Folks, Dr. Giraldi has hit the nail on the head. There are two rules that I developed for myself as a historian, and they are:

1. Every event and situation has multiple causes and factors that influence the end picture, and nothing is cut and dry. Doesn’t matter whether it is the Roman occupation of Gaul or late 19th century American politics; there’s always more than meets the eye.

Example. I was told in high school that WWI started because of the murder of Austrian archduke Franz Ferdinand. Everybody put down his name as the right answer on the test. It struck me as odd as a teenager that this alone would spark the bloodiest conflict to date. When you dig in, you find the diplomatic threats, arms building hysteria, covert action done by all sides, pressure from various special interests to go to war, the intellectuals arguing for it, national chauvanism, the historical context of hatred, etc, etc, etc. What we learned in school was so simple and vague as to be misleading and untrue.

2. The other rule is a simple one, a Russian history professor told me that if I was stuck on something while doing research, I should “Follow the money”

I’m sure in Iran right now that by following the flow of money, whether between clerics, student groups, from outside governments or organizations, it would illuminate and clarify a lot of what we’re seeing there.