Then do the kremlin!

Yes, it's long overdue. But better late than never.

Well it’s about goddamned time, they’ve only been arming and training terrorists for decades. What next, are we finally going to admit that the Pakistani ISI runs the Taliban through the Haqqani Network?

[removed]

Its coming I believe.

Please kindly do. About 43 years too late

It’s a bit more complicated because it’s a division of the Iranian military, and labeling them all (and previous members) as terrorists doesn’t allow for the necessary diplomatic outcome most countries (especially western) would prefer to direct confrontation with Iran- almost no one wants that. Canada recently imposed targeted blacklisting of the ING leadership (and more) which seems more effective in the big picture (if the big picture is Iranian regime change, which is the only pragmatic outcome, and what most of the West and their allies want). The last thing you want to do here is isolate or radicalize low level conscripts if the goal is regime change through a domestic uprising (which is currently the best hope). Real Polik, and supporting the citizens against their authoritarian theocratic government is a million times preferable to direct confrontation with the Iranian regime. War with Iran will make the Iraq war look like a walk in the park. https://www.iranintl.com/en/202210075689

What would be the effects of this if they end up going through with it?

Well if you actually fucking read these holy books, the Abrahamic religions are all terrorist ideologies. Unfortunately, humans are fucking horrible life forms who take literally thousands of years to figure out what is right and wrong.

Interesting - I wonder if they will next consider classifying the sun as hot.

[removed]

Slightly more complicated is that Canada has listed the IRGC-Qods force as terrorists for years.

It’s actually odd that the rest isn’t considered a terrorist organization, given Hezbollah (in Lebanons government) is listed as such.

Distinguishing the IRGC from the regular military, and the President/government from the Clerics, is a solid path forward to define the problems in that country.

How can they be terrorists - Germany when they're in Iran?

Their most elite unit literally exists only to export and enable violent extremism, so...duh?

[removed]

[removed]

This is so reductive as to be quite useless I think.

The "holy" books are all highly problematic, no disagreement. However, all those books can be read in many, many different ways. There is no single "correct" interpretation - especially since those books contain so many consistency and logic issues, that a logically sound direct reading is pretty much impossible.

I think religion has to be kept on a short leash. But so directly labeling their books as terrorist just increases hate on all sides and leads to even deeper divides.

With enough education, the worst parts of religion will solve themselves, as we have seen in almost all highly educated regions except the US.

Until then, I'd recommend to be less... direct. Because a deeply antagonized group is closer knit and much harder to break into.

I don't want this to be construed as support for Iran in any way, but isn't this a pretty severe contortion of the definition of terrorist? they're a branch of the government, the actions they take against the people don't really count as terrorism when they already have power.

The same Haqqani network funded by U.S?

Declare U.S a terrorist state while you're at it...

edit:

comment [unavailable]

edit 2:

it's now available

Ssshhh only the CIA is allowed to fund terrorists at will.

/s

Times change, the Haqqani network was an ally against the Soviets, and then they turned to terrorism. Now they aren’t US funded, they’re Pakistani funded and led. Times change, but I suppose you just want to play a game of whataboutism for… reasons.

Europe has a history of turning two blind eyes to Islamic terrorists.

They have a long history of literally training terrorists.

We have that in common with the US…

U.S have an old & boring tactic to throw its allies under the bus whenever it suits their agenda...

This is evident in the case of Pakistan, Saudi Arabia quite recently, and even Iraq + Saddam Hussein...

Of Course they are the bad ones here, but at this point the term "Terrorist" has no meaning anymore whatsoever.

The real irony is that right now they're counterrevolutionaries.

Which examples are you thinking of?

so they're not terrorists then? they train them... if everyone who supported terrorists was also classified as a terrorist then you'd have to call the CIA and MI6 terrorists too for supporting the mujahideen in Afghanistan. it's too broad of a brush.

Pakistan and Saudi-Arabia.

The HN never changed their tactics, the only thing that changed is who backed them.

Their classification going from freedom fighters to terrorists is purely a political issue.

So do most of the world powers, including the US.

Do I think IRGC is a terrorist group? They certainly commit terroristic actions. Should they be labeled as such? Depends on the consequences.

Labeling an entire section of a governmental organization as a terrorist group is extremely problematic.

Throwing around the terrorist label in this way can and will have unintended consequences.

I agree with you it's ridiculous how word's definition are getting so fluid and lose the essence of what they meant.

Terrorist is more particular cause it's been "fluid" cause it's change depending on the point of view. A Resistant for one would be the Terrorist of another one.

Other than it having implications on international travelling for members of the guard, the main purpose usually is to deter national or private enterprises (like weapon manufacturers) from doing business with the group designated as terrorists (as charges of sponsoring a terrorist group could result in it).

Not an expert, but that’s one of the key aspects why Ukraine wants Russia designated as a terrorist state (I am sure it has other legal ramification beyond that).

What's your take that Canada should be doing? I can't do much to shape the world,

But I would be happy to give my MP an earful if you point me in the right direction.

"terrorist" is a 100% meaningless term in 2022

Exactly. The U.S. literally trained Osama Bin Laden and basically created the taliban lol

if they were honest w themselves they’d also classify the american military as that too.

the term terrorist is only ever applied to groups threaten western hegemony.

i actually think you could make pretty solid cases for many intelligence agencies being terrorists, I just don't think that supporting terrorist groups is the reason why

Well so has the EU and US.

As they say, don't throw rocks when you livee in glass houses.

Do you believe your own propaganda?

"Then turned to terrorism" lmao.

Why did you think we funded them? To do terrorism against the soviets.

Edit: lol another coward replying with lies and then blocking so i cannot respond.

Pathetic.

[removed]

So does the EU

US runs Taliban through ISI through Haqqani Netwlrk. Corrected for you.

When is it Russia's term to be called a terrorist state? In 40 years?

YES PLEASE

> then they turned to terrorism

because what they were doing before totally wasn't terrorism, because the right* people were happy they did it

how blind can your eyes be when you're training someone to do exactly what you pretend you don't want to see?

That’s the thing, the word has lost its actual meaning already. Everyone is / supports terrorists. Just matter of taking side and tribalism in the end. This sort of claim is simply meant now to show what terrorism EU openly disprove and what EU silently approve.

Good, do it!

Both Iran and Russia are terrorists and should be treated as such.

The US can just activate the Stuxnet and shut down the Iranian infrastructure. They probably have it lying there dormant as they did before they wanted to test it out some years ago.

They did go to Kosovo's aid over Serbia back in the 90s

I mean look at the Russians and the drones just a few weeks ago

Don't forget the coups around the world. The US is very guilty of that.

So can you say they're....freedom fighters?

Eeeeeeh?

Huh, I wonder if the word terrorist has ever had its definition changed before? Like if the original meaning was state repression, for example, but later changed because it suited political aims of the time?

Words are just politics. They don't really mean anything, I'm afraid. Literally 1984

I don’t understand what you’re insinuating.

Are the revolutionary guards the ones that are already in power or the ones that are protesting for more freedom right now?

It is funny that in every thread about Islam, "Abrahamic religions" always come up without fail.

The same infrastructure that's required for the protests? That seems counter intuitive, especially since the Iranian leadership will probably claim responsibility and name it a consequence/punishment.

Perspective is everything; from my point of view using such repressive methods against their own population is terrorism. From their point of view, they're doing God's work.

Notable is the definition the UK uses: https://www.cps.gov.uk/crime-info/terrorism

lol this comment is such bullshit, US didn’t care until their purpose was over

Big true

The IRGC protect the current government since 1979. They have been designated a terrorist organization by the US already. Europe is late to the party.

> the actions they take against the people

I don't think you know what the IRGC is. When you say "the people" I assume you mean those of Iran, but the IRGC is an international body. They oversee their proxies in the ME, like Hezbollah, and are responsible for the Shia militias in Iraq and Syria as well. They have a strong presence in Syria (which Israel is bombing), including creating and launching drones. Their main business is exporting terrorism, so the designation is not only apt, it's only decades late.

The US never trained OBL, and the Taliban didn’t exist until the US stopped funding the mujahideen. Some future members of the Taliban received support from Pakistani ISI through US assistance, but the US did not directly fund anyone in Afghanistan during that period.

Do you really not understand the difference between attacking people invading your country, and harboring the people and training camps for those who would later reach out across continents and an ocean to attack another country that they weren’t at war with?

REALLY? That’s what you’re going for?

The Soviets invaded Afghanistan, and the Afghanis fought them on their own land. You think that’s the same as harboring AQ and providing them a base to plan and launch attacks on the US and EU?

If you say so, but I think the difference between fighting off a foreign invader on your own land, and attacking civilians a world away really is pretty different. If you feel otherwise I’d love to hear how you think that is.

Ah that makes sense. Can't say I disagree with the assessment of my country's minister for foreign affairs

Iran doesn't have nuclear weapons nor a defense pact with anyone afaik, so idk why NATO isn't sending in troops already to stop the killing. If Ukraine with NATO weapons can hold its own against Russia, NATO itself should be able to easily defeat the Iranian regime's Russian-based military.

Took long enough

It's a matter of both political interests, and perception.

The first leads to the second. Let's say 9/11 occurred in China, and the Chinese invaded Afghanistan and occupied it for 20 years, would the west be sympathetic to China? Maybe in the beginning, but considering the increased tensions between the west anf China, I bet we could have seen US intelligence funding those same groups that the US itself fought against in Afghanistan.

The terrorism in question when talking about Afghanistan isn’t anything they did after the US invasion, it’s about harboring OBL and AQ.

Because NATO isn’t the world police, it’s a defensive pact.

Well obviously, because a significant part of the world population remembers either directly or culturally what happened in the name of christianity and/or islam.

Here in germany for example we still have monuments and official holidays/festivities directly made after the 30-year-war 1648. We also still have towers standing where "witches" used to be imprisoned. And so much more.

This kind of living history is a thing in many parts of the world. Just because christianity got comparably tame in the last 100 years or so, doesn't mean that it doesn't count. The relative impotency of the christian churches in europe was paid for with blood. Lots and lots of blood.

Americans lack this kind of living history, because they don't really have any. But elsewhere this is quite normal to be in the cultural consciousness.

[removed]

[removed]

Iran is free to designate some of our institutions as terrorists if they want. Given the international influence of Iran compared to EU/US ... yeah, I don't think cares much.

[removed]

and during that same conflict they and NATO bombed civilians and refugees

Fun!

The only criticism over this move is that it was made decades too late.

[deleted]

What group did the EU establish, fund, & train to carry out terror attacks on civilians? I’m legitimately curious

If you fund & train groups on how to attack and kill civilians to achieve a political goal then yeah they are. Iran guards do that with both Hamas and Hezbulla.

There is obviously a difference between supporting a side in the Civil War and training groups to attack civilians on purpose. It’s fucking ludicrous you pretend those are the same. Fuck these people and anyone who targets civilians for political purpose like Hamas and Hezbollah.

The US never trained Osama and other groups to target and kill civilians. The goal was to kill the Soviets, who were invading Afghanistan at the time. If you don’t see, that is different than Hamas, and Hezbollah killing civilians on purpose for political goals then you are being intentionally dishonest.

[deleted]