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The Four Musketeers: Khamenei, Netanyahu, Putin and Erdogan

By Alon Ben-Meir - posted Wednesday, 26 November 2014


Tayyip: Vladimir, how dare you say that about religion? Islam is the purest religion in the world; the Quran teaches us to love each other and sacrifice our lives for one another.

Bibi: Tayyip is right. They kill for each other, they also execute for love - look how much they care for one another in Syria, Iraq, Yemen… oh, yeah, I forgot Afghanistan.

Ali: Now Bibi, you are getting completely out of line, this is just a quarrel in the family.

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Bibi: Of course I know that Ali, you only feel obliged to accommodate your butcher friend Bashar to massacre tens of thousands of innocent Muslim civilians. I guess it's alright - after all, it is all in the family.

Vladimir: Hey guys, this is going nowhere. You see what I mean? Religion is a curse. If I could, I would ban all religious rituals in Russia altogether. Look, why don't we just talk about the real thing, like I told you before, money and power.

Ali: You keep talking about money, ok, let us talk about money. We all need money to run our countries, so what is the problem with that?

Bibi: You are right Ali, we need money to run our countries. But I think my good friend Vladimir here is talking about what is in it for us.

Ali: May the Almighty have mercy on you. We… I mean, I, me… don't ever take money to enrich myself, not like you - all of you.

Vladimir: Well, well, Ali, you say you don't take money, so tell me, what do you live on?

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Ali: I take only what the almighty God provides me. But you know, God is very generous to those who worship him.

Bibi: Now I understand why you are such a deep believer! I guess it pays to be a religious man because Allah watches out for his loyal servants and showers them with lots of money.

Vladimir: I have already told you, people do anything in the name of God. They kill, murder, rape, and steal, but in Russia we just do what we have to do. Everybody knows we steal and no one cares and certainly can't do a damn thing about it. But I want to know about you, Tayyip - since you consider yourself a pious man, do you also depend on God's generosity?

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About the Author

Dr. Alon Ben-Meir is a professor of international relations at the Center for Global Affairs at NYU. He teaches courses on international negotiation and Middle Eastern studies.

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