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Boston Globe
15 hours ago
- Politics
- Boston Globe
The most pro-American Muslims in the Middle East
Advertisement From another: 'What righteous rage would Americans feel if a Muslim nation overthrew our own elected government and supported a police state for decades?' It's an allegation that critics have been making for years. Barack Obama voiced it in a widely touted speech in Cairo early in his presidency. 'In the middle of the Cold War,' he declared, 'the United States played a role in the overthrow of a democratically elected Iranian government.' Other prominent Democrats, including former presidential candidate Advertisement But the historical record isn't nearly so cut-and-dried, as Peter Theroux, a longtime US intelligence officer, 'First, the CIA did not mount or execute a coup. Second, Mossadegh was not democratically elected. Third, the shah was not yet corrupt. Fourth, he was not brought back to power, because he had never left it.' For those whose instinct is always to find fault with US policy, the narrative that the CIA ran roughshod over Iranian democracy to overthrow Mossadegh — who had incurred Western displeasure by nationalizing the country's oil industry — may be irresistible. But it rests on myths. As Ray Takeyh, a leading scholar of Iran and a former senior adviser in the Obama State Department, Mossadegh's fall was driven mostly by deep domestic opposition from Shia clergy, middle class professionals, and the military, which resented the growing authoritarianism of the prime minister. When the shah, acting within his constitutional authority, dismissed Mossadegh, the prime minister reacted by arresting the man who brought him the news. It's true that the American and British governments assisted the anti-Mossadegh forces, but they didn't conjure them into existence. Mossadegh's downfall in 1953 was chiefly the result of his own mismanagement and the mobilization of powerful Iranian factions — not a nefarious CIA-engineered plot. Advertisement But even if you disregard all that, even if you regard Mossadegh as a liberal Iranian hero undermined by Anglo-American perfidy, there is a much bigger problem with the 'But Mossadegh!' argument. It's illogical. The goal of Ayatollah Khomeini's revolution of 1979 was to transform Iran into a nation governed by strict sharia law under a Supreme Leader — himself — and to impose a radical Islamist dictatorship throughout society. The new regime suppressed liberal nationalists, including many who had admired Mossadegh, and dismantled the country's remaining democratic institutions. Khomeini's theocracy didn't come to vindicate Mossadegh; it came to crush every liberal value he embraced. Moreover, the new Islamic republic's hatred for America had nothing to do with 1953 and everything to do with its own revolutionary ideology. The mullahs who seized power saw American liberalism, secularism, and friendship toward Israel as a cultural and religious threat. That is why it encouraged throngs to chant 'Death to America!' and why it has repeatedly facilitated deadly attacks on Americans. But the most compelling refutation of the claim that the Tehran government's implacable anti-Americanism is rooted in the 1953 ouster of Mossadegh is that Iranian grassroots public opinion is If 1953 had sown the deep cultural resentment that leftist critics imagine, the Iranian street ought to be a hotbed of hatred for Americans. Instead, numerous indicators of public opinion within Iran, formal and informal, show the opposite: Ordinary Iranians admire American society and people, even if they sometimes resent US policy. 'A 2009 World Public Opinion poll found that 51 percent of Iranians hold a favorable opinion of Americans, a number consistent with other polls, meaning that Americans are more widely liked in Iran than anywhere else in the Middle East,' Advertisement Two years later, Iranians active on social media have made a point of expressing warmth toward Americans, especially in recent years. A notable example occurred in 2017, when protests against the travel ban imposed during the first Trump administration prompted Iranian users to launch an online There is no shortage of anecdotal evidence — including videotaped scenes in which Advertisement For more than 40 years, the Iranian government has denounced the United States as 'the Great Satan' and Israel as 'the little Satan' and vowed to ' The toppling of Mossadegh in 1953 may have been a significant chapter in modern Iranian history, but it has little do with how ordinary Iranians today regard the nation that its Islamist oppressors have been cursing for more than four decades. Like the people of Eastern Europe during the Cold War, the people of Iran see America — If the current US-Israeli strikes on Iran succeed in destroying the mullahs' nuclear weapons infrastructure that will be a good thing. But it will be a great thing if the attacks pave the way to ending the evil regime that has ruled Iran since 1979, and at long last open the door to a brighter, freer, happier future for the long-suffering people of Iran. Advertisement This is adapted from the current , Jeff Jacoby's weekly newsletter. To subscribe to Arguable, visit . Jeff Jacoby can be reached at
Fox News
26-02-2025
- Business
- Fox News
3 long-term consequences from Biden's cancellation of the Keystone pipeline
President Donald Trump turned heads with his call for restarting the Keystone XL Pipeline. While the energy industry welcomes the new business-friendly administration, the Biden administration's damage is not easily undone. Keystone was a privately funded project constructing 1,200 miles of pipeline that would have brought 850,000 barrels of crude oil per day from Alberta, Canada, to the U.S. Gulf Coast for refining. Because it would cross international borders, the U.S. State Department has permitting jurisdiction. In 2015, the Obama State Department approved the project, but President Obama, urged by Secretary of State John Kerry, denied the permits in the name of climate change. Trump's reversal resumed construction, but the project was still ongoing when Joe Biden was inaugurated, and on his first day he revoked the permission, putting more than a thousand people out of work. With Keystone back in the news, here are three long-term consequences Biden's cancellation caused: Biden's cancellation set an ugly and dangerous precedent. The parent company of Keystone XL did not apply for a permit from the Obama State Department, nor did they make a deal with Donald Trump. They reached an agreement with the U.S. government, whose full faith and credit was undermined by Biden. Obama fueled the drama around Keystone XL by calling it "dirty" and invoking fear of climate change. This labeling could apply to any large-scale construction project: an airport, a nuclear plant, a refinery. Activist groups will always present their "science," and outrage over "climate justice" can persuade a fickle future president to undo anything. That is the precedent Biden set. America's word hinges on elections. Part of President Trump's appeal is that he is not a career politician. He was a businessman and even more pertinent, he was a builder. The private sector understands financial risks in ways government never can. Look at the $2 billion grant Biden's Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) made to liberal activist Stacey Abrams for a new climate nonprofit with zero staff and zero accomplishments. The organizations had only $100 in revenue, and yet it received a taxpayer investment 20 million times earnings. Such a windfall would never happen in the private sector. Government operatives, whether agency bureaucrats or longtime elected officials, don't understand the complexities of a project like Keystone. A lifelong politician himself, Biden's cancellation didn't come with a "bailout" by taxpayers. Would any company take another risk on a costly project with green crusaders like California Gov. Gavin Newsom and U.S. Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, D-N.Y., looming as wannabe White House hopefuls? The personal sacrifice energy workers make for their jobs is often overlooked. On a 1,200-mile pipeline there are no Zoom meetings, working from home or even a commute home. You live at a camp, or many of the older workers have trailers or campers, and you travel with the project. Like all construction jobs with an end date, skilled workers are lining up their next projects in advance. There were workers on Keystone who had five years of projected employment, but after Biden's actions, lost everything at the hands of a guy who called himself "Scranton Joe." Unlike today's maelstrom of coverage over the Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE) bringing accountability to government bureaucrats, there was no sympathy or support from the mainstream media. No fawning "60 Minutes" segment or weepy CBS story of a park ranger who lost his "dream job." The Keystone XL workers were necessary casualties in Biden's effort to save the planet. Even with Trump in charge, government needs to win back the trust of industry. The federal government could sign an agreement that a cancellation of a project would lead to a refund of costs. Congress could reclaim permitting jurisdiction from the executive branch through well-written legislation. As a builder, Donald Trump understands the importance of infrastructure projects. The Alaska LNG pipeline will need more than a decade. Proposed LNG pipelines from Pennsylvania to New England will require at least five years. Businesses are thinking twice before putting billions of dollars on the line. Workers are taking a second look before taking a flyer on a project that a politician could cancel. These are not only the lessons of Keystone, but also the sad legacy of Joe Biden and the lasting damage he did to our country.
