Real US battles with Iran still lie ahead

[Dover]

Real US battles with Iran still lie ahead
By Mahan Abedin

As the war of words between Iran and the United States continues to escalate, the psychological-warfare campaign of the latter is assuming greater and more sinister proportions, so much so that there are now good reasons to believe the US has orchestrated the kidnapping of a former Iranian Revolutionary Guard Corps general in Istanbul.

Unfortunately for Iran, the US psychological-warfare campaign seems to be working. This is evident on both the domestic and external fronts. Domestically, the Mahmud Ahmadinejad government and its allies - who favor a tough approach to nuclear negotiations - are being increasingly attacked by a broad range of political forces. Moreover, on the foreign-policy front, the Islamic Republic continues to lose ground. Having acceded to Saudi Arabia's new and more forceful diplomacy, the Iranians have now acquiesced - albeit very tentatively - to US security designs in Iraq, as evidenced by their participation in the Baghdad security conference this month.

Ancient battles and modern disappearances
Hollywood's 2007 film adaptation of Frank Miller's graphic novel 300 has generated controversy everywhere, including in the United States, where critics are divided over its look, style, visuals and, more important, grossly partisan depiction of the ancient Persians. While the film's director (Zack Snyder) and executive producer (Frank Miller) protest that it is merely a historical fantasy, this does nothing to ease the violence it inflicts on modern perceptions of the ancient Persian Empire.

The film 300 focuses on the Battle of Thermopylae in 480 BC, where a small Spartan army was able to resist a much larger Persian force for several days before being defeated. True to form, this latest Hollywood portrayal of antiquity is wholly and unashamedly biased toward the ancient Greeks. The splendid spectacle of 300 lean and sculptured Spartan fighting machines fending off a vastly larger Persian army (which often appears in demonic form) is clearly pleasing to contemporary Greeks.

More ominously, it is sending all the wrong signals at a critical time in Iranian-Western relations.
To Iranians (both inside and outside their homeland), 300 inflicts grievous violence on their national heritage..>

http://www.atimes.com/atimes/Middle_East/IC31Ak01.html

[gordianot]

1. I actually never connected the movie 300 with modern Iran.

I am rather sick of those who monitor art for political, cultural sensibilities. Guess that is what happens when you are raised in a culture that once accepted freedom of expression or at least gave it lip service. In one way Bush may actually be right "they (include Bush in the list} resent us for our freedoms".

[Briar]

2. Hilariously

300 portrays the Spartans as macho hunks and the Persians as effeminate. Clearly the sort of point made in school playgrounds everywhere. However, strangely missing from the portrayal of the Spartans is the fact that homosexuality was mandatory on those who were full Spartan citizens (ie, the warriors). Pederasty was also institutionalised in the state. Their population was chronically in decline, unsurprisingly considering a bride and groom's first night was spent in darkness with the bride's head shaven, presumably so as to make her as boylike as possible. Among other details omitted was the fact that, to establish and enrich their city, the Spartans had shocked their fellow Greeks by invading and enslaving fellow Greeks and treating them as basically animals for the next few centuries. On the other hand, an earlier King of Persia (Cyrus the Great) is famous for having the first ever (as far as we know) charter of human rights. A real girly King, obviously.

[stormymonday]

3. The Spartans were regarded as weird even by their fellow Greeks.

They never got over their army being smashed at the battle of Leuctra by the rival gang of gay boys from the Sacred Band of Thebes.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Battle_of_Leuctra

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sacred_Band_of_Thebes