She is Iranian, her family fled in the 1970s.
What's being played out is old school, outdated political gaming. I originally went to school for govt/political science. One of my two advisors was Peter Katzenstein. Peter Katzenstein's classes and lectures were standing room only. Filled to the brim with students who weren't even on his course roster. Katzenstein's words still ring true. His own advisor when he was at Harvard was Henry Kissinger. He came to despise and debunk Kissinger's lens of international politics through "realism" and zero sum games and the big fish eating the small fish. He said and knew it was an ignorant paradigm that would have horrific consequences and was about as real as supply side economics. At commencement, Katzenstein told our graduating class, above all, connect, that our saving grace to build a new paradigm for the world is human connection.
Remember how there were no weapons of mass destruction in Iraq? Remember that after that 7 year Iran Iraq war we learned that Oliver North, the US and Israel were selling arms to both warring factions? War is profitable and de-stabilizes the countries you want weak. Remember when Israel's leader, Yitzhak Rabin, was achieving peace with Sadat? Remember how the world was overjoyed and then in shock and grief when he was assassinated by Israeli ultra conservatives? To this day, Rabin's widow says she knows Netanyahu had a hand. They don't want peace. It's not profitable and doesn't allow for imbalances of power.
The Iranian regime is as bad as Trump's and Bibi's and Putin's. Among the first officials killed in Iran last week was the guy trying to negotiate a deal with the US. See, they don't want peace. It would take away their profits and power. Iran has oil. Take a guess which other locations are oil rich.
These so called religious fanatics aren's religious, they use religion as a tool. They are wealthy beyond imagination and nothing will ever be enough for them. Think Hitler.
As the UN leaders have said this week, greed is destroying our societies. It doesn't have to be this way.
I spent a day with Israeli teenagers and Palestinian teenagers fresh off the plane. What I learned from them I will never forget.
We are not our govts. We just want to live a decent life. One of my best memories from childhood is living in between Israeli, Palestinian and Lebanese families. It was bliss. So much laughter and joy.
It's time to make a change. We have submitted to the old way long enough.