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How the Trump Administration Inflicts Misery on the Iranian People

TU Curmudgeon

B.A. (Sarc), LLb. (Lex Sarcasus), PhD (Sarc.)
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From The American Conservative

How the Trump Administration Inflicts Misery on the Iranian People
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Secretary Pompeo offers some insincere wishes for the prosperity of the Iranian people:
As the proud people of #Iran celebrate the longest night of the year & the victory of light over darkness, I wish for them prosperity and freedom. As the Persian poet Nezami said, “even in hopelessness there is hope; at the end of a dark night there is light.” Happy #Yalda!
— Secretary Pompeo (@SecPompeo) December 21, 2018
​

Iran hawks seem to enjoy feigning interest in the welfare of the Iranian people at the same time that their preferred policies are impoverishing and strangling them. It is so obviously two-faced that no one can miss the contradiction:
Pompeo says he wishes the Iranian people "prosperity" at the exact same time as he is promoting a sanctions regime that is preventing Iran from importing food. https://t.co/qoxznbBAPd https://t.co/4qpvf1E917
— Nicholas Miller (@Nick_L_Miller) December 21, 2018
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It is bad enough that the Trump administration is trying to strangle Iran’s economy in a cruel policy of collective punishment. For some reason, administration officials also feel compelled to add extra insults to the injuries they are inflicting by pretending that they want Iranians to prosper when their actions show that they intend exactly the opposite.

COMMENT:-

What do those left-wing, liberal, pinko, socialist, commies know about anything?
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Maybe the Iranian people should overthrow their despotic govt. Then they wouldn't be so miserable.
 
Roadvirus said:
Maybe the Iranian people should overthrow their despotic govt. Then they wouldn't be so miserable.
Click to expand...

We've been down that road before and it's led us to this situation. The more militant in Iran are relishing this because it will help foster anti American hatred and make their cause easier to accept. Putting your foot on someone's neck doesn't always lead to the best of outcomes.
 
Hey, slenderfella handed over a cool $150 billion, let them use that for their own people instead of funding terrorism worldwide...eh?

You think our government countering the Number 1 State Exporter of Terrorism by any and all means is bad? Would you rather us war with them?

What is your solution?

BTW, I wholeheartedly agree with that last comment... hat tip.
 

On the bright side, our Toddler-in-Chief is giving them Syria as compensation
 

But he is giving the Iranian radical hardliners a huge Christmas gift by withdrawing from Syria so that balances it all out.:lamo
 
Gaugingcatenate said:
Hey, slenderfella handed over a cool $150 billion,
Click to expand...

That was the $150Bn of IRANIAN MONEY that the US government had seized, wasn't it.

Gaugingcatenate said:
You think our government countering the Number 1 State Exporter of Terrorism by any and all means is bad?
Click to expand...

Since the Iranians are NOT the #1, I think that I'll avoid offending you by telling you that I don't think that the US should be dropping nuclear weapons of Pakistan and/or Saudi Arabia.

Gaugingcatenate said:
BTW, I wholeheartedly agree with that last comment... hat tip.
Click to expand...

Didn't connect "The American Conservative" and "right-wing" did you?
 
iguanaman said:
But he is giving the Iranian radical hardliners a huge Christmas gift by withdrawing from Syria so that balances it all out.:lamo
Click to expand...

The people who are going to get the REAL "present" are the Kurds and the Syrian forces that the US government has been supporting.

Already mobilizing are the (anti-Kurdish) Turkish backed Syrian forces, the military forces of the (anti-Kurdish) Turkish government, the military forces of the (anti-Kurdish) Iranian government, and the military forces of the (anti-Kurdish) Iraqi government.

It most certainly looks like the Kurds are (to use a euphemism) "hooped".

This, of course, will have no other effect than to get any indigenous opposition in any other country to flock to the United States of America for assistance and support.
 
Yes.

Ah, so you are against allowing the US to use of any means legal of denying the worlds number one state-sponsor of terrorism... rather us losing enough people to their sponsored terrorism that we finally have to do something far more radical, maybe something like invade them instead, eh?

Not your Canadian boys and girls, so whatta you care, eh?

Who dropped nukes on anybody? THEY ARE NUMBER 1, but even if they were number 3, 4 or 5... 6th 7th 8th... are you kidding me? What the hell are you even talking about... something afoot in that "clear" water up there, apparently.

Wanna flesh out where you are coming from on that last statement...??? It has such a broadness that it might have a hard time fitting through our canal down here.

Clean up your messes, bro.
 
Roadvirus said:
Maybe the Iranian people should overthrow their despotic govt. Then they wouldn't be so miserable.
Click to expand...

The one that wouldn't have come into existence but for our previous demand that they do just that?
 
iguanaman said:
But he is giving the Iranian radical hardliners a huge Christmas gift by withdrawing from Syria so that balances it all out.:lamo
Click to expand...
While I cannot come close to agreeing with such a piss poor assessment of the situation... would it not now be tradition to be giving gifts as did the slenderman misadmin?

Hard to top a clear path to nuclear weaponry in less than ten years PLUS a $150B ribbon bow to wrap it all up in. So I guess no matter what, slenderman was the number one gift giver and chief.
 

Obama handed the mullahs the $billions they needed to fund their repressive regime and stay in power....not Trump, as well as fund terrorism.

The Iranian people aren't stupid....they know who their oppressors are...
 
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Grokmaster said:
Obama handed the mullahs the $billions they needed to fund their repressive regime and stay in power....not Trump, as well as fund terrorism.

The Iranian people aren't stupid....they know who their oppressors are...
Click to expand...

It was a choice in order to try a different approach than the non-effectual one that was going on at the time. Short of attacking Iran, it was on its way to making nuclear weapons. One can argue whether that was a smart approach, but we'll never know since it wasn't given a chance to work. The risk you run with putting them in a tight economic situation is it justifies the hard liners' message of western powers looking to harm Iran, and all the folks who might have been friendly to the US may change their minds since its US policies causing hardship. It isn't an easy approach, and one that can really backfire. If you look at countries like North Korea, where despite the poor economy due to sanctions, they still find the funds to continue their weapons programs.
 

Neither does delivering pallets of cash while they shout "Death to America". The mullahs will hate us in either case, so creating a situation where their people become unsatisfied with their lot is more likely to result in a change of government. The people at hand will be the ones blamed, not the US. Only the government and their mouthpieces will blame the US. The people will blame them.
 

Yes you Putin sympathizers are quite pleased with Trump I know. Nothing is too good for the murderous dictator who has vowed to destroy us,
 

The advantage the Mullah's have is they can control the narrative in their country. Since Trump decided to pull out of the deal, it's easy to shift the blame to the US because Iran had been compliant to the rules of the deal. If it would have been a matter of Iran breaking the rules you might have a point, but saying "the deal sucks, and we don't care if you were complying" and pulling out puts the US in an odd position; especially when other countries were still refuting that claim and willing to keep the deal alive.
 

The people won't care a fig about the deal. If their plight gets bad enough, they will turn on the leadership.
 
veritas1 said:
The people won't care a fig about the deal. If their plight gets bad enough, they will turn on the leadership.
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Even if that ends up being the case, what will the new leadership represent? Do you think people will be eager to be friendly to the US when it is essentially telling people to have a government that it wants? You seem to forget how we got to the Iranian Revolution in the first place.
 
iguanaman said:
Yes you Putin sympathizers are quite pleased with Trump I know. Nothing is too good for the murderous dictator who has vowed to destroy us,
Click to expand...

This Putin BS is getting rather threadbare. The only people obsessed with Putin are liberals who see a chance to get Trump by repeating some fairytale ad nauseum. Oh, and the global threat to US dominance is China, not Russia.
 

We got to the Iranian revolution because Khomeini was allowed to agitate from afar and get the radicals to overthrow the Shah. Iran was much more open and Westernized in the 70's than it is now. Iran has a young population that is pro-west at heart. The mullahs know this and it is why they keep a clamp on them. It won't last forever.
 
veritas1 said:
Oh, and the global threat to US dominance is China, not Russia.
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Striped of its semantic baggage you are correct.

The Chinese position is "We do NOT have to DOMINATE, we'll simply out compete you.".

In case you didn't notice that used to be the American position.
 

Right, but the Shah was there because of US (and British) meddling and proved to be a brutal dictator backed by the US From that point anti US sentiment grew and allowed for the fundamentalists to grab hold. The thing to remember too is Iranians may love American culture, but have very mixed views (and distrust) of US policy. No matter which way you try to paint it, mistrust for the US is based on pretty clear reasons since the Shah was put in to power in order to prevent Iranians to be in control of their own natural resources. Pushes for regime change now will likely be viewed in the very same light.
 

That cash was the Iranians money not ours. Trump is handing over Syria to Putin and Iran on a silver platter and abandoning our coalition in the fight against ISIS when 20 to 30k still remain. But the worst is handing the Kurds fate over to Turkey after their valiant efforts as our ally against ISIS. What is likely now in Iran is a resurgence of the hardliners who want to make a bomb.
 

Hmm... when (not if) we leave Syria that still leaves Putin and Iran in the catbird seat. If Putin and Iran (possibly Turkey?) are the "real threat" to US national security then why are we not fighting them?
 

1. That cash was paid by the Shah to the US for weapons. He was overthrown before the weapons were delivered. Why should we return money to the people who overthrew a government friendly to the US when they are an adversary? If Germany had sent us money and then Hitler took over, would you return the money to Hitler? Of course not.

2. Syria has always been an ally of Russia, not of the US. We didn't hand them to anyone.

3. Russia has as much interest in annihilating ISIS as we did. They will make sure it happens.

4. We should continue to arm the Kurds and give them our support. The fact of the Kurdish situation is a weak argument for keeping US troops there indefinitely, however. The only reason to stay there is because of oil but that oil belongs to Assad, not the US.
 
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