Arses and Elbows

I don’t know, you spend all fucking day arguing the need for common sense and rationality in dealing with the complexities of Middle-Eastern politics and then you come across this…

Iranian regime opponents need more support

The more I think about it, the more I believe the most devastating possible blow to Islamic extremism worldwide would be the overthrow of ruling regime in Iran by the people of Iran.

Imagine the impact on radical Islamists if the Islamic Republic itself– the source of so much aid and comfort to their movements– were to topple at the hands of a people increasingly fed up with religious-based repression. Just as the creation of the Islamic Republic in 1978 encouraged the growth of Islamist movements internationally, the collapse of the regime would– to a large degree– take the heart and soul out of those movements.

How would Islamist leaders explain to their followers why people who had lived for decades under a system of Islamic law– dictating that women must be concealed and homosexuals must be executed– had taken to the streets in their hundreds of thousands to say “no more” and to demand a more democratic and secular Iran?

Yep, it’s another Gene’s classic pearls of ignorance from over at Harry’s Place and boy is this one a lulu!

Follow the logic of this one – in Gene’s opinion the way to undermine Sunni/Salfist Islamic Radicalism is… wait for it…

…to support a secular uprising in a fundamentalist SHI’A Islamic state.

Duh-huh!!!

Jesus-H-Tapdancing-Fucking-Christ you’d think with all the fucking obsessing they do over the Middle East at Harry’s Place that one of their regular ‘contributors’ would have learned the difference between a Sunni and a Shi’ite by now or that maybe one of the nodding dogs in the comments box over they might just get around to pointing out the difference between the two and the little matter of 1400 years of infighting, disputes and – in Sunni-dominated states – official repression which rather stands in the way of Gene’s big idea.

One can only wonder quite what other glorious insights into global politics and foreign policy Gene has remaining up his sleeve?

Maybe we could put the IRA out of business once and for all…

…by rounding up all the fucking Protestants in Northern Ireland.

Yeah, that’d work – about as well as destabilising Iran would work in putting Bin Laden out of commission.

You want to support the opposition in Iran then be my guest – hell its not like they couldn’t do with a bit of support – but for fuck’s sake at least take the time to understand exactly what it is you’re fucking dealing with before you go blundering in there and fucking about without the first fucking idea of why you’re there or what you’re trying to achieve.

Funny, I wonder who else should have taken that last bit of advice to heart…

What was it Heraclitus said?

Stupidity is better kept a secret than displayed

8 thoughts on “Arses and Elbows

  1. We could also break the spirit of loyalist paramilitary types in NI by supporting a secular uprising at the Vatican. That’d teach them.

    Unbelievable.

  2. What do you think the Harryettes at HP mean when they talk about supporting ‘the democratic forces’ in Iraq or wherever? If they meant ‘any party which gets votes’ in contrast to the insurgents, then they’d have to deal with the Iran-affiliated, Shia dominated set-up that the elections produced (as in the Dawa party, SCIRI, etc.) and which all the analysts warned against. If they meant ‘there’s a couple of secular, vaguely leftist parties we like the look of’, but who aren’t likely to be influential in the end (hello, Mr Allawi!), then the position of the pro-war left is even more marginal to what’s actually happening than I thought.

  3. From the HP dictionary:

    Democratic Forces. Noun.

    Anything or anything that could remotely be misconstrued to the support the idea that invading Iraq was a ‘good thing’.

    Actually, I wonder what would happen if the SWP were to set up a branch in Iraq and stand in elections? I think that would really fuck with their heads.

    Can you imagine it, there’s Gene creaming his kecks over some news report about how Iraqi’s just luuuurve democracy and then, clear as bell, he hears that familiar cry in the background…

    ‘Geeeet yer Socialist Workah!!!’

    Anyone know any Iraqi bloggers who might be game just for the craic!

  4. Actually as everyone except you knows and according to this map Iran is shia dominated.

    Now who looks stupid? er, you.

  5. Sorry, the hyperlink in my last comment didn’t work but it was a map showing the distribution of shia and Sunni muslims – and that Gene was right and you were wrong.

  6. Actually, Amir, the point I was making was that, but for Hezbollah, the vast majority of ‘Islamic Extremism’ is Salafi/Wahhabi-based – as in the case of Al-Qaeda – and not down to Shi’a organisations.

    So now who’s looking dumb!

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