June 3, 2006
IT ALWAYS INVOLVES SOCCER (via Tom Corcoran):
Why the neo-Nazis salute Iran’s President (Allister Heath, 6/03/06, The Spectator)
Hjalmar Schacht, the Nazi economics minister, had many unusual interests but one was especially telling. He was fascinated with the theory, famously enunciated by King Darius the Great, that the Persians were of Aryan lineage, and argued that this made them the Nazis’ natural allies. So when in 1935 Shah Reza Pahlavi renamed his country Iran, which means Land of the Aryans in Farsi, he helped seal a pivotal alliance.Posted by Orrin Judd at June 3, 2006 6:19 PMSeventy years later a shared anti-Semitism has spawned a new entente between Germany’s now thankfully small band of neo-Nazis and Tehran. Nazi thugs have promised to march in support of Iran at the Iran–Mexico World Cup match in Nuremberg on 11 June.
The Nazis were really wierd about this "Aryan" business. They also had a thing about the Hindus as being "Aryans." Their stuff is embarassingly stupid, sort of like "Nation of Islam" myths. One almost expects to meet the evil magician, Yakoob, on any page.
Posted by: Lou Gots at June 3, 2006 6:49 PMThe Nazi belief that Europeans, Persians, and upper-caste Hindus all descend from common white Aryan ancestors was based on the discovery of the Indo-European language family, which includes most European and Persian languages as well as such Indian languages as Sanskrit and Hindi. Britain famously tried to justify her colonial presence in India by promoting the so-called Aryan Invasion Theory (AIT), according to which white Aryans invaded India millenia ago and founded Hinduism. British colonialists claimed that they were a new batch of Aryans who, like the putative ancient Aryans, were naturally entitled to rule the country.
A linguistic relation between peoples, however, does not necessarily constitute a genetic relation. AIT remains very controversial.
Posted by: Mörkö at June 3, 2006 7:59 PMGiven the soccer angle, I suppose a future beer hall putsch with the two groups would have to involve Budweiser.
Posted by: John at June 4, 2006 12:36 AMNazi thugs have promised to march in support of Iran at the Iran–Mexico World Cup match in Nuremberg on 11 June.
Guess that means I'm rooting for Mexico.
Posted by: Mike Morley at June 4, 2006 8:40 AMOf course, we root for Mexico. Hemispheric solidarity.
Posted by: erp at June 4, 2006 9:28 AMWe root for the meteor to hit.
Posted by: oj at June 4, 2006 9:33 AMApparently neo-nazis, nazi sympathizers, nazi admireres and nazi excusers all seem to be enfatuated with Iran.
Posted by: 149 at June 4, 2006 11:08 AMThe Iranians, Syrians and Palestinians are certainly infatuated with the theories of National Socialism. I suspect the Wahabbis are as well although they appear to know when to keep their public mouth shut.
Posted by: Tom C.,Stamford,Ct. at June 4, 2006 1:15 PMTom:
You got one right. The Ba'athists are indeed Nationalist/Socialist.
Posted by: oj at June 4, 2006 4:25 PM