The

The Hello and welcome to behind the news.

My name is Doug Henwood.

Back to Orthodoxy today, two guests, two segments.

But just one topic, Iran. We'll hear from Beiruz-Gamari on the culture and politics of that country

and what this god-awful war means, and then from Anatol Levin on the global context of this god-awful war.

First, a close-up on Iran. From our politicians and pundits, you'd get the idea that the country is populated by a mix of fanatics,

automaton's and beaten-down victims all under the lash of lunatic clerics.

You might be surprised to learn that things are more complicated.

Speaking of religious fanatics, we certainly have our share of the breed.

Mike Huckabee, a Christian Zionist and product of a fundamentalist college and a Baptist

seminary, a disbeliever in evolution, tried to convince Tucker Carlson that the Bible granted

Israel writes to most of the Middle East.

Recall that he's not just some TV preacher, he's our ambassador to Israel.

And then there's Paula White, Trump's spiritual

advisor, one of the more ludicrous titles I've ever heard, who runs the White House Faith

Office. In a rant invoking Holy War from several years ago that's making the rounds on social

media, she repeated the word strike nine times and the word victory 27 times, and laughs into

speaking in tongues in several instances,

all in a 240-word, minute-45-long video clip. Oh, and there have been reports of numerous commanders

telling their troops that the battle with Iran is a holy war, one that could spark the end times.

Back to Iran. Baruz Gamari is a fellow at the CUNY Graduate Center and taught previously at Princeton, where he was director of Iranian studies. He's just out with a book, The Long War in Iran, new events, old questions, a collection of essays written over the last 25 years from Orr books. He looks carefully at Iranian politics and culture, challenges the one-dimensional view of it as a totalitarian regime,

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