If someone that used to have normal
vision, catches a disease that renders him blind, he could get treated and have
some vision capability restored to him.
Imagine, for example, that he can see the
sun but cannot make out the landscape the sun is illuminating. Or, if he is
indoor, he can see the light bulb but not the furniture that the bulb is
illuminating.
However, the hope remains alive that
someday, medical science will restore full vision to that person, and he'll be
able to see the light as well as what the light is revealing.
Well, my friend, consider that vignette to
be a metaphor describing what happened to a number of columnists; all of them
members of the Jewish mob of pundits. Foremost among these people is Thomas L.
Friedman who wrote: “Trump and Tehran Shake Up the Middle East,” which is the
title of his latest column; one that also came under the subtitle: “Iran's
airstrike on Saudi oil sites exposed vulnerabilities around the region.” It was
published on October 8, 2019 in The New York Times.
Thomas Friedman is the pundit that spent
his career up to now simultaneously traveling over two parallel highways. Think
of one highway as being the noise that Friedman has been generating to smother
and hide the good news which came out the Arab world, especially that which
came out of Egypt. And you may think of the other highway as the smoke and
mirror setup that Thomas Friedman has been playing to make every little Israeli
achievement sound like it was the event that changed the world if not the
universe. That's what Friedman was producing when blind and refusing––driven by
some psychological disease––to see reality as it was. And then something
changed, it seems.
Judging Thomas Friedman by his latest
column, you can't help but see that something drastic has happened to him. Like
the mule that got its head whacked hard with a two-by-four, Friedman got his
vision partially restored, and he can see the sun as well as the light bulb.
However, he still cannot to see the landscape of the outdoor, or the furniture
that is indoor. In other words, he can see the light but not what the light is
illuminating.
You'll know what all this means when you
read the Thomas Friedman column. That’s when you'll be surprised by how
accurately he has described the current situation in the Middle East. But
you'll also notice how far behind he remains when it comes to interpreting the
behavior of the various actors in the region. Here is a description of the
two-by-four that hit the Friedman mule over the head:
“Iran launched drones and cruise missiles
at Saudi Arabian oil fields and processing facilities. The drones and missiles
flew so low and with such stealth that neither their takeoff nor their impending
attack was detected by Saudi or US radar. Consider how the Israeli Uzi Even
assessed the Iranian strike: The Iranians are manufacturing and operating
drones so advanced that they do not lag behind [American made and] Israeli
operated capabilities in the field”.
And here is the light that Thomas Friedman
can now see in the Middle East:
“Trump said to the Gulf Arabs he is only
interested in selling them weapons. The Saudis and the UAE got busy looking for
the Iranian leader's phone number and that of the pro-Iranian emir of Qatar.
Time to get right with all the neighbors. This has fractured the anti-Iran
coalition and left Israel more alone than ever to deal with Iran's proxies in
Lebanon, Syria and Iraq. After Netanyahu did poorly in the recent election,
Bibi learned how much Trump doesn't like losers. After the Iranian attack on
Saudi Arabia, Trump declared that America will keep oil sanctions on Iran, but
will not create regime change or destroy Iran's capabilities”.
But while seeing the light, Thomas
Friedman continues to badly interpret the behavior of the various actors in the
region, as if he was unable to see the landscape or the furniture. Here are his
worse interpretations:
First: He spoke of “the tacit US-Sunni
Arab-Israel anti-Iran coalition”.
The truth is, there has never been such a
coalition … tacit or otherwise.
Second: “Iran's rulers have deprived young
Iranians of the means to realize their full potential –– one reason that a
brain drain and drug addiction are rampant among Iranian youth”.
On the contrary, there is no more glorious
a moment for the youth of a country than to participate in the defense of the
country by inventing and producing systems such as those developed by the Iranians.
As to the claim of drug addiction in Iran, Thomas Friedman seems incapable of
looking at the map of the Middle East and distinguishing between Iran and
Israel.
Third: “The rulers of Iran need constant
conflict with America and Israel to justify their ruthless internal
repression”.
Friedman has turned reality upside-down.
The truth is that Iran's rulers did not create conflict to repress their
people. Rather, economic repression was imposed on them by America, and the
rulers of Iran are handling the situation very well so far.
Fourth: “The Gulf Arabs can and will find
a way to buy off the Iranians. Israel can't. The Arabs are frightened. Israel
will attack Tehran with long-range missiles from Israel or submarine-launched
missiles from the Persian Gulf”.
Logic dictates that if the Arabs will buy
off the Iranians, they cannot be frightened. On the other hand, if Israel
cannot buy off the Iranians, it is the one that's frightened. Moreover, to
think that Israel can attack Tehran with long-range missiles and cause real
damage before Israel itself will have been wiped off the map by Hezbollah,
Hamas and Syria’s military, is to live a fantastic dream. The same can be said
about the idea that Israeli submarines will get into the Persian Gulf, hit
Tehran and get out safely before the submarine fleet and Israel will have been
wiped out.