By DemocracyRules
h/t LA Times, data on file
Poor Dr. Baradei, it must have been so frustrating all these years. Westerners are so pathetically gullible. They really don’t understand the Middle Eastern art of lying. Every Middle Eastern diplomat knows that lying is a high art, and an excellent lie is a mark of high intelligence. The better the lie, the more intelligent the person. It’s mark of distinction. In fact a common Arab joke is that a certain person is so stupid, he can’t even lie well.
So how could the West actually be so gullible as to believe the IAEA reports? Sad, really. Didn’t Westerners realize that IAEA reports were so vague, avoidant, non-specific, and cautiously positive, they could not possibly be true? Certainly every Middle Easterner could see they were bunk. The Israelis saw it and said so, like this diplomatic official: “[El Baradei’s] record as head of the IAEA is one of resounding failures."
Mark Fitzpatrick, an arms control expert at the International Institute for Strategic Studies in London, put it gently. "From a Western perspective, he's been too quick to give the benefit of the doubt to Iran and shade his reports sometimes in ways that sometimes downplayed Iran's violations and lack of cooperation."
At one point, El Baradei confronted Western credulity by explaining exactly how he was lying. In a British interview, El Baradei explained that it was not his job to prevent nations from developing nuclear weapons. His job was to prevent war over the issue. In particular, he did not want the US to attack Iran over its nuclear weapons. El Baradei didn’t explain why, he just didn’t want it. He didn’t speculate about what would happen once Iran got the bomb. That wasn’t his concern.
Therefore the IAEA had to constantly lie to the West, but El Baradie couldn’t understand why this wasn’t obvious to the West. Every report was full of bunk, and it had to be, because if he told the truth, there would be war. It’s not his fault the West was so gullible that they actually believed him.
But after this British interview, nothing changed, the West kept right on believing the IAEA reports. Of course no one in the Middle East had ever believed El Baradei, because they knew the game. The game has been around for millennia. There are references to it in the Book of Esther. How could the West be so dumb?
Finally it looks like El Baradei has completely given up on us. We’re such hopeless dupes that he might as well just tell us the truth, the way a Middle Easterner explains things to a toddler. Iran is about to have nuclear weapons, so there’s no point in concealment. ElBaradei says sanctions don't work, and he wants the West to accept a "grand bargain" with Iran that would recognize Iran's role in the region, and give it "the power, the prestige, the influence" it desires.
So, he has decided to spill the beans now, rather than wait for the first American city to go up. If he waited that long, a few people might get mad at him. But Christians are so forgiving, even that might not matter much. What would the West do, prosecute him for “peace crimes”?
See also:
IDF preparing options for Iran strike
Pro Patria
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