Iranophobia is a disease foisted on the American people by the government and a compliant media. The cure is information. This disease results in war. Cured, it can lead to peace.
The great thing about Iran is their unwavering support for those under occupation and abuse. They supported South Africans in breaking free of oppressors, and Bosnia when they were under oppression, now the Palestinians. The Yemeni AnsarAllah do the same. As Cuba does in the medical help they give in tragedies when they occur in the world.
Protect the woman is effective propoganda for young grunts in my experience in afgan as a marine. One town north of musaquala Intel officers told my platoon all the woman had thier noses and ears cut off. No evidence just orders but still We hunted this group of fighters village to village and not once did we ever see a maimed woman. But we sure found plenty of fights with the men from our irrational man hunt. To me it feels like the cia is calling all the shots for both iran and Israel but that's just a hunch.
Thank you Scott for reminding us that we're all members of the human family and for showing how to heal from ignorance-fueled phobias, while also holding our own fear and war mongering leaders to account.
I love the work you do. It's so critical for the survival of humanity. I wish some influencer with tons of followers would team up with you and make this go viral.
We need timothee chalamet and Jennifer Lawrence to do a Don't Look Up Campaign for nuclear disarmament. Weird idea, I know.
Jesus said that the rogues of his day neglected the weightier matters of the law, namely judgment, mercy and faith.
Luke translates it as judgment and the love of God.
That’s agape love, that higher form of love that the Greeks name as a superior form. Jesus very likely wasn’t speaking in Greek to his disciples. He was probably speaking Aramaic.
Luke 11:42 (KJV)
But woe unto you, Pharisees! for ye tithe mint and rue and all manner of herbs, and pass over judgment and the love of God: these ought ye to have done, and not to leave the other undone.
Matthew 23:23 (KJV)
Woe unto you, scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites! for ye pay tithe of mint and anise and cummin, and have omitted the weightier [matters] of the law, judgment, mercy, and faith: these ought ye to have done, and not to leave the other undone.
So:
mercy + faith = love of God
In other words, there’s no real love without faith and mercy, because the love of God is faith and mercy.
There’s all kinds of love that are not the pure love of God, with variable ratios of faith and mercy, but they don’t necessarily save life or protect life.
I think that we all intuitively know this, that some mercy is a part of love, and mercy is the greater part of the New Covenant.
Jeremiah 31:34 (KJV) And they shall teach no more every man his neighbour, and every man his brother, saying, Know the LORD: for they shall all know me, from the least of them unto the greatest of them, saith the LORD: for I will forgive their iniquity, and I will remember their sin no more.
John 1:17 (KJV)
For the law was given by Moses, [but] grace and truth came by Jesus Christ.
AND HERE I GET TO THE BASIS OF INTERNATIONAL LAW!
Romans 3:27 (KJV)
Where [is] boasting then? It is excluded. By what law? of works? Nay: but by the law of faith.
The UN Charter is a law based on faith. You can say the same about any law based system where there are human rights and freedoms. If the people don’t have faith in it, to the extent that they don’t believe in it, it doesn’t work. That’s the nature of a faith based system or, the law of faith.
But in any system with the rule of law, the law only works as well as the people that define it, or interpret it. So no rules based system will work without some kind of faith, and if it’s not the God kind of defined faith, it fails now and then, or later. And that’s why John said God is love.
But the Hebraic idea of faith is related to truth, stability, proof, evidence, substance and hope.
Hebrews 11:1 (KJV) Now faith is the substance of things hoped for, the evidence of things not seen.
1 Corinthians 13:13 (KJV) And now abideth faith, hope, charity, these three; but the greatest of these [is] charity.
Etymologically related Hebrew words according to Strongs Concordance for faith, truth, stability, belief, proof, evidence, facts etc., etc., etc.
H529 OR H530 OR H539 OR H540 OR H541 OR H542 OR H543 OR H544 OR H545 OR H546 OR H547 OR H548 OR H549 OR H550 OR H551 OR H552
I will do the same for the Greek words for faith and belief, or truth, but the etymological relations in Greek, as compared to Hebrew, are not so clear. But knowing the Hebrew relations much clarifies that faith and truth are strongly related, if we don’t know or understand that intuitively.
John 8:31-32 (KJV) 31 Then said Jesus to those Jews which believed on him, If ye continue in my word, [then] are ye my disciples indeed; 32 And ye shall know the truth, and the truth shall make you free.
When Ritter says knowledge is power, it’s true, but in Christ, knowledge is also freedom.
So the rogues are free to join the UN if they want, and citizenship in many countries represents measures of freedom. Obviously it’s according to the measure of their faith that our association will result in power and freedom, but power is not the main thing.
Romans 12:3 (KJV)
For I say, through the grace given unto me, to every man that is among you, not to think [of himself] more highly than he ought to think; but to think soberly, according as God hath dealt to every man the measure of faith.
2 Corinthians 10:15 (KJV)
Not boasting of things without [our] measure, [that is], of other men's labours; but having hope, when your faith is increased, that we shall be enlarged by you according to our rule abundantly,
Ephesians 4:13 (KJV)
Till we all come in the unity of the faith, and of the knowledge of the Son of God, unto a perfect man, unto the measure of the stature of the fulness of Christ:
Ephesians 1:17-21 (KJV) 17 That the God of our Lord Jesus Christ, the Father of glory, may give unto you the spirit of wisdom and revelation in the knowledge of him: 18 The eyes of your understanding being enlightened; that ye may know what is the hope of his calling, and what the riches of the glory of his inheritance in the saints, 19 And what [is] the exceeding greatness of his power to us-ward who believe, according to the working of his mighty power, 20 Which he wrought in Christ, when he raised him from the dead, and set [him] at his own right hand in the heavenly [places], 21 Far above all principality, and power, and might, and dominion, and every name that is named, not only in this world, but also in that which is to come:
Zechariah 4:6 (KJV)
Then he answered and spake unto me, saying, This [is] the word of the LORD unto Zerubbabel, saying, Not by might, nor by power, but by my spirit, saith the LORD of hosts.
It’s the new covenant. God is great. God is merciful.
The UN looks like a terrible mess. As a faith based system, it doesn’t appear like there’s much faith. But when Abraham was questioning God about the fate of Sodom and Gomorra, it boiled down to the idea that one righteous person in ten and God would have spared them. It’s a mess. It’s the same today. We might see one in a hundred, one in a thousand or one in a million and we can see them working on these social media sites, but it might not be enough. It’s like Ania K says on the end of her broadcasts.
We do need each other but the seed is the word, and there are many other words out there.
John 3:3-8 (NET) 3 Jesus replied, "I tell you the solemn truth, unless a person is born from above, he cannot see the kingdom of God." 4 Nicodemus said to him, "How can a man be born when he is old? He cannot enter his mother's womb and be born a second time, can he?" 5 Jesus answered, "I tell you the solemn truth, unless a person is born of water and spirit, he cannot enter the kingdom of God. 6 What is born of the flesh is flesh, and what is born of the Spirit is spirit. 7 Do not be amazed that I said to you, 'You must all be born from above.' 8 The wind blows wherever it will, and you hear the sound it makes, but do not know where it comes from and where it is going. So it is with everyone who is born of the Spirit."
1 Peter 1:23-25 (KJV) 23 Being born again, not of corruptible seed, but of incorruptible, by the word of God, which liveth and abideth for ever. 24 For all flesh [is] as grass, and all the glory of man as the flower of grass. The grass withereth, and the flower thereof falleth away: 25 But the word of the Lord endureth for ever. And this is the word which by the gospel is preached unto you.
Christianity spread like seed over the Roman Empire, many rules based idolatrous systems of faith and belief. But many became Christians by faith and testimony. It was their choice, and maybe it seems it took some convincing, but with predestination, there’s always some small bit of destiny already deeply written inside.
Zach Williams - Chain Breaker (Official Lyric Video)
Iranophobia or Russophobia or Zionism are all kinds of faith or belief and we have freedoms for that, as long as laws are observed.
They have alternative facts, like we may believe that there are alternate realities, and every time where we put ourselves in another’s shoes, or look out at the world through their eyes, we have to admit the possibility that maybe we could be more convincing or persuasive.
50 years ago in medical school I shared an apartment with a wonderful woman from Iraq through whom I met many people from around the Middle East - Pakistan, Lebanon, Sudan, Kuwait, and especially Iran. Absolutely all of them utterly loathed the Shah. When the Islamic Revolutionaries overthrew him they all rejoiced. Ever since then I have been an "Iranophile." When the Shah got cancer I wrote Jimmy Carter a letter urging him not to let the Shah into this country for treatment. At first he took my advice (I think the Shah went first to France), but then the Shah snuck in and landed surreptitiously in a private airport in Florida. We all know what happened next - the American Embassy was overthrown, and hostages taken. (One of them was my American best friend's suitemate at Radcliffe.) Of course they were all released unharmed in time for Reagan's inauguration.
I have followed the progress of Iran since then, and had been heartened to see the election of the moderate President. Also heartened to see the progress of the deal-making between Trump and Iran. Netanyahu was not pleased - the real reason Israel attacked Iran was to put the kibosh on a new deal with the Trump administration.
I am praying that Trump's desire for the Nobel Peace Prize will allow him to stand up to Netanyahu and Put an end to the Gaza War.
Americans claim to understand what the book "1984" means.
Ironically, because of that knowledge, they think it's impossible to fall for a totalitarian government. Especially when they're told they live in the land of the free and it's only the rest of the world that engages in war.
Yet they still can't see the truth because of such heavy US Deep State propaganda that buries citizen journalism.
That level of manufactured self delusion is why irony is the only real thing that we can use to define living today in the United States.
The great thing about Iran is their unwavering support for those under occupation and abuse. They supported South Africans in breaking free of oppressors, and Bosnia when they were under oppression, now the Palestinians. The Yemeni AnsarAllah do the same. As Cuba does in the medical help they give in tragedies when they occur in the world.
Great rant, Scott.
Protect the woman is effective propoganda for young grunts in my experience in afgan as a marine. One town north of musaquala Intel officers told my platoon all the woman had thier noses and ears cut off. No evidence just orders but still We hunted this group of fighters village to village and not once did we ever see a maimed woman. But we sure found plenty of fights with the men from our irrational man hunt. To me it feels like the cia is calling all the shots for both iran and Israel but that's just a hunch.
Thank you Scott for reminding us that we're all members of the human family and for showing how to heal from ignorance-fueled phobias, while also holding our own fear and war mongering leaders to account.
Well put, Scott Ritter.
This rant begs to be shared near and far.
Well said. Hope more Americans will realize your wise words
I love the work you do. It's so critical for the survival of humanity. I wish some influencer with tons of followers would team up with you and make this go viral.
We need timothee chalamet and Jennifer Lawrence to do a Don't Look Up Campaign for nuclear disarmament. Weird idea, I know.
Russians are better than we, truth be told.
Definitely better informed, for the most part.
Jesus said that the rogues of his day neglected the weightier matters of the law, namely judgment, mercy and faith.
Luke translates it as judgment and the love of God.
That’s agape love, that higher form of love that the Greeks name as a superior form. Jesus very likely wasn’t speaking in Greek to his disciples. He was probably speaking Aramaic.
Luke 11:42 (KJV)
But woe unto you, Pharisees! for ye tithe mint and rue and all manner of herbs, and pass over judgment and the love of God: these ought ye to have done, and not to leave the other undone.
Matthew 23:23 (KJV)
Woe unto you, scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites! for ye pay tithe of mint and anise and cummin, and have omitted the weightier [matters] of the law, judgment, mercy, and faith: these ought ye to have done, and not to leave the other undone.
So:
mercy + faith = love of God
In other words, there’s no real love without faith and mercy, because the love of God is faith and mercy.
There’s all kinds of love that are not the pure love of God, with variable ratios of faith and mercy, but they don’t necessarily save life or protect life.
I think that we all intuitively know this, that some mercy is a part of love, and mercy is the greater part of the New Covenant.
Jeremiah 31:34 (KJV) And they shall teach no more every man his neighbour, and every man his brother, saying, Know the LORD: for they shall all know me, from the least of them unto the greatest of them, saith the LORD: for I will forgive their iniquity, and I will remember their sin no more.
John 1:17 (KJV)
For the law was given by Moses, [but] grace and truth came by Jesus Christ.
AND HERE I GET TO THE BASIS OF INTERNATIONAL LAW!
Romans 3:27 (KJV)
Where [is] boasting then? It is excluded. By what law? of works? Nay: but by the law of faith.
law* faith
https://blb.sc/00MQlW
The UN Charter is a law based on faith. You can say the same about any law based system where there are human rights and freedoms. If the people don’t have faith in it, to the extent that they don’t believe in it, it doesn’t work. That’s the nature of a faith based system or, the law of faith.
But in any system with the rule of law, the law only works as well as the people that define it, or interpret it. So no rules based system will work without some kind of faith, and if it’s not the God kind of defined faith, it fails now and then, or later. And that’s why John said God is love.
But the Hebraic idea of faith is related to truth, stability, proof, evidence, substance and hope.
Hebrews 11:1 (KJV) Now faith is the substance of things hoped for, the evidence of things not seen.
1 Corinthians 13:13 (KJV) And now abideth faith, hope, charity, these three; but the greatest of these [is] charity.
Etymologically related Hebrew words according to Strongs Concordance for faith, truth, stability, belief, proof, evidence, facts etc., etc., etc.
H529 OR H530 OR H539 OR H540 OR H541 OR H542 OR H543 OR H544 OR H545 OR H546 OR H547 OR H548 OR H549 OR H550 OR H551 OR H552
https://blb.sc/00MQfh
I will do the same for the Greek words for faith and belief, or truth, but the etymological relations in Greek, as compared to Hebrew, are not so clear. But knowing the Hebrew relations much clarifies that faith and truth are strongly related, if we don’t know or understand that intuitively.
John 8:31-32 (KJV) 31 Then said Jesus to those Jews which believed on him, If ye continue in my word, [then] are ye my disciples indeed; 32 And ye shall know the truth, and the truth shall make you free.
When Ritter says knowledge is power, it’s true, but in Christ, knowledge is also freedom.
So the rogues are free to join the UN if they want, and citizenship in many countries represents measures of freedom. Obviously it’s according to the measure of their faith that our association will result in power and freedom, but power is not the main thing.
Romans 12:3 (KJV)
For I say, through the grace given unto me, to every man that is among you, not to think [of himself] more highly than he ought to think; but to think soberly, according as God hath dealt to every man the measure of faith.
2 Corinthians 10:15 (KJV)
Not boasting of things without [our] measure, [that is], of other men's labours; but having hope, when your faith is increased, that we shall be enlarged by you according to our rule abundantly,
Ephesians 4:13 (KJV)
Till we all come in the unity of the faith, and of the knowledge of the Son of God, unto a perfect man, unto the measure of the stature of the fulness of Christ:
Ephesians 1:17-21 (KJV) 17 That the God of our Lord Jesus Christ, the Father of glory, may give unto you the spirit of wisdom and revelation in the knowledge of him: 18 The eyes of your understanding being enlightened; that ye may know what is the hope of his calling, and what the riches of the glory of his inheritance in the saints, 19 And what [is] the exceeding greatness of his power to us-ward who believe, according to the working of his mighty power, 20 Which he wrought in Christ, when he raised him from the dead, and set [him] at his own right hand in the heavenly [places], 21 Far above all principality, and power, and might, and dominion, and every name that is named, not only in this world, but also in that which is to come:
Zechariah 4:6 (KJV)
Then he answered and spake unto me, saying, This [is] the word of the LORD unto Zerubbabel, saying, Not by might, nor by power, but by my spirit, saith the LORD of hosts.
It’s the new covenant. God is great. God is merciful.
The UN looks like a terrible mess. As a faith based system, it doesn’t appear like there’s much faith. But when Abraham was questioning God about the fate of Sodom and Gomorra, it boiled down to the idea that one righteous person in ten and God would have spared them. It’s a mess. It’s the same today. We might see one in a hundred, one in a thousand or one in a million and we can see them working on these social media sites, but it might not be enough. It’s like Ania K says on the end of her broadcasts.
We do need each other but the seed is the word, and there are many other words out there.
John 3:3-8 (NET) 3 Jesus replied, "I tell you the solemn truth, unless a person is born from above, he cannot see the kingdom of God." 4 Nicodemus said to him, "How can a man be born when he is old? He cannot enter his mother's womb and be born a second time, can he?" 5 Jesus answered, "I tell you the solemn truth, unless a person is born of water and spirit, he cannot enter the kingdom of God. 6 What is born of the flesh is flesh, and what is born of the Spirit is spirit. 7 Do not be amazed that I said to you, 'You must all be born from above.' 8 The wind blows wherever it will, and you hear the sound it makes, but do not know where it comes from and where it is going. So it is with everyone who is born of the Spirit."
1 Peter 1:23-25 (KJV) 23 Being born again, not of corruptible seed, but of incorruptible, by the word of God, which liveth and abideth for ever. 24 For all flesh [is] as grass, and all the glory of man as the flower of grass. The grass withereth, and the flower thereof falleth away: 25 But the word of the Lord endureth for ever. And this is the word which by the gospel is preached unto you.
Christianity spread like seed over the Roman Empire, many rules based idolatrous systems of faith and belief. But many became Christians by faith and testimony. It was their choice, and maybe it seems it took some convincing, but with predestination, there’s always some small bit of destiny already deeply written inside.
Zach Williams - Chain Breaker (Official Lyric Video)
https://youtu.be/JGYjKR69M6U
Then, when you get the UN Charter, or your own free country, a secular country, freedom may mean more works of faith.
2 Timothy 3:12 (KJV)
Yea, and all that will live godly in Christ Jesus shall suffer persecution.
1 Corinthians 4:12 (KJV)
And labour, working with our own hands: being reviled, we bless; being persecuted, we suffer it:
Too good to be true?
G225 OR G226 OR G227 OR G228 OR G229 OR G569 OR G570 OR G571 OR G3980 OR G3981 OR G3982 OR G4102 OR G4103 OR G4104
https://blb.sc/00MQnc
1 John 5:4 (KJV)
For whatsoever is born of God overcometh the world: and this is the victory that overcometh the world, [even] our faith.
Faith is also persuasion and persuasive.
persua*
https://blb.sc/00M7YZ
Iranophobia or Russophobia or Zionism are all kinds of faith or belief and we have freedoms for that, as long as laws are observed.
They have alternative facts, like we may believe that there are alternate realities, and every time where we put ourselves in another’s shoes, or look out at the world through their eyes, we have to admit the possibility that maybe we could be more convincing or persuasive.
convinc*
https://blb.sc/00MQnx
So thank God for the UN, where we can see Russians, Iranians and Chinese.
Thank God for these very persuasive rants.
50 years ago in medical school I shared an apartment with a wonderful woman from Iraq through whom I met many people from around the Middle East - Pakistan, Lebanon, Sudan, Kuwait, and especially Iran. Absolutely all of them utterly loathed the Shah. When the Islamic Revolutionaries overthrew him they all rejoiced. Ever since then I have been an "Iranophile." When the Shah got cancer I wrote Jimmy Carter a letter urging him not to let the Shah into this country for treatment. At first he took my advice (I think the Shah went first to France), but then the Shah snuck in and landed surreptitiously in a private airport in Florida. We all know what happened next - the American Embassy was overthrown, and hostages taken. (One of them was my American best friend's suitemate at Radcliffe.) Of course they were all released unharmed in time for Reagan's inauguration.
I have followed the progress of Iran since then, and had been heartened to see the election of the moderate President. Also heartened to see the progress of the deal-making between Trump and Iran. Netanyahu was not pleased - the real reason Israel attacked Iran was to put the kibosh on a new deal with the Trump administration.
I am praying that Trump's desire for the Nobel Peace Prize will allow him to stand up to Netanyahu and Put an end to the Gaza War.
Recommend this article from Strategic Culture explaining Iran's system of government which draws on Plato's ideas:
https://strategic-culture.su/news/2025/06/20/iran-political-system-philosophical-republic-west-refuses-or-unable-understand/
Americans claim to understand what the book "1984" means.
Ironically, because of that knowledge, they think it's impossible to fall for a totalitarian government. Especially when they're told they live in the land of the free and it's only the rest of the world that engages in war.
Yet they still can't see the truth because of such heavy US Deep State propaganda that buries citizen journalism.
That level of manufactured self delusion is why irony is the only real thing that we can use to define living today in the United States.
Great Scott, thank you very much for this “rant”.
This is the matter: We are all human beings!