70 years ago, an Anglo-US coup condemned Iran to decades of oppression
theconversation.com
70 years ago, an Anglo-US coup condemned Iran to decades of oppression
1–10 of 210 posts
Re: 70 years ago, an Anglo-US coup condemned Iran to decades of oppression
#2it was interesting to see a documentary on World War II recently, and a key summit of Allied leadership was a meeting of Roosevelt, Churchill and Stalin in Tehran. They used the royal palace there for photo ops quite a lot.
Re: 70 years ago, an Anglo-US coup condemned Iran to decades of oppression
#3There's a certain strain of political outlook exemplified by an article like this, commonly categorized as "post-colonial", that ironically morphs itself into increasingly complex and implausible shapes to explain why all of the bad things are caused by the "first world" and nobody else has or will ever have any autonomy as an agent in the world.
The other aspect of irony to this is that this worldview is cultivated uniquely in bourgeoisie Western spheres to be championed by chosen avatars of the parasitized people completely Westernized outside their disdain for Western culture.
What we really need is a Canada-infused Iranian with a Western worldview telling us what the Iranian people truly want -- how absurd.
The final and greatest absurd irony latent here is that in the minds of proponents of these conspiracy theories, the US and other Western powers go from bumbling buffoons that can't socially engineer their way out of a paper bag when you can see/prove it (Vietnam, Afghanistan, Iraq, etc.) to master machivellian puppeteers when you can't.
Re: 70 years ago, an Anglo-US coup condemned Iran to decades of oppression
#4All war boils down to the ability to access, control or set pricing for a natural resource
The perennial Iran/Iraq conflicts originated from disputes about access to the Shatt al-Arab River starting in the 16th century - once the industrial revolution hit, then of course oil was the key resource for growth
The Overthrow of the Shah then, was based on the requirement to not be beholden to anyone but the west when pricing Oil, to ensure the west had unmitigated control of how the largest oil property set prices.
Old school conquest of territory post WWII is considered gauche, so the 21st century approach to resource conflict is to find "other means" to have the same effect of guaranteeing access to someone else's property.
I think this extremely rare peaceful period of "orthogonal conflict" that was notably devoid of multiple widespread bloodshed in war (~1975-Today) might actually come to an end in the next few decades as state capitalism crumbles under it's own weight and no coherent alternative exists.
Re: 70 years ago, an Anglo-US coup condemned Iran to decades of oppression
#5Sad to see what Iran has become - no in small part thanks to the US/UK's meddling and installing a crazed theocratic government. The Iranian people deserve so much better - they are a nation of really smart people and would be a beacon in the Middle East if it wasn't for a bunch of religious reactionaries holding power.
Some of the best engineers I've ever worked with were expat Iranians who left and have no intention of going back there.
Re: 70 years ago, an Anglo-US coup condemned Iran to decades of oppression
#6All war boils down to the ability to access, control or set pricing for a natural resource The perennial Iran/Iraq conflicts originated from disputes about access to the Shatt al-Arab River starting in the 16th century - once the industrial revolution hit, then of course oil was the key resource for growth The Overthrow of the Shah then, was based on the requirement to not be beholden to anyone but the west when pric…
TL;DR: throughout history several countries got super wealthy by stealing other countries' shit at gunpoint, which went out of fashion after WW2, and then had to find other avenues for less obvious colonial-like theft, usually involving toppling leaders thorough coups and installing their own puppets in place who would gladly sign off on their country's resources for pennies to large western corporations
Re: 70 years ago, an Anglo-US coup condemned Iran to decades of oppression
#7Sad to see what Iran has become - no in small part thanks to the US/UK's meddling and installing a crazed theocratic government. The Iranian people deserve so much better - they are a nation of really smart people and would be a beacon in the Middle East if it wasn't for a bunch of religious reactionaries holding power. Some of the best engineers I've ever worked with were expat Iranians who left and have no intentio…
The theocratic government was not installed by the US or UK though, they're the ones who overthrew the shah and took over.
Re: 70 years ago, an Anglo-US coup condemned Iran to decades of oppression
#8All war boils down to the ability to access, control or set pricing for a natural resource The perennial Iran/Iraq conflicts originated from disputes about access to the Shatt al-Arab River starting in the 16th century - once the industrial revolution hit, then of course oil was the key resource for growth The Overthrow of the Shah then, was based on the requirement to not be beholden to anyone but the west when pric…
TL;DR: throughout history several countries got super wealthy by stealing other countries' shit at gunpoint, which went out of fashion after WW2, and then had to find other avenues for less obvious colonial-like theft, usually involving toppling leaders thorough coups and installing their own puppets in place who would gladly sign off on their country's resources for pennies to large western corporations
Bingo
Extra points if your colonialism exploits an internecine conflict such that it appears that internal problems of the country, rather than exogenous meddling with state or tribal sovereignty, led to it's failure to govern (reinforcing how "correct" your form of government is)
Re: 70 years ago, an Anglo-US coup condemned Iran to decades of oppression
#9All war boils down to the ability to access, control or set pricing for a natural resource The perennial Iran/Iraq conflicts originated from disputes about access to the Shatt al-Arab River starting in the 16th century - once the industrial revolution hit, then of course oil was the key resource for growth The Overthrow of the Shah then, was based on the requirement to not be beholden to anyone but the west when pric…
TL;DR: throughout history several countries got super wealthy by stealing other countries' shit at gunpoint, which went out of fashion after WW2, and then had to find other avenues for less obvious colonial-like theft, usually involving toppling leaders thorough coups and installing their own puppets in place who would gladly sign off on their country's resources for pennies to large western corporations
>usually involving toppling leaders thorough coups and installing their own puppets in place
Pretty much yeah, and if that fails, sanctions and economic wars
Re: 70 years ago, an Anglo-US coup condemned Iran to decades of oppression
#10Sad to see what Iran has become - no in small part thanks to the US/UK's meddling and installing a crazed theocratic government. The Iranian people deserve so much better - they are a nation of really smart people and would be a beacon in the Middle East if it wasn't for a bunch of religious reactionaries holding power. Some of the best engineers I've ever worked with were expat Iranians who left and have no intentio…
The US and UK assisted a nationalist and westernized monarch retain and consolidate power. They did not install a theocratic government. The current theocratic government came into power as a reaction against the Shah the British and US had helped.