Caleb Maupin (49:36)
And that's the hardliner movement. I actually have interviewed Ibrahim Razi, one of the Iranian president who died. I actually had the opportunity to interview him and he was a hardliner. And that was part of the hardliner positions. We need to go back to the more socialistic aspects of our revolution. Whereas the reformists and the moderates, you know, like Rouhani, they were saying, well, we need to just make friends with America and, you know, have market and privatizations, etc. So, so Iran is adjusting its economy right now due to the new circumstances. That's the one thing. On the other hand, there's a layer of people in Iran that are just agents of the west, right? You have the Mujahideen cult, a group of like weird terrorists, you know, that, that started out as communists and then became Israeli agents working with Mossad. You've got a lot of very, very wealthy people that, that want the Shah back and are monarchists. And there's a layer of people that when they get a call from America, they go out and riot and break windows and destroy property and do whatever they, they want basically on command. It's almost like they have a button in the White House. And every so often they'll, they'll see that there's like a perfect storm. There's a contradiction. There's some problems in the Iranian economy and they, I'm exaggerating. There's not literally a button, but it's almost like that they just push a button and certain people just go out and break because they want to overthrow the Islamic Republic. And so, so there's, there's a contradiction. There's, there's two stories there. But at the end of the day, right now the Internet is off in Iran, which, that they have the same thing in America. Do you remember that? The kill switch, we have that here. They can turn the Internet off over here if we have a domestic emergency. So, you know, I, I mean, if people are saying that Iran is bad because, and it's not everywhere, I believe it's in certain areas they've turned off the Internet. We have that here. I believe Obama signed it into law that if they declare a national emergency, they can turn off the Internet in America too. Most countries at this point have such a possibility policy. It looks like in Iran that, that there's some anger about the economic situation. And so forces that are aligned with the United States and aligned with Israel are going out and rioting and breaking things. And so the Islamic Republic, seeing, you know, the bombing that they faced earlier and seeing, you know, what's happened and the assassination of prominent leaders. They're, they've, they've, they're taking care of business. And it's probably pretty ugly and it's probably pretty heavy handed, but it's because you look at Iran, Iran in terms of countries in that region is a very stable, safe country, right? Iran, you know, the amount of terrorist attacks, the amount of killing, the rate of crime is particularly low. But look at their border. They got Iraq, Iraq's not a very safe place. They got Afghanistan, not a very safe place. They've got Syria, not a very safe place. They've got instability all around them. And the Islamic Republic, part of why they are loved and respected is they have kept the country relatively safe. Every so often something might happen, but it's very rare. And they have provided stability and even people in the country. When I was in Iran, I walked around some of the wealthier neighborhoods where people don't like the Islamic Republic. But even a lot of the wealthier people said, I don't want the instability that would come from bringing down the Islamic Republic. I don't want to go through that. And some of the older folks remembered how chaotic the 1979 revolution was, was and how scary it was and confusing when it wasn't clear who was going to come to power. They don't want that to happen again. The Islamic Republic, they have what are called Basij councils in every neighborhood. Basij means mobilized, oppressed. And they're the people that carry out the goals of the revolution. On a community level. That country is locked and loaded. They are ready to fight and they've been ready to fight. I mean, they repelled the Iraqi invasion in the 1980s. They've got pictures of martyrs of people who gave their lives fighting the Iraqi invaders in every neighborhood. And you know, it's interesting, when I went to Venezuela, when I went to Iran, and a lot of countries that are, you know, what you call anti imperialist countries, you can almost divide the population. It's kind of a new formula, right? It wasn't like this in the, in the time of the Cold War. But these countries are kind of a third. A third, a third. You have a third of the people that are, they buy the idea that their problems are because of the government. They buy into American propaganda or whatever. They're anti government. And then you have a third of the people that are, are pro government, but they're not very passionate about it. They're like, hey, you know, the government gave us health care. The government has built schools and hospitals don't necessarily agree with their ideology, but, you know, hey, they're doing a good job, whatever. Not my problem. They're not. They're kind of indifferent, but they're pro. And then you have a layer of people who are dedicated, who are ready to die for the revolution, right? In Iran, you have the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps, that is a paramilitary, a military, military organization that's actually accountable only to the Supreme Leader. And you go to the neighborhoods where they run things, and they are the biggest economic entity in Iran, and they are ready to be martyrs. They are ready to die. They believe. I, I went and saw the Supreme Leader speak in 2015 during the Iran negotiations. And I mean, I was in a room full of people that they just started sobbing as soon as he came into the room. All the men extend their hands and shout, the blood in my vessels belongs to the spirit, Supreme Leader. There's a layer of people there that, that will go down fighting. And you know, Venezuela, not an Islamic country, they have the same thing. I visited a commune in central Caracas, a collectivo, and I met people who talked about, you know, the fact that, you know, if it wasn't for Hugo Chavez, they wouldn't be able to speak Spanish. They, they only spoke indigenous languages. They talked about how, you know, how it was Chavez that brought running water and brought health care into their neighborhoods. And you know, those folks, the Bolivarian militias, they call it, they are locked and loaded and they are ready to fight and die for socialism. And they have those Bolivarian, socialist, Bolivarian circles in every neighborhood, and they're ready to go. And, and Venezuela is similar, where I'd say it's about a third. A third, A third, right? You have a third of the people that are against, a third of the people that are pro, but kind of a different. But then you have that solid core of people, that solid core of people that are like, this is my movement. I am loyal to this revolution and I am against the imperialist, and I'm ready to go. And that, that, that is kind of a new formula, right? During the Cold War, I think that, you know, the Soviet Union tried to make that, that very dedicated third. Everybody, right? They tried to have everybody, you know, be that way. And that, that's not going to work. Some people are just not into it. They want to start their own business, they, whatever. But, but these anti imperialist states in our time, they've maintained a layer of the population that is very solid and very dedicated. And that's what, that's why these Governments are able to withstand all these attacks. And look, at the end of the day, right, if you are concerned about human rights in Iran or in Venezuela or China or any of these countries, you should want America to trade with these countries. Because when countries are under attack and they're isolated and they are, you know, preparing for a foreign invasion, they're locking down at that point. They have to protect themselves and they have to have rigid discipline. And all the authoritarianism people don't like about North Korea that wouldn't be there if there weren't thousands of U.S. troops in South Korea and U.S. nuclear submarines, you know, you know, potentially loaded with nukes to attack them, right? That countries that are, you know, locked out of the global economy, that are facing threats of invasion, they have to be authoritarian and rigid. They have to. It's the only way they can. They can stand themselves. But when countries are part and trading on the world economy and when they're more prosperous economically, then they can be more open. So don't ever believe that US Attacks on Iran are done about concerns for human rights in Iran. Don't ever believe that. That U.S. attacks on Venezuela are done out of concern for human rights. Because the more you threaten and attack countries, the more they have to solidify and prepare to fight to the death to defend their homeland.
