Ahmadinejad the Dictator?

http://www.al-monitor.com/pulse/originals/2013/04/mahmoud-ahmadinejad-house-arrest-iran.html

For years Christian media has been telling us that Ahmadinejad is a dangerous dictator. And for years a few people who actually pay attention have been insisting this is a misunderstanding of the situation.

Dictators don't leave office. And to view the Iranian presidency in that light is to mis-read the political situation in Iran. In fact Ahmadinejad has been in conflict with supreme leader Khamenei and there's been a great deal of intrigue and backstabbing.

His outrageous statements have largely been for his own political audience and if you know anything about him, his bombast is both hyperbolic and rhetorical. He's deliberately playing the demagogue and agitator. Few reputable analysts believe him when he denies the Holocaust. When pressed he buckles and can barely hide the grin on his face. He's playing kind of a Joe McCarthy buffoon role by making outrageous statements. He wants to stir the pot and he found a pretty gullible and willing audience with the American public.

This does not downplay or eliminate the reality of the tensions with Iran but to misunderstand the situation (and so gravely) is hardly going to help. But I am convinced the Establishment in this country doesn't really want the public to grasp the Iranian situation and/or the ramifications and legacy of American policy within the region.

Iran is run by wicked men, and so is the United States. That's the reality of life in a fallen world. But when one country manipulates another and causes a great death and suffering, fallen man will not turn the other cheek, he was strike back. And if he can't do it openly due to fear, he will find other ways.

Christian media has enjoyed having a 'devil' to put on the stage. Everything in Christian circles is politicized. Every issue is viewed through the lens of politics. And to further that overall goal of attaining power it is advantageous to refer to Ahmadinejad as a dictator even if he's not, to always refer to China as Communist China even if it hasn't been communist for more than 30 years. China's market is freer than the United States. North Korea a truly hellish political entity isn't communist either and never has been. Communist states don't have royal families and a succession. Totalitarianism operates through many vehicles but it's more convenient to use terms that are politically advantageous. Actually reporting on what's happening and actually analyzing the situation is from a political perspective...a waste of time.

Why does it matter? Well, when Obama is labeled a socialist it resonates because the term has political traction. And so when I hear Christians say things like, 'Yeah, we should be paying attention. With all this socialism on the rise in this country people are forgetting what the Cold War was all about.'

Exactly. So during the entire Cold War while socialist Western Europe was standing up to the socialist/communist Iron Curtain...little did they know it, they were actually the same thing? The Soviet bloc apparent won?

And then of course many will also through the Nazis into the mix because after all their official name was National Socialist.

So apparently the Nazis did win after all? All of Western Europe is today under socialist government. The Nazis were socialists. Therefore the Nazis won. QED right?

Of course the Nazis were something else entirely and their use of socialism has a quite different meaning. A militarist society guided by economic nationalism actually in many ways has more parallels with the American model but these things are far beyond the ability of the average person to grasp. It's not because they're not smart enough. It's because they've been put to sleep. The very people they look to for guidance, the news media, teachers, and church leaders have slowly put them to sleep and their brains are no longer able to function. Thinking questioning people aren't very submissive and for many of these folks they're not interested in Truth, they're interested in power and maintaining their own little (or big) circle.

And so whether you disagree with Obama or not as Christians we should be interested in accurately understanding the situation...we should be interested in the truth. Perhaps these people should actually listen to some socialists. If they'd bother to look into the American Left they would find that they vehemently reject the labeling of Obama as a socialist. In fact they're quite disgusted with him and his entire presidency. He's not a socialist in any meaningful sense and to lump him in with either Hitler or the Warsaw Pact is beyond ridiculous. But it sells and that's what it's all about.