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You did wellReader comment on item: Debating the Iran Deal Submitted by Michael S (United States), Apr 13, 2015 at 20:35 Let me try to paraphrase the entire interview: LIPSTICK: Mr. Pipes, why are you wearing an orange sports jacket? PIPES: I am not. I am wearing a grey sports jacket. LIPS: i'sure there are many who would disagree with you, but we do not have time to discuss that. Moving on to the next topic, why do you have purple hair> PIPES: I do not have purple hair. I have grey hair. ...and more of the same. It reminds me of the Communist rhetoric that continually spilled out through the mouths of Soviet news organizations, Latin American revolutionaries and teaching assistants in US Liberal Arts classes: none ot that rhetoric, and none of Lipstick's chatter, jibe with reality; yet it spews forth at machine-gun speed. Lips isn't concocting this stuff up at the spur of the moment either; I'm quite certain that she's been thoroughly schooled it by the Goebelsichevs in the Russian press and school system. That puts my estimation of her a notch above the Muslims, who seem to delight in intentional fabrication. If she would deal with these questions singly and slowly, instead of trying to emit twelve items of propaganda for every question asked, perhaps one might have a meaningful discussion with her; but then, propaganda is what she's all about, isn't it? Her favorite color is red, it seems, and this does not reflect consonance with "red state" thinking. Not all that much has changed in Russia, it seems, since 1991. I was interested in what you said about Iran's Utopian, Apocalyptic worldview. I have heard some Modern Orthodox Jews say that Evangelical Christians also have such a worldview, so I thought I ought to make a clarification: The Ayatollahs of Iran seem to be of the opinion that Israel, and perhaps much of the rest of the world, must be destroyed in order to issue in a Utopian era. Some confused Zealot Christians MAY think somewhat along these lines, with the significant difference that they believe Messiah will bring about both the destruction and the Utopia through miraculous means -- as opposed to developing a nuclear weapons program, as the Iranians are doing. Even those zealots, therefore, are not an immediate danger to the peace of mankind; but the Ayatollahs are. In the unlikely chance that I should ever be interviewed by Ms. Lipsticksky, my own take on the coming Apocalypse, and of the "Utopian" Messianic age that shall follow it is this: The current world system is certainly headed for a cataclysmic end. This will not necessarily be brought about by Iran, nor by the Evangelicals, nor by any other deliberate effort of man. More likely than not, it will come about because so many countries will have gotten nuclear weapons, we will all be on a hair trigger to respond, possibly automatically, to a fleeting perceived threat. You mentioned the danger of an EMP attack, Daniel, and this is a good illustration of the factors that might lead to the "hair trigger" response. In the bygone days of the Cold War, the US was only really threatened by the Soviet Union; and we could reasonably exect to weather even a first strike by them with enough intact capability remainig to hurt them as much as they have hurt us. In today's EMP-endangered world, as you say, perhaps 90% of the US could die from only a few nuclear devices detonated at high altitude along the US-Canadian border. Moreover, those devices could be launched from stealth -- from submarines, or even from surface ships disguised as civilian vessels. They could come from short range, and from any direction; and days and weeks before we could figure out what nation was responsible for their launch, they would have done their dirty work. The cataclysm I see coming will not be of human design; because the purpose of it, in God's eyes, is not to lift up human cunning; it is to show humans the madness of thinking they can improve their lot by their own strength or cleverness, while at the same time ignoring the wisdom of the ages given by God in His word. In this, perhaps the Ayatollahs and I are in agreement. I don't see the coming "Utopia" as coming because of the catastrophic end of the current world order. A Utopia can only thrive, if the people in it have been transformed into beings not motivated by selfishness. Selfishness cannot be eradicated by forced application of Qur'an, nor of Torah, nor of any Christian or other teaching; it can only disappear when men no longer live under the fear of death. That fear cannot go away in mankind, with the "resurrection of the righteous" This is not something that any human can conjure up; it has to come from God, by a miracle. Kudos to you once more, Daniel, for fielding one machine-gun volley of accusations after another from the interviewer. You did well. Shalom shalom :-)
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