Civil War in Syria

[Donerail]

Oh goody, another oil war.

[Donerail]

Oh goody, another oil war.

For all that oil in Syria...right. 

Not necessarily in Syria, but either as a jumping-off point for other nations with a good chunk more oil, or to sorta calm tensions (or create a big diversion so those nations can take their own measures to "calm tensions") in nations that have oil and want to sell it (GCC in general, Saudi in particular).

[Donerail]

I'd rather be free and poor than wealthy yet under the boot of a SAVAK agent.

[Donerail]

I'd rather be free and poor than wealthy yet under the boot of a SAVAK agent.

If you lived in Iran in the late 1970s you'd probably be under the boot of a SAVAK agent and poor. I don't know where Simfan gets this nonsense that Iran was some prosperous place free of economic inequality.

True; merely suspending disbelief to make a point.

I'd rather be free and poor than wealthy yet under the boot of a SAVAK agent.

Ah, the security agency with 200 prisoners? How frightening. And then the one that became the truly frightening SAVAMA under the IRI? How ironic. The truth is the vast majority of instability in Iran was perpetrated either by fundamentalists or communists. The real radical fringe. Hardly your sort. Better to stay in the Imperial centre.

I'd be very interested in hearing your source for 200 prisoners. My numbers put it at "thousands" (Time, FAS). SAVAK was SAVAMA: they took over the same apparatus, and retained much of the personnel. And are you suggesting I'm a centrist now? And fearmongering of Tudeh. How Eisenhowerian.