Iraq was the US dropping a democracy on a country that wasn’t asking for it and wasn’t prepared for. There is an undeniable movement for democracy in Iran that the regime has trouble repressing as close as in the previous week, so the society is prepared for a regime change unlike in Iraq. The problem is that the US government has ties with an political group that everyone in Iran considers as traitors, and nobody wants them back. That and Trump tweeting that cultural sites in Iran were potential targets for him. If there is one thing Iran is godd@mn proud of, it’s their culture and history, not even the Islamic government dared to mess with it at their peak, so no opposition movement can publicly associate themselves with the US without losing pretty much all of their support.
You never mentioned your ancestry in my time here. Only that it’s outside of Europe, but that it isn’t a former French colony.
One Osman Emperor said that Persians never needed Turks, but without Persians Their Empire would crumble.
I get what you are saying, but I am hesistant to go with that given marines…aren’t mobile to cover several areas, and rely on numbers, so…
I mean, I can see if you give them Super Stims for sustain and damage, but I’d rather keep to Siege Tanks and Libs, with roaming support (i.e. BCs, if not Marines, marauders, and Goliaths with Nova).
Meanwhile Kurds are the Poles of the Middle East. Saving the region from heretics and getting torn apart by 3 regional powers as an appreciation for our efforts. And getting backstabbed by the Russian
Did they help with invasion of Czechoslovakia, while congratulating Hitler on final solution of Jewish question?
Because things are never too black and white.
In general I have been fan of Kurds despite them being pretty socialist, but I am from a completely different region.
And I have yet to meet a Middle Easterner of any other ethnicity that has a nice thing to say about them.
Except Israelis, because they are mostly happy that something happens elsewhere in Middle East and it doesn’t have to concern them.
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I mean one of the things I have learned about Middle East from a Jordanian roommate was… don’t try to understand it and definitely don’t apply European, especially Western European logic.
I am not gonna say anything bad about Poland because I don’t want a passing mod to silence me.
But believe me they ain’t angels.
Is anyone in europe?
I have yet to hear anything bad about anybody from Lichtenstein.
Oh you would be surprised. That country started to exist because they killed a big portion of their populace (especially male) because of witch hunts.
Former noblemen in charge of the region was kind of a Charlie, Umbrella, *ovember, Tango and he was recklessly spending money, so when push came to shove for him to pay debts he cheekily came up with the biggest witch hunt ever in the region… which was something.
Im not entirely sure what you mean by that. (the country existing part, not the witch hunts. Those I understand)
following up on my edit…
So eventually, after thousands being murdered or imprisoned because of made up accusations, one woman got a way and sought refuge at a place of a certain priest.
Priest used to be a defender of witch hunts, but once he was accused of crimes he was pretty sure he didn’t commit, he stood up for her.
After some time the word has gotten to archbishop and later to the emperor. The former aristocrat in charge was removed and the Lichtenstein family was given the land.
It’s not the Grand Duchy itself in its current form, but there is blood on the hands of the people there.
No, but they did participate in the Armenian Genocide while seizing their lands. A big reason why they couldn’t get a state post WWI was because some Kurdish Lords didn’t want to give their new lands to their former owners as required by the Peace Treaty and sided with Mustafa Kemal against the Western Powers right before he turned on them, kinda like Poland with Germany in Munich
It really depends on what parts of Kurdistan you’re in. It’s true in the Turkish and Syrian parts, but Iranian and Iraqi Kurds are way more conservative. Especially where my family comes from, Mahabad, who have a very bad memory of the Soviets who abandonned the city to the Shah after looting it.
That really worked well for Kurds in the long run.
Sounds like general memory of Soviets.
And now they are fighting against the very man who is dismantling his legacy. All except his repression of the Kurdish identity. But RTE arguably has more success given how his Islamist rhetoric appeals to the conservative Kurds who don’t like socialism, whereas Ataturk’s focus on Turkish nationalism couldn’t attract any Kurd in the long run.
Try the Egyptians.
You know the ironic part ?
Israelis were the ones who captured PKK’s leader and gave him to the Turks. Now they deeply regret doing it
And I laugh whenever someone on the Internet says “Oh, we can’t attack Iran, Russia will help them !”. They’re the last group anyone in the region would trust in any kind of alliance. Well, they were, because Trump is as untrustworthy as them, but he adds insanity on top of it.
I still have in mind his comment about not helping the Kurds because “they didn’t help the US during D-Day in Normandy”. I leave my reaction as a Norman-born of Kurdish ancestry to the reader
I gotta tell you this story… In a certain online community, I have been part of for as long as I am part of this if not longer. I am actually one of the older people there. There is a Turkish guy, a teenage kid about 17 years. City bloke, Istanbul Hates Erdogan, loves Fenerbahce and history, although he is obviously kinda influenced by Turkish take on history.
He was in disbelief when I explained to him the concept of one country losing a huge chunk of territory peacefully and everyone being fine with it.
I mean, my list of Middle Eastern acquainted is pretty small. Even the Brittish students with foreign ancestry at our school I have befriended are ethnically from the region of Pakistan and India.
I can imagine. But I meant “normal” folks. People I met or have been talking with for some time.
Yeah, Putin is at least somewhat consistent. Russophile dummies aside, I can imagine that there is some truth to a certain recent poll where people trust Putin more than Trump or Macron.
A-No one here likes Macron. If people have an opinion about him, they usually hate him.
B-Putin is an SOB, but an SOB you can somewhat predict. Unlike Trump.
This makes it even more tragicomical then I thought, considering the fact that despite never meeting you in person, I take you as someone I know, someone I would even dare to call a friend as far as the internet goes.
(It would be ridiculous take even if there were no Kurdish soldiers there anyway.)
I gotta ask one personal thing. Did your ancestors come to France during the War?
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By the way… Best derail ever. I am really proud of it. One single sentence.
Czechoslovakia wasn’t a superpower at any point I guess :3
No. I’m born in France, but my parents are from Iran, both of them before coming there almost 30 years ago. They aren’t refugees, they can still go in Iran without any problem (as a matter of fact, I’m the one having trouble going there, cuz with my dual citizenship I have to do conscription for 2 years there or pay an hefty price to skip it, needless to say I ain’t packing my boots).
Both sides of my family really hate the Iranian regime however, their region once rebelled against the central government in 1979 and the repression was brutal, many deaths, including my grandfathers, that’s why everyone there cheered when Soleimaini got killed, he was part of the repression against the region.
Never the top dog, but between the wars we could sit at the cool kids table sometimes if we brought our own chair.
Then 38, then 48. Only time Czech lands were a super power was probably during late Grand Moravia, late Přemyslids and Charles IV (Luxembourg dynasty).
Dude made the emperor of HRE, built the oldest university north of the Alps and that counts for something
I can imagine your will to be conscripted to Iranian army dropped from negative numbers to irrational ones.
Thank you, it’s an intersting read.
I can imagine that mentioning you are not a refugee had to become a staple lately…
Not really, since I speak fluent French without any accent and my body profile doesn’t scream “Middle East”. It always surprises people when they discover that not all ME are Dark skin black hair. In fact going by my cousins they go from “Straight from India” to “Scandinavia lookalike”
Yeah, speaking does so much work. I mean… Gypsies here (not saying Romani, because not all Gypsies are Romani) face ten times less prejudice (whether deserved or undeserved) the moment they don’t use ghetto accent.
When I had subject with foreign students as a “buddy” myself, it took some of them a while to figure out I am actually Czech, because as I was told by a Birmingham girl (by the way, lovely contraalt RP accent) that I have an accent of a continental european of unknown origin who went to US, so that’s pretty nice.
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I mean I wouldn’t be surprised by it, but y’know… stereotypes.
Pale skin wouldn’t be a surprise, but if ye were a natural redhead (sorry, sorry, sorry) or a blondie I’d be surprised.
I am also aware of the fact that not all ME are Arabs and Muslims.
By the way, my sister’s boyfriend with a group of friends has been to Iran in the past and locals thought he was Iranian. He’s got dark curly hair and he tans really easily…
…He’s got Czech AND German roots. I guess it goes both ways
Anyway, I have often noticed that Persians actually often seem paler than Arabs in general. I mean the language is Indoeuropean unlike Arabic and the region is not a barren wasteland with few oasis like Majority of Arabian peninsula.
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I mean it’s a funny comparison between “Persians” in 300 and “Persians” in Prince of Persia.