Sunday, January 10, 2016

Iran's quandary, predicament.

Saudi Arabia's execution of leading Shiite cleric Nimr al-Nimr on recently  sparked a violent protest at the Saudi Embassy in Iran's capital, Tehran. Saudi Arabia then quickly severed ties with its longtime regional rival.  Writing this I can only feel that Iran deserves what it's getting . Right now Iran is a vary modern , and moderate  ( yet sort of , but I am not saying it's paradise) regime . Not too long ago way back in 1979 the Iranian revolution took American hostages , sought to export what it called an Islamic Revolution under the banner of the Ayatollah (1)>>Khomeini.  Iran became a hot bed of terrorism before it was adopted by (2)>>extremists in the Sunni -Wahhabi Saudis ,  but Iran has never experienced hate from other Muslims as it is experiencing now . Well what comes around goes around in the middle east. I honestly do condemn the execution of  cleric Nimr al-Nimr by the Saudi regime as fool hardy move. Each act of incitement, however, including Saudi Arabia’s allegedly deliberate targeting of the Iranian embassy in Sana’a, Yemen, is further indication of Riyadh’s desperation to demonize Tehran in the court of world opinion. It is an exercise in futility, and one that casts doubt over the kingdom’s own stability and sensibility. The United States’ longtime ally is losing its iron-fisted grip over both its people and the region. This fact, coupled with Saudi Arabia’s staggering arsenal and unprincipled ruling ideology, makes the kingdom incredibly dangerous–arguably more so than infamous Axis of Evil member Iran. Such distressed statements by Iran’s authorities reflect the simple fact that Iran has been outmaneuvered. They also reveal Iran’s lack of any clear or consistent policy towards Saudi Arabia. Nowadays both the Saudi and Iranian regimes are trying to spread violence in Islamic countries. Without any doubt, there is a correlation between the executions of 47people by the Saudi regime, the setting fire to the Saudi Embassy in Tehran and the totally undemocratic “election” in Iran. On the Iranian side, Khamenei, the leader, had given permission to the Council of Guardians to reject other candidates en masse; in Saudi Arabia, the regime relies more and more on extremists. The Saudis and their money has for decades spread its extremist ideology .globally........and for decades the world will pay for this as young people the world over grow up with the ultraconservative extremist teachings.The west would rather give Iran the finger than upset their Saudi 'allies', but ultimately the Saudi money will run out, but unfortunately for the Iranian people, this is still decades away.After decades of Saudi-run US foreign policy against Iran, having them join in UN negotiations around their supposed nuclear weapons programs created the potential for the normalization of global relations with Iran. This normalization would naturally strengthen the political and economic position of the already much larger Iranian Republic in the region, which the Saudis lack the strength to oppose without US backing. The statement by Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, the Iranian supreme leader, who said the Saudis will face “divine vengeance” shows that the present deluded leaders of the Iranian regime are no different from the former president Ahmadinejad who similarly said that "a divine hand will sweep away Iran's enemies".Until religious fundamentalism and Islamist extremism no longer hold sway over the governments of countries in the Middle East, peace will be a distant prospect. 


NOTES AND COMMENTS:
(1)>>Khomeini. http://www.nytimes.com/1981/10/15/world/around-the-world-khomeini-urges-export-of-iranian-revolution.html.  The Soviet Union invaded Afghanistan, Sunni Muslim fundamentalists seized the Grand Mosque in Mecca, and the Ayatollah Khomeini led a Shiite revolution that swept the Shah of Iran from power and put in place the modern world's first Islamic republic.But Khomeini had more grandiose goals."Khomeini did not envisage himself as making a revolution in one country," says Juan Cole, professor of Middle East history at the University of Michigan. "His ideology of clerical rule, rejection of the Western colonial heritage, he felt was a universal message."Khomeini put forward the claim that he was the leader of the entire Muslim world, not simply of Shiite Iran. You also have to look at the ideology of the Islamic State Caliphate at a glance to compare it . The caliph in the Islamic State and the Supreme Leader in Iran hold absolute authority in both political and religious realms with few, if any, real checks on their power. Both IS and Iran emphasize scholarship and piety as qualifications for their leaders. The current leaders both claim to be seyyeds, descendants of the Prophet Mohammed, which boosts their credentials. Abu Bakr al Baghdadi, has been active in jihadist groups since the 1990s. He assumed leadership of the Islamic State’s predecessor, the Islamic State in Iraq, in 2010. When the group renamed itself the Islamic State, Baghdadi took the title of caliph. In theory, he has total authority within IS territory, but his day-to-day responsibilities are unclear.  Muslim's have been in the hands of false prophets misguiding them ever since the 1980's. (2)>>extremists .All the criticism of Saudi Arabia are true, supporters terror in Iraq and Syria, exporters of extreme Sunni ideology etc. But they also have to support of the biggest military power in the world, the US, because it is in the national interest of the US to do so. The Saudis also have the support of Europe ahead of Iran because again, it is in the national interest of the Europeans. Obama and Hollande will make a lot of noise about destroying IS in response to IS inspired terror in their respective nations, but they can do very little about the IS-like ideology of the Saudi regime. Saudi Arabia is not only an ally but accepts the west imposed order in the middle east which puts western business interests (or corporatism) and support for Israel far ahead of human rights. Iran does not accept this order and takes an independent position. THAT is the determining factor for the US and Europe, not extreme ideology inspired terror attacks, an ideology that originated in Saudi Arabia and not Iran. This factor puts Iran in a position of weakness, that is reality. Jimmy Carter managed to depose Pahlavi dynasty to install Khomeini"s regime in 1979 for some idealistic reasons which was the cuase of total transformation in the middle east into chaos for almost 40 years, close to half of century, the worst foreign policy for the United States of America. That decision has brought ripple effect of Iran-Iraq war of 1980- 1988; Removal of Saddam and invasion of Iraq, and Arab-Spring of 2012-2013; unto present debacle of Saudi Arabia& Iran?

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