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CONLEY COMMENTARY (WSAU) We westerners, Donald Trump included, don’t understand Iran.
We think they respond to and are motivated by the things that motivate us. Wrong.
Iran is an apocalyptic religious theocracy. The devout Muslims in Iran believe that it is Allah’s will that the world, as it has become, be destroyed. Think Noah and the flood. They believe that the world has become too secularized, too sexualized, too Jewish-dominated. Hence their refusal to give up their nuclear ambitions. It’s their best hope of killing large numbers of Jews in one shot.
That some of their own people will be martyred is to be expected. That’s why they call on their wives and children to form human shields around their power plants. Westerners would never consider such a thing. Iran is considered immoral for even making such a proposal. But the west is not actively seeking the apocalypse.
So we ought to remember the things that Iran doesn’t care about. Their navy and their air defenses are in shambles? Irrelevant. If they can just spin one centrifuge to weapons grade uranium and fire it, the rest doesn’t matter. They might have to use candles to see in the dark. The bombing of their electric grid is also irrelevant, so long as there is one electric generator in an underground bunker that can enrich the uranium. A bomb was dropped on multiple levels of their leadership. Irrelevant. Everyone in the religious ruling class knows of the apocalyptic vision. Who actually carries it out doesn’t matter.
So America’s new strategy is to choke off Iran’s economy by blockading their ports. That might hurt the man-on-the-street in Iran. All they want is to buy food and pay their rent. But people who are concerned about those things – and, in recent months have taken to the streets to protest, have lost site of Allah’s will, killing them is irrelevant. If Donald Trump chokes off their economy, that doesn’t matter much either, so long as enough gold bars are squirreled away somewhere; a secret stockpile so the nuclear work can continue.
Remember they and us see the world completely differently. When there is so little in common, a negotiated peace becomes impossible.
Chris Conley
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