Friday, September 28, 2007

The trouble with Amahdinejad

I'm not sure if I spelled his name correctly or not...but I suspect anyone reading this knows who I'm talking about.
I've been reading alot of headlines and blogs and comments about the Iranian president's recent visit to our hallowed shores.
What I don't understand, is why everyone is so pissed that we let him come here to talk. We all know the guy has a few screws loose and all he did was make himself look like a complete idiot in front of the world. I'm all for that. Let the guy step on his dick...now the world can see how ridiculous he is.
The problem of course, is that we treated him like crap and the world saw that too. We stepped on our own dicks here a bit as well.
BUT. The Middle East is not America (at least not yet) and our culture and behavior is different from theirs. Our culture does not embrace what we see as evil with open arms. The hospitality ends when we are confronted by an enemy that has proven, according to our standards, to be dishonorable. The Persians and Arabs see things differently. They were appalled by the way we treated the president of iran because in their culture, treating a guest to hospitality whetehr they like them or not is the proper protocol and to do otherwise is dishonorable...we have a different view of honor here.
Should we have been a bit more respectful to the leader of a sovereign nation visiting our shores? Maybe. I can see both sides of the coin on this actually and both have their merits. On the one hand, the way the world views us is important to global relations with other nations. But on the other hand, is our sense of what is right and just compromised by treating an avowed enemy of the west and the US in particular with unwarranted respect and dignity?
I don't think he deserved a warm welcome and I don't think he should have been treated with the respect that the Iranians believe he deserved. He's a tyrant and he's the enemy of our culture and way of life.
Let's not mince words here either...the trouble is that he has made an ass out of himself in font of the world and at the same time strengthened his own support at home.
And although it seems obvious to most that he is gearing the world for war because it fits with his warped superstition about the coming of the hidden Imam, he is most definitely a nutjob.
But he's cunning too. He has done more effectively to us what we've been trying to do to Iran.
He's actually building a solid support base in our backyard.
While we've been intesely focused on the middle east, the natives have become extremely restless. Daniel Ortega is back in power... and is firmly behind the Iranians. Hugo Chavez of Venezuela is also firmly behind Iran as well. Bolivia is also. Lets not forget Russia and North Korea and Syria...and China.
Things are looking pretty scary when you take a look at the global picture nad stop isolating things to one geographic area.
Amahdinejad has effectivley created an Axis of evil...one that was hinted at by the current president in the years before the Iraq war kicked off. I'm not trying to make GW out to be a prophet...more of a Harbinger really. I'm not real thrilled with the way GW has been dealing with things lately and he's definitely on my "shit" list of politicians. I used to like him, but he's caved to leftist pressure and I'm extremely disappointed in him.
My point is, it is becoming a reality. How did things get to this point. Simply put, American arrogance. Venezuela is one of the largest exporters of petroleum and it's in our backyard. We've been extremely negligent in our relations with central and south America. What the hell were we thinking? Is it because they are third world nations? Not worth the time? How could it not be worth our time to ensure the cooperation and economic prosperity of our neighbors as opposed to strangers across the oceans? We've got a serious border problem and with the governments of those countries rallying behind Iran isn't it about time we stood up and took notice?
maybe it's too late for that. I don't know. But it certainly concerns me.
The trouble with Amahdinejad is that he may be the one to usher in world war 3 because we weren't paying attention.

1 comment:

The Gunslinger said...

So good to read you. I can see we share a perspective!

Nice work.

I'll certainly be back!