For the longest time American politicians have believed that they could negotiate with the Iranian theocrats and convince them to join with civilized nations in productive relationships. This reflects a hopelessly naive understanding of the world and life view of the Mullahs. In order to understand where the relationship with Iran is going one must examine the fundamentals of Shiite Islam.
In the first instance, Shiite Islam rejects all notions of natural law. This means that they reject the idea that universe as it exists bears moral content. Without a notion that the universe bears moral content there is no foundation for universal human rights. For the Shiites, tribalism is not something they accidentally back into in the same manner that western leftists back into tribalism by subscribing to group identity politics. For Shiites, tribalism is at the core of their belief.
Shiites do not believe that all men are created equal....that none are endowed with a right to dominion and none are endowed with an obligation of servitude. They are supremacists. They believe they are endowed with a right to dominion and all others are endowed with an obligation of servitude.
In the matter of eschatology greater difficulty arises. Shiites believe that they are under moral obligation to usher in the end of days. They see all efforts in this direction as man perfecting himself within history.
On account of these aspects of religious belief they will not be dissuaded from building nuclear devices. Further, they will not be dissuaded from using those devices. They cannot be bribed to give this up. They will build a bomb and they will use it. They see this as their moral obligation.
So the only question which remains is the issue of where they will use it first. The most likely first use of these weapons will not be against Israel or the United States. The most likely first use of these weapons will be against Saudi Arabia. They will gamble that Israel and the United States as well as others will temporize and do nothing if the weapons are used against Saude Arabia. They are probably right.
Monday, July 29, 2019
Friday, July 19, 2019
BEFORE TRUMP
Before the stunning victory of Donald Trump in 2016 there existed in the United States among almost all senior elected officials a common understanding of the American people and the role of the United States in world affairs.
The American people were seen as incompetent, ignorant boobs who needed to be led, fed, housed, cleansed, transformed, and most of all punished by the enlightened few occupying the most important offices of government. Since the close of the second world war the American taxpayer was envisioned by both political parties as Atlas holding the planet on his shoulders and bringing civilization to everyone everywhere who previously lived in a cave and wore a loincloth.
In matters of trade this meant accepting the ideas of Philip Dru administrator endorsing one way free trade and a steeply graduated income tax. But as it turns out, one test is worth a thousand expert opinions, and with the passage of time Americans came to see exactly how fatuous these ideas were.
What eventuated was a export of major sectors of the American manufacturing base. The policies effectively turned the United States into a colony of all of the rest of the nations of the earth. The United States exported its manufacturing base, raw materials, and commodities. It imported manufactured products, low wages, and excess populations of foreign countries.
Trump was elected and immediately set about reversing these historic trends. For many years Republicans and Democrats had assured Americans that their manufacturing jobs were gone for good and were never coming back and it was time to get retrained to flip burgers at Hardee's. But after only two years in office Trump had shown that the standard bromides of Republicans and Democrats were nothing more than vicious lies. The success which he has had on economic matters virtually assure his reelection.
It has been my long experience that nothing engenders more resentment and hatred than dramatic success in large swaths of the public wed to envy and greed. Thus, it is in my view that the life of Donald Trump is in real jeaparody from the crazed left, Islamo-fascists, mainline Democrats, and RINO Republicans. For the vast center of the American public however, many can not remember ever being so respected by the leader of the country.
The American people were seen as incompetent, ignorant boobs who needed to be led, fed, housed, cleansed, transformed, and most of all punished by the enlightened few occupying the most important offices of government. Since the close of the second world war the American taxpayer was envisioned by both political parties as Atlas holding the planet on his shoulders and bringing civilization to everyone everywhere who previously lived in a cave and wore a loincloth.
In matters of trade this meant accepting the ideas of Philip Dru administrator endorsing one way free trade and a steeply graduated income tax. But as it turns out, one test is worth a thousand expert opinions, and with the passage of time Americans came to see exactly how fatuous these ideas were.
What eventuated was a export of major sectors of the American manufacturing base. The policies effectively turned the United States into a colony of all of the rest of the nations of the earth. The United States exported its manufacturing base, raw materials, and commodities. It imported manufactured products, low wages, and excess populations of foreign countries.
Trump was elected and immediately set about reversing these historic trends. For many years Republicans and Democrats had assured Americans that their manufacturing jobs were gone for good and were never coming back and it was time to get retrained to flip burgers at Hardee's. But after only two years in office Trump had shown that the standard bromides of Republicans and Democrats were nothing more than vicious lies. The success which he has had on economic matters virtually assure his reelection.
It has been my long experience that nothing engenders more resentment and hatred than dramatic success in large swaths of the public wed to envy and greed. Thus, it is in my view that the life of Donald Trump is in real jeaparody from the crazed left, Islamo-fascists, mainline Democrats, and RINO Republicans. For the vast center of the American public however, many can not remember ever being so respected by the leader of the country.
Tuesday, July 16, 2019
Thiel, Google, and Treason
On the evening of 7/15/2019 the co-founder of Facebook Peter Thiel alleged that while Google had refused to partner with the US military on the development of Artificial Intelligence, it was nevertheless moving forward with providing that technology to the Red Chinese army. Thiel dared to suggest that this move might be considered treason and urged the FBI and CIA to investigate. Of course the possibility that Google would walk a tight line nearing treason comes as no surprise to the average intelligent US adult. Many of my acquaintances no longer use the word google as a verb. Instead they use the word goebbels as a verb.
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