I want you to close your eyes and imagine (don’t really close them because you won’t be able to read what comes next) people with a very rich heritage.

These people are proud of their history because for 200 years, they were the greatest empire of the ancient world while ruling over much of Asia. Their revered king, Cyrus II of Persia, was considered a visionary and leader of epic proportions.

After 200 years of rule, they collapsed like all other empires, but the glory of the past echoes for eternity like a basketball player that tells stories of his career even when he’s 80 years old.

Great changes came after the Achaemenid Empire, the strongest Persian dynasty in the ancient world, but the Iranians, a tribe that originated in today’s India and migrated to today’s Iran, are obsessed with the past and their so-called rightful place in the league of nations where they think they ought to be considered as being in the top tier.

When the Muslims began their barbaric conquests through Asia, Africa, Europe, and the Middle East, Iran became a country of Shia Islam, the minority of the Muslim world (around 15%).

When the industrial revolution began in England, the British discovered vast quantities of oil in the region and colonialized it. This was too shameful to bare for the Persians… They were distraught like a billionaire that lost everything and now cleans the street for minimum wage.

Even worse, when the British decolonialized and Iran attempted to go back to rebuilding a sovereign and independent country, the United States was instrumental in an orchestrated regime change to install a pro-American shah, but the undercurrent of fundamental religious ideologies was bubbling beneath the surface while fantasizing about Sharia law and a theological regime. In 1979, the revolution led to what is today’s Islamic Republic of Iran, a country that is ruled by a core belief that if they don’t build proxies and reach nuclear status, they might be humiliated again by foreigners plundering their riches and disrespecting their self-anointed superiority. Inside its own country, 30% of the population can’t stand the regime and openly oppose it and another 40% are undecided.

That’s Iran. Even if you don’t study anything else about it, you now know how to interpret everything they are about. They unite people filled with hatred and point them towards an external threat in order to keep the revolution intact because only 30% are supporters of the regime. They don’t respect borders and are imperial.

Israel is the homeland of the Jewish people where Abraham formed the first monotheistic religion and David built his kingdom in Jerusalem. Foreigners tried to defeat the Jewish people for thousands of years by enslaving them, expelling them, and dispersing them in the diaspora, but they kept dreaming about coming back to their birthplace and their place of worship: Solomon’s Temple in Jerusalem. The Greeks, the Romans, the Muslims, the Crusaders, the Ottomans… the Jewish people have survived them all.

The Holocaust proved to them that they must have a sovereign country and an army to defend themselves. In 75 years, they turned one of the smallest and most neglected pieces of land in the Ottoman Empire into one of the greatest success stories of any group of people in human history.

After nearly 5,000 years of constant warfare, oppression, violence towards them, and being treated like second-class citizens, they (according to sources) have atomic weapons to deter enemies.

Now you know Israel, the homeland of the Jewish people who went from near extinction in 1945 to a thriving democracy in the Middle East with agreements (thanks to Mr. Trump) with most moderate and modern Arab and Muslim nations. In Israeli education, peace and extending the hand of friendship to all human beings is taught in schools. As the Bible says, “It is not by sword or spear that the Lord saves.”

Gold is money, so you know that as well.

What will be the next step here? Well, there’s this little town on the banks of the Potomac River where very powerful men make very difficult decisions. When they get it right, miracles happen.