4 ms·

> That's probably true except for Israel. Jews and Persians are natural allies, and have been allied in the past: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Iran–Israel_rel

> That's probably true except for Israel. Jews and Persians are natural allies, and have been allied in the past: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Iran–Israel_relations https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Iran–Israel_relations It's not out of the realm of possibility that as shale production diminishes the importance of both the House of Saud and the declining declining value of Russian energy exports, Israel pivots back to Iran. Many sharp analysts predicted the US's pivot to Iran for over half a decade before it visibly started to happen, and many of those same analysts don't subscribe to the prevailing media narrative that Iran's religion necessarily constrains it to alignment with Arab nations, rather than Israel or the US.

tamana 10y ago
Alliances from kingdoms of 2000 years ago aren't very useful.
- handedness 10y ago
  I disagree with that, but no matter: Iran and Israel have allied as recently as the 20th century, right up until the end of the Pahlavi dynasty in 1979.
- asolove 10y ago
  No, but the pattern is: if you and I live on both sides of a troublesome neighbor, we will probably get along.
- labster 10y ago
  I know 2000 years ago was so different, let's see: - China was run by the Han, and trade with China was very important for the West. - Western Europe was part of a large power bloc, using the same money (with border struggles in Britannia). - Judea was a gyre of instability that bedeviled the West and sucked them into middle east conflicts. - Egypt had the strongest military in all of Africa. Physical geography determines a lot of cultural geography; similar power dynamics replay over generations.
  - M2Ys4U 10y ago
    "History doesn't repeat itself, but it does rhyme".
    - gfaure 10y ago
      Yes -- the name of the Han people and the name of the logographic script Hanzi are both meant to recall the golden age of the Han dynasty.
    - deleted 10y ago
      [deleted]
    - labster 10y ago
      Actually rhyming is a question I don't know the answer to: is the character for Han dynasty the same as for what are called Han Chinese people today? I'm not sure if I was punning or describing the same ethnic group.

tamana 10y ago

Alliances from kingdoms of 2000 years ago aren't very useful.

handedness 10y ago
I disagree with that, but no matter: Iran and Israel have allied as recently as the 20th century, right up until the end of the Pahlavi dynasty in 1979.
asolove 10y ago
No, but the pattern is: if you and I live on both sides of a troublesome neighbor, we will probably get along.
labster 10y ago
I know 2000 years ago was so different, let's see: - China was run by the Han, and trade with China was very important for the West. - Western Europe was part of a large power bloc, using the same money (with border struggles in Britannia). - Judea was a gyre of instability that bedeviled the West and sucked them into middle east conflicts. - Egypt had the strongest military in all of Africa. Physical geography determines a lot of cultural geography; similar power dynamics replay over generations.
- M2Ys4U 10y ago
  "History doesn't repeat itself, but it does rhyme".
  - gfaure 10y ago
    Yes -- the name of the Han people and the name of the logographic script Hanzi are both meant to recall the golden age of the Han dynasty.
  - deleted 10y ago
    [deleted]
  - labster 10y ago
    Actually rhyming is a question I don't know the answer to: is the character for Han dynasty the same as for what are called Han Chinese people today? I'm not sure if I was punning or describing the same ethnic group.