LOONEY TUNES LEFTISTS , PART II: YOU AND THE BULLY IN YOUR NEIGHBORHOOD

Since a major cause du jour in these times is bullying,  a consideration of that rite of passage encountered by most on the road to adulthood might give us some insight into intimidation on a much larger playing field.

As a youngster, I confronted my share of bullies.  I was tall for my age, and any number of height-challenged bullies wanted to test their mettle against a tall kid.  My father gave me some good advice, assuring me that most people who were loud and boisterous in their efforts to push others around were, at heart, cowards.  Keeping that in mind, he further counseled me that, when challenged, most bullies would turn tail and run.

My father was right.  90% of the bullies I encountered stood down when I called their bluff.  As for the other !0%, their bark was far worse than their bite.

But, let's imagine that the bully in your neighborhood has cowed the members of his household as well as the kids living across the street. Then, all of a sudden, you get wind that Mr. Bully has taken up with your best friend, who lives on the other side of town.  And, coming on the heels of that news, you begin seeing the bully and the guy you thought was your best friend chowing down together in the lunch room at school.  Among the thoughts you are trying to process, one stands out:  You are about to lose your best friend!   And no other friends are in sight to take his place!

For sure, the same kinds of thoughts are troubling the minds of the leaders of Israel these days, as the Islamic Republic of Iran sidles up to the United States and other powers at a major powwow in Geneva.  Are those powers not aware that Iran has been a menace on the world scene for 35 years?  Do they not understand that Iran has never deviated from its message of hate and it's desire to finally, completely and totally destroy the Jewish state?  Has it not sunk in that Iran is on the verge of producing an atomic weapon and is highly unlikely to stray from that course?

I recall steely looks from mullahs encountered in the bazaars in Tehran in 1978.  The hatred contained in those looks conveyed that I was in no way welcome on their turf.  In short, their abhorrence of infidels was quite palpable.

So far, little or nothing has changed in Iran's world view.  Despite Hassan Rouhani's protestations to the contrary, the United States is still the Great Satan, and there was never any sort of occurrence called the Holocaust.

The economic sanctions imposed on Iran have taken their toll.  Consumer goods are in short supply, prices are rising astronomically, and the population explosion has resulted in millions of young adults yearning for the types of freedoms enjoyed in the West. All indications are that Iran now has a vibrant, functioning underground youth culture, which in virtually all ways, is inimical to the official Islamic culture of the Mullahs, and the country is learning the hard way that an economy which is almost solely petroleum-based cannot satisfy  a rapidly growing population becoming more and more aware of the outside world.

Unfortunately, the United States, owing to its "red-line" strategy in Syria and its fatuous support for the Muslim Brotherhood regime in Egypt, has abdicated a great deal of respect in the Middle East, so much, in fact, that it has sent the stock of Vladimir Putin soaring.  Consequently, those we formerly called friends are now looking to other quarters for comrades.

As for those who concoct foreign policy in D.C., they comport themselves as though they have never been exposed to the historic enmity between Sunni and Shia.  So, in order to expose them to a bit of history, it should be known that there has been no love lost between Arabs and Persians, and the prospect of Iran becoming a nuclear power is probably just as frightening to Saudi Arabia as it is to Israel.  Ancient hatreds die a hard death in the Levant, and political evolution may lead sooner than we might think to Saudi fear of Iran trumping Saudi fear of Israel.  

For the moment, the fear of the Iranian bully in the Middle Eastern neighborhood might cause Israel to foresee 2 eventualities:

1.  Iran could possibly fulfill its fantasy of raining total destruction on Israel.

2.  Iran's newly-acquired nuclear status could be utilized to elevate the Mullahs to suzerainty over 
     the Muslim world.

In each case,  the outcomes would not be acceptable, and preemptive action would be the order of the Israeli  day.

In the meantime, the foggy thinking from Foggy Bottom is to relinquish the strong hand of sanctions that stand a good chance of bringing down the Iranian nuclear program, in favor of tagging along the primrose lane of wishful thinking that there is big change afoot in Tehran, and that Hassan Rouhani's smiling face presages a new day of peace and love.  For Israel, the looney tunes American leftists must seem loonier and loonier. No wonder Benjamin Netanyahu is fuming!

IN A THIRD INSTALLMENT, TO APPEAR IN A FUTURE POSTING, JOHN B. WILL TURN TO A SORELY PAINFUL TOPIC:  ARE THE LOONEY TUNES AMERICAN LEFTISTS TRULY AWARE OF WHAT THEY ARE DOING?

Deo vindice!

May God bless Texas and may the Lone Star State remain forever red!