Category Archives: Iran

Noting Iranian Forces in Syria

19 Thursday May 2016

Posted by in 21st Century Feudal, Conflict - Culture - Language - Psychology, Iran, Russia, Syria

≈ Leave a comment

Tags

, , , ,

Beirut- Asaad al-Zoubi, head of the Syrian opposition delegation of High Negotiations Committee (HNC) in Geneva, said that Iranian forces are gradually arriving to battle zones in Syria. Over 11 thousand Iranian fighters had recently, boarding cargo jets, arrived at the Damascus International Airport and to Hama city, located on the banks of the Orontes River in west-central Syria.

Diab, Youssef and Fath al-rahman Youssef.  “Al-Zoubi to Asharq Al-Awsat: 80 thousand Iranian Units in Syria.”  Asharq Al-Awsat, May 18, 2016.

Almost 700 Iranian soldiers and militia fighters have been killed in Syria’s civil war, laying bare the scale and cost of Tehran’s intervention to preserve Bashar al-Assad’s grip on power.

Blair, David.  “Almost 700 Iranian troops and militia fighters ‘killed in Syria’ to preserve Bashar al-Assad.”  The Telegraph, May 10, 2016.

Blair pegs the total Iranian commitment of troops, Quds Force and IRGC at 3,000.

For some years now, BackChannels has chained together Moscow, Damascus, and Tehran as equal co-defenders of the “medieval absolute power” on which their respective kleptocracies depend for existence.  That balance of nefarious power may be changing:

“Russia has reduced its air strikes Syria, and so all those Iranians are getting killed because of a lack of air cover,” Kamhawi said. “This seems to be part of a Russian strategy to marginalise Iran’s role in Syria and make its influence unparalleled.”

Al-Tamimi, Jumana.  “Russia moves to check Iran’s power in Syria: Moscow has reduced its air cover of Iranian and Hezbollah militants fighting in Syria.”  Gulf News, May 15, 2016.

Although RT may deny it, Russia’s military presence in Syria appears in the news alternatives (like AP, Fox News — those “alternatives”) to be expanding.

Cole, Brendan.  “War on ISIS: Row rages over Russian military base in ancient Syrian site of Palmyra.”  International Business Times, May 19, 2016.

Mroue, Bassem.  “Russia builds military camp near ancient site in Palmyra.”  AP The Big Story, May 17, 2016.

As “scrape and comment” hasn’t lasting appeal to this blog’s editor — even though at a computer, one naturally looks things up — this post will stop about here and on this note: While Iran has produced a greater fighting presence in the Syrian Tragedy, it may be the Phantom of the Soviet that has irrevocably planted new military assets in the state.

Additional Reference

BackChannels.  “FTAC — Russia’s Not So Appealing Turn in Syria.” March 6, 2016.  The piece contains additional reference to Russia’s expanded military presence in Syria.

The Tower.  “Wave of Iranian Volunteer Soldiers in Syria Causing Further Destabilization.”  May 15, 2016.

# # #

Syria – “Assad vs The Terrorists” – How ISIS Defends Assad

02 Friday Oct 2015

Posted by in 21st Century Feudal, Conflict - Culture - Language - Psychology, Iran, Iraq, Islamic Small Wars, Middle East, Political Psychology, Russia, Syndicate Red Brown Green, Syria, United States of America

≈ 41 Comments

Tags

, , , , , , , , , , , ,

In childhood, the kid with the chessboard chooses his opponent.  Why not in adulthood?  And what if you could not only control you opponent but make the same another rival’s opponent . . . how cool would that be?

That would be so far beyond cool as to have arrived at deliciously evil.

😉

For Moscow — Putin’s post-Soviet neo-feudal Russia, “New Nobility” and all — ISIS serves at least these functions:

  1. A destination for its own unwanted homegrown Islamist terrorists, i.e., a good place to channel as many as may go.
  2. Bashar al-Assad’s best defense, for the realpolitik theatrical “Assad vs The Terrorists” becomes for the general opposition, including NATO opposition to the tyrant’s rule, “Assad or The Terrorists” (mirroring slogan: “Assad, Or We Burn The Country”).
  3. Related to the previous, ISIS becomes the primary military war-on-terror focus for the west, which comes with diplomatic, human, and financial costs to the west.
  4.  Incubated by its own enemy, the Assad regime and its backers, ISIS has been positioned in time and space to destroy the revolution once pressed by the Free Syrian Army and serve as a foil to the combined forces of Assad, Khamenei, and Putin, all of whom today may at will attack the same even if preferring other non-ISIS (and still noncombatant) targets.
  5. Even better, ISIS appears to have had great luck appropriating U.S.-backed bases, equipment, and materiel with a minimum of resistance — or maximum of cooperation.
  6. The Islamist pseudo-dictator Erdogan in Turkey, despite the state’s NATO status, may use the same ISIS excuse as cover to get in some licks against the more familiar enemies of the state, i.e., the Kurdish community (NATO has recently reasserted itself in Turkey through military diplomacy).
  7. As goad to the west and cover for Russian intervention, ISIS has handily provided Moscow with an invitation to produce and bulk up a “forward operating base” in Syria.
  8. Most of all, ISIS serves the preservation of a medieval worldview fit to the possession of political absolute power (political absolutism).

In ISIS, Khamenei (he may thank Assad and Putin) has chosen a familiar Sunni opposition for Iran’s purchase in Iraq’s Shiite militia community.  Once again, Iranian Revolutionary Guard get to get their boots into battle with their old Baathist foes, now serving as generals in Baghdadi’s cause.

Related Teasers, Links, and Reference

The North Atlantic Treaty Organization, established in 1949, has 28 members devoted to the idea of collective security. Prediction: By the time President Obama leaves office in 2017, the NATO pledge of mutual defense in response to aggression will have been exposed as worthless. Objectively the alliance will have ceased to exist. The culprits? Vladimir Putin—and Barack Obama.

Continetti, Matthew.  “The Coming Defeat of NATO: How Vladimir Putin and Barack Obama will break the Atlantic alliance.”  Washington Free Beacon, October 2, 2015.

The long-term aim would be to defeat or demoralise the non-Isil opposition, so that Isil became the regime’s only enemy. That would force the West to back President Bashar al-Assad against it. “They want to clean the country of non-Isil rebels, and then the US will work with them as Isil will be the only enemy,” the Damascus source said.

Akkoc, Raziye and Roland Oliphant.  “Russia kills US-backed Syrian rebels in second day of air strikes as Iran prepares for ground offensive.”  The Telegraph, October 2, 2015.

Russia bombed Syria for a third day on Friday, mainly hitting areas held by rival insurgent groups rather than the Islamic State fighters it said it was targeting and drawing an increasingly angry response from the West.

The U.S.-led coalition that is waging its own air war against Islamic State called on the Russians to halt strikes on targets other than Islamic State.

Perry, Tom and Lidia Kelly.  “U.S., allies demand Russia halt Syria strikes outside IS areas.”  Reuters, October 2, 2015.

Next came Russia’s move on Syria. The weapons that Russia is sending there are not an attempt to settle the conflict. They are there to protect the Assad regime, which is its cause. Moreover, ISIL does not have warplanes: Russia’s air defense missiles are in Syria for a different purpose.

This became clear on Wednesday, when America was given less than an hour’s warning that the Kremlin was imposing, in effect, a no-fly zone in Syria. With this the Russians not only mounted a direct challenge to American authority. They also ripped up the rulebook of military diplomacy. America was aghast, but had no response.

Lucas, Edward.  “In [Putin’s] terms, he is winning.  And on our terms we are losing.” First section, Politico, “What is Putin Really Up To in Syria: 14 Putinologists weigh in.”  October 1, 2015.

The Ba’ath regime was strongly anti-American, so it’s not surprising that–despite the unfortunate fate of the Iraqi Communist Party–it was primarily a client of the Soviet Union (not the US), and this relationship continued up until the moment when the Soviet Union collapsed.

Weintraub, Jeffrey.  “Who armed Saddam? – Some Reality Checks.”  Jeff Weintraub (blog), March 31, 2003.

That Baathists helped ISIS, before the declaration of the ‘Caliphate,’ to rush into Iraq last year, and assist in the battles for key nodes in Iraq, is indisputable. Even in the Second Battle of Tikrit, just fought in the past few weeks, Baathists were a prominent component of ISIS forces. The very fact that Saddam Hussein’s al-Tikriti tribe was tossed out of their tribal domain certainly bore the hallmarks of the ultimate revenge against the Baathist core.

Karasik, Theodore.  The erratic ISIS and Baath party connection.  Al Arabiya, April 18, 2015.

Moscow’s action were in line with the strategy it had used to defeat the separatist movement in Chechnya, infiltrating the insurgency, driving it into extremism, and facilitating the arrival of al-Qaeda jihadists who displaced the Chechen nationalists. In Syria, Russia’s actions accord with the strategy adopted by the regime and its Iranian masters to present Assad as the last line of defence against a terrorist takeover of Syria and a genocide against the minorities. New evidence has emerged to underline these points.

Orton, Kyle. “How Russia Manipulates Islamic Terrorism.” The Syrian Intifada, September 8, 2015.

Testimony from gendarmerie officers in court documents reviewed by Reuters allege that rocket parts, ammunition and semi-finished mortar shells were carried in trucks accompanied by state intelligence agency (MIT) officials more than a year ago to parts of Syria under Islamist control.

Four trucks were searched in the southern province of Adana in raids by police and gendarmerie, one in November 2013 and the three others in January 2014, on the orders of prosecutors acting on tip-offs that they were carrying weapons, according to testimony from the prosecutors, who now themselves face trial.

While the first truck was seized, the three others were allowed to continue their journey after MIT officials accompanying the cargo threatened police and physically resisted the search, according to the testimony and prosecutor’s report.

Pamuk, Humeyra and Nick Tattersall.  “Exclusive: Turkish intelligence helped ship arms to Syrian Islamist rebel areas.”  Reuters, May 21, 2015.

Alfred, Charlotte.  “The Strange Irony Hidden Among the Highest Ranks of ISIS”.  The World Post / Huffington Post, September 12, 2014.

CIA Directorate of Intelligence.  “Soviet Relations with the Baathists in Iraq and Syria: Special Report, Weekly Review, June 27, 1969, approved for release May 2002.

Gardner, David.  “Turkey: The high price of Erdogan’s power grab.”  The Big Read, Financial Times, September 22, 2015.

Hannah, John.  “Erdogan’s Deadly Ambitions.”  Foreign Policy, September 21, 2015.

Lowe, Christian and Julia Edwards.  “Russia to U.S.: talk to us on Syria or risk “unintended incidents’.”  Reuters, September 11, 2015.

Moore, Jack.  “Iranian Military Mastermind Leading Battle to Recapture Tikrit From ISIS.”  Newsweek, March 5, 2015.

O’Toole, Molly.  “Russia is Setting Up A Forward Operating Base in Syria, Pentagon Confirms.”  Defense One, September 14, 2015.

Pamuk, Humeyra and Nick Tattersall.  “Turkey launches heaviest air strikes yet on Kurdish group.”  Reuters, July 29, 2015.

Sly, Liz and Craig Whitlock.  “Turkey denies reaching accord with U.S. on use of air base against Islamic State.”  The Washington Post, October 13, 2014.

The Economist. “Why Turkey called a NATO Article Four consultation.”  July 28, 2015.

Turovsky, Daniil.  “How Isis is recruiting migrant workers in Moscow to join the fighting in Syria.”  The Guardian, May 5, 2015.

Weiss, Michael.  “Russia Is Sending Jihadis to Join ISIS.”  The Daily Beast, August 23, 2015.

Update – December 5, 2015

Orton, Kyle.  “How Assad Funds the Islamic State”.  The Syrian Intifada (blog), November 29, 2015.

Update – June 19, 2016

Fox News.  “Pentagon, Russia hold video conference after bombing of CIA-backed Syria rebels.”  June 18, 2016.

Update – July 25, 2016

Posted to YouTube 10/16/2015.

Update – August 25, 2016

National Coalition of Syrian Revolution and Opposition Forces.  “Harvard University Reveals Secret Documents Proving Assad’s Involvement in Rise of ISIS.”  August 23, 2016.  Article comments from 2015 Der Spiegel article by Christoph Reuter based on papers obtained from the battlespace in 2013.

#

Tough, Scrappy, Independent! _The Golden Veil_ – An Interview and Trailer

03 Thursday Sep 2015

Posted by in 21st Century Feudal, Conflict - Culture - Language - Psychology, Iran, Islamic Small Wars, Politics

≈ 1 Comment

Posted to YouTube 9/2/2015

Posted to YouTube 8/3/2015

Related: http://www.thegoldenveil.com/

If it’s promotion, it’s unrequested and unpaid.

Disclosure: the editor of BackChannels has been a social networking acquaintance (a better word is needed for many remote personalities with whom we feel affinity if not complete agreement, and with whom share interests even if from different and often changing stances or circumstances), with producer, actor, and director Bahman Nassiri for some years and has watched him refuse to give up on his project, his vision, and his opinion of the regime Tehranasaurus medievalistas.

A Nassiri video has appeared once before on BackChannels: “Khomeini on Islam as ready by Film Producer Bahman Nassiri” (July 27, 2015).

The 41-minute indie film may be launched for $1.99 from this location: https://youtu.be/oCur-yTqc94 (proceeds go to benefit California’s mountain lions).

For all intents, Iran has quietly divided into two states, albeit perhaps not of equal proportion: a fanatical and piratical regime and a constituency that bears its burden to the side of it.  While as much may be said of democracies for the period of any incumbent president’s stay (because the other voters didn’t like him), noting the same where the leader installed is supreme and permanent until God flips the lever makes the situation quite different.

In this blog’s analysis, post-Soviet neo-feudal Russia, Syria, and Iran have produced a piece of theater that could be titled “Assad vs The Terrorists” and a look at the horrifying dimensions of that, from the incubation of ISIS (by bombing the al-Qaeda types less frequently than more politically moderate units and noncombatant targets early in the shaping of the war) to images of drowned children washing ashore, may be accessed for free in media worldwide.

The Oryx Blog and its article “New evidence proves Russian military directly engaging in Syrian Civil War” (August 29, 2015) and others on that site may help frame the Syrian Tragedy as a post-Soviet but still KGB-like piece of work.

Related in the News

http://www.theguardian.com/world/2015/sep/03/refugee-crisis-syrian-boy-washed-up-on-beach-turkey-trying-to-reach-canada – 9/3/2015.

# # #

FTAC – Iran’s Political Evolution – Wider Angle, Please

18 Tuesday Aug 2015

Posted by in 21st Century Feudal, Conflict - Culture - Language - Psychology, Iran, Political Psychology, Politics, United States of America

≈ Leave a comment

Tags

, ,

I relay some conservative thought, as in the above video, with hesitation as it doesn’t represent my thoughts, but my thoughts . . . egads! smile emoticon

I think issues associated with any aspect of the “Islamic Small Wars” (my term) are by nature intergenerational and likely to be longer-lived than any single American presidential term. Therefore, the prism through which these events and processes are viewed must be wider than the instance in which they occur.

While it’s true that the Obama Administration appears to have done as much as possible to accommodate a tyrannical regime that has refused all compromise on its barbaric, lethal, and piratical agendas — outside Iran and within — it’s also true that there will be another American Administration in about a year, that other and alternative games (political and military), ideas, and plans developed and out of sight are going to be “forwarded” into that administration. While the future has yet to be written, Iran will have a new generation of professional, about 50 percent or more of it female, graduating from its colleges in the same period; it will have within whatever influence has been brought to its elites and “masses” (I hate the term, but it suits) by Internet, relationships, and by new trade; if the regime gets its money back (from sanctions), it may have issues with avarice and greed at the highest levels.

I believe Time is with the west, not the medievalists, but it takes some tolerance of threat and related patience to get through time, and, granted, the Obama Administration has embarked on a long-term but still perilous course.

The question for the medievalists — Putin, Assad, Khamenei: how well have you done, really? Extended in Yemen, stalled in Ukraine, one-third of Syria beyond state control — and each situation appears stalemated at best?

This is a long video, but it may help some readers align with the observations and thoughts of more specialized intelligentsia.

Posted to YouTube 11/26/2013.

Related: Abbas Milani.

Near horizon: uncomfortable.

The Iranian regime is known for its aggressiveness, anti-Semitism, duplicity, egoism, and piratical character.

It is also known to be ageing.

Persians know too their greater history — and none among the educated have forgotten Cyrus.

A little offstage: the effects of the history of state police forces, from the czars to the Soviet and KGB to today’s FSB in Russia and VEVAK in Iran.  At about 25:15 in the above video, Professor Milani invokes the modern update term on feudalism: “state capitalism”.  Oligarchy.  (The URL trope to insert here: Reuters “Assets of the Ayatollah” — and so done).

Whatever one might wish to call such dictatorships operated by state mafia or theocracy, I believe the form still feudal and formed around the concentration of political power and access to wealth in one human demagogue.

In any case, the demagogue in Tehran has at hand a latent nuclear weapons making capability, in state or beyond (who knows?), and the worth of any agreement with the same has no basis in experience or earlier history (save that scandal with the illicit arms trade and even perhaps rougher politics).

Still, time is time, and the more time floats around and past the dictator, the more cultural evolution may temper the excesses of the malignant personality.  Where The Great Leader will not, or cannot, change, the Greater Society may.

Related Reference

Alliance of Iranian Women: Until Victory

“In September 2012, women made up more than 60 percent of all universities’ student body in Iran.”

Norman, Natasha.  “5 Badass Iranian Women Who Are Shattering Stereotypes of What Feminism Looks Like.”  World.Mic, July 23, 2015.

# # #

 

Link – Iran – Origin – Rule of the Jurispudents

17 Monday Aug 2015

Posted by in Conflict - Culture - Language - Psychology, Iran, Islamic Small Wars, Links

≈ Leave a comment

Tags

,

” . . . the Safavid dynasty was not Iranian, it was a Turkish tribe from Lebanon who conquered Iran in 1499. Until then, Iran had no national religion dating back to the human rights proclamation of the Cyrus the Great and freedom of the Jews from Babylonian slavery, in 539 BCE. The Safavids were Shia, and upon their occupation they imported a group of Shia clerics, olima, from Lebanon — hence the connection of Iranian Shia establishment with the Hizb’allah — including the infamous Mohammad Baghir Madjlesi, the author of the rule of Jurisprudents, meaning the god-given rule of clerics, that Khomeini adopted 300 years later and implemented in Iran again in 1979.

The imported Shiite establishment overrode the Iranian culture and civilization of human rights, equal rights of women, freedom of worship and respect for all, dismissing it as pagan and enforcing a new culture of Islamic Sharia laws written by Madjlesi.”

Ervin, Manda Zand.  “The Mullahs and the Real Iran.”  American Thinker, April 30, 2015.

# # #

 

Link — A Real Corker! – National Review

19 Sunday Jul 2015

Posted by in 21st Century Feudal, Conflict - Culture - Language - Psychology, Iran, Islamic Small Wars, Links, North America, Politics, United States of America

≈ Leave a comment

Tags

, ,

Of course, you may have been under the impression – perhaps from reading our quaint Constitution from those dark pre-Fundamental Transformation days – that We the People are sovereign, that our government must take its marching orders from us. To the contrary, President Obama is claiming in his Iran deal that he – unilaterally and without congressional advice, consent, or legislation – may huddle with Russian strongman Vladimir Putin, the Chinese Communist government, some European leaders, and our Iranian enemies to devise enforceable law. We and our elected representatives are expected meekly to submit.

We must not submit.

http://www.nationalreview.com/corner/421349/congress-must-ditch-corker-bill-and-treat-iran-deal-either-treaty-or-proposed

H.R.1191 – Iran Nuclear Agreement Review Act of 2015

Charen, Mona.  “Obama: Witting or Witless?”  National Review, July 17, 2015.

Smith-Spark, Laura.  “Iran’s Supreme Leader vows no change in relations with ‘arrogant’ United States.”  CNN, July 19, 2015.

# # #

Islam — A Note on Political Topology and Prejudice and Possibility

16 Thursday Jul 2015

Posted by in 21st Century Feudal, Conflict - Culture - Language - Psychology, Iran, Middle East, Political Psychology, Politics, Regions

≈ Leave a comment

Tags

, ,

And here we are in 2015 choosing to believe the promises made by the leaders of Islamic Iran regarding nuclear proliferation despite the well-known Islamic policy of taqiyya-religious deception. Despite the fact that they have lied about their nuclear programme in the past. From the Qur’an – This verse tells Muslims not to take those outside the faith as friends, unless it is to “guard themselves” against danger, meaning that there are times when a Muslim may appear friendly to non-Muslims, though they should not feel that way.” (Here And here – “And they (the disbelievers) schemed, and Allah schemed (against them): and Allah is the best of schemers.” If Allah is supremely deceitful toward unbelievers, then there is little basis for denying that Muslims are allowed to do the same. (See also 8:30 and 10:21) and here. From the Hadith: Bukhari (84:64-65) – Speaking from a position of power at the time, Ali confirms that lying is permissible in order to deceive an “enemy.” In other words, the word of a Muslim leader is not his bond.

Bederman, Diane Weber.  “Western Arrogance may lead us to Armageddon.”  Canada Free Press, July 16, 2015.

The vast majority of countries on Earth with nuclear programs do not possess sensitive nuclear facilities. Rather the fuel is provided by a more advanced nuclear power, such as Russia, France, or the United States. This eliminates the need for the spread of dangerous enrichment or reprocessing programs to new countries. Countries like Iran that insist on developing their own sensitive technologies for “peaceful purposes,” therefore, are tipping their hand and revealing a likely intention to build the bomb.

Kroenig, Matthew.  “Why is Obama Abandoning 70 Years of U.S. Nonproliferation Policy?”  Tablet, June 15, 2015.

Whether nations or women deceived, Islam and several of the states most representative of it would seem to have a big credibility issue.  For Jews, perhaps others who have taken note, serious betrayal — and signal of the complete absence of compassion, conscience, and empathy — begins with the legend of the mass slaughter of the Banu Qurayza men and the barbaric enslavement of their wives and daughters.

Muslim critic and reformer Tarek Fatah has derided and rejected the authenticity of the Banu Qurayza legend for finding it execrable as any sort of example of morality while the “anti-Jihad”, in general, maintains the same as a potent symbol of the character of Islam.

Today’s skinny brings the tale of the imam who lied to betray his wife and woo another woman (K. M. Lessing) into conversion and marriage.

Same thing, isn’t it?

First, lie; then exploit the lie: to get the woman; to get power over others.

From simple mass slaughter and the abuse of women inveigled into relationships, Islam’s apparently inherent interest in the possession of absolute power — unanswerable, unconscionable (well demonstrated throughout the Syrian theater and the military and political play that has been fashioned as “Assad vs The Terrorists”), and humanly conflated with the presence in concept of God Almighty — extends logically to the possession of nuclear arms and the associated ability and evident intent to threaten the annihilation of others in exchange for their cooperation, loyalty, obedience, subjugation.

Should one take it on faith that not all imam are like K. M. Lessing’s imam?

Similarly, should on take it on faith that not all ayatollah and senior clerics are like Ali Khamenei or Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi?  Or the Muhammad who allegedly slaughtered 800 self-surrendered, compliant, and disarmed fathers and sons?

What do the polls say?

Where are the social science measures of attitudes toward others from within Islam?

Here we are back at “Shimmer“.

It’s different today: the question had been, as stated by Daniel Pipes, “How Many Islamists?”  Now we’re being positioned to ask among the despotic and theocratic leaders of Islamic states, who else (in addition to Pakistan) will have nuclear weapons, how soon, and how many?

While it may be understood that the Religion of Peace contains the genuinely peaceful and now an emerged leadership complement of Islamic humanists, social progressives, and reformers, its other faces retain the power and punch of military generals and political autocrats, and those in Iran it appears the west may now be rewarding with increased access to capital and the further encouragement of license exceeding all limits.

Loosely Related Reference

Afshari, Ali.  “Khamenei preaches Shiite-Sunni unity against Islamic State, US.”  Al-Monitor, October 22, 2014: “High-ranking officials of the Islamic Republic have always talked about the importance of Shiite-Sunni unity and even dedicated a week each year to the issue. Their actions, however, have served to deepen the Shiite-Sunni divide, in particular their discrimination against Iranian Sunnis, including limitations on their religious activities, as well as efforts to propagate Shiism in the Middle East.”

Al-Muslimi, Farea.  “Yemen’s Houthis proxy, not ally for Iran.”  Al-Monitor, November 19, 2014.

BackChannels.  “Ali Khamenei and the Letter from Near Mosul — A Speculation.”  January 16, 2015.

Bender, Jeremy.  “Iran’s proxy war in Yemen just got exposed.”  Business Insider, May 1, 2015.

Council on Foreign Relations.  “The Sunni-Shia Divide.”

Daoud, David.  “Iran’s Khamenei Says US is Enemy to Both Sunni and Shia Muslims in the Middle East.”  The Algemeiner, May 18, 2015.

Frantzman, Seth J.  “20 Myths About the Iran Deal.”  Terra Incognita, July 15, 2015: “How a country that hangs people proudly and burns the flags of those it negotiates with has come to be so respected on the international stage is truly extraordinary. It is a testament to the soft racism of low expectations of the West.”

Karami, Arash.  “Iranian supreme leader doubles down on struggle against American ‘arrogance'”.  Al-Monitor, July 13, 2015

In September 2014, the U.S. began airstrikes in Syria that targeted ISIS, allowing Assad to perform an “economy of force“: Assad left the U.S. to attack ISIS in the east and focused on the moderates in the west. Assad has worked very hard to make extremists the face of the insurgency—for example between ISIS’ emergence and late 2014, Assad directed just six percent of his airstrikes against ISIS—and to present this as a binary choice between the dictator or the takfiris; this is a lie, but many believe it and it has worked to make the U.S. effectively Assad’s (Iran’s) air force in Syria.

Orton, Kyle.  “America Not Training Syria’s Rebels Isn’t “Failure”; It’s Policy.”  The Syrian Intifada, July 13, 2015.

Ross, Dennis.  “Iran Will Cheat, Then What?”  Time, July 15, 2015.

Starr, Barbara.  “Sources: Baghdadi may have been in Raqqa.”  CNN Politics, July 15, 2015.  Post includes video, story, and photo panel of “Leaders of deadliest terrorist groups.”

Former U.S. officials and Iran experts say Khamenei has a deep-rooted suspicion of the West and a streak of insecurity – he rose to power due to his loyalty to the late Ayatollah Ruhollah Khomeini rather than lofty religious credentials.

A sense of inferiority has dogged him over the years and it would be especially important for Khamenei to be seen as not folding under Western pressure to reach an agreement, they said.

Zakaria, Tabassum.  “For Iran talks, trying to divine supreme leader’s intent.”  Reuters, April 13, 2012.

The United States pushed forward with a sanctions-based approach largely because key administration officials believed that sanctions strengthened the credibility and leverage of those who wanted to engage Iran, while preventing more violent actions by Israel. They insisted that such an approach best addressed the myriad long-term mutual interests shared by the United States and Iran. President Obama himself reached the conclusion that there were too few negative incentives to affect Iran’s internal calculus, particularly regarding mutual interests.

Marashi, Reza.  “The Political Psychology of Obama’s Iran Policy.”  Muftah, January 6, 2012.

Khalaji, Mehdi.  “No Voice of Reconciliation: Khamenei Targets the West.”  The Washington Institute, May 21, 2015.

The Soufan Group.  “TSG IntelBrief: Khamenei’s Challenges and Unease in Iran’s Power Structure.”  November 14, 2013.

There’s not much on the web as regards “political psychology, Khamenei.”

Perhaps BackChannel’s approach with “malignant narcissism” aligned with the “Syndicate Red Brown Green” feudalism and associated anti-Semitism / anti-Zionism / anti-westernism will fill the bill: I believe Khamenei’s interests continue to reside with the possession of political “absolute power”, capricious justice, piratical leadership, militarism expressed through “war by proxy” and the cultivation of Daesh as a Sunni-aligned foil for Iraq’s Shiite militia (advised by Revolutionary Guard), and the long-term survival of Sunni vs Shiite teleological rivalry and related hot conflict as stage-managed from Tehran.

World Nuclear Association.  “Nuclear Power in Iran.”  Updated May 2015: “After two years delay due to Iran’s reluctance to agree to returning used fuel to Russia without being paid for it, two agreements were signed early in 2005 covering both supply of fresh fuel for the new Bushehr nuclear reactor and its return to Russia after use. The Russian agreement means that Iran’s nuclear fuel supply is secured for the foreseeable future, removing any justification for enrichment locally.”

# # #