Which side of the coin?

I had a discussion yesterday with a gentleman who tried to feed me the lie that Iran wants to build a nuclear weapon and that President Obama gave it to them. This is in spite of the fact that Mossad (Israel's version of the CIA) openly stated that Iran's scientists do not want to build a bomb and are only doing the work for nuclear energy and medicine. I believe the article that I read and the radio/TV news stated that the Mossad infiltration went up to the highest levels of the Iranian government.

And then there is that claim that Iran stated that they wanted to wipe Israel off the map. Even though that phrase is no where in the Persian. According to Persian scholars and political scientists that are familiar with the Farsi language state that what the Zionist leader Netanyahu claimed the speech said has that phrase nowhere in it. Nowhere. The phrase “liberate al Quds” is deliberately being mistranslated as a call for genocide. (FYI: al Quds is the Arabic name for Yerushalayim – Jerusalem for those working with an English translation.) Again, this is according to articles in various news magazines and a variety of TV and radio interviews.

When I read the Torah it states in the book of Sh'mot (Exodus) “Do not give false evidence against your neighbour.” (Jewish Publication Society translation.) And yet this false information lives on in the mouths, minds, and hearts of people today. Specifically people who want to impose a religious dictatorship over this country and others – be it some rabid form of Christianity or the Torah as interpreted by questionable scholarship.

When I asked the gentleman about what al Quds was he firmly stated “This conversation is over.” And he meant it rather forcefully. I remember doing that when I was a die hard conservative Republican. It meant that I was losing the debate/discussion and that the other person knew more about the subject than I did and I did not want to lose. Yet by saying that phrase I inherently lost because I failed to gain new knowledge and grow. I also lost the respect of the other person.

And then there was the Twitter exchange I had with someone this morning about the lie of Iran and nuclear weapons. Israel has submarines (German made) equipped with nuclear armed cruise missiles and this is OK. Israel has F-16s capable of making the flight to Iran with a nuclear weapon and this is OK.

Iran has nothing but the nuclear technology that the United States gave them when they were a client state and it is limited to enriching uranium to 20% (usable only for nuclear power and medicine) and foreign nations (Russia, France, China and other members of the international community) have the responsibility of dealing with the waste and oversight of the nuclear project.

And I'm supposed to be scared of them?

I have never personally been threatened by anyone from Iran. Zionist Jews in America? Yes. Christian Zionists in America? Yes. Any Iranians or Muslims? No. Yet I understand that there are religious zealots in all faiths that want to impose a dictatorship based upon their interpretation of their chosen faith upon all peoples. In my experience I have not been threatened by a Muslim ever.

People are entitled to their religious beliefs. As a Christian and a socialist I will stand up for anyone's religious beliefs because my ability to practice my faith is dependent upon them being able to practice theirs. I will adamantly stand against any person trying to impose their faith onto another person or group of people.

People are not entitled to make up their own facts and spread lies about other people. That flies in the face of every religion and faith that I have looked into.

We have the problems that we have with Iran because the United States did not respect the democratically elected government of Iran in 1953. We – the USA and Great Britain – engineered a coup that led to the establishment of a brutal dictatorship and enabled the dictatorship to remain in power until 1979, when the Iranian Revolution happened.

With that revolution, not only was a brutal dictatorship thrown out, but a new one was put into power. On top of that moderate and democratic forces were also driven from Iran.

And any threats against Iran strengthen the power and support of this dictatorship over the nation. Out of fear.

And the people want peace and democracy.

In college I studied the Shoah (Misnamed the Holocaust. A “holocaust” is a scared offering to a deity. What the Nazis did was beyond murder – not a religious offering.) To this day still find what was done to Jews, homosexuals, the Roma, people of Slavic descent, political prisoners, and many others horrifying and reprehensible.

And then I see those that were persecuted becoming an international bully and their neighbours feeling unsafe and threatened by their rhetoric and actions. I find that equally as reprehensible. The bullied has become the bully instead of more compassionate.

The Iranian people deserve the democracy that they were denied by the United States and Great Britain in 1953. They deserve more than a bland and lame apology for what was done to their nation from 1953 to 1979.

They deserve justice and reparations.

Justice means those responsible for the crime against the Iranian people – that being the CIA and MI-6 – be opened up to open and public investigation and all programs that a threat to a nation's democratic rights be shut down. Anyone responsible for crimes against the nation needs to be brought to trial with the full cooperation and support of the US and British governments. And civilian oversight put over these programs so that these types of crimes never occur again.

Furthermore – those companies that profited from Iranian oil and other national resources must compensate the Iranian people for the resources stolen from their land. With interest and an ownership stake in the corporation.

At the same time – those persecuted by the Nazis deserve justice. And the world has been pursuing that.

At the same time, Israel will never know peace until until it actually practices what is in the Torah. Yeshua (Jesus/Isa) was asked what the greatest commandment is. He responded that man should love the Lord with all his heart, soul, and strength. The second greatest commandment is like the first: Love your neighbour as yourself.

Israel will never know peace until it does for the Palestinian people what it wanted the world to do for them during the Nazi oppression and Shoah. The Palestinian people deserve the right to return to the houses and land that they lived in and farmed for centuries in peace next to Jews that lived in the same region. (OK the crusades were an exception to this peace.) In the book of Yechez'el (Ezekiel) when the Messiah finally establishes his kingdom the Jew and the Goyim/Gentile will live together in peace in that land - side by side.

The state of Israel that we have today was not created by the Messiah and certainly has no peace on either side of any wall or fence. No peace. No safety.

Socialists support freedom and democracy for the Iranian people against a religious dictatorship.

Socialists support freedom and democracy for the Palestinian people against a religious dictatorship.

Socialists say “Never again” and mean it because we suffered in the same prisons and were murdered as well.

Socialist know that no one will ever be free if anyone is living in fear.

Socialists demand the destruction of all nuclear weapons and the closing and destruction of all nuclear weapons plants in the world and the transition to green energy sources.

We will all have peace for all or no one will have peace.

We all win or we all lose.

Which side of the coin do you want to be on?