EP 1006 What We Don’t Understand About Iran–and this Conflict–Could Fill Volumes

You will find that out early in the discussion that awaits you just ahead.  Our guest provides a thumbnail of modern Iranian history and in the process makes us realize that Western meddling in the mid-20th century, provides a throughline to where we are today.  And where we are today in this American misadventure reminds us why Western short-term thinking is overmatched by the long game the Iranian leadership, admittedly a ‘thugocracy’, employs when it considers its actions.  And while we see their actions as the rantings of madmen in Tehran our guest quotes and seconds a former Israeli Mossad leader’s assessment of the regime atop Iran as being ‘rational’ in their quest to do one thing–stay in power and maintain their perks and privileges.  In that process, they fear, exploit and have most aggressively killed their own people.  Jonathan Hackett is a retired U.S. Marine with two decades of experience at the Defense Intelligence Agency, National Security Agency, Special Operations Command and Marine Corps operating forces prior to attending Yale Law School.  He is the author of “Iran’s Shadow Weapons:  Covert Action, Intelligence Operations and Unconventional Warfare.”  You will learn a lot as I did.

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