Comments on: 30 years of the Islamic Revolution in Iran

By: Chris Cutrone

Chris Cutrone — Thu, 08 Jul 2010 13:32:57 +0000

I think that laying responsibility for everything that happens on the U.S. is a bad habit on the “Left.” I think The U.S. would have intervened (more vigorously) if the Shah had been threatened by the Left instead of the (Islamist) Right, especially if fighting against such a Left in Iran could have been folded into the anti-USSR Cold War framework (the U.S. had supported the Khmer Rouge out of anti-Soviet-ism). But, really, the situation in Iran just escaped U.S. control. My point is that the Shah’s regime cannot be considered to have been simply an extension of the U.S. government, as some kind of colonial satrapy. This is what is wrong with the attribution of “imperialism.” The Shah’s regime had its own interests, not always compatible with the U.S.’s. — On Afghanistan: The U.S. was involved in Afghanistan, fomenting revolt, before the USSR sent in its troops. Whether it played a hand in the internecine struggles among the different factions of the left-nationalist PDPA is another matter. Even previously (even under the monarchy), Afghanistan had been a Soviet client-state. The Islamism in Afghanistan (which is predominantly Sunni) is quite different from and actually inimical to that in (predominantly Shiite) Iran. But, in the context of the Cold War, from immediately after WWII onwards, the U.S. always favored Islamism as a bulwark against “communism.”

By: PatrickSMcNally

PatrickSMcNally — Sun, 04 Jul 2010 16:14:56 +0000

> indeed responsibility for the ultimate demise of the Shah can also be laid at the door of U.S. policy, for President Carter refused to support the Shah against the tumult of protests that broke out in 1978.

This may actually have been related to Afghanistan where the PDPA took power in April 1978. Everyone is probably familiar with the interview where Zbigniew Brzezinski made it clear that by July 1979 the Carter administration was seeking to create a “Vietnam” for the USSR in Afghanistan. Fewer people realize that Hafizullah Amin, the man overthrown by Soviet intervention in December 1979, had been with the Afghan Students Association in his earlier life. The ASA was exposed by RAMPARTS Magazine in the 1960s as one of the many groups funded covertly by the CIA. That doesn’t exactly prove anything, but it’s tempting to think that Soviet charges that Amin was a CIA agent may not have been all paranoia. Now as far as how this could relate to Iran, the Islamic Revolution against US imperialism did a lot to create credibility capital for the later Reagan-supported Holy War against the USSR in Afghanistan. Although concrete evidence is scant, it’s tempting to think that the Shah may have been deliberately sacrificed with the intent of creating a situation like this.

By: A Coda on Solidarity: Iran, the Left and Noble Savages | The Activist

A Coda on Solidarity: Iran, the Left and Noble Savages | The Activist — Mon, 14 Jun 2010 14:52:21 +0000

[...] with the Khomeinites, who themselves masked their reactionary agenda with populist bluster. Danny Postel summons Maziar Behrooz’s excellent Rebels with a Cause: The Failure of the Left in Iran: [T]he [...]

By: Principia Dialectica Magazine - » Blog Archive » Some notes on ‘the anti-imperialism of fools’ Enemies of utopia for the sake of its realisation

Sun, 14 Mar 2010 20:18:36 +0000

[...] critical notes on the talks delivered here in Chicago for a recent [...]

By: Postel on Iran « Shiraz Socialist

Postel on Iran « Shiraz Socialist — Sat, 13 Mar 2010 18:26:21 +0000

[...] 2010 at 6:26 pm (Feminism, Iran, Max Dunbar, anti-fascism, religion) Via Norm, I’ve found a Platypus Review panel on the future of Iran. It’s worth reading the whole discussion just for Danny Postel, who [...]

By: Postel on Iran « Max Dunbar

Postel on Iran « Max Dunbar — Sat, 13 Mar 2010 18:22:22 +0000

[...] on Iran By maxdunbar Via Norm, I’ve found a Platypus Review panel on the future of Iran. It’s worth reading the whole discussion just for Danny Postel, who [...]

By: Principia Dialectica Magazine - » Blog Archive » Iran and the ‘Anti-imperialism of fools’ Enemies of utopia for the sake of its realisation

Wed, 10 Mar 2010 23:08:27 +0000

[...] platypus1917.org/2010/02/18/30-years-of-the-islamic-revolution-in-iran/ [...]

By: Iranian Revolution, Agnostic Parenting, and „Anti-Social Behavior“ « schalom libertad

Wed, 10 Mar 2010 09:12:02 +0000

[...] the web when I should be writing my paper on communist dissident accounts of national socialism: Danny Postel´s analysis of the Iranian and Western Left during the Iranian revolution, and his crit… (as a contribution to the conference 30 years of the Islamic Revolution in Iran by Platypus). [...]