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Trapped in Iran: My Summer as a Guest of the Revolutionary Guards

1843magazine.com

101–110 of 169 posts

Re: Trapped in Iran: My Summer as a Guest of the Revolutionary Guards

#101
post #93

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I’m surprised at this. Have you spent time in Israel? I haven’t been to either but would have expected Israel to be better again. Thanks for the comment.

I haven’t been to either but would have expected Israel to be better again. I'm curious, why would you expect that having no experience of either?

From various news sources I guess? I read about the region quite a lot, including from sources that are critical of Israeli state behaviour (eg Robert Fisk) but that’s no substitute for being there.

Re: Trapped in Iran: My Summer as a Guest of the Revolutionary Guards

#102
post #32

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Just get a fresh passport after the trip, with no Iranian stamps. You should be fine unless you are person of interest to intelligence agencies.

This is a bad idea. Just get a visa. I did that and had no issue with getting the visa nor entering. Do not try to break immigration law — you can easily get permanently banned from entry if you lie to immigration officials.

Getting a second passport is basically standard procedure, why would that get you banned from entry?

Re: Trapped in Iran: My Summer as a Guest of the Revolutionary Guards

#103

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Wow. Without some additional arguments backing that up, this looks really disgusting and misogynistic. I look forward to seeing some evidence that Diary of a Future President is a cynical piece of propaganda designed to aid the fortunes of Michelle Obama, in order to restore a bit of my faith in humanity.

How is calling that propaganda misogynistic? Not everything that's against a woman is misogyny.

No, but saying "Diary of a Future President" must be propaganda for Michelle Obama does indeed smack of woman-phobia. "yikes, someone's giving girls the idea that they could be politically powerful. it's probably a secretive social manipulation cynically run by the most powerful woman I can think of off the top of my head."

Also, the only two people listed were Michelle Obama and Hillary Clinton? All the powerful people in Washington that you could accuse of shadowy conspiracies to control the media, and they picked two women, and one of them is black (ooooh, I get it, the little girl in the TV show is cuban, so also a person of color?)? Considering the demographics of US politicians, yeah - that comes off a little prejudiced. But hey, maybe it's a huuuuge coincidence. /shrug.

Re: Trapped in Iran: My Summer as a Guest of the Revolutionary Guards

#104
post #82
post #64

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I can't think of any examples where people in the US have erroneously conflated the Iranian public and government in recent times. That seems like a strawman. The green revolution a few years ago had widespread support in the US. The recent pushback against the regime in the days following the recent soleimani killing should have led to more support from the public in the US. Sadly, since doing so would 'align' them…

I disagree. I haven't heard anyone in the US say Soleimani was a good person. The liberal viewpoint is that killing him was an act of war, and there's no interest in war with Iran. Other complaints include a general belief that the killing made us less safe. Nobody knew what the short-term impact would be, and the long term impact is unknown. Also, increased tensions with Iran before the killing were directly caused…

I didn't claim that anyone said he was a good person. I claimed that the public in the US had a muted response to the subsequent student uprising against the regime which occurred shortly thereafter. 10 years ago a similar uprising was met with words of support by the US public. This year, silence.

Re: Trapped in Iran: My Summer as a Guest of the Revolutionary Guards

#105
post #93

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I haven’t been to either but would have expected Israel to be better again. I'm curious, why would you expect that having no experience of either?

From various news sources I guess? I read about the region quite a lot, including from sources that are critical of Israeli state behaviour (eg Robert Fisk) but that’s no substitute for being there.

Thinking about it, I guess I assume US sources (nearly regardless of source) to be very unreliable on areas with clear policy bias, e.g. Iran & Israel. Given that I think I just assume "I have no idea, really" on a region like that if I don't have some more personal experience. I suspect this is due to earlier surprises, when my expectations were off by quite a bit, leading me to question the sources.

Of course this isn't US specific.

Re: Trapped in Iran: My Summer as a Guest of the Revolutionary Guards

#106
post #104
post #82

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I disagree. I haven't heard anyone in the US say Soleimani was a good person. The liberal viewpoint is that killing him was an act of war, and there's no interest in war with Iran. Other complaints include a general belief that the killing made us less safe. Nobody knew what the short-term impact would be, and the long term impact is unknown. Also, increased tensions with Iran before the killing were directly caused…

I didn't claim that anyone said he was a good person. I claimed that the public in the US had a muted response to the subsequent student uprising against the regime which occurred shortly thereafter. 10 years ago a similar uprising was met with words of support by the US public. This year, silence.

I don't think that student protests should be separated from the killing. Normally they should be supported. But right after the killing I think the most important goal should be reducing the probability of war. And besides, regime change in Iran initiated by the US makes me nervous.

Re: Trapped in Iran: My Summer as a Guest of the Revolutionary Guards

#107
post #57
post #40

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I downvoted for equating anti-Israel sentiment with anti-semitism. There are lots of other reasons to dislike Israel.

Ah yes, that's something that always annoys me too. Sorry for that. But I think the implication in the direction anti-semite -> anti-zionist is pretty strong, so for this particular question I think that surveys about antisemitism provide a good basis for discussion. I'd assume that anti-zionists form an almost perfect superset of anti-semites. edit: or maybe not, you could imagine someone who really doesn't like Jew…

Please reconsider this position.There are large numbers of Jewish anti-Zionists, whose motivations range from religious to Palestinian solidarity to just not wanting to be seen or treated as an extension of Israel. As well, there's a great many people who don't mind the existence of Israel as such but object strenuously to its expansionist settlement policy, including a large number of Israelis.

As well as that, there's a phenomenon called Christian Zionism that's popular among conservative evangelicals, which views the establishment of the state of Israel and a number of related milestones as a fulfilment of Biblical eschatological prophecy. Their enthusiastic support for the relocation of the US embassy (and others) to Jerusalem is rooted in a belief that it signals the End of Days and forthcoming battle between good and evil on the field of Armageddon. While a minority position, it's one that's in ascendancy at the moment and counts the US Secretary of State (by conviction) and the President (by transaction) among its adherents.

In short, it's complicated. This is not to say that everyone who's anti-Zionist is good or has valid reasons, many such are indeed anti-Semitic, from casual to virulent. Neo-Nazis often leverage ambivalence or antipathy towards Israel to convert people to anti-Semitism and recruit them, a technique known as entryism. And there are anti-Semitic currents on the left too, particularly among dogmatic types who think Stalin did nothing wrong (sometimes loosely referred to as 'tankies').

Re: Trapped in Iran: My Summer as a Guest of the Revolutionary Guards

#108

All these politics and political games are such a shame. The Tehran that the author describes seems like a really vibrant city that I'd really like to visit and experience. But I never will for fear or something like this happening, becoming some tiny pawn in a much bigger game. And I wish that Iranians could come to the US and visit NYC or SF and see our culture. Then we might realize that the other side is somethin…

I'm an American citizen and visited Iran back 2017 with no problems. I was nervous about getting questioned but surprisingly, it turned out to be one of the smoothest border crossings I've ever experienced - when entering Iran and the US I literally got no questions at all. (Getting an Iranian entry visa as an American without a government minder was bit trickier, but I was also pleasantly surprised by how smoothly t…

> Getting an Iranian entry visa as an American without a government minder was bit trickier

How did you manage that? I thought that it was required for American citizens to have a tour guide with them at all times. Did you get some sort of non-tourist visa that allowed that to happen?

Re: Trapped in Iran: My Summer as a Guest of the Revolutionary Guards

#109

All these politics and political games are such a shame. The Tehran that the author describes seems like a really vibrant city that I'd really like to visit and experience. But I never will for fear or something like this happening, becoming some tiny pawn in a much bigger game. And I wish that Iranians could come to the US and visit NYC or SF and see our culture. Then we might realize that the other side is somethin…

I'm an American citizen and visited Iran back 2017 with no problems. I was nervous about getting questioned but surprisingly, it turned out to be one of the smoothest border crossings I've ever experienced - when entering Iran and the US I literally got no questions at all. (Getting an Iranian entry visa as an American without a government minder was bit trickier, but I was also pleasantly surprised by how smoothly t…

Until 1979 they were. As quick as it changed it could change back if the poltical pressures change. All it would take would be Iran/Israel making peace which would push the Saudis into the bad guys role.

Re: Trapped in Iran: My Summer as a Guest of the Revolutionary Guards

#110
post #56

Earlier quoted context omitted.

There was also a prominent spy show[1] produced in the US that seemed to be intended as propaganda for normalizing torture. That morally bankrupt practice was portrayed as effective, expedient, cathartic, and the only solution to all the bad men that will come get us, because they hate our freedom. If you're looking for ethical integrity, you should probably stop turning to spy shows for it. They are loud, dumb, and…

Not even spy shows. It’s weird to see Blue Bloods (an NYPD show) celebrating their 10th anniversary season. I stopped watching after the first episode where a cop tortures a suspect and his father (the police commissioner) lectures his daughter (a district attorney) about the differences between torture and enhanced interrogation. And the commissioners whole schtick is principled, conservative law-and-order...

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