Hi Julie, I’m mentoring an Afghan girl who is a refugee in Iran. Her life is awful, the Iranians hate Afghan refugees and make their lives very difficult. I’m so shocked by this horrible hashtag.
Thanks for putting my thoughts into words so clearly. I still think of myself as left wing, but it’s hard to understand what these crazy people are actually standing for.
What people constantly overlook in discussing the evils of Iran is how it was the 1953 coup d’état - backed and funded by the United States and the United Kingdom in support of BP - to remove Mohammad Mosaddegh and install the despotic Shah as Iran’s leader that led to the 1979 Ayatollah revolution and the mess we are in today.
The whole 53 coup is an old chestnut - the realities are more intricate. Firstly there is plenty of evidence Mosaddegh was planning a self-coup - hence Iran wouldn't have enjoyed some golden democratic era under him. Also the Americans feared communism more than they were greedy for oil Secondly the Shah's own regime restructured oil revenues anyway later on.
This argument comes from the useful-idiot school of anti-Westernism. People are just picking anything they can get their hands on to justify an anti-West position.
Yeah, right. Whichever way you look at it, the USA and UK helped overthrow a democratically-elected secular Arab nationalist. The UK’s interest *was* as in oil. We were supporting the Anglo Iranian Oil Company (later renamed BP - and the clue is in the former name!).
Western governments have a history of overthrowing secular Arab nationalists – or trying to. The UK and France conspired with Israel to remove Nasser from Egypt in 1956.
(I expect you'll have some fancy argument to explain why that is also an old chestnut that was actually about something completely benign instead. )
I suggest you get a new name: I don't think ‘Triggered by Truth’ really suits you.
How many coups have Arabs conducted against Arab governments? Is that a fancy argument? The conduct of Western nations is 100x superior, morally and politically than anything that has come from the region. Even the Ottomans were better.
I come from a country that was partitioned 4 times. Let me tell you that being ruled by Anglo/French is a paradise than by the Russians & Germans. Cry me a river.
One doesn't have to support the Iranian government to oppose the genocidal, apartheid Israeli state, with full support from the US and the UK, waging war against Iran. It is the height of stupidity for anyone claiming to fight for the rights of women to support Israel & Co, who have slaughtered upwards of a half million people in Gaza - half of them female, many of them children. Nor to support the US or UK in their murderous rampages through Libya, Syria, Afghanistan. The last time your lot got involved in Iran, it was to overthrow a moderate parliamentary democracy that had the temerity to nationalize the oil resources of the country. Oh no, British Petroleum can't have that. So the Iranian people had the Shah's torture regime imposed upon them. Short story: the UK, and the US, can stay the fuck out of West Asia, and stop supporting Israel in its industrial scale slaughter of children, women and men, all in the service of US domination of this resource-rich region.
Julie Bindel is mistaken and ignorant about important relevant historical facts, which is, I suppose, understandable as they do not seem to be in her area of expertise.
Hi Julie, I’m mentoring an Afghan girl who is a refugee in Iran. Her life is awful, the Iranians hate Afghan refugees and make their lives very difficult. I’m so shocked by this horrible hashtag.
Thanks for putting my thoughts into words so clearly. I still think of myself as left wing, but it’s hard to understand what these crazy people are actually standing for.
Something feels out of whack to me. It’s like there’s a virus that presents the irrational as rational. Like there’s something in the water.
What people constantly overlook in discussing the evils of Iran is how it was the 1953 coup d’état - backed and funded by the United States and the United Kingdom in support of BP - to remove Mohammad Mosaddegh and install the despotic Shah as Iran’s leader that led to the 1979 Ayatollah revolution and the mess we are in today.
The whole 53 coup is an old chestnut - the realities are more intricate. Firstly there is plenty of evidence Mosaddegh was planning a self-coup - hence Iran wouldn't have enjoyed some golden democratic era under him. Also the Americans feared communism more than they were greedy for oil Secondly the Shah's own regime restructured oil revenues anyway later on.
This argument comes from the useful-idiot school of anti-Westernism. People are just picking anything they can get their hands on to justify an anti-West position.
Yeah, right. Whichever way you look at it, the USA and UK helped overthrow a democratically-elected secular Arab nationalist. The UK’s interest *was* as in oil. We were supporting the Anglo Iranian Oil Company (later renamed BP - and the clue is in the former name!).
Western governments have a history of overthrowing secular Arab nationalists – or trying to. The UK and France conspired with Israel to remove Nasser from Egypt in 1956.
(I expect you'll have some fancy argument to explain why that is also an old chestnut that was actually about something completely benign instead. )
I suggest you get a new name: I don't think ‘Triggered by Truth’ really suits you.
How many coups have Arabs conducted against Arab governments? Is that a fancy argument? The conduct of Western nations is 100x superior, morally and politically than anything that has come from the region. Even the Ottomans were better.
I come from a country that was partitioned 4 times. Let me tell you that being ruled by Anglo/French is a paradise than by the Russians & Germans. Cry me a river.
"The conduct of Western nations is 100x superior, morally and politically than anything that has come from the region."
Genocide in America (N&S), Australia, etc. Slavery. The Holocaust. Two World Wars. Good grief.
... oh, I see, Germany is not a Western nation???
But he tells us that he's writing "incredibly insightful material" and warns us that our minds will be blown.
Rock on, Julie!
One doesn't have to support the Iranian government to oppose the genocidal, apartheid Israeli state, with full support from the US and the UK, waging war against Iran. It is the height of stupidity for anyone claiming to fight for the rights of women to support Israel & Co, who have slaughtered upwards of a half million people in Gaza - half of them female, many of them children. Nor to support the US or UK in their murderous rampages through Libya, Syria, Afghanistan. The last time your lot got involved in Iran, it was to overthrow a moderate parliamentary democracy that had the temerity to nationalize the oil resources of the country. Oh no, British Petroleum can't have that. So the Iranian people had the Shah's torture regime imposed upon them. Short story: the UK, and the US, can stay the fuck out of West Asia, and stop supporting Israel in its industrial scale slaughter of children, women and men, all in the service of US domination of this resource-rich region.
Shh - Don't tell Frederick Roth Triggered By Truth (see above)!
Julie Bindel is mistaken and ignorant about important relevant historical facts, which is, I suppose, understandable as they do not seem to be in her area of expertise.
It’s sad for me to see someone I admire a lot lose their grip like this. See https://roadlesstraveller.substack.com/p/julie-bindel-warning
Well said
Excellent article - clear common sense.