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What Do These Beautiful People Have In Common?
They're Iranians.
(They also happen to live in a stunningly beautiful country).
Why am I - an American - sharing flattering pictures of Iranian people?
Well-known American travel writer Rick Steves - who normally focuses on Europe - visited Iran to find out what the people are really like. (Steve's did a very balanced television special on his trip to Iran.)
As Steves says in a 10-minute C-span video, it is common to demonize the enemy to try to justify war, but we should "get to know people before we decide to bomb them".
While the hard-liners in Iran are problematic, I - like Steves - am simply trying to show other sides of Iran than normally shown in the war-loving American media, especially given that:
- The top American defense officials say that - despite its heated rhetoric - Iran is a "rational actor". For example, in 2011, Director of National Intelligence James Clapper testified before Congress that “we continue to judge Iran’s nuclear decision-making is guided by a cost-benefit approach.” In February 2012, General Ron Burgess, director of the Defense Intelligence Agency, told Congress that “the agency assesses Iran is unlikely to initiate or provoke a conflict.” Also in February, General Martin Dempsey, chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, said: “We are of the opinion that Iran is a rational actor”
- Top American and Israeli military and intelligence officials say that Iran has not decided to build a nuclear bomb
- Top American and Israeli military and intelligence officials say that - even if Iran did build a nuclear bomb - it would not be that dangerous, because Israel and America have so many more nukes. And see this
- Top American and Israeli defense and intelligence bosses say that attacking Iran would only speed up its development of nuclear weapons, empower its hardliners, and undermine the chance for democratic reform
- While Iran's president may be a loose cannon verbally, his words have often been mistranslated by the press, and so it is hard to tell what he's actually saying. Moreover, experienced diplomats know that things said for internal political consumption should not be taken as serious threats. And Iran has not attacked another country in hundreds of years
- Security experts – including both hawks and doves – agree that waging war in the Middle East weakens national security and increases terrorism. See this, this, this, this, this, this, this and this
- 25 nations are sending cruisers, aircraft carriers and minesweepers to Iran's doorstep: the Strait of Hormuz. The U.S. alone has sent 3 US Nimitz class carrier groups, each of which has more aircraft than the entire complement of the Iranian air force. The carriers are supported by at least 12 battleships, including ballistic missile cruisers, frigates, destroyers and assault ships carrying thousands of US Marines and special forces.
- Israel is permanently stationing a submarine carrying nuclear cruise missiles in the Persian Gulf
- Well-known economist Nouriel Roubini says that attacking Iran would lead to global recession. The IMF says that Iran cutting off oil supplies could raise crude prices 30%. War with Iran would kill the American economy. And see this and this
- China and Russia have warned that attacking Iran could lead to World War III
- The people pushing for war against Iran are the same people who pushed for war against Iraq, and said it would be a "cakewalk". See this and this
- Hotheads within the U.S. have been claiming for more than 30 years that Iran was on the verge of nuclear capability
- Iran has one of the largest Jewish populations in the world, and the second-largest in the Middle East behind Israel
- Jews are protected by the Iranian constitution, and are guaranteed seats in the Iranian parliament. And see this
- It was the ancient Iranian king Cyrus who freed the Jews from captivity by the Babylonians
- According to Stanley Weiss, Iranian diplomats in Europe saved thousands of Jews from the Holocaust and Iran served as an escape route for Iraqi Jews fleeing to Israel after the 1948 war for Israeli independence. Weiss also says that Iran was one of the first Muslim countries to establish diplomatic and trade relations with the state of Israel
- The CIA admits that the U.S. overthrew the moderate, suit-and-tie-wearing, Democratically-elected prime minister of Iran in 1953. He was overthrown because he had nationalized Iran's oil, which had previously been controlled by BP and other Western oil companies. As part of that action, the CIA admits that it hired Iranians to pose as Communists and stage bombings in Iran in order to turn the country against its prime minister
- If the U.S. hadn't overthrown the moderate Iranian government, the fundamentalist Mullahs would have never taken over. (Moreover, the U.S. has had a large hand in strengthening radical Islam in the Middle East by supporting radicals to fight the Soviets and others)
- The U.S. armed and supported Iraq after it invaded Iran and engaged in a long, bloody war which included the use of chemical weapons. Here is former Secretary of Defense Donald Rumsfeld meeting with Saddam Hussein in the 1980's, several months after Saddam had used chemical weapons in a massacre:
- The U.S. helped fund Iran's nuclear program
- The U.S. has been actively planning regime change in Iran - and throughout the oil-rich Middle East and North Africa - for 20 years
- The decision to threaten to bomb Iran was made before 9/11
- America and Israel both support a group designated by the U.S. as a terrorist organization which is trying to overthrow the Iranian government - the same group Bush focused on when he accused Saddam Hussein of harboring terrorists.
- Indeed, the U.S. is supporting Islamic terrorists who are killing Christians and Jews (these are the same idiots who are now attacking our embassies)
- We have nothing to fear but fear itself ... and the fear of terrorism is destroying America.
Finally, I am against any religion being unfairly blamed for terrorism. For example, Christianity is not responsible for terrorism, even though the Norwegian shooter claimed to be a devout Christian, millions of the most radical types of evangelical Christians want to start WWIII to speed the “second coming”, rogue U.S. military leaders want to start a nuclear war to wipe out Islam, a FEMA trainer implies that Christians are crazy radicals prone to terrorism, and polls show that Christians are more prone to use violence than Muslims.
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This is worth watching...he list all the glorious false flags of our past and says we don't need no stinkin' false flag to get this war started.
I guess I need to know your definition of 'goyim'. Did you look at the last two pictures?
Of course you're correct with the idea it's not about Jews or Goyim or ..
I'd like to pose a general question: Do you honestly think it's a race issue for the power clowns? (on both sides)
I think not: They obviously don't give a shit about the jewish people. The fallout would reach Israël. I think something darker is going on than simple turf wars.
Yeah sure...but can they dance Gangnam Style?
other than that, the only thing clear to me is that botox has made it to Iran as well.
The same could be said for America and Every Other Country in the World:
Hey the people are great but have you seen their government?
Right, and unfortunately, sometimes those governments must be dealt with when they agressively support terrorism and/or threaten other countries.
Logical Thought
Logical??? Logical? LMFAO
Why is it that the only nation to have used a nuclear weapon on another country gets to be the arbitrator of who is allowed to possess them? Iran is no threat to anyone.
By your definition we need to "deal" with America...
Gee, you left out the minor fact that if those women show their beautiful faces in public, they get the shit beat out of them.
Ther's nothing wrong with the iranian PEOPLE... There's a lot wrong with their GOVERNMENT.
right then...here's a 'logical thought" for ya!
Let's attack their GOVERNMENT, with some kind of 'kinetic action," and if a few million of those completely inoffensive peeple get wiped out in the process, we'll just call it "collateral damage." People gotta learn to take responsibility for their GOVERNMENT!
And the whole country (and neighbouring countries) destroyed practically forever (fallout). A place of habitation of mankind since the great flood.
Of course the "coalition forces" are planning to use small nukes, no one says it, but they did in Fallujah and Lebanon. And no one stopped them.
They're all spiritual pigmees. And should not have access to power that affects the course of mankind.
Very, very wrong.
It's my experience that the people who's personal lives are shit tend to focus on "fixing" other people rather than fix their own.
this just in from
Hanna Braun, London, September 2001 (updated February 2006).
A Basic History of Zionism And Its Relation to Judaism
By Hanna Braun
"04/10/06 "ICH" -- -- I would like to start with a quotation by Amira Hass, a very courageous Israeli journalist who lives in Ramallah. She writes for the most respected though by no means left-wing daily "Ha'aretz" (Il Ard in Arabic, one of many examples of the great similarity of the Arabic and Hebrew languages; both derived from an ancient form of Aramaic). Although threatened several times with sacking, as well as with numerous death threats, she carries on.
Hass ends one of her recent articles with this question: is transfer an inseparable part of the founding ideology of the state of Israel, or a twisted mutation, which should not be allowed to rise up against its creator?
Whereas the increasing number of refuseniks and Israeli peace activists believes the latter (and I respect their sentiments), I, like Hass, do not share them; my belief is that the state of Israel was bound to end up with what we have today.
In order to understand the circumstances that led to the birth of Zionism I shall sketch an outline of the history of Judaism and the Jews. " ...
continue reading at the link.
http://www.informationclearinghouse.info/article12666.htm
.
i agree it is of utmost importance to not let a small
group of manipulators dominate the narrative, alter
the narrative, to claim privilege of representing
any larger group, ideal, or so called "dream". there
is a world of difference between a persian, an iranian
, a muslim, an arab, a christian, a jew; but they can
all be the same person. go figure.
as there is a world of difference between an israeli,
a zionist and a jew; again, they can be the same person.
so we need to remove this confusion from the tool box
of those who would use these labels to create the level
of ignorance and stupidity necessary for them to create
war to steal land and resources from people all over
the world, even if the people aren't beautiful and
modern. the world seems to be suffering from a
mental disorder, hyper aggression, spreading itself
like a virus. (lack of comprehension of first
principles combined with a lack of respect for
life and the meaning of simple words and labels.)
also we have the neocons, conservative, liberal, american
labels that could apply to the same person.
the mind tends to bind with, become, entrain, become
a tool of that which attention is focused. information
becomes evident and the self can become lost or
overwhelmed by the image/s, labels and words.
truly lost then not knowing who they are but with
certain information and perhaps power.
apologies if this is the wrong place for this.
.
" war is not the answer.." marvin gay
war is never the answer, it is the sign of total
failure and the price is death and destruction of
everything that is beautiful and good. the leaders
who promote it and choose it are imbeciles in charge
of fools. and to sell it to the fools the imbeciles
have to become accomplished liars and thieves many
times over. this is the problem we have today
o/t blindman, check out this interview with max igan at the world hemp congress:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=a4kiQ2tIzm4
he mentions the work of bruce lipton.
great video, thanks
I think you are confusing Iran with Iraq where, before the invasion, women could go out in public without the veil ... now not so much.
Hajib, not veil.
Hijab, not hajib.
habibi not hibabi
I think my grocery shopkeeper is called Hajib. ;-)
actually it means "chamberlain".
Isn't Hajib that Indian kid on Johnny Quest?
dunno, I threw the tv out the window some time ago. :-D
Pretty sure it was Hadji.
BS Women can show their faces, they can even opt out of the head scarf, although in many circles it's being frowned upon. No woman gets beat up over showing her face, more anti-Iranian propaganda.
If we wouldn't push Iran in a corner all the time it would be a peaceful democratic country.
Oh, sorry, I guess they're "allowed" to show their faces but nothing else. Or perhaps you want to correct the Wikipedia entry: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Women_in_Iran
"Women's clothing in Iran
Since the Islamic Revolution in Iran in 1979, the Iranian government requires women to wear loose-fitting coats or cloaks such as the chador in public, as well as a headscarf that covers the hair. Something loose must be worn to cover the body in order to avoid exposure to men who are not mahram.[79][80][81][82][83][84] The ordinary headscarf is called rusari ????? in Persian. A type of head covering common among students and government employees is the maghnaeh ?????. The maghnae is a "wimple-like head covering", that is "usually required on college campuses and at other public institutions" in Iran.[85]"
>>If we wouldn't push Iran in a corner all the time it would be a peaceful democratic country.<<
You have a very interesting definition of "peaceful democratic," my friend.
It's not a reason to (nuclear) bomb a country, that's for sure!
When left alone to it's own devices, the people of Iran will throw the Mullahs out in the near future. Actually they had a reasonable, elected government, not anti-western.
But the Neo-Cons fucked that by corrupting it, and the bums were thrown out. The Mullahs actually gained power from all this fear of war. It's the reasonable people that lose out in a war.
And when confronted with a world on a path to sustainable energy production, they'll put 1+1 together and lose the nuke dream. It's a huge mess this nuclear industry, with ceasium all over the N-Pacific, and russian nuke subs rusting in the Arctic. Cleaning up the (serviced and well kept) nuke plants all over europe will take decades and tens of billions of fiat currency units.
No one ties these things together, while it's the SAME bunch of psychopath powerclowns. They sell the means for "limited nuclear exchanges". And this "Iran has a bomb" bullshit is to give it some credence, on both sides. What I mean is that it's INEVITABLE that Iran will copy the energy production that is most useful to them, when they've gotten rid of the Mullahs.
And Israël should (and easily could) do the same. But that country, is even further down the nuclear and strategic power path downwards. Live by the sword, die by the sword.
What you are (and those that say the same), judging from your posts, is a conditioned puppet. You've demonstrated to be incapable of calculating any possible future outcome, other than the prefabricated scenarios that have been fed to you. And those are radically different from the reality on the ground if this goes ahead. You have no chance of "winning" this war, other than turning parts of this land into a glassy radioactive parking lot. You don't have the stamina of the russians to use conventional means (who turned Grozny and it's inhabitants into a pile of rubble) Unless there's a MASSIVE false flag on american soil, preferred with a dirty bomb of some sort. It'll mask the elevated background radiation of the japanese fuckup. Hurraayy two birds in one stone. Oh actually it's three, since a lot of american civilians (living on welfare) must also exchange the present for the afterlife if this should have the supposed effect (of being a clear "casus belli". But, thanks to the internet, ppl. are on to the concept of "false flags" and it'll not be a surprise. They also know that the death of the ("arabist") american ambassador is totally opposite the interest of the Mullah regime in Iran. Regardless... if they (the "coalition") go full in, into Iran, they WILL use nukes. And China is not having that. And there you have the problem: This planned war is not supposed to be "won", it's supposed to drag on for decades.
Apart from that:
Everyone rooting for a quick and easy war to end all wars (and usher in the NWO) is an imbecile. It's such an old lie.
In other words, more or less the same rules that governed women's fashions in the west before 1920. And in fundamentalist Mormom and Christian religious groups to this day.
Women's clothing in New York...
Lauren, a South Slope resident, was walking home three blocks from the gym on Monday when she was stopped.
The 25-year-old, who did not want her last name to be used, was wearing shorts and a T-shirt when she claims a police officer asked if she would stop and talk to him. He also stopped two other women wearing dresses.
According to Lauren, the officer asked if they knew what was going on in the neighborhood. When they answered in the affirmative, he asked if they knew what the guy was looking for.
"He pointed at my outfit and said, 'Don't you think your shorts are a little short?'" she recalled. "He pointed at their dresses and said they were showing a lot of skin."
He said that such clothing could make the suspect think he had "easy access," said Lauren.
She said the officer explained that "you're exactly the kind of girl this guy is targeting."
Asked whether officers were warning women against wearing shorts or skirts, the New York City Police Department responded in no time.
http://online.wsj.com/article/SB1000142405297020422620457660117424095232...
Wikipedia is hardly a reliable source for information. While much of it may be accurate, many articles on wikipedia are manipulated to push a particular viewpoint without regard to accuracy. See, for instance, http://news.cnet.com/8301-1023_3-57514677-93/corruption-in-wikiland-paid.... This has nothing to do with Iran, but is indicative of the ways in which wikipedia can offer a distorted view.
Anyone in the ZH audience who has been to Iran recently should provide their observations if so inclined. I, for one, would appreciate some first hand viewpoints.
Wikipedia only accepts sources from the mainstream media which are called "reliable sources":
"News reporting" from well-established news outlets is generally considered to be reliable for statements of fact (though even the most reputable reporting sometimes contains errors). News reporting from less-established outlets is generally considered less reliable for statements of fact
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wikipedia:Identifying_reliable_sources
If someone would cite ZeroHedge in a Wikipedia article it would be quickly removed by some editor who will state that it is an "unreliable source" because ZH doesn't belong to the establishment.
It is a useful site but always read it with caution so you don't pick up regurgitated MSM crap.
wikipedia deals in facts and also in opinion of why and what outcome, mostly based on conventional views. For past events its got relevance most of the time, as history has spoken; at least western history, as wiki is western mindset oriented.
For recent events any opinion is debatable as history has not spoken with all the known evidence in.
But its a formidable source of knoweldge for the common history buff; a category in which most of us fall into.
The religious rules are enforced by the government, hence my statement "IF we wouldn't push Iran in a corner all the time it would be a peaceful democratic country"... Note the IF word?
They are only in power because we support them in one way or another... first the Shah, now - by proxy - the revolutionists.
And I'm not your friend.
If you talk of the Shah you must also include Mossadegh caper and also BP caper for oil monopoly in their fight with the US interference organised around Gulbekian Turkey initiative, that drove a big hole in their post WW1 occupation of Ottoman domains along with France. Oil and imperial power; great game and you are all my "expendable serfs", aka collaterals.
The biggest disinformation campaign in history is in blaming wars on differences in religious beliefs when, in truth, armed conflicts arise because of a desire to monopolize resources.
bravo, Sidi Kafir salutes you!
And to control other human beings.
Wake up everyone. Attacking Iran is not about destroying Iran. I fear it's about destroying America.
Both IMO. Or worse; A global conflict.
Is the problem belief IN an Almighty, or the belief that I am the Almighty? There it is in Genesis:
"Ye shall be like God knowing good and evil". . . and ever since then individuals continue esteeming their own values as superior enough to all others as to initiate forceful compliance". I say again:
Is the problem belief IN an Almighty, or the belief that I Am the Almighty?
I suppose you used the word "battleship" to encompass all US military ships. We have not had any battleships in our navy since the Iowa class were de-commissioned after the first Gulf War. The Iowa, New Jersey, Wisconsin and Missouri were the last operational battleships in our fleet, and launched cruise missiles during that war. They were removed from the Naval Vessel Register in 1995.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Iowa_class_battleship
Otherwise, very nice article. This and the earlier one, of the country itself are an eye-widening series of pictures. I hope calmer minds prevail and we do not do anything we will regret later.
You're forgetting about Hillary Clinton.
Oh wait, my mistake --- I was thinking about battle axes.
Good one, Akak. At least he did not call them Dreadnoughts.
Thanks for this post again, maybe the blind fool warmongers in america and israel will wake up in time. History and the oppressed will not be kind to them.
Not that you are wrong, but what exactly do these pictures show?????
Pictures of Germany in 1937 would've shown a beautiful land and beautiful people. What is your point? You cannot make assumptions about what someone is doing or is capable of, by a picture that captures a split second of time....
From 10 miles up Los Angeles looks like a nice city. Come down to street level and you see the graffiti, the crime, the homelessness and other signs of decay.
They're Iranian and savages if you ask the 'American Freedom Defence Initiative' (ie. 'Zionist's Slavery Offence Initiative').
Yeah, what a shame a wonderful people who have to live under the threat of war. Dark forces are increasing in strength all over the world while the Truth is methodically supressed and misrepresented. WW3 is going to happen. Get saved and accept Jesus Christ into your life, be prepared.
Looking forward to the day when the mentally retarded stick to comic books and don't go to churches anymore. As for your comment on getting saved; Get Stuffed, jerkwad.
How are you injured by church attendance exactly?
I thought we were free to believe as we please in this country. You must be one of those supposedly "intellectual elites" who is convinced that only your own opinion matters....
Your opinion is NO batter than anyone else's opinion. Sorry, I know you believe that Ivy league education entitles you to respect and adoration, but it just ain't so...
Hey SAT 800, try a little cold water with your next shower. Surely you can make a point without releasing so many demons.