Much ink has been split, jaws flapped, electrons moved and pixels switched on and off over the issue of what really drives Iran’s current leaders and how best the West ought to understand, engage and/or confront them.

Longtime readers know that I’m persuaded that their motivations do not jibe with default Cold War assumptions of self-preservation and reverence for life, nor with capitalist assumptions of wealth and poverty.

Thus I was intrigued to read Isaiah 13:17 this morning, concerning how God uses Medes (aka, very roughly, Persians, aka, somewhat less roughly, modern-day Iran) to tear up Babylon (arguably a ‘type’ for the U.S.)

Behold, I am stirring up the Medes against them,
who have no regard for silver and do not delight in gold.

The material both before and after this verse is truly chilling. Much as some modern social theories would have it, some elements of culture appear to be stubbornly persistent, even over millennia.