The Iranian regime’s wartime propaganda leans into the story of David and Goliath, which appears in the Qur’an as well as the Hebrew scriptures.
asserted
which → lean → Qur’an
It would be foolish to take theological lessons from a regime that has so lethally perverted authentic religion, but the story of David and Goliath has not only religious significance.
asserted
story → take → significance
Canadian author Malcolm Gladwell, in his 2013 book David and Goliath, looks at the battlefield encounter not as a tale of divine assistance granted to the tiny faithful against worldly giants, but rather as an account of changing martial techniques.
asserted
Gladwell → look → techniques
If David had gone into hand-to-hand combat with the Philistine giant and prevailed, it would be a story of how God chooses the weak to confound the strong.
asserted
God → go → strong
But Goliath never laid a hand on David, for David never got close enough to permit that.
asserted
David → lay → that
Projectile warfare from a distance proved superior to sheer size and strength in close quarters.
asserted
warfare → prove → quarters
He prevailed because that is where the battle was fought.
asserted
battle → prevail → ?
Attacking buildings with bombs close at hand had been done before — at the World Trade Center itself in 1993, and more catastrophically by Timothy McVeigh in Oklahoma City in 1995.
asserted
Attacking → attack → 1995
A bomb requires getting close, Goliath style.
asserted
bomb → require → ?
The innovation of 9/11 was the use of airplanes as guided projectiles of great explosive force to massively murderous effect.
asserted
innovation → guide → effect
The American response after 9/11 was to bring the might of Goliath to Afghanistan first and then to Iraq.
uncertain
response → bring → Iraq
Goliath was quite good at pulverizing what he could get his hands on.
uncertain
he → pulverize → hands
But as American and Canadian and other allied soldiers learned, there were other ways to fight at a distance — the improvised explosive device, for example.
asserted
soldiers → learn → example
Nearly 40 years ago, when Iran threatened to close the Strait of Hormuz, Ronald Reagan sent in the navy to escort ships through.
asserted
Reagan → threaten → ships
Goliath drew near and the strait remained open for decades until President Donald Trump launched his war.
asserted
Trump → draw → war
The theatre has changed.
asserted
theatre → change → ?
David’s projectiles can close the strait in a way they could not in 1987.
uncertain
they → close → 1987
The Americans are still Goliath and, should they wish, could force the strait open — as they are doing partially with naval escorts and as they are not doing, with ground troops.
uncertain
they → wish → troops
Goliath is big and heavy and hard to supply.
asserted
Goliath → supply → ?
When Iran damaged the American base in Bahrain very early in the war, a veritable Goliath of the seas — the USS Abraham Lincoln — had to be supplied from Diego Garcia, 2,200 miles away, or even Singapore.
asserted
Goliath → damage → Garcia
It takes a lot to feed Goliath and it is cumbersome.
asserted
it → take → Goliath
The great powers have projectiles, too.
asserted
powers → have → projectiles
Goliath has stones, too, only much larger ones.
asserted
Goliath → have → ones
Indeed, one of the failures of the Iran War is that America has depleted its storehouse of mighty stones, and they are expensive to replace, in treasure and time.
asserted
they → deplete → treasure
Earlier this year, Ukraine and its more enthusiastic supporters thought that its mastery of drone warfare might even drive the Russian Goliath out of Crimea.
uncertain
mastery → think → Crimea
But the war has shifted from a grinding stalemate on the ground, hand-to-hand combat as it were, to an aerial projectile battle.
asserted
it → shift → battle
Ukraine takes out refineries and warehouses, and can even hit Siberia, but Russian jet-powered missiles are now landing in Ukrainian neighbourhoods.
asserted
missiles → take → neighbourhoods
President Volodymyr Zelenskyy’s visit to Alberta this week was a welcome sign of Canada’s support, even as Trump’s envoys were again parroting Russian talking points on their first (!) visit to Kyiv.
asserted
envoys → parrot → Kyiv
Prime Minister Mark Carney spoke of the need to produce “millions of drones” in the next years, one third of which would be for Ukraine.
asserted
third → speak → Ukraine
Does the whole world now want to be David?
asserted
world → want → ?
China is developing hypersonic missiles that could take out warships thousands of miles away.
uncertain
that → develop → miles
Davids abound, both devout and devilish.
asserted
Davids → abound → ?
Heroic Ukrainians will get more drones, some of them from Canada.
asserted
Ukrainians → get → Canada
The Iranians and their Houthi allies — who seized the Yemeni port city of Mokha on Thursday — have managed to compromise two of the three maritime shipping routes off of the Arabian peninsula — Hormuz and the Strait of Bab el-Mandeb at the south end of the Red Sea.
asserted
who → seize → Sea
What might it take to close the Suez Canal, at the north end?
uncertain
it → take → end
It was closed for six days in 2021 by an accident when a ship ran aground.
asserted
ship → close → accident
It was closed for eight years after the Six Day War in 1967.
asserted
It → close → 1967
How hard would it be for a David to compromise the Suez, cutting off the entire Arabian peninsula from the seas?
asserted
David → compromise → seas
It is impossible for Goliath to be everywhere that David might go.
uncertain
David → go → ?
The David of biblical Israel won a great victory that eventually led to the peace of Jerusalem.
asserted
that → win → Jerusalem
…and 1 more, not listed.
The Aporia
