Iran: Impossible Talks with the "Great Satan"

Asharq Alawsat ^ | February 15,2013 | Amir Taheri

[gusopol3]

Some commentators inside and outside Iran have interpreted Khamenei’s stance as further proof that he has lost touch with reality.

A closer look at the context, however, might show that Khamenei’s stance is very much based on reality: his reality. Khamenei does not see Iran as a nation-state but as a vehicle for a revolution with global ambitions.

“I am not a diplomat,” he said amid cheers from a crowd of supporters. “I am a revolutionary.”

The regime that Khamenei heads is not meant to act in the interests of Iran as a nation-state, but in the interests of the Khomeinist cause. Where the interests of Iran as a country clashes with those of Iran as a vehicle for revolution the latter ought to prevail. Thus any harm done to Iran as a country, and any sufferings inflicted on the Iranian people, should be tolerated as the price to pay for protecting the revolution.

Like other regimes with messianic pretensions, the Khomeinist regime is based on an ideology. On the surface, that ideology is built around one of the many Shiite versions of Islam. In reality, however, the hard core of the Khomeinist ideology is a rather primitive form of anti-Americanism. The United States is “The Great Satan” and, as Khamenei claims in his latest speech, “the core of evil in the world.”

[yldstrk]

He is not a revolutionary, he is an evil pea brain

[gusopol3]

Still smarter than Obama, Clinton and Brennan put together.

[allendale]

They don’t have to talk. they merely have to look and listen.There is no way Obama wishes to engage in a third , possibly far more costly war ,in the region. Iran will get its nuclear weapons and Obama has told Israel to live with the terrifying peace of mutually assured destruction. The blue water ships of the American navy are sitting targets for the Chinese supplied state of the art shore to ship missiles in the narrow Persian Gulf. Obama and (what’s worse) Navy commanders know this and remain passive. let’s hope so.Big question as always is will Netanyahu accept Obama’s orders. For the sake of those sailors,

[SandRat]

May Pig Urine and Deification Rain on him.

[knarf]

He is out to kill us and conquor the world.

He has Obama on his side and our own feckless Congress de-facto supporting him.

We argue same sex marriage and he proclaims islam as supreme.

WE'RE the pea brains for allowing things to GET this way and for not being the revolutionary minded as HE is to try and stop any further erosion of America and Americanism.

I read the other day that an American school has taught little kids to pledge allegience to our flag ..

.. in Arabic.

Yeah .. nice

[gusopol3]

Khomeinist ideology is a rather primitive form of anti-Americanism.

I'm not sure that Obamism isn't some sort of alter-ego or parallel ideology.

[DouglasKC]

Iran isn’t any better but I can certainly see his point. When exposed to the American that is presented to the world...the sex, the greed, the homosexual agenda, the filth from hollywood, and our corrupt and lying political class it’s no wonder they see us a the great Satan. And it ‘s getting worse and worse. Our government is in a full fledged rebellion against God and is close to an all out assault.

[hinckley buzzard]

Correct. Eight years of Bush and four of obama and the Iranians haven't yet had to say a word. Meanwhile the US keeps negotiating with itself until it surrenders, as in Iraq and Afghanistan.

[gusopol3]

I’d beg to differ, I think the boots on the ground in Iraq made a difference at the beginning. The subsequently useless National Intelligence Estimate did say that Iran had suspended its nuclear program back in ‘05, about the same time Khadafy gave up on his.That could have been expanded upon with a coherent strategy from that point on.

[gusopol3]

Quoting the article, it’s the good things about America that Khameini fears:

“Also like other totalitarian ideologies, Khomeinism has a low opinion of the capacity of “ordinary people” to know what is good for them. If relations are normalized with the US, the “ordinary people” would not be able to resist the seductive charm of America’s satanic culture. After all, before mullahs seized power in Tehran, the US was the number one destination for Iranians studying abroad. Today, the US is the biggest magnate for the Iranian brain drain.

Even former Khomeinist officials do not resist America’s charm. Former Khomeinist ministers, ambassadors, Majlis members, mullahs and Revolutionary Guard officers are scattered all over the United States. Some have joined think-tanks but many more have set up businesses ranging from restaurants to import-export companies. Officials who do not defect to the “Great Satan” send their children there to study and, in time, obtain the coveted “Green Card” which is the key step to US citizenship.

Now imagine the re-opened US embassy in Tehran.

Who would prevent long queues formed by Iranians anxious to travel to the land of the ”Great Satan”?

Khamenei has always feared an American “cultural invasion”.

[Stepan12]

But Obama sees America as the great enemy too, and he is dismantling it from the inside. Maybe the difference is that Khamenei probably has some real intelligence and feels nothing but contempt for Obama.