S8 Ep955: (3) Finally, the pair shifts to Persian diplomacy and the "dispensation for deception." Germanicus explains how Iran uses strategic deceit to survive existential threats, specifically aiming to separate United States interests from Israel. They speculat

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🗓️ 1 June 2026

⏱️ 12 minutes

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Summary

(3) Finally, the pair shifts to Persian diplomacy and the "dispensation for deception." Germanicus explains how Iranuses strategic deceit to survive existential threats, specifically aiming to separate United States interests from Israel. They speculate that modern leaders may settle conflicts through informal "backdoor handshakes" or social media posts rather than traditional documents. Drawing on Byzantine history, they suggest appeasement and payoffs can be more effective than direct combat. The dialogue ends with the Spartan legend of a boy who allowed a hidden fox to disembowel him to avoid public shame.
1716

Transcript

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0:00.0	This is the Prince Vister Debating Society, just a coda tonight, because Germanicus has
0:10.0	helped us understand the American way of war and why we've had this losing streak since 1945.
0:17.0	And we'll continue.
0:20.0	And then my comments about the Thucydides' trap,
0:24.2	which is a non-event that gets a lot of attention.
0:28.5	Good for it.
0:30.8	About Persia's Perth,
0:33.7	I am not clear on this, Germanicus, so I ask your help.
0:40.3	Does Washington know that Persia is a false witness,
0:47.5	that it's spiritually charged with deceiving?
0:53.6	Does Washington know this?
0:57.8	Well, the dispensation for deception is different among Shia than it is among Sunni.
1:09.5	And one of the adjurations in Shia thinking is that if you're in among the Dimi,
1:19.8	you know, in the land of the the heretics, the non-Muslims, you can hide your, you know, so I suppose it does allow deceit in that sense,
1:36.4	whereas, of course, the observant Sunni Muslim is expected to do his level best introduce things like Sharia law into unbeliever societies.
1:54.5	So there is that difference, but you were referring to the dispensation to deceive it at higher levels of leadership in foreign affairs?
2:05.4	Yes, of course.
2:06.4	And I think the Persians, I think the Shia got it from the Persians.
2:10.6	Yeah, that's undoubtedly true.
2:13.3	And I think the Sunnis can practice it when they will because they're up against the unbeliever, which is the United States.
2:22.9	It's entertaining. I just observe that I don't know that Washington knows it.
2:28.6	The importer is a man who speaks not just both sides of his mouth, everybody's both sides of his mouth.
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