(Image by Sashko Danylenko)
I’m going to keep things relatively short tonight as I know everyone is still dealing with the news Cole shared about Lily.
I want to start with an answer to Alison Rose’s question from last night.
Adam, I’m curious for your take on this–I was discussing the war with a Jewish friend, and we were talking about the Iranian drones. She said she thinks part of the reason Iran is so readily aiding russia is because Zelenskyy is Jewish. I wasn’t so sure–I don’t know how the people in charge in Iran these days feel about Jews, though I assume it isn’t overly positive, and I’m pretty sure they would be bastards in this war no matter what Zelenskyy’s religion was. Plus I noted that he’s hardly the most observant Jew out there. (Of course, to an antisemite, that doesn’t matter. They don’t care if we keep kosher or hold seders or anything, a Jew is a Jew is a Jew and they hate all of us.) I figure Iran has numerous reasons (all of them evil) for being on russia’s side, but she felt certain that’s at least one of them. I should note she is older than I am, in her mid-60s, and originally from a red state, and so her point of view might be different, as she grew up in a time and place with more open antisemitism than I experienced.
Iran is aiding Russia because Russia is paying cash for the weaponry. Iran is also aiding Russia because Iran has been doing business with Russia for years on a whole host of projects. Russia provided Iran with specialists to help design Iran’s nuclear energy facilities. Russia and Iran have a railway project that connects Russia, through a lot of other places like Azerbaijan, and ultimately through Iran to the Arabian Sea and India. It’s called the North-South Transport Corridor. Russia is allied with Iran in Syria to keep the Assad regime in power. I think all of those are the reasons that Iran is selling weaponry to Russia and sending trainers to Crimea and Belarus to show the Russians how to use what Iran is providing. I have no doubt that if President Zelenskyy were Orthodox Christian, Catholic, or even Muslim the Iranians would still be selling weaponry to Russia.
Here is President Zelenskyy’s address from earlier today. Video below, English transcript after the jump:
War for Ukraine Day 248: A Short Update TonightPost + Comments (98)