Bibi the Historian & Foreign Policy Maven

I listened intently to Benjamin (Bibi) Netanyahu's recent speech before the US Congress.    Nothing he said really surprised me.    Just vintage Bibi:   Israel survives in a hostile neighborhood where all their neighbors hate them and want to see them wiped off the face of the map.    

There are,  however,  two bothersome details that Bibi chooses to routinely ignore:
  1)   Israel's possession of a nuclear arsenal,  the best-kept 
         secret that everybody knows.
  2)   The plight of the Palestinians.  He didn't mention them
          even once!

The Obama administration,  under the stewardship of Secretary of State John Kerry,  have been negotiating with their Iranian counterparts with the intent of achieving an agreement that both parties can live with.   Yet Mr.  Netanyahu  has soundly condemned the entire process without even giving it a chance,   let alone knowing anything about the provisions. 

Bibi insists that the Iranians can't be trusted,  because he believes,  among other things,  that they have secret sites for developing nuclear weaponry ---  this,  despite the fact that Israel's own intelligence agency,  the Mossad,   has assured him that Iran is a long way away from becoming a nuclear threat and that there's no evidence of any sort of hidden stash.

That stated,   here's a hypothetical:   Suppose the Iranians  were on the verge of creating a nuclear weapon,  despite their routine denials.    Isn't it possible that they might believe themselves to be in mortal danger from Israel,  and want one in self-defense?   Realistically,   why would Iran be more likely than Israel to initiate a nuclear catastrophe?    The concept of mutually assured destruction worked flawlessly 
during our Cold War with the Soviet Union.   

Now,  on to the subject of the region's history.    Renowned Historian Benjamin Netanyahu stated that aggression against its Jewish minorities had occurred throughout the history of  Iran and Persia.   To a great extent that was true in varying degrees,   up until the 20th Century.   The Pahlavi dynasties were secular and didn't persecute Jews nor other non-Muslims for practicing their faiths.   However,  the senior Pahlavi,  the first Shah of Iran,  did ultimately declare allegiance to the Nazis.   The younger Shah,  Reza Pahlavi, a vicious autocrat --- loved by the US because he was an avowed anti-Communist ---  brooked no opposition,  executing his critics regardless of their religious beliefs or lack thereof.   

   There were,  however,  two short ages of enlightenment in 20th Century Iran,  in 1905 and again in 1951.  During the latter year,  a freely elected secular democracy emerged,  with Prime Minister Mohammed Mossadegh as its  head-of-state.   Progressive social policies,  including social security and land reform were implemented.   

An additional measure,  which proved to be the Mossadegh administration's undoing,  was the takeover of the privately owned Anglo-Persian Oil Company,    which had been exploiting Iran's massive oil reserves for 38 years with preciously meager compensation for the Iranians.   So the new government believed that the seizure was justified. 

Unfortunately,  the oil industry poobahs had issues with the Mossadegh administration's  nationalization of Iran's oil;  they prevailed upon the Central Intelligence Agency and their British counterpart,  MI5, to engineer the overthrow of Mossadegh.  (President Eisenhower approved the action --- not one of his more stellar decisions).   Reza Pahlavi,  the young Shah,  was installed in his place.   The fact that he was every bit as monstrous a tyrant as Saddam Hussein didn't seem to matter.   He was our friend,   as was Saddam prior to his incursion into Kuwait. Both regimes,  as horrid as they were,  were secular.  Neither singled out Jews nor any other non-Muslims for religious persecution.   (One of Saddam's heavy-hitters,  Tariq Aziz was Roman Catholic).

The Shah prevailed for 26 years;   the Iranians overthrew him with no outside help.   Unfortunately,  following a period of uncertainty,  the Mullahs emerged as the supreme leaders.  But once again,   Jews have not been singled out for persecution.   Most of Iran's Jewish community has since emigrated;   only 8,600 remain.   I'm not going to suggest that their life in Iran is idyllic,  but they are apparently free to worship as they please.

  If history is a reliable guide,   the people of Iran have demonstrated that they're capable of determining their own destiny.   With an increasingly younger demographic,  it's probably just a matter of time.   

Netanyahu's trigger-happy rhetoric serves no purpose other than to burnish his credentials as a champion of Israel's extreme right,  without whose support he could well be defeated when Israel goes to the polls on March 17th.  Oh yeah,  he's also proven to be an obliging handmaiden of the congressional Republicans,  as a vital cog in their relentless crusade to hobble President Obama.   

Netanyahu and congressional Republicans' attempt to sabotage ongoing US negotiations with Iran amounts to a dangerous game of chicken.  Willfully or not,  our own home-grown right-wingers have  established common cause with Iran's worst saber-rattlers.  Fortunately,  that country's foreign minister,  Javad Zarif,  who studied in the US,   is savvy enough to know what's going on here on this side of the pond.   But still, I find it mind-boggling that Mr. Boehner & Company are so hot to trot to have a roll in the sack with Iran's hardliners.

It's too bad that Bibi was born in Israel;   he actually came of age in suburban Philadelphia.  (Ever notice how he sometimes swallows part of a syllable with certain words such as water/wuddah?)  Otherwise he could move back to the US  and throw his hat in the ring as a Republican presidential candidate.

Y'know what?   I'd bet he'd get nominated!