RAMIN MAZAHERI—The Basij are also not comparable to Nazi Brownshirts or Italian Blackshirts. The reason for this simple: Iran has a modern, democratic, anti-racist, anti-imperialist & anti-capitalist ideology which is fundamentally different from the fascist, imperialist, war-mongering, racist, faux-socialist ideology of those two European groups. No such comparison is legitimate in the slightest, and it is fear-mongering anti-Iranian propaganda not based on facts.
IMPERIALISM
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MOA—Making Iranians poorer is thought to lead to an uprising and regime change. But it is doubtful that such will work. The identity of the Islamic Republic is quite strong. It is more likely that the Iranian people will pull together and accept the hardship while asymmetric Iranian operations slowly destroy the U.S.’s policies. Saudi oil ports are quite vulnerable targets…
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Violence, Revolution, and Structural Change in Latin America (Revised and expanded)
by shorty90 minutes readJOHN GERASSI—The basic difference between American imperialism today and American imperialism a century ago is that it is more violent, more far-reaching, and more carefully planned today. But American foreign policy, at least since 1823, has always been assertive, always expansionist, always imperialist. Of course, it has rarely been pushed beyond America’s capabilities. Thus, when the United States was weak, its interventions abroad were mild. When its strength grew, so did its daring.
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What privatisation in Iran? or Definitely not THAT privatisation
63 minutes readRAMIN MAZAHERI—It is amazing what a one-sided story is presented by leftists such as the WSWS: that cuts to social programs are “neoliberal austerity”, instead of being forced by sanctions – as if Iran is cutting programs for the same reason Hollande and Macron are in France?! It’s really shocking ignorance of, or insensitivity towards, Iran’s overall economic situation….It is as if Iran was operating freely.
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ROBERTO SIRVENTIS—Nuclear Apartheid exposes how “white supremacy” remained alive in U.S. foreign policy thinking and undergirded some American efforts to prevent the spread of nuclear weapons. Antonio Gramsci’s theory of “cultural hegemony” raised my awareness of how unquestioned assumptions often shape and limit the choices leaders make and while also enabling them to persuade the public that those choices were the only “rational” ones.