Talking Brook: Rational Reflections on 'Yaron Brook Show: Iran & Your Questions' (9/21/19)

There’s a thread winding through what Dr. Yaron Brook has to say. It’s rationality. As he has admitted, The Yaron Brook Show sometimes features moments when he is wrong. This episode is not one of them. He kicks off the show by describing how debates should be long enough to adequately treat a certain issue or topic. He then continues by asking the audience who has been turned on to Objectivism by one of his debates. This is interesting. He points out that at least two people (so they claim) learned about Ayn Rand’s philosophy through Dr. Brook’s rhetorical skills in a debate. Just one individual who discovers Rand’s earth shattering ideology is just as much a good sign of this world getting better.

Seamlessly, Dr. Brook continues with the latest news and what he alludes to in the title of the show. He talked about Iran and Saudi Arabia. He said that in the Saudi Arabia attack, Iran stands exclusively as the sole aggressor against the Saudis. This raises the question: should the United States just let the two nations fight it out to mutual destruction? Yet the good doctor has some doubt. Dr. Brook further explains the situation with the thought that the United States surveils Iran on a consistent basis. How could the equipment have overlooked such a dramatic strike?

Although he would be happy to broadcast a show without mentioning President Donald Trump, Dr. Brook calls the president’s words and actions (or inaction) “cowardice to the extreme.” Furthermore, he explains that Saudi Arabia is less of a threat and more moderate than a decade ago. He ascertains that the US has defended Saudi Arabia for multiple years. He adds that a war against the US, waged by Iran would have significant casualties on the side of that nation, and America would prevail with overwhelming force. Easily. But at the same time, Iran is winning the war on showing how Dr. Brook says “America is a paper tiger.” While the president and his Administration posture and puff out their chests, they are actually ineffectual and completely devoid of a spine. Dr. Brook mentions other body parts.

To be clear, Dr. Brook is not pushing for war. He finds that the Iranian regime ought to be ejected, because it is a totalitarian and aggressive State that is an enemy to the US. Again, Dr. Brook would like to see a war against Iran, but not involving this current Administration. He senses that the president and his team would never be able to properly carry out war against Iran. So, what does this mean? This signals that an administration that knows how to be strong, moral, and assertive against the viciousness of Iran should be put in place in America. The fact that Saudi Arabia does not have a missile defense system that could have safeguarded against the attack still makes Dr. Brook wonder. He considers the idea that if Israel experienced an attack, the Israelis would be laying out plans and enhancing their protective measures.

The highlight of the show remains the books that Dr. Brook recommends. Victor Davis Hanson’s The Western Way of War (1989), Carnage and Culture (2001), and Dr. Brook’s favorite, The Soul of Battle (1999) all received a mention and stamp of approval. It’s always fun when Dr. Brook drops books, and films, and sculptures, and paintings, and architecture into that thread running through his shows. Through all of the technical hiccups, minor lapses in memory, and the famous Dr. Brook sigh, the Chairman of the Ayn Rand Institute (ARI) somehow crafts shows with wit, information, and cogency. May the upcoming shows be just as satisfying.