Dear Thomas L. Friedman: It's the Mahdi, Stupid

Re the imbecilic notion that Iran is motivated by America's mistreatment of a previous Iranian regime and not by the mullahs' radical Shia end-of-days eschatology, Michael Rubin writes:

There’s also a broader problem underlying both Obama’s and Friedman’s assumptions about Iranian motivations, and that is the assumption that grievance motivates the Iranian nuclear drive. That’s lazy thinking and belies a fundamental misunderstanding of the Islamic Revolution and the Islamic Republic. At its heart, the Islamic Republic is an ideological state. The reason why Obama’s interpretation that Supreme Leader Ali Khamenei’s statements can be discounted because he’s playing to a political constituency are so bizarre is that such an explanation suggests ignorance of the fact that the supreme leader derives legitimacy from God rather than from the Iranian public. The Islamic Republic simply isn’t a normal, status quo state; it’s a revisionist, ideological power. Iran’s nuclear behavior is rooted not in grievances real or imagined, but rather in a desire to export its revolution.

I'm hoping TLF will go back to writing his Flintstones vs. Jetsons pieces. They're much more compelling--and intelligent--than his thoughts on Iran.


Mindset-wise, the mullahs are real throw-backs, like the
Flinstones, but with Jetsons-like nuclear technology.