Persia

  This Persian rug hangs on our wall. As far was we know it is a family heirloom possibly from Baku, Azerbaijan where my grandmother was born. I don't know the family history beyond that but with the Jewish name Rosenberg they had most likely emigrated there from Germany and some point. Azerbaijan was part of Persia for most of it's history. Persia began it's long decline after the Arab conquest of 633, but it wasn't until 1935 that it became known as Iran. In the Bible the Persian kings Cyrus and Darius where kind of our heroes, freeing the Jews from Babylonian captivity and contributing to the rebuilding of the temple in Jerusalem. Even in modern times, up to the 1979 revolution, Iran had a thriving Jewish community. I had a colleague who, along with her family and thousands of other Iranian Jews, fled after the 1979 revolution. There is a huge community of them in L.A. now, keeping the culture alive. As I write this late in the afternoon on April 7, 2026, I think most of us expect that Trump will do what he always does and back down, change the deadline, claim victory, and obfuscate the situation with some other BS. Still there is a chance that the mad king is going to do something really terrible. If it comes to that the very best case scenario it that our military leaders come to their senses and refuse to take part in war crimes. Of course this would infuriate Trump who would promptly fire them all and attempt to find some soulless individual willing to do his dirty work. But if the military were to take a stand it's possible that congress would then also grow a backbone and invoke the 25th amendment, which was written expressly for a time like this. One can only hope. So tonight we sit on a tightrope with the future of humanity in the balance. If Trump is allowed to follow through with his threat that "a whole civilization will die tonight", it will not just be Persia, but it will be the death of the United States as well. Persia has existed for thousands of years, the U.S. a mere 250. Already the world is reorganizing into new alliances of which the U.S. is not a part. Unless Trump is removed from power very soon we will be seen as a rogue nation and an enemy to the peace and prosperity of the citizens of planet earth. Could any of us ever foresee that when world war three breaks out it would be the free world against the United States of American?