Deniers in Denial

To a congenital conspiracy theorist as myself it is hard for me to accept coincidences on the stage of international power easily. At that level of power brokerage I think that secrecy is the norm and that the dirty deeds, even when clearly exposed with proof beyond reproach, are easily dismissed by collective acts of cognitive dissonance.

This is why I find it rather amusing that during the same week Iran was hosting an international conference on the Jewish Holocaust with such scholarly figures as David Duke in attendance, Israeli Prime Minister Ehud Olmert managed to let slip that Israel has nuclear weapons. Who's kidding who? Israel doesn't just have a couple of nukes, they are a nuclear power on the scale of Britain. If it comes down to a comparison of nuclear threats and capabilities, Iran will be wiped off the face of the earth by nuclear weapons before Israel is. Although I would like to see a world without nuclear weapons and personally would like to see the United States lead the way in global nuclear disarmament, I think Iran deserved the blunt reminder that it is at the moment a nuclear wannabe.

The obvious motive for the conference would be that admitting there was a Jewish holocaust in Europe would present moral, ethical and perhaps even emotional obstacles for the will to obliterate the state of Israel. However slight these obstacles might be today with all the bloodied water that has passed under the bridge, so to speak, none can be allowed.

Apart from this obviously obnoxious and sinister motive in hosting this international conference for holocaust deniers, there is a deeper more puzzling message behind this conference to be pondered. That would be the message that the world can come and talk to Iran. The conference included Americans, Europeans and even Jews. The Jews did not deny the holocaust as did everyone else in attendance, they merely disagreed with the validity of the Jewish state of Israel and that was all that they were allowed to speak upon.

So, be heartened America. You can go talk to the leadership in Iran. But be prepared, for when you talk to the Iranians you are really talking to the Persians, those strange Machiavellian folks who have been playing the game of puppet master and puppet for three thousand years. Leave your facts at the door. For when you enter Iran you are not entitled to your own facts, you are entitled to Iranian facts. But don't worry too much about that, because facts are not what one seeks to debate with their adversary anyway.