Iran: Morning Thoughts


Two nights ago,  I watched "The Amateur" with Rami Malek.  Enjoyable, with the usual narrative frame for the C.I.A. combined with the usual binary wizadry expected from this genre of film. ("We know more than you do!" 


 What is missing, is wisdom.  

And what is missing across the vast and compartmentalized intelligence flanks, policy corridors, ice-cubed analytical cubicles (because what they do lacks human warmth), and the professional writer's guilds infested/invested with Harvard graduates who charge $1,000 per page for their nonsense, is wisdom.

Everything cannot be reduced to binary madness, neither basic algorithm, nor code.  But all is asymmetrical, if you have wisdom.  And there is no greater asymmetry than that encountered within the Intellectual Battlespace and the arena for which I coined the phrase "terrain of the mind".

I surprised myself yesterday. Browsing through my papers, the succinct realization that two months after 9/11 I was already writing about the terrain of the mind with my words being cross-pollinated in our local newspaper.  

Prior to the attack on my nation, Muslims were "invisible" to me.  But as I watched two hundred individuals leap from the windows of the Twin Towers, it was my oath of office which propelled me into the library, deep research and three years later - networking friendships with pivotal, global Muslims. Unfortunately, members of my Navy detachment were  reduced to saying, "Fuck Islam!" and none of them had read a Qur'an, or for that matter, three transliterations of the book.

Reading, is not what introduced me to the terrain of the mind. Vibrant friendships, halal meals, cups of Turkish coffee... attendance at events... etc. brought the nature of the problem into focus.  And even as I moved from the Sunni to the Shi'a side of the house, the asymmetry between  these two major sects, was apparent.

The Shi'a are more organic, but also exhibit greater stoicism than the Sunni. Of that, I am sure.

The stoicism of the Shi'a is rooted in Karbala.  And really, Iran does not really care how many bridges our POTUS threatens to blow up... nor the threat against the power plants.  They have Karbala. It is the wire in their blood. But they also have their Islamic Republic.

We do not understand the terrain of the mind.  And while the Treaty of Westphalia adopted the principle of "cuius regio, eius religio" to address the nastiness that began in 1618,  Islam works it the other way. The religion of the state, is the religion of the ruler - that ruler, being Allah.  So from Karbala until 1979 and beyond, Iran is both Karbala and a warping of a Westphalian tenet.

The Shi'a and their history are greatly nuanced.

One of the X sites I follow has a pithy remark attached to a "John Wick" poster.  It states, "This man killed hundreds because someone killed his dog." What was said resonated deeply within me. Because while President Trump has not threatened to kill the average dog, he has threatened, "... a whole civilization will die tonight...." if his demands were not met. (7 April)

What is not nuanced, is how the Shi'a are running their quarterdeck.  So we will need to continue to address issues with Iran in coming days... weeks... months....

* As an editorial note - yesterday I posted a blog to be sent as a signal. After two views - I removed the post.  Two individuals received the signal.  But the post did begin with the words, "Hey, Morons!"  

Let me merely state that the White House used a small truth in "breaking news" yesterday to conceal a greater lie.  And by they way - this is the way the Shi'a operate - since the days of the Caliph Ali.  smile


swoffordwrites@gmail.com

https://thelastenglishprince.wordpress.com/

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