Sunday
Aug302009
Today's Gold Medal Iran "Expert": Jim Hoagland of the Washington Post
Sunday, August 30, 2009 at 9:31
The Latest from Iran (30 August): Parliament Discusses the Cabinet
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Buy Us A Cup of Coffee? Help Enduring America Expand Its Coverage and Analysis
This week we've noted that the editorial board of The Washington Post are now only viewing post-election opposition in Iran through their looking glass of Tehran And The Bomb. However, the newspaper may have set a new low for "expert" analysis when it turned Jim Hoagland loose to psychoanalyse the Iranian nation.
Usually, you can treat Hoagland's opinion ramblings as a megaphone for the US officials who have been priming him with the "right line". This time, however, he appears to have made this up all on his own:
Hoagland can say this with authority because 1) he watched an Abbas Kiarostami movie and 2) well, that's it really. No matter. Just pull his one-size-fits-all psychoanalytic sweater over the head of the political conflict in Iran after 12 June:
Not sure whether those who appeared in the Tehran courtroom this week would consider the process a "dialogue". And I'm thinking that President Ahmadinejad, the Islamic Revolution Guard Corps, the Ministry of Intelligence, and the security forces, amongst others, might be thanking Expert Jim for reducing the struggle to the "Supreme Guide". Still, we can rest assured that Hoagland's Magical Looking Glass can bring the ultimate issue of the last 2 1/2 months into view:
Oh, yes, it's all about The Bomb.
Next week: Jim Hoagland draws deeply from a narghile pipe to tell us why Iranians seem to talk an awful lot.
Receive our latest updates by email or RSS SUBSCRIBE TO OUR FEED
Buy Us A Cup of Coffee? Help Enduring America Expand Its Coverage and Analysis
This week we've noted that the editorial board of The Washington Post are now only viewing post-election opposition in Iran through their looking glass of Tehran And The Bomb. However, the newspaper may have set a new low for "expert" analysis when it turned Jim Hoagland loose to psychoanalyse the Iranian nation.Usually, you can treat Hoagland's opinion ramblings as a megaphone for the US officials who have been priming him with the "right line". This time, however, he appears to have made this up all on his own:
Iranians live in a culture of negotiation, much as Americans venerate entrepreneurship or the French value style and elegance. The act of negotiating, for Iranians, is a high art and the ultimate framework for all human interaction. Arriving at a quick, clear outcome based on compromise is amateurish and rude, if not unpatriotic.
Hoagland can say this with authority because 1) he watched an Abbas Kiarostami movie and 2) well, that's it really. No matter. Just pull his one-size-fits-all psychoanalytic sweater over the head of the political conflict in Iran after 12 June:
Even the power struggle going on in Iran has taken on many traits of a negotiation between the rulers and the dissidents. Fraudulent elections, protests, Stalinist show trials and staggering human rights abuses have given rise to a national dialogue about the Islamic republic's outdated institutions -- particularly the office of Supreme Guide occupied by Ayatollah Ali Khamenei.
Not sure whether those who appeared in the Tehran courtroom this week would consider the process a "dialogue". And I'm thinking that President Ahmadinejad, the Islamic Revolution Guard Corps, the Ministry of Intelligence, and the security forces, amongst others, might be thanking Expert Jim for reducing the struggle to the "Supreme Guide". Still, we can rest assured that Hoagland's Magical Looking Glass can bring the ultimate issue of the last 2 1/2 months into view:
In the end...[the regime] will have to be able to communicate to its people that Iran has not given up the instrument that guarantees a continuing place at the top negotiating table -- the capability to build a nuclear weapon.
Oh, yes, it's all about The Bomb.
Next week: Jim Hoagland draws deeply from a narghile pipe to tell us why Iranians seem to talk an awful lot.
