Jon Stewart, aka the only newsman who matters on TV, has just interviewed the producers of the Persian language equivalent of the Daily Show, “Parazit.”
You can read a bit about them over on the outstanding website, Tehran Bureau.
Or you can just watch their interview right here on Qizilbash. The guys really are thrilled to be on Stewart’s show. I can’t blame them.
While we are on the topic of the Holy Trinity we think it’s a good time to note that one of the members of the Holy Trinity of American Radio (Ira Glass’ “This American Life”) has just done an episode called “Fine Print” or stories “where the fine print changes everything, whether you read it or not.”
In Act 1 of the show, This American Life producer Nancy Updike talks to Omid Memarian about his time in prison in Iran where he was forced to confess to things he had never done. Very timely, given the most recent events in Iran.
The show is available for free here, or via the podcast section of Itunes.
For quite some time now, a large but sizeable number of the clergy within Iran have had the concern that the mixing of state politics with religion has served only to damage the popularity of Shi’ism within Iran.
Meanwhile in Iraq, another Shi’ite majority nation, the clergy has largely stayed out of politics for myriad reasons including oppression by Saddam Hussein’s Ba’thist regime as well as the view among many of the Shi’ite clergy that those who mix Shi’ism and politics are not truly religious scholars but more like politicians.
Accoridng to some, this has resulted in a pious Iraqi Shi’ite populace and an anti-religious Iranian plurality (if not majority.)
The Washington Post has published a great article about this divide between the clergy in the two neighboring Shi’ite states.
What is also of interest to me is the idea that with all the unrest in Iran, the mantle of Shi’ite authority may switch back over to its traditional home, Iraq, since Shi’ites there can practice freely and without fear of oppression. I wouldn’t bet on it happening tomorrow, but I don’t think that is a wild prediction.
You can read the Post’s article here.
Roger Cohen (the coolest guy in English language journalism besides Louis Theroux) has written a new column about covering the recent uprisings in Iran. Enough said.
Read here. Hand him the Pulitzer.
Ever since Barack Obama was elected President many have argued that it would be extremely difficult for the Israeli Air Force to attack Iran since they would:
1) have to get America’s permission to fly over Iraqi air space to accomplish their bombing mission.
2) If America said “no” the Israelis would have to fly over Saudi Arabia or Iraq without alerting the more sophisticated American Air Force that would be obliged to escort the Israeli bombers back to Israel.
But two pieces of news have emerged this weekend that seems to imply that two major binds have been broken for Israel’s war apparatus vis-a-vis its efforts to attack Iran.
The first was Vice-President Joe Biden’s interview with George Stephanopoulos this Sunday in Baghdad where the Veep declared, “Israel can determine for itself - it’s a sovereign nation - what’s in their interest and what they decide to do relative to Iran and anyone else.”
Biden is well known for saying things he shouldn’t say, but anyone who knows anything about American-Israeli relations knows that Israel almost never takes major military action without first consulting with the United States.
But what is more telling of a possible strike is the huge news from Times of London which reports that Saudi Arabia has granted Israel the right to use it’s airspace for an attack on Iran’s nuclear facilities.
From the report:
Although the countries have no formal diplomatic relations, an Israeli defence source confirmed that Mossad maintained “working relations” with the Saudis.John Bolton, the former US ambassador to the United Nations who recently visited the Gulf, said it was “entirely logical” for the Israelis to use Saudi airspace.
Bolton, who has talked to several Arab leaders, added: “None of them would say anything about it publicly but they would certainly acquiesce in an overflight if the Israelis didn’t trumpet it as a big success.”
Arab states would condemn a raid when they spoke at the UN but would be privately relieved to see the threat of an Iranian bomb removed, he said.
It’s my view that any strike against Iran will inevitably bring disaster to the entire region. Moreover, it will put a permanent nail in the coffin of Iran’s now surging reformist movement.
Ultimately all of this could be psychological warfare. As with everything in the Middle East, only time will tell. 
You can check out the whole series right here.
