The Remains of The Day

It's always the same.

I find myself observing the world through what I believe are relatively unbiased, logical eyes, and try and ruminate on things prior to reacting to them. In a world this busy, this chaotic, this overloaded by everything and everyone, reacting too quickly can be and usually winds up being erroneous and regrettable.

However, after seeing a day's worth of unrest exploding on the streets of Tehran, I've essentially reached the point where I'm not sure how anyone can believe that the recent election for the Iranian presidency -- which are the focus of the massive protests, unrest and violence -- were anything but a ridiculous example of fraud.

The leader of Iran, Mahmoud Ahmadinejad, is, as I've indicated earlier herein, one of the World's Great Assholes. He has publicly questioned whether the holocaust ever happened and has repeatedly called for Israel's destruction. Further, he has repeatedly suggested that Iran's nuclear program is one deigned for civilian energy, not for military use. Unfortunately, he has also denied that Iran has supported -- with funds, weapons and protection -- Hezbollah and Hamas. Basically, everything that he says is complete bullshit.

So by virtue of the fact that the election results picked him as the clear winner -- by a 2-to-1 margin -- it's relatively obvious that there's something amiss. Why? Because 2/3's of Iran is under the age of 30, and that demographic overwhelmingly favored Ahmadinejad's challenger, Mir-Hossein Mousavi, a guy who ran on a platform of reforming the rigid, heavy-handed control of the traditional leaders of Iran. How is it that half of Iran is comprised of eligible female voters who undoubtedly supported the challenger, yet 2/3 of the vote favored a man, Ahmadinejad, who supported restricting womens' rights, including voting and being unescorted during the day and night?

It's clearly and patently ridiculous that the Iranian people would vote for Ahmadinejad, and the massive protests through Tehran and some other large Iranian cities suggest that the people have had enough, as has the rest of the world.

Why is any of this relevant at all, and why did I bother committing these thoughts herein? Well, first and foremost, if this bullshit election result stands, I worry about the state of Israel. If there is only dictatorship in Iran -- and frankly, even before the election was held, I never doubted that somehow Ahmadinejad would "win" -- then what is to stop a nuclear-equipped Iran from targeting Israel? A man like Ahmadinejad, who is either completely crazy or completely overtaken by his adherence to the old guard -- the old guard that has managed to create war between Jews and Muslims for millenia -- would have absolutely no hesitation, on a moral level, in attacking Israel.

Before we start considering Israel's demise an inevitability, the fact is that Israel won't permit Iran to weaponize plutonium. As much as North Korea enjoys jerking our government with threats of weaponizing plutonium, once Israel is convinced that Iran is ready, willing and able to do just that, there's little doubt their nuclear reactors will be reduced to dust.

That, of course, eliminates the initial threat of nuclear attack by an unhinged, crazy dictator. However, that will likely usher in other problems, including suggestions by other nations -- both in and outside the Middle East -- that Israel is the aggressor in this ongoing, eternal conflict, and regardless of her right to defend herself, Israel will be yet again castigated for attacking her neighbors. Soon thereafter, expect suicide attacks, random missiles, anti-Israeli protests from New York to Washington to Damascus to Beirut, and light the fuse on another year or five of things that make heroes and martyrs out of repulsive examples of human beings like James Von Brunn.

The world is getting increasingly smaller; I'm not sure if this is becoming clearer to me because I am more mature or because I'm not foolish enough to miss the signs of this phenomenon. Unfortunately, with Obama's public overtures to Muslim states, I wonder what will transpire from this false election. We have to assume the result will stand, despite Iran's Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei publicly calling for some sort of bullshit investigation; after all, it is the traditional men of power in Iran who want to keep that maniac, Ahmadinejad, in power in the first place. However, with the protests continuing, despite clear and present danger to each person ballsy enough to challenge Iran's security forces, it's clear that the people of Iran are increasingly realizing that they need to challenge authority rather than continue accepting it.

Personally, I think the majority of Iranian people are good, decent people. I am confident most people there are anti-Israel, simply because they have been taught to be anti-Israel from birth. It's a cultural and governmental socialization that competes with our respect of laws, justice and government. However, with this latest example of dictatorship, I think the people of Iran are quickly realizing that they are being controlled, not governed, and I wish -- if not hope -- that the real results of this election comes to pass and Ahmadinejad is put in the past tense. Frankly, I could care less about the people of Iran. My interest is selfish; getting rid of Ahmadinejad would restore some balance to the region, it would increase the safety and security of the people of Israel, and it would -- on some level -- reinvigorate the ability of Israel and her neighbors to legitimately restart some discussions on a bona-fide demilitarized two-state solution.

I'm not naive enough to believe any of this will ever happen -- not now, and not in the future -- but being hopeful is about as good as it can and will get until the aforementioned peace becomes reality.

Put another way, we will never be in a position to achieve the unthinkable until we begin to think it's possible to achieve it.