Hi folks. It would be great to have "thoughtful" and "meaningful" discussions about the U.S. response to Iran and the complexities around the types of state-sponsored terrorism that facilitated the
work of Suleimani, etc. What's frustrating, though, is that the U.S. already had a meaningful plan of engagement with Iran with the nuclear non-proliferation treaty (JCPOA) and other forms
of diplomatic engagement. There's also an incredibly rich cultural exchange between the two countries, with a huge population of Iranians in the U.S. and in Canada, where I live. Oh, and I'm married to an Iranian who emigrated to Canada as an adult, who grew
up and lived through the 1979 revolution, and who lived through the Iran-Iraq war of the 1980s and routinely had to go underground when the air raid sirens sounded. So there's my particular bias. That said, I'm all for reasonable discussions, but that's difficult
to do when the current U.S. administration reneged on the JCPOA, imposed crushing economic & medical supply sanctions, exercised a state-sponsored assassination of the Iranian general without consulting Congress, and ensured that the Iran military and defense
systems were nervous and on high alert.
Even more important, there are real consequences that most people in the U.S. and Canada never experience directly. I know firsthand of the devastating situation in Iran, with daily Skype and communications
with my brother-in-law and sister-in-law and their families in Tehran. I know what life is like for the "average Iranian" and their contempt for their own government and yet their despair and feelings of relative powerlessness. And now I know what it's like
to lose a friend, Hadis Hayatdavoudi, as a result of the absurd tactical maneuvering initiated by the U.S. leadership and the often equally absurd Iranian leadership. She was a PhD student
in chemistry at my university and a good friend of my wife, Farnaz. She has been in our home. And she was among the 176 people senselessly killed on the plane leaving Tehran on Wednesday. An absolutely lovely, humble woman. And a gentleman killed on that same
flight was a good friend of one of my close Iranian friends (a math whiz who has actually studied Gregg's "formulas" and offered deep, insightful comments about how to translate the mathematics into human behavioral outcomes). Mehdi is my dear friend and collaborator,
but he also lost his close friend and neighbor whom he saw on a daily basis on that ill-fated Iranian flight. So, everyone can "enjoy" their political discussions and pretend to be as enlightened as they imagine. In the meantime, others of us are busy dealing
with the real-life consequences of these absurd, male-dominated, selfish, and state-sponsored killings.
I apologize for my rant, but we are deeply hurt and saddened. Real people, real friends have died. And that could have been my brother-in-law -- or my wife and myself on that very same plane had we
visited Iran over the holidays as we talking about doing. Instead, we visited the Grand Canyon. Lucky us. As Gregg often signs off in his emails: Peace, -joe
Dr. Joseph H. Michalski
King’s University College at Western University
266 Epworth Avenue, DL-201
London, Ontario, Canada N6A 2M3
Tel: (519) 433-3491
Email: [log in to unmask]
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