An American company is primarily responsible for developing the Iron Dome and it relied on technology from the USA and most of it was actually manufactured in the USA.
Over half of the Middle East doesn’t like Iran. The Middle East power wielders of influence are Saudi Arabia and Iran. The Middle East is split up ultimately between those two with a few countries not liking either of them.
I really like a lot of Iranians I have met. There are two Iran’s. There is the half that you see on television in all black acting hysterical and shouting death to the USA and the West - and there is the other half that is one of the 2-3 most Westernized countries in the Middle East. If Iran were to fall to a revolution for democracy - it would have huge implications to the Middle East. Almost guaranteed that Iraq would remain Westernized and relations between most of the region would improve with Israel.
Yes. Iran has some top quality ski resorts and nobody at those wears hijabs or anything traditional. They drink booze etc. They shrug it off. They understand the divide between the fundamentalists and everyone else and they mostly just accept it as the life they live.
Agree, except, the reality is that it's more like 80/20 for freedom vs. Mullahs. I grew up in a small town in Germany, on the same street as kids of an Iranian doctor who fled Iran after the Mullahs took over (he was one of the personal doctors of the Shah). Great kids, except, as a kid, I was a bit taken aback by them writing on the street, using chalk, "Death to Khomeini" etc. I had never seen anyone wish death upon anyone. They tried to explain it to me, but I felt they were a bit fanatical. We are still Facebook friends.
Iran fell to democracy once and then the British and the Americans overthrew it as they were upset that Iran wanted a bigger cut of the profits from their oil. ATW and other rightists can bleat for democracy as he opposes free speech in Germany, but a democratic Iran would not be in favor of genocide in Gaza. lol
I know several Iranians through Judo and also an engineer and an architect I work with both have dual Iranian and US citizenship. This is kept secret of course from the US state department but they keep Iranian passports so they can travel back to visit family. The impression I get from almost all of these people is that most Iranians are sick of the Mullahs and want Iran to open up to the West and end theocracy. There is a very strong and devoted minority of the population fanatically devoted to the Mullahs.
The history of the coup that overthrew Mossadegh and the rule of the Shah is a big issue that the Mullahs and others point to as justification for opposing the west. Most Iranians though are young and even people like the engineer I work with who is in his 70’s barely remember what it was like during the Mossadegh period. Most Iranians were born after the Shah was gone. The rule of the Shah was brutal and corrupt but so has been the rule of the Mullahs. younger Iranians only know the latter.
No - I don't think that an Iranian democracy would support the killing of Palestinians - but they also would not be supporting or housing Hezbollah either.
