Exaggeration:A Middle Eastern symptom

Submitted by Shishir (India), Jul 20, 2012 at 01:57

Isn't their bluster now pretty much ineffective? The blood curdling threats of the Arab world against Israel prior to the 6 day war in 1967 terrified the Israeli populace though the military leaders as well as foreigners such as the U.S and British knew that even though the Arabs were numerically superior, they could not match Israeli power.And thereby prudently paid Arab rhetoric no heed-a lesson they forgot in the First Gulf War when they were expecting Leningrad type of siege and bloodshed but it just evaporated.And the fiasco of the WMDs or lack thereof in the 2nd.

Middle Easterners are notorious for prizing rhetoric over action.I think was John Keegan who said that beauty and power of the Arabic language is one of the culprits for their ability to gloss over ugly realities and turn defeat into victory and despair to hope.Perhaps Persian has the same capability,I don't know.Can any Farsi speakers elaborate? I know that Urdu, a language similar to Farsi, with its florid and flattering style was not entirely successful in explaining away the collapse of the Mughal empire and the state of Hyderabad.Which was why Pakistan was created, while Urdu speaking Muslims to be a martial caste, they were unable to prove/replicate their past achievements but worse they couldn't articulate it very well and therefore had to hightail to a newly created country in fear of the rapidly militarizing Hindus( as per nationalists Subhas Chandra Bose and Savarkar)

This is one of the reasons why I am resistant to the idea of bombing Iran-they are most likely much weaker than we think.Oh sure they are aces when it comes to terrorism and that has to combated for sure(best through its proxies and sanctions).

But in the meantime let the mullahs indulge in their fantasies while the Iranian populace get increasingly agitated against them and help the latter when necessary.Remember what Petraeus said in reference to the liberation of Iraq-gratitude has a half life of 6 months.

Iranian self liberation with minimal U.S military involvement would do more for U.S interests than the extensive military operation in Iraq coupled with nation building over a decade exceeding a trillion dollars.

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