Raise you hand if you want another unstable country in the middle east. Face it, the US stinks at nation building and picking winner in civil wars. The US hasn't won a war since WWII. We just aren't good at it.
18
As an Iranian American who participated in the 2009 protests following a stolen election, I can tell you the horrifying lengths Iran’s regime will go to suppress democracy. I just wish there was a champion for democracy in the Middle East, because it certainly isn’t America or Saudi Arabia or Egypt or Israel.
I admire all the protesters in Lebanon, Iraq, and Iran who “want a civil state” with strong independent institutions and reject the Islamic Republic’s brand of Shiite theocracy. Together, Iran and Saudi Arabia have divided the region into two corrupt spheres of influence.
But what hope is there?
America’s State department has helped nurture and support democracy around the world, but not here. The protesters want what America had, but their own version of it, and nothing to do with American diplomats.
The idea that we could “keep looking for ways to collaborate with them on that pluralism project, to the extent that they want our help, with creative diplomacy, and not just wash our hands of the region” WITHOUT disavowing Saudi Arabia is insane.
When the world is not safe for democracy, history has shown us how bad things can get.
Oh by the way, the Persian gulf will be uninhabitably hot by 2060 or so.
I pray for these protestors, but I fear the worst.
35
40 years ago, the Iranians revolted against a despotic regime headed by the Shah. Instead of democracy, what Iranian got was another despotic regime; this time led by Muslim fundamentalists. The Shah, despite his failings, at least try to modernize Iran and westernized the country. The mullahs have tried to reverse this and try to return Iran to a strict Sharia law state.
While older Iranians, who remember and despised that Shah, welcomed this regime change. Younger Iranians, which make up most of the current population. Want a more secular country.
What is going on now is more than the effect of sanctions, it is the beginning of a new revolution. A push fro a secular democracy. A democracy that once existed until the CIA and the UK overthrew for oil, back in the early 1950s, and installed the Shah. Maybe this time they may succeed, unless big oil has other ideas.
21
I have never understood this fascination with Iran. Even when Iran was known as Persia it was in a constant state of war. From the start Persia experienced endless revolutions, coups and all sorts of mayhem. Persia was ruled by despots, Shahs and emperors. Yet everyone is horrified by the coup of 1953. 1953 was just another part of Iran's violent history. It wasn't the first coup and it won't be the last.
4
The "Islamic Revolution" is intrinsically antidemocratic, not because Islam is intrinsically opposed to democracy, because it isn't. It's because the "Islamic Revolution" is like the "Bolshevik Revolution". In both cases, a real revolution with widespread popular support against a regime that had come to exasperate almost everyone beyond endurance was followed by a coup by a relatively narrow group that put themselves in power. In Iran's case, the faction of the clerical establishment around Ayatollah Khomeini successfully eliminated the clerical faction that wasn't eager to establish an authoritarian regime, as well as the "bazaar" movement through which ordinary laypeople had expressed themselves. Ayatollah Khomeini was obsessed with power, and had tried an unsuccessful coup in the past, which was why he was forced into exile. The government he set up used "Islam" as a fig leaf for a limited number of people to engage in a power grab and massive corruption. This elite has no desire to give up their position. As the Revolutionary Guards are both highly armed and one of the most corrupt groups, it's hard to see how a successful process of democratic reform can take place.
6
@Stephen Merritt -- When there is a revolution, there is generally more than one faction seeking the change, and more than one faction seeking to be the new power after the change.
The Islamic State won. That does not mean that other factions had more support or more justice in the eyes of the populace at the time. It requires quite a bit of evidence to prove that the weaker option prevailed over the stronger, and has foreclosed it from reaching influence for 4 decades after that.
Just because we like some other faction better means nothing. We were supporting the Shah. We were wrong then, and may be seen now to be just as wrong, in the eyes that matter on the ground there.
2
“The war in Iraq is the most important liberal, revolutionary US democracy- building project since the Marshall Plan. It is one of the noblest things this country has ever attempted abroad.”
Thomas Friedman, 2004 NYT
Only the most rabid warmonger would heartily agree with Mr Friedman's current thoughts on Iran! As the saying goes, fool me once, shame on you. Fool me twice …
Funny how perspectives differ.
Friedman sees Iran as the main problem in the Middle East, because of its meddling in Iraq, Syria, Lebanon and Yemen. This is characterized as unwanted by the local populations (without evidence).
Many others sees the US-Israel-Saudi alliance as the main problem in the Middle East (me included). We do not like the illegal and immoral activities of these countries, so we cannot condemn Iran for resisting their policies and actions.
7
Mr. Friedman's hope for secularism in the Middle East is admirable, but it's the same mindset of "democracy blossoming in the ME" the Bush Adm. had when they invaded Iraq.
In Islam there is no separation of church and state. That goes for both Sunnis and Shi'ites. The Sunni-Shi'a divide is a 1400-year-old religious conflict that drives events in the Middle East. Sunnis believe they are the true successors of Prophet Muhammad, and Shi'ites are heretics and apostates who should be killed.
Iran is acting in its own interests. When Trump arrogantly tore up the nuclear agreement, slapped on sanctions and is now trying to bring Iran to its knees with economic warfare, he is at least partly responsible for the turmoil.
3
@Mark McIntyre -- " it's the same mindset of "democracy blossoming in the ME" the Bush Adm. had when they invaded Iraq."
Of course. Friedman supported that, and was a major spokesman in support of it.
3
For a man who has spent his "entire adult life" covering the ME, Mr. Friedman knows so very little about it ... as the president would say: "sad."
No, this is not new. Iranians have agitated and organized for individual and collective rights and civil society since before WW1 ... the constitutional revolution was in 1906! Lebanon, Egypt, Turkey, and other nations in the ME have had similar long term efforts towards greater civil rights, against corruption and tyranny, etc.
And the US? We have typically been on the wrong side: supporting the Shah, the Turkish and Egyptian generals, and, worst of all, our tyrannical and terrorist sponsoring Gulf allies.
3
"Iran Is Crushing Freedom One Country at a Time."
And Trump is crushing individual freedoms and American democracy one legislation, regulation and lie at a time and wishes he was crushing other countries with his ludicrous trade 'deals' all the time. He would see that as 'winning'. Meh.
1
Thomas does not mention Mr Putin either in the list of autocrats just like Mr Trump.
Freidman doesn't mention Saudi Arabia nor Israel with their reckless oppression of Palestinians. He doesn't mention the US and the 2003 invasion of Iraq which virtually set the whole thing in motion that is now playing out in Iran and Iraq. Bush handed Iran control of Iraqi politics. Which the Iranians have made a mess of. Starting with Maliki who was instrumental in the formation of ISIS in the Sunni triangle. All under the supporting eye of the US.
5
Trump should not only focus on Iran but include tweeting; Recep Erdogan, Kim Jong-un, Viktor Orban and Vladimir Putin.
1
Good to see that the poor are not fighting over their Shia or Sunni sect but are rising against their corrupt rulers who control their lives with many regulations.
It is easy to get carried away and call our president as someone who is destroying democracy. As these days in journalism if you do not say that then they may turn against you as a traitor to their flock. But if he is getting rid of more regulations and taking less of letting you keep more of your money to spend the way you want then that's not what rulers do. Rulers throw many regulations at you and take more of your money in taxes.
May be getting out of the Iran deal and applying the squeeze on Iran with sanctions is playing out this way and lets hope Ayotallah comes to the table to give up his desire for a nuclear bomb after the expiry of the Obama 10 year Iran deal which has a few years left. But now that option has been taken away.
1
Friedman's insistence on blurring the line between legitimate grievances of Middle Eastern populaces and some vague yearning for Western-style democracy is dangerous and irresponsible. This is the exact type of rhetoric that will lead the United States into another misguided and bloody military misadventure. You'd think that Friedman would have learned his lesson back in 2003 following the Iraq invasion, but it appears he hasn't. Fool me once...
Friedman once again waxes rhapsodic about any and all protest in the Arab world that superficially appears to call for more open societies, accountable civil institutions, less religious and ethnic tribalism, greater democracy. It's a pretty picture but a profoundly flawed one. There's no tradition of democratic rule in the Arab world (there was, briefly, in Iran before the US overthrew its elected government). What we're seeing is a great uprising against miserable economic conditions that create shortages in the basic commodities needed for life, awareness of ubiquitous governmental corruption, and exhaustion with the devastation of internecine warfare. But a more competent and benign Man on a White Horse with the power to deliver on the basics is a far more likely future than multicultural, religiously tolerant democracies. Friedman is once again mistaking his fantasy for reality.
3
Mr. Friedman forgot about Saudi Arabia. Religious freedom does not exist there, and dissent is snuffed out -- literally.
And what must we make of Israel under Bibi Netanyahu? They exist in a full-time state of readiness for war while their leader is accused of corruption but enjoys the support of all those in the Trump family.
1
Islam never had its reformation. The violence in the name of Islam needs to stop. These demonstrations could be the beginning of reforming the Jihad element of Islam. Peace, brotherly love, don't do to others what you yourself wouldn't want done to you is still a foreign concept is Islam.
Of course the Mullahs of Iran and the Kings and Dictators will fight till the end against freedoms and necessary reforms. The EU for the sake of making money continues to prop up Iran. Not supporting sanctions against Iran is crushing the freedom of all those whose rights are being crushed by oppressive Islamic rulers. The EU needs to be called out on their support of Iran. It was the totally naive policies of Obama and Kerry that encouraged Iran to snuff out emerging calls of freedom and democracy in the name of an uncompromising Islam that uses threats of violence.
We need to do everything possible to support the people of the Middle East to rise up against the corrupt so called religious thugs of Iran.
3
I am rooting for a rebellion here is the US. Trump and his corrupt administration is destroying our country.
2
The substance of the following comment was posted yesterday, yet has not been published.
--------
This article and the comments posted are ignoring a reality that would result in profound cognitive dissonance . It is that one world leader has gone against international consensus, based on the same evaluation of Iran as expressed in this article
It is Donald J. Trump, who withdrew from the international treaty that Iran forgo nuclear development, that allowed the current religious dictatorship to remain in power. To the degree that this article is accurate, Trump's withdrawal was effective in destroying the economic viability of this regime.
Trump's demeanor and actions are viewed as contemptible, predicated on the conclusion that they destroy the post WWII economic-political order that has define our world. Friedman is saying that Iran is the very country that Trump has targeted as a central impediment to a liberal world order.
Neither, the writer or the comment algorithm choose to post this contradiction, that the enemy of our enemy is our friend. Cogent criticisms of President Trump lose potency when the praise that he deserves for actions pursuant to this article are absent.
PUNDITWARE
This is punditware with a bias. Iran has significantly more freedom and justice than many other ME countries (Egypt, Syria, Saudi Arabia, ....) but Friedman has to single out Iran. Why? ....because Friedman is part of the group whose interest lies in the demonization of Iran.
3
Mr. Friedman, I don't condone the misery, suffering or corruption that is rampant in today's Iran.
But let's turn the clock back to 9/11, after which Iran helped the U.S.-backed Northern Alliance to defeat the Taleban in Afghanistan. What do you think would have happened if the U.S. had declared Saudi Arabia, the real perpetrators of the atrocity, as part of the 'Axis of Evil', instead of totally innocent Iran?
How would Iran be today if the Neocon-Zionist Conspiracy hadn't demonised Iran but allowed it to pursue the 'Glasnost' established by President Khatemi (1997 - 2005)?
What type of regional 'actor' would Iran have become if the U.S. had not blackmailed foreign banks and corporations into vacating a nation that they had warmly embraced, and whose stock market was the fastest rising stock market across the globe (500 % increase from 2000 - 2005 in U.S.$ terms?)
U.S. actions weakened the reformists and strengthened the hardliners. You reap what you sew. So stop complaining about human rights suffering in Iran, or about Iran's expanding influence across the region, and ask yourselves why it occurred. Which nation is more responsible than any other for the chaos in the entire region? Did Iran invade Iraq, bomb Syria and Libya, and cause two million deaths and 100 million uprooted lives?
Trump is an easy target for 'false facts'. But every American should look in the mirror before apportioning blame for the Middle East quagmire to Iran.
6
With respect, Mr Friedman, you are wrong. It is the United States, and Israel and Saudi Arabia for that matter, that are destroying nation states and the planet. From Cuba and Vietnam, to Iran and Russia, from Iraq and Afghanistan, it is the United States that is the destroyer.
And because you cannot see this, and change your ways, you are fortunately also destroying yourselves. Which only seems fair.
From the 70,000-odd veterans from Iraq and Afghanistan who have killed themselves (how many from Vietnam?), from the hundreds of thousands of Americans who have destroyed their lives through opiate addiction, from the tens of thousands of Americans each year who die through gun violence, from the tens of thousands who die from medical mistakes, from the tens of thousands who die early from self-inflected choices like cancer, diabetes and heart disease, you are the destroyers.
From the hundreds of thousands with autism, etc, you are destroying your children faster than you kill your so-called enemies.
When the math is done, Mr Friedman, you Americans are the most violent, untrustworthy people on the planet.
America, and Israel which you seem to ignore in your article, are getting everything they deserve. And with your collectively deceitful and hypocritical behavior, I suspect this will happen for many more years to come. Looks like Bin Laden was right in his contempt for the USA. Looks like he was a visionary to me. Looks like Osama Bin Laden won, to me.
5
Friedman goes on and on about the "Middle Easterners" "clamoring for noncorrupt institutions ...... the rule of law ......"
He talks about Iran, Iraq, Lebanon, Syria, Yemen, and Libya. It is my understanding that "Middle Easteners" would include the Israelis, but Friedman makes no reference to Israel. Perhaps because the majority of Israelis seem to be in another camp, where corruption and violations of the law are the accepted norm.
1
When is teflon Obama get full attention for all the terribly things that he unleashed, nurtured .community organizing is not the way to train to be a president.
Not even a Palestinian West Bank honorable mention? The sclerotic corrupt government and Abu Mazen led kleptocracy. The Gazan insurrection against Hamas? Tin pot leaders given the boot by their people?
A true right to self determination-that would make the Wilson’s top hat spin?
Why is EU impotent towards the Iranian Mullah Regime, in fact EU is enabling its criminal enterprise, take a quick look at the daily reports coming out of the region, hundreds of Iranians & Iraqis’ are reportedly killed daily while in Lebanon, Iran’s proxy Hizbullah is dispatching it’s Iranian trained militias, so-called BASIJ, to intimidate, assault and discredit the protesters through the usual spin and distortion falsely claiming that the protesters are financed and mobilized by the usual suspects, Israel and the US.
All the while, EU is putting the final touches on launching a clearing house that will help Iran side-step US sanctions....that’s a disgrace...it must stop.
@PILATUSVOGEL -- Why? Because the US sabotaged the agreement that gave the EU leverage in Iran. It was the leverage of investments and relationships, now lost.
The fact is, Friedman was rooting for MSB success too. How did that turn out?
4
Of all people, Tom Friedman criticizing Iran? This, from the man who energetically supported the US invasion and destruction of Iraq. What I want to know is how does this man still have a voice.....a job?
6
@Jim -- Because he serves the correct people, instead of the people who are correct. His bread is buttered, and he knows which side.
2
Much of the disastrous situation described here was caused by the fraudulent 2003 Iraq war. Which, if I am not mistaken, Thomas Friedman supported. So far all his "lifelong experience" covering the Middle East (even when he was in kindergarten?) his prescriptions for righting the region should be taken with a grain of salt.
3
A very good article.
It's interesting that Israelis are not revolting, yet judging by the reporting of Mr. Friedman and others you would think that country is the human rights abuser in the Middle East. Mr. Friedman speaks of Mr. Trump's state-run media but doesn't mention how Obama administration officials virtually hand-picked him to get out their message. He also doesn't make much mention of the Iran nuclear deal he championed that destabilized the entire region and led to the gassing of innocent women and children by an emboldened and enriched Iran that moved into Syria. It's hard to admit when Netanyahu was right and Obama was wrong, especially when you saw it the opposite way and said so in public all the time. Meanwhile Israel forges on, a strong democracy and protector of freedom while all of these other countries lurch toward internal violence.
1
Dear Thomas Friedman, it is a long time ago Iran was our primary problem. Our problems exist much closer unfortunately. In today's environment it's become more difficult to tell who's the most immediate threat, which is just the way our "chaos" president likes it. Doesn't mean we as a people have to follow through. Now from an Israeli standpoint you're hitting the nail on the head.
This article could easily be seen as a description of the current United States just as easily as the middle east.
Yes, Iran is ruled by authoritarian leaders. But it is a republic. They do have political parties and elections and the people of Iran are struggling to transform their country.
It is more than ironic that Friedman now speaks of grassroots democracy movements in Iraq. It's as if we forgot that he and the Times supported the invasion of that country.
We are assumed to have forgotten the 500,000 children that died during the sanctions period.
We should pretend that George H.W. Bush didn't encourage the marsh Arab community to revolt against Saddam assuming that the US would provide them with air cover. We didn't and they were massacred.
Friedman forgot to mention how we sold the ingredients for poison gas to Iraq for use against Iran. This was all totally illegal under international law, but we don't pay much attention to international law.
But the real import of his column is the same as it was in the 1980's. Let's encourage elements within Iraq and Iran to war amongst themselves weakening their states so that we can move in and impose the American imperial order.
The voices of the American people won't be able to stop this strategy. They long ago cease listening to us.
But we can bear witness to these violations and we can call a spade a spade. So Mr. Friedman can raise his false claims fo support for democracy. I for one see the world differently and I suspect that so do many of the readers of the NYTimes.
5
If only Iran and Saudi Arabia would change and the ME would become secular but look at Turkey, it was a secular country, now heading to a theocratic dictatorship, so sad.
@getGar -- No, Turkey was the right wing military dictatorship shown in the movie "Midnight Express." It was a nightmare.
Erdogan has not gone all the way to Western style liberal democracy, but he is an improvement, not a throwback.
If we want better from Turkey, we have to look for more progress, not look back to what was far worse. Because it is still there, waiting, like al Sisi was in Egypt.
1
I'm no Middle East expert, but when I read "Iran is Crushing Freedom One country at a Time" the headline reminds me of Trump when he accuses others of lying.
3
Tom Friedman knows much more about the ME than I do but I can't help getting the impression that everything in the ME is coming up roses -- now it we can just get rid of those Iranians all will be fine.
1
@cec -- He told us it would all come up roses, if only we'd invade Iraq and kick in doors and scream at the cowering people we find inside, "Suck on this." (Charlie Rose show, 5/29/03)
So now he says he was right all along. Consider the source.
3
It's striking that, in this deconstruction of Iran's assault on democratic movements in the Middle East, Thomas Friedman studiously avoids any mention of the State of Israel - - which is an actual democracy in the Middle East (with its flaws, but still a democracy with elections, the rule of law, opportunities for women, etc.), and against which Iran has deployed the same militias and other malign forces that Friedman decries in this article. One would think that Israel would be a model that fledgling democratic movements in that region could and should look to for inspiration. Perhaps it's anti-Semitism that prevents them from doing so. What is it that prevents Friedman from doing so, though?
Please pay attention to crisis at hand: Constitutional Crisis shrouds US. It is a serious crisis as Russia has invaded US via Republican party who are controlled by Putin.
1
I can't help thinking how different, and how much better, these protesters' chances would be if Hillary Clinton were President, instead of a man who loves autocrats and dictators as brothers under the skin.
1
Readers, do not waste even one minute reading Thomas Friedman on Iran. The USA and its ally Saudi Arabia display an expertise in crushing freedom in Middle Eastern countries, one at a time, that Iran has never come close to matching. The USA began crushing Iran at least as far back as 1953 and has never given up since then, except for a brief Barack Obama 5 + 1 agreement.
If, however, you can find comments written by William Beeman, who often spends time in Iran, read those comments. He is masterful. Will watch here to see Beeman turns up.
Only-NeverInSweden.blogspot.com
Citizen US SE
5
With all the harm Iran is doing to its people and countries around it, you'd think international protest will follow.
Israel has been subjected to multiple UN resolutions, an international movement to divest from Israeli businesses, and the demonetization of anyone remotely connected to the country.
What's the difference? Iran is a muslim theocracy among many. Isreal is a democracy..... and the sole (and tiny) country that was created for Jewish peoples. Well, that just can't be tolerated.
Iran? Well that's business as usual.
What, no free press, no free elections in Muslim countries? So, when I read about the demise of democracy in the US I guess that’s just hyperbole.
Tom, I ran into you yesterday in Palm Beach at the airport. I couldn’t resist the fist pump, telling you what a big fan I was and to “keep up the important work.” I would have said more but wanted to be respectful of your privacy.
I wanted to say ‘How scared I am as a lawyer, lover of history, geopolitical studies, political theory, etc... and consciously witnessing the end of America under the leadership of evil incarnate.” I’m truly shocked how quickly people are led into a cult of personality then do the evil bidding of their leader such as promoting baseless conspiracy theories to lead the sheep to slaughter.
But you were no doubt, already penning many of my thoughts. America is indeed moving backwards while perhaps the Third World generally and maybe the Middle East particularly, is catching up on basic governance levels. The biggest difference is Fox News. Most oppressed peoples distrust their state news. Fox viewers, however, trust this purveyor, platform of misinformation and dangerous propaganda on a grand scale. America will remain divided as long as this network is allowed with impunity to spew this cancer. I know one immigrant that deserves real scrutiny: Rupert Murdock. He has zero loyalty to the American Experiment and is single handedly dismantling us!!! Can we turn our lens and pens to him and his family?
1
Do not get your hopes up for this generation.
In the United States, 40% of the population appears willing to vote itself into some style of theocracy. In the Middle East that proportion is over 90%. If you were to introduce democracy in any of the nations in the Middle East, they would vote themselves right back into a theocracy.
Because of their religious diversity, the only speck of land in the Middle East that would have a chance to get out of it is Kurdish. And we just betrayed them. Due to its biblical mandate, Israel is no exception.
These nations will first have to grow up (including the United States and Israel) before they have a chance to get out of their superstitious world views. Their self aggrandized, pious leaders will not let that happen.
The only way to change the trajectory is not through bombs but through a secular education storm for their children. Get them out of the madrasas and all religious schools. Take away their Koran and the Bible and replace them with a secular vision that centers on kindness and industriousness for the common good.
A.J. Deus
Social Economics of Poverty and Religious Terrorism
2
Could it be that younger Iranians are realizing they're tired to death of having these elderly mullahs control every aspect of their lives? It's been 40 years between revolutions but it's been worth the wait.
1
A little history test might be useful here.
What country invaded a middle eastern country that was the only counter balance to Iran?
What current NY Times columnist, excepting Stephens, promoted the invasion of Iran?
Take your time to answer.
4
“Iran Is Crushing Freedom One Country at a Time”
Interesting choice of headline – other choices are (1) “Saudi Arabia is … Crushing Freedom one Yemeni/Syrian … at a time”; (2) USA is Crushing Freedom One Country at a Time [in South America] and (3) Israel is crushing freedom one homestead at a time [in Palestine].
But those are the roads less travelled by Mr. Friedman as he seeks to push the USA anti-Iran propaganda.
Iran is no Western Democracy that practices free and fair elections, freedom of expression, equity and fairness of Distribution – but then no country in the world is a Western Democracy of that type.
And once again Mr. Friedman misses the point. The grotesque worldwide imbalance between the bloated rich and the marginalised poor is finally in it’s death throes. “Après moi, le déluge" ...has been on the lips of every bloated billionaire in recent years in the comfortable certainty that they shall outlive the reckoning. Louis XV of France, who uttered the aspiration did indeed outlive the French Revolution by a mere 13 years, but his successor Louis xvi did lose his head.
No, the struggle we are watching is the reaction against the neo-liberal economic ideology that has created our world – the world Mr. Friedman wrote about, in such glowing and ill-informed terms, in his book ‘Understanding Globalisation’.
5
Friedman should be out of mind to compare Trump to Middle Eastern dictators and Mullahs. It looks like he is not aware of what CNN and NY Times say 24/7 says about Trump. He is losing his credibility due to his TDS. Friedman may not like it, but the fact of the matter is that what is happening in Middle East is direct result of Trump's policies. Trump wants the people of these countries shape their own destiny instead of America shaping it with our blood and treasure. Wherever it is possible, America will be happy to help to advance aspirations the people there whether in Iran, Iraq, Lebanon, bu it will be always for advancing American national interest.
1
The U.S, owes the Middle East a debt due to the illegal and immoral invasion of Iraq that destabilized the region and murdered thousands of innocents. Have the CIA and State Department learned after so many failed coups? Have corporate owned media and the military industrial complex learned anything?
One can hope.
Vote folks, vote.
Tom,
For someone who spends an inordinate effort to keep informed, this short article has defined a major shift in zeitgeist of an entire etho-culture that I hadn't even heard about. I saw the clips of Iraqi's rioting in the street, but this is the first mass media primer on the underlying dynamics that I have come across.
Now, assuming you nailed it, do your realize what you have done? Who is the single world leader who is trying to destroy Iran's economy? The one person who expresses the same tone of animosity to the Religious Leader of Iran as this article.
We know the answer, it's the arch enemy of the newspaper and the readers of The New York Times. Are you not acknowledging that this person who is so reprehensible in so many ways, just may have understood that this country is that proverbial "evil empire." And if so, could this be justification of at least a chunk of his demagoguery and the dividing of our country!
1
"Americans are devolving into Sunnis and Shiites or, as we call them, Democrats and Republicans..."
They will allow anyone to write anything ?!
Wait, this is Friedman ?!
Is he out of his mind ?
He might have drawn an analogy with Liberals and Conservatives, but even that would be such a stretch.
Maybe he could have cited Chinese Communists or Russian Communists but Democrats and Republicans ?!
Such a drastic and rash comment by Friedman makes me point out to such persons to take a deep breath and wait for the outcome of the elections. The sun will shine again.
And sadly no, the Middle Eastern 'citizenry' will not ever be happy with Western style democracy.
An entire article about constricted freedoms in the Middle East and not one peep about Saudi? Truly shameful.
2
The story of the Middle East is very simple. You have a hot, dry inhospitable desert inhabited by roaming tribes. Along comes oil and the extreme appetite the developed world has for it. The kings, sheiks and ayatollahs get very rich and built a fake society giving the people material stuff to keep them quiet, happy and in check. Along comes things like the Green New Deal and the Paris Accord and all this starts to fail, welcome to today!!! As for us, we have our own ayatollah put in power by the evangelist who want to see our government turned into a religious state where the ayatollah has the real power pulling the strings on a puppet government and court system.
2
Mr. Friedman writes: “… the G.O.P. has elevated the exact same kind of autocrat … [he] surrounds himself with sycophants, con men …”
Please acknowledge the contributions of Trump's many female advocates and use more inclusive and gender-neutral wording in the future. It is more properly: “… surrounds himself with sycophants, con persons .. ”.
The people of Irak, Iran. Liban and Algeria (which Thomas Friedman does not mentioned) are fighting for democracy and also secularism or non sectarian democracy as Friedman wrote. In the USA, Republicans are fighting "militant secularists" (AG William Barr) and want to build a theocratic state. In Canada the left allied himself with Islamists whom are supporters of the theocratic regimes of Iran and Saudi Arabia, against the secular law of the province of Québec government. Go figure.
6
This type of rhetoric is very destructive to our democracy. Shi'ite and Sunnis should not be compared to Republicans and Democrats. This is disgusting.
@johnny
You're right. This is an insult to the Sunnis and Shi'ites.
1
\\. . . And they’re clamoring for noncorrupt institutions — a deep state — and the rule of law, not just the arbitrary rule of militias, thugs or autocrats.
\\And right when Middle Easterners are demanding to be treated as citizens — not Sunnis or Shiites — Americans are devolving into Sunnis and Shiites or, as we call them, Democrats and Republicans, with the same tribal mentality: rule or die.
\\And worse, the G.O.P. has elevated the exact same kind of autocrat that Middle Easterners are trying to get rid of. Our sultan is just like one of theirs: He shirks the rule of law, nurtures a cult of personality through his own state-directed media, surrounds himself with sycophants, con men and conspiracy buffs, and denounces our professional deep state — its bureaucrats, diplomats and military officers — for trying to shackle him with our 230-year-old constitutional checks and balances. . . //
A "deep state" is characterized by "noncorrupt institutions . . . and the rule of law"? Sounds like he's defining "deep state" up, to paraphrase Sen. Moynihan. And if Mr. Friedman didn't have the bogus analogy it's doubtful he'd have anything worthwhile to say at all. Trump is our "sultan?" That's good for a guffaw. Can sultans be impeached?
I've read utterly ridiculous columns before, but this one surpasses all of them.
2
Israel is breathing a sigh of relief because the turmoil in Iran means they're out of the Iranian nuclear crosshairs for now.
@sharon5101
Israel is breathing a sigh of relief because Friedman has joined forces with Trump, Pompeo, and MBS in the demonization of Iran, and severely hampering the resistance to its colonization of the West Bank.
1
Maybe Iran would not be flailing around so destructively in the Middle East if our government lifted its stranglehold on the Iranian economy, allowed the rest of Europe to do so too, reduced the suffering of the Iranian people and let them get on with their lives. Maybe Iran's young and mostly irreligious population would have got rid of the mullahs by now if we did not keep propping up the ayatollah's theocracy with never-ending hostility and interference in Sunni-Shia conflicts.
3
sorry tom..no one cares.....
the people here in the US care about us...not them
we have always been a xenophobic, isolationist leaning nation that is full of itself and sees the rest of the world as second rate...maybe even less
it is true and painful. and trump is himself is the latest manifestation
you and all the brainy pundits never thought trump could win with his USA First zeal.....he did.
Iran, Lebanon, the whole Middle East.......they might as well be on the moon....
I am sorry, Mr. Friedman, but you have got to stop with your patronising and condescending know it all opinions. Ever since you encouraged the invasion of Iraq, you have spectacularly shown how disconnected you are from reality in the Middle East. Or maybe, you are the mouthpiece for " US foreign policy establishment? The underlying challenge for this region is the kicking out the Western and Israeli interference that plagues this region. Get rid of the US forces and the corruption will return to typical commerce. For you to accuse Iran of repression or the " bad guy " in this context just proves my point. Please NY Times give Mr. Friedman a nudge out and save us all.
1
Esteem and impartial, Mr Thomas Friedman, this reader believes Israel and Saudi Arabia are also part of the Middle East. Their conspicuous omission in this your commentary is as baffling as it is disingenuous.
What else am I missing?
1
Why does this man still have a byline. He's never met a major issue he's been right about.
4
Mr Friedman, I am a long time reader of your columns. Wish you had included the aspiration of Palestinians also.
1
Oh my....while Mr. Friedan tells the truth, and nothing but the truth, he doesn’t tell the whole truth. Think hard Mr.Friedman.
1
Friedman is just another Republican that got every history making question wrong but still wants you to "just hear me out".
1
I remember Bush the Idiot being puzzled after he declared "Mission Accomplished" that not peace but violence ensued. He reportedly asked Mr. Rumsfeld, "Sunnis and Shiites? I thought they were all Muslims."
Thankfully, Mr Friedman is not playing cheerleader for a US led war with Iran in the same fashion he championed the invasion of Iraq. Not yet anyway.
2
I sometimes have to wonder if Tom Friedman and I are sharing the same planet. Otherwise, how could he possibly see the historically bitter and bloody internecine warfare between Sunnis and Shiites in the Middle East as comparable to today’s Democrats and Republicans in Washington? What he unwittingly reveals, however, is how right President Trump was to get out of the Iran nuclear deal. With all the bluster of how globalization, climate change,etc. are going to exacerbate the situation in the Middle East, there is, of course, no solution put forth, because there is none as long as Islamic fundamentalism and its attendant corruption is wiped out, and right now that doesn’t look very promising.
Ironic, isn't it that the current occupant of the White House, might be succeeding in Iran, even though it's for the wrong reason? Iran internally is so isolated from the rest of the world that it is hard to get accurate information about the restiveness there, but the Islamic Republic appears to be in real danger. The harsh new sanctions imposed on Iran might have proved to be a tipping point for the population. Regime change is likely on the minds of long-suffering Iranians, subjected to forty years of stiff-necked, fundamentalist religion.
This could turn out to be another "Arab Spring", a brief period of popular agitation against ruling authorities that quickly died out with little real change, except for Tunisia. Time will tell, but Mr. Friedman seems to think this is the real thing. I hope he's right, and I, too, will be rooting for their success.
Once again, this great intellectual pundit gives us the benefit of his astute analysis of the events in the Middle East, except that as usual it is based more on myths and than on reality. His favourite topic of sectarian divisions in the Middle East is what Israel and its agents have been peddling. It seems to have escaped his notice that the United States invaded Iraq on trumped up charges, destroyed the country, killed more than a million people, gave rise to vicious terrorist groups and imposed its corrupt viceroys on Iraq who embezzled billions of dollars of Iraqi assets. As a result, some 75% of Iraqi citizens are unemployed. He seems to have forgotten that after a landmark nuclear deal that Iran had meticulously observed, not only did Trump violate that deal out of spite, but has also imposed unprecedented extraterritorial sanctions on the country, which amounts to an act of war and economic terrorism. He also seems to have forgotten that the United States, Israel and its Arab allies spent billions on training and arming terrorists to topple Bashar Assad as they had done in the case of Qadhafi, Saddam Hussein and others, in the process destroying the country and giving rise to half a million dead and millions of refugees. The problem of the Middle East is not sectarianism, but neocon-led regime change. The sooner we have a real regime change in the United States the better!
2
Yet, Mr. Friedman is aware of what is currently occurring in these countries while you are tied to nurturing and reciting past grievances that hold or acknowledge no other countries involvements in their own demise or due to their government’s bizarre narcissism, manipulation, and suppression of human rights, Why is that? I see a broken record played by someone always blaming Friedman, the US, and Israel. OK Blamer. Instead read up on current analysis other than Friedman’s such as the journalists in Lebanon, etc. Travel to these counties and get a birds eye view yourself as Friedman does. Your comfort zone needs airing out a bit.
1
Your suggesting a moral equivalence between Donald Trump and the brutal regimes of the Middle East, especially in Syria and Iran, only serves to demonstrate your lack of a moral bearing. There is no comparison between any American president and any of the sadists that have governed Iran, Iraq, and Syria during much of the past 50 years.
Yes, many Middle Eastern Arabs, Kurds, and Persians are demanding their rights, especially in Iraq. We have George W. Bush to thank for this. Despite President Obama's premature withdrawal from Iraq, Iraq is still much better off than it was under Saddam Hussein, and the region is noticing that democratic institutions and human rights can have a place in Arab and Muslim countries.
The great enemy of progress toward human rights in the region is Iran. I am not a fan of President Trump's erratic foreign policy, but I appreciate his being more forceful in opposing Iranian hegemony in the region.
4
I think the path forward for the US is to do 3 things, all geared towards washing our hands of middle east politics:
1) Push harder to redemocratize Venezuela and form a cooperative pact to further develop their oil production for export to Western countries
2) Keep up the domestic oil production
3) Push harder into green energy
Western values are not aligned at all with Eastern and Middle Eastern values. We need to detangle our interests as much as possible from their culteral influence, and that includes trade.
Iran will probably buckle under the sanctions. I don't see it lashing out. If they do they'll be destroyed. I have no doubt that Israel would win a war with Iran, and that should be scary to everyone!
We can still keep up a strong fight against radicals in the region without being entangled in their policies. I don't think they'll come around to a Western way of thinking any time soon.
As the world weans from oil, their power will diminish.
1
These states in turmoil all have a similarity - they were all being propped up by Iran’s money. Since the nuclear deal was signed, hundreds of billions of dollars flowed into Iran who became immediately rich and they spent the money spreading their Shia crescent across the Middle East. All an after effect of the nuclear deal. Trump has turned that flow of money off and suddenly these states are in a free fall. The money that Iran was spending on corruption is gone and now that the corrupt people have lost their power. Now the nations people hold the power and they are pushing back and trying to kick out the corrupt people and take their country back. A win for “Sultan” Trumps policy.
Thomas Friedman makes some very valid points regarding the attempted changes taking place versus authoritarian leaders in the Mideast. Unfortunately, history has told us with Iraq invasion of 2003 and the “Arab Uprising “ of 201o-2011 actions don’t bring the desired results.
Until we have a consensus of leadership around the world and not blame the U.S. alone for the problems in the Mideast, Mr Friedman’s comments fall a bit shallow. As much I agree with many of his comments on Trump, it’s time to admit that the desire for more representative governments in the Mideast may not be practical or sound bites against a Western leader often bring about the opposite intended results.
Your article reminds me of the excitement and hype by US news media when Arab spring started from Tunisia and spread almost all over ME. Saudi Arabia crushed mercilessly the protesters in UAE. Did you raise your objection back then, by any chance? Have you ever raised your concern for the proxy war funded by Arab Sheikhs through ISIS in Syria? Saudi are committing atrocities in Yemen as we speak. I agree with you said about Iranian regime, but what choice does US leave for Iran? US invasion of Iran made the whole region extremely unstable. It will be completely insane for Iranian regime not to create strong foothold in the region. Iran like any other country seeks deterrence from US hegemony. US supports brutal regimes like Saudi Arabia, and sells advanced technologies to all its friends in the region. What else do you exactly expect from Iran? Just stay quiet?
US decades long policy of supporting brutal dictators is the root of all miseries in ME. Yes, Iraq has a corrupt government. Should I remind you that it was US who destroys Iraq and set stage for a totally broken system?
When British colonialism dismantled Ottoman empire through WWI, its sole purpose was to create a region that never ever see stability. Shiite vs Sunni was one of tools to achieve that. US follows the same path.
Iran is not the only bad actor in the Middle East, and not the only country that supports oppression in other countries. There is also our ally and source of Wahhabism and Wahhabist practitioners of terrorism by aircraft -- Saudi Arabia. Decaying countries with corrupt dictators are no threat to the Saudis, but dynamic economies not based on oil riches are. The Egypt that might have emerged a few years ago would have been a threat, but today this threat has been neutralized. The Saudi state religion regards Shiites as apostates or heretics, and Iran as the leading Shiite country is the theological enemy.
Iran is crushing freedom in a few countries, but Saudi Arabia is working at crushing the freedom of women in any country with Muslim women.
If Hezbollah disappeared, Lebanon would have one less sect in its toxic sectarianism; actually, there would still be a large group of poor, unhappy Shiites looking for leaders to defend their sectarian interests, so there would not be one less sect but maybe even more.
Stressing Iran's complicity in the Mideast mess just helps Trump and the Israeli sect whose control of Israel seems to be slipping. It echoes their line just as the Republicans echo Moscow's.
More Friedman wishful thinking. Sounds good but it never happens. And Iran is not the sole problem. Local despots are diabolical enough without help from Iran.
"One is from the streets of Beirut to the streets of Baghdad to streets all across Iran, Middle Easterners are demanding to be treated as citizens with rights, and not just members of a sect or tribe with passions to be manipulated."
I have this awful feeling of deja vu. Remember the "Arab Spring" when Friedman was crowing that things in the Middle East from now on will be "different"?
1
Warmongering rhetoric aside, it is our country which actively meddles in almost every country on the face off the earth, which backs dictatorships, orchestrates military coups, trains foreign military in torture techniques and arms terrorists in its never-ending turf wars for control of raw materials and cheap labor. No other country comes close.
This in part is America’s meddling for 70 years in other people’s business for American business under the guise of freedom.
1
Liberal democracy WILL win, all over the globe, time after time, if promoted and nurtured. In the Information Age, it is no longer possible to keep people from the truth. You can be free. You can say what you want to say. You can do what you want to do. You can travel where you want to travel. You don't have to be afraid of secret police and star chambers. Everyone, if fully informed, would choose freedom over oppression. However, the moment that a competent messenger is no longer able to spread the message, the dream of liberal democracy will die. Never has it been more important for the democracies of the world to realize the importance of their message and bind themselves together. Democracies rarely fight with each other. We trade better with one another. We know how to integrate and absorb human migrations. We know how to innovate. We need to stop befriending illiberal autocrats and monarchs for short term gains and get down to the mission of spreading the message of freedom. Isolationism, populism, anti-globalism ---- these are weapons of our own demise.
Yes, trump is the least religious leader we have ever had and the least principled. He is however akin to the devil’s spawn as reflected in the Left Behind series describing the biblical end of world. In this series the world leader rises up in the political ranks and fools the populace to love him all the while he is actually the devil’s spawn, an evil doer and brings down humanity. Too many similarities for my liking.
Democrats do not have the tribal rule-or-die mentality. They would be happy to work with Republicans who are ready to work with them, but those Republicans are RINOs to the real Republicans. Their tribalism is a defense, and a necessary one, against the rule-or-die tribalism of the Republicans. They are fighting not to rule but to avoid being ruled. Republicans have a autocratic leader and are in lockstep behind him; Democrats do not have one and do not want one; Blogo was kicked out of office.
The main thing that concerns me is that we don't try to fix it this time around with our military.
“ Iran is crushing freedom one country at a time”. What an odd thing for Thomas Friedman to say considering his position of fully backing the invasion of Iraq and of course the U.S. and Israel’s backing and continual involvement in crushing The Arab Spring, inserting El Sisi as the new Mubarak, America and Israel’s puppet dictator after ousting the duly elected a President of Egypt, ditto similar efforts to crush or undermine the will of other nations at the Middle East who might represent a threat to Israel. I would say it’s us and Israel who have spent the last fifty plus years crushing Democracy unless of course its “ our” kind of Democracy. The time is long overdue to leave the folks in the Middle East alone, they muddled along for thousands of years doing much better before we showed up, essentially the entire Middle East has been sacrificed so there might be one example of American style “ democracy”. Does sacrificing fifty plus million for the wishes and safety of fewer than seven million mostly arrivistes seem democratic?
1
If ever a government is to be “for” the people. It must be first made “of” and “by” the people through the people’s dedication, sacrifice and efforts. It appears the Iraqi people may be showing us the way.
Mr Friedman stops just short of connecting the dots - if Iran is the cause of so much strife across the Middle East through hezbollah and it’s other proxies, the first step in helping is to starve Iran of funds that help export terrorism.
Give Tump credit - his Iran policy is on target. Giving billions to the mullahs like Obama did, and hoping for Iran to turn into Denmark was a dumb policy.
"tribal, sectarian, religious differences must be overcome" - does that include Israel, or do they get a pass again?
As for these fake protests, who is paying for the banners I see in the photos? The CIA? It's terribly naive to think these street protests are not organized by CIA operatives. The goal is pro-American regimes in the Middle East, to support the control of their oil by US corporations.
Friedman: “Americans are devolving into Sunnis and Shiites or, as we call them, Democrats and Republicans, with the same tribal mentality: rule or die.” This is a poor analogy. It implies that Dems and Repubs are two sides of the same coin. But anyone with any integrity knows that it is the GOP that has put power above any other consideration. Which is why it shields an obviously criminal president from accountability. Friedman should be more careful with his words.
1
The protests in Iran are fueled by the crippling sanctions the US has imposed on Iran. And is Iran really the Big Satan here? No country has done more to prevent secular societies from taking root in the Middle East than Saudi Arabia with their funding of fundamentalist madrassas . And why are the Palestinians missing from your list of Middle Easterners demanding to be treated as citizens with rights?
We haven't reached the liberal democratic End of History yet but are sliding back into a propagandized period where populists manufacture fear and loathing of other people and claim to be political messiahs who will deliver their people from all the social and economic problems facing them, both real and fake . Tribalism, sectarianism, partisanism are back with people like Trump, Netanyahu and all the other wannabe strongmen in power. Instead of the West democratizing the Middle East with its meddling , the West has been undemocratizing itself.
Having failed time after time in my evaluation of the ME, there fixed it. Now I’ll read, like a good poster child for the definition of insanity.
Mr. Friedman, the Middle East will never get its act together. It lacks... everything, except oil, weapons, passionate hatred, uneducated people and the peculiar ignorance of religious societies.
The worldview Mr Friedman expresses is a great example of think tank delusion, where ideology and myth trumps reality.
If the title had substituted "The U.S." for "Iran" it would have made logical. empirical sense. This century the U.S. bombed anything that moved in the region, and Iran filled the vacuum.
And as for 'crushing freedom', I wonder why NYT columnists rarely mention Saudi Arabia. Such criticisms are usually left to the Editorial Board, while the columnists themselves shy away from getting on bad personal terms with the rich, generous and welcoming sheikhs.
The U.S.A., with its undeniable role in strengthening compliant dictatorships and bombing the rest, has no right to highlight rampant corruption and the stifling of human rights in Iran. We all know how corrupt the Iranian regime is. What is less obvious is the stealth corruption in the U.S.A., by which I mean the legalised and cynically legitimised corruption pursued by the 1 %.
2
Yes and yes, but we need to start by calling a spade a spade.
Iran is not tinkering around in Iraq just to preclude her citizens from seeing freedom next door. Iran is there and everywhere because she wants and thinks she is entitled to hegemony.
Another issue-The liberal West must stop opposing a tough stance on Iran.
Also to compare the usual divisions and infighting in a democracy to what is going on in Iran and her neighbors is not recommended.
A most enlightening essay on the state of affairs and a timely advice (or warning) to the ME citizens not to miss the future, yet again, and learn to build a truly responsible pluralistic society.
"But the bad guys at the top won’t go easily, quietly or bloodlessly." Maybe that applies to the U.S. also. (Unfortunately his supporters have most of the weapons, and he also controls the military ... so he'll probably be with us for a long, long time).
1
Mr Friedman,
Iran's citizens are starting to shake, rattle, and roll due to the sanctions SQUEEZING. The U.S. and it's administration is playing this one beautifully. No need for daily tweets from Trump. Just keep applying the pressure, and don't overreact when they try to strike out. So obvious.
Iran may be crushing freedoms as it continues to be backed into a corner by sanctions, but the US has a long standing tradition, especially in the Middle East, of supporting regimes that crush freedom.
Iran itself, is a perfect example where we propped up the Shah and wound up with a worse mess because of it, the same goes for Iraq, Egypt, Kuwait, Syria, Lebanon, Saudi Arabia, Yemen, Chad, Sudan, Somalia, Ethiopia; I could go on but one sees a very clear pattern in US foreign policies of resources over people, of profits over principles.
With the US being less than 5% of the World Population and consuming over a third of the world resources, whether Democrat or Republican in office, whether polarised or not, one thing Americans seem to agree upon is that as long as the resources flow in, they don't care what happens to the people there.
The US has been riding on the good deeds of WWII followed by the attacking of 37 sovereign nations and the resulting loss of over 20 million lives since then. It would be more accurate to change the headline to "The US Is Crushing Freedom One Country at a Time". We are far from being able to criticise Iran when we have such a poor foreign policy track record.
2
Instead of using their soft diplomacy and helping the democratic minded, pluralists in the Arab world, the major powers -- including the United States -- have been selling arms to the feuding parties, sheltering their stolen money in their banks, attracting their spoiled children to their schools for rich endowments and the list goes on.
We pretend that these young Arab boys and girls who have had the experience of the Arab Spring don't understand the double-dealing of the West. They do. When Saddam Hussein, Qaddafi or the Talibans were conveniently serving their interest, they were propped up and the day they started asking for some kind of parity, they were done away with. Saudi Arabia and Iran have waged wars on an unprecedented scale in the name of Sunnis and Shias making the poor Yemenese and others the victims.
The danger seems to be two fold: tormented, the Arabs will demographically like to shift to Europe for a better life causing all kinds of (e.g., refugee) problems. And secondly, out of these extended chaos and confusion may emerge another variety of militant Islamists who would claim to have all solutions to the problem. And many young Muslims from all over the world may fall for them, just as they did for the Talibans and the ISIS.
Watching the fearful tide, even if largely imaginary, from the Arab world, the not-so-powerful countries would try to reinforce their borders to prevent inflow of refugees and immigrants -- that may be mistakenly called Islamophobia.
4
@Binoy Shanker Prasad .. The article conveniently skips how a destabilized middle east has ALWAYS served US interest and their economy of selling weapons.
Every war in that region.. US has a hand in it one way or another ..
MR. Friedman's life time of following the middle east is VERY one sided.
I happen to be a big fan of the reasoned Tom Friedman but unfortunately I think he has this one wrong. We have seen this sort of thing play out many times before in all the corners of the globe. It will end up being a gasp for freedom rather than a sustainable movement. The authoritarian forces among the populations will see to that.
17
@Jack So you would do exactly what? Tom says just what you said: it won't be easy. I doubt that the quest of freedom of thought and action will ever go away, despite the "authoritarian forces." Our forefathers fought successfully for this, despite the then naysayers, who would have just stayed under English rule; the struggle continues and will always do so. Tom is just stating the obvious: the bad guys will continue to suppress the good guys who will continue to fight- for freedom.
3
@Jack What is unsustainable is autocratic governments keeping their people down in the information age. As the old saying goes, you can't keep them on the farm once they've seen Paris. You want to truly topple these governments and let freedom ring? Divert the energy spent on espionage and invest in providing internet access. When these kids see professional wrestling, exciting sports, beautiful women, people having fun on the beach ---- they will resist. Sure, it sounds trivial....but it's not. You only live once, and that life can be fun. That's a powerful idea. We take it for granted in the West that we can just live our lives. Show the oppressed that life can be enjoyed and that you don't have have to fear your overlords. Freedom is a really, really good idea. On the battlefield of ideas, it always wins.
1
@Jack Mr Friedman in fact referred to the chances of these movements being remote. But in this technological day, this "could" be the moment. Encouragement from the strongest country on earth and their allies is needed, and has to be sustained. We are all humans. Regardless of ethnicity and religion, we all really want them same thing. Happiness, and security of food, warmth and shelter.
It would have been helpful had Mr. Friedman provided some context and history of the present Iranian government. That an absolute monarchy, the Pahlevi dynasty, ruled Iran with an iron fist for generations. That the Iranians overthrew the regime around 1951 and elected a parliamentary government under the leadership of Prime Minister, Mohammed Mossedegh. That shortly thereafter the United States instigated a coup against his government and installed the Pahlevi regime again under the rule of the Shah. That his secret police, SAVAK, killed and tortured thousands of Iranians. That finally he was deposed by religious leaders who set up a parliament and an electoral system.
The United States was making diplomatic progress with Iran that culminated in the landmark nuclear agreement between Iran, the U.S. and five European governments. But when Trump became president, he withdrew from the agreement and instituted harsh economic sanctions to destroy its government. That led its government to hit back, encouraging unconventional forces to attack its enemies in Saudi Arabia, Lebanon, and Israel.
3
And Mr. Friedman, did the nuclear deal address any of this?
Of course not.
It gave Iran carte blanche to continue doing what it is doing, and you are a minimalist in what you describe re Iran, I could add much more, but your point can stand without additional bolstering,
Perhaps those who opposed it, saw the inherent and clear dangers in Iran's behavior, an Iran that would have been strengthened by world recognition and support through that deal.
I hope that those in Europe trying to make an end-run around the US sanctions to make money read your op-ed.
But even if they do, I doubt it will influence them.
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Maybe they wouldn’t have if the US didn’t bail but instead make it stronger.
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@Joshua Schwartz
Engagement is a step by step process, predicated on building faith.
Back to square one with Trump.
3
@Thoma Engagement requires honesty in the process. "Abiding" at one step does not give carte blanche to wreak havoc on others. Iran never stopped that. There never was a "square".
7
Thank you for your Opinion Colum Mr. Friedman. It is because of those very "thugs" that I had to emigrate from my native Lebanon.
The rampant corruption has been going in intensity for over 35 years now. In a way, I am amazed the boiling point took so long to get to when it started in Lebanon this past October.
Sadly, Washington with the current administration, is taking that similar fateful turn that led me to leave my birth country to begin with. I honestly hope I will not be forced yet again to find another "fully" democratic country in my life time!
50
Why aren't more of us in the United States taking to the streets in protest in the ways we are seeing in Iran, Iraq and Lebanon? Is it because we Americans don't believe things are bad enough for us yet? Many of our allies seem to think we are in trouble. We should consider that our future may be playing out in the Middle East right now. We should be thinking long and hard about that. And we should be taking notes. Because if Trump and his Republican enablers manage to win again next year, we are surely going to need them.
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That’s not true. Our system has safeguards that theocratic autocracies don’t have. Besides Trump making you pull your hair out, has your life changed that much? Will the Pats and Brady find their offensive groove?
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@Alberto Abrizzi
"... has your life changed that much?"
Don't you think we should look beyond our own personal circumstances and endeavor to promote the health of our society as a whole?
The ACA was saved by John McCain's one vote. That was a close one. Tens of millions in the US have gained health care through Obamacare, and its provisions serve to protect every American with health insurance.
Are you really content with Trump's Cabinet? With public education (including student loan debt) and US infrastructure? You don't mind that environmental regulations (e.g., air pollution and water quality) are being eviscerated? Or that we are withdrawing from the Paris Accord, abdicating leadership responsibility in the fight against climate change?
You don't care that the only significant legislation Trump and his GOP enablers passed (with total control of Congress and the Executive Branch) was a massive tax cut for the wealthy and corporations; and that the deficit has soared to over one trillion dollars? That Trump is pressuring the Fed to cut interest rates to zero (what if we have a recession?)
We have adequate "safeguards"? Trump will not be convicted in the Senate. He could be re-elected. SCOTUS & the Fed judiciary are being stacked.
Enjoy your NFL games. And keep fiddling to the bitter end.
20
@Bobbloggerstein - His influential conduct has been substantially different.
1
Mr. Friedman...you write a whole article on the turmoil in the Middle East and are especially critical of Iran, and not one mention of Saudi Arabia...not one mention! Saudi Arabia is at least as bad, or more likely worse, than Iran, for the problems in the Middle East and around the world - particularly Saudi support of ISIS. America’s continued support of Saudi Arabia is shameful.
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@TVance
Because of its population and sphere of influence, it is difficult to make the case that Saudi Arabia is "worse" than Iran, at this moment.
That said, I agree with you in 2 important respects:
1) If we make it through the reign of the old, vengeful Ayatollah's without even worse war; the Iranian people, who do not agree with these bad leaders, will assert their will and become a much more friendly country.
2) Saudi Arabia has been a small tribe for most of its history - as compared with long-standing, proud Persian civilization - and its people are directly subject to the whims of the murderous Mohammed bin Salman, and whomever takes his place in royal succession over time.
4
@Mark Keller
The reason he didn't mention Saudi Arabia is simple
1) The Saudis agree with US foreign policy objectives in the Middle East (e.g. invasion of Iraq)
2) The Saudis purchase tens of billions in weapons from US defence contractors
As usual, NYT tries to deflect attention from Saudi Arabia and malign Iran instead, showing its priority really is to uphold the US foreign policy apparatus. The "human rights" sanctions the US has imposed on Iran (but not on the absolute monarchy Saudi Arabia) really are a geopolitical instrument to constrain Iran, which is not agreeable to US foreign policy objectives and makes sovereign decisions independent of US pressure.
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@TVance
I am sure if he was to mention Saudi Arabia, he would mention its current massive economic and social reforms. Saudi Arabia had its flaws, for sure,but they are doing great job in changing their country, and at unprecedented rapid change! This is all part of the kingdom's vision 2030 which stands on three pillars (a booming economy which is independent from oil, a vibrant society and an ambitious nation). So much happened in the last 3 years that could set Saudi Arabia to the developed world. For example:
-Gave women their full rights, they are now equally alike to men in their legal rights. (they can drive, work and travel without the consent of a male guardian).
-Signed deals to manufacture weapons, cars, airplane parts and other electronic in Saudi Arabia.
-Allocated programs to elevate the standards of living which aim to reduce obesity, smoking and increase sports.
-Allocated programs to invest in human capital since 70% of Saudi population is under 30 years old. They can be a great and essential asset in taking Saudi Arabia to the developed world. That is why so many educational, training programs have started their work with international universities and institutions to teach, train and develop Saudi youth.
-Adopted zero-tolerance policy towards terrorism and radicalism.
-Opened up the country to the rest of the world through implanting tourist visa, and relaxed the dress code for both the Saudis and tourists. women are no longer required to wear head covers
2
I think atheism is trying to root out religion in the middle east and all around the globe. Democracy should enable people to vote for religious leaders, not just scientific atheists or technocrats. This is not to say there shouldn't be freedom among the religions. In my opinion they are all aiming for morality and civil society.
It's too easy to slip into gross materialism and egotism and predatory war when the tenets of religion are lost. The greatest step forward will be when the religions of the world recognize their unity and stop competing among themselves. Competition as in the world of business becomes zero-sum and loses sight of the common good.
1
I too am rooting for their success. That said, given the example of Egypt, it seems that it will take many uprisings over many years (and sadly, probably many lives lost to death or imprisonment) before real lasting change will happen. I wonder what, if anything, will be left of those countries in such an upheaval. Time will tell.
“The Pot calling the Kettle Black.”
Friedman’s indictment of Iranian policy plays well in DC circles. The evil mullahs are the center of all that is harmful in the Middle East. They endanger US interests and, worse, defy our lead.
Iran is not a hegemon like we are—we essentially control the Western Hemisphere. Nor can they project power across oceans like we can. The accusation that all the problems of the Middle East is due to them is a stretch.
We have interfered in the Middle East since the end of World War II. We created alliances like CENTO. We opposed Arab Nationalism as in Egypt. We supported reactionary monarchy that relied upon religion as in Saudi Arabia. Democracy was for those nations that failed to follow our lead, and acceptance of authoritarian rule to those who did—Riyadh, Doha, Kuwait City, the Shah’s Tehran, and post-Sadat’s Cairo.
We unleashed our CIA to interfere in states from Lebanon-Syria to Sudan, and from Iran to Algeria.
There may be more sinister reasons to now censure Iran. Our “friends” in the area cannot take on even a weakened Iran. They need us to do the dirty work of combat for them. Creating consensus among Americans to accept one more Middle East conflict is vital to our justification for war.
2
Mr. Friedman makes some very telling points about the Middle Ease, noting that it is the citizens themselves who must remake their countries lives. The U.S. cannot do it for them.
Predictably, Mr. Friedman states that President Trump is in the same league as Arab despots. If that is true, American citizens have all the tools they need to remove this President at the ballot box in less than a year. Impeachment now is a dreadful waste of time and resources that should be used to improve the lives of our citizens. What has happened to Democratic initiatives on health care, climate change, improvements in trade relationships, prescription drugs? All consumed in the fire of a needless impeachment proceeding that ultimately is going nowhere.
2
@Alex The democrats have passed over 300 bills that sit on the desk of McConnell. They can walk and chew gum at the same time.
Protecting the constitution against an autocrat, no matter the outcome is hardly a waste of time.
1
@Alex
“What has happened to Democratic initiatives on health care, climate change...trade relationships, prescription drugs?”
Mitch McConnell happened. Ask him.
The good news for this Middle East saga is that many today are aware of the need to move away from the danger lurking before them and they are now demanding changes.
The worrisome news is that there is confusion as to an understanding of the political, economic, social, religious and philosophical reconfiguration required. Also worrisome is that among perceptive intellectuals there is no uniformity of thought as to methodology of achieving end result, no broad all-inclusive reconstructive cohesion. All discussion becomes stuck in the mire of the narrowness of endless debate and argumentation. As a result, desire for change has only limited political power.
Most worrisome is the human problem that has from the beginning of the Sumerian Egyptian Age been the societal template. The configuration was then and continues to be is autocratic. At its core is a small number of people with wealth and power at the top and a very large number of disenfranchised under them.
www.InquiryAbraham.com
2
Wonderful. Great article. We need to have hope.: to be inspired by those who risk everything for a better future. Long live the global IRevolution and all the Iwarriors who fight for truth, wisdom and compassion.
1
It all goes back to George W. Bush's regime change war that weakened Iraq leading to the ultimate beneficiary of which was Iran. The Bush doctrine of Democracy for all countries in the middle east failed miserably. Just a few hours ago the democratic government of Iraq has fallen after the death of 100s of protesters who were killed by security forces. Iranian consulate was burned by the protesters. Freidman may be right that Iran is crushing freedom but the protesters have not given up because they are fighting against the dire economic conditions including the rise in gasoline prices in Iran.
Let the grass-roots movements, one can call the one in Iran as the "Persian fall" take its course without any financial, military or covert help from the west but plenty of moral and diplomatic support as was articulated by Trump at the NATO meeting yesterday. Stay out of any military confrontation or even threat of military action to change the regime in Iran . The Iranian revolutionary guard is not a flimsy cowardly force and cannot be underestimated and should not be messed with.
1
Bush did not help, but the modern history of Iran is a bit older. Begin your analysis in 1935 with Reza Kahn.
Very accurate contrast between America and Iran. I have always believed that the fundamentalist religious right is not very different from fundamentalist Islam, not the terrorist Islamic movement. Both believe that their religion is the only answer to salvation. Both want everyone to be a believer in their religion. Both are very intolerant of non-believers. Both reject the concept of separation of church and state, in fact, would like to have their religion the state religion. Both heavily support the military. How odd that neither the conservative, religious right nor fundamentalist Islamic right cannot recognize these similarities. Universality is not an inherent human characteristic.
11
All of these countries except Iran were ruled by colonial powers that played the different sectarian and ethnic groups off against each other to stay in power. But the Europeans did not invent these problems. Tribalism and sectarianism are historic problems almost everywhere.
Gandhi united India by being as respectful toward Muslims, Sikhs, and Christians as he was toward Hindus and Jains. If the people of Lebanon, Syria, and Iraq can rise above the prejudices of identity politics they will become more prosperous, but this is easier said than done.
The problems in Iran are different. In the early 1950s there was a constitutional monarchy in Iran that voted to nationalize the oil industry. It should have been the right of the legislature to do this, but the US and Britain backed a military coup there that overthrew a legitimate government and replaced it with an absolute monarchy that was beholding to foreign corporate interests. In order to stay in power the Shah brutally exterminated all political opponents other than the religious leaders and the result was a theocracy, once the revolution finally overthrew the Shah in 1979.
The hostage crises did not really hurt the United States as much as we hurt Iran when we overthrew the legitimate democratic government of Mossadegh in 1953. Everything we have done to Iran since the hostage crises only strengthened the theocracy with the exception of the deal that Obama negotiated.
9
@Robert Scull I couldn't agree more. We just don't seem to learn from our mistakes especially with the current administration.
1
Thank you Mr. Friedman for this informative article. it would have been more informative, however, if you had mentioned how these repressive regimes maintain their power. That is, the role of some European countries, Russia, and China, can not and should not be ignored and dismissed in helping these brutal, illegitimate, and inhumane regimes..
7
Great article, when everyone has a cell phone, a google app at their fingertips, they can truly see and read for themselves what the rest of the world is like. Too bad we didn’t rain down cell phones instead of cluster bombs, this is democracy on the move.
5
This was a really astonishing article by Friedman,--his political philosophy laid on the table. Here it is, the U.S. vis a vis the Middle East: The main problem with the Middle East is that tribal, sectarian, religious differences must be overcome, and that grass roots movements toward democracy are positive, and of course Democracy is the positive outcome, but insofar as Friedman compares and contrasts the Middle East with the U.S. there is another step the Middle East must take to ensure democracy: A vast Deep State system, one of professional bureaucrats, diplomats and military officers, for that system is precisely what Friedman believes is holding the U.S. together between partisan differences and challenges such as Trump to the U.S. system.
Friedman's political philosophy is astonishing of course, because it forces us clearly to ask what exactly is the Deep State phenomenon not to mention how to politically and economically characterize it. Friedman no doubt would call it democracy, but that is obviously not the case. It's not democracy, not republic, not projected Constitutional construct,--so what is it?
I would describe the Deep State system in purely scientific terms as anti-entropy systems, methods, procedures for moving humanity to higher order, greater complexity. It's extremely controversial because it's not necessarily what people want, democracy, but is a type of forced order, tyranny distinguished from all others by identification of necessary direction.
3
@Daniel12 your description of just what is the Deep State is thought provoking. To me, it's analogous to trying to describe an individual's soul. Neither the Deep State or the soul can be defined in actuality, but neither can be separate from the individual or the government. And, both can be either a force for the greater good, or corruption.
1
@Daniel12 "Deep State" is a term created by the conspiracy theorists who want to instill mistrust in our governmental systems and civil servants. I prefer to call what you have described as the "Deep State" system as our "government" personified by people like Ambassador Marie Yovanovitch.
1
"Go figure. We’re becoming them right when they want to become us — or what used to be us."
Fascinating piece. I hope you're right to stay optimistic about the chances of popular citizen uprisings for freedom in the Middle East, despite crushing backlash and military put-downs from Iran.
The US, whose policies over the years have helped trigger Middle Eastern instability, wars, and fights over resources, is strangely quiet. While Friedman urges Trump to encourage democracy, he's far more interested in pursuing conspiracy theories to keep himself in office.
The US has gone missing in this capricious time, led by a man totally incapable of grasping the new political order because of his intense preoccuption with holding onto political power.
10
@ChristineMcM "The US, whose policies over the years have helped trigger Middle Eastern instability..."
Bold statement, Christine!!
Great article. What I found interesting is that this new popular uprise in the Middle East is not very different from the one occurring in Latin America. I think that thanks to the ubiquity of mobile internet, even people with little or no access to good education, are now aware of how corrupt their public administrations are, and are willing to bring them down. I also so much root for their success.
3
For all those who claim that, contra Hitchens, it’s not really religion behind most of the worlds ills but man’s quest for power but that is all religion has ever been. Even for the poor and weak, for they see no other way to gain any influence except via a supernatural entity and the wealthy and demagogues see how easily that desire can be manipulated.
Religion, by it’s very nature, is divisive and tribal. What is the Catholic church’s soup kitchens but the quest for power and influence dressed up as caring? The pose of humility is very useful and feels good. Washing another man’s feet is great optics for the gullible and those seeking a “kind” meaning in life outside the violent struggle of survival. Humanity does have a more gentle, empathetic side and maybe our religious propensities can guide us even though it’s an illusion. Illusions can be very useful and comfortable.
Religion will always be with us however. It’s baked in humanity like sexual desire because it feels good emotionally and confirms that warm fuzzy of power and comfort. There’s no escaping it. Ills and all. Hitches was correct.
3
All this is fine and good, but given a chance, the Arabs vote in reality or through wars for Big Men. And they respect them. Before Trump made declarations in favor of Jerusalem, the journalists of many countries loved him.
Supporting dictators in times of uncertainty is in our genes. Contemporary research also supports the existence of this phenomenon. And our genes take centuries to change. Furthermore, given who has children, support for dictators is likely to grow.
5
Iranians aren't protesting for Jeffersonian democracy, they're protesting against higher gasoline prices. Too often Americans project their own beliefs onto people in the Third World who don't have any conception of constitutional government whatsoever. And a few street parties between Shiites and Sunnis in Baghdad doesn't convince me that people who until a month ago were using power drills to murder their neighbors are now dedicated to non-sectarian peace, love, and granola. Some things Friedman gets right, but he is often far too naive about the nature of people, as are most readers of the NYT.
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@Mark Nuckols This a spot on analysis of what has been wrong about American foreign policy since the end of WW2. Both parties have engaged in the fantasy that the desire for a western style constitutional democracy is universal. American intervention in western Europe in the late 40's was successful because these countries had gone the Enlightenment after centuries of religious wars. Vietnam, Afghanistan, Iraq, Central America, et al have all failed because we wanted democracy for them more than they did. LBJ's famous quote that inside every Vietnamese boy was an American boy dying to get out was tragically wrong.
5
@bill walker
I think LBJ was correct in terms of social and cultural aspirations. Not so much about government, though, as you point out That could be one of the problems, that our government has been traditionally unable understand the difference.
1
@Mark Nuckols - Mark, I beleive you are wrong. Iranians are demonstrating for more than the price of fuel. As Friedman states, they are demonstrating for better governance and less corruption. The fuel price is only the latest symptom of the 40 years of horrible and corrupt management of all government institutions in Iran that has devastated middle-class families and removed nearly all opportunities for the population of Iran, with its very high percentage of young people, to prosper.
The most encouraging aspect of this article is Sunnis and Shiites working together, no longer divided by religion. Too many people have died and been prosecuted because of fables written thousands of years ago that have no empirical proof in the 20th century.
In America, our first step towards enlightenment would be to force all churches and synagogues to pay property taxes. If people want to believe these fables, let them support them.
11
@Sally Well said!
I've always found it ridiculous that equitable taxation was somehow a First Amendment violation: How is taxing something "prohibiting an expression" of it? In fact, NOT taxing it indeed feels much more like "establishing" it!
2
The world has never been so polarized yet so globalized. I don't pray. But I hold out hope for free thought and the redemption that comes with it.
3
@AMS Free thought is being crushed in the United States. Have you noted the riots against speakers students don't approve of? Have you noticed the people being fired in big corporations (Google, for instance) for voicing unapproved thoughts on INTERNAL documents? Free thought and speech is a chimera today. Political Correctness has crushed it.
@AMS I am just curious to know why free thought and redemption are somehow closely related. I am also free to be a bigot and suppress any sense of guilt.
"These movements are authentic and inspiring, but their chances of taking power remain remote, largely because their biggest opponent — the Islamic republic of Iran — is ready to arrest and kill as many democracy demonstrators as needed to retain its grip on Iraq, Syria and Lebanon, not to mention at home."
Waving flags is not going to do it. They have to get arms and be prepared to lay down their lives. Same as we did to break free of Britain. That is something we can do---provide arms as needed, including air power. It will be a multi-year project but it has to be done by them, not us. Then it will 'take'.
And secular leaders need to step up and lead. It doesn't take many. Mr. Friedman doesn't say but are their competent military leaders who will join the fight (but not become the government if they succeed)? Who is writing their visions, such as a constitution for freedom and choice? That will be needed. Who will lead them into Freedom?? And who will help them?
2
@Paul I don't know the answer, but more arms seems like a bad idea. I'm wondering if you know where it has worked before?
2
I suspect almost all of us are rooting for their success, and ours too. My fear however, is that the proliferation of communications methods -- cell phones, internet, self-video, tv shows -- has caused a breakdown in consensus and the ability of people to collectively set a political course that produces the most reasonable outcomes. Until we learn to positively channel the forces of information access, we run the risk of societal atomization that proves ungovernable. I don't have the first clue how to accomplish it without resorting to crude information control resembling that of authoritarian regimes -- exactly the opposite of what an open and free society is meant to be. But if we have these problems here in spades, I can only surmise that a positive outcome in the Middle East will be even harder to overcome.
2
MBS support was too premature.
But u less we start taxing higher incomes or at least billionaires such unrest will take root here.
1
The bottom up approach while erratic has the advantage of being more widespread. Perhaps from there might come some leaders who truly have a real interest in building their respective nations.
On our end we need to tread carefully and support intelligently rather than intrusively. What we don't need is more adventures in nation building, especially in the middle east.
2
We are exactly where we should be. How could we be anywhere else? For those of you waiting for impeachment to release the pressure you have waited too long. I have yet to see a single protestor in my community. We are entitled and content and unwilling to forgo inebriation and amusement to engage. There are a lot of angry people walking around and they want an opportunity to express rage. I wonder how Canada and Mexico will treat US citizens trying to cross the border en mass? Don't worry folks, there is lots more entertainment to come before you finally realize you waited to long.
6
Had no idea this was happening.
I am so grateful for columnists like TLF.
4
Political Islam and the theocratic rule by the Mullahs in Iran has wreaked havoc with the Middle East, and especially Iran itself. The West has made a major mistake to support the Islamists of different shades and colors in that region. The only hope for the whole region is for enlightened progressive seculars to gain strength and power. They need our support.
9
I’m sorry Mr Friedman, but even in jest I don’t think that comparing sectarian tensions between Republicans and Democrats to Sunnis and Shiites is helpful, constructive, or fair.
13
@T I agree the comparison is highly exaggerated. However, there are some VERY intense Trumpers and far left radicals that scare the heck out of me. Put them together (as evidenced in Charlottesville) and it's a tinderbox.
People are pressing their governments because the economies are not working for them. It’s true in the UK (Brexit), France (increase of fuel prices), Chile (Neoliberal economics), Bolivia (President Morales with Michael Bloomberg tendencies for additional, illegal terms). The Middle East hasn’t reached the boiling point yet, that will come at some point and fingers will point to US Neocons, the Lobby and Netanyahu.
9
Maybe we have something in common with the middle east. In both cases there are religious zealots at the top that want to stay up there and are saying they have the "True God."
In our case these religious zealots have been plotting for years to gain power away from the nonsecular citizens. They've finally found someone they can band around-- the "Godly Trump." He's literally tearing our government into shreds without a hint of protest.
Also, in both the middle east and our country, religion wants to rein supreme and individual rights lie below religious dogma.
It's discouraging that with our history and traditions of human rights and individual rights, we have to relearn lessons that I thought we already learned long ago.
11
@sheila Every new generation has to relearn lessons, just different ones. Our great inequality of income and wealth happened two times before in the late 1800's and the 1920's. Did we learn? Well, for 30 years after WW II we built a great, thriving middle class. Then, in about 1975, "Greed is Good" came in and has been here ever since. No, we did not "learn", Sheila The latest mantra is "Maximize Shareholder Value".
6
@sheila "...without a hint of protest," is quite an understatement. The day after he was inaugurated was a massive protest against his presidency. The President faces protest almost everywhere he turns. His own people were forced to initiate the Mueller investigation. Now he faces impeachment brought by a newly elected Democratic majority in the House. That new majority largely owes its existence to the rejection of Trump Admin activities. All of these are direct and indirect protests to the abomination that is the Trump Administration.
1
@Paul (God wants us to) maximize shareholder value
"And right when Middle Easterners are demanding to be treated as citizens — not Sunnis or Shiites — Americans are devolving into Sunnis and Shiites or, as we call them, Democrats and Republicans, with the same tribal mentality: rule or die." I would suggest that regardless of who anyone thinks has merit, ultimately both have proven to be irredeemable and have their own issues with special interests. Steyer has no path to being elected, but he has an interesting proposal, referendums. Potentially we could show these oppressed people the path to cleaning up corruption by allowing limited national referendums here like the State's do and directly override the items that make us as corrupt as any middle eastern despot. It might put them on a better path than having to have them try what is already not working for us.
1
@Kevin Very few states permit referendums. Referendum is a direct form of democracy. If voting by cell phone were allowed, we might solve political corruption. Referenda was so successful in AZ the legislature did its best to kill it. The last thing politicians want is democracy thru initiative and referendum because that inhibits their ability to receive graft for political favors. The Electoral College is the complete opposite of referenda.
A national referendum, one person, one vote, could solve the division in America especially if facilitated thru cell phones. Americans could solve all kinds of problems almost immediately which is why the idea will be squashed.
I'm rooting for the success of all individuals in any country that can see a future where the bottom line is replaced by a sane and rational line. That would include my country.
11
"the Islamic republic of Iran — is ready to arrest and kill as many democracy demonstrators as needed to retain its grip on Iraq, Syria and Lebanon, not to mention at home"
It's funny you mention this. Iran itself had a democratic government up till 1953 when the US and Uk staged a joint coup to overthrow it. Mossadegh, its overthrown leader, was a secular democrat. He had nationalised Iran's oil industry, which drew the ire of Great Britain and the US. One uprising against the US-backed Shah - a dictator by all means - in the 1960s was quashed with CIA help. The Shah sought Carter's approval in 1979 to quash the Iranian Revolution militarily but Carter refused. In truth, the Iranian Revolution actually stemmed from pro-democracy protests. There was also a strong communist faction for a long time. It was only much later in the revolution that the Ayatollah became the population choice. In other words, Iran became the Islamic Republic it is because the US installed (and sustained) a dictator there. It had been a democracy before 1953.
One more thing, pre-civil war Syria was avowedly secular. Druze, Alawites and Christians all had freedom of worship. But when the "Arab Spring" started, the US and Gulf allies funnelled weapons to anti-Assad opposition. It is now known that one of the groups which received weapons was the radical al-Nusra Front, known to massacre religious minorities. Assad turned to Iran because he needed help to restore order and to resist regime change.
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@Jack First of all, Iran was NOT a democracy before 1953. You need to do way more research on this. Mossadegh was an elected leader of parliament, but that doesn’t mean Iran was a democracy by any means. It was more akin to present-day Russia than, say, France.
Second, preaching about democracy in Iran, then turning around and defending the Assad regime, is extremely rich. You even repeat the propaganda myth that the US “armed al-Nusra”.
@Joseph
Do you have evidence which disproves US armament of the al-Nusra Front? Are you aware that the US publicly endorsed the armament of groups opposed to Assad since 2011? Would this not have had the effect of intensifying the Syrian Civil War? Are you aware that 6.5 million people have fled fighting in Syria and that there are 5 million internally displaced in the country today? Did arming anti-Assad groups help improve the situation on the ground then? Or did it increase the suffering of ordinary people?
1
@Joseph
https://www.nytimes.com/2017/08/02/world/middleeast/cia-syria-rebel-arm-train-trump.html
Here is an NYT article from 2017.
It states: 'During an interview with The Wall Street Journal last month, the president said many of the C.I.A.-supplied weapons ended up in the hands of “Al Qaeda” — presumably a reference to the Qaeda-affiliated Nusra Front, which often fought alongside the C.I.A.-backed rebels.'
2
I'm still thinking about the time you praised MBS for being such a young, dashing, forward-thinking leader.
51
Our present regime is hardly in a position to preach the virtues of freedom and tolerance to anyone else.
14
@Cassandra Come on. Can Americans stop being so self-loathing for once? America, despite its many problems, is still one of the freest and most tolerant nations in the world.
Sounds like the Arab Spring, round two.
What advice does Mr. Friedman have for today's protestors?
5
@mp
I get your point, about Mr, Friedman's past exhortations.
However, Iranians are not Arabs.
Arab countries and Iran (AKA Persia) have distinct, proudly unique histories.
9
"But the bad guys at the top won’t go easily, quietly or bloodlessly. And since no outside power will be riding to the rescue, it will take sustained, organized, bottom-up mass movements — in Lebanon, Iraq and Iran in particular — to enable the future to bury the past and topple all those at the top who want to use the past to bury the future."
Exactly the way I am starting to feel about America these days and that is far scarier than what is happening in the Middle East.
12
I wonder if the latest U.S. action to effect Iran's sovereignty or improve their way of life is the reason for the new found desperation? Iranians were smiling in the streets, giddy with hopes and dreams the Nuclear Plan would welcome them back to the world economy and give them reason to believe tomorrow would be a better day - enter the United States newly elected administration. With little to no consideration for the immediate implications and long-term repercussions from reinstating U.S. sanctions that literally crippled the plan, Iran, once again, had hopes and dreams ripped out of their hands by America. "Iran is crushing freedoms one country at a time"? Well, they learned it from the best.
11
The entrenchment of the ruling clerics in Iran has a long history of missed opportunities by several American presidents. When the Twin Towers of the World Trade Center were brought down and the Pentagon attacked by Egyptian radicals trained, indoctrinated and financed by Saudi Arabia, there was an outpouring of sympathy in the streets of every major city in Iran.
Four months later, in his state of the union speech, George W. Bush cited North Korea, Iraq and Iran as the "Axis of Evil” for state-sponsored terrorism, even though none of those countries had anything to do with the attacks by hijacked planes in the U.S.
The neocon adventure in nation building was a ham-fisted, dishonest effort to forcibly impose democracy from the top down with a view to financing the job by taking the Iranian and Iraqi oil while looking for the vaguely named Weapons of Mass Destruction.
The first sensible effort to deal with Iran was the so-called Iran Nuclear Deal (the Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action) approved in 2015 after nearly two years of negotiations.
Congress never ratified the JCPOA, and Donald Trump scuttled it. Trump also declined to meet with the Iranian moderate, President Hassan Rouhani, thereby strengthening the repressive Ayatollahs.
It is more politically useful to Donald Trump and the Republicans to instill panic among American voters about Iran than it is to address the problem honestly.
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@sdw
Well said, and amen...
1) Sadly, I feel the need to point out that your observation that "...there was an outpouring of sympathy in the streets of every major city in Iran.." in response to the attacks in New York on 9/11, it was sympathy to the victims, not the perpetrators.
2) The primary reason that the ancient, fundamentalist Ayatollahs gained power in Iran, is because the United States and Great Britain removed Iran's democratically elected leader, Mohammed Mosadeq, in 1953, and installed Shah Reza Pahlavi.
The "Shah of Iran" along with his secret police, SAVAK, brutalized his political opposition for more than a generation, and sowed the ground for the Ayatollah's rise to power, and anti-American backlash.
Even with all that, Iranians below the age of 60 overwhelmingly like democracy, and are friendly to the West, including the United States. With the Nuclear deal in place, all we needed to do was wait.
Donald Trump's embrace of Boltonian strategy aggressiveness towards Iran has made that proud country infinitely more dangerous.
25
@Mark Keller
I had to chuckle at the thought that my comment was read as reporting that Iranian citizens were expressing sympathy for the perpetrators of the 9/11 attacks.
1
@sdw
Yes. Funny and sad.We live in strange times.
1
This is no time to abandon or compromise the great constitutional experiment that is the United States. Too many people in the world look to us for inspiration and hope.
I visited with an Egyptian diplomat the other night, who wanted to know what we meant by "American exceptionalism." My response was that Americans are no different than the rest of humankind. Indeed, given our history of mingled/immigrated/enslaved/conquered/rebellious people, we ARE humankind. Our exceptionalism is rooted in our being the first serious experiment in the rule of law as established of the people, by the people and for the people through representative government, and our (relative) success is preserving said experiment through 230+years , despite the familiar foibles of human beings.
14
which every climate study?
Anything and everything, but the obvious: the population of this region anywhere from tripled to quadrupled in my lifetime. Any questions?
9
"There is no good time for a country like Iran to be suppressing popular movements for pluralistic democracy, but this is a uniquely bad time. We are in an age of acceleration. Technology, globalization and climate change are all accelerating at the same time."
This sounds insightful and clever, but does it really mean anything? What exactly is "an age of acceleration"? Is there any meaningful sense in which speediness in climate change and technology are connected?
All can agree that a period of rapid change is upon us. But is it moving in the same direction everywhere? Argentina is rejecting neo-liberalism to return to Peronist populism while right next door Uruguay is heading in the opposite direction.
As much as anything, it seems that the status quo is simply under attack, whatever it may happen to be. If so, the roots must be essentially psychological -- a lashing out in frustration more than a programmatic response. Maybe some coherence will emerge out of the chaos, but it hasn't yet. Simply applying a glib label such "age of acceleration" is a useless gesture.
But Friedman is right to observe that the protests against Iranian hegemony in Iraq and Lebanon are displaying some new and potentially fruitful aspects. Iranian control has depended on the successful invocation of Shiite sectarianism as a tool for creating debilitating social divisions that Iran can exploit. The impulse to reject sectarianism in favor of a sense of the common national good is promising.
8
I have to admire Friedman's optimism about the Middle East. As a person of Syrian descent I have no hope for the region. I was hopeful for reform and democracy when Syrian citizens first marched in 2011. I sincerely thought that the command economy of the corrupt Assad regime was going to give way to an open society where entrepreneurial citizens can prosper. The protests however quickly morphed into a horrific civil war where different factions are supported by different outside powers. Syria has become a place where regional powers like Iran, Turkey, Saudi Arabia, and Israel settle scores with each other.
13
@Murad
you forgot one huge player- RUSSIA!
1
The world is convulsing. Change is everywhere in the air. Reform is on the march. Astronomically, another interstellar object is headed our way, with closest approach on Dec. 29. As we are becoming global citizens, we are also in a way becoming citizens of the galaxy.
3
And what are we doing here in the cradle of civilization?
Wake up! You were so wrong on so many things. Remember the “world is flat”? Well it isn’t.
4
Is this Arab Spring 2? For their sake let's hope do. Notwithstanding it, my personal opinion about ME this is more likely coming Strike 2 in baseball terms.
Funny that all of the "Iranians" with the money and power to combat the tyrannical Mullahs of Iran- all live in Beverly Hills, California!
17
Does Mr. Friedman still think highly of the murdering Saudi despot?
6
Root away. Hard not to be pessimistic.
Is there one place in the Middle East that’s ever truly transformed without war and more guns than those in control?
4
Rust never sleeps, and neither does Freedom.
8
IRAN government is just ISIS with a vested political/religious elite that is forced to moderate their true extremist wishes to avoid getting thrown out by the citizenry.
ISIS is the young lions who are their main jihadist competition.
7
How can I take Mr. Friedman seriously after he showered the Saudi Crown Prince MBS with undeserving praise?
87
It is easy to read these developments as struggle for rights. They are basically struggle for economic security and standard of living. If your thesis is correct there should have been upheaval in Saudi Arabia. The young people in Saudis Arabia are satisfied with free doles given away by the Saudi family.
5
Israel sadly is added to the change now or perish list of MIddle East nations. The dictatorship of BIbi, kept in power by a political system that has never worked, is at the point of terminating the courts and police, as its relationship with the Palestinians has not inched forward in decades (yes, blame on that count is not one-sided). If they abandon Jewish secular values to the Heredim, many will leave and foreign support will diminish. Let's see if the electorate rises to the occasion, and if it does if it inspires Americans to do the same.
16
@SDG Sadly your comment is terribly off base and at best made out of ignorance. Israeli police and armed forces do not kill protestors or political opponents of the government, and has no vigilantes which violently kill protestors for human rights and secularism. As for the electoral process, it works well a democracy thank you and it is 180 degrees from the totalitarianism of Iran -- or would you rather have that?
At least it doesnt appear that you are blaming Israel for the violence that is Iran's own doing, although I would not be surprised if you did. Please stop amking false equivalences between democratic Israel and the rest of the politically backward, totalitarian Arab world
2
Crushing freedom is one thing, but we excel in crushing whole countries. Now on the agenda: Bolivia, Nicaragua, Venezuela, Ecuador...
10
@Bartolo
You are wrong.
Venezuela, Bolivia, et al are responsible for their own horrific poverty and disfunction, not us.
The role of the US is strictly that of scapegoat.
Where were you when the USA crushed Mossadegh in the 1950s? Tell me about Shah Reza Pahlavi, who suppressed the Persian people. I lived in central Tehran from 1977 to 1979 and witnessed the Jaleh Square massacre 1978 on 8 September. I saw the revolution. It was not Islamic at first. It was secular. Hundreds of families from the Philippines, South Korea, and Taiwan, who came to Iran after the Vietnam Ware were left stranded in Iran because of the ignorance of USA diplomats, who were clueless.
23
@Michael Fiske
The shah was much better, and less dangerous to the world outside Iran, than the crazy religious fanatics that have ruled for the last 40 years. But, thanks to those who share your opinion we acted against our own interests and abandoned him. Bad move that continues to haunt us.
@Melvin And concerned Citizen,
If you lived in Iran and your dad or grandpa was killed is a direct result of a CIA coup d’état, how would you feel?
That is something you can’t undo, and then the course of a country’s history is very recent.
That said, as has been pointed out, Iranian spontaneously went to the streets and empathetic support of New Yorkers when they experienced the horrors of 911.
Iran Will return to its democratic traditions , when they’re able to throw off the controlling power of these bad Ayatollahs .
We feed the power of these clerics when we act like juvenile bullies, Vis-à-vis the Abandonment of the nuclear deal.
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Every time Thomas Friedman writes another column, I think of his praise for Muhammed bin Salman as the future of the Middle East. No retraction, no apology, not even a simple "I was wrong."
In this column, no mention that MbS arrested the Lebanese PM, Hariri. No mention that our wars of regime change have killed more than one million muslims, or that Trump brags at the NATO meeting "So then I took the oil."
The piece looks like an old fashioned "plant" of wholesale misinformation. Who profits from this? Think .... think ....
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Besides analysis, let's call on the heavens to work within each and every life form to reach our highest potential. We need each other and the very rich with lots of things want happiness too....an awakening is possible. Pray.
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My quiet concern is the "freedom movements" in the mid-east that are begging for civil (secular) control--that which liberates a middle class and hopefully economic fortune--- will simply succumb to brute force. I too root for the freedom seekers. I do as well in the USA where freedom as we knew it is threatened by executive chronic prevarication and a leader's love for anything but freedom. Only two Democratic Party serious candidates appear truly focused on this threat, Biden and Bloomberg. Hopefully we Americans can still solve existential problems through elections. I am "rooting" for it.
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@Andrew R Morse Biden and Bloomberg are focused on addressing the problem of chronic executive prevarication about what? Attacking Iran? Unseating Trump? You lost me.
Biden or Bloomberg would be no better than Trump. And Trump is rotten.
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Could you at least acknowledge that Trump was right and Obama was wrong. Obama's plan to bring Iran into the "family of Nations" accelerated, not curbed their meddling elsewhere. Trump's focus and pressure on Iran's leaders is at least exacting some cost.
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@Joe G. His focus and pressure have exacted costs on the citizens, not the rulers, of Iran.
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@Linda
And the plane loads of cash sent to Iran at the end of the Obama administration, hundreds of millions of dollars and Euros, went to the rulers, not the people.
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@Joe G.
Bringing Iran into the "family of Nations" is the only thing that will work. That's why the United Nations exists to keep the world from war because the next one may be our last.
As for your crazy Trump. He is the most divisive politician this side of the moon.
We'll be lucky if we have a country left after he "takes everything he can steal."
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You mention the many ways the citizenry of Muslim countries are becoming more like us while our government is becoming more authoritarian like theirs. I would go further, I would say our current administration is acting more and more like a theocracy, demanding blind loyalty and a blind eye from it's unthinking, unfeeling, unseeing followers. Trump is the least religious leader ever to consider himself a God, he has, however, surrounded himself with the most religiously activist group of people ever to be willing to treat him like one. Add to this, religious groups who love the tax exemptions but will do anything to dismantle the wall between church and state in an effort to legislate morality like the Mullahs do in the Middle East and you have a recipe for a very good cult but a very bad democracy. Fundamentalism in any Religion leads to extremism, the loss of individual rights and, in the cases of Barr, Pompeo and Pence, the loss of common sense.
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Nonsense. Our system will reject Trump at the ballot box, or he’ll do his two terms. And we’ll move on. We still lament 4 dead in Ohio 50 years ago. Iran kills dozens over the past week and, oh well.
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@Alberto Abrizzi ... move on from what is the question. Trust, honor, and reliability are nearly impossible to repair after they are lost. Your comparison is inappropriate. Iran doesn't aspire to lead the free world. We used to because of trust, honor and reliability... backed up by the largest, open economy in the world. Trump has desecrated the former and trillion dollar deficits are artificially supporting the latter. This is all likely to end badly for many folks. But, yea ... we'll move on.
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The Shiite powerhouse, Iran, and Sunni Kingdom of the House of Saud and their proxies and protectorates are locked in a thousand-year disagreement over who is a true Muslim.
That said, we have made matters dramatically worse, because of our historical thirst for oil, our cold-war competition with the then Soviet Union, and disastrous invasion of Iraq in 2003 that has destabilized the region - to this day - to the point of near collapse.
Tragically, we keep feeding the fundamentalist, retrograde Ayatollahs in Iran. Their reign will end, because they do not represent the will of a huge majority of their citizens.
However, by revoking our support of the Iran nuclear initiative, we have given these clerics just enough life to hang-on and keep fighting their old enemy - America. And so, they continue to make Iranian's lives miserable, let alone cause misery and war in Iraq and Lebanon, fund terrorists, and create all kinds of mischief in the neighborhood.
Worse, we made ourselves the enemy of these old warriors. We deposed the popularly elected Mosadeq in 1953 - because he wouldn't fall in line to be our puppet against the Soviet Union - and installed the Shah Reza Pahlavi - who, along with SAVAK, his feared secret police, reigned terror and degradation on anyone who had their own democratic or religious ideas.
And we rendered Iraq a plaything for Iran's bad intentions, with our disastrous invasion.
There is no easy solution. But we have made it so much worse.
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Perhaps they should have invited you to a banquet in the desert, in exchange for a good report!
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Friedman is baffling. One thing he says that is accurate -- that he has spent his life covering the Middle East -- is contradicted by the constant disequilibrium between his observations and reality. To read his books ten years later is to see that he has difficulty getting much right.
At least this time he did not get caught up in his last major blunder-- his belief in the very short-lived "Arab Spring."
And then there is the irony that when he says "Middle East" he means Muslim Middle East, because amidst all of this violence and chaos sits one admirable, miraculous country -- Israel, which Friedman teaches regularly.
So a lifetime of doing the same thing wrong does not lead to wisdom.
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@Allan H. Agree, and notice that Saudi Arabia is not mentioned at all.
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@Allan H. Israel is a miraculous country - if you are Jewish. For non-Jews, most of whom have been living under occupation/siege for going on 53 years (which followed military rule over non-Jews in '48 Israel from '48 to '66), not so much.
Well past time to face facts, Israel is an ethnocracy, and an extremely violent one at that.
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@Allan H. I agree on one point and disagree on a comment. I agree that Thomas Friedman has a lousy record in predicting anything to do with the Middle East.
I disagree on your comment about Israel being an "admirable, miraculous country." I have supported Israel all of my life but I am now forced to recognize that the Israel of David Ben-Gurion, Golda Meir and Moshe Dayan has turned into the Israel of Benjamin Netanyahu. Netanyahu and Trump are cut from the same clothe - raciest and corrupt to the core.
While Israel is a democracy it is starting to look a lot like the US politically. Israel doesn't have political parties anymore only tribal factions who care little about good governance and vote regularly vote an indicted prime minister. And no where is there any hint of a solution to the Palestinian problem. The Israeli political establishment - both "tribes" - just want the Palestinians to go away and die.
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Unlike America. How’s that democracy thing we were promised when men like Friedman advocated war with Iraq.
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From Tom's analysis, one can make the case that Ukraine is Eastern Europe's most Middle East-like nation with great promise for escaping its tortured past as a vassal state of Russia.
It's a shame, therefore, that at an hour when Ukraine finally has a clean, reform-minded administration, Ukrainians don't have a strong advocate in the White House to counter Russian hegemony.
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They don't want to be like us, meaning you, the US. America has a very tarnished image throughout the world, an object lesson of what can go wrong with a good idea. What they want to be is Middle East states with a combination of Islamic and secular values, free of corruption, full of opportunity. But there are other models for getting there than the US model. They won't choose one of the models the US and other western nations have tried to impose on them for over 100 years.
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This seems crazed gibberish. The Arab world seems to be waking up after a century of brutish tribalism, and debating in the only way they can their political future.
Mr. Friedman likens this to our democratic divide: chaotic, name calling, but ultimately consensus reaching, whether you, or he, or me likes it or not.
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@Concerned Citizen Keep in mind that this is only Trump's first term. Neither Putin nor Erdogan in their first terms displayed the full extent of their autocratic proclivities that subsequently emerged. It seems to me that our president has given any number of hints about the manner in which he would prefer to govern, and that would seem to be along the lines of less constitutionally-constrained rulers.
Trump likes it when the powerful squash the weak.
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"But the bad guys at the top won’t go easily, quietly or bloodlessly."
I hope that's not true. Anywhere.
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@artmel
Do they ever?
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