 19, 2010 at 6:59am

williamjames77 hits it squarely. A'jad will use whatever is at his disposal on behalf of acquiring power. Those dreams are leveraged by a mixture of victimology facts and fictions. There is a wonderful convenience to his message that doesn't make personal accountability demands of those inclined with a sympathetic ear...... yet. That's the seductive beauty of it. Truth never has anything to do with it.

- jacko

October 19, 2010 at 7:06am

And now for a moment of levity: "Hezbollah said its leader has given Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad an Israeli rifle captured from an Israeli soldier during the 2006 war with Israel as a gift to cap off his two-day visit to Lebanon. But Israeli daily Yediot Aharonot reported Sunday that Hezbollah chief Sayyed Hassan Nasrallah deceived the Iranian President. The daily said the gun was a type of weapon that has not been used by the Israeli military since the early 1970s, meaning it could not have been taken from soldiers during the 2006 war." http://daledamos.blogspot.com/2010/10/nasrallah-lied-to-ahmadinejad-about.html#more

- noga1

October 19, 2010 at 7:46am

Noga, Sophia, I wasn't suggesting that A'jad sees things in terms of white vs. brown, or that he cares at all about any of the oppressed indigenous peoples of the world. But he recognizes that in his Western audience, there are many who do. A'jad knows that he is unlikely to convince many people in the West that he is Allah's chosen instrument for hastening the return of the twelfth Imam, and he doesn't even try. Instead he aims his remarks at the masses of ignorant and semi-educated Westerners among whom he is likely score some points: the 9/11 conspiracy theorists, the Chomskyites, the anti-globalists, the pacifists, the anti-imperialists, and, needless to say, those who worry about Jews having too much political and financial power. His comments are aimed very carefully at all the cracks and fissures in the West's worldview through which legitimate fear and loathing of Iran can be turned back on itself and transformed into masochistic self-criticism. To the extent that he is successful at getting some portion of the public to swallow his little poison pills, his speech is a success. Somewhere, someone will ask, "Who are we to be so high and mighty in condemning others when we ourselves, blah, blah." Someone else will be reinforced in their conviction that the Jews had a hand in 9/11. A'jad is reaching out in friendship to all these people, with a big ear-to-ear grin, knowing that in Western democracies such people get to vote.

- willjames77

October 19, 2010 at 10:51am

Yes will I agree with everything you say in your last comment and I'm sorry if I misunderstood it the first time.

- noga1

October 19, 2010 at 11:05am

In closely reading A'jad's rant, I wanted to reverse engineer the audience to whom the arguments were being directed. Since this was an impressionistic exercise, I thought that creating a mini-fable might be a good way to give form to the insights. But, if even an astute reader like you found it obscure, then I have to acknowledge that I was being too pithy for anyone's good. It won't be nearly as much fun, but there will be definitely be less risk of confusion if I just stick to simple arguments...

- willjames77

October 19, 2010 at 12:29pm

Oh I see too now - sorry! Yes that makes more sense now - but I wonder truly how many Westerners actually buy into this stuff? Some, certainly (most of whom live in Britain I think - )

- Sophia

October 19, 2010 at 9:48pm

Well, since you and Noga are both sorry, I will try to get over the disappointment of being misunderstood ;>) Yes, re:Britain, it's only a matter of time under mad A'jad is offered a position as Middle East correspondent for the BBC or the Independent...

- willjames77

October 20, 2010 at 4:04am

Meant to write "...it's only a matter of time until..."

- willjames77

October 20, 2010 at 4:06am

This time, will, even though you wrote "under" instead of "until" you were not misunderstood...

- noga1

October 20, 2010 at 7:09am