Gasp. <Faints> How dare he speak so of
Okay, okay, let's get to it...
However, the most interesting point reported by The Times of Israel, is Obama’s opinion of the Iranian regime.(Reported by The Times of Israel ! Not like we can't just read the damn transcript for ourselves)
Goldberg asked Obama if the fact that the Iranian regime is anti-Semitic, and thus possessed of a warped view of the way the world works, shouldn’t preclude a negotiating strategy that treats Tehran as a rational player. But the president replied that the regime’s survival instinct is more powerful than other calculations, including its hatred of Jews and imperialist aspirations.
“Well, the fact that you are anti-Semitic, or racist, doesn’t preclude you from being interested in survival,” he said. “It doesn’t preclude you from being rational about the need to keep your economy afloat; it doesn’t preclude you from making strategic decisions about how you stay in power; and so the fact that the supreme leader is anti-Semitic doesn’t mean that this overrides all of his other considerations.”
Tehran, he continued, won’t make irrational decisions — an apparent reference to the regime breaking away to a nuclear weapon or attacking another country — that would threaten its very survival. “What we’ve been very clear [about] to the Iranian regime over the past six years is that we will continue to ratchet up the costs, not simply for their anti-Semitism, but also for whatever expansionist ambitions they may have,” he said.Just shocking. I can't believe he said all that. It's just outrageous ! What is wrong with the man ?
Obama is right. Iran is suffering severe internal problems. Rampant, out of control drug abuse, obscene levels of corruption, and severe economic problems are tearing at the foundations of the Iranian tyranny.
According to the Daily Mail, around seven per cent of Iran’s population remain addicted to hard drugs. On top of Iran’s already hideous problems with the flood of dirt cheap opium and heroin pouring out of Afghanistan, Iran has lately acquired a dangerous taste for crystal meth.Okay, just WTF now ?
...
For all we know, the Supreme Leader of Iran himself could be a meth addict – suffering drug induced psychosis, paranoia, experiencing drug induced delusions about his own mission to remake the world, lusting for the destructive might which nuclear weapons would grant to his addled megalomanic fantasies.
Hitler was a well known meth addict – under the influence of meth, he ordered the commission of irrational atrocities, such as the infamous Nero decree, Hitler’s order to destroy everything of value which might be seized by advancing Russian soldiers. The Nero decree was not executed – Albert Speer, in the final days of the war disobeyed Hitler, and refused to pointlessly destroy the infrastructure of Germany. But an occasional outbreak of reason was more the exception than the norm, in Hitler’s meth fuelled Reich.And that's how the 'article' ends. Reductio ad Hitlerum. Shit.
For all we know, Bill Clinton could be a lizard-person from an alternate dimension. George W Bush could have been an elaborate AI construct in the matrix. Vladimir Putin could be the second coming of Christ as understood in the cryptic version of the Gospel of Judas. Steve Jobs could have been secretly an Arab (well, not really a secret as such). Margaret Thatcher could have had a secret sexual obsession with Ken Livingstone. For all we know, Ayn Rand could have been a rabidly anti-Christian atheist (uh, well, actually...) Stalin could have had a really vulnerable soft spot for puppies, and secretly donated to funds for orphans. For all we know, Luke Skywalker could have been the bastard child of Darth Vader. For all we know, John McCain's anti-aging regimen could involve the daily bathing in the blood of Mexican babies. For all we know, the staff at Breitbart might contain an actual journalist or two.... What after all....do we...actually...know ?
So easy, and ultimately futile (given the audience) to mock, but the full interview is arguably worth reading...okay, skimming, especially if you want to skip the facile spin than the traditional outlets will inevitably want to place on it: http://www.theatlantic.com/international/archive/2015/05/obama-interview-iran-isis-israel/393782/
Below the fold, here's how the interview ends, and the part that I personally found the most interesting:
