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Comment by tomohawk | Hacker News Reader

During WW II, the US and GBR allied themselves with Russia. Russia was run by one of the biggest mass murderers ever (#2 after Mao). He violently suppressed any opposition and violated peoples rights with impunity. Even people who fled to other countries, he had hunted down and killed.

Just looking at that, it makes no sense. But, looking at the bigger picture of Japan and Germany, it made sense for a time for these democracies to ally themselves with a monster.

Iran is controlled by monsters, and Egypt/Saudi Arabia are the primary force opposed to them at this time.

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>Iran is controlled by monsters, and Egypt/Saudi Arabia are the primary force opposed to them at this time.

Did you visit Iran and Saudi Arabia? I'd much rather be an ordinary citizen of the former than of the latter.

Also, one of these two countries have a far richer history and culture, and one of the two is definitely more democratic than the other (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Democracy_Index).

In the 1930s, Germany was arguably the most cultured, best run country in the world, and yet it was run by monsters.

It's quite a stretch to call the Weimar Republic the 'best run country' in the 1930s..

The Weimar Republic lasted until 1933. The 1936 olympics were a showcase of Nazi ideology and a propaganda coup. Germans were very cultured and educated - just look at all those Nobels.

> Iran is controlled by monsters,

To be fair, the entire planet is a freak show catalogue. A lot of countries seem like being controlled by coke monsters currently (sometimes local, other remote controlled). You see a surprising homogeneity everywhere.

You're right that the bigger picture is the proxy war between Iran and Saudi Arabia, where "we" (US + UK at least) are on the Saudi side, with Russia backing Iran. This is fought is at least Syria, Iraq and Yemen, and may blow up further at any time.

It's hard for me to see which side is the biggest monster. Perhaps Iran is the aggressor and Saudi + allies are just fighting back, I don't know.

Note that Israel is a strong part in the anti Iran front, which means Saudi Arabia and Israel are quite friendly today. It is a new era in the Middle East, for better and for worse.

You have a ver cold war perspective. Russia is hardly backing Iran at all. Iran and Russia have ver long and complicated relationship and in actual fact Russia is often working working against Iran as well, somethimes with the US.

I mostly base it on that Russia is on the same side as Iran in Syria. I admit I'm less clear on the bigger picture.

> the US and GBR allied themselves with Russia

I am not sure what is the point of bringing this up. Obviously they had no choice, since they were at war with Germany. Today the situation is completely different.

>Iran is controlled by monsters, and Egypt/Saudi Arabia are the primary force opposed to them at this time.

Can you please provide sources? Saudi Arabia is bombing innocent civilians and children in Yemen right now. Most of the 9/11 Hijackers were from Saudi Arabia too.

The Iranians are fighting a proxy war with the Egyptians and Saudis in Yemen. Only blaming the Saudis misses the mark.

Are there bad guys in Saudi government? There sure are.

Are innocents being killed, and is that horrible? You bet. But they're being killed just as much by the Iranians as the Saudis.

But the Iranians are not going to stop in Yemen, and if they're not stopped, there will certainly be more innocents killed in other countries.

Lets say the Saudis were completely cut off. What then? Iran gets Yemen, and then topples the Saudis? How does that help anyone out?

Sometimes, there are not any really great answers.

Sometimes, just like in WW II when the US and GBR allied with the Soviets, you have to do what you can to tackle the bigger problem.

The Egyptian presence in Yemen is simulated at best [0]. They have no troops there, they haven't fired a single bullet and nobody has even seen them after the first few days. [0]: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_armed_groups_in_the_Ye...

You still haven't provided any sources. These are all opinions at this point.

>Are innocents being killed, and is that horrible? You bet. But they're being killed just as much by the Iranians as the Saudis.

This is false. It is the Saudi's who are denying essential supplies to the general populous. 14 million at risk. There is no way the Iranians would have anywhere near that sort of effect.

You are totally wrong about Yemen. Iran involvment in Yemen was practically non existant before this war, they had little to do with the troubles there.

Iranian involvment in the war has grown because the saw a oppertunity jab Saudi Arabia in the soft underbelly.

But the argument that the innocents are killed just as much by Iran is simply inaccurate. Saudi Arabia is attacking civilian targets systematically with modern US aircraft.

Iran in comparison has a small troup training opperation and some infantry weapens.

Also please stop saying the 'Iran gets Yemen', that is inaccurate as Iran has absolutly no capabilty to control Yemen. The do support the Huthi who control part of the country but they are their own force and they dont listen to Iranian orders very well. Iran have no chance at all to control the rest.

The Yemen civil war would have grind to a hold long ago if Saudi/UAE would not pump absurd amounts of money, weapens and bombs into it.

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