Posted on 08/06/2006 8:05:57 AM PDT by nuconvert
Airbrushing History [Michael Rubin]
Saturday, August 05, 2006
A lot of officials imagine Iran to be some diplomatic problem that can be solved if only we found a magic formula of incentives and, failing that, more incentives. To understand the spirit of the society, it can be useful to see how it deals with its own history. Tehran’s strategy: Censor and re-write. The following is an Iranian news agency report of a conference commemorating the 100th anniversary of Iran’s constitutional revolution, itself influenced by the 1905 Russian Revolution.
"IRNA, Aug. 5- Majlis Speaker Gholam-Ali Haddad-Adel here on Saturday underlined the need to review events leading to the Constitutional Movement. Addressing a two-day scientific seminar marking the centenary of the Constitutional Movement which began work this morning, he called for re-writing of historical events leading to the framing of the constitution… He said the absence of wise, determined and powerful leaders such as the Father of the Islamic Revolution, the late Imam Khomeini, was one of the problems faced by the country in the run-up to the Islamic Revolution."
The Constitutional Revolution succeeded because of a coalition of liberals, nationalists, and tribal elements. The religious clergy played only a minor role. What the Iranian regime proposes is the equivalent of Stalin airbrushing away photos of those out-of-favor. It also signals Tehran is preparing for another cultural revolution.
(Go Israel, Go! Slap 'Em Down Hezbullies.)
Soviet Historians, it was said, could unfailingly predict the future, but could never predict the ever changing past.
When stalin was able to wrest control of the totalitarian machinery from the lenin mafioso, he set about erasing his political enemies from previous photos. As you can see from the picture below, trotsky has disappeared from the scene (BTW, in more ways than one).
The History Channel shoed movies in which Stalin was inserted into scenes with Lenin, and Trosky was airbrushed out. Very expensive in those days prior to computer graphics.
There is a great book on the subject that I bought when it was first printed in 1997 called "The Commissar Vanishes," by David King. It's the story of "the falsification of photographs and art in stalin's Russia." It's got all the pictures that Stalin airbrushed erasing unpleasant reminders of the small part that Stalin played in the coup d'etat of 1917.
My favorite true story is of the Rusian reports of results of races between their car and a Ford Mustang. The Russian car did very well in the races. It came in second. but the American car was second to last.
I'm not sure Iran had to look very far to learn airbrushing. To this day Turkey denies the Armenian Holocaust.
Yes, and given half-a-chance, they'd do it again. The Turkey of Kemal Ataturk is vanishing from the scene, just as trotsky did in the second photo. The islamists are on the march in Turkey. Just as the epicenter of shia radicalism is Iran, so the Turks will replace the Saudis as the bastion of Sunni fundamentalism. IMHO.
Lots of examples from the US press here:
http://www.cs.dartmouth.edu/farid/research/digitaltampering/
Thanks for that info and your opinion on this. I've only been skimming the news on Turkey lately, but will take a longer look now. Some of us will never forget what I would consider bad form at the start of the War in Iraq as far as Turkey goes.
I believe this would significantly improve our strategic position in the War on Terror.
We should destroy the Iranian oil industry. By Bombing all oil transportation facilities, pipelines, storage tanks, tanker trucks, rolling stock, refinery’s etc… we can cripple the funding of numerous terrorist organizations, Hezbollah, Hama’s, Sadr’s militia, Syria, as well as make it more difficult for Iran to buy missiles and such from North Korea, China, and Russia.
It would remove Iran’s threat that if we attack they will shut off the oil. Making the threat ridiculous and demonstrating that they are a single product state and without oil, and no other product that the world wants, they are nothing. Additionally, by declaring that we will destroy any reconstituting oil industry as long as the Mullacracy remains in charge, we can focus the Iranian’s blame for the situation, on the Theocracy and their support of Terrorism.
This will also bring home to all the other oil producing countries like Venezuela, Libya, Saudi Arabia, the Gulf States, etc… that they are very vulnerable to the same tactic.
In addition, this will gain us time for the Iraqi’s to stand on their own, and free up troops we would need if we have to go into Iran, North Korea or somewhere else.
Sure the price of gas will rise, but this will also demonstrate to the world that the USA is not in Iraq for the Oil, and the onus can be shifted on to the Democrats for not allowing more domestic production.
“It’s not the control of the spice but the power to destroy the spice that is the real power.”
It has recently been said that the nuclear production facilities in Iran are so deep underground that we can’t reach them with conventional weapons. Perhaps so, but maybe we can starve those facilities of funds. Nuclear weapons are terribly expensive to build, and if Iran now needs all its money to repair vital life supporting infrastructure, it may have to slow or stop its attempt to build an atomic bomb.
Finally, Iran is a state sponsor of Terrorists, it must be punished, and it must be seen to be punished. Iran’s continued sponsorship of terror is a slap in America’s and President Bush’s face, and it must be answered.
The following was written in response to an objection I received about having to pay more for fuel if this strategy was followed.
I think you are overly concerned about the economic considerations, and not concerned enough about the need to prosecute the War on Terror to the utmost.
1. The US has a full Strategic Petroleum Reserve of 700 million Barrels, and we aren't the only nation with an SPR. What good is it if you never use it? The average price paid on that 700 million barrels was $27, so the nation would actually make a profit selling it now.
2. The only reason the US isn't energy independent now is because of political factors. 2 Trillion Barrels of oil in oil shale (see www.oiltechinc.com). Any organic matter can be turned into fuel (see www.powerenergy.com). The US would and should be using much more Nuclear power if it wasn't for the Ecofreaks. There are also many areas in the US that are now off limits to drilling. All it takes is the political will to develop all of these. Higher fuel prices will provide that political pressure.
3. Iran is using diplomatic processes, just like the Nazi's before them. Talking is a waste of our time.
4. Iran subsidizes gas at $.10 a gallon, so by destroying the Iranian oil industry not only do we instantly remove 20% of their GDP. We put them all on foot, and in the dark.
5. The mullahs want to take their world back to the 7th century, we should assist them.
Iran exports 2.5 million barrels of oil a day, Iranian as well as the rest of the Persian gulf oil producers, produce what is called heavy sour crude which typically sell for 20%-25% less than the benchmark sweet light crude quoted on the spot markets. So, with that understanding we can roughly calculate the gross income Iran’s economy generates from oil exports. At a price of $75 Barrel Iran will get 80% of that price for its low grade crude, or $60. $60 x $2.5 million barrels x 365 days = $54.75 billion. Now from the CIA world fact book we can see that Iran has a GNP of $564 billion. So by destroying Iran’s oil industry their GDP is cut by 10% just from the lost of exports, but the damage is much deeper than that. Iran subsidizes gasoline at $.10 a gallon and Iran consumes 1.425 million barrels of oil a day. With the oil industry destroyed the cars, trucks, trains, and power plants no longer run. That means no machinery, no electricity, and no modern economy. I can’t estimate what Iran’s GDP would decline to, but the poorest nation on earth still has cars and electricity. I think much of the population would either revolt or start walking for the boarders. They couldn’t import oil because we would destroy tankers, pipelines, and rolling stock.
Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.