Making Sense of The Iran Bombing: Not Just About Israel - Never Forget the Sunni VS. Shia Muslim Conflict

(Edited - only to add 1 paragraph about the Shah of Iran vs. Ayatollah leadership.)

So most Americans - or at least those who drank all the political Kool-Aid without question or research - think of all Muslims as alike. Thus, they must be especially confused as to why Trump would accept a $400 million jet from Qatar, but then insert ourselves into the Iran-Israeli war against Iran, am I right?

And therein lies the problem with the political right fearmongering all Muslims into the same bucket - because even the Muslim-fear-mongering political right does not, themselves. 

Now, in discussing the below, understand that I do not think there are just 2 buckets of Muslims, either - I'm talking about the 2 main Muslim camps under which Middle Eastern governments lie, which have also been the main source of internal Muslim conflict.

So the 2 main differences between leadership in Muslim countries  - which keeps them from uniting as a Palestinian front and the cause of much infighting - is based on whether they are Sunni Muslim or Shia (Shiite) Muslim.

What's the difference? 

Shia Muslims believe the religious leadership should be a genetic heir to Mohammed, that this was a divine choice.   

 

Sunni Muslims believe religious leaders can be chosen, elected. 

It's much like the age-old fight between monarchies and Republics, only religious-based - HOWEVER - some Sunni countries do still have governmental monarchies, like Saudi Arabia. 

That sounds a bit counterintuitive for Sunnis, and it is somewhat,  but remember still that the monarchy was still chosen, rather than being a direct descendent of Mohammed, long ago, and is inherited still today, as well as they are not looked to as religious, clerical leadership.

In contrast, Iran has clerical government leadership under an Ayatollah, after famously ousting the Shah of Iran (who was also Shiite, but more open to Western ideas - but before you get to thinking he wa s a good guy, think again - he was just as brutal as the Shia  clergy that took over.)

Note that though it's an extremely important distinction that  partially explains why some Muslim countries get a free pass, you will never hear Trump or his administration make this distinction - despite every other president being either totally transparent or semi-transparent about the distinction.

IMO, this because it better suits the overall MAGA and Christian nationalist agenda to continue to make no distinction between Muslims.

Also IMO, not making this distinction is not only an insult to Muslim people, but an insult to OUR intelligence.

Thus, we must never forget, despite political propaganda, there is a difference between a country's government and their people do, whether it's Palestinian countries, Israel, or even the U.S.

Also, there are regional and individual differences, too, just like here in the U.S.  

For example, the Bedouins are almost exclusively Sunni,  with some even being Christian in Jordan.

Either way, the Bedouins also have local tribal customs, and they heavily adhere to more peaceful verses in the Qu'ran, unless threatened. 

That is because they don't cherry-pick the Qu'ran and stretch the rules of Holy War like their actual governments do.

(Not unlike how our own US government, right now, cherry-picks scripture in favor of their own agendas, ignoring the more peaceful and compassionate verses of Christ -  but that's another blog post - in fact, one of many I've already written ad nauseum on 😂 )

Now -  did you even notice that not all Middle Eastern Muslim countries were on the travel ban list OR that not all Palestinian protestors were detained or deported?

If you didn't, you should.

Because the only Muslim Middle-Eastern countries that are travel-banned - or had Palestinian protestors detained or deported in/from the U.S - have majority populations that are Shia Muslims -  Iran, Iraq, Yemen, Lebanon, Syria, Libya etc.

The only Muslim Middle-Eastern countries NOT on the travel-ban list - or have detained/deported Palestinian protestors - have majority populations which are Sunni Muslims -  Saudi Arabia, the UAE, Qatar, etc.

Historically, the US has almost exclusively always supported Sunni Muslims in these conflicts with each other - not only because they present themselves as more Republic-minded (but not really) and open-minded to Westerners, but because they have the most oil and the most money.

HOWEVER, the enemy of our enemy isn't necessarily our friend - because as we know, as the result of the 2002 9/11 commission report, much of the financial backing for 9/11 was wired from Saudi Arabia and the UAE, but no one did anything about it.

It is unclear whether that wired 9/11 money came from people in the minority Shia population of Saudi Arabia and the UAE or not, because like I said, we never followed up on the money trai;/

Sunni countries such as Saudi Arabia, Qatar, and the UAE have had an on-again/off-gain relationship with Shia countries depending on the objective, but most recently, they fell out with Iran over control of Syria, so Iran is on Saudi Arabia's sh*t list, right now. 

As I've said many times, these are centuries-old religious wars between Middle-Eastern people that we should NOT involve ourselves in, or suffer the consequences, and instead mediate or negotiate for peace.

For now, Sunni-majority countries are likely okay with Trump's bombing because it helps them with their own objective against Shia-majority countries, at keeping them subdued and unable to use nuclear take control over Sunni countries.

What it also has the potential to do, of course, is let Sunnis take control instead of Shia countries, in their quest to unify a Palestinian State again Israel - but that is speculative and remains to be seen.

What also remains to be seen is how Putin and Russia will react - Putin has loose ties with Iran and other Shiite countries/governments.