Geopolitical Poker, Blowback & Iran

Radical political Islam has flourished in large part due to “blowback” from US/Western foreign policy. This isn’t just an observation by Ron Paul, he is also restating what the CIA have told us for years. Blowback was also discussed by the 9/11 Commission.  Our corporate media give the Neocons a free pass when they refuse to even discuss blowback.  The current extremely serious situation with Iran is probably the best example of blowback and can be traced back to the US/UK overthrowing Mosaddegh in 1953 (over oil). Continuing to engage in the same interventionism despite the obvious evidence of failure only further bankrupts the United States, both financially and morally. If we do bomb suspected Iranian nuclear facilities, I predict the Iranian regime itself will be the big winner (as it was when we went into Iraq). Any attack would be a propaganda gift. Repression would accelerate under the guise of protecting the state from a “5th Column”, thereby weakening internal dissent. Iraq would further destabilize. Plus don’t forget the fragility of Bahrain and eastern Saudi Arabia. Geopolitics on this scale is a massive poker game, we are in serious danger of being taken to the cleaners yet again.  But don’t expect to hear blowback discussed anytime soon by any of the so-called experts, or should I say propagandists, that grace our corporate media.

Extending a Hand of Friendship to Iran

I just watched Ron Paul on FoxNews Sunday being interviewed by Chris Wallace. In reply to a question about Iran and its nuclear program, he said we shouldn’t rush into war and that we should offer friendship instead.
There is one easily attainable, tangible measure that could be done that could facilitate this – even without opening formal links with the Iranian government. Make it easier for Iranian scientists and engineers to come to the United States, particularly to go to graduate school as well as work as post-doctoral researchers or visiting faculty. Maybe children of key Iranian nuclear scientists, even these individuals themselves, could be tempted to come. In analogy, Germany losing many of its best scientists in the 1930s deprived the Nazis of their ability to develop nuclear weapons. So why not offer Iranian scientists, and their families, a route out?