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Iran Nuclear Deal Reached

nytimes.com

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Re: Iran Nuclear Deal Reached

#241

Post by anigbrowl »

el_zorro wrote: post #224
anigbrowl wrote: post #216

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I thought it was very interesting recently when FM Zarif, who seems very wise and pragmatic, discussed the nuclear negotiations as a form of diplomatic jihad , presumably to reassure the religious/political factions that that government had not gone 'soft'. As other people said, we have similar factions here in the USA. I am curious, is awareness of Persian history a regular part of Iranian cultural life? I mean in d…

I'm wondering if there's been something lost in translation there, though. The word, in Western understanding, means holy war, but a more apt translation is "struggle", in the same connotation that one would struggle with a cigarette addiction or the like. Extremist groups have claimed the word for more violent connotations, but traditionally is more like a burden that one struggles against.

That's why I thought it was astute of Zarif to use the term in a way that would encourage western audiences to re-evaluate the concept outside of the terrorism frame that people try to erect around it. I get the sense that jihad has a great deal in common with Kantian notions of duty.

Re: Iran Nuclear Deal Reached

#242

Post by anigbrowl »

0xFFC wrote: post #231
anigbrowl wrote: post #216

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I thought it was very interesting recently when FM Zarif, who seems very wise and pragmatic, discussed the nuclear negotiations as a form of diplomatic jihad , presumably to reassure the religious/political factions that that government had not gone 'soft'. As other people said, we have similar factions here in the USA. I am curious, is awareness of Persian history a regular part of Iranian cultural life? I mean in d…

Traditional Iranian ceremonies always was a great part of our society (at least as far as I can remember , and note that these ceremonies are not approved by Islam most of the time but people kept doing them after revolution).But nationalism became regular part in recent years.I don't think it is dominant part , as far as I see it is important part. I should mention in recent years Iran became so much wired country i…

Thank you so much for taking the time to explain and educate me. This is very informative and helpful.

Re: Iran Nuclear Deal Reached

#243

Post by olifante »

AnimalMuppet wrote: post #153
user_0001 wrote: post #111

Earlier quoted context omitted.

>For similar reasons that the USA is the great pariah in Cuba. That should probably read "the great pariah in Latin America". Is there a country in the whole region the US hasn't overthrown, tried to overthrow, propped up a right wing dictator, funded death squads in the last 70 years? I am failing to think of one....

Costa Rica. I'm not sure there are any others, though. Maybe Belize, though I'm not sure that counts as "Latin America".

As someone who admittedly knows very little about Belize, why would it not count as part Latin America?

Re: Iran Nuclear Deal Reached

#244

Post by Udik »

maratd wrote: post #215
Udik wrote: post #214

Earlier quoted context omitted.

>rampant antisemitism in Europe rampant bullshit. The only antisemitism in Europe is that which is cried out loud by Israelis and Jewish lobbies every time Israel's actions are criticized. It's frankly sickening.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AltyhmrIFgo

Oooh, the guy walked with a kippah on his head through the muslim quarters of Paris for 10 hours, and what he got? A few mocking comments from the racaille, and a "Vive Palestine!". That's really a Kristallnacht situation here. Given what Israel is doing in Palestine, I'd have expected more.

You might want to repeat the exercise in one of the black quarters of New York, with a white guy walking alone through them for 10 hours, and check the level of dangerous anti-caucasianism in the USA. Much higher, I suspect.

Re: Iran Nuclear Deal Reached

#245

Post by tome »

0xFFC wrote: post #231
anigbrowl wrote: post #216

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I thought it was very interesting recently when FM Zarif, who seems very wise and pragmatic, discussed the nuclear negotiations as a form of diplomatic jihad , presumably to reassure the religious/political factions that that government had not gone 'soft'. As other people said, we have similar factions here in the USA. I am curious, is awareness of Persian history a regular part of Iranian cultural life? I mean in d…

Traditional Iranian ceremonies always was a great part of our society (at least as far as I can remember , and note that these ceremonies are not approved by Islam most of the time but people kept doing them after revolution).But nationalism became regular part in recent years.I don't think it is dominant part , as far as I see it is important part. I should mention in recent years Iran became so much wired country i…

> The city I live in with population of 2 Million.They only managed to bring ~50,000

That's 2.5%. By contrast the biggest protest in British history (against the 2003 invasion of Iraq) was around 1m people, just shy of 2% of the country. I'm afraid I can't see Al Quds days as indicative of anything other than rabid and endemic anti-Israel, anti-American and anti-Western sentiment.

Re: Iran Nuclear Deal Reached

#246

Post by tome »

curiousjorge wrote: post #234
0xFFC wrote: post #119

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Iranian here , and I am commenting from Iran.Iranian people maybe most pro usa people in middle east. and about government, they just need keep people busy because of they systematic corruption. Thats all. 10 years before , Ali Khamneai said following : "anyone who says we should communicate with USA is or idiot or our enemy/traitor". and guess what ? today , FM Zarif have record in our history for maximum time negot…

This was the impression I got from another Iranian friend. Actually Iranians have a lot of Western ideas and he was totally chill until we tried to get him to watch Bruno which he vehemently protested but asides I felt kinda embarrassed at how ignorant I was about Iran. It's nothing like what's being shown in the media, Iranian cuisine is fantastic, I love hearing Farsi (it's like French but better), women are really…

> edit: wow somebody really doesn't like the fact that I don't view Iran as terrorist that American media loves to paint.

I tend not to downvote comments, but I always downvote complaints about downvotes.

Re: Iran Nuclear Deal Reached

#247

Post by roymurdock »

0xFFC wrote: post #231
anigbrowl wrote: post #216

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I thought it was very interesting recently when FM Zarif, who seems very wise and pragmatic, discussed the nuclear negotiations as a form of diplomatic jihad , presumably to reassure the religious/political factions that that government had not gone 'soft'. As other people said, we have similar factions here in the USA. I am curious, is awareness of Persian history a regular part of Iranian cultural life? I mean in d…

Traditional Iranian ceremonies always was a great part of our society (at least as far as I can remember , and note that these ceremonies are not approved by Islam most of the time but people kept doing them after revolution).But nationalism became regular part in recent years.I don't think it is dominant part , as far as I see it is important part. I should mention in recent years Iran became so much wired country i…

Thank you for sharing this.

I believe there should be some sort of Laffer curve that charts the relationship between standard of living & religious extremism.

Re: Iran Nuclear Deal Reached

#248

Post by tome »

curiousjorge wrote: post #238
pdeuchler wrote: post #170

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Wait, are you serious? While the partition plan was ostensibly created by the UN, it was more or less completely designed and pushed through by the US. Israel, for all intents and purposes, is a US created state. Not only would the failure of Israel leave a huge black eye on US foreign policy, but Israel is also one of our most publicized allies. If we were to allow Israel to be overrun by an Arab consortium we would…

is it fair to say that Israel was created as sort of a proxy to impose cold war ideology on the Middle East to counter Soviet Union cozying up and supply arms to the rest of hte middle east?

No, it's not fair to say that. Israel was created as the result of jews struggling for around 70 years to found a homeland. They deemed a homeland necessary in the light of a couple of thousand years of murderous persecution they have faced pretty much anywhere they have lived (especially Europe and the Middle East).

The creation of Israel is pretty much nothing to do with the US.

Re: Iran Nuclear Deal Reached

#249

Post by tome »

thwest wrote: post #181
maratd wrote: post #113

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> The unfaltering support given to Israel seems strange There's nothing strange about it. Yes, it is militarily aggressive and has to be considering the neighborhood. The support given is purely selfish as Israel is the only nation in the region which mirrors the values the US wishes to promote in the region, provides military support when needed, and a plethora of other various benefits which none of the other playe…

> Yes, it is militarily aggressive and has to be considering the neighborhood. Citation needed. If we grant Israel its claimed borders, it has only ever witnessed domestic terrorism, never territorial aggression from neighboring states.

Of course it has experienced territorial aggression from its neighbours. Israel has fought three wars against its total annihilation in its 70 years of existence. If the arabs had won one of those wars there wouldn't be an Israel anymore.

Re: Iran Nuclear Deal Reached

#250

Post by roymurdock »

selimthegrim wrote: post #189
roymurdock wrote: post #188

Earlier quoted context omitted.

The ones raised in Pakistan (in general) enjoyed going back more often to visit family/friends who were still in Pakistan and didn't have too much to say about the governance of the country. Also, I definitely want to reiterate that both groups were happy to have been raised outside of Afghanistan because they probably would've been persecuted/killed under the Taliban as the majority of them belonged to an ethnic min…

Hazara in Pakistan, esp in Balochistan do not have it very good these days - I wonder how closely they identify with that nationality.

Do you know why that is/are you Pakistani?

If I had to guess it's probably because they look a lot different than most Pakistani's...looks are usually the strongest influencer when it comes to discrimination.

I wonder why more of them don't go to Tajikistan/Uzbekistan/Kyrgyzstan where they would fit in ethnically. Probably because the socio-economic conditions there are still pretty poor, and the majority of their (usually very large) families are in Afghanistan/Pakistan/Iran.

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