saiTias

another one of those rambling political notes that don’t really accomplish anything but get my thoughts out there, and control the flames of rage that tend to flare up when things like Israeli full out attacks occur.

So Between reading the news, watching the news, and reading different opinions about what’s going on in the world, specifically the middle east, I’ve realized, more now than ever, that all the blame for all the chaos in the region lays with the not-so-magnificent United Kingdom. They’ve literally and figuratively shit on the region. I’ve tried to reduce the swearing in the things I write, but this time i had to let it out a little.

Lets have a small history lesson.

The middle east, historically, has been governed mostly by the Iranians and the Turks. Most arab states, with the exception of parts of Iraq, and some gulf countries, were under the governance of the Ottomans until 1918. The rest of it under the rule of “Persia,” slowly gaining their independence over time, with their last holding (Bahrain) gaining their independence through a UN mandate in 1971.

What happened in 1918? Well, for one, WWI ended. Which mean the Ottoman Empire, aka the sick man of Europe, fell to its demise. The region was divvied up between the French and of course, the British.

What else happened in 1918? The source of the Israeli-Palestinian conflict, the document that would curse history for almost a century: The Belfour Declaration. It states as follows:

Foreign Office
November 2nd, 1917

Dear Lord Rothschild,

I have much pleasure in conveying to you, on behalf of His Majesty’s Government, the following declaration of sympathy with Jewish Zionist aspirations which has been submitted to, and approved by, the Cabinet.

“His Majesty’s Government view with favour the establishment in Palestine of a national home for the Jewish people, and will use their best endeavours to facilitate the achievement of this object, it being clearly understood that nothing shall be done which may prejudice the civil and religious rights of existing non-Jewish communities in Palestine, or the rights and political status enjoyed by Jews in any other country.”

I should be grateful if you would bring this declaration to the knowledge of the Zionist Federation.

Yours sincerely,
Arthur James Balfour



^^^straight from the website of the israeli ministry of foreign affairs (http://www.mfa.gov.il)

So, the Zionist Federation was promised a Jewish state within the kingdom of Palestine…..the creation of a country within a region that was already self governing itself….Sounds like a recipe for peace, right?…::sigh::

What’s funny about all this? Well the Arabs were promised independence from the UK in what is known as the McMahon-Hussein Correspondence. But by a chance of twist of words, Palestine “didn’t apply” to the area which was promised independence. So let me spell this clearly. a region…that was once semi-autonomous under it’s previous rulers (The Ottomans) has now come under the control of a winning country of a world war (UK) and it seems as if the UK is treating this piece of land as a spoil of war, and simply giving it away to another group of people. One nation given to another people to create another nation. Something is taken from one group of people and given to another. Some people may call this theft. Other call it politics. others call it injustice, and yet others call it justice.

So recap. Ottomans die. Brits take over. Brits give Arab land to Jews in order to create a new government.

Then the inevitable happens…1920 Palestine riots, the 1921 Palestine riots, the 1929 Hebron massacre and the 1936-1939 Arab revolt in Palestine. Who’da thought right?

I mean If I come into your home and tell you that the mayor of Tijuana, Mexico declared it was okay for me to live in your home now, and you have to live in the garage from now on, and that I have to check you every time you leave and enter the garage….I wouldn’t expect you to be angry and revolt…that’s just ridiculous, why would you do that? I wouldn’t expect you to hate me and start launching sharp things from the toolbox in the garage at me. Why would that happen?….ohhh right. I kinda stole your house.

I need not continue about that…we all know what happens after 1939. I mean i suppose for those that dont’…..:
World goes on pause because Hitler goes AWOL and starts a world war (commonly known as WWII). After the war ends (1945) the Brits remember, “oh yeh, we promised the zionists a jewish state in 1918, lets make it official.” and in 1948 the Jewish state of Israel is born…..the rest, as they say, is history.


Where else in the middle east have the Brits made a “boo-boo”? Did someone say Iran? Bingo!

in the 1950s, the Iranians decided it was time to join the Democracy club. They gave their parliament (in persian this is called the “majlis”) more power, and took more power away from the King. Kinda what the English did in the late-19th and 20th centuries. Buuuuuut that didn’t flow with the british. It goes back to WWI. After WWI the British and French (and the Russians before they went communist in 1917), drew up a treaty called the Sykes-Picot Agreement.

This treaty split the middle east up into “spheres of influence” They split up the remaining parts of the Ottoman Empire, and also decided to split up countries that were already quite sovereign, like Iran, formally known as Persia. Iran was completely sovereign, but during the war, it was split into three spheres of influence. The Russians took most of the northern region, the brits took Tehran and most of the Western region, the Americans and French took what was left.
A sphere of influence means….officially….the country that has been divided up is still independent and sovereign, but unofficially, it’s like a colony for that other bigger country (in this case the UK).

So fast fwd to the 1940s. The British didn’t really like the monarch of Iran, Reza Shah, because they said he had nazi sympathies. But if the Germans built your government’s railroad and telecommunication systems, you may choose to be neutral too. So the British forcibly “suggested” that Reza Shah abdicate the throne. He did and his son took power. His son has a very similar name and therefore is just known as the “Shah”, which means King. So the Shah was more or less just a puppet. The people weren’t down for this. And neither were the politicians. So a very famous lawyer and member of the iranian parliament, Mohammad Mossadeq, decides it’s time to be more of a constitutional monarchy. In 1951 he becomes Prime Minister as part of the National Front party; this political party is very similar to the labour party in London, with a little more nationalist fervor. It’s a sort of mix between democratic socialism and nationalism.

This didn’t flow with the british. They wanted control of vital oil producing regions in the Middle east…they needed the money since their country had just been flattened by Hitlers airforce. Iran presented a problem for them because Mossadeq nationalized the oil, which meant the british didn’t get to control it anymore. What did they do? well after WWII their empire was in complete devastation. They went from one of the most powerful countries in the world, in every sense of the word powerful, to one of the weakest in both military and economy. Who had prospered during WWII? The up and coming US of A. The brits couldn’t and didn’t want to do any dirty work, so they went crying to the US to do something about Mossadeq.

At the time the british approached the Americans, Truman was still president. Now, having just come into power as a result of the death of one of America’s greatest presidents, and being president of a country that had its own concentration camps for the Japanese, and having been the person to give the OK on obliterating Nagasaki and Hiroshima, he felt a little guilty and the last thing he wanted to do was be involved in the US’s first large scale international Coup d’Etat. He rejected the British offer to depose Mossadeq and return Iran to a full monarchy.

The british went back crying about it. Luckily Truman’s term was just about up in 1953. Who came to power afterwords but none other than “Ike” (Eisenhower) himself. For those who don’t know Presiden’t Eisenhower’s previous job….he was a General in WWII, as well as quite the soldier in WWI. He had no problem saying yes to the british when they came back with the proposal of a Coup in Iran. They talked it over and the CIA did the job.

long story short, mossadeq is overthrown, placed under house arrest where he died later. Iran becomes a full Monarchy. The Shah is still a puppet. The people won’t have it. The Shah realizes he’s a puppet and should rule for his people, but it’s too late. The british are afraid that he will actually fix things in the country, and decide it’s time for him to leave and someone else take over. Enter: Ayatollah Khomeini.

by 1978 the people of Iran were mad pissed off. They looked anywhere for a possible savior. They find it in a popular cleric, the ayatollah Khomeini. He was so popular that he even had the support of the French government, and subtly the British government (After all he would replace the Shah). All in all, the people of Iran were pissed, and this guy looked promising. They revolted. Now this Khomeini guy promised the Iranians that he would create a democratic government, and he and his followers would go to the city of Qom (the religious center in Iran, kinda like the “vatican” of Italy - except its not autonomous) and stay there and act as a Pope-like figure. If only the Iranians had read their history about Rome, they’d know that the Pope has historically been a dirty politician (sorry to all the catholics, but it’s true.).

The Islamic Republic of Iran was established. It backfired on the British because the Clerics turned their back on the Brits, and nationalized the oil anyway.
We can look at the Clerical rule in Iran as a cancer. They were the first cell to go bad. Now, after 29 years of Clerical rule, the cancer has spread fast and wide. It’s really hard to actually pinpoint who has the power in Iran. To be honest, it’s whoever you decide to pay the most that has the most power.


So you see. The British ROYALLY FUCKED UP the middle east.


Thank you to the UK for tossing the region into the state it is in today.



Angrily yours,
O.

Persian TV started production of film on president’s sister Parvin

On February 4, the Iranian news website Jahan reported: “Jahan has learnt that BBC Persian TV has started production on a documentary on the life of Parvin Ahmadinezhad. The channel, which has raised a fair amount of controversy and debate because of its soft opposition since its launch, aims to produce a documentary on the life and activities of Parvin Ahmadinezhad, the president’s sister, in the run up to the 10th presidential elections.

“In view of this British channel’s approach towards Iran’s current affairs, it seems that the production of the film will have election purposes against Dr Ahmadinezhad. It should be said that Minister of Culture and Islamic Guidance Mohammad Hoseyn Saffar-Harandi said two weeks ago that the activities of the channel were completely illegal, adding: Legal action will be taken against any activities or individual cooperation with the network.” - Website, Middle East

-I can’t wait.

Time running out for attack on Iran -Israeli expert

I don’t understand how the Israeli administration fantasizes about attacking Iran’s nuclear plant instilations. They covertly attacked and destroybed Iraq’s reactors in 1981, and then Syria’s in 2007. The problem here is that Iran’s nuclear reactors are spread out, there are many of them, they’re fortified, many are underground, and many are located near urban areas.

So even if the Israeli army uses bunker busters to attempt to destroy some of these nuclear reactor sites, they would endanger the lives of many people.

The map above is a little old, but still demonstrates my point that these reactor sites and enrichment sites are near highly populated areas. If the Israeli army, or any other military for that matter, attacks these sites, they could kill millions.

Then again, does anyone in the Knesset or the Israeli Cabinet ever think? Rather, do they think pragmatically, logically, or even bother to adhere to international law? Judging by history, the answer to the rhetorical question posed is obvious: No.

There isn’t much else to say on this topic. If Israel attacks Iran, war is inevitable. Iran is not Iraq or Syria. Both the government and the people won’t stand around and allow a foreign invasion onto their soil. As history shows, Iranians have been scarred by foreign involvement in state affairs; thus, they will not stand aside and allow Israel to launch an attack on their soil.

O.

Hey everyone,

So this is my first post. I have yet to fully understand how to operate tumblr. I hope I can write some interesting, provacative, and controversial  pieces. So bear with me until I figure things out.

Best,

O.