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Feb. 8, 2013
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Jewish World Review
Nov 30, 2011
/ 4 Kislev, 5772
Iran wants respect without earning it
By
Dale McFeatters
http://www.JewishWorldReview.com |
The Iranian government steams that the West doesn't respect 4,000 years of Persian culture. Neither, one can argue, does the current harsh clerical leadership and corruptly elected government in Tehran.
The leadership, through the various thuggish branches of its security forces, has jailed, beaten or driven into exile countless writers, poets, playwrights, filmmakers and writers for not espousing the clerics' joyless brand of Islam.
To most of the West, modern Iran began with the 1979 takeover, supposedly by patriotically motivated "students," of the U.S. embassy in Tehran, where 52 hostages were held for 444 days.
On Tuesday, there was new evidence that the Iranian leadership had learned nothing from that experience except that they were safe as long as they were willing to be an international pariah.
While police stood by, a mob of protesters stormed the British embassy and an embassy housing complex, setting fires, vandalizing property, destroying files and, bizarrely, making off with a portrait of Queen Elizabeth.
The mob takeover was ostensibly in response to British support for U.S.-backed stepped-up sanctions aimed at convincing Iran to abandon a nuclear weapons program. In fact, it seemed more indicative of deep divisions among Iran's clerical and civilian leadership.
The protesters had hoped to force President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad to evict the British ambassador, and, indeed, very quickly the parliament, which answers more to Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, voted to order the departure of the ambassador and the withdrawal of their own envoy from London.
Tehran's erratic conduct comes against a backdrop of increasingly belligerent Iranian missile threats to its neighbors. The Iranians, like the Russians, are dismayed by the NATO missile shield under construction in Eastern Europe and Turkey.
The Russians could easily overwhelm the shields and many of their objections seem like mere posturing. But the shield does represent a real deterrent to Iran's missiles.
Over the weekend, the senior commander of Iran's Revolutionary Guard, said, "Should we be threatened, we will target NATO's missile defense shield in Turkey and then hit the next targets," those being Israel and U.S. interests, such as military bases in the Middle East.
The danger is that a divided government that would do something stupid like attack the British embassy, in violation of long established international law and custom, might do something even more stupid.
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Previously:
• 11/29/11 Surprise! Spider-Man may weave a profitable web
• 11/28/11 Italians entertain novel proposition: Paying their taxes
• 11/25/11 No time to let up on al-Qaida
• 11/24/11 Congress Quietly Abolishing Friday
• 11/23/11 Cleaning up after supercommittee implosion
• 11/22/11 Jailing minors with adults adds to problems
• 11/21/11 Brilliant strategy? Action by inaction
• 11/18/11They're going to eat horses, aren't they?
• 11/17/11 A pretend stick shift for pretend drivers
• 11/16/11 Clinton's vast experiences: Did NBC pick the wrong Chelsea?
• 11/15/11 Occupy protesters, you've made your point. Now, scat
• 11/10/11 Our vets are a national problem?
• 11/09/11 Requiem for a once-great sport
• 11/08/11 A toilet as smart as its occupant
• 11/07/11 Prerevolutionary gems in need of TLC
• 11/04/11 Feds must stop scam of stealing from dead children
• 11/03/11 Bank listens very closely to customer lynch mob
• 11/01/11 TV that's leading the people away from core socialist values
• 10/31/11 NATO should not be a victim of its success
• 10/28/11 Iran mulls getting rid of president and presidency
• 10/27/11 Bienvenidos a Dayton and bring your businesses with you
• 10/26/11 Archivists long for Obama's teleprompter
• 10/25/11 United Nations to run the Internet?
• 10/24/11 Attention, world: You've got the cash. We've got the houses
• 10/19/11 Oil pipeline must be in America's future
• 10/18/11 U.S. plans limited mission in an Africa with no limits
• 10/17/11 Social Security's grave mistakes
• 10/12/11 NASA's help-wanted sign for astronauts
• 10/10/11 Saving Thomas Jefferson''s chimneys
• 10/06/11 Uncle Sam's answer to deadbeats --- robo-calls
• 10/04/11 Christie should ignore jibes on his weight
• 10/03/11 Iran says its warships will head for Jersey shore
• 09/29/11 Europeans bristle at Obama's lectures
• 09/28/11 Jessica Rabbit for the defense
• 09/27/11 Russia learns outcome of next March's presidential election
• 09/26/11 Another try at leaving no child behind
• 09/23/11 This generation needs a job more than a name
• 09/22/11 In the lane next to you: A driverless car
• 09/20/11 Cloudy, cool, chance of falling satellite
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• 09/13/11 Paging Dr. Watson; he's there in 3 seconds
• 09/09/11 Forecasting 100 percent chance of heavy metal
• 09/08/11 A jobs program at Obama's doorstep
• 09/07/11 Iran's government afraid of the water
• 09/06/11 Congress returns, tanned, rested and testy
• 09/05/11 Space nations must clean up after themselves
• 09/02/11 Osama bin Laden died a failure and he knew it
• 09/01/11 Time to retire political pie in the face
• 08/31/11 Labor Day celebrates what, exactly?
• 08/30/11 These arrestees really are framed
• 08/25/11 When in an earthquake, block traffic
• 08/23/11 A case for discretion in deportation arrests
• 08/22/11 Tough times or not, parents shell out for school
• 08/18/11 Being unpleasant for fun, profit, promotion
• 08/17/11 Time to prepare for the end game in Libya
• 08/16/11: Super Committee starts facing reality
• 08/15/11: World's fastest plane disappears even faster
• 08/12/11: British cops track rioters through security cameras
• 08/11/11: Relax. There is no Death Star
• 08/10/11: House pages run final errands
• 08/09/11: U.S. treading water on job creation
• 08/08/11: Uncle Sam, the world's permanent guest
• 08/05/11: Most 9/11 victims not on federal death records
• 08/04/11: Russian PM calls U.S. a parasite. He should be so lucky
• 08/03/11: Congress goes from one bind to another
• 08/02/11: D.B. Cooper may no longer be a mystery
• 08/01/11: Libya's latest weapon against NATO --- lawsuits
• 07/29/11: He'll always be known as Hot Wheels Handler
• 07/25/11: Recruiting children to save a dying town
• 07/22/11: Bachmann's admirable medical candor
• 07/12/11: Social Security's grave mistakes
• 07/08/11: Debt crisis need not be constitutional crisis
• 07/07/11: Startups entice new talent with kickball, treehouses
• 07/05/11: Stranded tourists get rare treat
• 06/30/11: The dollar Americans refuse to spend
• 06/27/11: The hangman doesn't cometh
© 2011, SCRIPPS HOWARD NEWS SERVICE
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