The world's leaders are all acting against their own interests. Has God made them made, in order to destroy them?

Submitted by Michael S (United States), Jul 15, 2015 at 16:19

I'm commenting on this interview, rather than the one posted yesterday, because I guess this one will draw more comments. Nevertheless, excellent points were made at Keene, namely,

1. Iran was negotiating from weakness, and all the other powers from strength; nevertheless, Iran came out on top on all issues, and

2. The recent Greek capitualtion to its creditors, after a popular referendum overwhelmingly rejecting this move, is equally astounding.

When put together, these two points indicate that the leaders of the world today are not moving according to reason, neither are they moving according to their own national interests. They seem, rather, to be moving in accord with some dark, irrational forces that are impelling them and the rest of the world toward disaster.

Consider the Greek case first: The Greeks accumulated, over the years, unsustainable debts to what amounts to loan sharks. When they could not pay, they were compelled to get even deeper into debt, borrowing money at higher interest to pay off their existing debts -- all this, while their economy is declining and they are becoming less and less able to pay. The outcome of this policy ought to be obvious to everyone; and indeed, even the IMP is appalled that the Greeks agreed to a deal that offers no debt relief. Certain disaster awaits; it has simply been forestalled.

Now for the Iranian deal, which in some respects resembles the Greek deal: Disaster is the obvious outcome, but it will happen in a few years, after Obama and his friends are out of office. I can't describe how sickening it is, to see my President lie through his teeth to the American people. He said the deal will prevent nuclear proliferation, when in fact, it will greatly accelerate nuclear proliferation. Saudi Arabia and Russia have already signed a nuclear cooperation deal, following the lead of the Turks:

Five years ago, however, Turkey and Russia signed an agreement to build a massive nuclear power facility at Akkuyu along Turkey's Mediterranean shore. The groundbreaking for the four-reactor complex took place in April.

"Turkish officials have said they went with a Russian company, Rosatom, in part because Western nations were concerned about the proliferation risk. The Turkish energy ministry also has a deal with Japanese nuclear suppliers for technology and training.

-- http://www.nbcnews.com/storyline/iran-nuclear-talks/middle-east-arms-race-will-continue-after-iran-nuke-deal-n392021"

Egypt will certainly follow suit, as soon as it can. One can be fairly certain that once the Turks go nuclear, the Greeks will be tempted to do so as well; though they are quickly becoming a county of Germany.

As I said, none of this follows the usual logic of national self-interest. Why are the British, French and Germans, for instance, so eager to dump the Arab states in the Persian Gulf, in order to befriend the Iranians? Even more oddly, why is China switching to Iran, seeing that the Saudis and other Gulf states are far more important as energy suppliers? Also, in every other context, we see a growing competition between China and Russia, on the one hand, and the Western powers on the other; yet the Iranian deal seems like a conscious conspiriacy on the part of all the players...

...to do what? Befriend Iran? Iran is peripheral to the interests of all these countries, and central to none. By comparison, the appeasement of Hitler at Munich seems a much more reasonable move. That also was a temporizing move, with the apparent intent of forestalling war in Europe. But Hitler actually threatened war in Europe. The Iranians, on the other hand, hobbled by sanctions and vulnerable to Israeli and American military intervention, were not a serious threat to anyone -- unless, of course, their enemies were stupid enough to agree to a deal.

The deal has been called "bad", "bizarre" and "wretched" with good reason: It will produce disastrous results. It would have been good if we could have avoided those disasters; but now they are surging through the pipeline, having been approved by the world's leaders.

Many people do not believe in Hell; because they don't think God could possibly consider punishing forever humans like Hitler, Stalin, Charles Manson and others. They think He simply doesn't have it in Himself to do it. Likewise, few people seem to believe God will actually judge the world with the wars and plagues spoken of in the Bible. What we seem to be witnessing, though, is mankind writing the warrant for its own execution, putting God on notice that if the Almighty doesn't destroy us, we will do it ourselves. God seems to have made our leaders crazy, in order to destroy them.

If there was any doubt before, you can understand why I entrust my fate to God and not to men.

---

Note: Opinions expressed in comments are those of the authors alone and not necessarily those of Daniel Pipes. Original writing only, please. Comments are screened and in some cases edited before posting. Reasoned disagreement is welcome but not comments that are scurrilous, off-topic, commercial, disparaging religions, or otherwise inappropriate. For complete regulations, see the "Guidelines for Reader Comments".