Iran and China short term thinking
As you may know, Chris Wallace, one of 2 real journalists at Fox News, interviewed Iran Foreign Minister Javed Zarif last week.
This dialogue ensued.
“Chris, the people of Iran admire your very, very handsome President. Very tough, very high IQ. He truly has made America great again.”
“Mr.Zarif, do you really expect anyone to believe this loathsome flattery.”
“Oh, yes.”
So, do you believe that this happened? Think about it before reading on.
Well, when exactly that was tweeted out by David Frum (a speechwriter for W Bush, but now a GOP critic), within an hour thousands of people replied on Twitter and a large number of them seemed to believe it. These days its difficult to distinguish between truth and parody. When tweeted out like that by a respected writer, without any other comment from him, it was difficult to be sure.
While I thought he was joking, even I went to Youtube and actually watched the full interview to be sure that was the case. And only a further hour later, when Frum tweeted “Zarif, you missed your chance”, did it become clear the earlier tweet was not meant seriously. (Also, Zarif would have missed out young and slender😀)
Of course, Frum was playing on Trump’s susceptibility to flattery, which has been exploited by Kim, Putin, and the Saudis among others. Some speculated that if Zarif had really said that on Fox News, for his Audience of One, Trump would immediately sing the praises of Ayatollah Khameini and ask his staff to fix up a summit. And before we knew it, just like with NAFTA, the Iran deal, formally known as the JCPOA, would be changed about 2% and get transformed from a “horrible, horrible deal” to the fantastic, greatest deal ever, the TCPOA. There would be dreams of a Trump Tower Teheran.
Well, Zarif missed his chance this time, but who knows, he is a smart and cunning guy, so will no doubt think through whether something like that may be useful in future.
In the meantime, Pompous Pompeo and Bolt Bolton are flexing their muscles and their jaws, ready to go to war with Iran. Since unlike Dotard, they actually read, they may do well to read the history of the 1953 US-engineered coup in Iran, where the last embargoed secret documents have been (quietly) released earlier this year. While for years after that, US officials celebrated their “victory” in Iran, that victory brought us to the current point. So much for short-term thinking. Another intervention in Iran is unlikely to have a better ending.
But of course, short term thinking is a Wall Street and American speciality. A Chinese commentator wrote today that there is unlikely to be an American “win” in the trade negotiations, because the American side is only thinking till Trump’s re-election, while the Chinese are thinking about the next 100 years or longer. Cultural difference, I suppose.
This dialogue ensued.
“Chris, the people of Iran admire your very, very handsome President. Very tough, very high IQ. He truly has made America great again.”
“Mr.Zarif, do you really expect anyone to believe this loathsome flattery.”
“Oh, yes.”
So, do you believe that this happened? Think about it before reading on.
Well, when exactly that was tweeted out by David Frum (a speechwriter for W Bush, but now a GOP critic), within an hour thousands of people replied on Twitter and a large number of them seemed to believe it. These days its difficult to distinguish between truth and parody. When tweeted out like that by a respected writer, without any other comment from him, it was difficult to be sure.
While I thought he was joking, even I went to Youtube and actually watched the full interview to be sure that was the case. And only a further hour later, when Frum tweeted “Zarif, you missed your chance”, did it become clear the earlier tweet was not meant seriously. (Also, Zarif would have missed out young and slender😀)
Of course, Frum was playing on Trump’s susceptibility to flattery, which has been exploited by Kim, Putin, and the Saudis among others. Some speculated that if Zarif had really said that on Fox News, for his Audience of One, Trump would immediately sing the praises of Ayatollah Khameini and ask his staff to fix up a summit. And before we knew it, just like with NAFTA, the Iran deal, formally known as the JCPOA, would be changed about 2% and get transformed from a “horrible, horrible deal” to the fantastic, greatest deal ever, the TCPOA. There would be dreams of a Trump Tower Teheran.
Well, Zarif missed his chance this time, but who knows, he is a smart and cunning guy, so will no doubt think through whether something like that may be useful in future.
In the meantime, Pompous Pompeo and Bolt Bolton are flexing their muscles and their jaws, ready to go to war with Iran. Since unlike Dotard, they actually read, they may do well to read the history of the 1953 US-engineered coup in Iran, where the last embargoed secret documents have been (quietly) released earlier this year. While for years after that, US officials celebrated their “victory” in Iran, that victory brought us to the current point. So much for short-term thinking. Another intervention in Iran is unlikely to have a better ending.
But of course, short term thinking is a Wall Street and American speciality. A Chinese commentator wrote today that there is unlikely to be an American “win” in the trade negotiations, because the American side is only thinking till Trump’s re-election, while the Chinese are thinking about the next 100 years or longer. Cultural difference, I suppose.
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